S E R M O N S

After taking a break, for Resurrection Sunday, we now return once again to our verse-by-verse study of Mark's gospel. So will you turn to Mark chapter 13, as we look at part two of a series that I'm doing from this passage of Scripture, entitled "Jesus Prophetic Discourse on the End of the Age." A few thoughts before we read the passage and begin to examine it closely.

It's fascinating in Scripture, how light is used as a metaphor for truth. The Psalmist tells us, for example, in Psalm 119:105, that "Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path." And Jesus said in John 8:12, "'I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness but will have the Light of life.'" And indeed, the absence of light is darkness. Likewise, the absence of truth is darkness, spiritually. And intellectually, we all know what it's like to be in the dark, both literally and figuratively. Literally, when you're in the dark, you don't know where you're going. You don't know what's in front of you. And it's dangerous. And frankly, that's how most people live spiritually. In fact, Jesus describes hell in Matthew 8:12 as "'outer darkness; in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'"And we are witnessing today in our country the sunset of truth, and the onset of darkness; a foretaste of hell, frankly, an eternal existence apart from the presence of God. Unimaginable. To be sure, we're witnessing the self-induced destruction of what was once the most powerful nation in the history of the world. We're watching the wrath of divine abandonment play out as we read, for example, in Romans one. We're now being governed by people who have no fear of God in their eyes, they are corrupt and greedy and violent. Murderers of unborn infants; unimaginably and grossly immoral. I was reading the other day that we now have approximately 50 special days set aside to celebrate the vile perversions of the LGBTQ mafia. Our educators deny God as the Creator and teach our children that we are really nothing more than sophisticated germs, the result of random selection, all part of evolutionary theory. We have been lied to about the health of our economy. We've been lied to about the whole COVID pandemic, and the efficacy of the vaccines and all of those types of things. We're continually being lied to about global warming. We're being fed lies about systemic racism and gender identity, and orientation. We're lied to about the benefits of gender affirming treatments and procedures. We're lied to about illegal immigration and the implications of all of that. And frankly, it reminds me of Hitler's commitment to deceptive propaganda, as stated in Mein Kampf where he said, quote, "The skillful and unrelenting use of propaganda can persuade people that heaven is hell. For the broad mass of the people, and the primitive simplicity of its heart, more readily falls victim to a big lie than a small one." End quote.

Frankly, the whole lie of the woke agenda is more evil than you can even begin to imagine. I'm not going to take time to get into all of it, but it is satanic to its very core. As I have written elsewhere, "An evil cloud of satanic darkness encompasses the world today. The fierce winds of deception are pummeling all that God deems righteous. The very foundations of basic civility and common sense are being shaken. And without question, the Church of Jesus Christ is under siege. Only the most naive, undiscerning and biblically illiterate Christians can deny this. Like never before a violent storm of persecution against authentic Christianity is gaining strength across the globe." And indeed, we've seen the failed policies of the progressive Marxist agenda continue to divide our country; and gullible people are sucked into all that they're trying to do. And ultimately, what they must do is eradicate genuine Biblical Christianity, because that cannot coexist with a socialist state. They must destroy the nuclear family, they must destroy capitalism, and on and on it goes. And sadly, many gullible Christians of all political stripes, even pastors, are falling victim to the Marxist goal of an atheist utopia.

Well, none of this surprises any serious student of the Bible. This is all part of God's judgment on America. The world is being prepared for the rule of the Antichrist. The "man of lawlessness" according to Second Thessalonians two. We know biblically that he will come about eventually, and he will pretend to be the answer for all of man's problems; he will offer himself as Israel's savior, a counterfeit Messiah, that will make a phony treaty with Israel, according to Daniel 9:27. But he will be against Christ and all who belong to him and he will persecute Israel in the middle of Daniel's 70th week and so forth. A lot of these things you've heard discussed in the past. We know that he is going to rise out of a revived Roman Empire, according to Daniel nine, verse 26. He will be what is called "the wicked prince" who will exert his power, essentially through a united Europe. And as we read the biblical record, we see that he will fuse the world into a political collectivism. The scourge of tribalism, as we would see, for example, in the whole jihadist movement, and hyper-nationalism will finally be replaced with a super national utopia, a one world government, one world economy, one world religion. And after all, you must understand that this is the evolutionary vision of the progressives today. As David Larsen puts it, quote, "Human progress for them is linear, automatic and upward, and the accelerating tendencies toward a world religion with the surrender of biblical supernaturalism in favor of a syncretistic plural liberal pluralism." He went on to say, "Under the aegis of the false prophet, religion will join the Antichrist. The super-church is described in Revelation 17 as "Babylon"; She Lords it over the nations of the earth displays great pageantry and sits upon the beast. This ecclesiastical and ecumenical big top will have brief usefulness and serviceability to the world ruler, but her doom is sealed because she is unfaithful and untrue to the Lord. Her spiritual adulteries are infamous."

Folks, this is where the world is heading. Just prior to the pre-kingdom judgments, we're going to see these things being manifested as the prophetic Scriptures tell us; just prior to our Lord's second coming. And we see Matthew chapter 24, and 25, along with Mark 13, and Luke 21, that we just read a few minutes ago, and Revelation six through 19, providing much detail regarding these matters.

And I might also add that these great prophetic truths out of the New Testament must also be viewed through the lens of the Old Testament, especially Ezekiel's prophecy, Daniel's prophecy, Zechariah's prophecy.

Now with this in mind, we come to what's happening here in our text in the first century. You will recall that this is Jesus' final pronouncement of judgment upon apostate Judaism. And this is followed then with a lengthy explanation of what must take place just prior to his return in power and great glory. And we know that this occurs on Wednesday evening of the Passion Week, in the final hours of Jewish rejection. And you will also recall in Matthew 23, there's a record of the conclusion of Jesus's terrifying pronouncement upon Israel and a farewell promise. In verse 36, we read, "'Your house'"--referring to the temple, where he was standing at the time--"'Your house is being left to you desolate.'" Then he added in verse 39, "'I say to you from now on, you shall not see Me until you say, "BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!"'" Jesus did not say "unless" he said, "until." There's glorious hope there.

So, after his scathing denunciation of their phony religious system, and his ominous prediction of their temple's demise, he concludes with a message of hope, and he quietly withdraws himself from the presence of the multitudes there, on the temple precinct. And obviously, this prediction of judgment upon Israel, animated intense concern with the disciples. Again, they were hoping that he was going to establish his kingdom, right then; that Rome would finally be destroyed. And so they're wondering, "What are you talking about here? What will be the nature and the duration of Israel's desolation? When is this going to happen? And what do you mean 'You shall not see Me until we say, "BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!'" So that's the context here.

Now you will recall the last time we were together, looking at these things, I have given you a little bit of an outline to help you understand Jesus lengthly answer to their question. We're going to look at a little bit more of it here this morning. Let me give you the outline once again. First of all, he speaks of the temple’s demolition; secondly, the signs of the end. Thirdly, the prospect of persecution, then the abomination of desolation, the false Christ and prophets, the coming of the Son of Man, and the warning to be prepared. And this will take us all the way through, beyond where we have just read. And while we do not know the date or the time when the Lord will return, we do know that the stage is being set, even now, as we look at the constellation of prophetic signs.

Now let me read the passage to you in Mark 13, beginning in verse one, "As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to him, 'Teacher, behold, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!' And Jesus said to him, 'Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.' As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately, 'Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled? 'And Jesus began to say to them, 'See to it that no one misleads you. Many will come in My name saying I am He! and will mislead many. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. And these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.'"

Now, by way of review, verses one and two, he's going out of the temple. They're looking at this beautiful edifice, and Jesus says, "'You see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.'" So, we examined number one: the temple's demolition. And again, this was an astonishing edifice, a magnificent building, and they are viewing it from the adjacent mountain, the Mount of Olives. Those of you have been there with me, or even on your own, you've been able to see where that would be. The Al Aqsa Mosque is there now, but that's where the temple was. But sadly, the temple had become a symbol, a tragic symbol, of apostate Judaism. And we know that in 70 AD, the Romans came to the Temple Mount, they set fire to the entire thing, and it was so hot the stones crumbled into powder. And the stones that we see there today are just merely the foundation, the retaining stones of the original temple.

And so, if there's not going to be a temple, then that means there's not going to be a Messiah to return to his temple as promised. And that means there's no kingdom, so they're confused. So, in verse three, we read this, "As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew, were questioning Him privately, 'Tell us when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?'" Matthew adds this in Matthew 24, verse three, "'Tell us, when will all these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?'" "Coming"--"parousia." He uses this in the technical sense, in the original language, to describe his appearing, his manifestation at his second coming.

So beginning in verse five, now, Jesus begins to answer their questions in reverse order. And he begins by addressing the signs of his coming, of his "parousia." And in the combined accounts of Mark, or Matthew and Mark, and Luke, Jesus describes six very specific signs called, quote, "birth pangs," as we see in Mark 13, verse eight. And these things are going to appear just before he arrives during the time of the Tribulation. Let me give you those six signs. Number one, false messiah; secondly, nations at war; number three, natural disasters of epic proportions; number four, persecution of tribulation saints; number five, detection of and betrayal by false believers. And then number six, there's going to be a time of mass evangelism. And I might also add that these six signs have undeniable parallels that we see with the seal trumpet and bowl judgments written in the Book of Revelation, which was written in about AD 96. The seal judgments are going to take maybe a few years, the trumpet judgments perhap weeks, and then the bowl judgments, just days and hours.

So we saw the temple's demolition, the last time we were together. Also, we saw a bit of the signs of the end, that would be the second section here. And there's six signs, six birth pangs, of the pre-kingdom judgments. You will recall, we looked at the first one, which was false messiahs; there's going to be great deceivers--false teachers, leading to the worship of the ultimate false messiah, the Antichrist. And that's why Jesus says in verse five, "'See to it that no one misleads you. Many will come in My name, saying, "I am He!" and will mislead many.'" And Jesus repeats this in verses 22 and three, "'For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But take heed; behold, I have told you everything in advance.'" Now we all know that false messiahs and false teachers have always existed. They're out there today. In fact, today they multiply like maggots on manure. They're everywhere, especially with the Internet. And they will greatly increase in numbers and in power at the end of the age. And imagine what chaos there will be upon the earth when the church is caught up, when the church is snatched away, according to First Thessalonians four and verse 17. People will be looking for answers; they will be more confused than ever. And of course, that is fertile soil for false messiahs and false teachers to take advantage of people.

And we know that sometime after the rapture of the church, the seal judgments will begin to occur in the first three and a half years, which is in the broad sense called The Tribulation, as we read in Second Thessalonians, one six. And at the beginning of the Tribulation, bear in mind, that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to unleash the first Seal Judgment. We read about that in Revelation six verses one and two, that will be a pseudo peace that will lull the world, including Israel, into a false sense of security and visions of utopia. But it will only be the calm before the storm. And it's fascinating even today, as we watch the social phenomena of group hypnosis, which is often called "mass formation”; we see deceived people believing things that are just utterly absurd. The demonstrably false tenets of critical race theory, the gross immorality of the whole LGBTQ mob, the totalitarian ideologies of Marxism, with the whole woke mafia, and we marvel at man's utter desertion of common sense and critical thinking; while at the same time, employing totalitarian methods to somehow vilify and silence those who differ with them. And this has always been the modus operandi of the liberal elite. This is how they function. They believe that they know what's best, and everyone must do what they say; they must control the populace.

But again, imagine the chaos, imagine the confusion when the church is removed. The Rapture will provide the perfect storm for the arrival of the Antichrist. People are desperate today, looking for answers, imagine what it will be like at that time. Daniel eight, verse 23, gives us a sense of what this will be like. There we read, "A king will arise, insolent and skilled in intrigue. His power will be mighty, but not by his own power, and he will destroy to an extraordinary degree and prosper and perform his will; he will destroy mighty men and the holy people. And through his shrewdness, he will cause deceit to succeed by his influence; and he will magnify himself in his heart, and he will destroy many, while they are at ease. He will even oppose the Prince of princes, but he will be broken without human agency." And Daniel goes on and tells us in Daniel 11, beginning in verse 36, "Then the King will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god, and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done." The apostle Paul adds to this in Second Thessalonians two beginning in verse three, "Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come"--referring to the day of the Lord--"unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed as the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God."

So that's a bit of a review of what we looked at the last time and now we move to another prediction here that Jesus gives us, and that is, nations at war. Notice verse seven, "'When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom.'" And Matthew adds this in chapter 24, beginning in verse six, "'And you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars.'" The grammar here indicates that you're going to constantly be hearing of actual wars and impending wars. And then he goes on to say, "'See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place, but that is not yet the end.'" "Telos," in the original language, which speaks of the very end, the ultimate end of the age when conflict will cease. In other words, there's still more to come. That's the point. And again, this is only the beginning of birth pangs. Verse seven, "'For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.'" And of course, we can already see how there is escalating violence in the world today. I was reading from the Geneva Academy, they monitor, right now, more than 110 armed conflicts around the world. They say that some of them have started recently, while others have lasted for more than 50 years. And according to the International Crisis Group, there are 10 conflicts they say that we should watch even in 2024. They say by the way, quote, "More leaders are pursuing their ends militarily. More believe they can get away with it." And the 10 conflicts that they have, are as follows: Gaza, wider Middle East war, Sudan, Ukraine, Russia, Myanmar, Ethiopia, the Sahel. That, by the way, would include six countries in Central Africa; there's a vast semi-arid region in Africa separating the Sahara Desert to the north, and the more tropical savannas to the south; and that place is just exploding right now. And then Haiti, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and of course, US and China. And today, we know that most of the world hates the United States. Pundits and politicians frequently address the growing fears that we have pertaining to Russia and China and North Korea and the Arab Islamic nations; South America that is now flooding our borders and becoming part of us.

But what we especially must bear in mind is what Ezekiel says in Ezekiel 38, and 39. There is a detailed description of a coalition of nations that will come upon Jerusalem come into Israel. Including Russia, along with numerous other Muslim nations, including Iran, Libya, Egypt, Ethiopia, regions of Armenia and Turkey. This, of course, speaks of the great battle of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38, and 39. And that very well could be the event that sets the first seal into motion. And that battle describes a Russian/Arab alliance of, again, predominantly Muslim nations coming down on Israel from the north and being supernaturally defeated. And there's nothing in that text that would rule out the conditions, even of the State of Israel prior to the Hamas attack on October 7. Is it possible that that attack is kind of the beginning of where this is ultimately going to lead in the battle of Gog and Magog? And it has certainly triggered more violence from the north with Hezbollah. And it's galvanized the Islamic nations around the world against Israel, including those nations that are described in Ezekiel 38, verses five and six.

In fact, Israel's devastating ground operations in Gaza, that's going on right now has outraged the Islamic world, including Turkey, along with millions of non-Islamic Marxists in the United States and so forth. And we see antisemitism and anti-Israeli protests growing at an alarming rate. And we know too, that our current president is losing support of his radical left and continuing to back away from helping Israel. I mean, just think about it, what if we back away completely, what if the rapture of the church occurs and so forth. Israel is already vulnerable, but we know that God will continue to protect them at some measure, because ultimately a remnant of them will be saved. Could this be God's way of fulfilling his promise in Ezekiel 38 and verse four, where he says, "'I will turn you about, and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army.'" And then we see that he will destroy them on the mountains of Israel. And Russia, as I have, and others have said in the past, could very well fulfill the role of Gog in Ezekiel 38 and 39. And currently, Russia has six of the former Soviet republics to the north of Israel that are now independent Islamic nations, and they're all calling for Israel's annihilation. Russia is getting arms we know from North Korea, getting arms from Iran, getting arms from China, forming alliances with all of them, along with Turkey and Pakistan and Iran and Libya, Syria, Sudan and Ethiopia. But whoever makes up the alliance of nations God causes to come upon Israel, and they will ultimately be destroyed. My point with all of this is to say that we know of some things that are going to happen during that period of time, of nations and kingdoms in conflict, so it's easy to see, with all of the powder kegs in the world today, how all of this could ultimately explode.

And what's interesting is we look at Scripture, if we go to Revelation, chapter five, the first seven verses, we see how God the Father, hands Christ Jesus, a scroll, the title deed to the universe, and it's sealed seven times, which was customary, of Roman laws of that day, to be sealed in that way. And beginning and then in chapter six, we see how Christ begins to open up those seals and look into the scroll. Seven seals, each of which is a specific category of divine judgment, that God will pour out upon the earth prior to the Lord's return, and they will be sequentially discharged upon the earth. I wanted to just, I've written these out for you just so that you have a sense of this, obviously, we're not going to look at all these but just to give you a flavor of it, we see that the Worthy Lamb opens the scroll and the seals are as follows. First, you have the arrival of the Antichrist. And there you have the white horse and then the red horse of war. Thirdly, the black horse of famine; fourthly, the ashen horse of death; sometimes these are called "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse." And that ashen horse we know, kills 1/4 of the Earth's population with the sword, with famine and pestilence and wild beasts. We'll look at that in a moment. And then number five, you have the seal of martyrdom, and then earthquakes.

It's also worth noting that at that point, in the time of the tribulation, the world will know that they are experiencing the wrath of God, and the Lamb, the Lord Jesus. They will know it. Revelation six, beginning of verse 15, tells us "they hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of the wrath has come, and who is able to stand?'"

And then you have the seventh seal, which unleashes the seven trumpets, and again, these parallel the birth pangs that Jesus describes in the gospels, and then you have the trumpet judgments. The first 1/3 of the earth trees and grass are burned up, then 1/3 of the sea creatures die and the ships are destroyed, then 1/3 of the waters are polluted and many die. 1/3 of the sun, moon and stars are dark and locusts, demons are released to torment people. Four bound demons are released to kill 1/3 of humanity that's left at that point. And then Christ's kingdom reign is proclaimed. And then you have the bowl judgments that will come even more quickly. Painful sores come on people. The sea becomes like blood and everything in the sea dies; the rivers and springs of water are turned to blood. The sun scorches people with fire and heat; darkness and intense pain afflict humanity; the Euphrates River is dried up to prepare the way for kings from the east. Then you have severe earthquakes that split the great city into three parts; cities fall, and severe hail falls from heaven.

And Daniel's prophecy gives us further insight into these types of conflicts of that day. Again, remember in Daniel 9:27, Israel makes a covenant with the Antichrist, he deceives them with his promises to protect them, and in Daniel 7:24, he will rule a massive kingdom that will basically comprise a Roman Empire, a Western confederacy of a united Europe that Daniel describes as a 10-nation empire. And we'd been given more insight here in Daniel 11, beginning in verse 40, which by the way, in this prophecy, he juxtaposes both near and far historical events, which is common in the prophetic literature. The near prophecies were fulfilled by the Persian kingdom and the reign of Greece through Antiochus Epiphanes, and then the future prophecies are concerning the Antichrist. And there Daniel says, "'At the end of time, the king of the South will collide with the Antichrist, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots.'" This is likely a Russian and Arab Alliance. He goes on to speak of how they will be "'with horsemen and many ships; and he will enter countries, overflow them and pass through. He will also enter the Beautiful Land, and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon. Then he will stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape. But he will gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and Libyans and Ethiopians will follow at his heels'" Evidently, there is a temporary defeat of these nations, but the the northern and eastern forces, as we study it, will regroup and kindling his wrath, and so he's going to attack them. That's why he goes on to say, "'But rumors from the East and from the North will disturb him.'"

Let me pause there for a moment. In Revelation nine, verses 14 through 16, we read of an eastern army, composed of 200 million that will destroy a third of the remaining inhabitants of the earth. And it's interesting that today, the Chinese army has an active personnel of 2,035,000. So it gives you some sense of what could be some day. So this will disturb him and "'He will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many. He will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain.'" In other words, his headquarters is going to be between the Mediterranean Sea and Mount Zion. "'Yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.'"

This is also described in Revelation 19, the Battle of Armageddon, the pinnacle of the Day of the Lord, when the Antichrist is defeated, and the Lord Jesus Christ executes all the kings of the earth and the armies. So in summary, this is inconceivable what God predicts, absolutely unimaginable. All of these nations will be destroyed--Russia, to the north, and all of those that are a part of that group, the Confederated Europe to the West, Africa to the South, Asia to the east. They all converge upon tiny, little Israel, which is fascinating. It is the most fought over and most fought on piece of real estate on the planet. They're all going to be destroyed. And the prophet Zechariah tells us in chapter 14, beginning of verse two, that the Lord "will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle." People say, "Where's America in all of this?" It'll be right there. "All of the nations against Jerusalem to battle, the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished, and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle." Bottom line, all of these conflicts are going to increase in severity and scope just before the Lord returns. No one, regardless of where they live, will be exempt from these worldwide conflicts. And today, I would submit to you that the stage is being set for these things to eventually explode.

Back to Mark 13 verse seven, "'When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise up against nation and kingdom against kingdom.'" And again, Matthew 24th at the end of verse six, "'See that you are not frightened, for those things must take place.'" Isn't that a word of encouragement there? It tells us that God is sovereign, that God has a plan, God is in control. And he will be here soon, is the point. He will be here soon. So Jesus describes false messiahs, nations at war, and now thirdly, the next birth pang, natural disasters of epic proportions. Notice at the end of verse eight, "there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.'" And Matthew puts it this way in Matthew 24 at the end of verse seven, "'and in various places there will be famines, and earthquakes. But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.'" Now we have a whole lot more detail, for example, in Revelation six eight; we see Christ breaking the fourth seal of the scroll. And there we read, "I looked, and behold, and ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth." Folks, this is such a macabre scene; a terrifying scene, horrifying beyond imagination. This ashen horse, it's fascinating. Ashen is "chlōros" in the original language. We get chlorophyll and chlorine from that. But it's a pale-yellow green color. The color of sickness; it's the color of a decomposing corpse if you've ever seen that. It's a hideous sight. It's also the blanched appearance of a person that is struck with paralyzing fear.

And of course, global war will inevitably lead to famine, especially if nuclear arms are used. And here John sees Hades--meaning the grave--following this ashen horse mounted by Death. We read of the sword, famine and pestilence, and whenever those are mentioned in Scripture, the context is that this is what will lead to death. Pestilence--"thanatos" in the original language. It's also translated "death." In this context, it encompasses all of the natural disasters, like famines and earthquakes that Jesus has predicted. But many of the diseases, it would include many of the diseases, that inevitably accompany such cataclysmic events like typhus fevers, which is one of the greatest killers throughout history. Typhus is different types of bacteria as I recall from my very brief days in biology. They can be carried by fleas and lice and chiggers. In fact, more casualties in the Civil War were due to disease than battle. So you can imagine what it will be like during that time. The great influenza epidemic of 1918 and 19 killed an estimated 30 million people. And we know historically, that wherever you have corpses and famine, you will have wide scale disasters and disease, described by the term pestilence. And you will have wild beasts. It's interesting the original language--"thērion"--it could refer to any kind of wild carnivore starving for a meal. But the term is also used to translate "birds and insects." It could very well, and probably will, include rats. Imagine the disease born even by mosquitoes. Mayo Clinic estimates that malaria is responsible for killing 2.7 million people annually. There's great fears of bird flu being spread today. Imagine during this time, hospitals will be scarce if not non-existent. Supply of life saving drugs are interrupted. And of course, rats thrive in highly populated areas notorious for spreading disease. You will recall in the 14th century, rats spread the bubonic plague that wiped out 1/4 to 1/3 of Europe. It's called the Black Death. This is horrible. It's inconceivable. And this is just the fourth seal of Revelation eight; the third birth pang of Jesus' prophecy.

You see, by the time the Lamb breaks all the seals, and all the trumpet and bowl judgments are poured out upon the earth, the planet as we know it will cease to exist. I can't even begin to imagine what this place will look alike. And those who refuse to repent, will be in such unimaginable torment that we are told, according to Revelation nine beginning in verse five that they will "seek death and will not find it; they will long to die, and death flees from them." Revelation 16 verse 10, says they will "gnaw their tongues because of pain."

By the way, nothing of this severity and scope took place in ad 70. Which is one more reason why I reject the argument that this is merely a description of what happened with the Jews and the Romans at that time. And to think Jesus says in Matthew 24, verse eight, "'all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.'"

As we close this morning, I was thinking, how ironic it is--mankind loves to worship himself, exalt himself above God. Mankind loves to worship the planet, rather than the God that created all things. In fact, today, pets and animals have more protection than unborn babies. Isn't it amazing when you think about that? People worship the environment, but not the Creator. But isn't it interesting in the pre-kingdom judgments, God is going to tear down all of those idols, every single one of them, and then they will know that he is Lord. Beloved, we need to all rejoice in the comforting promise that we have, that the apostle Paul records in First Thessalonians five beginning in verse one where we read, let us, who "are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and has a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ." We're not going to be a part of that, I believe the church will be snatched away before that happens.

But certainly today, the world scoffs at the existence of God. If you tell the world that he is the Creator, as I often say, the Sustainer, the Redeemer, and consummate are of all things, they think you are a knuckle dragging Neanderthal that needs to live in a cave. And that would be putting it nicely. People absolutely mock at Christ's saving work on the cross. Isn't it amazing that the President would call for a transgender day of visibility on the day where we celebrate His resurrection. Celebrate these self-loathing people that desperately need Christ. Celebrate people who are damaged and depressed and dysfunctional, delusional; some even being demonized--as we saw with one of the transgender shooters here recently in Nashville. People who despise God so much that they deny his stamp of his image placed on their biological God-given body. I mean this is soul suicide, and we're supposed to celebrate that. This is the mockery of God. And this is what is going to bring about his judgment one day. But people have always mocked his second coming and judgment. Peter tells us in Second Peter three, three, "In the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming?'"

And may I remind you all of Jesus' warning in Matthew 24, beginning in verse 37, he said, "'For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.'" And what were those days like in days of Noah? Genesis six tells us it tells us that they were days of unmitigated evil and rebellion against God. Moreover, days of granite, indifference and apathy, concerning his judgment upon their sin. I give you the world today. Dear friends, I pray that this doesn't describe your attitude. Because if it does, I would plead with you to put your trust in the saving work of the Lord Jesus Christ lest you perish in your sin. And for those of us who know and love Christ, may I remind you, dear Christian, we are at war. And we will not bow. So, we need to be vigilant, we need to be alert, we need to be marching on our knees in prayer. We cannot be ashamed of the gospel. We need to unleash it in all of its force and fury, in love and in compassion; that others will come to a saving knowledge of Christ even as we have, solely by his grace. And then we just all need to keep looking. Because Jesus is coming. Jesus is coming again. Let's pray.

Father, thank you for revealing so much to us in your word. While we cannot understand the full implications of everything that you give us in your prophetic word, we we can understand enough to know that things are gonna get much worse before they get better. And that you are a holy God that will pour out his judgment upon the wicked, just as sure as the sun rises in the east. And so therefore, we thank you for your word; may it animate each of our hearts, to live in light of it, as people that are alert, that are sober, as people whose world orbits around the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the glory of his return. Speak to those who are without you today. Give them no rest until they truly, genuinely, come to a place of repentant faith and experience the miracle of the new birth. And bless us now, all of us who know and love you, as we rejoice in all that is ours in Christ, for it's in his name that I pray. Amen.

Once again, we have a wonderful opportunity to look into the Word of God and understand more of who he is and what he's done for each of us. And this morning, we're stepping away from our verse-by-verse study of the gospel of Mark and I want to take you to First Peter one, in a few minutes; we're going to look at some other passages before we get there. But we're going to do so under the heading "Resurrection Joy" for after all, this is Resurrection Sunday.

Now, I know that the internet is burning up with this proclamation from our president. March 31, 2024, has been declared Transgender Day of Visibility, which obviously happens to be on Easter Sunday, this year. Many of you have sent me that information. I'm very aware of it. And I was reading how some apostate churches have incorporated drag queen performances with their Easter service. Now, folks, this is disgusting. This is deplorable. This is demonic. But this should be no surprise. This is once again, evidence of the wrath of divine abandonment on our country, where God has given people over to the consequences of their iniquities as Romans one makes abundantly clear in other passages. And sadly, this is also indicative of those who are spiritually dead. Those who are ruled by the desires of the flesh and of the mind. As we read in Ephesians. These are those who are, by nature, children of wrath; they have no fear of God before their eyes. And so naturally, these are the types of things they're going to do. And sadly, the whole transgender, LGBTQ, that whole movement, is repeatedly called an abomination in the eyes of God, and that indeed it is. In fact, there's no such thing as a transgender, you're either a male or a female made in God's image. Nevertheless, this should be no surprise, and may I encourage you, and I know many of you are very angry over this, and certainly I am righteously indignant as well, but these people need our pity. And they need our prayers. Because unless they repent, they will perish in their sins. And certainly, this is another example of the postmodern world in which we live, where truth is determined subjectively by every individual, not through the objective, authoritative word of the living God found in Scripture. And indeed, this is purposeful, satanic blasphemy. And please hear me, this is going to get much worse. This is going to get much worse and what better way to inaugurate such wickedness than on the day when Christians celebrate the redemption, validated by the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And I might add that the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ and His Kingdom shines even more brightly against the darkness of this satanic evil. And while our pagan culture worships humanity at the altar of wokeism, we as Christians worship the Lord Jesus Christ, at the altar of his sacrifice, where he took upon himself our sins, and paid the penalty that we deserved, that we might have forgiveness of sins; that he who knew no sin would become sin for us that we might have the righteousness of Christ, amen? And now because of his imputed righteousness, we have been declared justified, we've been declared righteous. And though we still sin, God no longer sees that sin, but he sees the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we have forever been united and hidden and clothed in his righteousness. So let's celebrate these things together.

Now, as we think about the resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead, I mean, this is absolutely a staggering truth. And its implications are equally staggering. And many I know are gathered, even here today, to worship the Lord. And I want to encourage you as we look at his resurrection, because I know that some of you are struggling with significant issues in your life. I know that for a fact, with a number of you. And I'm sure there are many more because we're all sinners living in a fallen world, right? And our sin is bad enough, but everybody else's sin splatters on us too, right? And so, as we look at these passages of scripture this morning, I want those of you that are struggling with health issues or financial issues, you're lonely, you're discouraged, you're depressed, you're whatever it might be, I want you to know that there is hope, there is joy. There is purpose and eternal life with Christ. But that is only available to those who have placed their faith in Christ, and who have been truly, genuinely born again. And then, it is also true for those who not only know him, but walk with Him in obedience, who love him, and who long to have intimate fellowship with Him.

But fundamental to all of this is an understanding of the gospel, which includes an understanding of Christ's death, his burial and his resurrection. Do you realize that according to Second Peter one, beginning of verse three, "His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." Then he adds these admonitions, "Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge and in your knowledge, self control, and in your self control, perseverance and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. And that's my goal this morning, to give you the true knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ." So these virtues will be yours, and they will be increasing. So you can be useful and fruitful, so that you can enjoy all of the magnificent blessings that belong to those who are united to Christ.

Now, let's focus on the resurrection and its implications. Let me remind you of the context, Jesus was buried sometime before sundown on Friday. And then just before sunrise on Sunday, God the Father raised him from the dead. We see this clearly in Romans six, four and Acts 2:32, for example. However, you must realize that Jesus also participated in his own resurrection. John 2:19, he said, "'Destroy this temple, and in three days, I will raise it up.'" And in verse 21, John adds, "He was speaking of the temple of His body." God, the Father gave him that authority. We read about this, in the words of our Lord in John five, verse 21, "'For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes.'" He went on to say the Father "'has given all judgment to the Son.'" And in that familiar passage in John 10 and verse 18, we read the words of Jesus, "'I lay down my life, so that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down and I have authority to take it up again.'"

Now, I want you to listen to Matthew's account of the resurrection, earlier I read Luke's account. Follow along as I read from Matthew 28, beginning in verse one, "Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred, for an angel of the LORD descended from heaven, and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning, and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, 'Do not be afraid; for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, For He has risen, just as he said. Come, see the place where He was lying. Go quickly and tell His disciples that He has risen from the dead; and behold, He is going ahead of you into Galilee, there you will see Him; behold, I have told you.'" My friends, the most irrefutable and compelling evidence that Jesus was indeed who he says he was, and is the son of God, is the fact that he rose from the dead. In fact, we read in Romans one four, "He was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead." The angelic announcement just runs shivers up my back. Can you imagine that, when they said, I invite you to come and see the place where he was lying. Come, see the stone rolled away from the sacred sepulcher. Enter the empty tomb, gaze upon the slab where your dear Savior was lying. The God-Man who was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows acquainted with grief is not there. His work is finished. And now he sets at the right hand of the Father, awaiting that day when he will return in power and great glory.

And dear friends, please hear me, someday every single person who has ever lived will see him. And you will see him either as your risen Savior and Lord, or as your righteous judge, and executioner. I wish to encourage every believer this morning by reminding you have the implications of Christ's resurrection. And this now takes us to our text in First Peter one, and I'm going to focus mainly on verses three through nine. So let me read that section to you and then give you a brief introduction to it. He says there in First Peter one three, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor, at the revelation of Jesus Christ; though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy and expressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls."

I want to give you three reasons to rejoice that comes out of this passage of Scripture? Number one, we rejoice in the promise of our faith. Secondly, the permanence of our faith and finally, the power of our faith. Again, as we go to First Peter one, let me give you a bit of context by looking at the first few verses that he gives us leading up to our text. It says in verse one, "Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who reside as aliens." The term in the original language denotes a pilgrim, a foreigner or a sojourner temporarily living in a strange place that is not one's home; a temporary residence whose laws and culture and everything about it is foreign. A person whose allegiance in love is for another place. The term is "paroikos" and we get the word English word "parish" from that is derived from the Greek term "paroikos." In fact, Calvary Bible Church, you might say, is a parish, an assembly of aliens. And I can say that in a rather comical way, but also in a spiritual way. Sometimes we do look and act like aliens. But to be sure, as believers, we're aliens here. This is not our home. And we all understand that. We are sojourners in this world. And he says he's writing to those who are aliens scattered throughout. This is the Diaspora, the Jews dispersed with their deportation. And through deportation, some of them voluntarily have left for a foreign land, though they longed for their land and for Jerusalem, for their temple. But their supreme longing was for heaven, as it is for each of us.

And he says that they are "scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia." These are all Roman provinces in Asia Minor, a listing that is perhaps in the order of the mail route in which this letter was originally delivered. It's interesting that in his lust to build, the Emperor Nero burned Rome, and he blamed it on Christians, which caused enormous persecution. And so these regions in which this letter is now being circulated, were hostile to Christians. So they suffered persecution, they were very badly in need of encouragement. Even years after Peter had written this letter, a man named Pliny the Younger was put in charge of Bithynia. And he wrote to the Emperor Trajan asking for advice about how to handle these Christians. And they tried to force them to recant their faith and worship their pagan gods. They had their own version of what we're dealing with in our country today, where we have to somehow celebrate all of the wickedness of our culture, and they wanted them to curse Christ and bow down before the emperor himself, the image of the Emperor. Some did, most did not. So, here's what Pliny wrote to the Emperor, quote, "It seems to me to be necessary to get advice. Because many in every age group, every status of life, and both male and female are now in danger, and will be in the future. This plague of superstition has spread over cities, and over the fields and villages. But I believe that its advance can be stopped." Well, obviously, he was wrong. The Lord has promised to build his church.

So, you must understand that our text here this morning is that really the front edge of this great expansion of Christianity, during a day of enormous persecution of both Jews and Gentiles? So, he says to them, the end of verse one, he says that you are those "who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." Remember, he's trying to encourage them; "who are chosen." "Eklektos"-- it's translated "elect." It means "to choose," "to pick," "to select." It denotes those whom God has sovereignly chosen for salvation. In fact, the same term is used in the Septuagint, to translate Deuteronomy 14 two that describes God's election or choosing of Israel. There we read that the Lord has "chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth." So he's reminding these dear persecuted saints that their sovereign God has chosen them. What a wonderful comfort.

He says, "who are chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." Herein is why God chose us--it's because he wanted to. It was his divine prerogative to choose whom he will. He did it, it says, "according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." "Foreknowledge" comes from a Greek term "prognosis." And it can also be translated, foreordained or foreloved or foreknown as it is in verse 20, of this passage. In fact, foreknowledge is paired with predestination in Acts two and verse 23, where we read, "This Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God"-- referring to Christ. So the idea here of foreknowledge is far beyond some naive concept that God merely knew what would happen in the future. Although that is certainly true because he is omniscient, but the term must be understood in terms of covenantal love. In fact, the word "know" in Hebrew often refers to God's covenantal love, bestowed upon his people. So he not only knew who would be his, he chose them, according to his unconditional sovereign election. It was a divine decree, and he's using this to encourage them. And I am unimaginably, unbelievably encouraged that God would choose me, as you should be as well. Romans 8:28 We read that we are "called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew--"proginóskó" in the original language. "He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son." So foreknowledge speaks of predetermined choice, to set his love upon us and forge an intimate and indissoluble bond of love with us. So foreknowledge here must be understood as foreloved as foreordained, not merely for observed, there was never a time when God is in omniscience lacked knowledge, and he had to somehow look down the corridors of time and see who would and who wouldn't believe in Him, and based on that, decide to choose them. That is a heresy. That is untrue.

So Peter begins with these profound words of encouragement, as if to say, folks, I want you to remember that he set his love upon you in eternity past and he drew you unto himself. As Paul said in Romans 9:16, salvation "does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs"-- referring to human effort, "but on God who has mercy." Indeed, it is God who is the author and the finisher of our faith, not us. So the same God that chose us in eternity past, will, by the power of his omnipotent and sovereign love, safely deliver us unto himself in his good time, as he accomplishes his glorious plan of redemption.

Then in verse two, he says that he does this "by the sanctifying work of the Spirit." Sanctifying work, it means he sets us apart, or he consecrates us, not only unto salvation--that is the imputed righteousness and declared righteousness of Christ in our justification--but he also sets us apart under holy living. A process of conforming. Notice the universe to that you may "obey Jesus Christ and be sprinkled with his blood." This is a curious phrase. In Exodus 24, one through eight, we understand what he's referring to here. And there, if we were to go to it, we would see that Moses rose up early in the morning, and he built an altar at the foot of the mountain and offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings unto the Lord. And he took half of the blood and put it in basins, and he took the other half and sprinkled it on the altar. And then we read that he read the book of the covenant to all of the people. And the book of the covenant would include all of the civil and the social, and the ceremonial, moral laws, etc., that God gave him on Mount Sinai. And they agreed, saying, "'All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient!'" And then in verse eight, we read this, "And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, 'This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you, according to all these words.'" So in response to the people's commitment, to be obedient, he officially sealed the treaty with the blood and likewise, you must understand, in the New Covenant, it is the blood of Christ, that seals God's covenant promise to us to forgive us of our sin. His blood was the perfect atonement--the propitiation-- as we mentioned earlier in our time of communion, that satisfied the justice of God, but his blood also seals our commitment to be obedient to Him.

So Peter, my point with all of this is just to simply say, Peter uses all of these magnificent theological themes to bring comfort to the Diaspora. To these aliens, to the suffering saints. Imagine what it would be like if it was us, if we had lost our homes, and maybe we're scrounging around just to find food someplace. Some of our family members have been tortured and killed. My how they needed comfort, as we all do. So he reminds them of the activities of all three members of the Godhead, the Triune God that we worship, our faith is a trinitarian faith and because of the absolute certainty of these astounding realities, he concludes his salutation by saying, "May Grace and peace be yours in fullest measure."

And then is if he couldn't contain himself--it's like he's just bursting to go on with verse three and following, out of all of this abundance--he gives the saints, three reasons to rejoice, all made possible by the resurrection of Christ. First, he tells them to rejoice in the promise of your faith. Now, I want to stop here for a moment. Remember, now, Peter is encouraging them to rejoice, and yet he knows what the Lord has told him, that is soon going to happen to him; that he is going to die by crucifixion. It's amazing, isn't it? How he is encouraging others knowing all of that; John 21:18 through 19 tells you that. Nevertheless, his heart is overflowing with joy. And the reason for this, dear friends is because he is relaxing in God's sovereign purposes for his life, and he's rejoicing in all that will be his in glory. And he also knows what the Lord said in Matthew 5:11, "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say, all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad for your reward in Heaven is great." Don't you love being around people that live in light of eternity? I mean, their joy is absolutely contagious. And it's rooted in the great truths of scripture. And so now he is able to encourage the struggling saints, dealing with life and death issues, calling them to do the same. He's telling them, I want you to live above the fray. I want you to live victoriously, don't lose hope, trust in the Lord. And here's the perspective that you must have.

Now we come to verse three. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ." Because again, the resurrection was a validation that Jesus was the Son of God and that he had conquered sin and Satan and death, and that his resurrection secures our resurrection body. What did Jesus say in John 14, I believe in verse nine or so, "Because I live, you too, will live," right? And it also secures our new spiritual life. We can go to Romans six and we read how that we've been buried with Christ and raised with him. So we too, might walk in newness of life. Goes on to talk how we are no longer slaves to sin, but slaves to righteousness. And this is why Paul said in Philippians, 3:10, that I want to know Christ "and the power of his resurrection." And so he's saying to these dear people, as I'm saying to you, folks, you are the recipients of divine mercy, he has set his love upon you in eternity past, he has given new birth to you, because you and maybe your family, to be born again to this living hope. You're a new creature in Christ, you have a new destiny.

Real practically, if I can put it this way, despite the wickedness that we know is occurring, even on this day, in our country, I'm so thankful to know that this godless world is not my home. And the reason I know that is because I know that according to his great mercy, he has caused me to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. I have a living hope, you have a living hope. The concept here is you have an unshakable confidence confirmed and secured by the Holy Spirit of God that dwells within you. In fact, we read in Romans 15 in verse 13, "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." O dear Christian, we possess a living hope, one that is confirmed and secured, by the historical fact of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. An undeniable proof of the infinite power of God over death. Our hope is an abiding hope, it is an eternal hope, it is a spiritual power that cannot be extinguished by any circumstance in our life, unless we lose perspective. How incredibly glorious, that our God loves us with an everlasting love. And he has infused us with his nature and given us eternal life. As I think about it, what on earth can possibly dim this glorious light and cause, we as believers, to somehow live in gloom, and doom, and darkness? There's only one thing and that is you have lost your perspective of who you are in Christ--what he has done is doing and will do. You know, a man can endure just about anything as long as he has hope. You take away his hope, all is lost. And all too often Christians, perhaps unwittingly, doubt the goodness and faithfulness of God.

I think of James one and verse six, "the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind." Doubt--"diakrinō" in the original language--refers to a defective faith. It speaks of uncertainty of something that is set forward as an object of faith, not sure that all that I'm hoping in will happen. And you know doubt and depression walk hand in hand. That's the opposite of what Peter is trying to communicate here. I think of Bunyan's great spiritual allegory Pilgrims Progress. Remember, Bunyan, who in the allegory, is Christian. He had a friend named Hopeful. Bunyan succumbed to doubt, and so Christian, as the name is, in particular, lost his perspective of who he was in Christ and he was thrown into a dungeon of Doubting Castle, remember that story? That's where Giant Despair and his wife Distrust beat him mercilessly. He became so consumed, so overwhelmed by the problems in his life that he felt like he could go on no more. Feelings of sorrow and helplessness and bitterness and fear, and even anger just consumed him, enveloped him, like a cold, dark fog. He was blinded by self-deception. He was confused by errant doctrine, and he even refused to hear any words of encouragement from his friend, Hopeful. As a result, he felt like the only way out was suicide. And so here's what we read, "Now, when night had come and went Giant Despair and his wife, Distrust, had gone to bed, they began to renew their discussion of the prisoners. The old giant wondered why he couldn't bring the pilgrims to an end, either by his blows or his council. His wife said 'I fear that they live in hopes that someone will come to set them free. Or maybe they hope to find a way to pick the lock and escape. Since you mentioned it, my dear, I will go down and search them in the morning,' the giant replied. But it so happened that on Saturday, at about midnight, the pilgrims began to pray and continued in prayer until almost daybreak. Then Christian, a short time before daylight, became astounded and passionately exclaimed, 'What a fool I am. Here I lie in a stinking dungeon. When I could be walking in complete liberty. I have a key in my pocket called Promise that I'm sure will open any lock in Doubting Castle." And so as we go on to read, Christian pulled out the Key of Hope. He opened up the door and "the door flew open easily," it says.

Folks, this is a great illustration of what Peter was trying to do with those dear saints. And what, by the grace of God I'm trying to do with you, is to encourage you. Because it's so easy to be discouraged in these days. Never forget the promises that are yours in Christ. Because as soon as you do, you will begin to succumb to the deceptions of your own flesh and the lies of the evil one. And you will begin to sink down into the abyss of despair and discouragement. And you will reach out for the anesthetizers of life. Why do you think so many people are looking for drugs and alcohol these days? They have no hope. They're trying to escape. And for the believer, when you succumb to those things, you lock yourself in a dungeon of doubt and depression that will ultimately ruin your life, and it will ruin your testimony.

Notice Peter goes on further to describe the promise of our faith. He says in verse four, "to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you." Now as children, we have a family inheritance that awaits us, at least most people do. And the term "inheritance" here--"klēros" in the original language, literally means a portion of the lot. It's an allotment, especially according to the terms of will. In fact, in Colossians, one and verse five, Paul says that we have this "hope laid up for us in heaven." In other words, it's reserved for us. Verse 12, believers, he says, will please God when they are joyfully, quote, "giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light." Which includes all of the blessings of salvation.

By the way, I hope you notice we did not qualify ourselves by our own personal righteousness, rather solely because of his grace, he qualified us when we trust in Christ and his atoning sacrifice on our behalf. Verse 13, of Colossians, one goes on to say, "For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." Now, folks, I want you to let this sink in. Do you realize that if you belong to Christ, you have been allotted a portion of God's kingdom and it is an inheritance that is currently reserved for you with your name on it in heaven? Let that sink in. This is called a portion of the lot. Now you say, well, what will this include? Well, we're not really sure. A little hint maybe in Deuteronomy 15 four we read, "For the Lord will greatly bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance." So our inheritance will probably include some kind of geographical territory in the cosmos. In this case, it was a land flowing with milk and honey, a place of magnificent plants and livestock and water and houses, to make life full and enjoyable, to bring glory to God; a place where we could live that would just evoke even more glory, and worship and praise. Along with this, it was a place of responsibility, and a privilege to care and give oversight to what God has given us, as each family worshipped the Lord by having their dominion over the earth and subduing it for the glory of God. So somehow, I think it's safe to say that our portion of the lot will reflect some elements of all of this. But certainly, whatever it will be, it will be a possession of unimaginable glory and infinite delight.

And herein again is the reason to rejoice. That's the promise of our faith. Secondly, notice how we are to rejoice in the permanence of our faith. In verse four, he says that it "is imperishable"-- unending, everlasting, permanent. The term was used even to describe how a place cannot be ravaged by invading armies. Have you ever seen anyone able to steal the Christians joy and hope? Nobody can do that unless you allow that. And so this is great comfort to these people who have been ravaged, whose homes and possessions have been plundered by those who hate them, but not so in the permanent inheritance. He says also, it will be "undefiled." Meaning unstained by sin, uncontaminated by any form of evil, and "will not fade away." In other words, it will never decay, it will never cease to exist.

And if that isn't wonderful enough, he goes on in verse five, and says, "who are protected by the power of God." Protected here in the original was a military term describing a soldier that is standing guard over a very important object. And grammatically, because it's in the present tense, it emphasizes that this is a never ending, ongoing protection for indeed there's a constant struggle for our souls in the spirit realm; but we don't have to be afraid, because our souls, our inheritance, are constantly guarded by the power of God. You say, well, what about that person that was saved, and then they apostatize; they renounced their faith, they renounce their inheritance, they exercise their free will? What I would say is what the scripture says, they were never born again. No person who's truly been born again, would ever want to do such a thing, would never want to exercise their will to do such a thing. Both the child of God and his inheritance are protected by the power of God.

Again, verse five, it says, "through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." I want you to remember that even our faith is empowered by God, is it not? Do you realize that? Romans eight, I mean, Romans two beginning of verse eight, "For by grace, you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast." And I might add that as we look at Scripture, enduring faith is certain evidence that we possess genuine faith. That's why we read, for example, in Hebrews three and verse 14, "For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end" and that's the validation of genuine faith. And this salvation, he says, "is ready to be revealed in the last time." Again, grammatically here, and even in the English, we can see this he's saying that our salvation is completely prepared and available and awaiting the day when our pilgrimage on Earth is over, and God calls us home.

Therefore, notice what he says in verse six, "In this you greatly rejoice." Folks, I pray that this is true for you. So not only do we rejoice in the promise of our faith and the permanence of it, but finally, in the power of our faith. Verses six and seven. "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found," not might be, but "may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." We can all attest to the fact that the great trials that come into our life are like fire that burns away impurity in our life. And as we look at these two verses, there's seven things that we learn about trials.

Let me just give them to you; I don't have them written out for you. I want to close with these thoughts. We see that trials cannot eclipse Christian joy; we see that trials only last a little while; we see that trials are a necessary part of God's purposes; we see that trials do cause distress, that trials do come in various forms, that trials are fiery tests that validate true saving faith that will never perish. And finally, trials result in praise and glory and honor from Christ Himself.

Beloved, please know that God tempers the steel of our faith in the fires of adversity, and he forges it on the anvil of affliction. And so when they come, not if but when they come, we have to stand on the great theological promises that God has given us in His Word. And O child of God, ours is a powerful faith that can endure all of this. And as a result, we can be jubilant, we can be thankful, we can rejoice, knowing that King Jesus is going to return and reveal himself.

And he says this in verses eight and nine, he says, "Though you have not seen Him, you love Him, though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls." This is why Paul would say in Philippians, four, four, "Rejoice in the Lord always. And again, I say, rejoice." And again, I say, that's the point. Just keep on rejoicing. Yeah, life in this fallen world stinks. Yeah, there are idiotic demonic types of things that our president and our government are going to try to force upon us. Welcome to a fallen world. The whole world lies in the lap of the evil one. Get used to it. That's just how it is. But this isn't our home. And ultimately, our God reigns. He rules and he will redeem us and transport us out of this place into his glory. Oh, but pastor, you just don't understand my situation. Oh, my problems are so great, it's far more bleak than you could ever imagine. So I think I'm quite justified in my despair. No, you're not. No, you're not. Friends, you've lost your perspective. You've forgotten about the object and the outcome of your faith

Great 19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon, put it this way, "The cure for care is joy in the Lord. No, my brother, you will not be able to keep on with your fretfulness. No, my sister, you will not be able to weary yourself any longer with your anxieties. If the Lord will but fill you with His joy, than being satisfied with your God, yea, more than satisfied, overflowing with delight in Him, you will say to yourself," and here he quotes the psalmist, "Why art Thou cast down on my soul and why art Thou disquieted in me. Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance." Then he went on to say, "What is there on earth that is worth fretting for even for five minutes. If one could gain an imperial crown by a day of care, it would be too great an expense for a thing, which would bring more care with it. Therefore, let us be thankful. Let us be joyful in the Lord. I count it one of the wisest things, that by rejoicing in the Lord we commence our heaven here below. It is possible so to do. It is profitable, so to do. And we are commanded, so to do."

So folks, let me leave you with this challenge. The next time you find yourself in one of your pity parties. The next time you're laying on the couch with your thumb in your mouth whining about how bad life is. The next time you're moping around, like little Eeyore, that pitiful, forlorn little donkey in Winnie the Pooh. The next time your flesh lies to you and says, "it's all over, all is lost,” I want you to rejoice in the promise of your faith, in the permanence of your faith, and in the power of your faith. Because you have an inheritance if you are in Christ, that is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven, and that inheritance is protected by the power of God, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, and will raise you from the dead. Let's pray.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word. They penetrate our soul like nothing else, because our soul has been softened and prepared, indeed transformed by the power of your Spirit. Lord, if there be one, within the sound of my voice that knows nothing of what it means to be in an intimate, loving, saving, transforming relationship with the Lord Jesus, I pray that you will bring such conviction to their heart that they will repent this day and experience the new birth, the miracle of the new birth in Christ, that they too might have the hope of resurrection. Thank you. We praise you in Jesus name and for his sake. Amen..

....(audio/transcription not available)...Corinthians chapter six. We will continue our verse-by-verse exposition of this epistle. And this morning we will be in verse 14 and go through chapter seven and verse one. And I've entitled my discourse to you "The Damning Consequences of Being Unequally Yoked." Follow along as I read the Word of God to you, Second Corinthians chapter six, beginning in verse 14. "Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever? Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, 'I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,' says the Lord. 'AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me,' says the Lord Almighty. Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness, in the fear of God."

I have experienced a progressive alienation, especially over the last year, from some of my distant family members and friends and even other pastors; perhaps you have experienced the same thing. In fact, recently, a Christian friend felt he needed to confront me on my stand against the whole social justice movement, the social justice gospel. He rebuked me for not being what he called woke, and you're familiar probably with that term. He lectured me on the fact that I was blind to systemic racism, that I was blind to my white privilege, that I was blind to the needs of others to be somehow compensated for the way they have been abused over the years. He rebuked me for denouncing Black Lives Matter as racist, Neo Marxist, frankly, a satanic group. And as he proceeded and kind of gained steam, I finally said, "Brother, we need to stop here. Because I find everything that you have just said utterly reprehensible, and blasphemous. It is contrary to the Word of God, it is certainly a misrepresentation of what I believe, and with all due respect, I want to hear no more of this." And then I took him to this passage. Friends, this is a very important passage of Scripture, very instructive.

Obviously, there are cultural issues that are dividing our country today. And even dividing people in the church. To be sure, truth and error cannot coexist. As we are going to see there can be no partnership between righteousness and lawlessness; light and darkness cannot coexist. There is there is no harmony between Christ and Satan. And whenever the church embraces the things of the world, Christ is dishonored; Satan is exalted. And the church is weakened and divided. Now to be sure, America is in an ideological civil war right now that threatens the very survival of our country. Conservatives believe in individualism and personal responsibility. They believe in limited government, that's kind of at the heart of capitalism. Whereas liberals believe in a socially owned economy that requires broad government control to promote egalitarianism, which is really at the heart of democratic socialism that is gaining so much steam these days. They believe that individualism, that is inherent in capitalism, empowers the rich to oppress the poor. They believe that a white, patriarchal society, where white men enjoy power and privilege has disenfranchised other people. Now, here's the problem with this, our country was founded on Judeo Christian ethics that are inscribed in the Constitution of the United States. And since the Constitution holds sacred the doctrine of individualism that ensures, for example, private rights, and ownership to citizens, like you would read in the Fifth Amendment. This means that biblical Christianity is considered oppressive. In a current book that I'm writing entitled "Why America hates Biblical Christianity" I say this, quote, "The democratic socialists envision an egalitarian utopia that requires all social, gender, economic and political inequities to be eradicated. Practically speaking, this means the government must be in charge of defining what is fair and unfair. The government must determine what is morally and socially acceptable, then the government must equally distribute wealth opportunities, outcomes and privileges for the citizens; a subjective and arbitrary system of justice based solely upon the moral authority of man, not God. Obviously, Republicans or capitalists, and Christians believe this political ideology will not only infringe upon the rights of those the state deems morally and socially unacceptable and oppressive, it will also continue an aggressive, cancel culture and legal campaign to silence and eradicate all who oppose them. Especially those people who oppose a woman's right to dismember her inconvenient baby in her womb. Those who find the LGBTQ agenda morally reprehensible and those who believe gender is based upon biology, rather than personal preference."

Of course, Jesus fought for none of this. None of this has anything to do with the gospel. Who would have thought that a nation founded on Judeo Christian ethics would stray so far that by the year 2020, as some research indicates, only 6% of Americans hold a biblical worldview? And here we are. And what is even more unimaginable is that many Christian churches not only support many of the things that I've just described but are co-conspirators with them. And it's heartbreaking to me. Oh child of God, please understand, Satan is far more lethal when he joins the church than when he attacks it. This is at the heart of the text that we have before us this morning. Remember the context, Paul is defending his apostolic authority and his character against the scurrilous, slanderous attacks of false teachers that had infiltrated the church. They were wolves in sheep's clothing. They were predators in pulpits. They were teaching a mixture of Jewish legalism and pagan mysticism. And frankly, we have similar things today. We have legalists and sacramentalists and pragmatists and health/wealth charlatans and all kinds of other characters that are out there in churches. But theirs was a very appealing message to the very immature believers there in the church of Corinth; many of them still caught up in the worldly ways that they had been saved from. In fact, if you were to take the most depraved parts of the most immoral cities around the world and mix them together, you would have Corinth. Imagine coming out of that kind of culture, all the baggage that you would have that you would bring into the church.

They had temple prostitutes that roamed the streets at night. The sexually transmitted diseases were rampant, especially syphilis. Idol worship was a part of their trade guilds and their workplace environment--you think we have canceled culture today, it's nothing compared to what they had back then. But friends, this passage of Scripture is not demanding, that we as believers, be separated from ungodly people in the world and not have any social contact with them. That's not what this is about. However, I might add that there are other passages that warn us against not being conformed to this world like we would read in Romans 12 two. James four and verse four tells us that "friendship with the world is hostility toward God. Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world, makes himself an enemy of God." And we read likewise, in First John two beginning in verse 15, "Do not love the world nor the things of the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." That said, we must remember that Jesus was "a friend of tax collectors and sinners," Luke 7:34. We must remember that we have a great commission to go into all the "world." So the people that are opposed to God, that are opposed to us, warrant maybe our pity, but they do not deserve our contempt. We should love them for the sake of the gospel.

You will recall in First Corinthians five beginning in verse nine, Paul says, "I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people." "Associate" means to keep intimate close company with--I don't want you to keep intimate close company with immoral people--"I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world." Evidently, some must have broken off all contact with unbelievers; he's not advocating that. Verse 11, "But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolatry, or a reviler"--which means an angry verbally abusive person--"or a drunkard or a swindler--not to even eat with such a one." By the way, that's not a representative list. That's not the intention here. We read, for example, in Second Corinthians three that we're not to associate with people that are lazy people that are unteachable, Titus 3:10, tells us that we are to reject a "hairetikos"--a factious man, and so forth. But he goes on in verse 12 of First Corinthians five and says, "For what have I to do with judging outsiders?" And the point is nothing. I mean, we evangelize the lost, we don't judge them for the purpose of maintaining purity in the church. They're not part of the church. He goes on to say, "Do you not judge those who are within the church?" Well, of course we do. You simply cannot allow persistent unrepentant patterns of sin and heresy to infect the church. Verse 13, he says, "But those who are outside, God judges. And then he adds this, "REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES." Dear ones, like an enemy spy embedded in a military, or like a terrorist living in your neighborhood, there is nothing more dangerous in a church than a person that holds beliefs that are contrary to the Word and to the will of God. There's nothing more dangerous than a person who calls Jesus "Lord", but refuses to do what he says. In fact, Jesus said that in Luke 6:46 "'Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?'" Tolerating this kind of unrepentant sin in a church will actually cause three things to happen. First of all, when you tolerate these things, it will cause the church to grow like crazy. Secondly, it will cause it to become more like the world and finally it will cause that church to lose its power and to lose blessing. Ichabod will be written across its doorway--the glory has departed.

And here Paul helps us see the damning consequences of being unequally yoked. Ignoring the Lord's commands will betray five frightening characteristics. Let me give them to you, and then we'll discuss them. It will betray a depraved mind, a dead faith, a defiant heart, a divisive spirit and a defiling religion. Once again, this is a very instructive, very important passage of scripture and I hope the simple outline will help you to grasp the great truths here in.

Notice again in verse 14, he says, "Do not be bound together with unbelievers." You see, Paul understands that unless the people in Corinth make a clean break from the false teachers attacking him and his inspired message, there will be no reconciliation; he understands that. "Bound together," translates a participial verb, "heterozygeo" which means "to be unequally yoked"; that's where we get that term. It could be translated "Do not be harnessed in an alien yoke with unbelievers." And Paul, no doubt, drew his analogy from Deuteronomy 22:10, where we read, "You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey together." Obviously, such a mismatch of disparate species would be disastrous. Their temperament, their natural instincts, their gait, everything about their physiology would prevent them from working together.

I have to smile as a former horseman. I know the difference between what cattle can do, what horses can do; what mules can do and what donkeys can do. And believe me, you do not want to hitch them up together, or you will have a Chinese rodeo. Moreover, according to the dietary laws, the ox was considered a clean animal, but the donkey was unclean. Very interesting, the distinctions between that which was considered clean and unclean, was God's way of teaching great spiritual lessons with respect to being set apart from those things that God rejects. That which was clean was considered holy or set apart unto the Lord and therefore were worthy of God's blessing. That which was unclean symbolizes a state or a condition of being unclean, unholy, separated from God. I suppose the unclean donkey is a fitting mascot for the Democratic Party that embraces virtually everything that God abhors. So, Paul's point is simple, believers and unbelievers are two radically different species. And any intimate religious association between them is impossible. So do not be bound together with unbelievers in the spiritual religious realm, as you will see.

Now Satan wants just the opposite, right? How often do we see the little "coexist" bumper sticker on cars? I cringe every time I see that. And I pray for the poor fool who proudly affirms such deception. Again, Satan loves to join a church, he loves to fill it with unbelievers who have no discernment, who considers the things of the Spirit to be foolishness, who cannot understand them, because he's spiritually appraised. And then a church has no discernment, and they begin to believe anything and everything.

Politically and biblically speaking, we are to separate, or to refuse to have intimate fellowship and collaboration with believers essentially on two things, the gospel and the authority of Scripture, to put it real simply. Not personal preferences that have no legitimate basis in Scripture. We don't break fellowship with believers because they don't use the version of the Bible that we do or because they wear different clothes or they, I don't know, they have a different style of music, or they have tattoos or they drink wine or all of those types of things. We separate on matters pertaining to the purity of the gospel, and the authority of the inspired, infallible word of God. This is why I will not join in the local ministerial alliance. This is why I will not be a part of any of the ecumenical associations--I get these things all the time wanting me to be a part of those things. Because too many of the people in those organizations preach a false gospel and they have no respect for the authority of Scripture. I'm not going to join in with lesbian pastors and women pastors and people that embrace all of these crazy things that are out there. This is why evangelicalism frankly, today, is kind of an amorphous amalgam of Christians in name only. In fact, I was reading a recent article by John MacArthur, "Is the Evangelical Movement Really Evangelical?" I'll give you a little sample he writes, quote, "Recent surveys reveal that a large percentage of people who self-identify as evangelical do not understand even the most basic principles of gospel truth. In a recent poll of self-styled evangelicals, 52% said they reject the concept of absolute truth. 61% do not read the Bible daily. 75% believe people are basically good. 48% believe salvation can be earned by good works. 44% believe the Bible does not condemn abortion. 43% believed Jesus may have sinned. 78% believed Jesus is the first being created by God. 46% believed the Holy Spirit is a force rather than a person. 40% believe lying is morally acceptable in certain circumstances. 34% accept same sex marriage as consistent with biblical teaching. And 26% reject Scripture as God's word. And 50% say church attendance is not necessary." Folks, we're not to be bound together with people that believe those kinds of things. We can be kind to them, cordial to them, but we're certainly not going to pursue spiritual ends with them. And to do so makes a person a co-conspirator with them. Moreover, it provides them with a false assurance that somehow all is well between them and God, when in fact it is not.

We're not to join together with unbelievers in any kind of a spiritual cause, or union, by the way, including marriage. Marriage is to be a sacred covenant, one that God ordained to illustrate God's covenantal love for his bridal church. And you're gonna marry somebody that rejects Christ? To do so will result in disaster and you'll forfeit God's blessing and initiate his chastening. So such disobedience betrays these five frightening characteristics. Let's look at them for a moment here this morning.

First of all, to embrace these things, to ignore what God has commanded in this regard, betrays number one, a depraved mind. And I'm using this in the sense that it was used in Romans 1:28. You will recall there, Paul describes those that do "not see fit to acknowledge God" are given over to a "depraved mind to do those things that are not proper." "Depraved"--"adokimos" in the original language--means "worthless," it means "irrational." Morally reprehensible, despicable. And here's why I would say that, and Paul gives us a series of questions here to prove his point. First of all, in verse 14, he says, "For what partnership," literally what fellowship, "have righteousness and lawlessness?" Obviously, the answer is none. They are opposites. Righteousness marks the heart and the life of a believer. Lawlessness is the mark of an unbeliever. God has imputed his righteousness to believers. We see this in the new nature of a believer. First John three beginning in verse four, "Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness." He goes on to say, "Little children, make sure no one deceives you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil; and the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil. No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he's born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God." And Paul tells us in Romans chapter six and verse 19, that unbelievers are "slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness." And we know that the unbeliever will one day stand before the Lord Jesus Christ and hear that dreadful sentence "Depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness," Matthew 7:23.

So, the question is, why would anyone want to participate in a spiritual endeavor to honor God, when that person, who in truth, rejects him and is destined to eternal wrath? What kind of depraved mind even considers that kind of thing? Secondly, he asked another question, "or what fellowship has light with darkness?" I mean, think about it, light is the absence of darkness, and darkness is the absence of light, the two cannot coexist. Light in Scripture is always a metaphor, for truth, and for holiness. In fact, in John 8:12, Jesus said, "'I am the,'" what? "'The light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in darkness but will have the Light of life." And we read in First Thessalonians five, beginning of verse five, we are "sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do but let us be alert and sober." And we know that our eternal destiny will be the ineffable and glorious light of heaven, where, according to Revelation 22, verse five, "there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever."

Now, contrast that with darkness, a metaphor that describes evil and deception, and Satan's kingdom of darkness. We see this all through Scripture. We know that Satan, at times, will disguise himself as an angel of light to deceive people in churches and seminaries and Bible colleges and Bible universities, and every other influential world system that he controls. Jesus said, in Luke 22:53, that Satan has the power of darkness. Why would you want to be a part of somebody that's a part of that. Ephesians 6:12, "Our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers against the world forces of this darkness." And tragically, we know that sinners love darkness, rather than light. John 3:19, we read, "This as the judgment, that the Light has come into the world. And men love the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his the deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."

I think of Paul who in Acts 26, in verse 18, was sent by God, quote, "to open their eyes, “referring to the Gentiles, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me." So, what Paul is saying is, really are you going to dialogue with other faiths that reject Christ, that reject his Word? Are you going to join together in an interfaith initiatives for global peace and climate change and social justice and same sex marriage and transgender rights and radical feminism and all of these kinds of things? Really, you're going to do that? We're told in Ephesians 5:11, "Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them."

He asks another question, number three in verse 15, "Or what harmony has Christ with Belial?" "Symphonesis"-- harmony; it means "agreement." We get our English word "symphony" from that word. "What harmony has Christ with Belial?" Belial was an ancient word for Satan. I mean we serve Christ, we're not part of Satan's kingdom, we've been delivered from that. It's an opposing kingdom. Colossians 1:13, "He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." Causing us to, according to Acts 26:18, "turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God." And my friend, I would ask you this morning, "to which kingdom do you belong?" To the kingdom that is accessed by repented faith in the living Christ, or to the kingdom of Satan that opposes God and seeks your eternal destruction? Don't be deceived. One day, every single person in here, every single person who has ever lived, will bow before the Lord Jesus Christ and will do so either in humble adoration or defiant trepidation. One or the other. If you reject Christ, you will hear him say "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master," Matthew 25:22. But if not, you will hear him say throw out "the worthless slave into the outer darkness. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." And my friend, your response to the King's provision of saving grace, set forth in the gospel, will determine your eternal destiny.

He asked the fourth question in verse 15. "Or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?" You've probably heard what I've heard many times, "you Christians are from another planet." You ever heard that? Or something along that line? And you know, at some level, they're really right. I always laugh when I hear that. Jesus said in John 17:14, "'they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.'" And boy, the more you are around ungodly people, the more you realize you're just a freak. You're an alien. I just don't belong here. Jesus said in John 15:19, "'If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you." So to be unequally yoked with an unbeliever in a spiritual enterprise to honor God, betrays a depraved and irrational mind. God asked apostate Israel in Amos three three "Can two walk together unless they are agreed?" And of course they can't.

But not only does this betray a depraved mind, but secondly, a dead faith. Notice verse 16, "Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? We are the temple of the living God; just as God said, 'I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.'"

Here Paul harkens back to the numerous examples of Israel mixing pagan, idolatrous practices with the worship of the one true and living God. And sometimes they even did this inside the temple, which is inconceivable. In fact, the kings of Judah, you will recall, had erected, according to Jeremiah 7:31, "the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom." That is an East West Valley at the south end of Jerusalem. The term "Topheth" comes from the Hebrew word "tof", which means drum. It was in that valley of Hinnom, where the ancient Israelites would sacrifice their children to the idol of Molech, by throwing them alive into the fire, and the drums would be pounded loudly to drown out their screams. In Jesus' day, the Valley of Hinnom was also called Gehenna. A garbage dump where fires burned continually, and it was a place of massacre and now a place of perpetual flames that became a symbol of the eternal fires of hell. In fact, Jesus described it in Matthew 5:22 as "pyrho geenna" which means fiery hell. Dear Christian, this is where spiritual compromise and being unequally yoked will take you. This is why we have to guard it in our in our lives, in our heart, in our families, in our church. As believers, we are the temple of the living God. Think about that. He has redeemed us that he might inhabit us; the triune Godhead dwells within us. Anyone wishing to bring some blasphemous counterfeit into God's sanctuary betrays a dead faith that cannot save.

Thirdly betrays a defiant heart. Verse 17, he says, "Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,' says the Lord. AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN.'" In other words, make a break from all that defiles the temple of the living God; all of the false religious beliefs; all of the unclean false teaching described in the New Testament, doctrines of demons. I know of churches that have embraced, for example, evangelical pragmatism, this idea that you've got to become more like the world in order to win it. If they like us, maybe they'll like Jesus. So they removed everything that spiritually dead sinners that walk in the futility of their mind that are darkened in their understanding, might find defensive. They present some phony gospel that will appeal to everybody. They avoid sound biblical doctrine. They think it's too divisive. They dumb everything down to a point where people don't know anything; they have no spiritual discernment. They never discipline sin and as a result, they become nothing more than a religious country club. You know, people today are empty. We see this so often, we're seeing it more and more. People are crying out for truth. They listen to the media, and even to many of the politicians and they know they're being lied to. We are drowning in an ocean of deception. Here, tickling preachers have banished their congregations to an island of spiritual infancy at best or spiritual bankruptcy at worst. Because they won't preach the truth. Oh, if you do that people are gonna get mad and leave your church, let them leave. Give them the truth of the gospel. Don't be ashamed of the gospel. It is the power of God unto salvation. I talked with a prominent teacher in a large evangelical church just recently. I was fascinated that he did not understand the phrase, "the doctrines of grace." Didn't know what I was talking about. And he also admitted that he knew nothing of the Protestant Reformation. And he also believed that Roman Catholicism and Mormonism are Christian denominations. Dear child of God, avoid being in close fellowship with these kinds of people. As nice and as friendly as they might be. They are to true believers and to the church. What Round Up is to grass--a little bit will make you sick and a lot of them will kill it. It will kill a church; it will kill your family. Avoid reading their Facebook pages, unfriend them. I think I know what that means, I'm not a Facebook person, but I think that's kind of a Christian cancel culture, right? You can punch a little button and unfriend them. You don't have to put that poison in before you. I've read some things...Nancy will call me, "Honey, you gotta read this thing. Okay, what is it? She says, "look what's so and so said." And I read this godless venom and we both just kind of roll our eyes. Can you believe that person goes to such and such a church? Can you believe this person calls Jesus Lord? Incomprehensible.

By the way, Be especially careful interacting with apostates. Their lies are like an opiate that clouds the mind and corrupts the soul. In fact, Jude tells us to handle these type of people with "much apprehension lest you be contaminated by them." We've all been around some notorious false teachers before. Jude 23 says "snatching them out of the fire; and on some have mercy with fear." But he says "hating even the garment polluted by the flesh." They are a contaminating influence. That's the point. By the way, false teachers are demonic, you must understand that they are demonic. But their counterfeit truths are both brilliant, and compelling to the naive and to the ignorant. And often they know error better than Christians know truth. Dear church family, young people in particular, guard your heart and your mind with the truth of the Word of God. Fill your heart and your mind with God's wisdom, not man's wisdom, Peter says in First Peter 1:14, "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written, 'YOU SHALL BE HOLY, FOR I AM HOLY.'" And folks, refusing to come out and be separate from these kinds of people, even if they're in your family puts you in a place of contamination and pollution, and it betrays a defiant heart. God has told you not to do that. Do you really think you're somehow excluded from that command, because of your unique situation?

Number four, it betrays a divisive spirit when you do this, notice, verse 17, God says, "'And I will welcome you.'" The term, "eisdechomai" in the original language; it carries the idea of finding favor from God as a result of obedience to His command; to be separate from phony worshipers in the church. That's the context here. To disobey, therefore, betrays the divisive spirit. It betrays a person that says, you know, God, this doesn't really apply to me. I'm not really worried about being cut off from intimate fellowship and blessing that you would like to lavish upon me. So I'll kind of do my own thing. But he says, "I will welcome you. And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to Me,' says, the Lord Almighty." You know, I am sure I speak for all of you, there is nothing I wouldn't do for my children and for my grandchildren. I love them, I would give my life, just like this, for them. There is nothing that would cause me to not love them. But boy, there are things that even our children can do that can break fellowship.

Paul was probably drawing his analogy here from God's unconditional covenant with David in Second Samuel seven. You remember there he made an irrevocable pledge, that a king from the line of David would rule forever--that will be fulfilled ultimately in his millennial kingdom. We read about this in Ezekiel 37, and Zechariah 14 and Revelation 19. And then Second Samuel seven, verse 14, God speaks of a coming descendant of David, and he says the same phrase, "'I will be a father to him and he will be a son to me.'" Same phrase that Paul uses here First Corinthians 6:18. Now, the immediate reference was Solomon, although the ultimate reference is the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. But indeed, we know that when Solomon obeyed God, and remained separate from their idolatrous practices of the culture, God blessed him, but when he disobeyed, God judged him. That's why in the last half of Second Samuel 7:14, we read, "When he commits iniquity, I will correct him with the rod of men and the strokes of the sons of men."

And you will probably remember the story of Solomon. Solomon was supposed to be the wisest man, and I'm sure he was, but he still had an evil streak in him. And he disregarded God's command. He had a divisive spirit; he preferred his own pleasure over God's blessing. So he decided to have fellowship with idolaters and God judged him severely. We read about this in First Kings chapter 11. He says, "Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, 'You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods.'" And then we read this, “Solomon held fast to these in love." He had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines and his wives turned his heart away. For when Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away after other gods; and his heart was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians and after Milcom the detestable idol of the Ammonites. Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and did not follow the LORD fully, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable idol of Moab, on the mountain which is east of Jerusalem. And for Molech the detestable idol of the sons of Ammon." I described that to you with some of their child sacrifices. The text goes on to say this, "also he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and sacrificed to their gods. Now, the LORD was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not observe what the Lord had commanded. So the Lord said to Solomon, 'Because you have done this, and you have not kept My commandment and My statutes, which I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you, and will give it to your servant.'" Beloved, this is what happens when you ignore what God has commanded. This is what Paul is saying here, Second Corinthians 6:18, that he wants intimate fellowship with us. He wants to bless us, but if you spurn his commandment, and you refuse to separate yourselves from those who are even a part of the church who call themselves Christians, who believe things that are an abomination to the living God, you will forfeit blessing in your life and God will chasten you. And we see evidence of this everywhere today.

Well, you notice he closes this passionate section of admonitions by saying, chapter seven verse one, "Therefore having these promises." What promise? What's he referring to? Well, those that he just described in chapter six, verses 16, through 18..."THAT I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; I WILL BE THEIR GOD AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE...I will welcome you. I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me." By the way, all of you, who know and love Christ, and who walk with Him in obedience, understand the soul satisfying joy, that exhilarating reality of the presence of the living God within your soul. Because you're walking in harmony with Him, you're being obedient to Him. And it's for this reason he tells them, "Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,' says the Lord." Those are the promises.

It not only betrays a depraved mind, a dead faith, a defiant heart and a divisive spirit, but finally, a defiling religion. Any religious alliance with unbelievers is an insult to the Most High God, because it defiles. The word "defile" means "to corrupt," "to pollute." It defiles you, and it defiles your family, and it defiles your church and as a result, you forfeit God's blessing. Worse yet, you've sacrificed the joy and the power of having an intimate communion with God. O dear Christian, come out and be separate from professing Christians who advocate things that are unbiblical. Yes, love them, be kind to them, present truth to them. But don't join in with them. Don't be a part of their church. Don't sit under their teaching. Don't read their books, don't read their blogs. Again, separate on the purity of the gospel and the authority of Scripture. Because to embrace these things, or have close fellowship with those who do, betrays a defiling religion, that is frankly a stench in the nostrils of God.

"Therefore, having these promises," he's going to bless us and those who fail to take this seriously know little of the joy of his presence in their life because they grieve the Spirit of God, they quench the Spirit of God in their life. And that begins to manifest itself in how they live their life. They begin to have a secret life that is morally reprehensible to God. Their marriage, reversed to kind of a roommate status, at best, divorce at worst. Their children do not walk with the Lord because they get no shepherding in the home, and on and on it goes. They have chosen division over unity. They have chosen estrangement over fellowship, and how ungrateful for we as believers to embrace these kinds of things that God finds have abhorrent. And therefore, in essence, say, "God, thanks for all the wonderful things that you've done in my life and all of the things that you want to do, but you know what, this is really important to me. I really like these people. I don't want to cause any disunity. I don't want to rock the boat. I mean, after all, we all need to get we want to love everybody, right? So we just need to be tolerant here." No, dear friends, you've got to be careful with that. We need to be separate. We don't need to be unequally yoked with ungodly hypocrites.

"Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves." "Ourselves" is a reflexive pronoun, we call it in Greek grammar, and in this context, it acknowledges God is the one who does the cleansing. Nevertheless, it also reveals that we, as believers, are required to put forth effort. "Let us go cleanse ourselves from all defilement of," notice, "flesh, and spirit." In other words, let's be clean on the inside and on the outside, any of us can put on a good show but God sees the heart. Then he says, "perfecting,"--could be translated "completing" or "finishing"--"holiness in the fear of God." In other words, we do all of these things because we have a reverential awe of his glorious person and work in our life. Maurice Roberts said, quote, "If society is to be awakened one day from its deep slumber, it will only be done by Christians who have first woken up themselves to the full splendor of their privilege, and who have taken seriously the call to live holy and entirely for God."

Well, dear friends, providence has placed these truths before you. The question now is, what will you do with them? What will you do with them? I challenge you to take these things seriously. May I plead with you to take these things seriously. I have lived long enough and worked so many hours with so many people. I know, horror stories, by the 1000s, of what happens to people who ignore what God has said here. Spiritual, doctrinal compromise is a slippery slope. And once you go too far, the gravity of evil will overpower you and pull you into a life of untold misery. And so because of my love for you and my love for the Word of God, I warn you, this is the damning consequence of being unequally yoked. But for those who are willing to cleanse themselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit and perfect holiness in the fear of God, the outcome is very different. That person will be marked by the fruits of the Spirit. And I'm so thankful that I can honestly say, what I have preached today is basically preaching to the choir, because you are these people, and I rejoice that you love the truths of the Word of God and you're willing to separate yourselves from things that are an abomination to Him. May God's Spirit plant these truths deep within your heart and cause them to bear much fruit for the glory of Christ Jesus, our Savior and our coming King. Amen. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for your Word, it speaks so practically to us. But I plead with you that by the power of your Spirit, you will help us to live out these great truths. I pray as Paul did that, you will grant us according to the riches of your glory to be strengthened with power, through your Spirit in the inner man so that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith. And then each of us being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge that we may be filled up to all the fullness of God. I pray that you will grant all these things in Jesus name.

It's thrilling to be up here and hear your voices coming this way. What a joy it is to sing the songs of redemption, because of what Christ has done in us. Will you take your Bibles and turn to Second Corinthians chapter six. We continue to make our way through this epistle; we are going to be looking at verses 11 through 13. And then jump over to chapter seven in verses two through four. These verses are actually bookends if you will, that support the intervening section and Second Corinthians six beginning in verse 14 through chapter seven and verse one. And in that intervening section, Paul will be exhorting believers to not be bound together with unbelievers in any kind of religious enterprise or event and so forth a strong warning against ecumenism, where tolerance is preferred over truth. And, of course, the motivation for this stern warning is going to be his great love for Christ and for all who belong to Christ, though some had spurned his love, as you may recall. So let me read the passage and then we will look at it closely and see what the Spirit of God has for us this morning. Second Corinthians six beginning in verse 11, Paul says, "Our mouth has spoken freely to you, oh, Corinthians, our heart is opened wide. You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections. Now in a like exchange--I speak as to children--open wide to us also." And then in chapter seven and verse two, the other bookend he says, "Make room for us in your hearts; we wronged no one, we corrupted no one, we took advantage of no one. I do not speak to condemn you, for I have said before that you are in our hearts to die together and to live together. Great is my confidence in you; great is my boasting on your behalf. I am filled with comfort; I'm overflowing with joy in all our affliction."

Now once again, remember the context. Paul is defending his apostolic authority and the message of the gospel against the the scurrilous attacks of the false teachers that are doing everything they can to undermine him and to gain a following within the church. Satan has commissioned basically some phonies to attack the apostle Paul, they've come into the church. In fact, the ringleader is probably the thorn in the flesh that Paul mentions; they were vicious wolves in sheep's clothing. In other words, they were dressed up, so to speak, as true shepherds. They looked like real pastors. They talked like them. They talked as though they were messengers from God. And many sheep began to follow them, but they were vicious predators. They were phony believers who were superficially attached to the church, as often happens, and they saw how that becoming part of the church they could gain some recognition, gain some power, make a little money. And they began to deceive naive and ignorant believers into following them. This was breaking Paul's heart. They were the original televangelists. They were the original charismatic prosperity preachers, the original Pentecostal screamers, the original megachurch charlatans. And they said that Paul was basically immoral, and that was the reason for all of his suffering, and all of his persecution, because God was punishing him. They led people to believe that he was deceitfully manipulative; that he was trying to fill his pockets with money, just a con artist; that he was a self-appointed false teacher who merely fabricated his message and ultimately distorted the true Word of God.

Now, I want you to be reminded of something very important. And that is, Satan prefers to join a church rather than attack it. Because he knows that if he attacks the church, it will get stronger. And that's what we've seen historically. So, the great strategy then is to infiltrate the church. In fact, that strategy basically looks like this infiltrate, deceive....(glitch in audio, not transcribable). They gain influence in our classrooms, in our media, in our pulpits (glitch in audio, not transcribable)... with their immorality, and with promises they know they could never keep and today we see their foot soldiers rioting in the streets. I was reading how just last week in a place called Moscow, Idaho. Interesting name. I've been to Moscow, Russia and what happened in Moscow, Idaho is really rather similar. There, the city arrested several Christians for gathering together in the streets and singing hymns. One man was charged for not social distancing and flouting the facemask order. And a husband and wife were arrested on charges of singing too closely together. What an amazing double standard. Here we have violent antifa anarchists and BLM domestic terrorists allowed to flood our streets, intimidate citizens, and on and on it goes; they're allowed to riot, to loot and to burn. Police have even been killed, but Christians can't sing, and they can't worship and churches. You say how does this happen? The strategy was put into place. Immoral God-hating people have infiltrated positions of power. Once again, they infiltrate, they deceive, they divide, they intimidate, and they conquer. In Los Angeles County, I'm sure you're aware of how they have sought to shut down Grace Community Church, where my good friend and mentor Dr. John MacArthur is pastor and many other friends that I have there and many of your friends--some of you came out of that church. They have been accused of not complying with what are frankly irrational and draconian COVID restrictions that violate first amendment rights. The right that we have under the Constitution, to exercise freely our religion to have peaceable assemblies and so forth. And now they are being charged with contempt of court. And their attorneys from the Thomas Moore society have been successful in challenging the constitutionality of the county's orders and a judge has agreed to the fact that they are entitled to a trial and so that's coming up. Thomas Moore society Special Counsel Jenna Willis explained quote, I'm sorry, Jenna Ellis said, quote, "This is significant because no person can or should be held in contempt of a constitutionally invalid order. Los Angeles County continues to presume that its order is valid with utter disregard for First Amendment protections. It is tyranny to even suggest that a government action cannot be challenged and must be obeyed without question. This case goes to the heart of what our founders designed for the purpose of legitimate government--not to be above the rule of law. Pastor MacArthur is simply holding church which is clearly his constitutionally protected right in this country.” But again, how does this happen? In America? There's the strategy, you infiltrate, you deceive, you divide, you intimidate. And then you conquer.

Pastor MacArthur declared, quote, "We are holding Church. The Lord Jesus requires us to meet together, and we will continue to do that because we are commanded to and because it is our right. I'm very grateful to Judge Beckloff for providing full due process and recognizing the importance of these constitutional protections. The reality is that the county cannot show that their order is even rational, much less necessary. They have also applied their orders arbitrarily and discriminatorily against churches and we enjoy a heightened protection in America to hold church. I'll continue to stand firm, and we will continue to fight to protect religious freedom for the church." Those are some examples. And there's many more, you all are familiar, I don't need to belabor the point. But folks, what I want you to understand what Paul was dealing with is the same type of thing in the church. That is how Satan works in a church--infiltrate with false believers, or sometimes with believers who are just unwitting in the errors that they teach, and then deceive and divide and intimidate and conquer. And we see this all the time today. We see apostate, compromising, politically correct seminaries, training heretics, and graduating ungodly men and women and then unleashing them upon the church. Churches then begin to attract more unbelievers than believers. Therefore, they understand nothing about the Scripture, their undiscerning and being unsaved, congregations end up loving darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. This is what Paul was afraid of. This was his great concern. By the way, this is my great concern for Calvary Bible Church. This is the elder’s great concern. And I know, I would assume, all of you share that concern. And for this reason, we're on guard constantly because we know that a little leaven, what? Leavens the whole lump. If you have a little bit of cancer, what do you do? I don't worry about it, not that big a deal. Know how you get rid of it. Eventually, people that believe error and begin to promote it, undermine the truth in a church, and then they will outright attack it. And then in an effort to promote their own agenda, they will cause all kinds of problems, they will deceive. Some people in the church usually first their closest friends and enemies, I mean, and family, and they will become enemies of the church. And then they will recruit them to join their cause, and they will become the foot soldiers of slander and destruction in a church. And of course, this can just wear down a church, especially the pastors and the elders. We haven't had much of that in our church, but we've had some, and those of you that have been a part of those things, know that it's difficult. I've kind of learned to just rise above it, you just kind of keep moving on. In fact, when I'm attacked, I just fight harder and just keep moving on, you know, because I know ultimately, it's the Lord's church. In the early years of Charles Spurgeon's ministry, the pain of slander and scorn, was so great that he was tempted to quit. In fact, his wife, Susannah would often hide the morning newspaper to protect him from further insults. And he described the melancholy that he endured this way, quote, "The iron bolt, which so mysteriously fastens the door of hope, and holds our spirits in a gloomy prison, needs a heavenly hand to push it back." He also said, "Scarce a day rolls over my head in which the most villainous abuse, the most fearful slander is not uttered against me both privately and by the public press. Every engine is employed to put down God's minister; every lie that man can invent is hurled at me." End quote. We saw the same thing in the 20th century with another great preacher, Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones. And he took the same type of biblical stance that Spurgeon, and many others have taken, down through the history of the church; the stands that we take. The stands that you would see for example, in the solas that are around this worship center. And he was likewise slandered. For example, in 1966, the Evangelical Alliance Assembly he said he was quote, "wrecking evangelical unity." And regarding Lloyd Jones, J. I Packer wrote this, "His peers and official Christianity treating him as scarcely more than an extremely able freak. Bing themselves consciously and complacently," catch this, "progressive. They saw him as a throwback to a type of ministry that as a general pattern, had long since ceased to be viable." He went on to say, "that a deep level isolation for most of his ecclesiastical peers, was a permanent part of the doctor's experience."

Well, folks, this is going to be the fate of every faithful pastor, every faithful church leader and every faithful saint until the Lord returns. So, get used to it. But we got to learn how to deal with it, biblically. And the question is, how should how should a pastor, how should church leaders, respond to unfair criticism and slander? What do you do with that? And as believers, how do we respond to attacks and bitter resentment, especially from people that you know have proven wickedness in their lives? Well, of course, the answer is we are to respond in love. But what does that look like? Well, I would submit to you that we see it here in this passage, and many others. Love will manifest itself in five ways that we will examine here this morning. It will first of all speak truthfully in love. Secondly, overlook offenses and restore fellowship, walk in integrity of heart, believe the best and offer joyful praise. That's what we're going to see Paul did. Too often we're tempted to do the opposite, aren't we? We tend to speak dishonestly. Or we use flattery, or we obfuscate to avoid the hard truths. We keep a record of wrongs. We sabotage any hope of reconciliation and fellowship; we walk in hypocrisy of heart, rather than integrity of heart. We want to believe the worst about people. We want to offer bitter incrimination instead of joyful praise. So, let's look at this closely.

First of all, I find it interesting that Paul chose to speak truthfully in love. Notice the text, chapter six, verse 11, "Our mouth has spoken freely to you, O Corinthians, our heart is opened wide." "Open wide" literally means it is enlarged, it is warm emotionally. And notice how he's speaking with compassion here. "O Corinthians"-- can't you just hear him? Probably with tears in his eyes? "O Corinthians, our mouth has spoken freely to you." The term and the original language means that he's speaking forthrightly. He speaks to them candidly, straightforwardly, honestly, without reserve. He's saying, my mouth is open, and my heart is wide open. That's the point. And we know that the mouth expresses what is in the heart. So we know that Paul spoke to them the truth in love, telling them what they needed to hear, not necessarily what they wanted to hear. And why? Because of his great love for them. This is what we must do in evangelism. Right? We must unleash the gospel even in all of its offense and do so winsomely with great love. This is what the church must do. And throughout both epistles, here to the Corinthians, we see Paul doing this over and over. He speaks candidly, he speaks forthrightly, no obfuscation. No beating around the bush. No subtle innuendos, no watered down, I don't want to upset you, mollycoddling, none of that type of thing. No, he loved them too much for that. He spoke truth to them. He feared God more than man. I think of Proverbs 28:23 where we read, "He who rebukes a man will afterward find more favor than he who flatters with the tongue."

If I can put it this way, folks, he was willing to look them in the eye and talk straight with them. And as you will recall, if you read the Corinthian epistles, you will just see him saying things like, "you people are divisive, you people are worldly, you people are immoral." He said, I could not even speak to you as to spiritual men, but as men of flesh, as to babes in Christ. I gave you milk to drink, not solid food for you are not able to receive it. And even now you're not able to receive it because you're fleshly, you're worldly. You're filled with jealousy and strife, he says. You're walking like mere men, meaning unsaved men. You're arrogant, he tells them, you're selfish. He even challenged them in chapter 13 and verse five, to examine your faith to see if you're even born again. Is your faith even genuine? Then he said in First Corinthians 4:14, "I do not write these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children." Boy, as parents, we know what that's like, right? You know, when little Thurlow does something that is really bad, we have to sit him down, and we have to talk straight to him. I've done that with my kids and my grandkids. And I can remember many times where I say, I want you to look at Daddy. Or now in these years, look at Papa, look me in the eye. And what did tell Papa tell you, Papa told you not to ever do this, right? You remember that? Yeah. And you did this and this and this, now do you understand that that's dishonoring to God, and it's dishonoring to your grandparents, et cetera, et cetera, you get the point. Now, why would you do that? Because you're cruel? Because you love them. And you want the best for them. Look, folks, when you've been slandered or treated wickedly, what you need to do set up an appointment. Need to sit down with someone and say, "We need to talk. In honor of my great for love for you, I want to speak truth to you in love. But I we need to talk." Proverbs 27 verse six, "Faithful are the wounds of a friend." You need to confront these things. In fact, in Matthew, chapter 18, there's a fourfold process to do this. Galatians six says that we are to "restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness." That's the idea. And we do all of this out of love. Romans, chapter 12 and verse 18, says, "If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men." So you do all you can, it doesn't mean it's always going to come out well, but you're praying for that. You're seeking that and you're willing to speak the truth in love. That's what Paul did. Remember Second Corinthians two verse four. He says, "Out of much affliction, and anguish of heart, I wrote to you with many tears; not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love, which I have, especially for you."

Now, if we go back to the text, I want you to notice verse 12. He's going to practice what he preached in verse 11. He's going to speak candidly with them. He says, "You are not restrained by us, but you are restrained in your own affections. The term "restrained" in the original language means to confine or to make narrow, to constrict. He's saying, basically," Look, folks, there is no restriction in my affection for you. But there is in your affection for me. My heart remains open to you. But you've closed your heart off to me. That is wrong. You're treating me with contempt, you're treating me with suspicion. You're treating me with distrust." So anyway, the first thing that Paul does is, he speaks truthfully in love.

Secondly, love will overlook offenses and restore fellowship. We could put in there, "seek" to restore fellowship, "try to restore fellowship. Verse 13, "Now and like exchange--I speak as to children--open wide to us also. Folks, this is so precious. I know as a pastor, the pain of slander, and the pain of seeing people that you love do and say things that you know are so wrong, that God is going to chasten them for it. Paul is hurting here. I mean, you would be hurting if people that you loved believed lies about you. And we're discrediting you and undermining your message. And he's saying "please, Corinthians, you're my spiritual children, I'm your spiritual father, open up your heart to me, as I have to you." That's what he's saying

Then if we jump over to the other bookend in chapter seven and verse two, He says it again, "Make room for us in your hearts." And here again, he's drawing from the verses here in chapter six verses 11 and 13. And we see the same thing when he says in verse three of chapter seven, "I do not speak to condemn you." "Condemn"--"katakrisis" in the original language. It was a judicial term. It's the act of pronouncing someone as guilty in a criminal case, it was the idea of passing final judgment. It was used only one other place in the New Testament. In chapter three and verse nine, where it refers to the work of the law, bringing condemnation upon sinners. So what Paul is saying is, look, that's not my motive here. That's not my desire. That is not my intention. There is no final verdict of condemnation in the law of love. I'm not saying look, I am finished with you get out of my life, I don't want anything to do with you ever again. That's not what he's saying. No, no, no, no, no. He was willing to overlook their offenses and restore fellowship. Certainly, that was his prayer. That must be our prayer. And that can happen where there's real repentance and asking for forgiveness. By the way, aren't you thankful the Lord is that way with us. Proverbs 19, verse 11, "It's a man's glory, to overlook a transgression." Our flesh doesn't want to do that. Our flesh wants to spot it, exaggerate it, and then publish it right? And then justify our anger. That's our flesh. First Corinthians 13 five, "Love does not take into account a wrong suffered." First Peter four eight, "because love covers a multitude of sins." Folks, it's so easy in our flesh to become "splinter hunters." We're looking along, everybody up, there's a splinter in your eye. There's a speck in your eye, rather than seeing the log in your own.

So, Paul is longing to restore fellowship with them, but only on the basis of genuine repentance and sincerity of heart. That's why he's confronting them on the real issues. Notice he repeats what he said in chapter six, verse 11, the end of verse three of chapter seven. He says, "for I've said before, that you are in our hearts." And then he adds this amazing statement "to die together and to live together." What a profound statement of Christian love. I was thinking about this. Here's what he's saying, "Look, folks, we're all going to die. That is our destiny. And we're all going to live together in glory. So, let's deal with these things. Our lives are interwoven. They're bound together by the bond of grace. So, there is nothing that you can do to cause me to abandon my affection for you. But folks, our fellowship is broken. You simply must repent of this folly that I have delineated to you candidly, so there's no mistake about it." So, he spoke truthfully, in love, he overlooked offenses, tried to restore fellowship, but number three, we see that he walked in integrity of heart.

Notice at the end of verse two, he says, "we wronged no one." The term "wronged" and the original language means what you would think it means--to treat someone unjustly, unfairly, in an effort to cause injury. We did not do that. By the way, since the same verb is used in Second Corinthians two five through 11 and chapter seven and verse 12. In the context of dealing with the incestuous man, remember that whole situation? It's described First Corinthians five, perhaps, since that same verb is used, in that context, there was some kind of accusation levied against him that somehow he had injured this guy or others wrongly, we don't know, it could be that. It's probably 100 other things because that's usually how those things work. Somebody will grab a hold of something, they'll kind of twist it and distort it. And then all of a sudden, you look and there's like this whole list of horrible things this person has done. So, it could be 100 other things. He also added, we "corrupted no one." The term "corrupt" means to pervert in Greek; to corrupt morally. So that's the connotation. Maybe they charged him with helping other people embrace libertinism by teaching freedom in Christ as he did in First Corinthians 6:12 through 20. Or it could be 100 other things that they concocted against him. But no, he walked in integrity of heart.

By the way, this is this is one of the first two qualifications of an elder in First Timothy three and verse two, is that an overseer must be first of all above reproach means blameless. It means that there must be no valid accusation made against him. It means that there's no obvious blatant sin in his life that mars his life. And then he adds this. Secondly, he must be the husband of one wife, in Greek, literally "a one-woman man." And what he's referring to here is he must be sexually pure; he must be devoted to his wife. If he's married, he must not be a womanizer. Has nothing to do with he has to be married or he can't be divorced or some of these other silly things that people concoct. Beloved, whether you're a man or a woman, you must be on guard of your heart. You must be a man or a woman of integrity. Because if you lack integrity, your life will lack credibility, and it will lack power. God promised to bless Solomon and his Kingdom. In First Kings nine verse four, "If you will walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep My statutes and My ordinances." You see, Paul was a man of integrity. He was a man of moral purity. And for this reason, he could say to the saints, and in verse one of chapter seven, "Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness, in the fear of God." Folks, this is what love does. This what love must continue to do in order to deal with the inevitable attacks that will come against you for the sake of Christ. Paul said in Ephesians four beginning in verse one, "Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." And in Ephesians five, verse three, he says, "But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting but rather giving of Thanks."

So again, he said, "Look, I've wronged no one, I've corrupted no one." Notice he also says, "we took advantage of no one." That carries the idea of defrauding someone for the purpose of financial gain. He's saying we didn't do that. I didn't do that. Now, no doubt he was accused of that. And we've seen that in the text, that he was just, you know, like a lot of people today, a lot of pastors are nothing more than entrepreneurs trying to make a buck off of people. Or maybe there were 1000 other false accusations, but none of that was true. No one suffered it is at his hands, and Paul's life proved it.

Well fourthly, we see that he believed the best. Notice what he says in verse four, chapter seven. He says, "Great is my confidence in you." You know, when you read that, especially if you read that in context of both epistles, you have to say, Whoa, wait a minute here. Yeah, he's got great confidence in them. I mean, are you kidding me? I mean, these people were real scoundrels. I mean, this was a pretty messed up church. If you were to look up immature in the dictionary, you'd see a picture of that congregation. And in the forefront, you'd see this silly grin with the people holding up their wine. They're all the rich people that are destroying the time of fellowship at the Lord's table. And then in the background, you'd see all the poor people kind of looking. I mean, that was the church. I mean, this church was a mess, and he says, I've got great confidence in you. Why would he say that? Folks, the answer is he believed in the power of the gospel. He believed in the power of the Holy Spirit that indwells people, even if they're seriously immature; to somehow grow them in the grace in the knowledge of Christ. He was confident on that basis. In fact, he said in Philippians 1:6, "For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." Beloved, look back on your life. Think of the really stupid things that you've done. The things that really dishonored the Lord. Now, granted, most people only know the tip of the iceberg, but you know what's underneath the water, right? I mean, it's bad stuff. We're all guilty. And I'm sure your parents at times said, "Oh, Lord, please do something with my child, he or she is off the deep end, please, save them or if they're saved, do something to grow them. Lord, please grow them in you." And many of us have prayed the same for our children. Oh, God, please grow them up in you. And he did. And he's still growing us. Right? That's why Paul had confidence. Paul had seen what God had done in his life. He knew the power of the word. Jesus said, "Sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is truth." He's praying to the Father before he goes to the cross.

And by the way, that's why we constantly take you into the word. Because it's not my words. It's not my wisdom or anybody else's that's going to help you to become more like Christ. It's the Word of the living God. Beloved, believe the best about your brothers and sisters in Christ, even if they act wickedly towards you, God is up to something in their life. So many times I pray for enemies that I know hate me with a passion. I say, "Lord, please be merciful to them as you have been to me." You know, I just go about my business. That's what you have to do. I think of First Corinthians 13 seven. Remember the passage that "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." When he talks about how love bears all things, he's talking about how love--it carries the idea, by the way, of throwing a cover over a blunder or a grievance. That's what we have to do. "Love believes all things." It believes the best and never assumed the worst. That means that love is going to be quick to interpret a fault or an injury with the most gracious explanation possible.

Love is quick to trust, it's slow to doubt. It is guarded against suspicion. It's going to take a person's word at something until proven otherwise. Love leaves no room for cynicism. It gives no quarter to contemptuous scorn towards another person; that is wicked. Love will take God at his word without misgivings and take others at their word without misgivings. It's going to believe that people are innocent until proven guilty. And love's first reaction to failure is going to be one of restoration. Never humiliation, or retaliation. He also said that "love hopes all things." That's what Paul is doing here. He hopes for the best in every situation, that the Lord would be glorified. Love never gives up right? It never despairs. Love never stops praying for the wayward child, or the wayward friend, or the enemy that is saying horrible things about you. Again, aren't you glad God never gave up on you? I'm constantly reminded of that. In fact, I'm old enough to see the hand of the Lord work in marvelous ways as a result of fervent prayer. In fact, my most fervent prayers sprang from the well of hope that I have for those who show no signs of spiritual growth, spiritual maturity, which includes a number of you in this precious church. But I have confidence in the power of the Spirit and his Word that if you're true really born again, God's gonna grow you. He is going to trim the vine in your life so that you will bear more fruit. So with Paul, I can say "great is my confidence in you."

So, love will speak truthfully in love, overlook offenses and restore fellowship, walk in integrity of heart, believe the best and finally, offer joyful praise. Notice what he says in verse four, "great is my boasting on your behalf." Folks, this is so exciting. I mean, again, think about it. These people had all of these problems, but Paul was eager to praise the Lord for his grace in their life because there were things that he could see that were worthy of praise, worthy of honor to the Lord. And that's what he focused on. My goodness, if you focused on all of my faults, you certainly wouldn't want me in the pulpit. And if I focused on yours, we wouldn't want you up here either. Right? I mean, we're all sinners, we're all growing. And that's what he did. He could see the budding fruit in their life, and he could rejoice in that. In Second Corinthians eight, verse 24, he says, "Therefore openly before the churches, show them the proof of your love, and of our reason for boasting about you." You know, I boast about you all the time. I hope you boast about your church family. I do. Whenever anybody asked me, oh, tell me, tell me about your church. I said, Oh, my, what a testimony of God's grace. These are the most, the most godly, faithful, loving saints that you will ever find anywhere. These are people that love Christ, passionately. These are people who love his Word, who have an insatiable appetite for it. These are people who crave the glory and the greatness of God. I will literally say those things to people, and mean them with all of my heart, a testimony of God's goodness in our lives. And there's no way that you folks are even close to the level of immaturity that we see in the Corinthian saints. By the way, I'm sure they all grew up rather quickly, and we'll get to meet them someday. They will know us and we will know them.

"Great is my boasting on your behalf," he says. "I am filled with comfort." By the way, this is interesting, a little technical thing in Greek grammar. It's a "perfect passive indicative verb," which means he had been and he still was filled with comfort. In other words, he's not just filled with comfort, because some of them are straightening up and they've responded positively to his severe letter. No, no, no, no, no. He is comforted all the way through and that's the work of the Spirit. He is the paraclete; he is the comforter. He is the one who comes alongside. He is our advocate. He's the fount of every blessing. You see, Paul derived his comfort from the truth, and the power of the gospel. Our joy is in Christ, it's not in our circumstances. And he goes on to say, "I am overflowing with joy in all our affliction." In other words, despite the rejection, despite the things that break my heart, I am still joyful. And by the way, he was especially joyful, as was Titus, when he learned how they responded--how many of them responded faithfully and obediently and lovingly to the severe letter. You want to ask yourself, "Does this describe my attitude towards those who wronged me? Or do I have a heart of contempt? A heart of revenge? Do I seek retaliation? Rather than reconciliation?" Well, yes, but pastor so and so really offended me. Oh, really? Boy. Oh, my goodness, I didn't realize that. You know, in that case, I mean, God's command for you to love them and to forgive them, I mean, that's out the window. I mean, if they really did that, I mean, you're off the hook here. I mean, you need to make them pay. You need to get even. They acted wickedly. They maligned you, really? Oh, they slandered...h my goodness. I just break fellowship with them. That'll show them, that'll teach him. That'll show the world how you treat people, right? Well, obviously, the Lord is not honored in any of that. By the way, we've all been there, right? We've all had those very things to deal with in our flesh. And maybe you're dealing with that now. I mean, think about it, after all the Lord has done for you, and forgiving you of the most egregious crimes against him, and you're not willing to forgive others who have offended you? You're not willing to try to seek restoration after all the promises and privileges that are yours in Christ?

As we wrap this up, I want to just read to you and I think it was put in your bulletin. I'm such a great fan of the Puritans and one of them that I became familiar with many years ago at Oxford was Thomas Manton, an English Puritan and clergyman trained at Oxford, he was a chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, and forgive the Old English here, but it's worth meditating on. Here's what he has to say in light of all of this. "A defected spirit doth not behave itself answerable to its principles, privileges and hopes. Are you at peace with God? And have you communion with Him at every turn? And have you hopes of glory and you are so troubled when you are a little cut short in your temporal comforts?" He went on to say, "Dejection of spirit, argueth too great addictiveness to worldly comforts, and love of ease and flesh pleasing, and in gratitude for all the spiritual good we have received. Shall God lay in such great comforts and after such great receiving, do you take it ill to be put to a little expense?" And he quotes Job 15:11 "Are the consolations of God's small with thee." In other words, where is your priorities, folks? After all God has done all of these things? Is this your attitude? He went on to say, "If you had a due sense of the world to come, you would be glad to keep your conscience, though you lose your coat.” Hebrews 10:34 "Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven, a better and an enduring substance." Then he quotes Romans 8:18. "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." "Do you look for glory to be revealed in you, then look upon all the sufferings of this life as a feather, put into the scales against a talent. We are to have a sense of our condition. Yet in regard of the honor done to us to bear a part of Christ's cross, and in regard of the comfort and happiness provided for us, we should be cheerful, that it may not be known to be an unwilling patience and exhorted by force." End quote,

Well, folks, this was Paul's life. This was his attitude. He was filled with comfort, overflowing with joy and all of our afflictions. Imagine if the people in our country began to function this way. I know this is going to be a bit laughable. But think about it. What if the Republicans and the Democrats began to respond to each other this way? Instead of speaking dishonestly, they would speak truthfully out of a heart of love. Instead of keeping a record of wrongs and sabotaging any hope of friendship, what if they were willing to overlook offenses, and seek to restore fellowship? Rather than walking in hypocrisy of heart and being morally corrupt, they walked in integrity of heart. Rather than believing the worst they were committed to believing the best and instead of screaming bitter incriminations with the most vile and vulgar epithets, hat if they offered joyful praise for the good things that they could see in others? Well, obviously, that's impossible because they're ruled by the flesh rather than the Spirit. But not so for us. Dear friends, if we walk by the Spirit, we will not carry out the desires of the flesh, because of the indwelling power of the Spirit. These great manifestations of love can be and should be godly virtues that characterize our lives. This is how God loves us. This is how He expects us to love others. This is love in action, right. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the eternal joy truths of your word and the way they speak so directly to our hearts. May what we've heard today bear much fruit in our lives, for our good and for your glory. In Jesus name I pray. Amen..

I invite you this morning to take your Bibles and turn to Second Corinthians chapter six as we continue to make our way verse by verse through this amazing epistle, and see what the Spirit of God has for us this morning under the heading, "The Bittersweet Realities of Serving Christ." Let me read the text to you, Second Corinthians chapter six, verses one through 10. And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain--For He says, 'AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.' Behold, now is 'THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,' behold, now is 'THE DAY OF SALVATION'--giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished, yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things."

Mature Christian saints are always characterized by their selfless service and their devotion to Christ; come what may. They will have a love for the word, they will have a zeal for evangelism; a deep burden for the lost; desire to worship. They will have a song in their heart-- the songs of redemption. And we all know who these people are around us, you young people know who they are in school. Families, you know who they are. You families know when you've got a mature Christian father, who has a passion to shepherd his family. You wives know what that's like, to have that for a husband. And husbands you know what it's like to have a godly wife that is committed to the Lord and will do all she can to see her children come to saving faith in Christ. And every godly servant of Christ, who is willing to take a stand for Christ regardless of the cost, is part of what Paul is talking about here. I find it fascinating the mature believer will actually thrive in his or her service for Christ, regardless of the cost. Like Paul who said in Romans 8:18, "I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us."

But the immature believer will struggle all the way. They will not thrive in their service to Christ. They'll just survive at best. The mature believer will persevere with joy in the power of the Holy Spirit. They will manifest spiritual and theological discernment, but the immature believer will be as Paul said, in Ephesians, 4:14, "children." "Children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine." And my how the winds are blowing these days. By the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming. The immature believer will trudge along in their service to Christ doing as little as possible, whining and complaining all the way; ruled by their flesh, miserable and making everybody around them miserable. But the mature believer will bear the fruits of the Spirit. Love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness self-control. But the immature will bear sickly fruits; the opposite of the fruits just mentioned. You will look at the vine of their life and see the fruit of selfishness, bitterness, conflict, impatience, rudeness, impropriety, unfaithfulness, harshness, and self-indulgence. Of course, there's a third category of Christian that's just a Christian in name only, the cultural Christian. Matthew seven, Jesus said that that will make up the majority of those who call me Lord, and they will never enter the kingdom. These are the self-deceived, the worldly; the politically and religiously correct. The ones who embrace and promote false gospels like the prosperity gospel, the black liberation theology gospel, the social gospel, the gospel of permissive grace, the gospel of New Age, spirituality, the gospel of my sexual preference, the gospel of interfaith dialogue and on and on it goes. Paul says of them in Second Timothy three, beginning in verse two they'll be "lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power."

Well, for those of you who know and love Christ, this text will minister to your soul. It's encouraging, it will help you see better how to savor the sweet and ignore the bitter, if I can put it that way. Because as we all know, when we're serving Christ, you're going to have both. And that's what we see here. Let me remind you of the context, Paul is defending his apostolic authority against the savage, just the ruthless attacks of the false teachers that had infiltrated the church at Corinth. They were trying to undermine his apostolic authority; they were trying to discredit his gospel message. And of course, they had accumulated a group of sycophants who were agreeing with them. They wanted to replace the truth of the gospel of grace with the lies of a gospel of grace plus works. Lots of legalism. Paul had returned to Corinth to confront them, but that trip didn't work out very well as we know. So Paul is heartsick. He loves these people; he hates to see what's happening to them. But as we will see, Paul was able to transcend the pain of the slander. And he did this basically on the basis of what we see emerging from this text. And I've divided it into five convictions that we see in Paul's heart that we'll look at this morning. Number one, we will see that he was delighted to be a co-laborer with God. Number two, he was defensive of the true gospel of grace. Number three, he was driven by evangelism and discipleship. Number four, he was devoted to a personal pursuit of holiness. Number five, he was disciplined in the face of suffering. Dear friends, no matter who you are, or what sphere of influence the Lord has placed you in to serve Him, these convictions are absolutely essential. If you're going to thrive in ministry--and for those of you who say you love Christ, but really, you live on the periphery of the church, you really don't do much of anything, you just kind of live for yourself--I pray that this will bring conviction to your heart, because you don't know what you're missing out on in serving Christ. So let's look at the text closely.

The first phrase, verse one, he says, "And working together with Him." "Working together", "synergeo" in the original language; we get our word "synergy" from that, and it just means to collaborate with someone. And this brings us to my first observation as I look at Paul's life, number one, he was delighted to be a co-laborer with God. Now you will notice "with Him” is italicized. That has been inserted. But it's the proper translation because it goes back to chapter five and verses 19 and 20. There we read that, that God is the one he's talking about here. "God," he says, "has committed to us the word of reconciliation." He goes on to say, "we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were making an appeal through us." Also, in First Corinthians three nine, Paul says we are "God's fellow workers." Folks don't just gloss over that. That is absolutely astounding when you think about it. What a privilege to co-labor with God; to be on his team. Think about that. To experience his power, surging through the veins in the muscles of our spiritual life. And Paul recognizes this in Colossians 1:29. He says, "For this purpose also I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me." And he reminded the saints in Ephesus that he was, according to Ephesians, 3:7, "made of minister, according to the gift of God's grace which was given to me according to the working of His power." And he also prayed for them in Ephesians 1:19 that they would comprehend "what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of the strength of His might." That we are co-laborers with God is an astounding reality, dear friends, that should motivate all of us, in our service to Christ. Think of the many times where you have been absolutely astonished to see how, in some small way, God used your life to impact somebody else. And maybe you didn't even realize it at the time, and you hear about it later. Parents, you know what that's like to see a child finally come to saving faith and to walk with Christ. What a joy it is for me to see that in my family, and to see grandchildren come to faith in Christ. And then know that somehow, you were a little part of that, co-laboring with God. For a camp counselor, or a Sunday school teacher or a student ministries worker, a musician, a godly man or woman in the church, to have someone come up to them and say, "you know, I just want to thank you, you may not realize this, but I've been watching your life over the years and, and your life has impacted me for the sake of Christ. Thank you for that." Isn't that a wonderful feeling. And to know that that was God working through you. "Thank you for sharing the gospel with me when I was so rebellious." "Thank you for gently confronting me when I was living in sin." I jotted down a few that I've received over from over the last year. "Thank you for being an example of Christ, speaking to my dear wife, and because of your life, I want to be more like Christ." Folks, that's co-laboring with God. Never underestimate that. Beloved, know this, whatever you do for God, you do with God. And that's such an exciting truth that we may sow the seed, but he's the one that gives us the strength to do so, right? He prepares the soil, he causes the seed to germinate, he causes it to bear fruit for his glory.

Think of what Jesus said in Mark four beginning in verse 26, "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day, and the seed sprouts and grows"--obviously, he didn't have anything to do with that--"how he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." Dear friends, may I ask you, are you a co-laborer with God? Or are you a freeloader? Are you sowing the seeds of the gospel or do you just kind of stand back and watch other people do that? Does the very thought of the privilege of co-laboring with God animate your heart to praise and to service? Or is your attitude one of, that's just not for me? Can you point to any fruit as a result of your co-laboring with God? Dear Christian, look at the mission field all around you. Your family, right? Your friends. And we have this amazing tool that can be used for such evil; the internet, that can be used for such good. Get on social media and start spreading seed. Paul says in First Corinthians three remember, he says, "I planted, Apollo's watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants or the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth." That's what's so exciting. I just sow the seed, that's what we do.

First Peter four, verse 10, Peter says, "As each one has received a special gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God." Let me remind you of that. We studied this in the past in First Corinthians 12. Remember, in verse five, Paul says "there are a varieties of ministries." In other words, there's a variety; apportionments that God has allotted to each one. "And the same Lord," he says. And then he says, "there are varieties of effects." "Energema" in the original language; it carries the idea of implementation; the practical means by which something is accomplished. So he's saying here, there's a variety of ways that that is worked out, that that is energized. And the point is, God is the supernatural power source that makes our gifts effective in serving Him. And it's working with them. But he goes on to say, "but the same God who works all things in all persons. But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." "Manifestation" refers to a genuine work of the Spirit of God, and what's the common good? It's to edify the church. So we've all been gifted to do this. And God wants us to work with him; Paul understood this. And it's the Spirit that produces visible effects of his transforming power in our service for him. And when our gifts are being used properly, we're blessed and God is honored.

And if you're a Christian, and you're not using your gifts, and you're just sitting on the sidelines, God is dishonored, and you are forfeiting blessing in your life. Moreover, you have placed yourself in the pathway of divine chastening. Folks, there's no such thing as the Lone Ranger Christian, biblically, a do nothing Christian that just kind of hangs out in the periphery of the church. All that does is grieve the Spirit. Those kinds of people are miserable. They're unproductive, they dishonor God. Rather than co-laboring with God, they're in the way. I remember back, somehow, my mind went to this illustration; I was unloading a big truck, somebody had moved in and we had a couple of teenagers with us. And every time we would go in to get something else to move out, they were pulling their phone out working, they were just in the way. And I remember I finally said to one of them, why don't you go over there to that tree, and sit down under the tree and play with your phone so that we can get some work done. That's sometimes how I feel in the church, right? You know, either get with it or get out of the way, but the Lord wants you to get with it. That's the point. A lot of people would prefer to sit back and watch rather than join the fight.

Well not so Paul, he labored to the point of exhaustion, he was number one: delighted to be a co-laborer with God. But notice, secondly, he was defensive of the true gospel of grace. Again, "And working together with Him, we also urge you,"-- present tense, a constant pleading here. This was habitual part of his life--"we urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain." And the context tells us here that he's saying, "Don't let these false teachers with these with this false gospel, cancel out the true gospel that I have preached to you." Now obviously, some of these people had an intellectual understanding of the gospel, but they had never fully embraced it wholeheartedly. So they really weren't saved. Paul was fearful that they would be deceived. And by extension, according to the context, he's also saying, "failure for you to be reconciled to me would prove that you reject the gospel that I have preached. We can't have that; all my preaching would be in vain. By joining the slander against me, you're being distracted by these false teachers lurking in the shadows and therefore you will either not see and understand the truth and be saved, or if you are saved, you're not going to understand how to grow in Christ and be sanctified."

So he was concerned about this. You know, this was Paul's great concern for the saints in Galatia. Remember, many of them were also deserting grace to pursue the heresies of legalism that the Judaizers were teaching. And in Galatians, one and verse six, Paul says, " I am amazed," I just see him pulling his hair out. "I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel." That's like, what, what's going on here? He goes on to say, if anyone "preach to you a gospel contrary to that which you have preached to you, what we have preached to you, let him be accursed!" Now, some of those folks were truly saved by grace, but they were being misled by the Judaizers. Once again with this false gospel. They were telling them, you know, you're gonna have to keep the law if you expect, stay saved. None of this grace alone stuff. Galatians three, one, Paul says, "You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you?...Are you so foolish?" He went on to say, "Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain?" Beloved, this is why we, like Paul, must defend the gospel against all those who would seek to distort it. And there are so many subtle distortions out there today. That's why Jude said we are to "contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints." He went on to say, "For certain persons have crept in unnoticed." This is a battle we must fight constantly, lest people, as Paul says, "receive; the grace of God in vain."

Again, let me just make it real practical. Let me remind you of some of these false gospels that's out there today. The prosperity gospel, I mentioned the permissive grace gospel, the New Age spirituality gospel, the gospel of my sexual preference, the gospel of interfaith dialogue, the black liberation theology gospel, the social gospel. In fact, I was reading the other day, Tim Keller, former PCA pastor and founder of The Gospel Coalition, and a prominent social gospel advocate, said this quote, "If you have white skin, it's worth $1 million over a lifetime. You have to say, I don't deserve this. I am the product of, and standing on, the shoulders of other people who got that through injustice." Then he says, "the Bible says you are involved in injustice even if you didn't actually do it." End quote. Well, first of all, the Bible does not say that. We're accountable for our own sins, not for the sins of others. Don't have time to get into it but look at Deuteronomy 24:16. And look at Exodus 18, I'm sorry, Ezekiel 18:19 through 22. Here's the problem with these subtle things that come out, especially as related to the social gospel, when social justice becomes the focus of the gospel, God's justice will inevitably be pushed aside. By the way, we don't want God's justice, we want His mercy. And that's what the gospel is all about. You see, man by nature, sees himself as deprived, not as depraved, as a helpless victim, rather than a guilty perpetrator. And the social gospel plays into all of this. It's constantly looking to accommodate man's ever-changing definition of social justice rather than focusing on God's righteous judgment. Suddenly the focus becomes trying to reconcile sinful man to sinful man rather than sinful man to a holy God. And so the gospel becomes much more social than gospel. Folks, we've been given the ministry of reconciliation, not reparations, which is a blatantly unbiblical concept. And everyone who believes they've been victimized with a social gospel thing, including the most sexually deviant, are lining up to somehow get their victim badge so that they can cash in on perhaps reparations, and they're already starting this in some states, or political power, whatever it might be. And by the way, once they gain power, mark my word they will outlaw the true gospel because it cannot coexist with the social gospel.

As a footnote, the allegations that the US is inherently racist; an inherently racist society designed to serve the interest of white supremacists. The idea that the police are intentionally brutalizing black people, that our country is intrinsically patriarchal; benefiting male oppressors at the expense of women, all those things, folks are lies. It's classic Marxism to incite class warfare; use race and economic status to divide and conquer. And of course, these types of things galvanize the support of all those who perceive themselves as being oppressed, and therefore entitled. And of course, the left needs them to somehow enforce their, their utopian goals of wealth redistribution and totalitarianism and all of these things. So chaos and fear and intimidation is all a part of that. So my point here is, this is the danger-- once you start getting a focus off of the true gospel and on something else, even though you may be well intentioned, it leads you in a very different direction. By the way, communism has consistently held to the belief that quote, "out of chaos comes cosmos." ""Cosmos a Greek word for "order." So what do you have? Well, let's have the chaos of an exaggerated pandemic. Let's absolutely destroy the country. Let's have these draconian measures to shut down everything and destroy the economy, because after all, poor people are easily manipulated by the government. And socialism always needs a permanent underclass in order to survive. They also need atheist allies in the media, and in the social media realm, along with the godless militia called Antifa and Black Lives Matter. They need political surrogates in positions of power to somehow support their lawlessness. By the way, all of this is to be expected. This is another whole topic, but prophetically, America will cease to exist as we know it, and will ultimately be absorbed into the globalist rule of the Antichrist. So what are we to do as Christians? Well, the answer is Colossians two, eight, for example, "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of man, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ." You see, again, folks, remember, we are not part of this fallen world system, so don't get sucked into it.

My mind, as I was thinking about this, went to Paul's words in Ephesians two beginning in verse one, just think of this, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ, (by grace who had been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come, he might show the surpassing riches of His grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus." Beloved, that's the gospel. Never be ashamed of the gospel. The old gospel, the only gospel, the only gospel that will save. You know, Paul lived in an age that was far worse than what we're living in, far worse. Talk about people hostile to the things of Christ. But what did he urge the saints to do? Take up social causes in order to moralize ungodly men, to make them more just in their dealings with fellow man? No. He said things like "put on the whole armor of God, so that you will stand fast against the schemes of the evil one." "Stand firm in your faith." "Take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." And here he's saying, I'm urging you "not to receive the grace of God in vain." The context of all these false gospels. In Second Corinthians 11, he's going to say in beginning of verse three, "But I am afraid that"--and beloved, this is my fear as a pastor for you--"I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ. For if one comes and preaches another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully." In other words, I can't believe this, instead of rejecting these things, you're tolerating it. And here in chapter six, Paul is pleading with them, do not exchange the magnificent message of God's grace and reconciliation for some phony, distorted substitute that cannot save and cannot sanctify.

Now to be sure, professing evangelicals that are chasing these phony gospels, are I don't know, they're like a dog chasing his tail. Though they're fervent in their pursuit, they're on a fool's errand. And in the end, they will accomplish nothing, which was Satan's intention in the first place. Paul was delighted to be a co-laborer with God. He was defensive of the true gospel of grace.

Thirdly, he was driven by evangelism and discipleship. You will recall, by the way, in First Corinthians two two he said, "I determined to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." In a culture even more decadent than ours, that's what he preached. He knew that he wasn't called to be hip; he wasn't called to be trendy, or woke, or missional, or incarnational, all of these crazy things that you hear these days. He wasn't called to be relevant or innovative or creative. He wasn't called to be clever, culturally savvy, broad minded, entertaining, extreme, inclusive, and all of this type of stuff. And he did not found an organization called Jews lives matter and then lead people to somehow overtake Rome. He cared nothing about having a conversation, or a dialogue with people who are spiritually dead; deceived by doctrines of demons. Dear friends, he came as we must come to preach the word in season and out of season, the true gospel. Notice his zeal for evangelism and discipleship. He says, "Again, working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain--For He says," and here he is, quoting Isaiah 49:8, 'AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENEDTO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.'" Paul says, "Behold, now is 'THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,' behold, now is 'THE DAY OF SALVATION.'" You see, as the divinely appointed spokesman of the message of reconciliation, Paul understood the urgency of bringing the Gospel to sinners, so that they can see the grace of God, so that they could repent and be saved. That's what drove him. And he wanted to do that while that opportunity was still available. Just think about it. If he was urgent back then, how much more urgent should we be today? We don't know when the door will close. So he's saying don't be distracted, folks. Don't be deceived by these false teachers. Isaiah 55 Six "Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near." I think of God's call upon sinners prior to the to the great flood. You will remember that prior to that judgment the Lord warned the world; Genesis six three "'My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless, his day shall be 120 years.'" And Noah preached for 120 years and then the season of grace came to an end. Dear friend, please hear me, you'd never know when the door to the ark of saving grace is going to be shut in your life. You don't know how long you're going to live. And certainly, we don't know how long it'll be before the Lord comes and shuts that door.

Paul understood this. So he says, "Behold, now is 'THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,....Behold, now is 'THE DAY OF SALVATION....'" Dear friend, let me ask you, are you driven by a consuming zeal to see other people come to saving faith in Christ? Or are you caught up in all of these religious sounding pursuits? The priority is defined in Colossians 1:28. And here it needs to be our focus, "We proclaim Him." Okay? I love it when God makes things clear to me. "We proclaim..." Dave, this is what I want you to do. When you preach to this congregation, I want you to proclaim me all right? Don't get off on that other silly stuff. I want you to proclaim me. So we proclaim Him and here's what you need to do. "Admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom so that we may present every man complete in Christ. For this purpose, I also labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me." Folks, he was delighted to be a co-laborer with God; he was defensive of the true gospel of grace; he was driven by evangelism and discipleship. And number four, he was devoted to a personal pursuit of holiness.

Notice verse three, and four, "giving no cause for offence in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything, commending ourselves as servants of God." The term commend carries the idea of to present as worthy of regard or of confidence. Our life is our letter of commendation, if you want to think of it that way. And as someone has well said, our life may be the only sermon some people ever read right? Or ever hear or ever see; what does your life preach? What sermon does your life preach? We're all too familiar with the immoral escapades of pastors and church leaders that render themselves disqualified from ministry. Paul talked about this in First Corinthians nine verse 27. He said, "I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified." Folks, may I remind you that the world hates Christ and they hate all who belong to him. And therefore, the world is hyper-vigilant to find fault in Christians. The slightest indiscretion, the tiniest act of political incorrectness, the smallest sentence spoken in anger, will be magnified 1000-fold and put all over the internet right with your picture. Beloved, we're all in Christian ministry in one way or another and people are watching, you need to realize that. People are watching. And does your speech, does your dress, your conduct, your overall character, does it adorn the gospel, or does it tarnish it?

You know, as I was reflecting upon this, it occurred to me that I very seldom hear anyone described as a God fearing man or woman. You ever hear that? Very seldom. And I was thinking about it, most people have come out or have been around evangelical pragmatism that basically teaches that that we must become like the world in order to win it. The Spirit of God needs some help after all, and because, you know the gospel is so offensive we need to, you know, kind of tone it down, to help him out so that people can get saved. So we've got to be more relevant and attractive. The Church must reinvent itself it must adjust its gospel. It's got to adjust its message so that it's less dogmatic, more therapeutic, more tolerant, more entertaining. It must pander to the culture. It must take up social causes, even conformed to the culture. But whatever you do, don't ever oppose the culture. So most Christians in churches like that never mature. They're banished to an island of spiritual infancy. You will never hear in those kinds of churches any emphasis on the dangers of worldliness, the dangers of adopting the values of the world. The idea of not being conformed to this world as Romans 12 two tells us. Being separated from sin; you're not going to hear sermons on what it means to be Christ-like, what it means to be holy, godly. Most church leaders, in fact, are products of evangelical youth ministries, where the primary goal is to keep the kids entertained. Make sure they're having fun, so they keep coming to church, as if that's some measure of spiritual blessing and maturity. Kind of a religious version of hanging out at the mall. But whatever you do, let's don't get too serious. Let's don't get too biblical. You know, that can tick people off and then they won't come. So let's keep things light and superficial and funny and non- judgmental and inclusive. And what does that produce? Well, it has produced today pastors and church leaders that dress, talk and act like immature kids and the whole church, looks like a superficial youth group that we've all been around. I've had conversations with some of these pastors, and it's frightening. I love these guys. I hope they know Christ. But I can tell within a few minutes, their theological acumen is as shallow as water on a plate. They have no real spiritual maturity. They're undisciplined. They're like a worldly adolescent. What a contrast to Paul's admonition. First Corinthians 14:20, "Brothers, do not be children in your thinking." What a great statement. "Be infants," he says, "in evil, but in your thinking, be mature." And he describes sanctification in precisely these terms. In Ephesians 4:13 he spoke of mature manhood. Oh what a joy that is to be around men, and women, who are mature in Christ. Mature manhood--the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. I address this in my book "Seven Key Principles for Effective Ministry." If you'll indulge just a bit of a quote here. "It has been my observation that there exists a marked difference among evangelical pastors as it relates to character. There's a dissimilarity between the mediocre and the exceptional, the weak and the strong, the ineffective and the effective, the immature and the mature. Very few have what I would call a godly presence about them. By godly presence, I mean a man with a noticeable aura of godliness about him, both in and out of the pulpit. A man like Jesus, a man who possesses a palpable sense of humility, and love that draws you into His presence. A man who exudes spiritual strength, confidence, boldness, wisdom, and a noticeable fervency that marks him as a man of God, and a man on a mission. A man so lost in the wonder of the majesty of God, so filled by the divine presence that nothing in this world causes him to despair or tempts him to distraction. This is that rare man whose authority enters a room with him and commands respect without ever asking for it. I'm speaking of that extraordinary man who is quote, "full of the Spirit and of wisdom" Acts six, three. The qualifications that early saints were to look for in choosing the first deacons. Virtues not every man possesses. A man who, according to First Timothy 4:12, "in speech, conduct, love, faith and purity, shows himself as an example of those who believe." What Paul called a quote, "man of God," First Timothy 6:11.

Well, Paul understood this, and this is why he was so careful not to cause any offense that was unnecessary to cause people to stumble. He didn't want to do anything that would distract people from the gospel in his life. You know, the gospel is offensive enough without us throwing gas on the fire, right? And people are looking at us. He was devoted to a personal pursuit of holiness. Second Corinthians seven one, he says, "Let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." Paul summarizes this so beautifully. And so practically, let me read just 10 verses here. What he told Titus in Titus two beginning in verse one, just look how practical this i is when you're thinking about pursuing holiness in your life. He says, "But as for you," he's talking to Titus now, a young pastor. "But as for you, speaks the things which are fitting for sound doctrine." Let that be your focus. Again, if I can add this, don't get off on all that other stuff. "Older men are to be temperate, dignified, sensible sound in faith, in love, in perseverance. Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subjected to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored." By the way in most churches, if you were to preach that passage, you'd clean out most of the church. He went on to say, "Likewise urge the young men"-- young guys hear this, "to be sensible; in all things, show yourself to be an example of good deeds, with purity in doctrine, dignified, sound in speech, which is beyond reproach, so that the opponent will be put to shame, having nothing bad to say about us." And he added this, "Urge bondslaves to be subjected to their own masters in everything, to be well pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect." "Adorn"-- "kosmeo" in the original language. We get our word "cosmetic: from that. It means to make something more attractive with an ornament or with color. That's what our lives are to do; to adorn the gospel of God.

Well, finally, Paul was disciplined in the face of suffering. And here we see the bittersweet realities of serving Christ. We're all aware of this. Moreover, we see the most important virtue that is worthy of commendation and that is: steadfast endurance. Empowered by the Spirit of God to faithfully withstand extreme hardship and stress. Notice what he says, "in much endurance"-- "hypomone" a term that is used throughout the New Testament to describe that inward fortitude, that is necessary to bear up under extreme adversity, under unfair treatment. It's the idea of triumphant, patient, endurance in suffering, empowered by the Holy Spirit. He was disciplined in the face of suffering. It's the Spirit empowered ability, according First Corinthians 15:58 "to remain steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord."

Now, I want you to notice as we wrap this up this morning, Paul gives nine examples. And there's three sets of three here that serve as commendation, frankly, to the integrity of this person, and of his ministry. Set one just describes general pressures beginning in verse four, he says, "in afflictions," that's referring to those spiritual and physical, emotional types of things that we encounter that cause us to suffer for Christ and hardships. A term that is used to describe being deprived of necessities, just necessities to live. "In distresses," a term that describes being constricted; squeezed into something and you feel like there's no way out; an oppressive situation.

Set two he gives some specific examples. "In beatings"-- the term is used to describe the beatings from a fist or from a rod. It's also used to describe the lashes from a whip. "In imprisonments." Oh my goodness, if you knew anything about the prisons in those days, talk about squalor. They were filthy, beyond description. And then he says, "in tumults." A term referring to riots and mob violence, like we see today.

The third set speaks of hardships that he willingly endured. He says "in labors"--the idea of hard, strenuous labor, especially with Paul to somehow support himself. "In sleeplessness, in hunger." You know, there was no Motel Sixes back then. Inns were these vermin infested brothels, dens of debauchery. So he was sleepless, he was in hunger.

Notice how he responded to all of this beginning in verse six. First of all, "in purity." I mean, here's a man of God; a man with godly integrity, a God-fearing man. Might I add, a man with a godly presence about him. Also "in knowledge." It carries the idea of having a deep grasp of theological truth. "In patience"-- I mean, think of all of the nut jobs he had to deal with over the years in ministry, and he was patient with them. Oh, that God would hurry up and teach me patience. "In kindness, in the Holy Spirit, ingenuine love." Love being the first of the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22. Number seven, or verse seven, "In the word of truth"-- referring to the purity of the gospel. That's what he preached, the whole counsel of God. Then he says, "in the power of God." Not in the power of his own flesh, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left." Later on in Second Corinthians 10, he's going to speak of the divinely powerful weaponry that we have been given for the destruction of demonic fortresses; fortresses of lies, and of course, they are primarily the word and prayer.

And then he describes the inevitable paradox of ministry that you can all identify with. And everyone that's that serves Christ can understand this. And you have to always ask yourself, am I going to be committed to being faithful or popular? Because you can't be both. So, you have to decide which one you want to be. He chose to be faithful obviously. So, he says in verse 8, "by glory and dishonor." You see the paradox. "By evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers, and yet true; as unknown yet well known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things. Dear friends, as you serve Christ, you will find that over the years, two lines will form behind you. One will be long, the other will be short. The long line will be those that hate you and everything about you and would love to see you dead. And the short line will be those that love you, because they love Christ. You've got to be motivated by the short line, not the long line. That's what was going on with the Apostle Paul.

I love that last phrase. He says "as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things." When I read that the other day, I was meditating on the passage, my mind went to as it often does, a chorus that I used to sing as a little boy. That's why our music is so important; it's to be didactic. The Spirit of God uses that. The little chorus, the lyric says this, "He owns the cattle on 1000 hills, the wealth in every mine. He owns the rivers and the rocks and reels, and the sun and stars that shine. Wonderful riches more than tongue can tell. He is my father, so they're mine as well. He owns the cattle on 1000 hills. I know that he will care for me." What a wonderful truth dear friends.

Dear Christian, our God reigns, our Redeemer lives. He's coming again. Be delighted to be a co-laborer with God. Be defensive for the true gospel of grace, be driven by evangelism and discipleship. Be devoted to a personal pursuit of holiness so the Spirit of God can use you and bless you. And be disciplined in the face of suffering; for the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Amen? Amen. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these eternal truths. They speak so directly to our heart. Lord, there's so many voices out there vying for our attention. Oh, Lord, help us to stay focused. To not be distracted in our simple devotion to God through Christ. Thank you for the glory of your grace and all that it means to us. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

So we come now to Second Corinthians chapter five and verse 21. And I've entitled by discourse to you this morning, "The Greatest Problem in the Universe Resolved." Let me read the text to you. "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." My friends, deception is deadly, especially as it relates to the gospel. A false gospel will literally destroy a nation. And we are seeing that happen in the days in which we live. I could give you many of examples of false gospels that contribute to this, but I wanted to begin with one to provide a contrast to the true gospel that we will examine in more detail here in a moment. And that false gospel is that of the social gospel that is preached by black liberation theology. Let me give you some background here. According to black liberation theology, Jesus is the savior, to liberate black people from the bondage of white people, not from the bondage of sin. For them, Jesus was not the Lamb of God who came to take away the sins of the world, but rather, he was a revolutionary who sought to free his people from Roman bondage. That gospel is all about victimhood and oppression between men. Salvation is all about equality and social justice and the mission of the church is to affect political change. It's essentially a religious version of Marxism. The experience of oppression is their authority, not the scriptures. It is a man-centered rather than a God-centered religion. It's humanistic and pragmatic to the very core, it's about man and his needs, not God and his glory. The message of Christ, they say, is black power. In fact, Dr. James H. Cohn, one of the preeminent and predominant intellectuals, that gives voice to all of this, elucidates this theme, he says, quote, "It is my thesis, that black power, even in its most radical expression, is not the antithesis of Christianity, nor is it a heretical idea to be tolerated with painful forbearance, it is rather Christ's central message to 20th century America." He described black power as, quote, "complete emancipation of black people from white oppression, by whatever means black people deem necessary," end quote. He added this, quote, "The black intellectual’s goal is to aid in the destruction of America as he knows it." Similarly, and more forcefully, another one of their voices. Dr. Hayward Henry, who, by the way, wrote a book, maybe you've heard of it" Toward a Religion of Revolution," says this, quote, "Black Power is not the antithesis of Christianity, it is Christianity." I remember a number of years ago when I heard of a man by the name of Barack Obama, I'd never heard of him. I knew he served on the Illinois State Legislature. I had a relative who also served in the legislature, and I called him up and I said, "Do you know anything about this guy, I see that he was wanting to run for president." And of course, he knew him very well, knew his wife as well. And I got lots of information. And anyway, I thought, well, I want to find out what this guy believes theologically, because as a theologian, naturally, that's the first place I'm going to go. And by the way, that's first place you should go. So I found out that he went to a church that teaches you guessed it, black liberation theology. In fact, his pastor Jeremiah Wright, has said, quote, "There will be no peace in America until whites begin to hate their whiteness," and on and on it goes. Well, I thought, oh my goodness, I mean, this is the stuff, I knew it was out there, but, you know, surely a guy like this would never be president. I mean, this is the old socialist, Nicaraguan Sandinistas of the 1960s that modeled the Cuban revolution. This is the same stuff. And by the way, if you study critical race theory and Black Lives Matter, you will see that this is at the core of what they believe. In fact, Alicia Garza, one of the three militant feminists that founded Black Lives Matter said this, quote, "Black Lives Matter affirms the lives of black, queer, and trans folks, disabled folks, black undocumented folks, folks with records, women and all black lives along the gender spectrum. It centers on those that have been marginalized within black liberation movements. It is a tactic," now catch this, "to rebuild the black liberation movement."

Well, it should be no surprise that in 2011, then President Barack Obama issued an executive order that required all federal agencies, government workers, even our military, quote, "to promote diversity and inclusion through mandated training courses." And what sounds innocent was, in fact a very sophisticated scheme to indoctrinate federal officials with a virulent strain of identity politics that's rooted in critical race theory, which is an extension of black liberation theology. For them, all of the problems of the world are the result of systemic racism. And if you read their material, they will say white supremacy and white privilege permeates all our institutions, policies, culture, all white people are racist, whether they realize it or not all white people must confess this or be punished, the American system must be torn down and rebuilt. And folks, this is what fuels Antifa and the Black Lives Matter criminal movement. And I might also add this is that the core of the platform of the progressive Democratic Party. This is what's being taught in our public schools. And in our universities. In fact, if you look at the mug shots of a lot of the people that are arrested, in the Antifa, demonstrations, you will see they're public-school teachers.

Well, I applaud President Trump for issuing an order to, quote, "cease and desist from using taxpayer dollars for the dissemination of critical race theory." Maybe you've heard about that. On the news the other day, the order directs all of the federal agencies to begin the process of "identifying and eliminating all contracts or other agency spending related to any training on critical race theory, white privilege, or any other training or propaganda effort that teaches or suggests either one, that the United States is an inherently racist or evil country or two, that any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or evil."

Well, of course, as Christians, we're all opposed to any kind of injustice, any kind of so-called racism, any kind of in inequities or hatred. Nor do we harbor grievances against other people. We don't keep a record of wrongs; we don't take revenge. But dear friends, I would submit to you that there's a far greater evil in the world and certainly in our country than social injustice. Much of which is grossly exaggerated and demonstrably false. The greatest problem is sinful man's need to be reconciled to a holy God. But fortunately, there is a solution and that's the gospel of Jesus Christ. Of course, lots of people laugh at this and they say all don't talk about sin and hell, all of those antiquated ideas, that Jesus somehow died for sinners. My goodness, that's absurd. As some have said, that's cosmic child abuse, nobody believes that. And we would never serve such a God. God is a God of love. For many people, everybody goes to heaven--universalism. Man isn't depraved, he's deprived, and if you will give him more stuff, if you will treat him better, then his true nature will manifest itself. Final part of that statement I agree with. So we need to defund the police, stop incarcerating people, change the environment; basically give people reward without responsibility, and on and on it goes, you know the drill.

But dear friends, as we look at the word of God, we see that sin is the very cause of the curse upon the world. Sin is man's innate inability to conform to the moral character and desires of God. What we see is that sin is lawlessness, as John tells us, it is high treason against the Most High God; we have all offended our holy God. And it's not only a failure to obey God's moral law, but it also includes just living as if that law doesn't even exist. Certainly, it's a violation of the foremost commandment that we are to "love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength," and that God has revealed himself in the Bible. We read in Scripture that the wrath of God, Jesus said, abides upon all those who do not believe in him as the only Savior of the world. And that the wages of sin is death, eternal death. So the message people need to hear today is not how to be delivered from social injustice, the social injustice of man, but how to be delivered from the righteous justice of God. And the only remedy is the gospel of Jesus Christ. Folks, if you get that wrong, it's like building a skyscraper on sand. Eventually, the whole thing will collapse in a heap of ruin. But sadly, that's what has happened. Over the years, the true gospel has been hijacked by other forms of gospel like the one I've just demonstrated to you. Far too many professing evangelicals have taken up this this bogus social justice movement rather than being ambassadors of Christ and the true gospel. I like the way John MacArthur put it quote, "That's precisely how evangelicals in the mid-20th century became obsessed for several decades with positive thinking, self-esteem and psychotherapeutic methodologies. After that it was marketing savvy and promotional strategies. By the beginning of the 21st century, it was post-modernism, repackaged and aggressively promoting itself as the emerging church movement. Today," he goes on to say, "critical race theory feminism, toxic masculinity, intersectional theory, LGBT advocacy, progressive immigration policies, animal rights, and other left wing political causes are all actively vying for evangelical acceptance under the rubric of social justice." He went on to add, "evangelical leaders are beginning to employ the same rhetoric and rationale of victimhood versus oppression that is relentlessly employed by secularists who advocate for all kinds of deviant lifestyles and ideologies. It is a worse form of worldliness than Christians in earlier generations ever contemplated." End quote.

Well, dear friends, I pray that we are all woke today, but not in the traditional use of the term. I pray that we are all woke to the deceptive ideologies of false gospels, including the social gospel, and the social justice movement, which by the way, offers no guarantee of salvation; no guarantee of forgiveness and all it will do is continue to promote further division and discord and violence. You will never be able to appease these people. But I pray you're woke to the true gospel, and here it is before us. Here it is in a sentence, "He made Him who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." All of the narcissists and politicians and peoples of the world will fight amongst themselves until the day they die. And their children will take up their causes. And there will be no end to the strife. There will be no peace until the Prince of Peace returns. Think about it, what happens when all these warring factions die, as they will. All their histrionics and rioting and looting and posturing will be instantly forgotten. And their noble causes, real or perceived, will evaporate like morning mist before the sun. I wish I could stand before the world today and say, "Don't you realize that you all stand guilty and condemned before a holy God? Unless you repent and ask Him to save you, you will perish in your sin. But God has provided a way for you to be reconciled to Him through faith, and the Lord Jesus Christ."

Now, this inspired text also provides the answer to what I'm calling the greatest problem in the universe. And that problem is simply this, how can a holy God forgive sin? And still be just? How can that happen? Of course, we have the answer here before us. And in this text, you will notice three magnificent truths. Actually, you'll see more, but I'm going to give you three magnificent truths as they relate to the Father, and as they relate to the Son; each of these form the bedrock of the Gospel--the only truth that can not only save sinners from their sin, but transform them; completely change their disposition; make them new creatures in Christ.

First of all, I want you to notice regarding the Father, number one, we see the sovereignty of his grace in reconciliation. Notice the very first two words, "He made." This is of course speaking of the Father. We know that because earlier in verse 18, he says, "Now all these things are from God." And there Paul was referring to the divine work of regeneration that occurs at conversion. "Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ." You see, folks, this was the Father's plan all along. There's no such thing as a Plan B with a sovereign God. It's always plan A. And his plan was to rescue fallen creatures from sin and death, to remove the barrier of sin that separated them from him, and to restore us to a right relationship with him. That was his plan all along. According to the Father's eternal, electing purposes before creation, he set his love on certain individuals solely because of his good pleasure, not because of any merit of their own. We read in Revelation 13 eight that "from the foundation of the world" he wrote the names of his elect in the "book of life of the Lamb who has been slain." By the way, this technically is called the doctrine of unconditional election. Paul said this in Second Timothy one nine, he "saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity." A phrase that literally means "before time began." Folks, had he not chosen us, we would have never chosen him because we were dead in our trespasses and sins. "There is none righteous, not even one," Romans 3:10 tells us. All of us are sinful. In fact, as we look at Scripture, we see that all that we are, and all that we do are fundamentally offensive to a holy God. And the reason why that sounds so offensive to so many people is because they have a very low view of God and a very high view of themselves.

Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 64, beginning of verse six, "For all of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment." He went on to say, "There is no one who calls on Your name." Again, as we look at Scripture, we see that before a man comes to Christ, he is hostile to God. He is alienated from God; he is separated from God. His spiritual ears are deaf, his spiritual eyes are blind. His heart is deceitful, above all things, and desperately sick. A heart of stone, cold and unresponsive. And then on top of all of that, we are told that "the god of this world," referring to Satan, "has blinded the minds of the unbelievers to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." Second Corinthians four, four. Once again, remember man cannot affect his reconciliation by doing something, it is solely a work of God. And it was accomplished in the person of Christ through the efficacy of his blood. This was the Father's eternal purpose according to Ephesians 3:11, which he carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord.

You know, I find such great comfort in this. I've often thought I could never be an Arminian pastor, because I think I would just go, I don't know, shoot myself, I suppose. Because salvation is not up to me, it's up to God. What a heartbreak that would be to spend your life preaching the gospel, and see people die and you think, as I've heard, Arminians say, "Oh, if I'd only done this, if I'd only done that." And that's not to say we should be passive, but folks, ultimately, we can trust in a sovereign God to accomplish his good pleasure that he decreed in eternity past. Acts 13:48, amazing text; there we read, "When the Gentiles heard." By the way, that's referring to here that salvation was now offered to them, "they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed." Oh, I'm so thankful for that. What an amazing passage, and each one of us, who know and love Christ, and have believed in him, have experienced that very thing.

So again, in verse 21, we see, first of all, the sovereignty of the Father's grace in reconciling sinners. Secondly, we see the justice his holiness demands. Look at the verse yet again, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." You see, this resolves that great problem, as I mentioned earlier, of how can an infinitely holy God, forgive sin and still be just, because all sin must be punished? Otherwise, there's no justice. And how could his justice ever be satisfied? Because to be sure, sinful man deserves that punishment, he cannot atone for his own sin. So God's holy justice could not be satisfied, apart from a holy ransom. And only by his provision, could such a remedy be accomplished. God could not deny his own justice. And in the incarnation, and sacrificial death of his son, we see his justice being satisfied. You see, dear friends, nothing but perfect righteousness could ever satisfy perfect holiness. So the father had to provide a way to appease his own wrath against sin. And so what did he do? He made "Him," referring to his own beloved son, "who knew no sin to be sin." Now, this was all set into motion in the garden, as you will recall. Because of sin, Adam and Eve lost their innocence and it was replaced with guilt and shame. And what did they do? Frantically, they tried to soothe their conscience by covering themselves with the fig leaves of their own efforts, but it was all in vain. And God cursed them and all who would come from them. Yet although Adam and Eve should have died on that day, God set into motion, his mercy and his grace. We read, "and the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them." What an interesting statement. You see again, man could never cover his sin with his own efforts. So God had to do something; man's best efforts would never be good enough to satisfy divine justice. So a substitute needed to die, to cover sin, to satisfy the demands of God's holy justice. And with that, we see the first sacrifice occurring, a shadow of a coming Redeemer that would one day make atonement for sin. And I can almost see the faces of Adam and Eve on that day, the astonishment when they look down and they saw the blood on the ground when they witnessed the very first death, an innocent death, when suddenly they saw that crimson stain that was required for their sin. And of course, all of that was a picture of an innocent lamb that would one day come, that would one day spill his precious blood as a substitute for all who placed their faith in him. Thus, the glorious story of redemption was set into motion that day, a plan that God had sovereignly ordained before time began. And all through Scripture we see the scarlet thread of redemption, don't we? It is woven into every story. It is the theme of every song and what a glorious thought to know that, though our sins may be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow.

So we see the Father's sovereign grace to reconcile sinners in the justice his holiness demands. But thirdly, will you notice the marvel of his infinite love? I mean, folks, can there be any greater love than this--than to offer your son to save rebellious sinners like you and like me? I mean, I cannot fathom such a sacrifice. "Yet God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." Romans five beginning in verse eight, the apostle Paul says "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life." Folks, this is fundamental to the gospel. This is at its very core. We read, for example, in First John four, beginning in verse nine, "In this, the love of God was manifested toward us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this as love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." And likewise, in Ephesians, chapter two beginning of verse four, Paul says, God is rich and mercy, "and because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, He made us alive together with Christ." Oh, dear Christian, consider this: we're it not for that infinite love, we would still be in a state of spiritual death, like many of our family members, and many of our friends and all the wicked people of this world. I think of what Paul said in Romans three, beginning verse 14, he speaks of those in spiritual death, as being those whose "mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths and the path of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes." But dear friends think of this, because of the divine work of regeneration that occurs at conversion, suddenly, we are raised from spiritual death to spiritual life, having died and been resurrected with Christ and made a new creature in Christ. This is the good news of the true gospel; the only gospel that can save men souls, the only gospel that can deliver men from the bondage of sin and transform hearts as opposed to false gospels like the social gospel. And frankly, just rearrange the deck furniture on the, on the Titanic. It's all they're doing.

Well, let's turn our attention now to three marvelous truths pertaining to the Son. Notice, first of all, the sinless purity of his person. "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf." Now, this is a startling statement. And deliberately so. Of course, we must understand what he's saying here. Some will say, well, because the same word for "sin" can be translated in Hebrew as "sin offering." Paul is here using a Hebraism. Now to be sure Jesus was a sin offering. But I would submit to you that linguistically and grammatically and contextually, it makes no sense whatsoever. The Greek word translated "sin"-- "hamartia,” we get hamartiology, the study of the doctrine of sin, from that word--that word is never used any place in the New Testament, translated "sin offering." We don't see it anywhere. So why would you do that here? Moreover, the same term, "hamartia" is used twice in the same sentence. So you would think that the word means the same both places. Sin offering would make no sense. I mean, read it. He made Him who knew no sin offering to be sin offering on our behalf. Makes no sense whatsoever. And finally, Paul was using the word "sin" here to contrast the word "righteousness." He's basically saying he made him to be sin that we might be made righteous. So none of that makes any sense. Others will argue something that is far more heretical. They say that Paul is saying that Christ became a sinner on the cross. Folks, that is pure heresy. Christ was God in human flesh, he was utterly holy, blameless, he was the spotless Lamb of God. It's beyond the realm of imagination even, that God, who according to Habakkuk, 1:13, "whose eyes are too pure to approve of evil," that God would make his own beloved Son, a sinner? That's incomprehensible. It is blasphemous to think that somehow, the Lord Jesus Christ would lose his righteousness on the cross, and take upon himself our corruption and guilt, and become a transgressor like all of us. According to Hebrews 4:"W5, we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin." Why? Because according to chapter seven and verse 26, of Hebrews, he is, "holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens." No, no dear friends, what we see here is that "He made Him who knew no sin, to be sin." We see that this is referring to imputation-- a very important concept. The father treated him as if he were a sinner, by charging to his account, the sins of all that he had given to him in eternity past. You see, imputation is, it's really that judicial reckoning or sometimes we use the word "forensic." A forensic transfer of one person's sin or righteousness to another. That's what's going on here. By the way, you'll will never see this in Roman Catholic theology, the concept of imputation. Because if it were there, the whole system would fall apart; the works righteousness, we got to keep doing something because nothing was imputed to us. But dear friends, a great exchange took place on the cross of Calvary--Christ took our sin and gave us his righteousness. Isaiah 53, that we read earlier, beginning of verse four, "Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried; yet we ourselves esteemed Him, stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was pierced through for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him." But dear friends, nothing about His sinless character changed on the cross. As a man, as our representative, Christ "knew no sin," as we read here. He was a perfectly sinless substitute, a man who lived a perfectly sinless life, fulfilling every aspect of the law perfectly. Unlike the slaughter of an innocent lamb in the old covenant sacrificial system, according to Hebrews 9:14, Jesus offered himself without spot to God. When John the Baptist saw him, what did he say to the people? "Behold, the Lamb of God." That's who Jesus was. John MacArthur said this, "He was personally pure yet officially culpable; personally holy yet forensically guilty. But in dying on the cross, Christ did not become evil like we are, nor do redeem sinners become inherently as holy as He is. God credits believer's sin to Christ's account and his righteousness to theirs."

Dear friends, we not only see the sinless purity of his person, but secondly, the selfless love of his sacrifice. And here we can go to other passages of Scripture that speak to this. I think of what Paul said in First Timothy two, beginning of verse three that Christ "gave Himself as a ransom for all." Can you imagine that? He gave himself. And Jesus himself said in John 10, in verse 18, "No one has taken it," referring to his life, "away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative." And Peter said in First Peter 2:24, "He bore our sins in His body on the cross." The idea that he willingly did that, incomprehensible. Absolutely astounding. And in First Peter 3:18, we read, "Christ died for sins, once for all, the just for the unjust." And of course, you will recall this was what fueled Paul's testimony. This was why he was so devoted to serving Christ. This is why he had such a zeal for evangelism. It was because of Christ's love for him. Remember, in Second Corinthians five, verse 14, he said, "For the love of Christ controls us. Having concluded this, that one died for all therefore all died, and He died for all so that they who live might no longer live for themselves but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf." It is absolutely staggering that our sinless Savior voluntarily bore our sins, on the cross in his body; that he willingly endured the wrath of God that we deserve. You will probably like me when I was a little boy, I shouldn't say as a little boy, because I still sing it, especially with my grandkids, we sing the little chorus, "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." Great doctrinal truth there. To think that Jesus loved those who hated him. In John 13 one John says of Jesus, "Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end"--"eis telos" in the original language. It means "infinitely", "to the ultimate extreme", "eternally," "completely." Jesus spoke of this himself in John 10:11. He said, "I am the good shepherd; and the good shepherd gives His life for the sheep." Paul reminds us of this in Ephesians, chapter five, verse 25. He says that "Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for her." And then that great passage in Romans 8:35, and following. Paul says, "Who will separate us from the love of Christ?" The answer is nothing. Nothing will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Beloved, I hope these truths animate your heart to praise and motivate your will to serving Christ.

So we not only see the sinless purity of his person and the selfless love as of his sacrifice, but finally, the saving merit of his substitution. This is such a great doctrinal truth. Again, notice, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." You see on the cross, God punished Jesus, as if he had lived our lives of sin. So that God could treat us as if we had lived his life of perfect holiness. I don't mean to be in any way sacrilegious, but folks, what a deal. It's just amazing. And of course, this is pictured in the Levitical sacrifices instituted under the Mosaic Covenant.

Will you join me for a minute, I want you to go with me on just a brief journey back into the Old Testament. Let's go back about, I don't know, roughly 3500 years ago. Two years after the Exodus, the exodus was in 1445 BC, God gave the law to Moses. And one aspect of that law is recorded in the Book of Leviticus. Don't worry, we're not going to go through Leviticus this morning, but I want to remind you of something here, because a key theme of the book of Leviticus is the presence of God. And that's confirmed by the fact that that idea was used 59 times and the phrase "before the Lord." "Before the Lord" literally in the Hebrew is "before the face of Yahweh"--a signifying presence. And Leviticus answers a very important question, and that is, how can the holy presence of God dwell in the midst of a sinful people? And how can we ever enter into that presence? Well, the answer is that we see in the Old Testament and in the sacrificial system, that sinners had to make sacrifices to the Lord to atone for their sin, so that they could be rendered acceptable in his presence. Now, not all of the sacrifices made atonement for sin, but certainly the most dominant one that did speak to that was Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. There the high priests would enter into the most holy place, according to Leviticus 16:17, "to make atonement for himself and for his house, and for all the assembly of Israel." Now, remember, atonement literally means to provide legal or moral repayment for a fault or an injury. And atonement always requires two things: satisfaction and substitution. Satisfaction for the offended holiness of God accomplished only by an acceptable substitute for the guilty party. Now, let me remind you of this, this is fascinating history that we see, especially as it relates to Yom Kippur, described in Leviticus 16 and 17. Let me tell you what the high priest would do during that time. The day would seem to begin like every other day with the offering of the morning sacrifice, which would include the burnt offering of a one-year-old lamb. Then the high priest would move methodically through the ceremonies that God had prescribed on the Day of Atonement described in Leviticus 16 and 17. Aaron was required, for example, to remove his normal priestly garments, he had to wash, he then had to put on the prescribed special garments that God required to allow him to enter into the Holy of Holies. He would then secure the necessary sacrificial animals, he had to have a bull for his own sin offering, and he had to have two male goats for the people's sin offering. He also had to get two rams--one for Aaron's and then the other for the people's burnt offering. And then the next thing that he would do would be to slaughter the bull for his own sin offering. Now mind you, these sacrifices were deliberately gruesome. There was blood absolutely everywhere. This was because God wanted to provide a graphic reminder of the hideous nature of sin and that there is no forgiveness of sin apart from the shedding of blood before entering into the Holy of Holies. With the blood of the bowl, Aaron had to create a cloud of incense and the holy of holies that would cover the the Mercy Seat. The mercy seat--the hilasterion--the Septuagint tells us--the place of propitiation, which was the lid that was on top of the ark of the covenant that held the violated law, the Shekinah glory of God hovered above the mercy seat. And the mercy seat was that dividing line that prevented sinful man from entering into the presence of God. And only when that blood was spilt there, was that allowed to happen. And all of that was symbolic, of course. And so he would create a veil to dim the glory of God that was there, lest he lose his life. And it's interesting when he entered into the holy of holies, he had to pass through three areas first in the tabernacle, later on in the temple. As a footnote, as indicated in Hebrews 4:14, this was symbolic of Jesus, our Great High Priest, who passed through three heavens, after making the final and perfect sacrifice of himself. He went first through the atmospheric heaven, and then through the stellar heaven, and finally, into the very abode of God.

Then the high priest would take the blood; he went through the door into the outer court through another door into the holy place. And finally, he would disappear behind the veil into the Holy of Holies. And once inside, he would take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it on the mercy seat. And he would do this seven times. That was the place of propitiation. And there dear friends, the justice of God was temporarily appeased. Once again, because all sin must be punished. There, atonement was made for the sins of the people. And then lots were cast for the two goats. One goat would have to be slaughtered. And the other would be the scape goat that we'd be driven out and loosed into the wilderness. The goat to be slaughtered was the goat of the people’s sin offering that was then sacrificed. Its blood was taken into the Holy of Holies and applied to the mercy seat where the blood of the bull had been applied. And then the second goat, the one that was kept alive, had the sins of the nation symbolically placed on its head. And then it was driven from the camp to some desolate place, from which it would never be able to return according to Jewish tradition. That goat was led to a high cliff and pushed backward over the precipice to prevent him from ever returning to the camp. Now dear friends, those two goats symbolized propitiation, and expiation. To "propitiate" means to appease the righteous wrath of God against us. First John 4:10, "God loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." And to "expiate" means to remove the guilt of sin. So the goat slaughtered, symbolized propitiation, and that you had an innocent substitute that was slaughtered to appease the wrath of God against the people. And then the one that was sent into the wilderness, symbolized expiation--the permanent removal of the guilt of our sins. And what we see is by sprinkling the sacrificial blood of one substitute on the mercy seat, imputation occurred. Imputation of sin into a second substitute. The priests then atone for the sins of the people. What a magnificent picture of what Christ did on our behalf. You see, he was the only substitute that could do this on our behalf. And here by the way, we see the doctrine of justification by imputation, when he, through Christ declared us to be righteous because "He made Him who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God."

You see beloved, Christ, Jesus offered himself in our place to both propitiate--that is appease the righteousness of God that we deserve--as well as expiate--remove the guilt of our sin from us. God alone covers or erases, he blots out our sin from his sight through the blood of Christ. That's what God told Isaiah in Isaiah chapter six, verse seven, "Behold, your iniquity is taken away." Second Corinthians 5:19, "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting our trespasses against us." And therefore the author of Hebrews instructs us saying, in chapter nine, verse 11, "But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption."

Dear friends, what we've reflected on here today is the old gospel. And I might add, it is the only gospel. If someone asks you and I hope they will, "what is it that you believe is a Christian?" You tell them, "I believe that God made Jesus Christ who knew no sin, to be sin on my behalf, that I might become the righteousness of God in Him. And you young people, I want you to hear me this morning, should the Lord tarry beyond the years of my pulpit ministry, here at Calvary Bible church, and somebody else take my place, as probably will happen, even though we don't know--if that man or any other man dares to stand in this pulpit and preaches another gospel, let him be accursed. And you take that man and you remove him from this facility, before he can finish his blasphemous sermon. Because we've got to stand upon the truth. This is the only gospel that will save. You say, "oh, that will never happen, the pylons of truth have been driven so deep over the years." Let him who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall. It has happened many times. Look at some that were once great denominations, the Methodists, the Baptist. We've got Southern Baptists today that I wouldn't allow to teach Sunday school. Not that they're all that way, but there are some. Presbyterians, some wonderful Presbyterian brothers and others are absolute heretics. And on and on it goes. Princeton, Yale, Harvard, all of those Ivy schools were founded on the true gospel. They were dedicated to training men that would preach exactly what I'm telling you here today. And now look at them. They are thoroughly apostate. Oh, dear Christian, may we all bow in breathless adoration before the Lord our God, and thank him for his marvelous work of grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. And may we all be faithful in carrying that torch; in our families, amongst our friends and future generations. May we all celebrate the great exchange that took place on the cross. Amen? Let's do that. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these eternal truths. May they bear much fruit in our hearts for your glory. And if there be anyone here today that knows nothing of what it means to be reconciled to you through faith in Christ, Oh, Lord, would you overwhelm them with such great conviction that they will have no rest until they bow their knee before the cross and plead for the mercy that you will so instantly lavish upon them. May today even be the day that they experienced the miracle of regeneration. We thank you, we give you praise, in Jesus name. Amen.

Will you join me by taking your Bibles and turning to Second Corinthians chapter five. In the providence of God, we have now arrived at verses 18 through 20, that we will examine this morning, under the heading, "Reconciling the World to God through Christ." Before I read the passage, perhaps I can frame it this way--given the skyrocketing violence in our country through the domestic terrorists, foolishly described as protesters, we see more and more people arming themselves out of fear that the government is going to be unable to protect them, maybe not even unable but unwilling to protect them. And so gun and ammo sales, if you've read anything in the news, you see that it's just skyrocketing. Many of the ammunition manufacturers say they're as much as three years behind; it's just amazing to see what's happening. But dear friends, may I say to you, and please hear this, we face a far greater danger than what we see burning down our cities, and in our government. And that danger is Satan and his minions that basically fuel all of this. For "our struggle," the apostle Paul says, "is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers against the powers against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." And from the outset, I want to remind you that my responsibility before God, and therefore unto you, is to equip you, not entertain you. My responsibility is to prepare you and to train you, not to boost your self-esteem, or in any way rouse you to social and political change. That has nothing to do with the gospel. That has nothing to do with the plan of redemption and our great commission. I am called to frankly help you put on the whole armor of God, right? And learn how to wield the "sword of the Spirit," which is the word of God, as Paul tells us. Second Corinthians 10, beginning of verse three, he says this, "For though we walk in the flesh"-- in other words, that we have human limitations--"we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses." And our divinely powerful weaponry, as we see in that passage and others, is the word and prayer by the power of the Spirit. He goes on to say, "We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ."

Dear friends, our ultimate mission is evangelism; to preach the gospel that men and women, boys and girls will come to a saving knowledge of Christ. So we must understand what the gospel truly is. And unfortunately, we live in a day and age where the gospel has been so distorted, it bears little resemblance, in many churches, to the New Testament gospel that Jesus and the apostles preached. Many people today, many Christians, do battle in the flesh, not in the Spirit, and they wield a plastic sword against a formidable enemy with weak arms. We must do better. And by God's grace, we will. The subtitle of Shepherds Fire, which is the ministry that I have to pastors and church leaders, is this, "proclaiming the unsearchable riches of Christ." For indeed, they are unsearchable, right? They are unfathomable when we contemplate them. Paul said in Ephesians, three eight, "Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles, the unsearchable riches of Christ." Oh, dear friends, I trust that you share that kind of awe, that kind of enthusiasm. In fact, Job said in Job five, verse nine, "Who does great and unsearchable things, wonders, without number." And indeed, when we look and see all that God has done, in creation and so forth, the things are wondrous, they're unsearchable.

But perhaps the most unsearchable miracle of all, is the miracle of reconciliation, whereby he breathed life into the spiritual cadavers, gave us the ability to see the horror of our sin, the glory of the cross, and he saved us by his grace and made us new creatures in Christ, that we might one day enter into the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy. And this is the theme of our text this morning. In Second Corinthians, chapter five, beginning of verse 18, under the inspiration of the Spirit, the apostle Paul says, "Now, all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God."

Dear friends, herein is the glorious good news of the gospel news that is so desperately needed in a world where it seems like all we hear is bad news, right? It gets to a point where you don't even want to turn on the news, because it's so depressing. But here, the inspired apostle reveals how God has a plan, and he has a purpose in redemption, and how we have a high calling to preach this gospel of reconciliation. And you might want to ask yourself from the outset of our time together this morning, what is my highest calling in life? Is this indeed the priority and the passion of my life? Or does it come up way down on the list, if at all. Paul said in Romans one, verse 15," I am eager to preach the gospel to you also who were in Rome. For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "BUT THE RIGHTEOUS man SHALL LIVE BY FAITH." And similarly, in First Corinthians one, verse 17, we read, "For Christ did not send me to baptize," Paul says, "but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who were being saved it is the power of God." Sadly, down through the course of redemptive history, ever since the church was established at Pentecost, we have seen Christian people, churches, that are ashamed of the gospel, the gospel of reconciliation, and therefore they ignore, for example, Paul's testimony in First Corinthians 1:22, where he went on to say, "We preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness." You would think that he would have caught on to pragmatism; my goodness, quit preaching that if people think it's so foolish. No, no, no, no, this is what I'm going to preach. And here's why, "but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greek, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God."

Now, the truth of what God has really done to reconcile sinners to himself, is indeed horribly offensive to fallen man. In fact, our text this morning, as you will see, will either hardened hearts or soften hearts. People will either resent what the Word of God has to say or they will cherish it, one or the other. They will either argue against it or they will accept it by faith. But for the apostle Paul, the truths that are contained herein were the very fuel that caused his heart to burn with passion to preach the gospel; a fuel that could not be extinguished, even by the most severe forms of persecution, and death. And the same can be said of countless millions who have been reconciled to God. They are about the business of the ministry of reconciliation.

I was thinking about this--the great reformers of the Protestant Reformation, which happened around 1517 through about 1648 or so, taught the true gospel. And in order to do that, they used five basic theological principles, called the Five Solas, Latin phrases or slogans, and you can see them around our worship center here: Sola Gratia, by grace alone, Sola Christus, through Christ alone, Sola Fide, by faith alone, Sola Scriptura, by Scripture alone, and Soli Deo Gloria, glory to God alone. And we see these great doctrinal distinctives in our text this morning, where God's great work of reconciliation is described; a reconciliation, catch this, that occurred on the cross. Here, we see how that barrier was removed between sinful man and a holy God. That barrier being the guilt of our sin and the punishment of God's wrath. He bore our sins in his body, and accomplished peace. Paul speaks of this in Romans five, verse 10. He says, "For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation."

Now, as we examine our text this morning, I want to use these five Solas as headings and you will see them emerge from the text as we go through it. First of all, I want you to notice Solo Gratia--reconciliation is by grace alone. Notice verse 18, at the very beginning he says, "Now all these things are from God." Well, what "things" is he referring to? Well, what we read in verses 14 through 17, just prior to this text, he's speaking, he's referring to the divine work of regeneration that occurs at conversion when a believer is raised from spiritual death to spiritual life, having died and been resurrected with Christ and made a new creature in Christ. He's referring to that magnanimous, unmerited love of Christ that changed his perception, his identity and his character; the glorious reality that Christ came to this earth, not only to pay the penalty for my sin and your sin, but also to establish an intimate living, eternal union with us, whereby we are in Him, and He is in us. So he says, "Now, all these things are from God." By implication, you had nothing to do with that.

Think about this, all things of our new creation. We contributed nothing to it, because frankly, we had nothing to contribute to it. Moreover, we were incapable of making any spiritual contribution, because we were spiritually dead. Well, then, how can a man or a woman respond to the gospel invitation? Well, the point is, he can't, she can't, unless the Spirit of God, through the power of regeneration breathes spiritual life into that corpse, because all things are from God. In the miracle of regeneration, God causes the sinner to see the horror of the sin, to see what Christ has done and to believe in utter desperation by the power of the Spirit. He causes us to voluntarily submit to the gospel invitation. May I ask you, dear friend, why did you respond positively to the gospel invitation when you heard it, when your friends and family members did not? Why was that? Was it because you were smarter than they were? Was it because you were a more spiritual person than they were? Folks, if that were the case, you would have reason to boast and you could not say with Paul, "Now all these things are from God." You would have to say now all these things are basically from God but I also made my contribution to. Because after all, grace merely facilitated my salvation, but it was not absolutely necessary for it. Grace only made salvation possible. But it was up to me to exercise my free will to believe so I took the initiative in my salvation, not God.

By the way, this is the freewill heresy of the British monk Pelagius, that was condemned by the council at Ephesus in 431 AD, and a number of other councils. In fact, this is the most condemned of all the heresies by numerous councils, more so than any other heresy. And his doctrine of free will became known as Pelagianism. Perhaps you've heard that theological term bantered around. He emphasized human ability and free will, rather than depravity and sinfulness. So Pelagians believe, for example, that it is possible to live without sin; that the effect of Adam's sin on his descendants was simply a bad example. So all people are free to obey or free to disobey apart from God's grace; man can initiate salvation on his own apart from God's intervening grace. And there's a hybrid of that called semi-Pelagianism, which maintains that, yes, grace is necessary, but that the free that the will is free by nature, to choose whether or not to accept it, when that grace is offered. So again, man is the one that must take the initiative in salvation, and then God must help him along on the way to be saved.

And then there's yet another version of it. I have many dear friends who will believe this. And it's not necessarily as much a heresy as it is just a wrong understanding of soteriology. That's called Arminianism. They would argue that God provides salvation-in that he takes the initiative by providing salvation, but having made that available, that plan available, he leaves man to his own devices to choose to respond a right to God's plan. So God and the believer cooperate together in attaining salvation. And then, of course, there is another view, which I think is the biblical view, it's sometimes called Augustinianism, or Calvinism. It's reformed soteriology that we believe here at Calvary Bible Church. And it basically says this, that God brings man to Christ for salvation. That the power and the glory all belong to him and to him alone. That salvation is all of grace. You might think of it this way-- to the Pelagians, They would say that the natural man is well. To the Armenians, they would say that the natural man is sick. To the Augustinians or the Calvinists, we would say the natural man is dead. That's a simple way of putting it. RC Sproul said this, "The grace that is considered in all semi-Pelagian and Arminian theories of salvation is not efficacious grace." Efficacious is kind of a big word, it means to affect, to benefit, to cause something to actually happen. "Rather," he says, "it is a grace that makes salvation possible, not a grace that makes salvation certain. Therein the great difference. In the parable of the sower, we see that regarding salvation, God is the one who takes the initiative to bring salvation to pass. He is the sower. The seed that is sown is his seed corresponding to his word and the harvest that results is his harvest. He harvests what he purposed to harvest when he initiated the whole process. God doesn't leave the harvest up to the vagaries of thorns and stones in the pathway." Sproul goes on to say, "It is God, and God alone, who make certain that a portion of his word falls upon good ground. A critical error in interpreting this parable would be to assume that the good ground is the good disposition of fallen sinners-- those sinners who make the right choice, responding positively to God's prevenient grace." "Prevenient" means preparatory. "The classical reformed understanding of the good ground is that if the ground is receptive to the seed, that is sown by God, it is God alone who prepares the ground for the germination of the seed."

Well, indeed, as James says, In James one beginning of verse 17, "Every good thing given and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow and the exercise of," catch it, "His will." Not our will, but in "the exercise of His will, He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures." Beloved, the only reason any of us ever believed the gospel, ever responded in repentant faith is because God in His sovereign election, set his love upon us in eternity past. And then in time, he took the initiative to change the disposition of our heart, that we might voluntarily believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm always so deeply humbled by that. You must understand that in election, God demonstrates his resolve to save sinners. And that is what actually happened at the cross of Calvary. These are truths that Armenians and Pelagians would deny. J. I Packer said this, quote, "For Arminianism, salvation rests neither on God's election, nor on Christ's cross, but on man's own cooperation with grace, which is something that God does not himself guarantee." My, my, that's no gospel at all too me. That's not good news. If salvation rests on me, I'm in trouble.

Notice again, our text in verse 18, "Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ." "Reconcile," the Greek term "katallasso"-- it means to restore to a place of fellowship by removing an offense that had destroyed that fellowship. It speaks of the removal of hostility, and the restoration of "shalom," of peace.

Now, I want you to notice, who is the one doing the reconciling? It is God, it is not man. Beloved, you must understand that in the true gospel, we see that man cannot affect his reconciliation by doing something. It is solely a work of God, accomplished by the person and the work of Christ, through the efficacy of his blood. Man is unable to do anything to remove the hostility that God has toward his sin. Instead, you might think of it this way; man passively receives the gift of reconciliation through the atoning work of Christ on his behalf. Man cannot cause himself to be born again. He cannot raise himself from spiritual death. Think of Lazarus. There was Lazarus, laying in the tomb, wrapped in grave clothes, stiff as a board, reeking of the stench of putrefaction. Did he have the faculties to cooperate with Jesus' command to come forth? Did he contribute anything to his resurrection? Well, obviously he did not, not until God gave him life. Then he came forth. Yet you hear something different in many gospel presentations. I've heard it many times oh, it's like a man that's drowning in the sea, and we have to throw him the lifeline of the gospel, but he's got to grab it. And so then you have to have altar calls and manipulative stories and 48 verses of "Just as I am" and the organ and all this stuff to get the mood going so that people will finally grab that line and be saved. But folks, a corpse can't grab anything. And that's what Scripture tells us--that we are spiritually dead. We are hostile to God. We are alienated from him. Our spiritual ears are deaf, we are blind. Our heart is deceitful, above all things and desperately sick. It's called a "heart of stone." It is cold, it is unresponsive, and on and on it goes. And if that isn't bad enough, we read that the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers. Why? To keep them from seeing "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ", Second Corinthians four four. But the Word and the Spirit gives life dear friends, that is the glorious news of the gospel. So regeneration must always precede faith if I can put it that way. Sola Gratia, reconciliation is by grace alone. We don't initiate reconciliation, beloved, we receive it. John MacArthur said this, "Reconciliation does not happen when man decides to stop rejecting God, but when God decides to stop rejecting man. It is a divine provision by which God's holy displeasure against alienated sinners is appeased, his hostility against them removed and a harmonious relationship between him and them established. So indeed, we see Sola Gratia, reconciliation is by grace alone.

But also notice in verse 18, we read, "God reconciled us to Himself through Christ." there's Solus Christus-- reconciliation is through Christ alone. We must understand that only Christ could satisfy the righteous demands of a holy God. Only Christ could appease his wrath. That is propitiation, meaning satisfaction or placation. It's his sacrifice alone, that propitiated God's holy wrath against us making reconciliation possible. First, John 4:10, "In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." Indeed, he alone is the mediator between God and man. Colossians one, verse 20, God chose through Christ, "to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven. And although you were formerly alienated and hostile in mind, engaged in evil deeds, yet He has now reconciled you and His fleshly body through death, in order to you present you before Him holy and blameless and beyond reproach." Oh, beloved, this is staggering. This is good news beyond anything you can imagine.

Likewise, in Ephesians, two beginning of verse 13, Paul says, "But now in Christ Jesus you who were formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by having put to death, the enmity." Folks, this is what happened at the cross.

But what you also notice in verse 19, God gave us the ministry of reconciliation. This is another way of describing the Great Commission. He goes on to say, "Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation." So here again, we see that Christ is the agent of reconciling; we are united to Christ saving faith; we are in Christ. In fact, earlier you will recall in verse 17, in Paul's testimony, he says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." And therefore, because of that, every believer enjoys an intimate, living, eternal union with Christ whereby we become one with him.

But notice the content of our message of reconciliation. And here's where the rubber really begins to meet the road, as we might say. In verse 19, "Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself." Beloved, this is what we celebrate in worship, and this is what we preach to the world. But we must be careful. Paul's use of the word "world" is used by the Universalist to argue that God's death reconciled all mankind, without exception. Perhaps you have run across these people. Everyone goes to heaven. Very, very popular view. They will also use John 1:29, where John the Baptist declared of Jesus, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." Well, there it is, they say, he paid everybody sin. They will use John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son." And they will point to John 4:42. And First John 4"14, where Jesus has called, quote, "the Savior of the world." John 6:51, Jesus declared, "The bread which I will give for the life of the world is My flesh." First Timothy two, six, "He gave Himself as a ransom for all." Hebrews two nine says that by the grace of God, "He might taste death for everyone." First John, two, two, "He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the world." And I'll explain that a little more in a moment. Well my goodness, when you look at those verses, it seems like there right. You paid everybody sins, everybody ought to go to heaven. And certainly a superficial reading of these passages, especially when you don't compare them with other passages of Scripture, seem to indicate that very thing; that Christ paid the penalty for everyone's sin. The problem is, what do you do with hell? Why call anyone to repentance, if everybody's going to be saved anyway. Why preach the gospel if Christ satisfied God's wrath for everyone? Now, obviously, we know that can't be true, that there is a hell. Jesus said in Matthew 7:23 that I read earlier, he will declare to false professors, "I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness." Sounds like some people didn't get their sins paid for right? Revelation 21, verse eight, "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

So how do we answer the Universalist? Ah, but I'm glad you asked. You must understand that the terms "world" and "all" and "everyone" are used to describe mankind in general. They are used to speak of all men without distinction. But not all men, without exception. Big difference. For example, I had a conversation not too long ago with a Universalist and he brought up First John two two, "He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the world." And he wanted me to explain that. And I asked him, "Well, what is the context of all of this, and along with a lot of other things?" Well, he really had no answer for that. And that's what happens; many times people pull these verses out of context. And well, there it is. Well, the context here is that John is writing to saints who had been snookered by false teachers who embraced Gnosticism. And the Gnostics were saying that the only ones that could be saved were the initiates that had the secret knowledge. Likewise, many Jews thought that they were the only ones that could be saved. Certainly not those Gentiles, certainly not those wicked rulers of Rome. So John is refuting this kind of exclusivism. Christ died for Jews and Gentiles. He died for Gnostics. He died for barbarians, for kings and for paupers. So the whole world, that phrase refers to mankind in general. All without distinction, but not all, without exception. He's referring to, as John said in Revelation seven, nine, "A great multitude, which no one could count from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues." So it is in this sense, that God in Christ is reconciling the world to Himself. And what is the barrier that has to be removed in order for that to be accomplished? Our sin. and that's why he goes on to say, "not counting their trespasses against them." I've got a little note "hallelujah." Aren't you glad he's not pulling up the list and saying, "Are you kidding me?"

He goes on to describe in verse 21, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God and Him." And folks, when did this happen? On the cross of Calvary, Christ's death actually atoned for the sins of all whom the Father had given him in eternity past. His death actually, not potentially, expiated the sins of those who would believe--the elect of God. By the way, the word the word "expiate" in Greek it means "out of" and it speaks of him taking our guilt away; it's been removed. But you must understand that there can be no expiation apart from propitiation, you understand that? Our guilt cannot be removed until God's wrath has been satisfied. That's the point. But indeed, on the cross, he was our substitute. And Peter said in First Peter 2:24, that he bore our sins in his body on the tree. Beloved, the efficacy, that is the effectiveness of Christ's atonement, is not based upon the decision of the sinner to repent and to believe. Boy, if that was the case, none of us would ever be saved. Something actually happened at the cross. We can go all the way back to Isaiah 53 and verse five and read what happened, "But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. Folks, there is no potentiality there. We don't preach, "well, Christ made your salvation possible. And now it's up to you to complete the process." I hope you don't preach that? No, we declare to sinners, "Christ died for you." Only a perfect, efficacious atonement provides a salvation that has already been accomplished; nothing more needs to be added. It is a gift to be received by faith alone. Charles Spurgeon said this, "We say Christ so died, that he infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude that no man can number." Can't you just hear him thundering this across the audience there in London about 150 years ago?

"We say Christ so died that he infallibly secured the salvation of a multitude that no man can number, who through Christ's death, not only may be saved, but are saved, must be saved, and cannot by any possibility, run the hazard of being anything but saved." Now that's the gospel. J I Packer said this, "God's saving purpose in the death of his son was not a mere ineffectual wish, depending for its fulfillment on man's willingness to believe, so that for all God could do, Christ might have died and none be saved at all." He goes on to say, "The Bible sees the cross, as revealing God's power to save, not his impotence. Christ did not win a hypothetical salvation for hypothetical believers; a mere possibility of salvation for any who might possibly believe, but a real salvation for his own chosen people. His precious blood really does save all. Its saving power does not depend on faith being added to it. Its saving power is such that faith flows from it. The cross secured the salvation of all for whom Christ died." Oh, what a magnificent truth this is. This is the gospel, we preach; that God in Christ, as Paul said, reconciling the world to himself not counting their trespasses against them. Solas Christus; reconciliation is through Christ alone.

Again, if I can put it this way, his atoning sacrifice, his work on the cross, was efficacious only for quote, "Those whom the Father had given Him," John 17, nine. Those whom God determined from all eternity past to believe on the Son Ephesians one four, "He chose them in Him before the foundation of the world." Revelation 13 to eight, "and their names have been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain." People don't like this. We have a rabid commitment to self-determination. We don't like a God that is fully in control, do we? Well, you do once you come to Christ, and you rejoice in it. Jesus declared, "I am the good shepherd, the good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." And then he added, "I lay down My life for the sheep." Romans eight beginning of verse 32, "God did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all." He went on to say God's elect, those whom He justifies. So dear friends, what a comfort to know that "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them," verse 19. But please understand, reconciliation could never take place, apart from the forgiveness of sins, because it is sin that caused the separation to happen in the first place, right? And therefore we can sing with David, "How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered! How blessed is the man whom the LORD does not impute iniquity," Psalm 32, one and two.

Now, notice again, in verse 18, God gave us the "ministry of reconciliation," verse 19, "He has committed to us the word of reconciliation." The word "word" there is "logos" in the original language, as opposed to the Greek term mythos. It's a synonym for the gospel. It is the word of truth. And here we see Sola Scriptura; reconciliation is by scripture alone. You see, we understand all through Scripture, that it is God's word, that is the sole infallible source of authority for Christian faith and practice. It is not the Bible, plus tradition. The word of God is central to our life, it's central to our faith, it's central to our worship. James 1:I8, "In the exercise of His will, He brought us forth by," what? "The word of truth." Romans 10:17, "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ." Paul said to the Thessalonian believers in First Thessalonians 2:13, "For this reason, we also constantly thank God, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe." I remember when that happened to me, and it's still happening, as it is with you, if you know and love Christ. Well, obviously, there's something else here. The gospel is freely offered to all, but sinners have to respond in faith in order to be saved. We see that here as well.

And here is number four Sola Fide; reconciliation is by faith alone. Verse 18, again, "God gave us the ministry of reconciliation." Again, we have to call sinners to repentance, we have to preach the gospel, so that they will believe. Verse 19, "He has committed to us the word of reconciliation." Verse 20, "Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, to be reconciled to God." Now it's common for people to ask, "well, how in the world can a person respond to the gospel invitation if he's spiritually dead?" Very fair question. And as we've answered before, it's by the work of the Spirit. It's regeneration: the sovereign act of God whereby he imparts spiritual life to a sinner, again causing that sinner to voluntarily respond to the gospel in repentant faith. You see, regeneration is the cause, not the consequence of saving faith. You will recall in Second Corinthians four, Paul speaks of regeneration in terms of suddenly being able to see the light of the gospel; that's regeneration. When God saves the sinner, the Spirit's work causes these blind eyes to suddenly see what they could not see before; to suddenly perceive the light of Christ and all of his glory, resulting in saving faith. But God had to take the initiative. Well, then people will say, "Well, how can man be held responsible for his unbelief? If God is sovereign over salvation?" Well, I've heard that before. And usually the chin is up and the chest is out, and it's like, explain that one to me. Have you heard that before? Of course, there's a sense of, you know, if you believe that, well, then God's unfair, you know, that's the idea. Well, how do you answer that? Well, the answer is real simple. God doesn't say God's sovereignty and man's responsibility run parallel all through Scripture. They never intersect. We see it all over scripture. But you know what, they are perfectly compatible in the mind of God, even though they are an inscrutable mystery to us. By the way, as soon as you try to explain it, you cease to be biblical.

In fact, in Romans chapter nine, we're told to not even ask that question. There we read, "Who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, 'Why did you make me like this,' will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use, and another for common use?" Obviously, we are the clay pot; we have no capacity to even really ask the question much less understand it. We accept it by faith, we see it all through Scripture. "Well, I want nothing to do with a God like that,” I’ve heard that before. And all I have to say is well dear friend, if that's the case, you must understand that you will have an eternity to curse him in the solitary confinement of hell, for what you believe to be his injustice. And I hope that's not the case. All I can do is beg you, as Paul says, "on behalf of Christ, to be reconciled to God. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved." He will forgive your sins, He will make you a new creature in Christ. By the way, this is what the church is to do. We get all these things of what churches are supposed to be about--we're to be ambassadors of Christ, ministers of reconciliation, begging sinners on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. This is our great commission--to make disciples and to teach them to obey all that Jesus has commanded them. We have the ministry of reconciliation. We're not to be, I don't know, social justice warriors, for example, that's where many churches have gone, as if they can somehow appease that crowd, which is absolutely ludicrous. We have the ministry of reconciliation, not the ministry of reparations, which is utterly absurd, and totally unbiblical.

Oh, dear Christians, we have a glorious calling because we serve a glorious God. We have the ministry of reconciliation. I hope you take that seriously. I hope that is your calling, your ministry.

Well, you're probably wondering, our time is almost gone. Aren't we going to get solar day of glory in there? O yes, we're going to do that real quickly. Soli Deo Gloria. Reconciliation is ultimately for glory to God alone. Notice again, back to verse 18, "Now all these things are from God." Whenever I think of that, I think of how Paul for 11 chapters, explains the depravity of man and the glory of God in justification. And at the end of that, he says, in that glorious benediction; that glorious doxology in Romans 11:36 He says, "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen." Beloved, God is the originator. He is the sustainer. And the goal of all things that exist; everything comes from him, everything is preserved by him, and everything ends in him. And it's for this reason that even in that text Paul ascribes to God not merely glory, but he says, "the glory"; the supreme glory, the glory of redemption. Then he says, "Amen." What a fitting conclusion to Paul's arguments and explanations of the plan of redemption. We see this as well, by the way, in First Corinthians eight six, Paul says, "There is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and we want exist for Him; and one, Lord, Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we exist through Him." Beloved, we exist for him, not for ourselves.

And even in the Old Testament, God spoke through his servant Ezekial, in Ezekiel 36:22. He says, "'It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name." He went on to say, "I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, when I prove myself holy among you in their sight.'" Dear Christians please hear this, we are not central in God's plan of salvation. He is. Ultimately we are incidental to it. The whole plan of redemption in creation is the glory of his name that is uppermost in his plan and in his purposes of salvation. It's a humbling thought is it not? The ultimate purpose of election to salvation is according to Ephesians, one six, "the praise of His glorious grace." He went on to say in verse 11, "Having been predestined according to His purpose, who works all things after the counsel of His will, to the end of that we who were the first to hope in Christ would be to the praise of His glory.

Oh Child of God, we are ambassadors of Christ, begging people, as I'm doing today--if you don't know Christ, please be reconciled to Him, by placing your faith in Christ, your only hope of salvation. And dear Christian, is this the passion and priority of your life? Or do you merely live for yourself? Moreover, when you present the gospel, is it the true gospel of reconciliation anchored in the atoning work of Christ? Or is it some man-centered, watered down cotton candy version that exalts man and diminishes Christ that promotes works at the expense of grace that promotes free will, at the expense of God's glory. I trust our time together this morning has indeed equipped you with the truth. I hope your sword has been sharpened, and you will be willing to wield it by the power of the Spirit. And I trust you've also been encouraged by the truth as I am. Therefore with Charles Wesley, we can pray "oh for 1000 tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise the glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace. My gracious master, and my god assist me to proclaim to spread through all the earth abroad, the honors of your name." Let's pray together.

Father, we're always profoundly humbled when we look at the great truths of your gospel. Thank you for reconciling us unto yourself. Thank you for the hope that is ours in Christ. If there be one here within the sound of my voice, I pray that you will save them by that grace even as you have us. We commit it all to you knowing that ultimately your purposes will be accomplished. And for this, we rejoice with exceeding joy. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

What a privilege we all have to be able to look into the Word of God and to be able to worship together in freedom. Let's hope that that continues. It's certainly under threat. Will you take your Bibles and turn to Second Corinthians chapter five. If you haven't been with us, we make our way vers- by-verse through every book of the Bible, whatever we're studying, and this morning, we come to verses 16 and 17 in Second Corinthians five.

Before I read it to you, let me remind you of the context here. And also, to let you know that I want to make this imminently practical for each of us for indeed this is a verse--or these two verses that we're going to be looking at--are very timely, given what we're seeing in our world today. In the course of defending his integrity against the scurrilous slander of the false apostles that had entered into the church of Corinth and gained popularity, Paul has just stated in verse 15, how the love of Christ controls him. And he is astounded at the reality that Christ died on behalf of his sins, bore his sins in his body; that Christ died for all who died in Christ on that day, and therefore all who were raised to walk in newness of life. So he's overwhelmed with this magnanimous, this unmerited love of Christ, for him specifically.

And then he says this in verse 16, "Therefore from now on, we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." Last week, as I heard our president give his speech at the Republican National Convention, there was a part of me that wished that he would have preached this passage. You laugh because you know, that would never happen, right? He said many wonderful things, very inspirational things, many things that are true, many things that are important to protect our country, to maintain our economic prosperity. But I was thinking of what Jesus said in Mark eight. "What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of Him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angel." As I say, I want you to understand the power of this passage as it relates to our lives right now.

Let me take you to some things that I know you're seeing. It's all around us in our culture. We are witnessing a socialist takeover of our country. Sometimes you say, Well, where have these people been? Where they come from? I'll tell you where they've come from; from our colleges, and our universities, and our apostate churches, and our cultural Christianity churches that refuse to teach and preach and apply the truth. I heard just this morning, John Ratcliffe, the Director of National Security describe the tremendous threat of communist China and some of the things that he was allowed to say, in public; obviously concealing enormous amounts of truth. He was talking about the enormous influence that China is exerting on our government officials, congressmen and senators, and women in their various districts. The enormous influence that they are exerting over our electorate to make sure that Joe Biden gets elected--frightening. Folks, this is Lenin's Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 that spawned the Communist Party. This is the same type of stuff. If you don't believe me read your history. These are the brown shirted hooligans of the nationalist Socialist German students League of 1933, Germany. One thing we learned from history is that we never learn from history. You notice that? You know, in Scripture, we're told in Ephesians 5:11, that we are not to "participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness." But we are to "expose them." And I want to expose some of these things, to make sure you have a biblical perspective of what's going on and so that we can apply even this passage. Especially I want you young people to hear this. I am frightened for the kind of world my grandchildren are growing up in, and what they will experience in the days to come. Today we see Antifa thugs destroying cities, attacking people, even in our capitol, you saw them attacking people coming out of the convention, even one of our senators Rand Paul and his wife. They tell us that America is an evil country, that capitalism is an evil system, that the Constitution and Christianity are evil tools of white supremacy. And today, we see growing numbers that find their identity in being a social justice warrior; foolishly believing that their ideologies that are going to somehow bring in a glorious utopia, despite the fact that that has done just the opposite historically every place it has been tried. Of course, social justice is rooted in postmodern ideology is derived from things like intersectionality, and radical feminism and critical race theory. All ideologies that are not just antithetical, but hostile to Christianity. Wherever these things have been applied, millions of people have died. Social justice is really a deceptive label, it should be called socialist injustice. The theme needs to be "you make it we'll take it." We have Black Lives Matter thugs entering restaurants, intimidating people to raise their fist in apparent solidarity with them, screaming "white silence is violence." Basically saying if you don't agree with our ideology, then you need to be canceled. By the way, every totalitarian regime that has ever existed started this way. Black Lives Matter has become a religious cult based on exaggerated claims of systemic racism, and racially motivated police brutality, although all of the statistical metrics say otherwise. So we watch so-called protesters loot and burn, vandalize and murder, while leftist governmental leaders watch on with smug satisfaction. And of course, the answer to all of this is to elect them, give them the power, defund the police and replace them with social workers. Reparations, which if you read this, it's a laundry list that should terrify every law abiding, taxpaying American. It's basically reward without responsibility. It's an attempt to gain political power. In fact, these people really leverage the sin of covetousness in the 10th commandment, to gain political power and to seize wealth from those who they have deemed it to be their oppressors. A vicious lie based upon revisionist history that appeals to the naive and the gullible; lies that need to be challenged but are canceled by a well-organized system of intimidation and propaganda with a complicit media. And folks, you must understand, and we know that Satan is temporarily allowed to be the god of this world until the Lord takes back what is his, but until that happens, these things are going to continue. And ultimately, they're coming for us. They're coming for our church. Don't be naive.

Of course, there's a stark difference between even the parties that we see today. We see for example, the Democratic Party. It's almost--like I listened to some of these things--and it's like some evil foreign country has invaded us. You have people that advance the idea of it being morally okay to kill unwanted, unborn babies. That is so incomprehensible to me. I can't even put it in words. They embrace the most deviant forms of sexual immorality and sexual perversion, major planks in their party platform. Evils, according to Scripture, that are such an abomination in his eyes that he describes, for example, in Leviticus 18, how he vomits out nations the practices those things. Obviously, no Christian could ever vote for such a party. John MacArthur said the other day, something to the effect that the Democratic Party has adopted Romans one as their platform, I thought that was a good statement. He also said this in something else that I read from the Daily Wire, quote, "We have literally watched this play out in living color, with Jerry Springer narrating, as our culture has sped down the exact path of spiritual decline Paul outlines in Romans one. Hollywood, hip hop, shock radio, and host of other pop culture obsessions, helped by mainstream media and the secular academy have indoctrinated recent generations to accept and even encourage every imaginable kind of depravity, and radical," quote, "alternative lifestyle," end quote.

Dear Christian friend, you must understand that the stark difference even between the Democratic and the Republican Party pales into utter insignificance in comparison to the difference between any of those groups, and the kingdom of God. We are citizens of another kingdom. That's why we feel like aliens here, right? We serve the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, we are part of his body, the church. Every church that honors him, as we try to do here at Calvary Bible Church is a celestial outpost of an eternal kingdom that is not of this world. We are a people who have received a word from another realm and who long to leave this earth at God's appointed time. And when we meet together to worship, we do so because an unfathomably glorious God has summoned us to do so; to worship him, and to hear from him through the stammering lips of his servants. My friends, please understand regardless of party, politicians and government can never solve the problems of our world. At best they can do is protect us from evil. Right now, they're not doing a very good job of it. Man's only hope, here this, is in Christ. Only Christ can change the heart. And this is the message of the gospel. This is the message America needs to hear. If I were running for president, which obviously I would never do. And I say this humbly, I have a much higher calling. This would be my platform, and it would be yours. Bottom line, dear friends, you are either in Christ, or you're out of Christ.

Let me tell you what the Bible says about those who are out of Christ. In other words, you have never yielded your life and repentant faith to the Lord Jesus Christ. You've never been saved. Okay? If you're out of Christ, according to Colossians 1:21 You are "alienated and hostile in mind engaged in evil deeds." You're "separate from Christ," according to Ephesians 2:12, "having no hope and without God in the world." Ephesians 4:17 and following says, you walk in the futility of your mind being darkened in your understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in you because of the hardness of your heart. You are controlled by your flesh, according to Romans eight five "For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit." The life of an unbeliever is dominated by his or her fallen nature with which they were born, they live under the authority, under the bondage of their flesh that binds them in their thoughts and their desires. Such as according to Galatians 5:19 and following: "immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and the things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." If you're out of Christ, according to Ephesians, two beginning in verse one, you are "dead in your trespasses and sins." You walk "according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience." You live "in the lusts of your flesh, indulging the desires of your flesh and of the mind, and are by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." Second Peter one, I mean two verse 10, says that you "indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires." Philippians three and verse 19, you're among those whose "end is destruction, whose God is your appetite and whose glory is in your shame." You set your mind on earthly things.

I want you to contrast that horror with the remedy that bridges that estrangement, which is called union in Christ. Ephesians two, verse 13, we read, "But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ." What a magnificent truth. And that's what Paul is saying here in Second Corinthians 5:17. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away, behold, new things have come." These people that are apoplectic with rage, protesting all of the stuff that you see, my heart aches for them, because they need Christ, and they don't see it. America doesn't have a skin problem and has a sin problem, right? People want justice, but they don't understand the justice of God. Otherwise, they would cry out for his mercy and be saved. And this, frankly, is what must be preached from pulpits today. People need to have a sobering recognition of the terrifying separation that exists between a holy God and fallen man, which makes union with Christ an indispensable necessity for salvation.

Well, with that little introduction, these are the magnificent streams of saving grace that flow from the well of truth that's in our text here this morning. I want you to see that salvation changed three things in Paul's life. And we can, all of us who know and love Christ, we all identify with this. It's real simple salvation changed his perception, his identity and his character. Notice closely the text verse 16, "Therefore," and here he is referring back to verses 14 and 15. He's just overwhelmed by the love of Christ who bore his sins. The reality that Jesus died for all without distinction, but not all without exception.

Jesus’ atonement was not a potential propitiation, but an actual propitiation for him and for all who trust in Christ. "Therefore," he says, "from now on, we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way, no longer." So number one, we see that salvation changed his perception. Notice closely he says, "From now on we recognize." "Recognize "—“oida” in the original language, it means "to know or to perceive." We don't perceive anyone according to the flesh anymore. The flesh referring to sinful humanity, whereby we're blinded by sin and by Satan. You see his conversion changed his ability to discern between that which is true, and that which is false. You might say it gave him a new set of lenses with which to see himself and to see the world and certainly to see Christ. No more seeing things through a hopelessly biased, self-serving, superficial, depraved criteria, as he once did. And you know, what's really ironic here is the false apostles were judging him in that same way that he used to judge Christ and Christians. Really interesting to think about that. But now he saying, he's talking about being recognized according to the flesh. You see, before Paul's conversion--remember, he was saw the self-righteous Pharisee who judged Jesus according to the flesh, and that's why he says, "even though we have known Christ according to the flesh," in other words, that's how I used to see him, through the eyes of my flesh--Paul saw Jesus as a messianic pretender, as a phony, a fraud, an enemy of Judaism, as a blasphemer who deserved to die. In fact, he, along with others, saw his crucifixion as evidence of that very thing. Because the cursed are going to be killed by God, even on a tree. Deuteronomy 21:22, "If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree..." And so this is what Paul's thinking about, who Jesus was; as many people today. He hated all who belonged to Christ. In Acts 26 verse nine, and following, he said this, "So then, I thought to myself that I had to do many things hostile to the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And this is just what I did in Jerusalem; not only did I lock up many of the saints in prisons, having received authority from the chief priests, but also when they were being put to death, I cast my vote against them. And as I punished them often, in all the synagogues, I tried to force them to blaspheme; and being furiously enraged at them, I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities." You might say that Paul was a radical Jewish protester of his day. He was the king of cancel culture in his day. And of course, this is typical of unsaved people because they only know Christ according to the flesh. You ask the average person who Jesus is, people who are not in Christ, will not be able to give you an accurate answer. In fact, I read a new survey conducted by LifeWay Research, and released by Ligonier Ministries, that revealed that 52% of Americans, and 30% of Evangelicals say they believe that Jesus was a quote, "good teacher," but he was not God. In another part of the survey, 65% of Evangelicals agreed with the statement, quote, "Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God." Folks, anybody that believes that is unregenerate. You can't be a Christian and believe that. It's like calling yourself a geophysicist and believing that the earth is flat. Jesus repeatedly claimed that he was God. He was, by his own admission, the great "I Am" of the Old Testament, thus bearing the Old Testament, divine name of Yahweh. John 17 five, "Now," Jesus said as he goes to the cross, "glorify Thou Me together with Thy self, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was. Repeatedly the apostles spoke of him as "Our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus." Indeed, he is the Creator, the one who upholds all things by the Word of his power, the coming King of kings, the judge of the living and the dead and so on and so forth. A man simply cannot be in Christ and deny the deity of Christ.

Well, that was Paul's problem. He was religious, but he wasn't in Christ. But when he was converted, God opened his spiritual eyes. And that's why he says "yet now we know Him in this way, no longer." So salvation changed his perspective, as it does everybody who comes to Christ. His ability to look beyond his own preconceived biases, and ignorance was blown away. He can now see people in Christ through the lens of truth.

But secondly, it changed his identity. And here's where it gets even more exciting. Verse 17. "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." I mean, think about it. Saul of Tarsus, as he was called, prior to his conversion, found his identity in being a Christ hating Pharisee. And of course, that determined his character. He was a self-righteous fool. He felt fulfilled, even virtuous, in destroying Christians. But on the road to Damascus, what happened? Suddenly, the Lord of glory revealed himself. And all of a sudden, Paul, the apostle, got a new identity. At that point, he was in Christ, which radically changed everything about him; everything about his character. Now he's a new creature in Christ. And many today find their identity, for example, in being a social justice warrior. They're considered to be the woke, which unfortunately--and I'm gonna say this kindly--t's really a synonym for being deceived. Sadly, Satan has provided other sources of identity that can determine your character. For example, gender identity-- what an amazing thought. You can now choose your sexual orientation. If you don't identify with your biological gender when you were born, you now have, and I did a little research on this, I found anywhere from 56 to 112 variations of gender identity you can choose from. ABC News listed the 56 Facebook genders, I'll give you just a few of them: a-gender, androgynous, bi-gender, cisgender, gender queer, non-binary, trans female, trans male, and on it goes. Of course, it's all absurd. And of course your identity is based upon your desires, they will tell us your attractions. And whenever you're attracted biblically to something that God forbids--"epithumeo," the term that is used is translated "lust." But they will say that your identity is based upon your desires, and that determines your sexual orientation. In fact, the American Psychological Association's definition of sexual orientation is this quote, "Sexual orientation refers to an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic and/or sexual," here it is, "attractions to men, women, or both sexes. Sexual orientation also refers to a person's sense of identity based on those attractions, related behaviors and membership in a community of others who share those attractions." I was reading the other day in the Washington Post. There was an article that caught my eye. It said "Advice to Parents on Raising a Happy and Healthy LGBTQ Child." I’ll just quote one little section. "Parents aren't always aware of their child's sexual or gender identities." By the way, I watched all three children of mine, being born and there was no doubt as to what their gender identity was. "Parents aren't always aware of their child's sexual gender identities, especially when they are young. And their identities are in many ways just emerging. This is why family members should consider that any child might be LGBTQ."

Dear Christian, these people need Christ. That's the only thing that can give them a proper perspective of life, of themselves, of others and certainly of Christ. Now Paul is saying here that everything about him changed when he was placed in Christ, a new identity. The believer’s union with the Lord Jesus Christ is such a precious doctrine. I have written on it, maybe some of you have read one of my books on it. Because indeed, he is our representative. He is our substitute; he is the sacred mediator of all of the blessings of the redeemed. According to one of my esteemed professors, Dr. Richard Mayhew, our union with Christ is, quote, "The source of every spiritual blessing we receive from the Father's election in eternity past to the Son's redemptive life, death, burial and resurrection, all the way to the glorification of the saints with Christ in heaven. And I love the way Charles Spurgeon put it, "There is no joy in this world like union with Christ. The more we can feel it, the happier we are, whatever our circumstances." Think about it, and I think I have this available for you to look at. For we have been "crucified with Christ." Galatians 2:20. We have "died" with him, Romans six, eight, We have been "buried" with him, Romans six, three. We have been "raised up with Him to walk in newness of life," Ephesians, two, five through six. And we have been "seated with Him in the heavenly places," Ephesians two, six.

Dear friends, when we behold the marvel of being in Christ, we find ourselves just adoring God's provision of new life in the Spirit, which is summarized so comprehensively by John Murray. Here's what he said, "Union with Christ has as its source the election of God, the Father, before the foundation of the world, and has its fruition in the glorification of the sons of God. The perspective of God's people is not narrow. It is broad and it is long. It is not confined to space and time; it has the expanse of eternity. Its orbit has two foci: one the electing love of God the Father and the counsels of eternity, the other, glorification with Christ and the manifestation of His glory. The former has no beginning, the latter has no end." And he went on to say, "Why does the believer entertain the thought of God's determinate counsel with such joy? Why can he have patience in the perplexities and adversities of the present? Why can he have confident assurance with reference to the future and rejoice in hope of the glory of God? It is because he cannot think of past, present or future apart from union with Christ." Knowing that we are able to consciously commune with our ever-present Savior, who can sympathize with our weaknesses, who has been tempted at all things even as we are, yet without sin, it's just a reality that boggles my mind, and delights my soul.

And with these truths resonating within our heart, we can better understand Peter's poignant words in First Peter one eight. He said, "Though you have not seen Him you love Him. And though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy, inexpressible full of glory." Dear Child of God, this magnificent mystery, once again, is the foundation of all of our spiritual blessings. And this is what Paul is saying. And that's why your walk with Christ is so important. And when you come to Christ, you're so dramatically changed. Rather than seeing Christ as a means to an end, as many people do, when they hear the Gospel, you suddenly discovered that Christ is the all-sufficient and all, glorious end in and of himself. We are in Christ; he is in us. In fact, Christ is esteemed in such a way that when he describes this, we see him talking about it, even in his high priestly prayer to the Father. Remember, he's preparing to endure the agonies of the cross on your behalf and mine. And he says this, he prayed, "that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in you, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and the loved them, even as You have loved Me." John 17:21 and following.

You see, it is impossible to fathom the gulf that exists between our holy God, our Creator, and his sinful creatures. For the Son of God to purchase our redemption; to be willing to marry such a wretched bride, is just unfathomable. It's like he looks, and he sees me and says, yeah, there is a rebellious, mean, selfish and submissive, ugly one. I want to marry that one. That's what he did. There was no merit in me. There was no merit in any of you. It's the glory of the gospel. It's amazing. Nevertheless, the intended unity that we have with him was decreed before the foundation of the world and it was this very unity that occupied the heart of the Lord on the eve of his crucifixion. It's just amazing to me to think about it. And that this is recorded in Scripture, a certain proof that He wants us all to apprehend, accurately; the nature of this mystical union, and all that it means to the redeemed. Again, it was his desire for his bridal church to relish the profound implications of this everlasting marriage. That she might enjoy the staggering benefits of what it means to be in Christ. This is at the heart of Paul's doxology recorded in Ephesians, one, three, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." That little preposition "in", "in Christ" signifies the deep wonder of Christ being more than just with us, more than existing outside of us, but rather he is one who is in us, and we are in him. One who is more than just our Sovereign King and our risen Savior, our Lord and Master, our teacher, and friend, and so forth; although he is all of those things. But to be in Christ is not some mystical form of pantheism whereby we are absorbed into the wholeness, which is God. It's not at all what Scripture teaches. Nor is it a physical union taught as some of the Sacramentarians would teach where Christ somehow enters men physically when they participate in some rite or ceremony, like Roman Catholic, transubstantiation, or whatever. Nor is it a union of essence, where somehow, we lose our humanity and become one with God and absorbed in Christ. I've heard those things before. But rather dear friends, to be in Christ is an expression of inter-connectedness, whereby we share a common spiritual life with him. For "we have died and our life is hidden with Christ in God," right? Colossians three, three. He is "our life”, Colossians three, four. And he "lives" in us Galatians 2:20.

Scripture reveals some amazing truths about this nature. I've summarized them for you, so that you can look at quickly as we move along here. Union with Christ is a supernatural union authored by God. "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him." John 14:23. But it's not only a supernatural union, it is a vital union by which Christ becomes our very life. Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me."

But it is also an organic union, in that with Christ, believers form one body, the church, and we respond to Christ as the head. Colossians 1:18, "He is the head of the body, the church."

It is also a spiritual union in that Christ dwells within us, by the Spirit, who is the "Spirit of Christ", First Peter 1:11. "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body... and we were all made to drink of one Spirit," First Corinthians 12:13.

But also, and this is very important, it is a legal union; in that Christ is our representative head who has made us the beneficiary of his substitutionary work of salvation, Romans five eighteen, "So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. Whereas through the one's disobedience, the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One, the many will be made righteous."

Ah, but dear friends, it is also a mysterious union, in that it has no analogy in human experience. Colossians 1:27, "God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." And finally, it is an everlasting union that can never be severed. Romans 8:38 and following, "For I am convinced," Paul says, "that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord." And as we look at Scripture, we see various figures that the Spirit of God uses to help us grasp this unfathomable mystery. We are "married to Christ," Romans seven four. We are to Christ as a bride is to the bridegroom, Ephesians 5:22 and following. We are "branches of the true vine," John 15, one through 11. We partake of Jesus, the "true bread of heaven," John 6:51. We are" the body" and Jesus is ""the head Ephesians 1:22 and following. We are a spiritual building, quote, "joined together and growing into a holy temple in the Lord," Ephesians 2:21.

Folks, the implications of these descriptions are staggering. Not only with respect to how they relate to the doctrine of salvation, but with respect to how they cause us to live out this union, in our everyday life; in our gospel proclamation, in our worship, in our service, and all of our relationships with other believers. And even the unsaved world. And I stand in awe when I reflect upon the glorious reality that the Christ came to this earth not only to pay the penalty for my sin, but also to establish an intimate, eternal union with me, where I become one with him. My head blows up. I trust you share my amazement, as well as my eternal gratitude, for what Christ has done. You see, folks, this is my identity, I hope it is yours. I am in Christ--that's changed everything.

It changed Paul's perception, his identity and finally his character, verse 17. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." The little adjective "new"--"kainos" in the original language, means "unseen," "of a kind not seen before," is the idea. It's new in quality, not in sequence. This is the miracle of the new birth. This is the miracle of regeneration. "Palingenesia", we're born again. It is that instantaneous, supernatural impartation of spiritual life to the spiritually dead, where he causes us to raise from death unto eternal life. A miracle that is beyond our comprehension. So what Paul was speaking of here is a radical departure from his whole life, a dramatic change has taken place between his "pre" versus "post" conversion experience. There is a total restructuring of who he is. All of the biased, selfish, ignorant, sinful perspectives, of ourselves, goes away when we are in Christ. All of our biased perspectives of the world and other people, all changed. David Garland said it this way, "The new heaven and new earth and the complete transformation of believers remain a future hope. But for Christians, they are so certain to be fulfilled, that their lives are controlled by this new reality that still awaits consummation for individuals to become a part of this new creation. They must choose to be in Christ."

Beloved, you must understand that what validates true saving faith is a changed life. Not some profession, not some prayer, not some ritual that you did once upon a time when you were sprinkled or baptized or whatever it was that happened. But a changed life. As I say, "you say you're an apple tree, let's see the apples", right? If you're a new creature in Christ, the old things pass away the new things come. At the moment of our new birth we are made new creatures. And that sets into motion, this process of sanctification, whereby the Holy Spirit that dwells within us gradually conforms us into the likeness of Christ. Jesus said in John 3:64, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and what and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." You see the life of a Christian, someone who is in Christ, is characterized by being able to overcome the wicked influences of this fallen world system. It includes a newfound hatred for the things that we once loved, and a love for the things that we once hated. All of you who know Christ can identify with this and tell your stories. The Spirit plants within us new desires, new loves, new passions, new inclinations, new beliefs, new values, so that we manifest the fruits of the Spirit--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, as we read in Galatians, five. Moreover, with the disposition of the soul so radically changed, what's fascinating is God's desires become our desires, Psalm 37:4. He causes us, as Paul said, in Romans 6:17, to "become obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which we were committed." For indeed, "If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness, is born of Him," First, John 2:29.

Well, dear friends, does this describe the longing of your heart? Does this describe the essence of your character, the trajectory of your life? Or are you merely, as so many are, a cultural Christian? A Christian in name only, going with the flow. You don't really find your identity in Christ; you find it in all the other things that are out there in this world that is passing away.

I want to close with a quote from Charles Spurgeon, the great English preacher. He said this about 150 years ago in London. It spoke to my heart I hope it will to yours as well. He said this, "But what is it to be born again?" In other words, to become a new creature in Christ? "Well, I've already said that I cannot tell you how the Spirit of God operates upon the unregenerate making them to be new creatures in Christ Jesus. I know that He usually operates through the Word, through the proclamation of the truth of the gospel. So far as we know, He works upon the mind according to the laws of mind by first illuminating the understanding. He then controls the judgment, influences the will and changes the affections. But over and above all that we can describe, there is a marvelous power which He exerts, which must remain among the inscrutable mysteries of this finite state, even if we can never comprehend it. By this power, such a wonderous effect is produced, that a man becomes a new man, as much as if he had returned to his native nothingness and had been born again in an altogether higher sphere. The new nature is created within him. Although the old nature is not entirely eradicated, it will ultimately be destroyed, but it is not destroyed at first. Yet a new nature is born within the man, A nature which hates what the old nature loved, and loves what the old nature hated. A new nature, which is akin to the nature of God." Dear friends, you're either in Christ or you are separated from him. And I plead with you as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ that if you're outside of Christ, and you feel that conviction, you simply must come to Christ in repented faith. Because unless you repent, and trust in Christ as your Savior, you will remain separated from him forever. You say, "Well, I don't believe in those things." I'm sure you don't, and you won't believe it until you humble yourself and when you become placed in Christ, you will see it in ways you never have before. You may think it's all fine now to be outside of Christ. And it's no big deal. But it won't be that fine in that day when Christ casts you into hell and banishes you forever, from the blessings of the kingdom of God. So I plead with you come to Christ, and watch what he will do in your life, both now and for eternity.

Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word that speaks so directly to our hearts. I can only pray that your word will soften hearts. Even here today. We know that it will either soften or harden and that's up to your sovereign purposes. But Father, you have asked us to pray, you have asked us to repent. And that's what we do this day. Take your word, make it powerful. Change even the lives of the redeem that we might walk more in fellowship with you. That others might see the transformation that you have wrought within our souls by the power of your Spirit. For it's in Jesus name that I pray. Amen.

Thank you musicians for helping us express the doxologies of our soul here this morning. We now come to a time where we open up the Word of God. And we find ourselves this morning in Second Corinthians, chapter five; we're going to be looking at verses 11 through 15. If you have not been with us, we go verse by verse through whatever epistle, whatever passage we are in. And in the providence of God, this is where we are today. I've entitled my discourse to you this morning, "The Fear of the Lord." Before we look at this, I want to frame our thoughts a little bit and just express to you how thankful I am, that you are willing to come here and humble yourself before the preaching of the word. It's a very rare thing, frankly, these days. I was noticing last week, the Democratic National Convention featured a person named J, MAI, the letter J and then capital MAI, who expresses himself; actually, he prefers the pronoun "they" or "them." He is a quote "black, Vietnamese, transgender, non-binary, gender transcendent, mermaid, queen-king. Who was also a licensed minister in the progressive National Baptist Church. Of course, his big thing was we need to abolish the police, abolish ICE, abolish prisons and all kinds of other absurdities. Folks, this is evidence of what happens when a person, and frankly a people, have been given over to a reprobate mind, as Romans describes. A mind that can no longer function, a depraved mind that is irrational. And I don't say this to in any way humiliate that person, but to let you know that here's a person that needs our prayers, because this guy needs Christ, as we all do. But I'm thankful that by God's grace and his mercy, we don't have a mind that doesn't function. We've been given the mind of Christ. And we've been given the Word of God. And so we find ourselves once again, immersing ourselves in his Word.

You know, when Paul came to Corinth, that wicked, vile, immoral city, what did he do? He preached Christ and him crucified. So that's what we're gonna do once again today. Remember the context of the passage, in which we find ourselves. The false teachers had infiltrated the church at Corinth, as they will always try to do in every church and every denomination, and every college and seminary that tries to take a stand for Christ. And as they came in, the first thing they wanted to do is to insult the apostle Paul, who founded the church. He was no longer there; he had been there for about 18 months. Now he's gone, and they are doing everything that they possibly can to assault his integrity, to frankly, deny his apostolic authority; to distort his message and his motives for ministry. In fact, you will recall in chapter 12, Paul speaks about this thorn in the flesh, that was a messenger from Satan; we believe referring to one of the kingpins of that group. Paul asked three times if the Lord would remove it, and remove this person, but the Lord said, No, "My grace is sufficient for you." For power is perfected in weakness. And Paul understood that. But what we see here in this passage is Paul defending himself for the sake of the truth that he preached, as well as for the sake of the unity of the church. Because certainly if the people began to follow these characters, the church would splinter. Left unchallenged, these scurrilous assaults against the Apostle Paul would cause the people to lose confidence in him, to lose confidence in his message. And of course, that's always Satan's strategy, right? To get you to doubt and to wonder...I don't know. So much of this epistle is devoted to Paul defending his integrity as an apostle of Jesus Christ. And certainly, that's the context that we have here. And I might also add that here we see power being perfected in weakness, okay? Which will have application to all of us who love Christ.

Now you will recall in verses nine and 10, that we looked at the last time we were together, Paul stated that his ambition in life was to be pleasing to the Lord. And he added, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." So now we come to the text before us that we will examine. Notice, beginning in verse 11, "Therefore," he says, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences. We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer to those who take pride in appearance, and not in heart. For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; if we are of a sound mind, that is for you. For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for him who died and rose again on their behalf."

Now, Paul, knowing that his ambition was to be pleasing to the Lord and knowing that one day he would stand before the Lord--he would be rewarded for his service--we see three virtuous priorities emerge from this text. You might say, in order to be pleasing to the Lord, Paul had to do three things that you will find have application, frankly, to all of us. Number one, he had to defend his integrity for the sake of the gospel. Secondly, he had to unify the church under the banner of truth. And then number three, he had to live for Christ in light of his astonishing love.

Now you will remember, the inspired apostle admonishes all of us in First Corinthians chapter four and verse 16, "Therefore I exhort you, be imitators of me." Powerful statement, "be imitators of me." And in chapter 11 and verse one, he says, “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ." In Philippians, chapter three and verse 17, "Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us." So, folks, what we have here is a pattern to live by; a model of Christian living and Christian service. So, bear that in mind.

So, you might say in order to be pleasing to the Lord, he must number one, defend his integrity for the sake of the gospel. Now, mind you, he did this with great reluctance. Now, let's look at the text closely. He begins by saying, "Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord..." let's pause here for a moment. It's a powerful statement. The grammar in the original language helps us understand what he's referring to. First of all, let me tell you what he's not referring to. He's not referring to the fear of God's judgment upon unbelievers that's inspired by the Lord. Like those who, according to Romans two, five are stubborn and "unrepentant heart are storing up wrath for themselves on the day of wrath and revelation to the righteous judgment of God." That's not what he's referring to here. Nor is he referring to some kind of an all-consuming angst or terror regarding the nature of God, as Moses did, and the children of Israel, remember, at Mount Sinai when Moses said, I am full of fear and trembling, although it indeed it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. But what Paul is referring to here, when he says, "Knowing the fear of the Lord" is this, he has a reverential awe, that is directed toward the Lord. He has a humbling sense of adoration for who God is, and that's what animated his heart to praise and to worship and to serve the Lord come what may? This is what would cause him to write to all of us in Second Corinthians seven one, "beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." Beloved, is this the attitude of your heart? Do you fear the Lord in that way? Was that in your heart and your mind when you came into this place to worship him this morning? I hope it was. In Psalms 22, verse 23, we read, "You who fear the Lord, praise Him." Certainly, that's what we're doing here today. In contrast to the ungodly, described in Romans three, beginning in verse 14, "'WHOSE MOUTH IS FULL OF CURSING AND BITTERNESS; THEIR FEET ARE SEIFT TO SHED BLOOD, DESTRUCTION AND MISERY ARE IN THEIR PATHS, AND THE PATH OF PEACE THEY HAVE NOT KNOWN. THERE IS NO FEAR OF GOD BEFORE THEIR EYES.'" Dear Christian, do you fear the Lord? Do you have a soul captivating wonder of God's intrinsic glory; the very glory that resides within you and waits its full expression one day, when we see Him face to face, does this motivate who you are as a person; that you long to see the perfections of God manifested in his works and his word, and in his people and your family? In your life? Are you looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us? Folks, this is what drove the Apostle Paul.

"Therefore," he says, "knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men." The term persuade, "peitho," in the original languages, a verb better rendered here, "we seek the favor of" now he's not talking about persuading people with the gospel, the truth of the gospel. Sometimes you hear this passage wrongly used in that way. That's not what he's talking about. He's talking about persuading them with respect to the truth of his apostolic credentials; of his personal integrity, the sincere motives of his heart. And notice he persuades them, he says, in the fear of the Lord, because he knows the Lord knows his heart. He knows that he will one day have to give an account before the Lord. And thus, he goes on to say, "but we are made manifest to God." In other words, his conscience is clear. And he knew--God knew--what is true character, what his true motives, and conduct were all about. Can you say that of yourself? I hope you can. Frankly, this is an extension of what he said earlier in chapter one and verse 12. He said, "For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness in godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you." And so again, he's saying "we persuade men, but we are made manifest to God; and I hope that we are made manifest also in your consciences." He's essentially saying this, "Come on, folks. I was with you for 18 months, and you can all give testimony to the radical change in your lives, when you place your faith in Christ. You know what happened when you embrace the truth? Now, can you honestly say in your hearts, that I'm a fraud, really? I appeal to your conscience, not to what others are saying, but to your conscience."

You will recall his statement in Second Corinthians four two, "We have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the Word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." Folks, very practically speaking, our lives will either adorn the gospel of God, or they will detract from it. Those who know us best will know what is true of each of us. I might ask you to ask yourself, what would others say about my life? Do you conduct your life in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, as Paul said. Or is that not something you really ever think about that much? And you renounce the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the Word of God, but by the manifestation of truth, does that describe you? Or do you have a secret life that you wish nobody would ever know? Thinking foolishly that God doesn't see it? Well, sadly, I know many professing Christians that, frankly, I don't want to around unsaved friends. I really wouldn't want them to know that these people claim Christ. They are like those described a second Timothy three. They're lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, they hold to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power.

Well, not so the Apostle Paul. So, to be pleasing to the Lord, he had to first of all defend his integrity for the sake of the gospel. But secondly, he had to unify the church under the banner of truth because these characters were raising up another banner for them to follow. You see, men and women of godly integrity will not only be committed to defending the gospel, but also committed to defending the unity of the church, the Body of Christ, under, as I say, the Banner of Truth, not the banner of culture. But the banner of the gospel that the world hates. It's interesting, I keep hearing a new term, because I'm hearing new terms all the time these days, right? I don't even know some of the language that's being used anymore. But you've heard the term cancel culture. And I'm beginning to understand what that's all about. Of course, frankly, as Christians, we were used to that; we should be. Cancel culture, I looked it up, "public shaming and withdrawing support of people or organizations that do or say something you find objectionable or offensive." Well, as a result of that, what we see is many churches; many, Christians caving into the mob, and beginning to erect another banner, under which they will march, maybe it's the rainbow banner of the LGBTQ perversions or the Black Lives Matter banner, or the feminist banner, or whatever it is, there's so many satanic movements out there today. And certainly, those three that I just mentioned, are as wicked as they come. And of course, nothing is more offensive than the gospel. So naturally, Satan is going to want to cancel it. You know, he's been trying to do that from the beginning. And the way he does that primarily is through false teachers, false doctrine. But we're thankful that Christ is promised to build his church, right? I rejoice in that. Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life."

And again, that's what Paul preached when he came into Corinth, and you see what happened there. And what has happened down through the centuries, and what has happened to us. But frankly, dear friends, when a church follows the wrong banner, or Christians follow the wrong banner, they forfeit divine blessing, they forfeit their effectiveness when they get divided. You will recall at First Corinthians one and verse 10, Paul addressed the issue of factions, remember that, when we studied that? Right off the bat, he lets him know, look, I know what's going on. And he's trying to stress the importance of humility and unity. He said, there in that text, "Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree and that there'll be no divisions among you, but that you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment. For I have been informed concerning you, my brethren, by Chloe's people, that there are quarrels among you. Now I mean this, that each one of you is saying, "I am of Paul' and I of Apollos,' and 'I of Cephas,' and 'I of Christ.' There was all this sectarianism going on within the church. And of course, factious divisive people will develop fierce loyalties on their own and they will begin to promote themselves and other people, other agendas. That's why, in First Corinthians, Paul described them as being "puffed up"; six times he used that phrase. "Puffed up" referring to, you're filled with self-promoting pride. You love to grandstand like politicians that we see all the time. They're puffed up. They were acting as well, like spoiled infants, demanding their own way. In chapter three verses one through four, he said, "You're still fleshly," which means your worldly, your unspiritual, you're pursuing your own ends. He went on to say, "For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men?" referring to unsaved people. "For when one says, 'I am of Paul' and another, 'I am of Apollos," are you not mere men? And later on in chapter 11, he says that every church is going to have some selfish factious divisive people in it from time-to-time people. He says, "In order that those who are approved may have become evident among you," verse 19 of chapter 11. In other words, the Lord will use that wickedness, that bickering among people to contrast those who are humble, and the spiritual leaders that are there, people of integrity and so forth. So, Paul knew their immaturity, he knew what was going on there. And he knew how the false teachers were playing into that. He knew their proclivity to sectarianism to, to cliques to factions, and of course, Satan knew it as well. So, he inspires these false teachers to turn folks against Paul. So, he has to defend his integrity for the sake of the gospel and the unity of the church.

And notice what he says in verse 12, "We are not again commending ourselves to you." Now, obviously, he had been accused of that. That's why he's saying that. He had been accused of tooting his own horn, as we might say, in our vernacular, making himself a hero of every story. So that's what hypocrites do. The only thing Paul boasted about was his weakness. Remember? Chapter 11, verse 30, he says, "If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness." You see, he wanted to magnify the power of God that was work; it was at work in and through Him. And when the Lord declined his request, to have that thorn in the flesh removed from him, Second Corinthians 12 Nine, the Lord says, "'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.'" So, Paul said this, "Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me."

So again, verse 12, "We are not again commending ourselves to you, but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us." In other words, I want to give you a legitimate basis to rally to my defense, if I can put it that way. I want to bolster your confidence in my spiritual integrity so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart. And there he takes a shot at the false apostles, self-righteous hypocrites. So many passages that speak to that. You remember what Jesus said, regarding the Pharisees and scribes, Matthew 23, beginning of verse 27. He called them "whitewashed tombs, which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they're full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness." He went on to describe them as those who outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. You might say they were all sizzle, but no steak. Like we see in so many people today. Everything from pastors to politicians, we see this; people that tout themselves to be paragons of virtue and justice, when in truth they are sexually deviant, greedy, power hungry, liars. But not so the Apostle Paul. What we see here is that he was controlled by the love of Christ in verse 15. He was passionately devoted to the truth. But of course, the enemies of Christ hate the truth. They hate anybody that believes the truth. And so they call them crazy. That's what they did with Paul. And we see that here in verse 13. Notice what he says, "For if we are beside ourselves it is for God; if we are of a sound mind, it is for you." What a curious statement. What's he talking about here? Beside ourselves? Well, the Greek verb "existemi." It's very interesting. It literally means, "to be beside oneself; it carries the idea of being out of one's mind. That's the idea. And that's how Paul's accusers judged him; that he was out of his mind. He was crazy. As we might say he was irrational. He was mentally deranged, and therefore he can't be taken seriously.

You will recall Paul's passionate testimony of his conversion and the transforming power of the gospel when he stood before King Agrippa. The Roman governor Festus was standing there and he heard what Paul was saying. And in Acts 26:24, he says with a loud voice, "'Paul, you are out of your mind! Your great learning is driving you mad." And I love what Paul said in response in verse 25, "I'm not out of my mind, most excellent Festus, but I utter words, of sober truth. To the natural man, the things of the Spirit are foolishness, and he cannot understand them. For he was spiritually appraised. Paul wasn't insane, he was merely passionate for God's glory. He had his zeal for evangelism. So he says, "For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God;" In other words, look, I'm a steward of the gospel of God. I have a blazing zeal for the glory of God that cannot be extinguished. Then he adds, "If we are of sound mind," which literally means sane, or mentally healthy and behaving responsibly--"if we are of sound mind, it is for you." Again, we know that God has given for example, Pastor, teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ--Ephesians four. He goes on in verse 12, to say until we all attain to the unity of the faith. That was Paul's passion, not only the unity of the faith, but also of the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man. And later on, he explains why. "As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming." You see, Paul was uncompromising. He was indefatigable in his proclamation of the truth, there was nothing that could stop him, because he knew that the gospel is the only thing that can save sinners. And it's also the only thing that can unite saints together in a church. Oh Child of God, is this the passion of your heart? Jesus said, "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and he must take up his cross daily and follow Me." Folks do you follow Christ or man? Do you carry the banner of Christ, or culture? Do you have the mind of Christ or the mind of man? Do you fear God? Or do you fear man?

Well, Paul was committed to defending his integrity for the sake of the gospel and unifying the church under the banner of truth. But finally, to live for Christ in light of his astonishing love. Notice what he says, "For the love of Christ controls us." I think the old King James has" constrains us." The Greek term, "synecho." It speaks of a force that propel, a pressure that results in action. You might say, Paul, in light of this verb, Paul was compelled by an overwhelming reality. There was something that motivated him. And he tells us what it is--"For the love of Christ controls us having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died." What's he referring to here? He's referring to the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, bear with me a little bit, we're going to plunge into some of the ocean depths of theology. I don't have time to get real deep, I need to be brief, I need to be succinct. I'm probably going to leave far more questions unanswered than answered. But I want you to bear with me and think about these things, so that you can understand what drove the apostle. Certainly, what drives me more than anything else. And I hope what drives you. And ultimately, he's saying here it's the atonement.

Now, if we look at atonement, biblically we understand that atonement required two things. It required satisfaction and substitution. There had to be satisfaction for the offended holiness of God. And that's why Jesus is called "the propitiation for our sins." "Propitiation," the term that means "to satisfy." The Greek term "hilasmos", it basically means to appease the wrath of God. So not only must there be satisfaction, but there also has to be substitution for the guilty party.

And as we understand the gospel in Scripture, we see that as sinners, we all stand liable to punishment. But by God's grace, he has provided a substitute the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus has been judicially accounted a sinner in our stead, as our substitute and the infinite offering he made suffices in our stead to satisfy the righteous demands of a holy God, the one that we have offended. That's why Christ had to die in our stead. So, when we, by faith, place our trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as our only hope of salvation, our sins are not only forgiven, but we are also declared righteous. So why did Christ have to die? To reconcile sinners to a holy God. To put it simply; this is the gospel. This was what was so overwhelming to the apostle Paul; this is why he was so devoted to Christ. His heart was absolutely overflowing with gratitude for Christ's love for him. Christ's love for him was the motivating force of his life, the dominating theme of his songs. He was driven by the reality that Christ--and I want you to catch this--was his personal substitute and sacrifice. He was driven by the fact that Christ died for him, specifically, on the cross. Verse 14, he says, "having concluded this, that one died for," which could be translated in the place of "all,"-- "therefore, all died;" verse 15, "and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf."

Now, here, we plunge into some deep, rich, profound theology. I want you to notice what he says, "One died for..." "hyper" in Greek meaning in the place of, "all." Okay, this is where he begins. In other words, he was the substitute and satisfaction for all and then he goes on to say, for all who died in him, well, that's interesting. And we know according to second Corinthians 5:21, that "God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf." Why? So that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Now, when it comes to this word "all," some will say he died in the place of everyone who will ever live. Well, if you believe that, then you have to either say that you agree with universalism, that therefore, everybody is going to go to heaven, or you're going to have to say, my goodness, must have been an deficient and an impotent atonement. Because most people reject Christ as their substitute and Savior, and they will be required to pay for their own sins, in an eternal hell. So, help me understand this. So who are the "all" ? Paul answers the question, they are the "all" who died in Him, verse 14, one died for all, therefore all died; ultimately a reference to all who place their trust in Christ.

And to understand this better, I'm going to take you to just one passage in Romans six. If we look at Romans six, one through four, for example, you will see that we have "died to sin," an amazing concept. And when we look at that text, we see that that's in the "aorist" tense in the original language, which speaks of something that has happened in the past, once and forever. That there was any event that took place, once in the past. And what is that event? We died to sin. What an amazing concept. We died to sin. When we placed our faith in Christ, you must understand at that point we ceased to exist in Adam, and we became alive in Christ. Therefore, in verse four, Paul says, "We have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead, through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." And so what we see here is Christ is only the substitute for those who by grace, through faith, died in Christ. Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." Now, if we stay in Romans six, Paul tells us who these people are. Who are these people that died in Christ? Well, we could go for example, to his salutation in Romans one, six, he's referring to "the called of Jesus Christ." Okay? Verse seven, those" who are beloved of God...called as saints." He's referring to specific individuals. If we were to go to chapter eight, we would read more about who these people are. They are the ones whom God foreknew and predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son. In other words, the elect of God. You go to chapter nine, and see that he's referring to those whom he chose to have mercy and compassion.

The point is, dear friends, Christ knew specifically, each person for whom he suffered and died. Even at the end of verse 15, he says, "He died and rose again on their behalf." On whose behalf? On the called, the elect of God. Ephesians, one four, "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world." Verse five, "He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of his will."

Now, you ask the average Christian, "For whom did Christ die?" And the response will typically be "everybody, you know, for the whole world." So, in other words, what you would be saying is that Jesus paid the sin debt for everyone, when he died on the cross. Well, yes, that's what he did. Okay. Well, then why would Jesus speak more of hell than heaven? Why would there be people in hell? Why would you call people to repent, or you're going to die in your sins, if your sins have already been paid for? How do you explain that? Why it must have been a rather unsuccessful atonement. Most Christians will say, "Well, yes, he died for the whole world, for everyone, but his death did not really guarantee the salvation of anyone in particular, but rather his death on the cross removed an obstacle and made salvation possible for all men in general." Okay. Well, if that is true, then Jesus’ death on the cross was merely an act whereby he accomplished a potential salvation, not an actual salvation. So, the sins of sinners had been atoned for potentially, but it is not actual unless they activated by faith. Well, if that's true, then both heaven and hell are filled with people for whom Christ died. The only difference is that those in heaven somehow made the right choice. You see where it begins to go. I told you it's going to be a little complicated here. Just bear with me some. So, you're telling me that Jesus was only a potential substitution and satisfaction. You're telling me that God intended nothing specific at the cross. Moreover, nothing specifically was accomplished at the Cross affected by his death that there was no real benefit in his death for anyone in particular, or just one in general. And that's what people will say, and many people will say, Well, yes, his was a general ransom. Salvation does not directly depend upon a divine decree and subsequent act of God, but on man independently exercising, his free will in believing. So, you're telling me that the atoning work of Christ is ineffective unless those who are spiritually dead, somehow activate his grace. I mean, Jesus must be a forlorn, frustrated impotent savior, somehow knocking on the door of man's heart, hoping that somehow that spiritually dead person, whose blind, and at enmity with God, who has no fear of God, will open up the door and let him in. That's what we hear in a lot of evangelism today. In other words, God is pacing the throne room of heaven, hoping spiritually dead people will somehow cause themselves to be born again.

Folks, if that's the case, evangelism is nothing more than a political campaign where we try to get people to decide for Christ. And we present Christ as the one who offers himself as a candidate. Well, I would humbly submit that this is part of the error in the doctrine of salvation that's known as Arminianism. They would have us believe that the atonement is unlimited in extent, but limited in power. When in fact, I believe the Bible teaches just the opposite, that it is limited in extent, and unlimited in power. You see, under Arminian theology, the atoning work of Christ, is incapable of saving us unless you allow him to do so by cooperating with him. So ultimately, man, not God, is sovereign over salvation. So, Christ's death on the cross has made the option of salvation available. It has removed an obstacle of our inability to save ourselves, but now it's up to you. But beloved, I would humbly submit to you that what Christ said on the cross is "It is finished." Something happened at the cross. Jesus satisfied the wrath of God, for all that the Father had given him in eternity past. Something actually happened at the cross, not something just potentially happened. That's why we sing "Long my imprison spirit lay, fast bound in sin and nature's night. Thine eyes diffused, a quickening ray, I woke the dungeon flamed with light. My chains fell off, my heart was free, I rose went forth and followed Thee." Dear Christian, if I can put it this way, we were all saved 2000 years ago. He knew who we were by name. This is John 10:11, "I am the good shepherd." Jesus said "The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." Verse 14, "I am the good shepherd and I know", referring to I have an intimate relationship with, my own. And my own know me." Verse 15, "I lay down my life for the sheep." Later on in verse 26. And following Jesus told the unbelieving Jews, "You do not believe that because you are not of my sheep." And then he says this, "My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me and I give eternal life to them. They will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father who has given them to Me is greater than, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. And I and the Father are one." By the way, at that point, that message was so wonderfully received that they picked up stones and tried to kill Jesus. It's still not a popular message is it?

Folks, this is the love that humbled and motivated the Apostle Paul, he understood that the names of the elect were written in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world--Romans 13, eight and other passages. There's no ambiguity here. I want you to think of it this way. Christ volunteered for the work of redemption, with the full knowledge of those whose names were written in the Lamb's book of life, and they would therefore be the reward of his ransom. John 17 that we read earlier this morning. Before his death, Jesus prayed to His Father, quote "for all whom the Father had given Him." Jesus is going to the cross. That's who he's praying for, "All whom the Father had given Him." That through His death, they would be granted eternal life. You see, folks, here's where I'm going with all of this. This is what I believe the Bible teaches, the atonement is not a potential salvation for all, it is an actual salvation for the many. For the bridal church, it is limited in its extent, but it is unlimited in its power to save to the uttermost. Paul understood this Romans 8:29, "For whom he foreknew," a term that literally means "for loved with an intimate love,"-- "those whom he foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son." Verse 30, "And whom He predestined, these He also called and whom He called, these He also justified, and whom He justified, these He also glorified. Ephesians 1:11, "We have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose, who works all things after the counsel of His will." So, for whom did Christ die? Well, He died for his chosen possession, his holy offspring, those who were "bought with a price" for, First Corinthians 6:20. I mean, surely he knew whom he was purchasing. John 17:9, "I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which Thou has given Me. For they are Thine." Verse 19, "For their sakes, I sanctify Myself." Folks, he didn't die for no one in particular, but for those whom the Father had specifically given to him. Ephesians 5:25. And he gave himself for his bride, the church. I mean, do you really think Jesus had no idea who he would be marrying?

Well, indeed, this plan includes specific persons. Now, I'll be the first to admit, there's many things we don't understand when we start looking into the inscrutable mysteries of God. In fact, I was thinking about this, this morning, when I was on my front porch where I love to spend time with the Lord as the dawn breaks. I looked down and there was one of those little fuzzy caterpillar guys, and he was coming up the thing and I was watching him and I was thinking, you know, there is an amazing chasm between that little creature that God made and me. I know things that I mean, he's too ignorant to even know he's ignorant. It's impossible for him to even fathom what I know and understand. And then I was thinking, you square that by some infinite number, and that's me compared to God. There's so much that we don't understand about a God who loves us with an infinite love. He does tell us enough to motivate us and to humble us. And I can't think of anything more humbling than to know that Christ, paid for my sins, knowing who I was on the cross of Calvary.

Beloved, if I could summarize it this way, in eternity past, the father ordained a plan to demonstrate his infinite love for his son by providing for him, a chosen bride. And he chose them by name. And he recorded that their names in a book of life. Elect sinners hostile to him. Desperately in need of forgiveness and transforming grace. A vast multitude of human humanity, pledge to the Son, a gift of the Father's love, a pledge that was also sealed by the Holy Spirit, a promise and in time, in the miracle of salvation, the Father would irresistibly compel those sinners to voluntarily exercise their will and repent of their sins and believe in his Son. And central to this whole plan of inner-trinitarian love, and for his glory, was the Son's death. He had to be a perfect substitute for each specific sinner whose name had been written in that book of life, in order for them to be reconciled to a holy God--"the ones to whom thou hast given me," as Jesus says. Yes, in some sense, Christ has appeased the wrath of God temporarily for every human being, thus allowing them to live, to hear the gospel and to respond. But the efficacious effect of the atonement is only for those who trust in Christ as Savior. And according to his eternal purposes, that will only be the elect that will respond and be saved. Oh child of God, never think of the cross in general , vague terms. But remember that he died specifically for sinners. He bore your sins and mine in his body. He died for us, personally.

And this is what motivated the Apostle Paul. This was the love of God, that motivated him. Friends, the cross actually saved specific people. That's the point. and never say, well, I could not have gained my salvation apart from the cross. No, no, no, please don't say that rather, say, Christ gained my salvation for me at the cross. With this brief overview of the doctrine of the atonement, we can better understand what Paul says in verse 14, "For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this.." in other words, here it is, "that one died for all, therefore all died, and He died for all so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him, who died and rose again on their behalf."

As I close this morning, I want to share something from my heart, one of the hardest things in the world to do is to preach funerals, for people who you know are unsaved. But I might add, it's also very hard to preach funerals for people who you just really don't know if they were saved or not. Because they really have no basis to claim that they've been born again. And when I prepare for funerals, one of the things that I have to do is compile information about the deceased from the family, in order to give a fitting eulogy. So I interview the family members. And I can't tell you how many times I will hear from the family about their Christian relative that has deceased. They will say things like well, "oh, yeah, well, he was a good man; he loved his family, loved to hunt and fish. Worked hard. Had a great sense of humor. Look out if he ever got upset." And then you hear all the funny stories and things that people want to share. And I understand some of that. Or "well, that's a good woman, yeah, she was a great woman; loved her family would do anything for those kids and grandkids. Fantastic cook. Loved to sew, loved to read. Love those game shows on television. Never met a stranger. You know, everybody liked her." Oh, yeah. And here goes the stories. And I always want to be careful, but I will always say to them, "You know, I'm curious. You said that your loved one was a Christian? How would you describe his or her love for Christ, their walk with Christ." And time and time again, I will see people look at me with a blank stare as if they don't know what to say. And typically they'll say something like, "well, oh, yeah, well, she belong to such and such a church, yeah. Gotta love that gospel music, used to sing in the choir years ago. Yeah, he used to go to such and such a church. And yeah, he was a member up there. And he did such and such in the church." Or sometimes I'll hear, "Well, he, you know, he wasn't much organized religion, he liked to worship in the great outdoors, you know, that type of thing." Folks, how tragic to live for yourself and leave that kind of a legacy. Contrast that to a man or a woman who fears the Lord, who is so awestruck over the fact that the Lord gave himself on the cross, to satisfy the righteous demands of a holy God that you could not satisfy. And to be so overwhelmed with that, that everybody knew what type of person you were. I want to have a eulogy prepared for me and for you where people the first thing they would say is, "oh, that man loved Christ, and the love of Christ controlled him. He had but one goal in his life, and that was to live for the glory of God by preaching Christ, and him crucified and presenting his body as a living in a holy sacrifice, acceptable to God." Oh Child of God, the only thing that matters in life is living for Christ. And you're never going to really live for Christ unless you're absolutely overwhelmed by his unmerited love on your behalf when he bore your sins, specifically in his body, on the cross, as our Savior.

Well, my role this morning is not to bring you to Christ, but to bring Christ to you. And having done so I hope that you will cast yourself wholly upon him, if you don't know him, and receive his pardon and his peace. But for those of us who know and love Christ, may will truly be able to say with the Apostle Paul, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain."

Father, thank you for the great truths of your word. May they bear much fruit in our hearts, for our good and for your glory. And for those who do not know you, I pray that you will overwhelm them with such conviction that today will be the day that they will cry out to you for salvation, knowing that ultimately, you are the one that drew them unto yourself, gave them the gift of faith and caused them to be born again. So Father, to that end, we trust in you. We give you praise; we give you thanks in Jesus name. Amen.

Indeed he is the Prince of Peace. This world will have no peace until the Prince of Peace returns. In the meantime, we will live our lives for him. In the providence of God, we now come to Second Corinthians five, verses 9 and 10. If you will take your Bibles and turn there, Second Corinthians chapter five, we're going to look at verses 9 and 10.

Having just celebrated the certainty of the resurrection, the Apostle Paul says this, "Therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."

I recently read an article this last week by a man named Ryan Berge. The title of the article was "On LGBT and Women's Equality: Stark Statistical Reality is Coming for White Evangelicals." That heading caught my eye. Let me read just a little of what he said because it fits in well with where we're going with this text this morning as we look at what the Apostle has to say. The writer said quote, "Evangelicalism is on a collision course with a culture that is rapidly liberalizing on two areas that define evangelical theology: their view on homosexuality, and the role of women in the life of the church. A tradition quite literally named for its ability to bring new people to the faith is finding that task harder each passing year as the doctrines of the tradition move further out of step with the country at large." He went on to say, "In 2008, just one in three white evangelicals between the ages of 18 and 35, believed that same sex couples should have the right to be married. Beginning in 2012, though acceptance of gay marriage jumped from 36 to 56% in just six years. There's a reason to believe the writer went on to say that two thirds of young evangelicals now disagree with their Church's position on this issue. When it comes to women," the writer says, "women taking on leadership roles, support for women's equality among evangelicals under the age of 35, has also exploded. A poll conducted by Denison University political science, Paul Jupe. In March 2020, found that just 12.4% of the youngest evangelicals objected to the idea of a woman preaching in the pulpit during a worship service." Well, my purpose here this morning is not to address issues of homosexuality, which is an abomination in the eyes of God. And thankfully, there is hope for all sinners, all of us regardless of what the sin might be, nor am I here to talk about women preachers and authority in the church, which is something that God clearly forbids. God's divine principle for subordination and authority is to reflect the inner Trinitarian relationship that exists between God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But my purpose, with this illustration, and I could give many others, is to merely demonstrate how most so-called Christians do not have as their ambition. to be pleasing to God. They fear man more than God and they seek to please man more than God or please themselves, because their spiritual authority is not the word of God so they can understand the will of God, but rather it's the word of man. This writer went on to say, quote, "One of the dominant understandings of how churches attract new members is referred to as religious economy theory. In this view," he says, "churches are equated with businesses. Each provides a product to a potential audience. If the product is palatable, it will see an increase in quote 'sales,' expressed as church attendance. If the Church does not meet the needs of consumers, attendance will dwindle, and the church will go out of business. From this perspective," he says, "the evangelical church is selling BlackBerry's while Apple has just begun shipping iPhones." Interesting insight.

Sadly, this is true in this age of pragmatism where many people believe that man, rather than God, is in charge of salvation. And so therefore, we've got to do everything we can to somehow get people to like us so that they will like the gospel. Paul warned about this in Second Timothy four, you will remember, beginning of verse three, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and they will turn away their ears from the truth and they will turn aside unto myths." Well, folks, we are there. Most professing Christians are Christians in name only; they really know nothing of what it is to be in relationship with the living Christ. Their lives bear no resemblance to Christ. Moreover, many people today embrace a gospel that bears no resemblance to the true gospel. To this end, Paul said in Galatians, one and verse nine, "if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed. For am I now seeking the favor of men or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond servant of Christ."

Dear Christian, let me ask you this morning, what drives you as a person? What is the real ambition of your life? If we could look at how you spend your spare time, and how you spend your monies, we would get a pretty clear picture of that right? Is your ambition to please God or to please yourself, or to please other people, your friends, your colleagues? Well, as we examine this text this morning, and other texts that are associated with it, we will answer two questions. Number one, what does it mean to be pleasing to God? And then secondly, why is it important to be pleasing to God? I pray that it is your heart's desire to be pleasing to God. Friends, this is what separates the hypocrite from the true Christian. The hypocrite strives to please himself, and others, while a true believer strives to please God, because he wants approval from God, not from man. And if this is your ambition, God is going to pour out blessing in your life. And if it's not, you will forfeit blessing in your life, and you will live under a cloud of divine chastening because he chastens those that he loves.

So let's begin by examining the language that Paul uses here in the text. He says, "Therefore, we also have as our ambition," the word "therefore"--it could be translated, "that is why." Of course, the question would be therefore what is why? Well, he's referring to the reality of death that will usher us into the presence of Christ that he's been describing in the previous verses. Notice at the end of verse six, he says, "knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord--for we walk by faith, not by sight--we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord." That is why also, we have also our ambition. Well, let's stop there for a second. "Philotimeomai" in the original language. It's an interesting term; the word ambition. It means a cherished goal, a lofty desire, a noble ambition. That's the idea. We see it used in some other passages in Romans 15, verse 20, we read, "I aspired," there's the same word, "I aspired to preach the gospel, not where Christ was already named, so that I would not build on another man's foundation." First Thessalonians four and verse 11, "But we urge you, brethren, to make it your,: here it is, "ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands."

So again, back to verse nine. "Therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent," in other words, whether resident in this physical body, or absent from it, "to be pleasing to Him." In other words, to be pleasing to Him imperfectly on Earth, or perfectly in heaven. So let's answer this first question by looking at this text and some others. What does it mean to be pleasing to God? You might recall that he urged the Ephesians in Ephesians 5:10, to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. That's what we need to do. That's what we're doing here this morning. I think of the passage in Hebrews 13, where the prayer is that, "that the Lord will equip you in every good work, to do that which is pleasing to the Lord," and so forth. Now, the idea of being pleasing to God, as seen in other passages of Scripture, for example, in Colossians 3:20--kids listen to this very carefully, I heard this a lot when I was a young child growing up--"Children," ah, "be obedient to your parents in all things for this as well pleasing to the Lord." Likewise, in Philippians, four, verse 18, Paul described the financial gift that they gave him in support of the ministry as an "acceptable sacrifice, well- pleasing to God." In Titus, chapter two and verse nine, Paul urged the slaves "to be subject to their own masters in everything, to be well-pleasing, not argumentative, not pilfering, but showing all good faith, so that they will adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in every respect."

And he urged the saints in Rome, you will recall in chapter 12 and verse one, and I want to camp on this text for a few minutes, "by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and a holy sacrifice, acceptable to God"--that's the idea of being pleasing to Him--"which is your spiritual service of worship," Romans 12:1. In that text, when he says, "to present your bodies," the word "present," is a Greek term that is used in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. It was a technical term used to describe a priest placing an animal on an altar for sacrifice. And what are we to present, not an animal, but our bodies, the totality of who we are, not just this physical shell in which our soul abides, but the sum of all that we are the sum of our humaneness.

It's interesting when you think about it, worship has always included sacrifice, but the form of sacrifice changed under the New Covenant, you will recall and the Old Covenant, the sacrifices were always dead, right? They offered dead sacrifices. Under the New Covenant, the sacrifices are living. And under the Old Covenant, you would make a sacrifice. Under the new covenant, you would be a sacrifice. And that's what the text is saying. So we are to be a living sacrifice. "Living" suggests the voluntary nature of the act, we are to continually make a decisive and deliberate choice to voluntarily surrender every aspect of our life to God. That's what he means by "a living." And then he says, "a holy sacrifice." In this context, "holy" means to be set apart from sin, to be set apart from the world, from our dreams, our ambitions; from our own agenda, our selfish passions, and to be set apart unto the Lord. This speaks of a total voluntary surrender of all that we are. But even as Old Testament animals were to be without spot and blemish, so too, we must present ourselves in the purity of holiness and purity of heart; a heart solely devoted to the glory of God. And this is the kind of sacrifice therefore, that is, as Paul says, "acceptable to God." That's what's pleasing to him.

And how do we do this? Well, he goes on to say, in verse two, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind transformed," the Greek term "metamorphoo;” we get our word ""metamorphosis from that. And it connotes a change in outward appearance that reflects an inner nature, like like that of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. And of course, this is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the agent of regeneration and transformation. And he is the one that animates this outward transformation, by an inward transformation of our mind. He changes our desires, our thinking, our attitudes, our disposition. That's why in Second Corinthians three and verse 18, Paul said, "we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord," referring ultimately to seeing Christ in Scripture. What's happening? Well, we "are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." Beloved, you cannot present yourself as a living and holy sacrifice that is acceptable to God, while at the same time allowing the world to make you look and act like it; by allowing the world to conform you into its image. Moreover, you cannot be a living and holy sacrifice, unless you are allowing the Word of God to renew your mind so that there will be this transformation, where the inward part of who you really are, as a believer clothed in the righteousness of Christ, will manifest itself. Those things cannot happen unless you're guarding yourself against the world, and all that it teaches, all of the lies.

By the way, this is why so many so-called Christians embrace, for example, just the unimaginable corruption, and satanic lies of the liberal leftist that we see; all of the stuff on the media. This is why they will embrace a social justice gospel, Black Lives Matter, the feminist movement and all of the women preachers stuff. This is why people will embrace the Word of Faith cult that is just kind of taking over the world. They see nothing wrong with any of this. Now, how can that be? Well, in most cases, they're not even born again. And to the natural man, the things of the Spirit are foolishness. And Paul says, and they cannot understand them, because they're spiritually appraised. But many are truly believers. Why don't they get this? Well, the answer can be seen in many passages, but certainly right here, they are not presenting their bodies as a living in a holy sacrifice acceptable to God. They've allowed the world to squeeze them into its mold. They refuse to allow the authority of the Word of God to saturate their minds so that they have the mind of Christ and live consistently with that. Because friends only when your mind is saturated with the Word of God, will you automatically do the will of God. Many pastors today are nothing more than entrepreneurs, or entertainers, not divinely called and gifted pastor teachers. I was thinking about this--my mind went to Jeremiah six. The context there's the false teachers and all of the deceptions that they were preaching to Israel, and Jeremiah says, well, actually, God says this through his prophet, Jeremiah six, beginning of verse 14, "'They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, saying, 'Peace, peace.'" In other words, you're good with God, everything's good. Everything's great. You have nothing to worry about. "'Peace, peace,' but there is no peace. "And he says this, "'Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done?'" The answer is, “'They were not even ashamed at all; they did not even know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punished them. They shall be cast down,' says the Lord." Instead, we are to be as people, and certainly as pastors, men and women who according to Colossians 1:28, "proclaim Him," the Lord Jesus Christ, "admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that we may present every man complete in Christ." Not that we may get them to like us, oh we hope that they do; but that they might be presented to Christ complete. That's why in chapter three and verse 16, he tells us, tells us to, "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in our hearts." This is why Jesus prayed before he went to the cross, Father, "Sanctify them in the truth, Thy word is truth." In other words, it's only your word that can cause them to be conformed into my image.

Practically speaking, dear friends, you must expose yourself on a consistent basis to sound teaching. You should always be reading something. There should never be, oh, "I don't like to read"--learn to like it. We're in war, we're in a war. Whistling "Jesus Loves Me," and parading around and coming to church and thinking that God is going to bless you and use you--we have got to have soldiers of the cross and you cannot be a soldier unless you train. And you must train yourself by getting into the word, studying the Bible, listening to expositors, reading, learning, applying these things. You will never be "a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship," as he says, unless your mind is constantly being renewed by the Spirit of God, and he uses, as his instrument, his word. So, get disciplined. Start reading.

By the way, notice the result at the end of verse two, "that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." The word "prove" it's carries the idea of putting something to the test, and it being approved. You see, only the renewed mind can know and live the will of God and thus prove, or in other words demonstrate it, and thus give glory to God. That's the point. And his will, if you'll notice, is good. It's acceptable. It's perfect. And beloved, when his will becomes our will--our living and holy sacrifice--guess what? We will be pleasing to Him. That's the point. Why? Because it is an expression of his very nature.

Similarly, in Colossians, one beginning in verse nine, Paul says this, "we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be," catch this now, "filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding." Why? "So that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects." Doesn't say this there, but it's almost you could add the word, "duh." "Bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light."

By the way, here we see Paul's ambition to please the Lord being manifested in his prayer life, right? If you want to see if you're pleasing the Lord, just examine your prayer life. What is that, like? What are you praying for? I think of the godly 19th century Scottish Minister Robert Murray McShane, he said, "What a man is on his knees before God, that he is and nothing more." Folks, there's perhaps no better gauge of a man's spiritual maturity, and desire to be pleasing to God, then his secret devotion to God in prayer. You show me a man or a woman who is lacks in private prayer and I will show you a spiritual infant that lives to please him or herself. But for the man or woman who has as their ambition, to be pleasing to God, prayer will be the very air that they breathe. Because they know that apart from Christ, they can do nothing. The praying for the sake of praying is meaningless. The real issue is what are you praying about? Are we asking the Lord to show us specific ways where I am displeasing you; show me ways where I can please you more; show me ways where I can just to put it real simply, make you happy, glorify your name. Or is the content of our prayers, basically, God helped me to get this and get that.

Philippians one beginning of verse nine, we see the same thing. Paul says, "And this I pray," okay, here's the content of his prayer, "that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ; having been filled with the fruit of righteousness, which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God." So again, folks, is this the priority of your life? Are these the types of things that you pray for in your life? So that you can say to your family, as Paul said to the saints in Philippi, in chapter three and verse 16, "Imitate me, even as I imitate Christ?" Can those who know you best say, "Oh, yes. my father, my husband, my wife, my daughter," whatever? "Oh, it's so obvious that it is their ambition to be pleasing to the Lord, we see it in so many ways." Or would they say, "You know, frankly, as nowhere on their radar." Their Sunday morning Christians, cultural Christians, therefore vulnerable to all of the deceptions of the world.

To get even more specific in First Thessalonians, four, beginning of verse one, Paul says, "Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you receive from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and," here it is, "please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more." Folks, we don't ever come to a place where we've finally got it. I mean, there's always more ways that we can please him and he gets specific here. He says, "For you know what commandments we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God," you young people, you're wondering what is God's will for your life--here's one passage you need to underline, you need to copy and you need to put it on your mirror, where you see it every morning when you brush your teeth, which I hope you do every morning. "For this is the will of God," he says, "your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you know how to possess his own vessel and sanctification and honor, not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles, who do not know God." But again, dear friends, you simply cannot be pleasing to God if you do not know his Word, and therefore know his will. And if you don't obey what you know to be true, in this case, especially in the realm of sexual immorality.

Turn to Second Peter chapter one. And I believe it will be on the screens here for you as well. Beginning in verse two, Peter says, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord." I love that phrase, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you." It carries the idea of "I'm praying that the grace and the peace of God will come to you in unending and abundant streams, I just want it to be lavished upon you." That's the idea. And how? Well, it comes "in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence." That term "excellence" carries the idea of just living in a sense of breathless adoration over the glory and the excellency of Christ. He goes on to say, "Now, for this very reason also," and here we have a little list here, ways to be pleasing to God, he says, "applying all diligence"--in other words, there needs to be a sense of urgency here, this is important--"applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge." A term that refers to biblical doctrinal discernment, so that you have the mind of Christ; so that you think biblically about things, and you don't get snookered by people who know error better than you know truth. "And in your knowledge, self-control"-- refers to self-restraint, self-discipline, to make our bodies subject to our mind. "And in your self-control, perseverance." Boy, we live in a day where we need perseverance, don't we? The idea here of perseverance is having the ability to resist temptations and to endure trials. He goes on to say, "in your perseverance, godliness"--a term that is almost forgotten in our world today. The term literally means a reverence for God, a reverence for God, true worship. I want you to be diligent about adding these things now. "And in your godliness, brotherly kindness"--speaking of affection for God and affection for others--"and in your brotherly kindness, love." Especially love for other believers.

And then he says, "For if these qualities are yours, and are increasing"--not just stagnant, they're growing, they're increasing; it's a sign of life, right? "They render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you." You want to have assurance of salvation, look at your life, match it up against these things. He says, "For as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble"--the idea of falling into doubt or despair or fear--"for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ will abundantly be supplied to you." In other words, these virtues will serve as a way of giving you assurance of salvation. That you look at your life, you see these things growing within you; this is your desire, your passion, and you're enjoying what it is to be pleasing to God.

Well moving quickly, this was Paul's ambition, but we'd have to answer the second question which he does here. Why is it important to be pleasing to God? Well, if we looked at all of the passages, we would see things like well, it's important because of all that Christ has done for us his mercy, his grace, his love for us, that he has lavished upon us. The abundance of blessings that he has given us, the promise of resurrection, the promise of eternal life. But also verse 10 he says, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad."

Beloved, please hear this, man is not autonomous. He doesn't just live on his own. He will ultimately answer to a sovereign God who created him. God has made it clear in his word that a day of reckoning is coming. And all men will stand before their Creator to give an account of every thought and every deed. By the way, that is why it's so important for churches to be considered essential during the so-called pandemic. I forget exactly the words that John McArthur used in something that he that he spoke about, but it was something like this--it's infinitely more important to be about the business of rescuing souls from hell than rescuing people from the flu. Indeed, a day of judgment is coming, Hebrews four verse 13, we read that there "is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." And in chapter nine, verse 27, "And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment." Revelation 22 verse 12, "'Behold,'" Jesus says, "'I am coming quickly and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.'"

Now all believers, whose bodies are raised from death and Hades, according to Revelation 20 and verse 13, will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ, at what is called the Great White Throne Judgment. You read about this in Revelation 20. Helpless, they will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ. They will stand there in their sin, with heaven and earth, having fled away, no place to hide, and they will hear the verdict on their life which is guilty, absolutely horrifying. And then the sentence of eternal judgment will be carried out, and they will be thrown into the lake of fire, which is also called the second death. Jesus says they will be cast out into the outer darkness. In that place, "there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth," Matthew eight and verse 12. The passage is so frightening. It speaks of a place of outer darkness, that is the furthest removed from the light of God's glory. And a place of just inconsolable grief, continuous torment, the solitary confinement of an eternal hell. By the way, if you're here today, and you've never wholeheartedly embraced Jesus Christ as your Savior, this is your destiny. And so I plead with you to come to Christ in repentant faith to believe on him. For this reason, according to Acts 17 and verse 30, "God is now declaring to men that all people everywhere should repent, because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed," referring to Christ, "having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead." But the context here is that of a believer. Then Second Corinthians five, the judgment of the believer is far different, obviously, than that of an unbeliever. When Jesus returns, he will evaluate our life and reward us according to our works, that is referring to our earthly service for his glory, as you will see. He's not going to judge us according to our sins. You see that penalty was already paid in full on the cross, right? We can celebrate that. Ephesians, one beginning of verse seven, "In Him, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished on us. There is therefore now no condemnation, to those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans eight one. But we all will be judged, in other words, we're going to be evaluated on the basis of why and what we did for the glory of God. And this is called the judgment seat of God or the judgment seat of Christ. Two passages that speak to this.

Let's look at the one here again in Second Corinthians five verse 10. "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad"-- referring to what was worthless, or of poor quality or of low standard, not bad in the sense of evil. Jude 24 says that Jesus is the one who will make you "stand in the presence of His glory, blameless with great joy." I got that word underlined, highlighted and you know-- "blameless with great joy." Oh, how we celebrate that. Psalm 103, verse 12, "As far as the east is from the west, so far, has He removed our transgressions from us."

By the way, this refutes the giant projector doctrine boy that scared that "we-willy-wink-em" when I was a kid. I heard some preachers preach on this; I remember one time it was a camp. And it's this idea that you better watch out because one of these days you're gonna have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ. There's gonna be this projector and everybody you know--the Lord, everybody's gonna see all the stuff you've been doing. I mean, that was terrifying. It probably made me a better boy for a while, you know, but it's also unbiblical. All right? There was some bad theology there too. I was thinking, Okay, if that's the case, Wait a minute, I thought there was no more tears in heaven. I mean, there's going to be some serious tears in heaven if they show me but anyway, it's ridiculous. Second Timothy four, verse eight, we read, "in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness," Paul says "which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing." And every believer loves his appearing, those that truly know Christ. But again, like in Romans 14, verse 10, "we will all stand before the judgment seat of God." And because the Father has given all authority to the Son, John five; that authority, the one that will be the judge, will be our precious Lord, Jesus Christ.

Now, it's interesting, the Greek word for judgment is "bema," a raised platform that was used for athletic events or in the political arena where an authority figure would stand and be elevated to a "bema seat" to judge competitions, and award the winners. Even in legal cases, you will remember, Pilate judged Jesus and he was on a bema, he was on a bema Seat, Matthew 27. There he would render the decisions. So let's look at another passage here in light of this, it's so exciting. Turn to First Corinthians 3:10. Again, I think it'll be on the screens here for you. And here's where Paul gives further explanation concerning Christ's evaluation of good and bad worthless deeds. Speaking to believers, he says in verse 12. "Now, if any man builds on the foundation," referring to Christ in the Gospel, "with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work." You see, here we see that believers, all believers, are continuing to build upon this foundation of the gospel. It was originally laid by the apostles, in chapter, or in verse 10, he says, "But each man must be careful how he builds on it." And here in verse 13, "...each man's work will become evident..." So think of it this way, we are all part of the church, we are all part of building upon this foundation of the gospel laid by the apostles. And I might add that if the gospel--if the truth of the Word of God is not your foundation, your life and your family will collapse in ruin. Jesus made this clear in Luke 6:49, he says that you will be quote, "like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it, and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great." So believers are the builders in Paul's little analogy here.

But Paul's point is simply this, some of our works will have lasting value, and will endure the testing fire of divine evaluation and some won't. God-centered service that we render in the strength of the Holy Spirit for the glory of Christ, will be of great value. Man-centered service offered in our own strength, for our own glory will have no value. Verse 13, "...each man's work will be become evident; for the day will show it because it has to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work." And even as fire is used to purify metal, it is also used symbolically in Scripture. And we see that here; the consuming fire of divine omniscience and divine holiness will test the purity and the value of our service to Christ. And practically speaking, anything we do that is just done in the flesh, for people to notice us; or anything that's done based upon man's wisdom, those types of things will be of no value. God wants us to build with the very best materials, he wants us to give of our very best, not give our leftovers, not give some cheap imitation. Not see Church and the body of Christ is something that's kind of you know, you can take it or leave it, rather than a priority. No cutting corners, no winging it in Christian service. Wow, how I hate that. The Sunday School teacher that prepares on the way to church, the musician--and I'm glad we don't have this--the musician that didn't prepare at all. You can tell it. He wants us to build things right. With quality workmanship according to his divine standard for the church. He wants us to use our gifts and our opportunities to love and to serve and to worship the Lord Jesus Christ with the right motives.

But notice something else in verse 12. He says, "Now, If any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it has to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work." Now, good works here are the building materials. Now be very careful here, we are not saved by good works. We're saved by grace alone, through faith alone. Good works do not earn our salvation. Good works prove our salvation. That's the idea. Every believer according to Ephesians 2:10 has been "created in Christ Jesus for good works." Not because of good works, but for good works, "which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." Colossians 1:10, "We are to bear fruit in every good work." Now, what's fascinating here is Paul describes two different categories of building materials: gold, silver, precious stones. These would have been valuable, noncombustible materials that would stand the test of fire. And then wood, hay and straw. Less valuable materials: combustible materials that would not stand the test of fire. And because most of the dwellings in the ancient Mediterranean cities were thatched structures, thatched roof structures, on top of clay combined with wood and hay, which is grass and, stubble--which is straw--and because the climate was hot and dry, fire was a serious problem in that day. And this analogy may have been quite vivid to the Corinthian believers in particular, because in 146 BC, much of the city was destroyed as a result of the Roman conquest. Later on, in about 44 BC, Julius Caesar rebuilt it, but it is likely that many of these ruins, the remains of these buildings, were still evident in various parts of the city where structures had been burned, and only noncombustible materials would remain. And that would have been more of the wealthy homes, the government buildings, pagan temples, and so forth. And we know that many of them were made of marble and granite, and some of them even had gold and silver and jewels embedded in the walls and so forth.

In fact at the "bema" it's interesting, he's not going to only evaluate what we did, but why we did it. Paul speaks of this in First Corinthians four. Remember, in verse four, he says, "For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I'm not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore, do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will," catch this now, "both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God. So to be sure, anything that is done for the purpose of self-promotion, anything that is done out of self-interest or self-gain or applause; anything that's done lacking in love, that's just wood, hay and stubble.

But Paul goes on to describe how Christ grants these rewards in verse 14, again, "If any man's work, which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. It's as though there's two kinds of workers in the church, those who build with quality materials and those who use inferior materials. But all those who build, which includes every believer, will be rewarded for what they did by the power of the Spirit. We're not sure what all these rewards might be, perhaps a reference to those who came to Christ as a result of our service. And we all have a part to play in those things; faithful teaching, living, all of those things, they shall be, quote, "our crown of exultation," Second Corinthians 1:14. First Thessalonians 2:19 says, "For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? For you are our glory and joy."

My what a joy it will be, someday, to be able to see people in heaven that somehow by God's grace, he used me, and used you to bring them to faith in Christ; my what reward. And perhaps it will include some degree of ruling with Christ. We know that, from what Jesus said faithful service in this life affects our position in the coming Kingdom, according to Luke 19:11, through 27, some will be granted more ruling authority than others. We can't be sure what all the rewards will be. They're going to be magnificent beyond our ability to fathom. But our works that are done in the flesh, or based on wrong doctrine or whatever will be burned up. He will suffer loss Paul says, But he himself will be saved yet so through fire. In other words, he himself will escape the fire of judgment as if someone just kind of pulled him out of the fire. The phrase "so through fire," was probably a metaphor like a "brand plucked from the burning," as we read in Amos 4:11.

And since we will stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy, evidently, we're not going to experience any remorse over our loss of reward. We just don't know all of these things, but what we know is the Lord is watching and he is going to reward us. Nevertheless, we want to do everything we can to build with the very best materials for the glory of God and be workman that do the very best we possibly can. First John two verse 28, "Now little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming." Second John 8, "Watch yourselves, that you do not lose what we have accomplished, but that you may receive a full reward." Colossians 2:18, "Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize." The context there promoting legalism and other forms of false doctrine.

Well, dear Christians, in summary, get serious about your ambition in life. Get serious about being a person that wants to be pleasing to the Lord. Ask yourself, am I using my gifts for the glory of Christ? Am I serving Him? Are there any areas in my life that are displeasing? Husbands, wives, sit down together and talk about this, sit down with your family? Think this thing through, so that one day we can hear from the Lord, "Well done, good and faithful servant." Amen? Amen. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these great truths. Again, by the power of your spirit, animate our hearts to be men and women, boys and girls who are bold for the gospel, because of our love for Christ; that our ambition will indeed be to please you in all that we do. And for those that do not know you, Father, again, I would just beg you to bring such overwhelming conviction that today would be the day of their salvation, that they would humble themselves before the cross, seeing the horror of their sin, in the inevitability of judgment, and cry out for that mercy that you will grant so instantly. So Lord, we commit this to you, that in all things Christ might have the preeminence. For it's in his name that I pray. Amen.

As we watch our world, sink deeper and deeper into the abyss of depravity, isn't it wonderful to be able to come together and hear the glorious truths of God's Word and be reminded afresh that he is sovereign over all of his creation, he is still on his throne. He has a plan, he has a purpose, and it will be accomplished. And to know that somehow, we're a part of all of it. What an amazing thought. Will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark chapter 13; we continue to examine this portion of Scripture, this gospel. We're going to be looking basically at the first eight verses, but this is the beginning of a series that I want to do that I'm entitling "Jesus Prophetic Discourse on the End of the Age." And here we will see Jesus telling his disciples what is going to happen because they're asking the question. And the context here is, he has made his final pronouncement of judgment against apostate Judaism. And he's given now a long explanation of what must take place prior to the end of the age prior to the establishment of his kingdom. We see parallel accounts in Matthew's gospel chapter 24, and 25, and Luke's gospel chapter 21. And we're going to see more of those details as well. And what's happening here now occurs on Wednesday of the Passion Week. The Lord is about to go to his death on the cross a few days later, on Friday. And we know that in Matthew 23, we have a record of Jesus's public sermon; a detailed denunciation of the false shepherds that stood right before him. Those false teachers, the scribes and Pharisees that really represented apostate Israel. And after pronouncing seven curses of divine judgment upon them, he concluded with one final, climactic pronouncement in verse 33, he said, "'You serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of hell?'" And then he gave a final warning in verses 34 and 36, promising judgment that would eventually fall upon them. And we know that in AD 70, that happened. 50,000 elite Roman troops marched upon Jerusalem, they immediately captured about 500 of the Jewish leaders, some of them, no doubt, that were in Jesus' presence. And they crucified them. No doubt, again, some of the scribes and Pharisees that he had just condemned. And then we know from history that the Romans slaughtered 1.1 million Jewish people. They took an estimated 100,000 captives and took them to Egypt, glutting the market with slaves. And so Jesus' words must have been shocking to the disciples. Luke tells us in chapter 19, verse 11, that they "supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately."

So what is all this talk? He's been talking about his death, about his resurrection. And now, all of these things. And certainly, Jesus' triumphal entry just a few days earlier into Jerusalem, really heightened their expectations, but they failed to understand how all of that works together with Jesus' talk about death and resurrection. And as I think about it, like all of us, the disciples only heard what they wanted to hear and believe what they wanted to believe, without any regard for truth or reality. And in Matthew 23, we have a record of Jesus's terrifying response upon Israel with a farewell promise. In verse 38 he said, "'Your house,'" referring to the temple, "Your house is being left to you desolate.'" But in verse 39, he said, "'I say to you, from now on you shall not see Me until you say, "BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD!"'" Well you notice, Jesus did not say unless, but rather, he said, "until." And therein is the glorious hope, because there is a future conversion that awaits the Jewish people; a time of genuine repentance, a time that has been carved into the granite of divine sovereignty. But Jesus gives us no hint as to when the interval of time is holy indeterminate. He simply says "until." And he used the very text the multitudes quoted a few days later, or a few days earlier, the triumphal entry when they said, out of Psalm 118, verse 26, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." And when Jesus returns the next time, as we have read in our scripture reading, we know that it will be very different. And at that time, what was once said in ignorance, and in unbelief, will be said, with full knowledge and genuine faith.

Zechariah speaks of this in his prophecy in chapter 12, beginning in verse nine. "'And in that day I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.'" Indeed, a day is coming when a remnant of Jewish people will join us in singing, Amazing Grace; won't that be a wonderful day?

The Apostle Paul spoke of this as well in Romans 11, beginning verse in verse 25. He reminds us that there is a "partial hardening that has happened to Jerusalem, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, 'THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.'" And so after his scathing denunciation of their phony religious system; their hypocrisy, their corruption, and after his ominous prediction of the temple's demise, he concludes with a message of hope, and then quietly withdraws from the presence of the multitudes there on the temple area.

And obviously, this prediction of judgment on Israel's temple would have aroused great suspicion and intense desire, on the part of the disciples, to understand what in the world are you talking about? What will be the nature? What will be the duration of this time of desolation? When is this going to happen? And what do you mean you shall not see me until we say blessed it is he who comes in the name of the Lord? Didn't we just say that? Their Messiah King had just passed final judgment upon their nation, upon their temple. The disciples are confused. And so now what happens, if you can imagine, Jesus and his disciples leave the Temple Mount, go down across the Kidron Valley, and they begin to ascend up the Mount of Olives. And it is at this point that Jesus gives what is called his Olivet Discourse.

That brings us to our text here, in Mark 13, beginning in verse one. "As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, 'Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!' And Jesus said to him, 'Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another which will not be torn down.' As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter and James and John and Andrew were questioning Him privately, 'Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?' And Jesus began to say to them, 'See to it that no one misleads you. Many will come in My name saying 'I am He' and will mislead many. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be frightened; those things must take place; but that is not yet the end. For nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will also be famines. These things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.'"

Now, much of what I have to say this morning is going to be largely introductory to what we are going to study over the next several weeks. But I want you to think about this, many people, if not most people, scoff at the existence of a creator god. Most people scoff at the idea that he is infinitely holy. Most people laugh if you tell them that the one true God, the God of the Bible, is sovereign over all of his creation; that he is actively involved in history. Most people think that is absurd. They will laugh if you tell them that he is going to come one day and judge the nations, as well as individual people. Most say that God, if he exists, isn't involved in history. Either he doesn't exist, or at least he's uninvolved, therefore, for most people, history is cyclical. It's just an endless cycle of meaningless existence fueled by the process of evolution. There is no purpose. There is no plan, there is no destiny. We are merely sophisticated germs that came into existence by accident. And we have evolved over billions of years by random chance. That's what our children have been taught for years in our public schools. That's what most people believe. There is no design because there is no designer. There is no creator and therefore there is no judge. There is no one to whom we are accountable. There is no ultimate and eternal consequences for anything that we do. So let's just eat and drink, be merry, for tomorrow we die. This is Satan's great lie. It certainly appeals to man's depraved nature. And collectively, the masses of the world believe this type of deception, causing people to actually think that that's the truth. If you get enough people to believe a lie, it becomes the truth. Quote, unquote.

The biblical Christian worldview is very different. History is not cyclical, but God controls history; history is linear, there is a beginning there is an end. The one true God is the Creator, the Sustainer, and the consummator of all things. He is currently moving history toward a final destination, one that he sovereignly decreed and ordained in eternity past. And his plan is to ultimately bring glory to himself in ways that we can't even begin to comprehend. And that plan absolutely cannot be thwarted. And this plan is delineated in his revelation to man, which is the inspired, the inerrant, the infallible, authoritative, all-sufficient Word of the living God, recorded in the canon of Scripture--the Bible. And therefore, the unfathomably complex order, design and functionality of the natural world screams the fact that there must be an intelligent creator, there must be one that sustains all of these things. And therefore, that same one, is the one that will consummate all things. And for those who believe God doesn't exist, or if he does, he's not involved in history, obviously, the Bible is nothing more than a book of myths. And the gospel is foolishness. And the hundreds of Bible prophecies that have been fulfilled, literally, are merely coincidental.

My friend, if that is you, God calls you a fool. Indeed, the Psalmist tells us in Psalm 14 beginning in verse one, "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.'" It goes on to say "They are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds; there is no one who does good. The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside, together, they have become corrupt; there is no one who does good, not even one." These people have no fear of God; therefore they have no wisdom, spiritually speaking, down deep. They foolishly hope that if there is a God, their own perceived goodness will be enough to help them make whatever cut there is for salvation, that God grades on the curve and they've been good enough to beat out most other people. This is how the world lives, even many in the religious world. Indeed, the unregenerate know nothing of the one true God, they know nothing of the creation, of what Scripture says about that, of the person, the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, His true church. And so most of the world simply lives for itself. People are constantly pursuing the fleeting pleasures of this life. And eventually, like all of us, they are going to grow old. They are going to be diseased and decrepit. And then they will die in their unbelief and spend an eternity in hell. That's what God has said. In fact, Jesus tells us in John 3:36, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." And we know according to Hebrews nine and verse 27, that "it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes," what? "comes judgment."

But for those who by God's grace alone believe that history is linear, that God is ultimately in control of history, those people and I'm sure I'm speaking of those who are within the sound of my voice, will long to know all they can about his plan of the ages, and his plan for them personally. And they will search for every biblical insight available to them, so that they can know the season in which they live. They will be like the disciples who said to Jesus, "Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?"

Now I wish to unpack Jesus' lengthy answer under seven headings over the next several weeks. Let me give you the headings. We're going to first of all see the temple's demolition. And then the signs of the end, the prospect of persecution, the abomination of desolation, the false Christ and prophets, the coming of the Son of Man, and the warning to be prepared. I'm taking them in the order that Jesus delineates them. And while we do not know a specific date when all of this occur, we can see how that the stage is being set, right now in our world, for the constellation of all of the prophetic signs to be manifested. So the bottom line is, we all need to be ready. And we all need to be excited. In fact, we need to be thrilled to know that all of this is going to come to an end and Jesus will be glorified. Aren't you tired of hearing him mocked so, it breaks my heart. So let's look at the text.

"As He was going out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, 'Teacher, behold, what wonderful stones, what wonderful buildings!' And Jesus said to him, 'Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.'" And here we come to the first little point in our outline, and that is, the temple's demolition.

You must understand that according to history, this was an amazing piece of architecture. Herod the Great had spent a fortune refurbishing the modest temple structure that had been erected many years earlier under the rule of Cyrus, remember when the Jews returned to Jerusalem from Babylon. And actually, the final touches were still being made during Jesus' day. The temple wasn't actually completely finished until AD 64, six years before it was destroyed; it was a magnificent building. They said that some stones measured 40 feet by 12 by 12 feet and weighed up to 100 tons. Can you imagine moving stones like that without cranes? The walls were luminous white marble that glistened with decorations of pure gold. Wealthy worshipers would contribute countless precious stones and priceless ornaments to adorn the walls. And the temple complex would accommodate many 1000s of worshippers and in it it had symmetrical porticoes and patios and colonnades and courtyards. The opulence of this edifice was absolutely mind boggling. In fact, its splendid grandeur, was even described in the Babylonian Talmud, stating, quote, "He that never saw the temple of Herod never saw a fine building." End quote. The eastern side, that would have been visible to Jesus and the disciples from the Mount of Olives--for those of us that have been there, you know exactly what it would look like. In fact, now, if you look at pictures, you see the Dome of the Mosque, you know, you're up hight and you're looking over, now the dome of the mosque is there, but that's the Mount of Olives, looking back on where the temple once stood. But they viewed this from the adjacent mountain, and they could see it glistening, especially in the evening. And I would say even more so in the morning when the sun would light it up. And sadly, however, this astonishing edifice that they viewed from the adjacent mountain had become a tragic symbol of apostate Judaism. And it was about to be destroyed, along with their apostasies.

And this led to Jesus solemn prediction recorded in Matthew, chapter 23, verse 38, that "'Your house is left to you desolate.'" And then in Matthew 24, verse two, "'not one stone shall be left upon another, which shall not be torn down.'" Can you imagine the shock and the confusion of the disciples. And history records that when the Romans attacked the Temple Mount, they set fire to the main temple structure, and the heat was so immense that the stones crumbled into powder. And the stones that we see there today were merely the the retaining walls of the temple. And then they sifted through all of the ashes to retrieve the fine jewels, the gold and the silver. And indeed, as Jesus promised, not one stone was left standing. The great Jewish historian of that day, Josephus, said that when the Roman army had finished, the temple area looked like "a wilderness that had never been inhabited." So the Messianic hopes of the disciples being dashed, they don't understand what's going on. And if their beloved temple is going to be gone, so too is the nation, so they're doomed. And I'm sure in their mind, they're thinking, no temple means no Messiah. And yet he's here. Undoubtedly, Malachi's prophesy in chapter three and verse one is ringing in their ears. There we read, "T'he Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,' says the Lord of hosts." But again, if you have no temple, you have no place for the Messiah to come, no kingdom.

Later on, when all of this happened, Jews understood this. They are still waiting to build their temple are they not? By the way, Malachi's prophecy was reference to the millennial temple, that the Lord himself will construct at his second coming and you see the details of it, described in Ezekiel chapter 40 through 48. So we read in verse three, "As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James and John and Andrew were questioning him privately. "Tell us, when will these things be and what will be the sign when all these things are going to be fulfilled?" Matthew 24 three adds this, "Tell us, when will these things happen and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" Three questions, very appropriate questions. When will these things be? When are you going to destroy the temple? And are you going to miraculously rebuild it? I mean, is it going to happen next week, next month, next year? And how does all this fit into your talk about dying and resurrection?

The second question, what will be the sign of your coming? "Parousia" is the term that is used, which means "presence" or "arrival" or "manifestation". In other words, when are you going to ascend the throne of Israel as our messianic king, and the effulgence of your glory is going to beam forth? That's what we're waiting for. When is this going to happen? And what's going to be the sign of your "parousia"? And what will be the sign of the end of the age? The term "end" in the original language translates a compound word denoting an ultimate consummation, or a culmination, a completion of plot, of a planned series of events. In other words, what can we look for that will indicate that you will finally manifest your power and your glory as our Messiah? What sign? Tell us what it will be when this age of wickedness and rebellion is finally over.

Now, it's important to understand as well that the disciples thought that all of these mysterious events that Jesus was talking about would happened shortly and in quick succession, in a single continuum. They had no idea that he was going to leave; they had no idea of a church age that would intervene before his ultimate parousia. Again, Luke 19:11, The twelve, "supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately." And you realize that even after the resurrection, just before Jesus ascended into heaven, the disciples asked in Acts 1:6, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" So they could only comprehend a swift sequence of dramatic events that would culminate in this promised Messianic kingdom. So beginning in verse five, Jesus begins to answer their questions in reverse order. He begins by addressing the signs of his coming. And I again, he is using the term parousia, in the technical sense, referring to his second coming. And as we look at the combined records of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we see that there are six specific signs that Jesus gives them, and he calls them "birth pangs" in Mark 13 eight for example. These are the things that will occur just before his appearing: false messiahs, nations at war, natural disasters of epic proportions, persecution of tribulation saints, defection of, and betrayal by false believers, and interestingly, enough mass evangelism.

Now, as a footnote, these six signs have undeniable parallels with the seal trumpet and bowl judgments that are delineated in Revelation chapter six through 19. The seal judgments, we know from the text, will take years. The trumpet judgments weeks, the bowl judgments days and hours.

Now, a very important digression, because this comes up from time to time. After Jesus predicted the imminent demolition of the temple, he began to foretell events that would occur in the distant, not the immediate future. But some disagree with this. And they have what's called a "preterist" view, or maybe you've heard of Preterism; that comes from the Latin term, “praeter" which means past. And this interpretation of eschatology, and particularly the Olivet Discourse and the book of Revelation, would argue that the events referred to had already taken place or were taking place at the time of the writing. And that all of the eschatological passages describing the Tribulation and the return of Jesus were fulfilled with first century events surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. They insist that the timing indicators in the New Testament where words are used, like "near," "soon," "quickly," and "this generation," demand that Jesus had to return in just a short amount of time, maybe a few years or decades. There's a number of reasons why we rejected that view. I'll give you just a few samples of it so that you have some sense of it. And if you want to know more of the details of all of this, I'd be glad to refer you to other documents. But when you look at terms like "near," "soon," "quickly," you must understand that they're merely conveying the idea of imminence, which Jesus spoke of, for example, in Matthew 23:36, "'No one knows the day or the hour only the Father.'" Acts one seven, "'It is not for you to know, times or seasons that the Father has fixed by His own authority.'" And every generation should live with the imminent expectation that these events could suddenly burst on the scene and regarding the phrase in Matthew 24:34, "'This generation will not pass away until all these things take place.'" That cannot be referring to the time of Christ. Why? Because there was nothing even remotely like the catastrophic global and cosmic cataclysms described in the Olivet Discourse and in the sealed trumpet and bowl judgments, none of that occurred. Nothing even close to that occurred in ad 70. There was no abomination of desolation, where an Antichrist appears and desecrates the temple and sets himself up to be God. How are you going to spiritualize all that away? There is no place where you see the sun being darkened, the moon will not give its light, stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. You don't see any of that in AD 70. There is no sign of the Son of Man that will appear in the sky and then all of the tribes of the earth will mourn. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. None of that happened. There's no sending forth of angels with great trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other. None of these things that Jesus predicted. No gospel being preached to all the nations, as we see here in verse 10. In fact, Jesus described this time as quote, this is in verse 19, "'A time of tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the creation, which God created until now, and never will.'" Moreover, the Preterist position would mean that the book of Revelation had to have been written before AD 67. But the consensus view in church history is that its writing occurred during the reign of Domitian, around AD 95. And so all of the signs predicted after the demolition of the temple, have to be distant future, way beyond the events of ad 70, as we will see.

Now, while certain aspects of each of these signs have occurred down through history, we've never seen anything like the severity and the scope of the staggering events that Jesus described, and others that go along with it, in other passages of Scripture. And, also think about this, Jesus says that these six signs are quote, "merely the beginning of the birth pangs." In other words, they're going to get far more severe and increase in frequency. We all understand that when a woman gives birth to a child. And so to claim that these events all take place in AD 70, simply does not fit the facts of this text. Again, think about it, birth pangs do not occur at conception. They do not occur at pregnancy, but just prior to birth. And so it makes no sense to apply this to the destruction of Jerusalem--an event that occurred at the very beginning of the church age. Paul reminds us that Christ will return as a "thief in the night" right? He's going to return suddenly, unexpectedly. And he uses the same figure of birth pangs that Jesus uses here. We see that this in first Thessalonians five, verses one through three. There we read, "While they are saying, 'Peace and safety!' then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape."

So we still wait these labor pains that will culminate in the inconceivable and unprecedented catastrophes that Jesus describes. These dear friends, I believe, are pre-kingdom judges that will occur at the very end, during the time of Daniel's 70th week that we've studied in the past, just prior to Jesus second coming. And these are events consistent with the prophecies that are delineated there in Daniel's 70th week, and the pre-kingdom judgments as well, as I've said in Revelation six through 19, just prior to the Lord establishing his kingdom.

It's also important to understand, again, this is preparatory, I want you to get some theological understanding that frames what we're about to study. And that is this, although God's economy in dealing with Israel finds numerous fulfillments in the church, nevertheless, Daniel's 70th week is distinctively Jewish in context, pertaining to God's covenants with Israel. They cannot be describing something in the church age, I would argue. When Israel enters, according to Jeremiah 30, and verse seven, "the time of Jacob's trouble," that's a period of unprecedented oppression for Israel. The context describes Israel's final restoration, just before their Messiah returns as described again in Revelation six through 19. So Jesus clearly indicates in Matthew 24, verses 15 and 16, as well as Mark 13:14, that the 70th week prophecy of Daniel is to be the template of the chronological sequence of the beginning of birth pangs. These are pre kingdom judgments consistent with God's purposes and his plan for Israel, not the church. Daniel 9:24, "70 weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place." And while Israel has been set aside temporarily, as we read in Romans 11:11, through 15, the normal reading of scripture would make it clear that they will once again emerge; Israel will once again emerge as the object of divine intention, as he has promised. So today, we await to this. I believe now, just so that you get a sense of the premillennial dispensational position that we hold here at this church--one that is despised by many--I would argue that we're awaiting the translation of the church--the rapture of the church--the church to be snatched away, before the seven years called the Tribulation begins, or Daniel's 70th week. And the signs Jesus describes are secret events, again, analogous to a woman entering into labor and these events will increase in severity and rapidity until the Messianic Kingdom is birthed.

So typical of Old Testament prophecies, where God speaks in the second person, often addressing people who are not yet born, we see the Lord now answering these questions. And indeed, Jesus' answer speaks to all of us today, not just to them; all who will follow, but especially to those who will be alive at the time of his arrival. However, again, he doesn't answer their question regarding when, until Mark 13:32, and then he simply says, "But of the day or hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone." By the way, that passage does not mean that Jesus was not God--that somehow, he was stating that he was not deity but rather, we can see that during the days of his humiliation, in the days of his incarnation, we know that Jesus voluntarily limited his omniscience and the exercise of his divine attributes and his prerogatives. We see this in Philippians, two six, for example. He only knew what the Father revealed to him during his earthly ministry. But after his resurrection, the omniscience he possessed from eternity past was fully restored.

So we've seen number one: the temple's demolition being promised. Secondly, the signs of the end. Now, what are the six signs, these birth pangs, these pre-kingdom judgments that Jesus described? Well, today we're going to look at the first one. And that is in verses five and six, false messiahs; that there are going to be great deceivers and deceptions that will lead to the worship of the ultimate false teacher, false messiah, the Antichrist. Notice verse five. "And Jesus began to say to them, 'See to it that no one misleads you. Many will come in My name, saying, I" am He!" and will mislead many.'" And Jesus repeats this in verses 22 and following, "'For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and will show signs and wonders, in order to lead astray, if possible, the elect. But take heed; behold, I have told you everything in advance. '" And we know that they exist even today. And Satan does all kinds of false signs and wonders. I mean, think about the power of AI and what it is able to do. I think of Revelation 13, where the Antichrist even, is going to be wounded, and he's going to die. And it's interesting that God is going to raise him to increase the deception. So this is what is coming. And he extends this warning to all people, in chapter 13 of Mark and verse 37, "'What I say to you I say to all, "Be on the alert!"'"

Now, while false messiahs and false teachers have always existed--certainly they exist today-- and we are warned about them all through the New Testament, you must understand that their numbers are going to greatly increase, and their power is going to greatly increase at the very end of the age. Think of the future contact of this morning, context of this morning. Understand the chronology here of these events. By this time, the church has been caught up; the church has been raptured (First Thessalonians 4:17). We know according to Revelation 3:10, the Lord promised to keep the church from the "'hour of testing, that hour, which is about to come upon the whole world to test those who dwell on the earth.'" Imagine what's going to happen when all of the believers of the world suddenly disappear. It's going to be chaos beyond comprehension, confusion, people will be desperate for spiritual answers. And of course, that is always fertile soil for false prophets and false teachers. And sometime after the rapture, we know that the sealed judgments will begin to occur during the first three and a half years of what is called in a broad sense, the Tribulation, (Second Thessalonians, one six.) And it's interesting that at the beginning of the Tribulation, the Lord Jesus Christ will unleash the first Seal Judgment, we read about in Revelation six, one and two, which describes a pseudo peace, a false peace that will lull the world into an understanding of all that has happened. Lull them into a false sense of security; visions of Utopia will finally be promised and manifested, supposedly. Of course, this is the calm before the storm. And all of the deceptive charlatans that will arise during that time, to make a buck off of everybody's confusion, will actually pave the way and foreshadow the most vile, false Christ of all--the Antichrist. And even now the steady deterioration of societies is a real dilemma to the liberal elite who remain committed to classic Darwinian evolutionary theory and the vision that ultimately human progress is going to trend upward. Right? That's what we've been promised. And any idiot can look and see that that's not happening. And so since it's not happening, we have to have the elites to do social engineering to make it happen. And that's what we're dealing with now. And of course, this requires the superior wisdom of the liberal elite who must control the populace, who they consider to be ignorant rabble, especially, born again Christians. But after the rapture, again, imagine the chaos and even now man is desperate for a leader, right? Even in our country, we see all this chaos. The whole Biden/Trump thing, as if either one of them could ever deliver us from the abyss that we've entered into. Man is desperate for a leader. And mankind is predisposed to worshipping anyone that can offer them change we can believe in, remember Obama? That's worked out real well. Imagine how much worse it'll be dear friends. When the true church is translated into heaven. No more salt to slow down the decomposition no more light to expose it. Just darkness. David Larsen said, quote, "Problems on earth seem insurmountable. No human leadership seems competent to address the complexity of the issues. But demographic explosion with moral social, economic, ecological and political ramifications baffles the think tanks of the world, humankind's vaunted self-sufficiency, evaporates in the face of insoluble questions. The church, notwithstanding her frequent impotence and perennial failure, is now gone. And the salt and light she has afforded are missing. Homo sapiens are adrift, rudderless." End quote. Even now, the world needs a leader and how much more so in that day. The world is craving a political hero. One prominent Belgian diplomat and astute European strategist by the name of Paul-Henri Spaak. Put it this way, quote, "We do not want another committee. We have too many already. What we want is a man of sufficient stature, to hold the allegiance of all people and to lift us out of the economic morass into which we are sinking send us such a man be he God or devil, we will receive him." End quote. Paul Missoura, prominent European economist/banker commented on this leadership vacuum. And here's the prediction that he made. Quote, "The large number of government bureaus that will have their orbits in the atmosphere of our planet cannot be allowed the freedom to compete and comply, collide with one another. So, in order to control the diverse bureaucracies required, a Politburo will develop. And over this group organization, there is likely to arise the final and single arbiter, the master of the order, the total dictator."

Well, this is from a human perspective. Let me give you the truth from a divine perspective in Daniel's prophecy. Daniel chapter eight, beginning in verse 23, we read of this antichrist that is coming on the scene. There we read, "A king will arise, insolent and skilled in intrigue. His power will be mighty, but not by his own power, and he will destroy to an extraordinary degree and prosper and perform his will; he will destroy mighty men and the holy people. And through his shrewdness, he will cause deceit to succeed by his influence, and he will magnify himself in his heart, and he will destroy many while they are at ease. He will even oppose the Prince of princes, but he will be broken without human agency."

As we look at biblical eschatology, we see that after the rapture of the church, according to Daniel 9:27, the prince to come, who is the Antichrist, will make a covenant with Israel, which actually will be the beginning of Daniel's 70th week judgment. And really the beginning of the Tribulation, not so much the rapture, but the signing of the covenant with Israel. And at that time, the Jews will finally be able to rebuild their temple on Mount Zion, something that they already have the plans for, they're just waiting, waiting to do it. And that will be the temple that the Antichrist will desecrate in the middle of the week, the middle of that seven-year period, three and a half years. But during that time, Daniel also tells us in Daniel 11, beginning in verse 36, "Then the king will do as he pleases," referring to the Antichrist, "and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done." The Spirit of God gives us more through the apostle Paul in Second Thessalonians two beginning in verse three, where we read, "Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless," referring to the day of the Lord, "it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God."

This is what's coming, dear friends. But there will be many that will come to saving faith during the time of the tribulation, after the rest of us have gone on to be with the Lord either through death or through the rapture. But he will not be able to deceive the elect of God, we're told, who will be saved during the time of the of the Tribulation. Jesus even said in John 10, beginning of verse four, that the sheep follow their shepherd because "they know his voice.'" Isn't that a wonderful statement? He went on to say, "'a stranger, they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.'"

Oh, dear friends, in closing, all of this is going to happen but what we see today is the stage being set for it. The momentum is gaining with all of the deceptive teachers, religious teachers, philosophers, politicians. In fact, Paul says in Second Timothy 3:13, "But evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." The level of deception in the world today is absolutely mind boggling, isn't it? I mean, you turn on the news, you don't know what to believe, all these conflicting things. Sometimes they'll show us a split screen and on one side, you'll see, for example, hundreds of 1000s of illegal people coming across our border, and the next screen, you'll hear some guy saying our border is secure. You know, it's just double-think, it's mind boggling. And with the the advent now of AI, and the internet, social media that can propagate lies by the billions instantly; corrupt politicians and educators and prosecutors and judges in the media, we don't know who to trust in the world. But we know who to trust outside of the world, and that is the Lord our God, whose has given us his Word. Remember, Satan is the father of lies, and God has allowed him right now, to temporarily rule this current world, until the Lord returns. So dear friends, may I challenge you--guard your heart, guard your minds, be people of the Word. Read it, study it, meditate on it. Speak it to your spouse, to your children, to your friends, feed upon the word of God, and God will protect your heart and your mind, in the midst of all of this wickedness, and he will encourage you because the reality is, Jesus is coming again. Jesus is coming again. I hope you're ready.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word that give us some sense of even the particulars of what you're going to do and what you have done. But Lord, there's so much we don't know. And that's okay. You are God and we are not. And were you to even tell us, we wouldn't be able to comprehend at all. But we know what you have given us is sufficient. And I pray therefore, that we will rejoice in the major truths that we can be certain of, and that is that you are in control of history, and that nothing can prevent your plan from coming to fruition and in this, helps us to relax and to rejoice. And for those who do not know you truly know you as Savior, o Father, won't you bring such conviction to their heart that they will run to the foot of the cross and cry out for your undeserved mercy available through Christ our Savior? Bless us, encourage us, strengthen us and come quickly. We pray in Jesus’ name and for his sake. Amen.

We continue to make our way verse by verse through Mark's gospel. So, if you will take your Bibles and turn to Mark, chapter 12, we're going to be examining verses 38 through 44. And I've entitled my discourse to you, "Beware of Religious Phonies". That is certainly the theme of this text. And it is the goal of this exposition, to give you the discernment that you need to do exactly what the Lord Jesus tells us to do here in this text.

By way of brief context, Jesus is now less than two days from his crucifixion. He's been teaching and preaching in the temple court, and there's been many, many people listening; he has thoroughly embarrassed and humiliated those who have tried to embarrass him and humiliate him; namely, the scribes, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and so forth. They have been trying to trick him. They, of course, were the religiously elite and they were trying to demonstrate in front of all of the people what a fraud Jesus was, because ultimately, they wanted to kill him. And now I want you to get the picture in your mind. You're in the court of the Gentiles, there's maybe as many as 1000 people around and you've got the scribes and the Pharisees right up front for everybody can see them standing before him. And we read this in Mark 12: 38, "In His teaching He was saying: 'Beware of the scribes who like to walk around in long robes, and like respectful greetings in the marketplaces and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who devour widows' houses, and for appearance's sake offer long prayers; these will receive greater condemnation.' And He sat down opposite the treasury and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put into small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, 'Truly, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus, but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.'"

I have a bit of a lengthy introduction that I think is important to help frame this passage. And so if you will bear with me, and then we will get exactly to these particular words. I've been in Christian ministry for about 40 years. And I've had to battle two formidable enemies. One within me and one outside of me. I've had to battle my own flesh, and I've had to battle Satan and his deceptions in the world. And only by the grace of God have I been able to gain any measure of victory in my life. And I think all of you can identify with this. And as a seasoned pastor, over the years, I have developed a very keen eye for spiritual danger that might destroy me personally, that might destroy my family, and certainly might destroy the sheep of the pasture that God has given me to shepherd. And every faithful pastor that has been called My God, not my man, especially older pastors, can attest to the profound danger of wolves in sheep's clothing of those that would preach and teach doctrinal error of those, that in very subtle and ingenious ways, do the bidding of Satan in his diabolical schemes. We see it in the culture, and we see it in many churches. And frankly, Satan does his greatest work not by doing something from the outside to the church but joining the church and destroying it from within.

But I would say that Satan's most diabolical, his most dangerous strategy, and his most effective strategy to thwart the purposes of God, is through the use of religious phonies. And that's what Jesus dealt with throughout his entire ministry with the scribes, the Pharisees the Sadducees. But they have always existed in various forms. We can go into the Old Testament, for example, and see examples of many heretics, false prophets, false teachers; I think of what Paul reminds us of in terms of the early heretics in Second Timothy three verses eight and nine, he spoke of Jannes and Jambres, who "opposed Moses," remember that? Men that oppose the truth, men of a depraved mind, rejected in regard to the faith. We can go to numbers 22 through 25 and read about the false prophet Balaam. Earlier in our scripture reading, we read out of Jeremiah 23. For example, verse 16, says, "Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the LORD.'" We go on to read beginning in verse 31, "'Behold, I am against the prophets,' declares the LORD, 'who use their tongues and declare "The LORD declares," Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,' declares the LORD and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods, and reckless boasting; yet I did not send to them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,' declares the LORD."

Indeed, these were men that were self-appointed; they were not God ordained. Men that would twist the scripture in order to promote themselves, promote their own agenda. You can go into the New Testament; you see examples of this with the Judaizers. Remember in Acts 15 they're trying to mix law with grace, insisting the Gentile, for example, must be circumcised in order to obey the law of Moses and to be saved. In Galatians chapter one, verse six and following we read how they were teaching, quote, "a different distorted gospel." One that was contrary to what the apostles preached, and they were to be accursed. In Second Thessalonians, you read about false teachers that had confused the people thoroughly about the Lord's return. And then Colossae, Jewish legalists, that also embraced pagan mysticism and rigid asceticism, were polluting the church. It's what is commonly known as the Colossian Heresy. And Paul warned about this in Colossians, two and verse eight. He says, "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ."

And that same warning goes to each of us today. You will remember in Revelation two, you had the warning against the Nicolaitans, in the church of Pergamum. And then in the church of Thyatira, you have, quote, "the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, and she teaches and leads My bondservants astray so that they commit acts of immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols." Paul warned of this in First Timothy four beginning in verse one, "But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron." And then we are warned in Second Timothy chapter two beginning in verse 16, "But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some." And then that familiar passage in Second Timothy, chapter three beginning in verse one, "But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revelers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Peter warned of this as well. We read about it, for example, in Second Peter two beginning in verse one through verse two, in particular. He speaks of false teachers, and how they will "secretly introduce destructive heresies". He goes on to say that "many will follow their sensuality, and because of them, the way of the truth will be maligned." Beginning in verse 12, he speaks of them as "unreasoning animals...reviling in their deceptions" (v. 13) ...having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed (v.14). He went on to say, "These are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved. For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escaped from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved." In other words, these false teachers are motivated primarily by sexual lust, that is immorality, by greed and by power. So, Titus says, or Paul said to Titus, I should say in chapter one, verse 16, "They profess to know God, but by their deeds, they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient, and worthless for any good deed."

I would submit to you that there are at least three general categories of false teachers that we need to be aware of. There's the heretic, the hypocrite, and the incompetent. And there's much overlap with these. When I think of the heretic, and I speak of that, I'm talking about apostates that speak things that are contrary to Scripture. These are typically self-appointed men, a lot of times women, they are predators in pulpits. They often have huge followings, and they're primarily entrepreneurs.

Jude gives a great summary of them. I won't read all of the passages--I'll just give you the designations. They are ungodly, morally perverted; they deny and distort the person work of Christ; defile the flesh. They're rebellious, they revile holy angels. They're dreamers, ignorant self-destructive, grumblers, fault finders, self-seeking, arrogant speakers. flatterers, mockers cause the division, their worldly-minded and without the Spirit. And he even says something that is especially important for us to remember, is that they creep into the church quote, "unnoticed". They creep into the church, unnoticed, they join our fellowship; seem like great people--smart, charismatic type people, they know the word. And then they begin to introduce these deceptions, satanic counterfeiters. Now, in that day, it was primarily referring to itinerant preachers that would do this stuff, but today, it's everywhere, especially with the internet, man-centered people, not God-centered. They preach a man-centered rather than a God-centered gospel. They speak a lot about man and his needs, not God and his glory. And you will see this for example, in the prosperity gospel, the social justice gospel, the LGBTQ gospel, the seeker sensitive gospel, the whole Ecumenical Movement, and so forth.

But not only do you have the heretic, but you also have the hypocrite. Of course, this would include all heretics, but it would also include those that teach sound doctrine. There are hypocrites that teach sound doctrine. Now all of us are sinners, but here I'm referring to that man who has a secret life that is dominated by sin. And his secret life does not match his public message. This man is ruled by life-dominating sin rather than the indwelling Spirit. This is what was going on with the scribes and Pharisees. They were not only heretics, but they were hypocrites. Not too long ago, a world-renowned evangelical minister and Christian apologist, a man by the name of Ravi Zacharias was exposed for his secret immorality; soon after that he died. So, you have the heretic and you have the hypocrite.

And the third one, maybe as dangerous as the two former ones, and that is the incompetent. This is typically the self-appointed, not the God-ordained or God-gifted man. This is the type of man that has a superficial grasp of theology, a superficial grasp of the word. The content of his sermons are as shallow is icing on a doughnut. And equally as malnourishing. Many times, when you listen to them preach, they just kind of ramble around, they have conversations with the people, you can tell they don't really know much about what they're talking about. And they tend to make the obvious, even more obvious. I've seen this so many times. These are men that are typically irreverent, they're undignified, they're overly casual and they’re as boring as watching paint dry. Many of them are entrepreneurs, entertainers, ear ticklers; they certainly don't meet the qualifications of an elder in First Timothy three and Titus one. For example, in Titus one, they're unable to meet this most important qualification, "holding fast the faithful word, which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able to both exhort in sound doctrine and refute those who contradict." May I remind you that God has given the church, pastor teachers. According to Ephesians, four beginning in verse 12, we read that these pastors and teachers are for the "equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; so that we all attain to the unity of the faith"--referring to doctrinal unity--"and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. As a result, we are no longer to be children tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful, scheming." And whenever you see a church that is easily carried away by every wind of doctrine, that falls into the trickery of men, the craftiness, the deceitful, scheming, you know that they don't have a pastor teacher. And you can quickly see the level of incompetence in these type of men by what they preach, how they preach. Typically, again, rambling, superficial, man-centered topical sermons. And unfortunately, many churches today are little more than religious social clubs, rather than the pillar in the support of the truth. This is so dangerous because what happens is congregations are banished to an island of spiritual infancy; they just don't grow. They don't develop any discernment. Therefore, they're vulnerable to the schemes of the devil. We're constantly warning our kids about things that are out there, what to look for, and how to combat that. Sadly, many churches don't get that from the pulpit. And often the problem is not even so much of in what they teach, but what they leave out. This is why so many evangelicals today have capitulated to the progressive ideologies that celebrate sexual perversions, transgenderism, critical race theory, abortion, all these types of things.

A recent article from The Gospel Coalition actually juxtaposes the lyrics of Taylor Swift with the gospel of Jesus Christ. I read in one article a few months ago, The Gospel Coalition published an article and then deleted it (it's still available at archive.org) that warrants nothing but mockery and scorn, the piece titled "Seven Things Christians Can Learn from Taylor Swift's Eras Tour," and aims to reveal how the pro LGBTQ anti-Christian secular pop icon, Taylor Swift's music tour is apparently fertile ground for Christian education." Folks, this is the kind of venom that comes straight from the fangs of the serpent. This is what heretics teach, what hypocrites teach, and many times what incompetent ignoramuses will allow in the church. It's devastating. And bear in mind that incompetent preachers are unqualified preachers. And by preaching, I mean, a clear and compelling exposition, explanation, application of the Word of God that is so convicting, that is so edifying, that is so encouraging, that all the listeners will know that they have been in the presence of the Most High God, and they will be forever changed because of what they heard.

In the Puritan era, pastors were considered physicians of the soul. Therefore, they needed to be what we would call board certified. A physician of the body today needs to be board certified, right? You don't want to go to a doctor that just decided one day, he wants to be a doctor; he's got to go through rigorous training. Well, that's the way it was in those days. In fact, it was illegal for a man to, what they would say ascend the sacred desk, which would mean come into a pulpit, without having first met the highest standards of his theological acumen, his grasp of the Word of God, his character. Where those that were great, and godly theologians could vet him and see that he was clearly gifted by God to preach with unusual clarity and conviction and what they called unction, which was Spirit empowered preaching that moves people to be able to understand and apply the Word of God and bring them face to face with God in his preaching. Well, today if you can fog a mirror you can preach, and that's about it.

Remember, when Paul went into Corinth, wicked, wicked, unbelievably wicked city. First Corinthians two we read, beginning of verse two, "I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God." Dear friends, the character, and the message of this kind of man will be validated by his likeness to Christ. And I like to call this a godly presence. I think I've included this, or they've included this even in your bulletin--as I have written elsewhere. "A gospel preacher with a "godly presence" is a man with a noticeable aura of godliness about him, both in and out of the pulpit--a man like Jesus; a man who possesses a palpable sense of humility and love that draws you into His presence; a man who exudes spiritual strength, confidence, boldness, wisdom, and a noticeable fervency that marks him as a man of God, and a man on a mission; a man so lost in the wonder of the majesty of God, so filled with the Divine presence, that nothing in this world causes him to despair or tempts him to distraction."

"This is that rare man whose authority enters a room with him, and commands respect without ever asking for it. I am speaking of that extraordinary man who is quote, 'full of the Spirit and of wisdom (Acts 6:3) ...This is that exceptional man who has such a great likeness to Jesus, that he actually emanates his power in ways that are mysteriously transcendent and profoundly influential. His godly presence comes only from the unrestricted rule of the Spirit of God in his heart...this is the kind of men that you want on your side when you go into battle." And I add that, "It is very rare to encounter a man who can simply open up the Word of God with divine authority and disappear behind quote, "the light of the glory of God in the face of Christ" (2 Cor. 4:6), and with convicting power bring men and women, young and old, into the presence of the Most High God."

Dave Harrell

I've only met a few men like that, and I would long to be one. But I want you to see this as a contrast to the type of heretics and hypocrites and incompetent pastors that we have today. And certainly, those three appellations describe this, the scribes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And for this reason, and now we come to the text in verse 38, Jesus is teaching, and he says, "'Beware of the scribes." "Beware"-- it means be vigilant, be on the lookout, proceed with attention; watch them carefully. I love the picture in my mind here. I mean, they're standing right in front of him, right? There are hundreds of onlookers. Notice he didn't say beware of false teachers. No, that would be too ambiguous. Beware of the scribe. It doesn't say this, but I would imagine he pointed at them. You know, on the news, when they say that a criminal has escaped from prison, and we need to be aware of them. What do they do? They show you their picture, right? Give them your name. They don't say "Hey, folks, you know, there's a criminal out there, it's really dangerous." You know, you'd be out for look out for him. "Yeah, we don't want to use his name or show his picture. We don't want to offend him, you know, but just beware."

Now don't you know, the atmosphere was electric here. And frankly, Jesus is throwing gas on a fire that's already raging. They want to kill him. You know, he made this warning before, Mark eight, verse 15. He says, "'Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees,'"-- leaven being that which influences; beware of the damming and deadly influence of the Pharisees that will permeate your mind and your life and bring you to destruction. Matthew records this in Matthew 16, verse six, he says, "'Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.'" In verse 12, we read, "Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.'" This again, reminds me what Paul said about the false teachers Hymenaeus and Philetus in Second Timothy two, verse 16. And following, that their message, their talk will "spread like gangrene." It's deadly stuff. It's contagious. The incompetent, heretical, hypocrite speaks words that are toxic. They teach things that are contagious, your kids hear these things, they repeat these things, and on and on it goes. And sadly, every church is going to reflect its pastor ultimately as did the people of Israel reflect their leaders.

Now, the scribes and the Pharisees again, Jesus makes it so clear, you can't miss them. He goes on to say, "They walk around in long robes.'" In other words, they have some kind of ostentatious attire. Some even say that historically, they wore white silk. I can't verify that for sure. But the point is, whatever they wore, it set them apart. So, people knew, well there's a scribe and a Pharisee; no mistaking them. They also wore a shawl. They would all wear a shawl during prayer time and other religious acts in the synagogues, but evidently some of them even wore them in public to attract attention. And clearly this was a uniform that would set them apart. Those of you that have graduated from college or whatever, you know, how we have these cap and gowns, you got these ornate gowns, and you know, mine's kind of a little, it's not a cap, it's more of a beret type of thing. Imagine if I wore that around all the time--you know, I go to the grocery "o, there he is." I mean, that's what was going on. Religious phonies are always desperate to be noticed. And he says they "like respectful greetings in the marketplace." And course the respectful greeting was "Rabbi" and that's what they would do; they would kind of bow. Oh, they love to hear that, they thrived on recognition.

Jesus doesn't stop there, in verse 39, that they love "the chief seats in the synagogues." Now these would be the front seats in the synagogues where the rulers would sit. They would face the synagogue where they would be able to answer questions from the people and so forth. So, this was a place of prominence. Now, we're aware of this, I mean, we see this for example, at wedding receptions or ceremonies of state where the most important people, that are there at that particular event, will have a seat of prominence. Well, that's where these guys wanted to sit.

By the way, as a footnote, out of this came, what's called the "cathedra", a cathedra was a raised seat or a throne of a bishop in the early Christian basilica. And we also hear about it like, you know, the chair of a department, you know, that's the most prominent person in academia in a particular department. And we know, for example, the Pope, who supposedly infallible, often speaks "ex cathedra". That's Latin for "out of the chair." In other words, he speaks with the authority and the supposed rank of that particular office. And so, we see this when the Pope makes papal announcements on matters of faith and doctrine and morals and so forth. He supposedly has the final authority on those things, which is blasphemous beyond words. I was reading where Pope Francis formally approved letting Catholic priests bless same sex couples. So much what the Scripture says, which is a radical shift in policy that aimed at making the church more inclusive, while maintaining its strict ban on gay marriage. Well, you get the idea.

On a final note, in order to refute, this arrogant hypocrisy that surrounded this whole issue of the chief seats, and then later on the cathedra, that came out of that historically, we see that in the Protestant Reformation, pastors would come out from the congregation, in order to ascend the sacred desk; in order to come to preach, rather than being seated in some big chair up front, as if he's something important. And the reason for this is to demonstrate that the pastor is merely one of everybody else. He has a unique calling, but he's just like all of you. And the message is coming from the church, through this man, through the Word, and so forth, and certainly a practice that we observe here. And this wasn't the case with the religious phonies, they wanted the chief seats, they wanted to sit up here with the robes on so that you can all see them and "oh, wow, there they are." They love the "chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets." The banquet was the "deipnon" in the original language; an evening meal where guests would be invited. And it's interesting, that if you study it, the most important person would always be seated to the far left of these couches that they would reside upon and recline on. And that was because when you're at the far left, you could easily see the entire table without turning your head, you could just turn like this, you wouldn't have to be looking all around. And so, the most prominent place would be to the far left of the couch arrangement. That's what they wanted. They'd be reserved for the scribes and the Pharisees.

Verse 40, they also "devour widows' houses." Now this must have really rang a bell with the people because they were notorious for this. Let me give you some background, the scribes were the official administrators for widows' estates when their husbands died; to help them administer the inheritance. I mean, that's all that they had. And of course, your inheritance was very important to you. I mean, even as it is today for us, you know, you ladies if your husband passes away, you've got, you know, what the two of you had together, you have your inheritance. And the widows and the orphans and the Levites would have no inheritance apart from the provisions that God made for them. And so, we read, for example, in Deuteronomy 24, beginning of verse 19. God's provision for them you will remember this, "When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you will go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan and for the widow." "When you beat," later on, he says, "When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not go over it again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow." So, this was a way of caring for people, very important, in God's economy. In Deuteronomy 24 verse 17, God condemns the leader, he says "You shall not pervert the justice due an alien or an orphan nor take a widow's garment in pledge." In other words, the administration of the law must be carried out equally among all of the people, including the most helpless in society.

D

Now, a little more background. Widows would therefore entrust their estate to the scribes to help them administer all of the transactions. But what the scribes were notorious for doing, was swindling them; getting them to set it up legally so that a portion of their inheritance would be allocated to them. This is what Jesus is referring to when he says that you "devour widows' houses." See, they had the legal knowledge to know where the loopholes were, how to set things up, just like our attorneys, you know, you go and talk to an attorney and they speak a different language, and you just have to trust them. But imagine if your attorney did this, and they set it all up legally, and then later on, you find out that much of what you had belongs to them. We read about the wickedness of this, for example, in Isaiah one, verse 23, "Your rulers are rebels and companions of thieves. Everyone loves a bribe and chase after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, nor does the widow's plea come before them." Don't you know that those who were guilty of this heinous crime, standing there in front of Jesus and all those people, were squirming in their robes? They were exposed once again. And probably some of the people were looking on them with disdain, because they knew that that's exactly what had happened; some of their loved ones.

Jesus goes on and he says, "And for appearances sake, they offer long prayers." You see their prayers were nothing more than a pretense to impress people with their spirituality, and with their theological acumen, so that you will trust me when it comes time for me to deal with your estate, et cetera, et cetera. Hypocrites are always looking for a platform on which to perform; always looking for the spotlight so that they can run in it, run underneath it, and take a bow. Jesus spoke of this in Matthew six, beginning of verse five. He says, "'When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have the reward in full. But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.'"

Jesus has so many scathing rebukes concerning these false teachers. In Matthew 23, verse 15, it says, "'Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much as son of hell as yourselves.'" Boy, Jesus didn't mince any words, did he? Verse 23, and following, "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law; justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel! Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also, Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside, they are full of dead men's bones, and all uncleanness. So, you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy, and lawlessness. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous and say, 'If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them, and shedding the blood of the prophets.' So, you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?'" And what's sad, is repeatedly in Scripture, we see that these men knew the truth on so many error areas of doctrine matters, especially pertaining to Jesus, and yet they rejected that. Instead, they taught heresy. And because of their hypocrisy at the end of verse 40, we read what Jesus says, "'these will receive greater condemnation.'" I mean, folks, it's one thing to reject the truth with full knowledge, but it is all together something else to lead other people into deception. That is a heinous wickedness. Therefore, there is a greater condemnation. And sadly, we see this all the time. You see it in the word faith movement, in the prosperity gospel, the woke, LGBTQ, social justice gospels, these are all satanic schemes. These are all demonic conspiracies designed to malign the gospel; to eradicate Biblical Christianity from the planet, and to thwart the purposes of God and redemption. And for this reason, there's a "greater condemnation." "Condemnation"--"krima" in the original language. It speaks of a guilty verdict in a criminal case where the punishment is well understood, its execution. This is the terrifying fate of an apostate.

Psalm 146, verse nine, we read, "The Lord protects the strangers; He supports the fatherless and the widow, but He thwarts the way of the wicked." Let me camp for a moment on another passage that gives further light into this issue of condemnation. It's in Hebrews 10, verse 29. There the writer says, "How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God." And that's what these men were doing. And what many people do today. "To trample something underfoot," it was an expression that describes the most extreme form of disdain and disrespect. It was as if you're saying, "you were so worthless and so filthy, you're like the dust under my superior feet." That's what they were doing to Jesus, as many people do today. I mean, what impudence to know what God has provided through His Son, and to know what the Son endured on behalf of sinners, and then to reject it, that's what the writer of Hebrews is speaking to. They would continually return to the sacrificial system of the old covenant that pointed to the sacrifice of Christ. This was just an inconceivable act of defiance, because the law of Moses was a shadow of the coming Redeemer, the one that fulfilled the law. And so, to see that, to understand that, and then turn your back on that-- I mean, how much severer punishments must that kind of blasphemy deserve? Not only do they trample underfoot the Son of God, but it says, and they have "regarded"--or you could translate that considered--"as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified." By the way he here is not referring to the apostate. This is how many people will interpret this passage who want to argue that a man can lose his salvation; that is an errant position, and it cannot be defended in this passage, rather the closest antecedent is the "Son of God." So, the "He" refers to Jesus and apostate has never been sanctified I'd proven by the fact that he regards the blood of the covenant as unclean so the "he" refers to Christ. In fact, in his high priestly prayer, John 17:19, you will remember that Jesus prays to the Father, saying, and "For their sake, I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth." In other words, he totally set himself apart to do the Father's will, by securing our salvation that we might be set apart unto God through faith in Him. And the point with all of this passage is this, it is utterly unfathomable to consider the Son of God as worthless, as filthy. And that's what they were doing. The one who poured out his blood, and became sin on our behalf, that we might have his righteousness--to come along and to hear these magnificent truths, and to hear Jesus speak of them, and to count it all is worthless. So, God views the apostate with the utmost disdain. If I can pause for a moment, I hope you are not among these people.

Not only did they trample underfoot the Son of God, and regard as unclean the blood of the covenant, but he says, they have "insulted the Spirit of grace." The Spirit of God has come into the world to convict the world of sin and righteousness and judgment. He has given us His Word; he's put the glory of Christ on display. He's revealed to us the truth of the gospel, and you're going to insult him by rejecting all of this. Verse 30, and 31, "For we know Him, who said, 'VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY. 'And again, 'THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE.' It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. I think back in Hebrews six and you don't have this text. But many of the people that were standing before Jesus had heard all of these things and Hebrews six verses four and following speaks about how they had "once been enlightened." In other words, they had once been informed, they had once been instructed about the gospel. This passage is not speaking to believers, it's speaking to unbelievers. They've "once been enlightened," it says that they've "tasted of the heavenly gift." In other words, they had basically enjoyed some measure of the gift of God through common grace. They had gotten a little flavor of the new life, of kingdom blessings. I mean, they had tasted it. They had sampled it, but they had never drank it in; they'd never been changed by it. They had never ingested him fully. It even says that you've been "made partakers of the Holy Spirit." In other words, these unbelieving Jews had shared in a common association of the Holy Spirit. They were exposed to the works of God; they were exposed to the Word of God. Some of them had may even been healed by His power. Some of them have may have eaten of the five loaves and fishes; they had experienced all these things, but they did not possess him. They were never truly born again. But the point is, to experience all of this, these people are hearing Jesus, the scribes are right here, the Pharisees are right here; to hear and to know and experience all of this, and then walk away from it? This is incomprehensibly offensive to our triune God. Oh, dear friends, the consequences of hypocrisy and apostasy.

Hebrews 10, verse 27, it's a "terrifying expectation of judgment, AND THE FURY OF A FIRE WHICH WILL CONSUME THE ADVERSARIES." Now, think about this, the horrors of the Roman invasions a few years later, would come upon these people. And yet, all of that pales in comparison to the eternal terror of hell.

Well, finally, in closing back to Mark 12, we read that Jesus "sat down opposite the treasury and began observing how the people were putting money into the treasury; and many rich people were putting in large sums. A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which amount to a cent. Calling His disciples to Him, He said to them, 'Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the contributors to the treasury; for they all put in out of their surplus; but she, out of her poverty, put in all she owned, all she had to live on.'" Now, many use the story as an example of sacrificial giving; that she gave everything she had. But obviously, that is not what God expects. That's not what is taught and in Scripture. And frankly, such an interpretation is completely foreign to the narrative. Remember here, the context is that of warning, of judgment upon the corrupt religious leaders, who were deceiving people, especially widows, with the false promises of Jewish legalism. And basically, they were saying, like the prosperity teachers do today, "the more you give, the more you're going to get." And there's no indication here in this story, that this woman loved Christ, that she was a believer. There's no mention of the attitude of her heart. There's no commendation for the amount that she gave. There is no mention of any principle of giving in the whole story. Beloved, what this is, is an example of another person, a victim, that's been duped by the greedy religionists that God condemned with the harshest warnings. This poor lady. These were religious predators, and we have them today. Greedy phonies, that took her last cent. So don't use the story of the widow's mite as a lesson on stewardship.

By the way, biblically, God honoring giving is never determined by the amount, but by the attitude. It should be a joyful privilege, not an obligation, an act of worship in love, devotion to Christ. As we look at the New Testament, giving...I mean, a lot of people want to say, "well, you need to tithe." Tithing is not in the New Testament folks, that might be a nice principle for you to use, but you don't have to give 10%. Some people will argue, "yeah, you do, you got to give 10% of gross." Others will say "no, you got to give 10% of net." All of that is ridiculous. All of that comes out of the Old Testament. In the New Testament the principles could simply be described as we need to be sacrificial. We need to give generously, we need to give proportionately to our ability to give, we need to give voluntarily and regularly. We are commanded, for example, to put aside and save as we may prosper, First Corinthians 16 two. Second Corinthians eight three give "according to your ability and beyond your ability, they gave of their own accord." Second Corinthians nine seven, "Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart." That's how we give.

Folks, in closing, beware of religious phonies, heretics, hypocrites, and incompetent pastors and elders, church leaders that are self-appointed, they're unqualified. And one final note. Never attend a church that tries to be attractive and relevant to the culture. That is a very dangerous church. Those churches that are constantly trying to reinvent themselves; churches that adjust the gospel message, they have a commitment to be less dogmatic, more therapeutic, more tolerant, more entertaining. Never attend a church that focuses on taking up social issues. That is always a sure mark of defection. As I say, Jesus and the apostles didn't march around with the "Jews Lives Matter" banner. It was all about the gospel. Look for a church that will not conform to the culture but will lovingly confront it.

Look for a church whose pastor and whose elders are, and I've given you seven things that come out of one of the books that I've written. And I'll use this in closing--look for the pastor who is number one: consumed with God's glory. Number two: content with his suffering. Convinced of his calling, controlled by one message--which is the gospel Christ and Him crucified--confident with one method. And that is the in-depth systematic, expositional doctrinal preaching of the Word and committed to one end, which is presenting every man completed Christ. And confirmed by one power, namely the power of The Holy Spirit. All of this will be the opposite of the false teacher, of the religious phony. May God help us guard our hearts that he might be honored in us and through us and because of us, Amen.

Father, thank you for the truths of your word. Help us to grasp them, not only intellectually, but to embrace them with our heart that we might live consistently with them. We long for your blessing, We long to be salt and light. And for those that may not know you as Savior, O Lord, won't you please bring such overwhelming conviction to them even this hour, that they will run to the cross, and cry out in repentance and place their faith in the living Christ. By your power and for your glory, for it's in his name that I pray. Amen.

I trust that your hearts are indeed hungering for the Lord our God who reveals himself so clearly in his words. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark's gospel chapter 12, as we continue to make our way through it, verse by verse this morning. We will be dealing with the issue of "Who is Jesus Christ?" And this is what the Lord is dealing with in the text in verses 35 through 37. By way of brief context, Jesus knew that the Jewish leaders rejected his claim to be God, very God; they rejected his deity. They considered that to be blasphemy, worthy of death. In fact, the Jews actually believed that their Messiah would be a mere man; a human, being a descendant of Abraham, and David, but a great charismatic type of leader, great amount of power and influence, but not God in human flesh. And here Jesus asks the religious elite, a very important question. And the answer to this question is going to be irrefutable proof that he is indeed, God. As he said, let me read the text Mark 12, beginning of verse 35. "And Jesus began to say, as He taught in the temple, 'How is it that the scribes say that Christ is the Son of David? David himself said, in the Holy Spirit, 'THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIIL I PUT YOUR ENEMIES BENEATH YOUR FEET."' David himself calls Him 'Lord'; so in what sense is He his son?' And the large crowd enjoyed listening to Him."

Most people today deny the deity of Jesus Christ, and therefore they refuse to worship him, to obey him. We certainly see this in the cults like the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons. You see it in other false religions, like Islam, that believes that he was just a human prophet. And you see it in many apostate Christian groups that have so distorted the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, that it bears virtually no resemblance to who he really is, the true Jesus. And this is certainly true of most so-called Christians in our country. This week, I was thinking of our president who claims to be a Christian, a Roman Catholic. And I was reading that on January 28, he spoke at St. John Baptist Church in Columbia, South Carolina, an African American church. And the purpose, of course, was not to preach the gospel, because he has no clue what the gospel really is, but rather to bolster black support for his re-election. And at the end of the service, President Biden spoke from the pulpit saying, quote, "In my life, I've tried to walk my faith. Here's what I've learned. We're all imperfect beings. We don't know where faith is going to take us or when it's going to take us. But we can do our best to seek the light, the hope, the love. Where I come from, that's the power of faith."

Well, of course, this kind of frivolous drivel is typical of those who have no understanding of what genuine faith really is. They know nothing of the person and the work and the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And certainly, we witnessed this in a profound way in the State of the Union address where we saw basically an angry, angry rant from a senile narcissist promoting the platform of the Democratic party that's rooted in ideologies that are nothing short of blasphemous to the Lord, our God. Tragic thing. You see, the issue is not "do you have faith?" The issue is, "in whom have you placed your faith? Who is the object of your faith? And why is he the object of your faith?" I wish the President would have quoted First John five beginning in verse four that reads, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world--our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"

So, the question before us is, "Who is Jesus Christ?" The world does not know, nor does it want to know. And Satan makes sure that most people do not know and do not care. Perhaps you've seen the "He Gets Us" marketing campaign that you see on, see it on billboards, TV ads, and so forth. I checked out their website, there's no Bible verses in it. It's a $100 million advertising campaign designed to quote, "rediscover the life and teachings of Jesus, the world's most radical love activist. That is our agenda at He Gets Us; to move beyond the mess of our current cultural moment, to a place where all of us are invited to rediscover the love story of Jesus." Wouldn't it have been nice that the purpose would have been to fulfill the Great Commission. The Jesus that they emphasize is the kind of Jesus the world wants; an idol that winks at sin and judges no one. John Lee, one of the primary organizers of the campaign said this, "Our goal is to give voice to the pent-up energy of like-minded Jesus followers, those who are in the pews and the ones who aren't, who are ready to reclaim the name of Jesus from those who abuse it to judge, harm and divide people." In other words, they want to present a Jesus that the world will love, that the world will follow. Something that obviously Jesus was unable to accomplish. Jesus even said in John seven in verse seven, "'The world hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.'" And in Matthew 10, beginning of verse 34, Jesus said, "'Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; and A MAN'S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.'"

In the frequently asked questions on the website, they asked this, "Who do you believe Jesus is?" And of course, the answer now is going to reek of the stench of wokeism. Here's the answer. "How did the story of Jesus the world's greatest love story get twisted into a tool to judge harm and divide? How do we remind people that the story of Jesus belongs to everyone? These questions are the beating heart of He Gets Us. We hope to remind everyone, including ourselves, that Jesus’ teachings are a warm embrace, not a cold shoulder. That he didn't let "pro this" and "anti that" opinions prohibit him from seeing the value in all people. He Gets Us invites you to explore Jesus' story, on your own terms and at your own pace." It goes on to say, "Our campaign comprises humble perspective, from a diverse group of Jesus fans and followers with a variety of faith journeys, and lived experiences, bound by a common desire." Don't you wish that their perspectives were derived from the word of God? Goes on to say that, "The common desire is to rediscover and share the compelling story of Jesus' life in a new way. The campaign exists to remind us of the example that Jesus set, while inviting all to explore his teaching so we can all follow his example of confounding, unconditional love. Because he gets us, all of us."

So sad, dear friends, there's nothing in the website about the gospel, which begins with the violated law of a holy God. The president of the marketing agency behind it says quote, "Ultimately, the goal is inspiration, not recruitment or conversion." Dear friends, Jesus did not come to this earth to be our example. He came to this earth to be our Savior. He did not come to this earth to be our inspiration. He came to this earth to be our Lord, our master our God because he is infinitely holy. He is not only a God of love, providing salvation for all who will place their trust in Him, but He is also a God of justice that requires that all sin be punished. The true Jesus said in John 3:36, "'He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.'" And yet there is no place that that is described.

It asks the question, in the Frequently Asked Questions section, "What is your stance on the LGBTQ plus community?" Now here, I wish that they would have said, "Well, our stance is God's stance; that unfortunately, for people that live that, who practice that, they will never enter the kingdom unless they repent of that. That that is an abomination, and we need to love people enough to warn them, and to point them to the forgiveness and the transformation that is in Christ." But no, here's the answer. "These are probably the most common questions we receive. And we understand why many of those who represent Jesus have made people in the LGBTQ plus community feel judged and excluded, and others in the Jesus community have simply ignored their stories and lived experiences. So let us be clear, in our opinion, Jesus loves gay people, and Jesus loves trans people. The LGBTQ plus community, like all people, is invited to explore the story of Jesus and consider his example of unconditional love, grace and forgiveness of others. No matter who you are, you are invited to explore the story of Jesus and consider what it means for your life." They failed to mention that in Leviticus 18, the abomination of homosexuality is sandwiched between the prohibition of child sacrifice and bestiality. They didn't mention that. It didn't talk anything about Sodom and Gomorrah, First Corinthians six, nine and 10, that says the people that practice these things will never enter the kingdom. The emphasis is always love, love, love, but no mention of holiness. In Revelation 21, in verse eight, we read that "the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons, and sorcerers and idolatersa and all liars, their part will be in the lake of fire that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." No mention of that. The true Jesus said, indeed, "'God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.'" But it also went on to say, in verse 18, of John three, Jesus said this, "'He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already.'" In other words, he stands condemned already, and "God's wrath remains upon Him," verse 36. And he goes on to say, "'because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men love the darkness rather than Light, for their deeds were evil.'"

My point with all of this illustration is to simply give you an example of how Christ's deity, and his holiness and His authority over all creation, has been replaced by a politically correct woke, sin tolerant Jesus that doesn't exist. My friends, what the culture needs, is a soul terrifying, sin destroying vision of the true Christ. In Isaiah six you will remember that Isaiah had a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, lifted up upon his throne, and the serafim all around him. And he did not say "he gets me." He said, "Woe is me." My friends, these are doctrines of demons. These are clever, brilliant counterfeits. And for this reason, John warned in First John four beginning in verse one, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God." Here's the test. "Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God." In other words, those that would never deny the true nature, and therefore the purpose, of Christ's incarnation. And then he contrasts this with "every spirit that that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world." You see, apostate evangelicalism, wants a Christian faith that will accommodate people that really want nothing to do with the true Jesus. And sadly, this is a damning example of inclusivism that is responsible for sowing countless tears among the wheat; weakening the church, weakening believers that are in the church, by putting so many unbelievers in the church, and therefore they have no discernment, no power, no sacrificial love for Christ and for his people, because they have no saving faith. As Paul said, in Titus one and verse 16, "They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed."

It is so sad to see people call Jesus Lord and yet they have no desire whatsoever of worshiping and honoring Him; obeying Him. Jesus spoke about this in Matthew seven, verse 21, when he said, "'Not everyone who says to Me, "Lord, Lord," will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven,'" that's the ones that will, then he will even do many astounding religious works, but never enter the kingdom. As he goes on to say in verse 22, and following, "'Many will say to Me on that day,'" the day of judgment, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name, perform many miracles?" And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS."'"

Beloved, I wish this morning to immerse you into the great depths of the identity of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, so that we can contemplate the infinite perfections of his nature and His work of redemption. And I pray we will all humble ourselves before his Lordship, as together, we examine these profound and eternal truths concerning Christ. Before we look at the text, again, this is Wednesday probably, of the Passion Week. Jesus is literally hours from his crucifixion; he's teaching in the temple court. He has handily fought off the religious political elite, seeking to humiliate him. He has parried every blow of the devil, with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; leaving them utterly defeated, but not contrite. And here we see the long suffering, love of Jesus as he boldly proclaims the only truth that can save, even to people who absolutely do not want to hear it and hate him for speaking it.

In Ezekiel 18, verse 23, we read that God takes no pleasure "in the death of the wicked." But he knows the wickedness of their hearts, that they're plotting to kill him, to embarrass him, to expose him, to challenge his authority. And he also knows that they refuse to acknowledge what they know to be true. Namely, that this son of a Nazarene ccarpenter, is in fact, the Messiah; the Anointed One, the son of David, the son of God. And again, may I underscore this reality, that truth that Jesus is God, is the quintessential truth of Christianity, the truth that separates Christianity from all other religions which are false. So just remember Jesus was and is, and will always be God, very God.

So here in Mark 12, as we come to the text, beginning in verse 35, Jesus is is challenging the conventional understanding regarding the nature of the Messiah. He says in verse 35, "And Jesus began to say, as He taught in the temple, 'How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David?'" Matthew puts it this way in chapter 22, beginning in verse 41. "Now, while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 'What do you think about the Christ, whose Son is He?'" Literally what he's saying is, what is his pedigree, what his his genealogical record? What is his ancestry, from what Jewish line is he descended? And then the text says, "They said to Him, 'The son of David.'"

Now, this is a bit humorous. I mean, Jesus knew that they knew, but he also knew that they couldn't stand what they knew to be true. You see, the Jews kept meticulous records, genealogical records. They were destroyed in 70 AD when the Romans came in and obliterated the temple. But no one could hold any position of authority in Judaism without verification of their genealogy. Priests, for example, had to be descendants of Levi in order to serve. So, without question, the temple authorities had poured over the genealogical records that they hadm to check the veracity of Jesus outlandish, and frankly blasphemous, claim to be the descendant of David, making him the Messiah. And his claim to be all the more credible. If that was not the case, they would have long since exposed him as a fraud.

Now, I wish to remind you of the Old Testament background, that they were trying to disregard, that they were trying to distort in order to justify their rejection. But also, I might add, the source of the answer, they rightly gave, as you will see. And by the way, what's always interesting with people, is folks want to believe certain things, and they don't want to believe other things. And so they pick and choose in the Bible what they want to believe. But, for example, the concept of Christ, the Messiah, being the son of David, comes from the covenant that God made with David in Second Samuel seven, beginning in verse 12. There we read God, now speaking to David through Nathan, "'When your days are complete, and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your descendant after you, who will come forth from you, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.'" Went on to say in verse 15, "'My loving kindness shall not depart from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house, and your kingdom shall endure before Me, forever; your throne shall be established forever.'" Obviously, this was not a reference to Solomon. Also, they would have known Psalm 89, verses three and four, that further proves the Messiah would be from the line of David. There we read, "'I have made a covenant with My chosen; I have sworn to David My servant, I will establish your seed forever and build up your throne to all generations.'" Moreover, they would have known Ezekiel 37, from which we read earlier, especially verse 21. And following, there, the Holy Spirit speaks through the prophet Ezekial about the future of his covenant people. And he says, "'Thus says the Lord GOD, "Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land; nd I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king over all of them; and they will no longer be two nations and they will no longer be divided into two kingdoms."''" And then he went on to add, "'I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and I will cleanse them, and they will be My people and I will be their God.'" And then in verse 24, he says this, "'And My servant David, will be king over them.'" This is a reference to their ultimate final, eternal King, the greater son of David, often called David, as a reference to the Messiah's ancestral name. He goes on to add, "'And they will all have one shepherd and they will walk in My ordinances and keep my statutes and observe them and they shall live on the land that I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers lived and they will live on it, they, and their sons and their sons forever; and David, My servant shall be their prince forever.'" That ultimately will happen, oh, what hope we have in Christ dear friends. When Jesus returns, and he establishes His earthly kingdom, the New Jerusalem will descend from heaven, from the third heaven and hover over the earth, like a giant space module, like a glorious chandelier, suspended over the earth, illuminating the Earth with the glory of God. And this will be an interim kingdom prior to the eternal state where the Lord Jesus Christ will rule upon his throne. And his bride will be able to travel back and forth from the glory of city that Abraham anticipated. We read about it in Hebrews 11, verse 10, "for he was looking for the city which has foundations whose architect and builder is God." And that kingdom will be inaugurated by God, binding Satan. The tribulation martyrs will be resurrected, the sheep and the goat nations will be judged, the entire topography of the holy city will be changed. The millennial temple that is described in such great detail, in Ezekiel chapter 40, through 48 will be built, and the son of King David will rule and he will reign upon Mount Zion. And New Testament saints who constitute the church will reign with him. Folks, this is the long-awaited consummation of redemption, that has been the blessed hope of the saints down through the years. Jeremiah speaks of this in Jeremiah 23, beginning in verse five. where the Lord says, "'When I shall raise up for David's a righteous Branch; He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely; and this is His name, by which he will be called, the LORD our Righteousness.'"

Now, there's some of the Old Testament background, that these scribes and these Pharisees would have understood surely. But they hated to admit it because the genealogy of Jesus Christ could be traced back to David, making him the son of David, the rightful heir to the promised throne. And you will also recall that Matthew's genealogy validated the very same thing that indeed Jesus is the Son of David. Well, that being the case, which the scribes and the Pharisees could not deny, Jesus asked this penetrating question in verse 35. "'How is it that the scribes say that the Christ is the Son of David? David himself said, in the Holy Spirit,'" in other words, under the inspiration of the Spirit, "'THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I PUT YOUR ENEMIES BENEATH YOUR FEET."'" And there he's quoting Psalm 110, verse one, David himself calls him Lord, so in what sense Is he his son? In other words, how can the Messiah merely be a human descendant of David? And if you look more closely at Psalm 110 and verse one, we see something very interesting. It says, "The Lord says to my Lord: 'Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.'"

Now, to help us understand this, there's a distinction in the Greek translation of the Hebrew. That makes it clear. Here we see Yahweh, being the first Lord that You see, I believe, I have it underlined. I do. Yahweh, Jehovah, that's the covenant name of God, the first Lord in the phrase, "The Lord said to my Lord,"and the second Lord is "Adonai", a reference to David's Lord, the title name of the Messiah. Yahweh, remember, is the covenant name of God, the tetragrammaton, the four letters, the English translation is capital letters, and Adonai is a substitute for his covenant name. That's a title name, translated with capital or sometimes lowercase letters. So, David is saying this, Yaweh, Jehovah God, addressed my Lord, the Messiah, my ancestral son, the very Son of God, by extension, the Lord Jesus Christ, and here's what Yahweh said to my Lord Messiah, "Sit at my right hand until I make thine enemies a footstool for Thy feet." In other words, Yaweh promised his mediator, the Messiah--David's Lord, that he would give him the final and ultimate glory and majesty and power. This is a promise of preeminence that could only be given by God himself. So, Jesus is saying, since you agreed that the expected Messiah Christ would be the son of David, why would David call his own son, Lord? Mark 12:37, "'David himself calls Him, "Lord"; so in what sense is He his son?'" And the answer is, David's Lord is far more than merely his son, merely his descendant, no, no, he is also the Messiah. He is the Son of God, and they couldn't stand it. And by implication, what Jesus is saying to them is, "I am he--if you reject me, you reject David's Lord."

Now dear friends, please hear me, Jesus Christ is the Promised Messiah. He is the Son of God, the Son of David. Paul also expressed his eternal preexisted deity, you will recall and in Colossians, one, verse 15, where we read, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation." He is the firstborn, the "prototokos", the preeminent one, the superior one. And the writer of Hebrews says this in Hebrews chapter one, beginning of verse two, "In these last days, God has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory, and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power." I would plead with you, do not be like the Jewish elite and try to deny the deity of Christ. Over and over, he proved his deity. He had power over the seas, he had power over the wind, he had power over sickness and sin and Satan and death. And only willful rejection can possibly deny such an obvious truth. You see, friends, the issue in unbelief is not one of insufficient evidence, nor is it an issue of presentation. The issue is hardness of heart. People simply do not want to believe and how sad to see the response of the Jewish elite. Can't you imagine their response as he asked them this question? You know, like we would say down here, I mean, it was like a mule staring at a new gate. Didn't know what to say? Overwhelmed. There's silenced in their guilt before their Creator. In Matthew 22, verse 46 ee read, "and no one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question." You know, truth will always silence error ultimately. To argue with truth is like spitting into a gale force wind. Ultimately, error will always yield to the omnipotent power of divine truth.

Notice in Mark 12:37, we read, "the great crowd enjoyed listening to Him." My how nice, what a clever man, what a clever man. You see, they heard him with their ears, but they did not hear him with their heart. Frankly, in a matter of hours, they would cry out, "Crucify Him." Can there be any better illustration of spiritual blindness than this? This is what Paul talked about in Second Corinthians four, four, "The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." I mean, when it is pitch black and somebody flashes a light and you can't see it, you are blind. Satan uses every means possible at his disposal to prevent people from seeing and understanding the truth and the astounding attractiveness of the gospel. He uses errant theology, false teachers, often they're unwitting. The dribble like I gave you a little bit ago--He Gets Us. All these deceptive schemes that appeal to man's fallen nature. In Ephesians four Paul says this about unbelievers beginning in verse 17, "Gentiles also walk in the futility of their mind being, darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them." And here's why, "because of the hardness of their heart; and they having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness." I mean, these people witnessed countless miracles from Jesus. He manifested unparalleled love, and kindness and compassion before them. They marveled at his wisdom, they marveled at his command of Scripture. In fact, in John 7:46, we read what they said, "Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks." And when he asked his most bitter, bitter enemies in John 8:46, "'Which one of you convicts Me of sin?'" None of them was able to respond to his challenge. Indeed, he is holy, he is innocent, he is undefiled; "separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens", Hebrews seven and verse 26. Yet despite all of this, they rejected him.

This is illustrated as well in First Corinthians two and verse 14, you're familiar with the text, it says, "But a natural man,"--it could literally be translated, "a man of animal soul," "one led by lower animal nature", "a person that is ruled by his bodily appetites", he's estranged from divine life. In fact, in James three, verse 14, and following you read about it, it says, "you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant, and so lie against the truth. This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is not attached to this earthly, natural, demonic." Wisdom that is earthly, natural and demonic. The description, quite frankly, of the vast majority of our political leaders today that are in authority over us. "But a natural man", a man that is bereft of the indwelling Spirit and lives for himself and the things of the world, "does not accept" or literally, does not welcome the things, "of the Spirit of God." In other words, he rejects those things, he refuses those things, and here's why, "for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them." Here I'm reminded of Romans eight and verse seven, where Paul says, "the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so." Oh, what would we do were it not for the regenerating power of the Spirit of God? They are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised, spiritually judged, spiritually discerned. In other words, because they judge according to their depraved animal nature, they are unable to render a proper verdict, because they can't recognize the facts. Well, in light of this amazing scenario, I wish to address just two final subjects that I believe emerge from this text that are very practical to each of us.

First of all, I would encourage each one of us to number one, revel in his glorious character. I like that word, "revel". We don't use it much. It means to celebrate, to rejoice in, to delight in. This so sad, Jesus so clearly, and compellingly revealed himself to the people. And yet they turned away their ears from the truth and turned aside under myths. I'm reminded of Second Timothy two as I was meditating upon this passage this week, beginning of verse 24, we read, "The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses, and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will." Oh, dear friends, we revel in the glorious character of Christ, and what he has done for us in His saving work of redemption. And here we see Jesus, doing exactly what we just read about here. He is compassionately, but forthrightly presenting the truths of the gospel. And yet most of them remained incarcerated, captured by the ghoulish clause of Satan's deception. They refuse to believe that he was who he said he was, and proved he was. And oh what mercy is ours to know the truth, and what indescribably precious gift that we have in our faith that has come to us by the power of regeneration.

I'm reminded of James one and verse 17, "Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow." And then he says this, "In the exercise of His will"--not my will--but, "in the exercise of His will, He brought us forth by the word of truth." Oh, dear child of God, we need to revel in his glorious character and be devoted to him. And be able to say, "Oh Savior, what a blessed thought, to know of your great love, yet, Lord, I pray for what I ought to live for you above."

That brings me to my second point for you. Just really, practically, not only should we revel in his glorious character, but I would challenge you to rediscover the implications of his Lordship, in your life. Even as David called him, "Lord", and therefore worshipped and obeyed him as Lord, so too, we must submit to him, as our Lord, as our Master. We should willingly and joyfully call him Lord, because he loved us and gave himself for us. For example, in First Corinthians six, verse 19, we read that our "body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God." Isn't it amazing? As I say so often, because it's such a powerful truth to me, he redeemed us that he might inhabit us. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God. He goes on to say, "You are not your own, for you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body." Think of the implications of that. Our master has laid claim to us, and rightfully so, how dare we dispute such a claim? In Romans four in verse 24, the Holy Spirit caused the inspired apostle to speak of him as quote, "Jesus our Lord." "Jesus", in other words, our Master, the one we obey. Can you honestly refer to him in such a way? We are to obey none besides him, for he alone has the right to rule in our life.

May I ask you is it your passion to offer him your very life? To love him more than even your own family? Your earthly goods, your personal ambitions? Is it the desire of your heart to labor for him, and labor to love what he loves, and hate what he hates; to train your mind, as I say, to love him. Is it the passion of your heart to flee from anything that would grieve Him; that would cause him to be sorrowful for what you are doing, and thus forfeit blessing in your life and even put yourself in a position of divine chastening. Is it the passion of your heart to patiently endure every trial? Trusting completely in his sovereign care. Is it the passion of your heart to consecrate all that you have to his service, to live in light of his return? To cherish him more than life itself? This is the stuff of the Lordship of Christ, dear friend. Do you love fellowship with the saints? Do love to serve the saints? To sing with the saints? Let me put it this way, does the name of Jesus stir your blood like nothing else? Does the thought of Jesus and his Word and his ineffable sweetness come stealing over your soul habitually, as you spend time with the lover of your soul? Do you long to see Christ face to face? Can you honestly say, "Even so, Lord Jesus come quickly." That's the stuff of the Lordship of Christ. Can you say with the Apostle Paul in Philippians, three, verse seven, "Whatever things were gained to me, those things I've counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ, Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish in order that I may gain Christ." Beloved, this is the stuff of the Lordship of Christ. And the result in your life is going to be one of great blessing and great power--come what may.

In closing, there are stories that abound regarding saints who claim Jesus as Lord and even in the face of persecution, they never flinched, they never bowed to another God. I think of those that were persecuted under Rome. The things the Romans did were unimaginably demonic and brutal. I think of Ignatius Theodorus, who's also called Ignatius of Antioch. By the way, he succeeded Peter, as the pastor at Antioch. He was seized by the Romans because of his faith in Christ Jesus as Lord and sentenced to be devoured by wild beasts in Rome. And as he passed through the cities, from Syria, all the way to Rome on the way to be delivered to martyrdom, he encouraged other believers all along the way. Let me give you a quotation of some of what he said, quote, "Now I begin to be a disciple. I care for nothing of visible or invisible things so that I made but win Christ. Let fire and the cross, let the companies of wild beasts, let breaking of bones and tearing of limbs, let the grinding of the whole body and all the malice of the devil come upon me. Be it so. Only may I win Christ Jesus."

I have a plaque that I put right here many years ago and it simply says, "we would see Jesus." Is that the cry of your heart? Polycarp, the venerable Bishop of Smyrna, asked to pray before he was burned. And what's fascinating is that he prayed with such fervency that his guards actually repented. And the Proconsul urged him, quote, "Swear and I will release thee. Reproach Christ." And here's how he answered, quote, "Eighty and six years have I served him, and he never once wronged me. How then shall I blaspheme my king who hath saved." 1000s of similar stories. Beloved, you will know that Christ is your Savior and Lord if your life proves that he is your Lord. If he is not your Lord, you need to seriously examine the veracity of your faith, because it is probably spurious. Those of you, who perhaps are like the Pharisees, who refuse to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the only Savior of sin, I plead with you this morning as a minister of the gospel, that you trust in Him, that you will repent and place your faith in him before it's too late. And for those of us who have bowed the knee to Christ, as everyone will, either in triumph or in terror, may we all celebrate even more; all that he has given us. And pray that indeed, he will come quickly. But until he does, may we be found faithful in serving, worshiping, and honoring Jesus, our Lord and our Savior, amen? Let's pray together.

Father, the eternal truths of your word are always so penetrating to us. Whenever we examine them, we find our hearts being laid bare. And how thankful we are that there is grace, that there is mercy, that there is forgiveness at the foot of the cross. Lord, for those who perhaps only know you by name, but they don't love you as Savior, and obey you as Lord, may today be the day that you overwhelm them with such conviction that they writhe in misery until they come to you in repentant faith. And Lord for all of us, who are debtors to your grace, may we have a renewed spirit of joy and excitement as we anticipate all that is ours in Christ? For it's in his name that I pray, Amen.

It is absolutely astounding to me to realize that God has disclosed himself to us, his creation, not only in his creation, but also in his written revelation, the Bible and the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Folks, I hope and pray that you will never lose the wonder of these realities, especially now this morning as we look into his word that he has given to us. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark 12. We are still in verses 28 through 34, under the heading "God's Foremost Commandments." Let me read the text to you, Mark 12, beginning in verse 28, "One of the scribes came and heard them arguing and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, 'What commandment is the foremost of all?' Jesus answered, 'The foremost is, 'HEEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL., AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STENGTH.' The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these.' The scribe said to Him, 'Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM; AND TO LOVE HIM WIITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THEUNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE'S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all bird offerings and sacrifices.' When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently He said to him, 'You are not far from the kingdom of God.' After that, no one would venture to ask Him any more questions."

The context here is the Temple Mount. Jesus is about to days...(audio not available).... lawyer of the Law of Moses, brilliant in the Old Testament scriptures in the rabbinic traditions. He steps forward now to take a shot at Jesus as the Herodians and the Pharisees had done previously, as well as those from the Sanhedrin. And as you will recall, the last time we were together, he had a baited question. And I gave you a three-point outline. We looked at the last two, I'll review them very quickly. The first two points were number one, we see the baited question, secondly, the indicting response. And then finally, the practical implications, which we will look at today. But let me give you a review to remind you what's going on here.

Under the heading the baited question, he says, "What commandment is the foremost of all?" Remember, the ancient Jews had a real dilemma. They believe there were 613 laws in the Pentateuch, and they know that they couldn't keep all of the laws. Plus they had all kinds of other traditions that they had added. And they divided them into heavy laws and light laws. So they had to come up with a solution. How can we impress God so that he will save us with all of these laws? And so what we need to do is at least keep the heavy ones; the essential ones. So the question that they debated quite often was, well, what's the foremost commandment of all? If we keep that one, then surely God will be impressed. And of course, that is the great error of works righteousness. But Jesus knew their motivation. They knew that he knew that that scribe and all of them were trying to discredit him. And he also knew that they had some really bad theology.

So he responded to the baited question, secondly, with the indicting response. He said, "'The foremost is 'HEAR, O Israel, THE LORD OUR GODE IS ONE LORD; ANDD YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.' The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these.'" Now bear in mind that the Jewish people were very, very familiar with what Jesus just said. In fact, they would recite that two times per day. And they even wrote it on parchment and put it in phylacteries, which were little leather boxes; they had one that would be strapped onto the wrist on the left side closest to the heart. And you can see Orthodox Jews today, they will wrap them around their arm and then they will have one on their head too and they will, Jewish men, will use these during morning prayer. And they would also place the written law here in a little box, "Mezuzah," which means "door post," actually. They would put that on their door post. And if you go to Israel today, you'll see this; if you go into a hotel room, if you go into a restaurant, wherever you go, you'll see a little box and inside of that is this law. In fact, it's always fascinating to me, even when you go into a restaurant, I remember one gal she was busy running in and out of the kitchen and every time she walked through the kitchen door, there was a mezuzah, and she'd kiss it like this. And her left arm was just going like this constantly. So the point is, they knew about all of this. It was the Shema, which is the Hebrew word for "hear." It comes from Deuteronomy six beginning of verse four "'Hear'", which by the way, is tantamount to obey. "'Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God the Lord is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down nd when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.'" In other words, you must love the one true God perfectly, comprehensively, singularly with the totality of your being--that's the foremost commandment. Moreover, as you live that out, your children are going to ask what's going on here? Why are we doing these things? Why do we say these things?

By the way, folks, we all need to confuse our children with our godliness. So they will ask those questions. And then you can tell them, you can explain it to them. Now, of course, they didn't live this out as they should, as we examined the last time. And I believe that each of us struggle in this area as well. And so I wanted to take some time, and just write down some practical implications of what it means to love the Lord our God. And I came up with four, kind of overlapping realities, that I hope will be helpful to you. First of all, when he says that we should "love" him, realize that number one, this is a commanded love. This is not a suggestion. This is a command. In fact, in the Greek grammar, we see that the actions that will be performed in the future by the subject of the sentence must definitely occur. And that will only happen by the power of the indwelling Spirit.

Now, the question comes to all of us, how can God or anyone else, command us to love him? Or to love anyone for that matter? And that's a question that really comes out of a superficial understanding, a shallow understanding of the biblical term "love" as we see in Scripture. You see, we tend to think of love as an emotion. Like in romance, and of course, we use the term to describe everything from puppies to pizza, right? I mean, we love all kinds of things. But the term "love"--"ahavah" in Hebrew is from a root word "hav"--that which means to give or to care for or to have loyalty towards. So you must understand that the concept of love here doesn't describe how we feel, it describes how we act, how we behave, how we live, and who we live for. The Hebrew equivalent in New Testament Greek is "agapaó" or agape love; loyal, self-sacrificing love of choice, not emotion; even though many times emotion will be a part of that. I mean, think about it. Sadly, most romantic relationships are built upon a wrong understanding of love. I mean, think about most young people, they start to get to that age where they think about finding a mate, and all of a sudden, they get a quiver in their liver, and they can't talk, they can't breathe, the person's just so overwhelming to them. And they have this emotion of love, right? And I'm not saying that that's all bad, but when that's all it is, there's going to be problems. Most people fall in lust rather than in love. I was thinking about this and because of some things that happened last week, I thought I would check out the lyrics of one of the, evidently the most famous singer that we have today, Taylor Swift. I've never heard her, nor do I have any desire to hear her. But I thought I would check it out. And in fact, I heard that the idolatry of this woman is--the people are called “Swifties.” And I thought, well, that's really interesting. And I thought I would, by the way, I read a few things that she had said, and she's extremely hostile to biblical Christianity. A very woke, ungodly, young woman, I guess she's packs out stadiums all over the world. In fact, had a family member, that you wouldn't know, that had bought tickets for their family of $300 apiece, they bought four of them to go hear her in Chicago, and they said that they could sell them for $3000 a piece. So it's incomprehensible to me, that anybody would want to do that. But that shows you the level of idolatry and what the world wants. By the way, that it's such a testimony of what God does to a regenerate heart, it just changes our desires. You know I find that whole thing to be absolutely repulsive. It is repugnant to me, and to you. You know, it's like, I always think of my horses, they will absolutely run over you to get sweet feed and alfalfa hay, but you offer him a good steak, they want nothing to do with it. They have to have a change of nature. And that's what God has done with us.

Well, anyway, I was checking out the lyrics; I looked it up her number one song right now it's called "Is it Over?" And I read through the lyrics, they're too vulgar for me to recite. It's all about an immoral lover, who dumped one woman to fornicate with another woman. I mean, that's just the theme of so much of music that we have today. But that is a perfect example of a distorted understanding of love. A passion that's basically produced by sexual lust. And most marriages, sadly, are built upon emotion, rather than loyalty. They're built upon receiving, rather than giving; a kind of mutual manipulation rather than selfless devotion. It's kind of like walking up in front of everyone to be married and you're saying, to your wife to be or maybe your husband to be sweetheart, you make me feel so good. I'm just overwhelmed when I get around to you. And I'll tell you what, I'm going to give you an opportunity to keep making me feel that way for the rest of my life. Now, love is going to include emotion, but it shouldn't be built upon it. Because dear friends, biblical love that is commanded here is selfless. It is self-sacrificing. It is a conscious commitment to meet the other person's needs; to prefer yourself over or to prefer them over yourself. You don't marry someone so that they will meet your needs. That's not love. That's selfish manipulation. And eventually, that will lead to all manner of covenantal unfaithfulness.

I think of what Paul warned in Second Timothy three and verse two about men being quote, "lovers of self rather than lovers of God." Now, it's true that, again, there's going to be emotion here with love; we're going to have that in our love for God, but especially as we think about how it's distorted--rather than most people coming into a relationship, and saying, "I am devoted to you," it's more of a subtle sense of, "I'm devoted to me, and I'm gonna use you to make me feel good." Well, true love is the type of love that Christ gave to us. Did he not choose to set his love upon us even when we were wretched and depraved sinners? Romans five and verse eight that I read earlier, "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." We see this pictured in Christ's love for his bridal church; the supreme example in how we are to love Ephesians five, verse 25, and following "Husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave himself up for her." You know, when Christ gave himself up for me, there wasn't anything there worthy of his love. But it was a choice. Why did he do that? "So that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water, and the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless. So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself; for no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body."

So friends, this is what God commands. This is the kind of love that he commands. A conscious commitment that enlists every aspect of our being. So first, our love is a commanded love. Again, a conscious, decisive, determined, self-sacrificing love of choice, not mere emotion. But secondly, it is a complete love. Notice in verse 30, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.'" Now, together, these terms describe the complete essence of man, and the focused, passionate devotion and desires and inclinations that we are to have toward God. In other words, our love shouldn't be some half-hearted, insincere, superficial, occasional kind of love, but a wholehearted, sincere kind of love; a deep love, a consistent love, with the totality of all that we are.

But I want you to notice something here. If we look at Deuteronomy six five that I read earlier, from which the Lord quoted, it says, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and might." Now mind you, these are overlapping shades of meaning, describing the totality of our personhood, as I described last time. But it's interesting, that Jesus, the Lord of the church, with full authority, adds something in his statement here and Mark 12:30, as well and as well as in Matthew 22:37. He said that we should love Him "with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind, and with all your strength." I find this interesting. "Dianoia" in the original language, the "mind" here, it refers to the intellectual part of us; our thoughts, our understanding. And the verb means literally, to reflect upon something to or to ponder, to pensively reflect or perceive. And it's interesting that only men and angels have the capacity to do this. You don't see your dog sitting out there in the yard contemplating the infinite perfections of the One who created him. He's just waiting for his next meal, right? But the mind is the seat of comprehension. It is where reason takes place. It is the wellspring of our emotions. Now think about this. The scribes and the Pharisees perceive themselves to be intellectually superior to everyone else. Especially the hoi polloi that was beneath them. And they did have a towering intellect. I mean, these are brilliant scholars--experts in interpreting the law, or so they thought, Now perhaps Jesus included the faculty of the mind to somehow demonstrate their ignorance and their indolence. We can't say for sure. But it's worth pondering in and of itself. Because they failed to understand the crucial role of the mind in loving God. And as I thought about this, it reinforced in my mind the importance of training my mind, to love the Lord. We read in Ephesians four, verse 17, that unbelievers "walk in the futility of their mind being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their heart; and they, having become callous have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness." And then he goes on in verse 23, talking about believer saying that we must be "renewed in the spirit of your mind and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth." So there's been a supernatural transformation here of a believer's mind. And we read in Romans eight beginning of verse six, "For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. And those who are in the flesh cannot please God." So all through Scripture, what we see is that the mind must be transformed. It must be renewed, so that it can fully engage in loving God. It must be illumined, it must be trained, it must be disciplined, to love the Lord our God, and by the power of the indwelling Spirit. We have, as we read in First Corinthians 2:16, "the mind of Christ"--literally the understanding of Christ; the thoughts of Christ. It's a magnificent, miraculous work of grace that occurs in every believer, it is a spirit wrought transformation in the mind, in our thinking. That's why Jesus said in John 171:7, "'Father, sanctify them in the truth, Your word is truth.'" Because you see, it is the Scripture, by the power of the Holy Spirit , hat informs the mind. And the mind informs the conscience, which activates the will, which animates the emotions. Second Corinthians four, a familiar passage, beginning in verse four, we read, that "The god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." In other words, unbelievers just live for themselves. They're absorbed in their own life; they're absorbed in the fleeting pleasures of life. That's why you see people constantly walking around like this. They're completely worshipping all the stuff that's on their phones, a form of idolatry. They live out their lives and suppress the truth of who God is. In fact, the Psalmist says in Psalm 10, verse four, "The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All his thought thoughts are, 'There is no God.'" There's no God, I don't need to worry about all that stuff. And so they will worship someone like a Taylor Swift, and mock God, as she does, and so many others. And we see this played out in so many ways, I think of the whole DEI, woke world in which we live. It's just insane. Somebody told me the other day that woke stands for "willfully overlooking known evil." Kind of a good way of putting it. I added my own twist to DEI, "demonically, empowered insanity." That's what we see. That's the way the world thinks.

So indeed, the god of this world "has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God." But he goes on in verse six and says, "God, who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,'" which he did at creation, "is the One who has shown in our hearts to give the Light, of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." Beloved, that is the power of regeneration, when he raises us from spiritual death to spiritual life, changes everything about us and makes us a new creature in Christ. Dear Christian, rejoice in the transformed mind, but learn to train your mind to love God. "Set your mind on the things above," Colossians, three, two, "not the things that are on the earth." Romans 12 two says that we are to be "transformed by the renewing of your mind." Transformed comes from a Greek word "metamorphoó" where we get the word metamorphosis, and it's in the passive voice, which means it's the renewing of your mind that's going to cause a metamorphosis to occur. And what is that metamorphosis? The metamorphosis is so that you, as a new creature in Christ, will manifest that reality on the outside, so that everyone can see it. It's just the opposite of the phrase right before "do not be conformed to this world," which literally means do not let the world squeeze you into its mold, where you begin to look like it. In fact, the term there for, conformed, "syschēmatizō" is, it means "a masquerade." Don't let the world out there cause you to unwittingly wear a masquerade that is inconsistent with who you really are on the inside, as a believer; as one clothed in the righteousness of Christ. Don't let that happen to you, but rather "be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Dear friends, when that happens, we can say with Paul that "I count all things to be lost in view of their surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord."

Oh, I trust that you know him. And I must ask you, are you disciplined in training your mind to love God? May put it a little bit differently, perhaps? How often do you find a quiet place and just contemplate the glory of God? How often do you do that? I would argue that most Christians couldn't do that for more than about a minute and maybe two. You ever sit down and think, God, where did you come from? Immediately your head begins to explode. Right? God you've said in your word that you are the self-existent, pre-existent, uncreated Creator of the universe, oh, God, as I reflect upon that all I can do is bow before you. How often do you reflect, reflect upon his attributes, his goodness, his grace, his mercy, his love, his faithfulness, his wrath? How often do you think about his holiness, which is the all-encompassing attribute of God describing his hidden glory, that attribute that portrays his infinite otherness. His incomprehensible transcendence; the consummate perfection and moral purity of his eternal character. How often do you think about Christ as your Redeemer? The one who came to this earth in the incarnation, who went to the cross to bear the sins of all who would trust in him; to give you forgiveness, so that you could be reconciled to a holy God through faith in him? How often do you think about what Christ did in the past? What he is doing in the present? And what he's going to do in the future? How often do you think about your union with Christ? As Paul said, in Galatians, 2:20, to think that "I have been crucified with Christ." So now, "it's no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me." The life that I live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loves me and delivered himself up for me. How often do you just sit there and think about that? Reflect upon that? Peter said in First Peter two seven that Christ is "precious," for those who believe. Is he precious to you? How often do you think about what Peter said, in Second Peter one, beginning of verse three, that he "has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness." We set and just think about what some of those things are. Or as he went on, to say that "He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them, you may become partakers of the divine nature." My there is at least an hour's worth of contemplation right there. Folks, my point is, this is what it looks like to train your mind to love God. I mean, think about it, in First Peter 1:12. We read that these are things "into which angels long to look." Don't you think we ought to as well?

One of my favorite books is entitled "Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ." It was written by John Owen, 17th century Puritan theologian, he was the academic administrator at Oxford University. Let me read what he had to say, just a small portion, and you'll have to bear with me with some of the old English. He said, "God's glory is incomprehensible, and His praises are unutterable. That real view which we may have of Christ and His glory in this world, by faith, however, we can obscure that knowledge which we may attain of them by divine revelation, is inexpressibly to be preferred above all other wisdom, understanding or knowledge, whatever. So it is declared by whom, who will be acknowledged to competent judge in these things, yay, doubtless sayeth he. I count all these things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. He who does not so has no part in Him." He went on to say, "The revelation made of Christ in the blessed gospel is far more excellent, more glorious, and more filled with arrays of divine wisdom and goodness, than the whole creation and the just comprehension of it, if attainable, can contain or afford. Without the knowledge hereof, the mind of man, however priding itself in other inventions and discoveries, is wrapped up in darkness and confusion. This, therefore, deserve the severest of our thoughts, the best of our meditations and our utmost diligence in them." End quote.

So this is a commanded love. It is a complete love garnering the totality of our being, including our mind, I might even say, especially our mind. But thirdly, it is a covenant of love. Were it not so, it would be impossible for us to love him, even as poorly as we do. Let me give you the big picture so that you understand what I'm saying here. You will recall that in Genesis 12, one and two, God promised Abraham that he would have many descendants, and that they would become a great nation and that they would mediate blessings to all the families of the earth. And then later on in Exodus 19 and 20, God gave Israel a bilateral, conditional, nullifiable covenant--unlike the Abrahamic covenant--it's called the Mosaic Covenant, the Mosaic law. And this was the means through which Israel could stay connected to the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant, not a means of salvation. And then later in Second Samuel seven, verses 12, through 16, God made a covenant with David, promising him a kingly line that would rule Israel, and ultimately rule over all of the Earth, as we read in Zechariah, 14 nine and Isaiah nine, six through seven. But God also knew that he had to do something to fallen humanity, to change their nature, so that they would truly love him with all of their heart and obey him willfully, with all of their heart, their soul, their mind, their strength. And so he made a new, unconditional, unilateral, irrevocable, eternal covenant, whereby he would enable and empower people, including Gentiles, to do just that. We read of this, for example, in Jeremiah 31, beginning in verse 31, "'Behold, days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them,' declares the Lord. And of course, there he's referring to the Mosaic Covenant, the only covenant that was conditional and nullifiable and temporary. But he goes on to say, "'But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,' declares the Lord, 'I will put My law within them on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. They will not teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, 'Know the LORD' for thy will know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,' declares the Lord, 'for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more.'"

Now, while the Mosaic Law was "holy and righteous and good," as we read in Romans seven and verse 12, it did not enable people to love the Lord with their whole heart. But the New Covenant did , and this required the regenerating power of the Spirit, as we read in Ezekiel 36, beginning in verse 26, God says, "'Moreover, I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.'" And of course, the New Testament presents Jesus as the Son of David. He was the mediator of the new covenant, and the only one who can bring new covenant blessings to people who have faith in him. And that's why at the Last Supper, Jesus explicitly linked his death with the new covenant. That's why he said in Luke 22:20, "'This cup that is poured for you is the new covenant in My blood.'" And believers today in the church proclaim the New Covenant as we preach the Gospel. Paul said in Second Corinthians three, six, God has made us "sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the spirit." "Of the letter," referring to the superficial, external, legalistic conformity to the law that was supposed to somehow make a person see their sinfulness. That's why God gave the law. But instead, it promoted a spirit of self -righteousness to them. Worse yet, their externalism prevented them from joyfully obeying the most basic requirement of the law, the foremost commandment to love God perfectly, and their neighbors as their selves.

So here's the good news of the gospel. Because of God's covenantal love for us, the Lord Jesus Christ, through the agency of the Spirit can transform our hearts so that we can love God and our neighbor, albeit imperfectly, until we enter into heaven, and the last vestige of our unredeemed humanity will finally and forever be removed. But between now and then, as we read earlier, in Romans five, verse five, we read that "the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." And because of his infinite love, and grace expressed in the new covenant, we see that he is the one that first loved us, so that we could love him. And John summarizes this perfectly as we looked at briefly last time, we were together in First John four verse 19. "We love," why?, "because He first loved us. If someone says, 'I love God' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen." In other words, the point with all of this is a genuine, wholehearted love for God must be initiated by God Himself. We are incapable of doing that. It requires the regenerating work of the Spirit of God within us to cause us to be born again. This is what the Jewish leaders, the Jewish people, did not understand, but needed to hear.

And this leads us to a fourth reality about what it means to love God. Not only is it a commanded love, and a complete love and a covenant of love, but it is a confirmed love. Think about this, what is the test that proves our sincere, wholehearted love for God? What is it that validates the joy and the satisfaction that we have in him? What is it that really proves that he is the priority of our life? That we are living for him that we are serving for him and not just ourselves? Well, the answer is very clear here in the second commandment, that's why he says in verse 31, "'The second is this, YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these.'" Remember, while this was a direct quote from the Mosaic law that they claimed to revere, as recorded in Leviticus 19 And verse 18, the rabbi's taught something different. And I went into this in great detail last time, but let me just review it quickly. They taught that you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. Jesus described this in Matthew five and verse 43. Remember, the Jewish rabbis were very selective in their interpretation and application of the law. That said, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, Leviticus 19:18. But instead, they did, really four things. Number one, they ignored the meaning of love--"ahavah"--the loyal sectors, self-sacrificing love of choice, not mere emotion. Secondly, they defined neighbor in the most narrow terms so that they could justify their prejudices and my were prejudice. Plus, they ignored the last phrase "as yourself." And instead, number four, they added "and hate your enemy;" the pretty bold distortion of Scripture. And again, they did this because they arbitrarily extrapolated certain passages out of the Old Testament scriptures; like passages referring to exterminating the Canaanites, and the imprecatory Psalms, and so forth, to somehow justify themselves. But what they deliberately failed to understand, in all of those illustrations, in the Old Testament, is that there is a huge difference between personal injury and divine justice.

And this is worth me camping on again for just a few minutes in applying this. God's judgments and his curses that we read about in Scripture were judicial acts of an infinitely Holy God. And they have no application to us in terms of our own personal injury, and somehow redressing individual grievances and offenses. And so therefore, it is absolutely absurd to think that we can apply the actions of divine justice as an excuse to hate and to kill other people that have offended us. And some will argue, Well, wait a minute, you know, we're told to love our enemies. If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat, turn the other cheek, return good for evil, and forgive those who mistreat us. But again, bear in mind that those commands and virtues are aimed at the mortification of personal pride that seeks retaliation for a personal offense. They have nothing to do with the abdication of justice and the vindication of righteousness that God alone can do with Jesus commands, with respect to loving our enemies, must be balanced with the whole idea that he is the sole and holy avenger of those who are violently opposed to him.

Now, I know that people will ask therefore, in light of all these things, is it appropriate for Christians to defend themselves when they are attacked? Very important question in this violent culture in which we live, where criminals have more rights than victims? Well, the answer is, well, of course it is. Of course it is, even if it means arming yourself. I mean, that's common sense. Jesus even said in Luke 22:36, "'Whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one.'" I mean, self-defense and self-preservation is an innate mechanism in all of us. We see it in our immune system, we see it in how we naturally respond to things. If somebody comes up to you and does this, you immediately back away and put your hands up. If somebody gets too close to your face, you back away and your eyes blink. I mean, it's just the way we are built. You don't have to teach a young mother or a young father, that they need to protect their baby when somebody comes and grabs it. All right? It's just a natural response. When it says love our neighbors as ourselves, again, it's referring to anyone who is in need; families, for friends, and we have to love them enough to protect them. And it's absurd to think that if your enemy breaks into your home or does something to hurt you, that you just kind of let them do whatever they want. It's absurd to say that Jesus taught that Christians cannot defend themselves from evil people. In fact, Jesus said "'Greater love has is no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

Now I want to elaborate on this just a little bit more. Remember that after the flood, God introduced capital punishment, through the force and ultimate threat of government, because human life is valuable. We're made in the image of God. And we read in Genesis nine beginning of verse five, for example, "'Surely I will require your lifeblood; from every beast, I will require it. And from every man from every man's brother, I will require the life of man. Whoever sheds man's blood by his blood shall be shed. For in the image of God, He made man.'" And of course, we read in Romans 13 and verse four, that government is "a minister of God, to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil."

In fact, as we study it, war is an extension of capital punishment designed to protect innocent people, or restrain evil, to maintain social order. Otherwise, you have anarchy. And we've seen evidence of that, especially in the last several years in our country. But you must bear in mind that the government, while it's there to protect you, while we do have police, and sheriff's deputies, and military, they're not going to be there when you really need it, and you have to call 911. You're going to have to protect yourself. Most of the time, it's going to take them a while to get there, right? Of course, you have to protect yourself.

Now back to the issue of love. You see, loving your neighbor, is what validates your love for God. And what a testimony in this "me first" world in which we live. John 13:35 Jesus said, "'By this, all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.'" And indeed the world is going to hate us. Second Timothy 3:12, "Indeed," he says, "all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted." But again, we must love them for the cause of the gospel. Even though we may have to protect ourselves from them, if they attack us or our family. And remember, as Jesus said in Matthew five, beginning of verse 10, "'Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, who falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.'" We've all experienced that, right? And if you haven't, you're going to as you serve Christ, and stand up for him; that's just part of being in a fallen world. Those are personal injury types of things; that's where we turn the other cheek and so forth. But he goes on to say, "'Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.'" What a wonderful promise right? The Lord sees, the Lord will reward.

So dear friends, what does it mean to love God and to love your neighbor? Just bear in mind that this is a commanded love, a complete love, a covenant of love and a confirmed love. And you want to ask, "does this describe me?" How do people who know me best describe me? Well, as we close, so sad, the scribe who heard Jesus answered in reply, "Right, Teacher; You have truly stated.'" In other words, your theology is correct Jesus. Verse 34, "When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, 'You are not far from the kingdom.'" You're not in the kingdom, but you're not far. That's the point. Dear friend, it's one thing to embrace accurate theology. Hell will be filled with people with accurate theology, but it is all together something else, to embrace the lover of your soul, the Lord Jesus Christ, and to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. The hypocrite merely gives lip service to true worship. And that's why the prophet Isaiah quotes the Lord in Isaiah 29:13 "These people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips but have removed their hearts far from me."

So in closing, I would challenge you, train your mind, discipline your mind to love the Lord your God. If you want to know other ways that you can do that, I'd be glad to sit down with you. There are certain exercises that I, you know, it's the same thing with your body, right? You know, if you just sit around and don't do anything and eat sugary foods and processed foods, you know, you're going to be horribly out of shape. And the same thing is true, as a believer, you've got to learn to discipline yourself for the sake of godliness. That's how you really love the Lord your God more and more, and your neighbor as yourself. And may I challenge you as well to just target people that are in your sphere of influence, so that you can love them better, right? So that you have an opportunity for evangelism and pray for them. Pray for them. Pray for those opportunities. And when the Spirit of God gives those opportunities to you, and he will, pray that you will have boldness and patience and love enough to enter in through that door, and give them the truth of the gospel that they might be saved.

Let's pray together. Father, we rejoice in the eternal truths of your word. And I pray as always, that our hearts will be soft and tender to these truths. That we might hear them and heed them, so that we can love you more and love others more. Because Lord, we know when we don’t, we forfeit your blessing in our life. Moreover, we can really place ourselves under a cloud of divine chastening. So, Lord, we pray, that by the power of your Spirit, you will change us according to the truths of your word, for Christ's sake, and it's in his name that I pray. Amen.

As always, it's a great joy to be able to minister the word of God to you. And we continue in our verse by verse examination of Mark's gospel, Mark chapter 12, verses 28 through 34 under the heading "God's Foremost Commandments," And this will probably take a few Sundays to really examine closely and apply. Let me read the text to you, Mark 12 beginning in verse 28, "One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, 'What commandment is the foremost of all?' Jesus answered, 'The foremost is, "HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH AALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIMD, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.' The second is this, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." , There is no other commandment greater than these.' The scribe said to Him, 'Right Teacher; you have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM; AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AAND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE'S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.' When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, 'You are not far from the kingdom of God. 'After that, no one would venture to ask him any more questions."

Wicked people, especially those in power, can accurately be described as narcissistic control freaks. They absolutely cannot tolerate any dissent. And we see this certainly in progressive liberalism of the Democratic Party, their weaponization of every governmental department, both state and federal. They seek to control everything with their nefarious deceptions, and they propagate those deceptions through the media, through public schools, Hollywood entertainers, athletes. And worse yet, they criminalize righteousness, and legalize unrighteousness. And, of course, it's all part of God's judgment on America. God has given our country over to a worthless mind to pursue its iniquities and experience the consequences of them. And of course, these satanic schemes are not new to our country. And they also exist all around the world. But these things have existed countless times in every generation with every nation down through redemptive history. But you must understand that the religious leaders of apostate Judaism in the first century, were equally as immoral and corrupt as our political authorities are today in America; they absolutely hated the gospel message that Jesus preached. Moreover, they hated the fact that he was becoming far more popular than them. They were jealous. They were fearful of losing power, and prestige. Furthermore, they despised him because he exposed their hypocrisy and their ignorance of Scripture. So, they conspired together to defeat him.

You will remember earlier when Jesus healed the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath, and he publicly embarrassed the Pharisees. In Mark three verse six, we read, "The Pharisees went out, immediately began, conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him." And in our text this morning, we see them, shall we say, huddling together to run another play? If I can use a football analogy. I mean, it's fourth and long and time is running out here. So, they've got to do something. In fact, Matthew gives us this in his account. Chapter 22, verse 34, "But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing Him, 'Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?'"

Now, the historical context here; Jesus is about roughly two days from the cross. First, the Pharisees and the Herodians came to him to try to discredit him in the eyes of the people by asking him if it was lawful to pay the poll tax to Caesar. And then after the Pharisees and the Herodians, got finished then Sadducees come together with a baited question concerning the resurrection. Again, trying to make him look stupid. And now a scribe who was a scholar, a lawyer of the Law of Moses of the Old Testament of the rabbinical traditions--a scribe steps forward from the Sanhedrin and tries to take a stab at Jesus. And over the next few weeks, we're going to examine what happened here, under three headings, number one, we are going to look at the baited question. Number two, the indicting response. And then number three, the practical implications.

Let me give you a little hint about this. What does it really mean to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength? What does it mean to love your neighbor as yourself? Who is your neighbor? Does this include your enemies? How are we to love our enemies? For example, how do we love a self-loathing, sociopathic transgender, who comes in to a Christian school and starts killing children? How do you love that person? How do you love a demonic gangbanger that breaks into your home and threatens to rape your wife and your daughters? And kill your family? Are we to turn the other cheek? How do you love a terrorist? How do you love corrupt politicians that are trying to enslave us under a totalitarian Marxism? Does loving your enemies mean that you cannot protect your family? Does it allow us to be armed? To defend ourselves? If we are to love our enemies, why would God require Israel to exterminate the Canaanites? What about the imprecatory Psalms? Where David calls down judgment on evil people? That doesn't sound too loving. For example, why would David say in Psalm 139, beginning in verse 21, "Do I not hate those who hate You, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with the utmost hatred; they have become my enemies." How do we understand those passages in Scripture? Where God states that he hates and abhors sinners? Seems to be a contradiction here. Why would Jesus use a whip and run money changers out of the temple precincts? I mean, how do we balance righteous indignation with loving our enemies? Well, these are the kinds of things that we need to understand. And many of them are addressed in this text as well as many other that help us understand what Jesus is saying.

Now let's look closely at the text. But remember now, the Sanhedrin believed that Jesus was a heretic, that he was a satanically empowered person whose message was contrary to the law of Moses. That's how they saw him. So they wanted to ask him a question that would put him at odds with Moses and thus betray him as a heretic. That way he could be discredited in the eyes of all of the people.

So, we come first of all, to the baited question. Notice verse 28, "One of the scribes came and heard them arguing and recognizing that he had answered them well, asked Him, 'What commandment is the foremost of all?'" Now, we must understand some of the historical background here. This was a hotly debated question among rabbis in that day. Rabbis were absolutely infatuated with what they considered to be a crucial exegetical tool called "Letterism." And since there were 613 letters in the Hebrew text of the 10 commandments, as recorded in Numbers, the consensus among the rabbis was that there were 613 laws in the Pentateuch book. And they were divided into 365, negative prohibitions and 248, positive affirmations. But with all these laws, they were faced with a dilemma. How can you obey all of them? And of course, as we understand Scripture, the answer is, you can't. That's why you need a Savior. That was the purpose of the law. Psalm 19 seven says that, "The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul." And Paul said in Galatians, three beginning of verse 23, "Before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law being shut up to the faith, which was later to be revealed. Therefore, the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith."

Well, they didn't understand any of this. They didn't want to understand it. So what did they do? Well, they divided the laws into two categories, "heavy laws" that were absolutely binding and then "light laws" that were less binding. And while there is no direct reference to this categorization in Scripture, there are allusions to it. In Matthew 23, for example, Jesus said in verse 23, "'Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others.'"

Now, we also, in order to understand this passage of Scripture, must put ourselves in the mindset and see the world through the eyes of a legalist. And we must bear in mind the deceptive nature of legalism, which is really nothing more than external adherence to the law of God with no intimate love for him. In fact, RC Sproul put it this way, quote, "Basically, legalism involves abstracting the law of God from its original context." He went on to say, "The legalist isolates the law from the God who gave the law. He is not so much seeking to obey God or honor Christ, as he is to obey rules that are devoid of any personal relationship. There is no love, joy, life or passion. It's a rote, mechanical form of law keeping that we call 'externalism.'"

Now, bear in mind that all false religions teach some form of works-righteousness; some method in their system that would help a person merit salvation. And this was true of apostate Judaism in the first century. And frankly, we see it a lot today as well. I mean, they believe that one could earn his or her salvation by keeping the laws. So, to be sure, externalism, even today as we see it--this legalism--provides an illusion of spirituality. It makes you feel as though you're spiritual, when in fact, you might have no love for God at all.

So again, the ancient Jews were in a real dilemma here; how can you keep all of the laws? So they came up with a great solution. And this is how they thought, to kind of paraphrase it, they would say, well, let's impress God, by at least keeping the heavy laws, the essential ones, along with all kinds of other manmade traditions that they had come up with, that would be kind of easy to keep. That way you could kind of make sure that the scale is going in their favor, that the good is outweighing the bad. That's how they saw it. So they also had another problem with all of this and that is okay. Which is the most essential commandment. If we're going to focus on that one, what commandment is the foremost? Because if we can know what that commandment is, and we keep that commandment, then perhaps we can make the cut, like the rich young man in Matthew 19:16, that quote, "Came to Jesus and said, 'Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?'"

So knowing the scribe's motivation here, in the crowd, knowing what he was up to, knowing his bad theology, Jesus responds to the baited question with secondly, the indicting response. Verse 29, "Jesus answered, 'The foremost is, 'Hear, O ISRAEL! THE LORD UR GOD IS ONE LORD AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH. The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these.'" Now, this was all very familiar to the Jewish people. I mean, this was central to their worship. This was a central affirmation of Judaism. And frankly, it should be for all of us as well, as we will see. God gave this command to Moses as the Israelites were about to enter into the promised land. I read it in our scripture reading earlier. Let me read it again. Deuteronomy six beginning in verse four, it says, "'Hear, O Israel!'" "Hear", the Hebrew word is "šāma." And Hebrew lexicography tells us that this is tantamount to the concept of obey, especially in the context of covenantal loyalty. "'Hear, O Israel! the LORD is our God, the Lord is one!'" So, this emphasizes the absolute exclusivity of Israel's God, "Yahweh our God is the one and only Yahweh." That's the idea. "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul with all your might. These words which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." In other words, what he is saying here is, you are to love the one true God perfectly, comprehensively, singularly with the totality of your being. That's why he says, "with all your heart." The heart would be considered the conscious self, the inner core of who we are. "And with all your soul," the term carries the idea of the core of our personal existence; all the vital things that drive us and our desires; the seat of our emotions and will. And it's often translated "life" or "person" or "being" or "self."

Then he adds this "with all your might." could be translated with all your strength, the exertion of your mental and physical abilities. And by the way, these are overlapping terms. They're not different entities within us. So, together these terms describe the complete essence of man; the focused passionate devotion, our desires, our inclinations, all that we must use to love God. The foremost commandment therefore requires wholehearted devotion, undivided allegiance to the Lord our God. And we need to think of it this way--our love for him and his covenant demands are to be the dominant and passionate interest of our life. Even in this text it is to be the most fundamental of all truths that parents teach their children. So much so that this needs to dominate much of your conversation with your children. And parents, I challenge you to that end. But you say, "my this is impossible, how could you possibly do this?" Well, that's exactly God's point with the whole thing. You can't. I think of Ecclesiastes seven and verse 20, "There is not a righteous man on earth, who continually does good and who never sins." It's got my picture right next to it. And yours is right there, too. You see, the purpose of God's law was to demonstrate man's inability to keep it. It was never meant to be a means of salvation. As I read earlier, in Galatians 3:24, it is "our tutor, to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith." This is reminiscent of what Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount in Matthew five and verse 20. He said, "'For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.'" And then he concluded that sermon with his summary statement in verse 48, "'Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.'"

You know, when I hear that I have to cry out like the sinner, the publican, in Luke 18, "God be merciful to me." Or think of the story of the rich young man in Matthew 19, that I mentioned earlier. Remember, he left Jesus defeated because he couldn't earn his way into heaven by keeping the law, nor could he buy his way into heaven.

By the way, the Jews believed that rich people had a better chance of getting into the into the kingdom, because they had more money than other people, therefore, they could purchase more sacrifices, and they could give more money to the temple treasury. In Matthew 19:23 and following, "Jesus said to His disciples," in that context, "'Truly I say to you, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.' When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished, and said, 'Then who can be saved?' And looking at them, Jesus said to them, 'With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.'" So Jesus gives the scribe, along with his hypocritical, murderous cronies, a very indicting response to the question concerning the foremost commandment, and basically, he's saying, again, you must love the Lord your God, perfectly, comprehensively singularly with the totality of your being. And at another time, I'm going to elaborate on that greatly.

But then he follows up with a second commandment. And this one is utterly contrary to not only what the Jewish Rabbis taught but was also the antithesis of how they behaved. In verse 31, "'The second is this, Jesus said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these.'" I mean, folks in an economy of words, Jesus just popped their elitist, self-righteous bubble. Now, it's interesting, while what Jesus said was a direct quote from the Mosaic law that they claim to revere, recorded in Leviticus 19 and verse 18, the rabbis taught something different. Here was their version, "You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." Jesus confronted them on this, for example of Matthew five, verse 43 and following, "'You have heard that it was said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.'"

So here in Mark 12 and verse 31, Jesus exposes their hypocrisy. "'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBO AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these." In fact, in Matthew 22, in verse 40, we read, "'On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.'" Let me give you a little refresher course on the Law. There is a twofold summarization of the law in Scripture, the one that we are looking at here in Jesus' response. You are to love God and love your neighbor. And then there's a tenfold summarization beyond the twofold and that is the Decalogue--that is the 10 commandments--the tablets of stone, the Mosaic law given to Moses on Mount Sinai; Exodus, 19, and 20. Sometimes also called the Old Covenant; if you keep these laws, you will be blessed. If you don't, you will be judged. The first three in the Decalogue are how to love God perfectly, then you have the Sabbath, and then the last six how to love your neighbor. And then we typically say that there is what's called thirdly, a manifold summarization of the law, the words of the covenant in Exodus 24 and verse seven. That's the entire Book of Leviticus, great detail and expansion of the law. And what was interesting is, all of that was written down and it was placed in a receptacle on the side of the Ark of the Covenant, along with the tablets of stone that were inside the ark. We read about this in Deuteronomy 31, verse 26, "Take this book of the law and place it beside the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you." You see, folks, once again, the purpose of the law was to expose sin in the light of the divine standard of righteousness stated in the foremost commandment and manifested in the second.

So, Jesus told the scribe and all of his co-conspirators "on these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." In other words, the entirety of the Old Testament scripture hangs on these two commandments to love. We must understand that all other commandments are derived from these. They point back to these they are summed up in these. That's why Paul said in Romans 13 and verse eight, "He who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law." William Hendriksen, said this quote, "This twofold command, love for God and for the neighbor, is the peg on which the whole law and the prophets hang. Remove that peg and all is lost for the entire Old Testament with its commandments and covenants, prophecies and promises, types and testimonies, invitations and exhortations, points to the love of God, which demands the answer of love in return." John summarized this perfectly in First John four beginning of verse 19, “We love because He first loved us. If someone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he's a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen."

You see, friends, a genuine, wholehearted love for God must be initiated by God Himself. We are incapable of that. This requires the regenerating power of the Spirit of God, that work whereby he causes us to be raised from spiritual death to spiritual life, he opens our eyes and, in our hearts, and he gives us the gift of faith and conversion, and so forth. And therefore, according to Romans five and verse five, when this happens, the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. And then because we truly love God, by the power of the Spirit, albeit imperfectly, that love manifests itself in our determined decisive commitment to love others. But as we read in this text "we love because He first loved us." This is what the Jewish leaders needed to hear, what the people needed to hear, what we all need to hear. Dear Christian, don't miss this. Here, Jesus states, the two greatest commandments. The quintessential commandments these "summum bonum" or highest, the greatest, ultimate good; the standard of divine righteousness in which all moral values are included, and from which they all derive. This is so important, but we all fall short, don't we? And therefore, we need mercy. We need grace. We need forgiveness, we need a righteousness that is not our own. Therefore, we need a savior. That's why the Spirit of God was sent right? To convict the world of what? Sin, righteousness and judgment.

Now think about it, the Jews were fastidious in keeping certain laws and traditions. And like every legalist, they were fooling themselves into believing that somehow they were able to impress God, when in fact, in their hearts, they had no real love for God. I mean, folks, this is externalism. And this may be speaking to some of you, I don't know your heart. But you need to examine your heart. There are so many Christians today that are all sizzle, but no steak. A lot of smoke and mirrors, a lot of hollow hypocrisy.

Now, it's interesting as you study Judaism, in that ancient day, in particular, I mean, they took prejudice and sectarianism to new levels. I mean, if I can use a baseball analogy, there's T-ball, there's little league, there's college ball, there's minor leagues, and there's major leagues. This is major league prejudice; major league hatred of anybody that wasn't in their group. In fact, the Romans accused them of hating the whole human race. It's not a very good reputation. Now, what's interesting is they defined "neighbor" in the narrowest terms possible to accommodate their disdain for other people. In fact, in a similar incident that's described in Luke 10, verses 25 and following, the scribe’s final reaction is recorded in verse 29. It says, "But wishing to justify himself, he said to Jesus, 'And who is my neighbor?'" And then you remember, Jesus responded to him, gave him the story of the Good Samaritan. Remember, you want to know who your neighbor is, let me tell you a little story. And you know, the guy is hurt, he's wounded. The priest, the Levite, that passed by Samaritan comes along and helps him. And at the end of that passage, Jesus tells the guy, "Go and do the same." In other words, your neighbor is anybody that's in need. Doesn't matter if it's your enemy or who he is. But for the Jews, "neighbor," only referred to their preferred group. They hated everybody else. I mean, they hated the Gentiles in ways that you can't imagine. And they let them know it. They hated the half breed Samaritans; they wouldn't even walk through their region. And if they did, they'd shake the dust off their garments and off their shoes; made a big scene of the whole thing. They hated even other Jews. They hated the Jews in Galilee; "can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Remember? They hated tax collectors. We read this in the New Testament. They hated prostitutes. They hated the poor. They hated the diseased and the disabled, because they felt like they were really sinful people. That's why they were experiencing what they were experiencing. Basically, anybody outside of their favorite group.

One of the sects of Judaism was a monastic sect that lived on the edge of the Dead Sea. They were called the Essenes. That's the region--I've been there, some of you have as well--it's where we found the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Essenes lived there. And here's what they taught, quote, "Love all that God has chosen and hate all that he has rejected. Love all the sons of light, each according to his lot in God's community and hate all the sons of darkness." Now, it's remarkable to see how Jewish rabbis came up with all of this. They were very selective in their interpretation and their application of the law, and again, Leviticus 19 verse 18, that Jesus is quoting here it says, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." But the rabbis really did four things. The first thing they did is they ignored the meaning of love; in Hebrew, "ahavah." It comes from a Hebrew root, "ahav," which means to give. And the Hebrew equivalent by the way in the New Testament, and the Greek is "agapaó"; the agape love. A self-sacrificing love of choice, not necessarily of emotion. So they ignored the meaning of love.

Secondly, they defined "neighbor" in the most narrow terms they possibly could. And they ignored the last phrase "as yourself." That's a pretty indicting phrase, right? Love your neighbor, just leave it at that. Don't say as yourself, I mean, good grief, I really love myself, I'm not gonna love you like that. And then, worst of all, they added "and hate your enemy." Notice the entire verse in its context, Leviticus 19:18, it begins this way, "'You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.'" They also ignored other passages, I won't take time to list them all, but other passages that really broaden and help define "neighbor" in that whole context in Leviticus 19, which includes even loving your enemies. For example, in verse 16, God says, "'You shall not go about as a slander among your people, and you are not to act against the life of your neighbor,'" verse 17, "'You shall not hate your fellow countrymen in your heart.'" Verse 34, "'The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself.'" Isn't it interesting how we can conveniently pick and choose those passages of Scripture that help us justify what we think and what we do?

One of the stated principles of the Pharisees is as follows and I quote, "If a Jew sees a Gentile fallen into the sea, let him by no means lift him out fence, for it is written, 'Thou shall not rise up against the blood of thy neighbor,' but this man is not thy neighbor." I mean, folks, this is this is prejudice on steroids, right? You see a Gentile is drowning, let him drown. He's not your neighbor. Now, how did they come up with this nonsense? Obviously, Satan is the father of lies. But what Satan loves to do is take certain aspects of truth and twist it, distort it. And before you know it, you've got a total deception. What they did is they would arbitrarily extrapolate certain Old Testament texts, and then adapt them to themselves personally to justify their prejudices. For example, in Deuteronomy 23, beginning of verse three, we read, "'No Ammonite or Moabite shall enter the assembly of the LORD; none of their descendants, even to the 10th generation, shall ever enter the assembly of the LORD, because they did not meet you with food and water on the way when you came out of Egypt.'" So they would let's take this passage and then also take the passages like Deuteronomy seven where the Israelites were told to absolutely exterminate the Canaanites and slaughter the Midianites in Numbers 31. You could read about the rejection of the Amalekites and the Moabites in Deuteronomy 23. So they're taking these things, and you know, if God could do this, you know, I guess there's room for some real hatred here. Make sense to me, don't you? Then what about the imprecatory psalms? The cursing psalms like Psalm 69, beginning of verse 22, "Pour out Your indignation on them, and may Your burning anger overtake them. May their camp be desolate; may not dwell in their tents. For they have persecuted him who You Yourself have smitten, and they tell of the pain of those whom You have wounded. Add iniquity to their iniquity, and may they not come into Your righteousness. May they be blotted out of the book of life, and may they not be recorded with the righteous." Let's add that to our column here. Or Psalm 139 verse 21, "Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord? And do I not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with the utmost hatred; they have become my enemies." But you see, what they fail to understand is the difference between personal injury and divine justice. God's judgment and curses on the wicked were and are judicial acts of an infinitely holy God and they have no application to us personally when we are injured. When we have wounded pride, they have no application in redressing an individual offense. God's purpose, for example, in eradicating the Canaanites was to cleanse the land from the most vile satanic savages that have probably ever walked on the face of the earth. I don't have time to take you into the types of things that these people did. But this was divine justice. This was a judicial act of God meted out by a holy war where he used his people to accomplish his purging purposes. God wanted to protect his people. He wanted to preserve for himself a righteous seed, from which the Messiah would come.

You read about this, like in Leviticus 18. But it is absurd to think that we can apply the actions of divine justice, or even the judicial law of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth and somehow use them as an excuse to hate, even kill those that we do not like. I mean, that's God's justice, not mine. Romans 12 verse 19, "Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God , or it his written, 'VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,' says the Lord. 'BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.' Do not be overcome by evil but overcome evil with good."

But what about the imprecatory psalms? Those imprecations, those calling for God's judgment on the wicked, like you would see in Psalm seven in Psalm 69. And I believe Psalm 35. Maybe in Psalm 109, I forget all of them. Well, those were motivated, dear friends, by David's passion for the glory of God. Not out of some frustration and vengeance for his own personal injury. I mean, this was righteous indignation. We read about this like in Psalm 69, beginning in verse nine, "For zeal for Your house has consumed me, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. When I wept in my soul with fasting, it became my reproach." You see, the imprecations, were statements that stipulated the kind of divine judgment that was necessary to befall upon those who violated the treaty. And here David calls upon the Lord for justice, for deliverance from the hands of these wicked people. And he calls upon God to be faithful to his covenant promises that he gave to Abraham, for example, in Genesis 12. And his motivation was not some kind of petty personal vindictiveness. For in this context, David is suffering as a representative of the Lord. His motivation for divine retribution upon unrepentant sinners is ultimately for the glory of God, not for the glory of David. Now, some will argue, "Well, hey, wait a minute now we're supposed to love our enemies, turn the other cheek, return good for evil; forgive those who mistreat us and so on." Yes, indeed, that's all true. But you must understand that those commands and virtues are aimed at the mortification of personal pride. That's the purpose for those, not the abdication of justice, or the vindication of righteousness. Jesus commands with respect to loving our enemies must be balanced with his role as the avenger of those who are violently opposed to him. They got all of that twisted around; conveniently so.

Once again notice Psalm 139, beginning of verse 19, "O that You would slay the wicked, O God; depart from me, therefore, men of bloodshed. For they speak against You wickedly, and Your enemies to take Your name in vain. Do I not hate those who hate You, O Lord? And do not loathe those who rise up against You? I hate them with the utmost hatred; they have become my enemies." See, again, this had nothing to do with personal animosity or personal spite, but zeal for God's glory. This is righteous indignation. This is not personal revenge. Would that we all have such hatred for the ungodly who dishonor God. But folks, there is no room for this, when it comes to those who dishonor us. In fact, David went on, in that very context, to ask the Lord to examine his heart, he went on to say, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me and know my anxious thoughts; and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way."

So we come to the question, how are we to respond to the wicked who persecute us? We are to love them. Matthew five, verse 43, "'You have heard it said, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.' But I say to you love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you.'" The Greek term "agapaó," the term for love, is the love of choice, not mere emotion. It is a purposeful act of the will that chooses to love and to seek the highest good for another person, even if we don't like them, even if we can't stand being around them, even if they are wicked and vile. That's the idea of having a burden for the lost.

By the way, in the Greek, words for love are much more distinct. There's really four different words there is the "philia" love, the brotherly love that we would have towards another friend; like the love that I would have for you, or that you would have for me. And then there's the "storge" love. That's the kind of love that we would have towards a family member. I love my family in a different way than I love you. And you would be the same way. And then there's the "eros" love. That's the the love of romance that leads to sexual love. There's only one person in the world that I love that way, and that is my wife. And then there's the "agape" love. Love that is passionate and unwavering in its commitment to seek the highest good for another person, regardless of who they are. And this is a love of the will, not necessarily a love of emotion, where you've got all kinds of warm fuzzies. But always a love of action, not a love of abstraction. That's why you see all of the verbs in First Corinthians 13. Proverbs 25, verse 21, you see the action of love, "If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; For you will heap burning coals on his head, and the Lord will reward you."

I might also add that here in Matthew five verse 44. The verb is in the present imperative, which means it is to be a continuous attitude of benevolence, a continuous attitude of goodwill. It has to be a continuous desire to treat another person in a way that would hopefully bring them to saving knowledge of Christ, even those who hate us. And it implies meekness, does it not. It implies gentleness and implies humility. And this is indicative of kingdom citizens. That's why Jesus would say to the scribe, you know, you're close, but you're not in the kingdom yet. That's the point. This is the type of love that patiently endures evil; extinguishes thoughts of revenge. This is the type of love that starves those cravings of pride that would demand vengeance. Spurgeon put it this way, "Love and self-denial for the object loved go hand in hand. If profess to love a certain person, and yet will neither give my silver nor my gold to relieve his wants, nor in any way deny myself comfort or ease, for his sake, such love is contemptible. It wears the name but lacks the reality of love. True love must be measured by the degree to which the person loving, will be willing to subject himself to crosses and losses; to suffering and self-denials. After all, the value of a thing in the market is what a man will give for it. And you must estimate the value of a man's love by that which he is willing to give up for it."

As we wrap this up this morning, I want you to notice also what love includes. Matthew 5:44, "'Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.'" "Father, I don't like this person. Biblically, I have no reason to respect this person. This person is vile, this person is wretched. This person is utterly enslaved by their sin. But I plead with you to lavish your love upon them and by your mercy. Save them by your grace, even as you have saved me." Is that your attitude towards your enemies? That's what loving them looks like. It even includes praying for our wicked immoral, godless, Christ hating leaders. I mean, we have some of the most vile leaders in the history of the world, in charge of our country today.

Paul says in First Timothy two beginning in verse one, "First of all, then, I urge you that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgiving be made on behalf of all men." And then he adds this, "For kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity." In other words, we're to pray for their salvation. And we can also pray that God would protect us from them. Remember, Stephen, when he was being stoned, in Acts seven? He said, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." I mean folks, that's the work of the Spirit in a person. What did Jesus say on the cross in Luke 23. "'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.'"

I might also add you realize the blessings that God will lavish upon you when you love your enemies in this way. This is so encouraging to me. Matthew five, verse 10, Jesus said, "'Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you, because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.'" It's an amazing thought, isn't it? God sees all of that he knows all of that, but our attitude is to be one of love, that prays for these people and does everything it can to bring them to a place of saving grace.

So in closing here, Jesus responds to the scribe and all of his cronies standing around with a message of condemnation. And then it's interesting verse 32, "The scribe to said to Him, 'Right, Teacher; you have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM; AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL TH EUNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE'S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burn offerings and sacrifices." In other words, he's affirming that. I mean, what else could he say, right? Even though in his heart, it's like that's not at all consistent with really who I am.

Then I love what Jesus says here, verse 34, "When Jesus saw that he answered intelligently, He said to him, 'You are not far from the kingdom of God.'" You're not in the kingdom, but you're not far from it. By the way, isn't it ironic the scribe comes to pass judgment on Jesus, and Jesus flips it around and passes judgment on him. It's an amazing thing. There's a lesson to be learned here too, by the way. Folks, you can have precise doctrine and be as lost as a goose in a hailstorm. The only thing that you must embrace beyond right doctrine is a wholehearted love for Christ.

Then it says, "After that no one would venture to ask Him any more questions." Well, this was a hard pill for them to swallow. But I hope you will see that there is no place in our life for hatred for prejudice, for personal vengeance. We are to love the Lord our God, the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the one and only true God, perfectly, comprehensively singularly with the totality of our being. And love our neighbors, as ourselves, including our enemies. And certainly, we cannot do that perfectly. So we need a Savior, and hallelujah, we have one right?

Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word. As always, when we hear them, we find ourselves being convicted. But we also find ourselves being deeply encouraged. We are humbled by the love that you have lavished upon us and help us, by the power of your spirit, to love you and to love our neighbors, including our enemies as we ought. For the glory of Christ, in whose name I pray. Amen.

I would encourage you to take your Bibles and turn to Mark's gospel chapter 12. If you've not been with us, we go through various books of the Bible verse by verse so that we don't miss out on a single word of what God has revealed to us. And this morning, we find ourselves in Mark 12, verses 18 through 27. And after we look at this text, I'm gonna take you as well, to some passages in First Corinthians 15, from which we have just read, let me read the passage here, Mark 12, beginning in verse 18, "Some Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) came to Jesus, and began questioning Him saying, 'Teacher, Moses wrote for us that IF A MAN'S BROTHER DIES and leaves behind a wife AND LEAVES NO CHILD, HIS BROTHER SHOULD MARRY THE WIFE AND RAISE UP CHILDREN TO HIS BROTHER. There were seven brothers; and the first took a wife and died leaving no children. The second one married her, and died, leaving behind no children, and the third likewise; and so all seven left no children. Last of all the woman died also. In the resurrection, when they rise again, which one's wife will she be? For all seven, had married her.' Jesus said to them, 'Is this not the reason you are mistaken that you do not understand the Scriptures, or the power of God? For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the passage about the burning bush, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB'?I He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken.'"

Here we witness a great example of the power of religious hypocrites in powerful places weaponizing theological error to discredit Jesus in the eyes of an adoring crowd. And they use a false presupposition to humiliate him. And this is very common. I've dealt with it over the years, I'm sure you have as well, where people misinterpret or they misapply some passage of scripture, and then they confront you with the teaching that they believe in order to discredit you. And of course, their motive is not to learn, to better understand the word of God, but to humiliate you. That's what's going on here.

Now, you need to understand a little bit about Sadducees. They were the wealthy religious aristocrats in charge of the temple. They oversaw everything that happened in the temple, the sacrifices and so forth. They made up the high priests and the chief priests and they had the ruling majority, even in the Sanhedrin, and they were often cooperative with Rome. They were also positive toward Hellenism, they did not believe in the resurrection, they did not believe in an afterlife. They did not believe in angels or a spiritual world; did not believe in predestination, the sovereignty of God. Nor did they believe in a coming Messiah. They rejected virtually everything, interestingly enough, that the Pharisees believed. In fact, Luke speaks of this in Acts chapter 23, beginning in verse six, "But perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in the Council, 'Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!' As he said this, there occurred to dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all."

Now, as you are aware, Jesus now is in the court of the Gentiles, just basically two days before his crucifixion. There's a large crowd that is gathered all around to watch what is going on; there has been a series of attempts to humiliate him. And Jesus, of course, has threatened the power base of the Sadducees because he drove out the money changers, which really upended their lucrative business enterprise in the temple precincts. So, he has humiliated them. Therefore he had to go. A couple of days later, he would be crucified. And so the tactic here is to somehow discredit him in the eyes of the adoring crowds. Especially by presenting to Jesus an impossible dilemma concerning a supposed resurrection. The problem is the theological basis for their question was errant. And they were too ignorant and deceived to understand it.

Now, to make this very practical, this is common, we've seen this down through history where one group will attack their political rival by claiming they reject, frankly, a demonstrably false presupposition. We see that in our culture today, they present this false presupposition concerning for example, critical race theory or transgenderism or the woke insanity. And they confront you with that, and then criticize you for not agreeing with them, or they accuse you of committing some fabricated crime. We saw this very clearly, for example, in the Russian collusion hoax against Donald Trump, or we've seen it like when the parents stood up against the school board, because they were upset with the indoctrination that was going on in the school, and they were called domestic terrorists. And so we're familiar with this type of thing. So this is not something isolated. And so what we have happening here, as we've seen, in our culture is you have one group of people weaponizing whatever resources they have to destroy someone else. And the Sadducees used this nefarious strategy--use the people in powerful positions, to first of all, promote false accusations and then deceive the public, discredit their political rival, then indict them, incarcerate them, and if possible, execute them.

Now, it's also very important for me to pause for a moment and help you remember that this is not taking Jesus by surprise. This is not taking God by surprise. In fact, as we look at Scripture, we see that God has ordained to allow this very thing to happen to his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, while evil men put Jesus on the cross. This was all part of God's plan. Because Scripture makes it clear, for example, in Revelation 13 and verse eight, that the Lamb of God was slain before the foundation of the world. And Peter said in his sermon in Acts two, verse 23, that, "This man," referring to Jesus, "delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God." I mean, this is absolutely astounding when you think about it, the Son of God died to purchase the salvation of those whom God had chosen, according to his uninfluenced, eternal plan. And this is all part of that plan. We read of this, for example, in Ephesians, chapter one beginning in verse three, it says that, "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world." He goes on to say, "In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ who himself, according to the kind intention of his will." And Paul made this clear as well in Second Timothy one in verse nine, where it says that he, "saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was granted us in Christ Jesus, from all eternity." Literally, in the original language "before time began."

Of course, all of this is part of the gospel that Jesus taught, and it was infuriating to many of the people in his day. Frankly, as it is today. In fact, whenever you bring up in many circles the doctrine of election and predestination, you see people getting upset because they simply find that to be abhorrent. It's interesting, in John six, Jesus clearly articulated those great truths--the doctrines of sovereign grace in salvation, often disparagingly labeled as "Calvinism." In fact, it was so offensive, as we read in verse 65, of John six, when Jesus said, "'No one can come to Me unless it has been granted him for the Father.' As a result of this, many of His disciples withdrew, and we're not walking him with him anymore." And of course, these doctrines are highly offensive to people that do not understand the gospel. So they invent their own version of how it all is supposed to work, and makes man, not God, sovereign over salvation, making God's will subject to man's will, and so forth.

Now, some important background here regarding the resurrection. The Pharisees and the Jewish people rightly believed in both a national as well as a personal bodily resurrection. And by the way, what I'm about to say is absolutely true. And this should exhilarate each one of us to know that we have a resurrection waiting for us. They believed a national resurrection was consistent with the promises of God and the Abrahamic Covenant and the Davidic covenant, which would include the coming of the Messiah. You will recall Ezekial's vision of the valley of dry bones in Ezekiel 37, beginning of verse 11. Then Ezekiel said, "God said to me, 'Son of Man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say, 'Our bones are dried up and our hope is perished. We are completely cut off. 'Therefore prophesy, and say to them, 'Thus says the Lord God, "Behold, I will open up your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I have opened up your graves and caused you to come up out of your graves, My people."'" This, by the way, will also include spiritual regeneration. He goes on to say, "'I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life and I will place you on your own land.'" The prophet Isaiah said, likewise, in Isaiah 26, verse 19, "Your dead will live; their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, for your dew is as the doom of the dawn, and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits."

So there's reason to believe, as they did, in a national resurrection, but they also believed in a bodily resurrection. For example, in Exodus three and verse six, the text that the Lord uses, we read, "'I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.'" Present tense. Not I "was," but I "am." And the clear implication is that these men are clearly dead, but they are still alive in the Spirit. And God is still their God. Job speaks of a resurrection as well, and Job 19:25 and following, "As for me," he says, "I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, Yet from my flesh; I shall see God; whom I myself shall behold, and whom my eyes will see in not another." David spoke of this as well in Psalm 16, beginning in verse nine, "Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will dwell securely, for You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in your right hand, there are pleasures forevermore." Psalm 49, verse 15, "God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for He will receive me. In Psalm 73, beginning in verse 24, "With Your counsel, You will guide me and afterward receive me to glory." Psalm 139, verse eight, "If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there." Isaiah 25 and verse eight, "He will swallow up death for all time, and the Lord God will wipe tears away from their all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken." Let me give you one more, in Daniel 12 and verse two, "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt."

Moreover, I might add that in the Old Testament apocryphal writings and the Talmud, which was the primary source of Jewish law and theology, also conveyed the same resurrection promises. And they were familiar with all of this--the Pharisees, the Jewish people. So they believed in a national, as well as a personal, resurrection. I might also add that the Pharisees had some wacko ideas about the resurrection that they derived from other Jewish sources, not from Scripture. And whenever you deviate from the Word of God, you come up with wacko things right? MacArthur speaks of this. He says, quote, "For example, the consensus among the Pharisees was that people would be raised with the same infirmities, defects, characteristics, and relationships they had when they died." That's not very comforting, is it? He went on to add, "Many also believe that all Jews would be raised in Israel, some even arguing that there were tunnels all over the earth, through which the bodies of Jews buried elsewhere, would roll to Israel," end quote. Well, obviously, none of that is true.

Now, here's where it gets interesting. Of course, the Sadducees rejected all of these things, including the Old Testament texts that I read, because they believed only in the Pentateuch. Which they erroneously believed made no mention of a bodily resurrection from the dead. They did not understand the implication of Exodus three, and verse six, as we will see. So for them, Sheol, the opposed abode of the departed dead, was the final resting place for people that die. All that lived on was one's legacy or one's reputation, or one's posterity. So they believe that you just need to live life to the fullest. No afterlife, no punishment, no reward. Just live it up. And this was the same attitude of the unrepentant inhabitants of Jerusalem many years earlier, when they scoffed at the prophet's warnings concerning God's judgment upon them. And Isaiah reproached the people for participating in wild parties when they should have been mourning in repentance. They're trying to anesthetize the reality that God's judgment is upon them, and that it is coming. They did not want to listen to that. So we read in Isaiah 22, beginning in verse 12, "'In that day the Lord God of hosts called you to weeping, to wailing, to shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth. Instead, there is gaiety and gladness, killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.'" So this attitude is nothing new. And I would submit to you, sadly, that it's probably the attitude that some of you have. Certainly this is consistent with most people's attitude. Most people scoff at the idea, for example of an eternal hell of eternal punishment. And most people will say, Well, if there is a God, whoever he or she might be, I think that my good has outweighed my bad. So I'm quite certain he'll grade on the curve and I'll make the cut. That's how people think. Paul dealt with this in Corinth, First Corinthians 15 as we read earlier, beginning of verse 32. He said, "If the dead are not raised, LET US EAT AND DRINK, FOR TOMORROW WE DIE." That's what the people were saying. And he's quoting this passage out of Isaiah. He went on to say, "Do not be deceived: 'Bad company corrupts good morals.' Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God, I speak this to your shame."

Now with this background, let's look more closely at the text for a few minutes. I want to do so under two headings that I hope will be helpful for you. Number one, we're going to see the insoluble dilemma and number two, the infallible solution. Again, now let's visualize the situation. Jesus has horribly offended the Pharisees, the Herodians that came against him and now the Sadducees. He's just making sure that everybody is really upset with him in leadership. People are standing around in the court of the Gentiles and then here comes the Sadducees. And with their garb it’s real obvious who they were. And the Sadducees don't walk, they kind of glide. So they glide up to Jesus and they confront him. And here we see first, the insoluble dilemma, verse 18, "Some Sadducees (who say that there is no resurrection) came to Jesus, and began questioning Him saying, 'Teacher'"--notice the flattery there, "'Teacher, Moses wrote for us that IF A MAN'S BROTHER DIES and leaves behind a wife AND LEAVES NO CHILD, HIS BROTHER SHOULD MARRY THE WIFE AND RAISE UP CHILDREN TO HIS BROTHER.'" Now let's pause for a moment. It's important that you understand the background here, where this came from, out of Deuteronomy 25, verses five and six concerning what's called a "Levirate marriage." "Levirate" comes from the Latin "levir" which means husband's brother. Here's the background with that, and why God put this in the law. Because the perpetuation of a man's name, as a member of the covenant people, was so important, along with the property inheritance in the family; it was important that that name should be passed on. And so we read God's word in Deuteronomy 25, beginning in verse five, "When brothers live together," in other words, most of the time, they would all live on one estate, okay? "'When brothers live together, and one of them dies and has no son, the wife of the deceased shall not be married outside the family to a strange man. Her husband's brother shall go into her and take her to himself as wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her." So in other words, a brother dies, leaves his wife, no child, the other brother, who would have to be one that is single--and as we read another passage, he couldn't divorce his wife and do this, nor could he marry his deceased brother's wife, and have her live with him and his existing wife--but he would then go into her and take her as his bride. And then it says, "It shall be that the firstborn whom she bear shall also assume the name of his dead brother, so that his name will not be blank blotted out from Israel." This is not without precedent, you may recall in in Genesis 38, the story of Tamar. Remember, she was a widow, and she acted wickedly. She played the role of the harlot, she tempted Judah, when his son Onan failed to fulfill his duty, and was impregnated by him and so forth. I might also add that if there was no unmarried brother available, to marry, the widow, another close relative, would be required to fulfill the levarite responsibility. This was the case of Boaz, as you will recall, who married his relative Elimelech's widowed daughter-in-law, her name was Ruth. So that's the background here.

So the Sadducees come up with this insoluble dilemma. It goes on, or they go on to say, verse 21, "'There were seven brothers; and the first a took wife, and died leaving no children. The second one married her, and died leaving behind no children; and the third likewise; and so all seven left no children. Last of all, the woman died also. In the resurrection, when they rise again, which one's wife will she be? For all seven had married her.'" In logic, this is called "reductio ad absurdum"-- reduction to absurdity. And it's a device that basically is an attempt to prove the fallacy of a presupposition by showing that its logical consequences are utterly absurd and/or contradictory. That's what's going on here.

By the way, I always have to smile at this to think of the arrogance of ungodly people. To think that somehow, they can fool their Creator; that they can trick him. Truly, this is a fool's errand. Now Jesus knows their wicked motivation. He knows what they're thinking. And in response, he's going to demonstrate two errors. Number one, he's going to demonstrate that they were ignorant of both the content and the correct interpretation of the scriptures, which they were supposed to be the experts that knew more than anybody else. But secondly, he is going to prove that they know nothing about the power of God in their lives. By the way, there's an important lesson to be learned here. Both faults, characterize most people, even many evangelicals. I mean, think of the heretical teachings that are out there today, by people who simply do not understand the scriptures, therefore they do not understand the power of God. They're unsaved; the Spirit of God does not dwell within them. And as a result, you get the social gospel, you get the prosperity gospel, you get the continual compromise with the LGBTQ abominations, and on and on it goes, I think of all the professing Christians whose character and conduct cannot be distinguished from most rank pagans. Think of Titus one and verse 16, "They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good thing." That's what's going on here with the Sadducees.

So first, we have the insoluble dilemma. Now we have secondly, the infallible solution. Notice how Jesus responds to them by asking a question. Verse 24, "Jesus said to them, 'Is this not the reason you are mistaken, that you do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God?'" You know, I have to smile at this. Folks, this is how you deal with theological error. You deal with it forthrightly, and authoritatively based upon the word of God. And again, he's going to expose two fundamental issues. Number one, you are ignorant of both the content and the correct interpretation of the Scriptures, and you know nothing of the power of God in your life. Talk about humiliating. I think of how Paul dealt with this with the false teachers in his day, as we should even in our day. He describes it in Second Timothy three false teachers, phony Christians, he says, "But realize this, that in the last days," referring to the time between Christ's first and second coming, "difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God." By the way, now, he's describing people that are in the church. And he goes on to say, "holding to a form of godliness"-- they claim to be followers of Christ, and they have all the outward trappings of Christianity. But then, he says, "although they have denied its power;" that is the power of the indwelling Spirit, to save and to transform to sanctify. And he says, "avoid such men as these." The term "avoid" literally means to shun, to stay away from them, have no part with them.

By the way, the list that he just gave is also consistent with Paul's list in 2 Timothy 3:6, and he describes how they conduct themselves, "For among them," he says, "are those who enter into households and captivate weak women." Literally childish women, of which he must have been aware of some that were susceptible to this in his day by the false teachers. They're "weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses." In other words, they're ruled by their emotions. They're ruled by their lusts, not the truth of the Word of God; "always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." Of course, this is a huge problem in the church today as it was then, as it was in the first century. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were also a part of this in apostate Judaism, and many today are like that they fill pulpits, they will even fill stadiums, they will teach in seminaries and they often use the same tactics misinterpret, misapply scripture and try to discredit those who differ with them.

Dave Harrell

Now, I want you to notice Jesus' response here. And this is one, frankly, that we can all use. He says, "'Is this not the reason you were mistaken. “Let me pause, "mistaken" is from "planao," in the original language. It means to wander, to go astray, or to be misled from a proper belief or a course of action. In fact, we get our English word planet from this term. He's basically saying you guys are way off base, alright? Forthright, right to the point. It's like, Hey, you're mistaken, way off base here. He says, "'You do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God." By the way one leads to another. If you don't understand the Scriptures, if you don't understand the gospel, you will never be saved. And if you're not saved, the Spirit of God will not dwell within you. You will have nothing to restrain your flesh, and you will operate in the flesh and one day you will perish in your sins. So he confronts them. And he does so by disproving their error from Scripture. Not from just his opinion, but from Scripture. Now, don't you know a hush must have come over the crowd at this point. It's like, I can't believe Jesus said that to the Sadducees. And can't you imagine the look on the faces of the Sadducees? I imagine, you know, steams coming out their ears, you know the veins in your neck or bulging, and they're biting their teeth and they're wanting to get to this guy.

So now Jesus responds to the insoluble dilemma with an infallible solution. And he says in verse 25, "For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels in heaven." I might add also Luke's account of this in Luke 20:34, Luke, for the word "they,"... for when "they", Luke uses a Hebraism, "sons of this age." "For when the sons of this age rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they're like the angels in heaven.'" Clear, concise, authoritative. Also, it's fascinating is it not, I mean, there's no marriage in heaven. No need for procreation in heaven, no need for the appropriate ways to enjoy sexual activity, none of that will be there. No need for a living illustration of Christ's covenantal love for his bridal church, because we're there. No marriage in heaven is probably a great relief for some, some are probably saying, "Oh, thank you, Lord." For others like me, I think Oh, Lord, as wonderful as it is with my dear wife, I'm sure it's gonna have to be a whole lot better for me to enjoy heaven, right? A lot of us are that way. And rightfully so. But that's because we can't imagine the bliss of sinless glory, being in perfect relationship with God, with the angels, with perfected saints and all of that. And also, isn't it interesting, he says, "like the angels in heaven." I mean, this is a not-so-subtle refutation of their rejection of the afterlife, right? I mean, they didn't even believe in angels, the existence of angels.

And then Jesus supports his statement with Scripture. And he does so in vintage rabbinic practice. He says in verse 26, "But regarding the fact that the dead rise again." Again, now he's refuting their notion that the dead don't rise, even though that's the illustration that you're giving, because the dead do rise. It's also interesting, I might add that the word "rise," in the original language is in the passive voice, which is very significant. It indicates that resurrection is not something automatic, but it is the result of the active power of God; a reality that they cannot fathom, because he's already said in verse 24, "You do not understand the Scriptures or the power of God."

So he says, "But regarding the fact that the dead rise again, have you not read in the book of Moses." Now let's stop. In the Pentateuch, the only section of Scripture that you believe, have you not read this? He says, "in the passage about the burning bush." I mean, everybody knows that one right? "How God spoke to him saying, I AM THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, AND THE GOD OF ISAAC, AND THE GOD OF JACOB'. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living; you are greatly mistaken.'" You see, this is at the very heart of the Pentateuch--that Yahweh is the living God who has made a covenant with his people; a commitment through Abraham, even through Moses. One that will last through time and eternity. Again, he says, "I am." It didn't say I was. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So how could dead men consider Yahweh to be their God and worship Him worship him as such if they were not still alive spiritually, if there was no afterlife, if there was no resurrection. It's like, end of discussion. In fact, Luke 20 gives this account beginning of verse 39, "Some of the scribes answered and said, 'Teacher, You have spoken well.'" I mean, they gotta save face in front of the crowd right? "'Teacher, You have you have spoken well.’” And then it goes on to say, "For they did not have courage to question Him any longer about anything." You know, I get that.

Now, I want to take you to First Corinthians 15 for a few minutes. Because this is so important, more truths on the resurrection. We're going to look at verses 20 through 28. Just kind of in a brief way, let me give you the context, as we read earlier in our scripture reading. Verses 12 through 19 is where the apostle delineated seven absurd theological consequences that would occur if believers were not raised from the dead, like Christ. If we do not believe in a bodily resurrection, then Christ would not have been risen, the preaching of the gospel would be meaningless, faith in Christ would be worthless, all who witnessed the resurrection and all who preach it would be liars, all men would die in their sins, all former believers would have eternally perished, and finally Christians would be the most pitiable people on earth. In other words, the Christian life would be a charade; t would be a sick, ridiculous joke. But in verse 20, he says, "But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep," referring to the righteous dead whose spirits have gone on to be with the Lord, but whose body awaits the composition, in the resurrection, they are asleep--"koimao" in the original language. It's often used to describe believers who have died. First Thessalonians 4:14 speaks of those who have "fallen asleep in Jesus." And then later on in verse 16, they're identified as the "dead in Christ." Second Corinthians five in verse eight, "I say, and prefer rather to be absent for the body, and to be at home with the Lord." And you will recall, as well, that Christ comforted the thief on the cross, Luke 23, verse 43, when he said, "'Truly I say to you, today, you shall be with me in paradise.'" So this is a fascinating statement here, that Christ is the first fruits of those who are asleep in him. Now, this does not mean that Jesus was the first person to be resurrected from the dead. The scriptures give us other examples of that. But what it's referring to is, that unlike Jesus, all those people died again. Only Christ himself was the one that was raised never to die again.

Now fascinating this idea of "first fruits." In Leviticus 23 and verse 10, we read how God commanded his covenant people to do something very important before they harvested their barley crops. They were required to bring a representative sample of the harvest to the priests as an offering to the Lord. This was called the first fruits. And this symbolized the consecration of the whole harvest to God, and it was a pledge of the harvest to come. So Christ's resurrection is the first truths. In other words, it is the first installment of a harvest that already exists. And what is that? It's the harvest of the elect. And He speaks of those who have falling asleep. They're going to be considered the full harvest. So this is exciting. Think about this. Paul is saying that Christ's resurrection didn't occur somehow in isolation as if it had no impact on the rest of the harvest. No, no, no, no, he was the first fruit of the rest of the harvest that already existed. You don't bring a first fruit if nothing else exists, right? And that existing crop was, and is, the elect of God that existed in eternity past. You know, I think of this when I think of our departed loved ones, I can still see my mom and dad that sat right over there that are now with the Lord. We all have loved ones that are with the Lord. Isn't it comforting to know that they are asleep in Christ Jesus. Their spirits are alive yeah, their bodies are dead. And although their soul is in heaven, their body, which is in the case of my parents, bodies were fatigued and a bit diseased and disabled. Remember how mom used to say, I just feel like I'm all used up. I'm beginning to feel more and more that way, aren't you? Their bodies are in the grave. Or for some people, their bodies are scattered all over the earth. But one day, the DNA that was a part of that decomposed body will recompose by the power of God and they will wake up in unimaginable power and glory and be united with their glorified soul. Death is the great symbol of sowing in Scripture. First Corinthians 15:42, "So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised in imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body." Beloved, the implications of the resurrection of Christ exceed the importance and the power and the potential of all other events in the universe. It can only be rivaled by the actual creation of the universe. You see, when the resurrection body of Christ Jesus existed, as it exists, I should say even now. Within it contains the supernatural source of eternal life, the power of God's universal kingdom, it's unimaginable and a mystery beyond our capacity to understand. He dwells within His redeemed. As I say, He has redeemed us that he might inhabit us, and we exist in him. Colossians three and verse three, our life is "hidden with Christ in God." Paul says, "If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead," Romans 8:11, "dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you." You see, dormant within the resurrection body of Christ, was the seed of resurrection glory for all whom the Father had given him. And the magnificent truth of the gospel is that if you are united to Christ and saving faith, you are like, if you will, a nuclear warhead that is ready to explode in unimaginable power and glory, by the power of God in whom you are united. And what a precious and profound comfort that should be to each one of us. That's why Paul says in Second Corinthians four beginning in verse 16, "Therefore, we do not lose hope, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." Therefore, we can rejoice with the writer of Hebrews in chapter 11 and verse one, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." You see, in Christ, we have been given a new kind of existence. His body was made perfect, no longer subject to weakness, to disease to death, but able to live eternally. He put on immortality. And like his, our resurrection body, will also be raised imperishable in glory, in power, a spiritual body as we read in First Corinthians 15.

So we will be given a body like Christ, one that is fit for heaven, no longer subject to sickness or disease, or the shame of sin. No longer easily seduced by the temptations of the world that our flesh so naturally wants to gratify. So the power contained in the resurrection body of Jesus was infinitely powerful. For it houses in it, the omnipotent power of Creator God, and one day we will behold His glory. And you know, when we do, he will look like us as a human being. From his glorified body will emanate the effulgence of the celestial majesty. The resplendent glory of the light of his shekinah will blaze forth like the brilliance of the sun. And again, to think, Christ is the first fruits. In other words, he is a precise sample of the coming harvest, which means our resurrection bodies will be like his in many ways, minus the incommunicable attributes of God that are his alone, Beloved, may I make it real practical to you the next time you see the corpse of a believing loved one, look beyond that decaying body, and see the glory of that glorified saint. Focus on the transformation from the corruptible--that is the passing away--and the incorruptible that will take its place.

And next Paul goes on to explain the profound implications of Christ's resurrection on all who are united to him in faith. He says, "For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ, all will be made alive." There's two men, there's two acts, there's two consequences. Adam was the head of the old creation, Christ is the head of the new creation. He is the first born from the dead. In other words, Colossians 1:18, He is, in other words, the preeminent one, the one of highest rank, the firstborn, the "prototokos" was the ranking son who received the right of the inheritance from the Father. And Christ possesses the right of all of the inheritance over his creation. He existed before the creation, and he is exalted in rank over it, because he is the pre-existent, self-existent, uncreated Creator of the universe.

Two men, to acts, two consequences. Romans five, verse 19, "For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous." In other words, when Adam sinned, he represented all humanity, therefore, his sin was reckoned to all his descendants. But the last Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ, radically reverses all that the first Adam initiated. And today we await, not only our personal resurrection, but the world to come. And notice what he says in verse 22, "in Christ, all will be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming." So Paul goes on to describe the rest of the harvest of which Christ was the first fruits, and he says, "each in his own order." "Order"-- "tagma", a military term, used to describe the arrangement of troops, there's order here. And here we see, once again, that God is both orderly, he is purposeful in all that he does. And here we learn that the resurrection harvest comes in, in three stages at Christ's coming, "Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming." The first stage will be those who have come to saving faith from Pentecost to the rapture, and they will be joined by living saints at the rapture. First, Thessalonians four verse 16, When the Lord himself it says, "descends from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore, comfort one another with these words."

The second stage of those who will be raised from the dead refers to those who come to faith during the Tribulation, as well as the Old Testament saints, they will be raised to reign with Christ during the millennium. You read about this in Revelation 20 and verse four. Daniel spoke of this in Daniel 12 two, "Many of those who are asleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgraced and everlasting contempt."

And the third stage are those who died during the Millennial Kingdom, they will probably be instantly transformed at death into their eternal bodies, and so forth. The only people left to be raised will be the ungodly, that occurs at the end of the millennial kingdom, at the Great White Throne Judgment of God, Revelation 20, which will be followed by an eternal hell. Acts 24:15, "There will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust." And John says in John five and verse 29, that there will be a "resurrection of life" and a "resurrection of judgment." So let's rejoice in certain promise of our resurrection. Paul speaks of this in Romans eight, verse 23, "We ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved." Aren't you thankful that even though now we groan, and sometimes we groan loudly, we do so in hope of what God has in store for us.

Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word. May we not only understand them, but may we apply them. May they govern our thoughts, our behavior. May they animate our hearts not only to further study of your word, but Lord, to worship, so that we may enjoy the absolute fullness of all that we have in Christ. And Father, for those that really do not know you as Savior, maybe they are religious, maybe they've even made a profession of faith, but they really have no love for Christ. They have no burden for the lost, no hunger for the Word, no hungering and thirsting for righteousness. Lord, they're still ruled by their flesh. Oh, Lord, won't you by the power of your spirit, bring conviction to their heart, that today they would repent and cry out for you to save them through faith in Christ and by his grace. We pray all have these things in the precious name of Jesus, our Savior in our Lord. Amen.

This morning I would like to speak to you about the Satanic power of religious hypocrisy. And we see this emerging from our text this morning, found in Mark chapter 12, if you will turn there; Mark chapter 12, verses 13 through 17. Before I read the text, and we examine it, may I remind you of something that we tend to forget. And that is what the Apostle Paul admonishes us to do in Ephesians six, beginning in verse 11, he says, "Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places."

Satan's schemes are as ingenious as they are deadly. And we are witnessing the consequences of his schemes not only in the culture in which we find ourselves, but even in ostensibly evangelical churches. In fact, today is America's most celebrated pagan worship service. It's called the Super Bowl where over 100 million people will be watching. I understand that the average ticket cost is about $10,000. This is the ultimate distraction from the difficulties of life. People's lives that will end up in death, and eternally they will either find themselves in hell or in heaven. Screaming fans can watch fabulously wealthy, athletic entertainers, frankly, try to advance a pigskin over opposing lines. It's really rather funny when you think about it. And I understand that the halftime shows are typically vulgar and immoral, I would certainly never encourage you to watch it. Shield your children from these things. But there you will be entertained, I'm sure by musicians and dancers, skilled in celebrating the immoral values of the world that is passing away in divine judgment. I guess it's fitting that it's being held this year in Sin City. Well, indeed, Satan tempts our depraved hearts, with irresistibly delicious delicacies that promise life, but will only deliver death. In fact, we read in Proverbs chapter 14, verse 12, "There is a way which seems right to a man but its end is the way of death." And perhaps his most powerful weapon to accomplish his schemes is through the religious hypocrite. Men and women that seduce the naive and often the desperate with deceptions, and they do this under the pretense of sincerity and integrity, and truth.

You know, this began in the garden when Satan tempted Eve. You will recall in Genesis three one that "the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field, which the LORD God had made." And you will recall that he appeared to her alone; she was vulnerable to seduction, unprotected by Adam's experience and counsel. And portraying himself as a beautiful emissary of enlightenment, he then caused her to doubt God's word, to question the goodness of his will and offer her another, more accurate and more appealing interpretation of what God had said. How sad to think that God will restrict you from partaking of all the good pleasures of the garden. Surely you misunderstood him because he knows that in the day that you eat from that forbidden tree, your eyes will be opened. And you will be like God, knowing good and evil. And sadly, she was convinced that she was doing the right thing. So, she disobeyed God; she believed a lie. And the rest, of course, is history.

And this kind of deception continues to this very day. False teachers, often unwittingly, and sometimes wittingly, deceive undiscerning people that are ruled by the lusts of their heart, causing them to believe the schemes of the devil. Whether it's the greedy deceptions of the prosperity and social justice gospels, or perhaps the gross immoralities of the alphabet cult. Or the insanity of the liberal woketards or the buffoonery and corruption of our current administration led by a senile old man; whatever it is, dear friends, it all comes from the father of lies. And those lies, the schemes of the devil, always appeal to the lusts of fallen flesh; to those who love darkness rather than light. And again, one of Satan's greatest allies in his assault on the purposes of God, are religious hypocrites; pretenders whose actions belie their stated beliefs, and values. The apostle Paul warned us of this in Second Corinthians 11, verse 15. "Therefore," he says "it is not surprising if his servants also disguised themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds." And as we will see this morning, we are not left without resource. In this battle, we have the word of God, we have the gospel--which is the power of God unto salvation--we have the sort of the Spirit, his word that can effectively parry the blows of the enemy. In fact, Paul reminds us of this as well in Second Corinthians 10, verse 3-5, he says, "For though we walk in the flesh." In other words, though we have human limitations, "we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." And in our text, this morning, we will see this satanic power of religious hypocrisy, again, a power that we often underestimate, even in our own lives. And we do so to our own peril. To be sure, we must always be suspect of our own spirituality, as Jesus warned the naive and overconfident disciples when he found them sleeping in the garden in Matthew 26:41. He says, "Keep watching and praying, that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is,” What? "Is weak." This is especially crucial given the growing hostility of genuine Christianity here in the United States. As rare as that is, indeed, America has sown the wind of wickedness and it is now reaping the whirlwind of divine abandonment. I think if God would judge his chosen people Israel so harshly throughout redemptive history, what will he do to nations that mock him?

So, let's examine the Satanic power of religious hypocrisy, as it is revealed in our text here in Mark 12, beginning with verse 13. "Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap Him in a statement. They came and said to Him, 'Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any but teach the way of God in truth. Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar, or not? Shall we pay or shall we not pay?' But He, knowing their hypocrisy said to them, 'Why are you testing Me? Bring Me a denarius to look at.' They brought one and He said to them, 'Whose likeness and inscription is this?' And they said to him, 'Caesar's.' And Jesus said to them, 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' And they were amazed at Him."

This text is very instructive in helping us understand the character and conduct of religious hypocrites. And I might add that because of the internet in our day, they flourish like maggots on roadkill, along with all of their deceptions. And I wish to examine this section of scripture under three headings. First of all, we will see that hypocrites make unholy alliances to undermine the truth. Secondly, hypocrites masquerade as emissaries of truth, to promote deception. And finally, hypocrites lay traps to discredit their enemies and advance their agenda. And I trust you will examine your life under the light of divine scrutiny, and that we will all grow in spiritual integrity and discernment.

So, first of all, in our little outline, let's look at this issue of hypocrites making unholy alliances to undermine the truth, verse 13. "Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him, in order to trap Him in a statement." Now friends, this is a great example of the little saying "the enemy of my enemy is my friend," right? I mean, the Pharisees and the Herodians despised each other, and yet they're coming together in this situation. It'd be similar to liberals and conservatives today or even worse yet the astounding antithesis between liberals and authentic Christians. Think of this, the Pharisees were fastidious keepers of religious law-- though a lot of it had been invented by themselves--but the Herodians couldn't care less about the law of God. The Pharisees were fervently loyal to Israel, the Herodians were fervently loyal to Rome. They were basically sycophants of Caesar, not Yahweh. And you might remember that Herod Antipas was not even Jewish, he was half Idumean. In other words, he was an Edomite that comes from the Hebrew Edom, which is, which means "red," a description of its founder, which was Esau, the elder son of Isaac; Jacob being the younger son. So he was half Idumean, but he was also half Samaritan, whom the Jews considered to be unclean pagans. And Rome allowed him to rule after his father, Herod the Great's, death. And he was, at this time, the current governor of Galilee and Perea. The Pharisees wanted a descendant of David, the Messiah, to ascend to the throne, but the Herodians wanted Herod. But despite their differences, the Pharisees and the Herodians both had one thing in common, and that was their sheer hatred of Jesus.

You will remember earlier when Jesus healed the man with the withered hand on the Sabbath, the Pharisees were absolutely infuriated. In Mark three verse six, we read that, "The Pharisees went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him." Of course, the Pharisees were furious, because Jesus exposed their religious hypocrisy, their corruption, and the Herodian saw Jesus as a rival to Herod the king. But they both understood that they had no authority to execute Jesus; only Rome could do that. However, Rome wouldn't even arrest him, much less execute him simply because Jesus embarrassed the Jews or disagreed with their theology. So they had to trap him somehow; trick him into saying something that would cause Rome to believe that he was an insurrectionist. After all, just a few days earlier, 1000s, probably hundreds of 1000s were hailing him as their Messiah. Moreover, he had come into the temple, and run out all of the money changers and occupied its precincts. Astounding.

But here again, we see how these hypocrites make unholy alliances, to undermine the truth. By way of contrast, Jesus never sought common ground with his enemies. Never. Nor should we, Jesus and the apostles never once sought to "build bridges," as you hear people say, they built walls. Those walls were built with the mortar of doctrinal precision. People say today well, doctrine divides, absolutely it does. That's what you want. It divides between truth and error. The eternal destiny of men's souls depends upon the truth. This is the deadly deception of ecumenism that we see today. The attempt to somehow find unity among people of faith, whatever that means, despite their heretical beliefs. Historically, the cause of Israel's failure, and God's judgment upon them, was because they tried to blend the worship of Yahweh and being obedient in their own ways to the Mosaic law with the pagan idol worship of their culture. We see this today in evangelical pragmatism where many churches will say, you know, in order to win the world, we must become like the world. We must become more attractive, more relevant, more therapeutic, less dogmatic. Got to be more entertaining. And then the world will like us and buy into our gospel light. I was reading about a place called Life Church in Edmond, Oklahoma; the third largest church in America, like 30,000 people going there. And they're advertising a Super Bowl Sunday, a tailgating party, themed church service where the pastor will exegete Superbowl commercials. We see ostensibly evangelical churches inviting Muslims and Roman Catholics and prosperity cult preachers and social justice preachers. Even perverted pedophile, drag queens and sodomites to come speak to their people. Second Corinthians six verse 14, we read, "Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?" And he goes on to say in verse 17, "'THEREFORE, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,' says the Lord. AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNLCEAN.'" In other words, we are never to partnership, never, somehow, build a bridge with some other religious organization, or participate in any kind of a religious event with those who deny the authority of Scripture, and in any way distort the gospel.

I touched on this briefly, I believe the last time we were together, that this is why we would never attend a homosexual wedding, which is no wedding at all in God's eyes. But it is a blasphemous mockery of the covenant of marriage between one man and one woman, ordained by God, to illustrate the covenantal love that God has through Christ for his bridal church. I mean, we would never want to not only make people comfortable in their sin, but to join in a celebration that taunts God. It's inconceivable. Paul says in Ephesians 5:11, "Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret." Our response to those kinds of things, and there are many, but especially the homosexual wedding thing, should be like Lot's response that Peter described in Second Peter two beginning in verse seven. There we read that Lot was "oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them,)" that is living in Sodom, "(felt his righteous soul tormented day by day at by their lawless deeds.)" He saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day by day, by their lawless deeds, that's how we should be in anything that dishonors the Lord. So again, Jesus and the apostles never ever made any kind of unholy alliances with apostates to somehow accomplish the purposes of God. You never see Jesus saying to the Pharisees, Hey, guys, look, I know I've been a little tough on you guys. I tell you what, we need to find some common ground here, right? I mean, after all, we're all after the same thing, you know, to experience the love of God and to help people. And I know we've got our differences on things, but let's just find the most common denominator of everything so that we can work together rather than work against each other. Instead of that, Jesus simply unleashed the gospel and let it do what only it can do. This is why Jesus said in Matthew 10:34, "'Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; AND A MAN'S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.'"

Well hypocrites not only make unholy alliances to undermine the truth, but secondly, they will masquerade as emissaries of truth to promote deception. Notice what happens here in the text, verse 13. Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap him in a statement." This is the Sanhedrin, no doubt, here sending them, and "They came and said to Him, 'Teacher, we know that You are truthful.'" Luke's account in Luke 20 verse 21, we read, "'Teacher we know that You speak and teach correctly.'" "Correctly" comes from the Greek word "orthos," which means accurate, we get our word orthodox from that. So they're really buttering him up here. Not only do we know that you are truthful, but they say "'and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any but teach the way of God in truth.'" And I'm sure the many people that are standing around are saying, well, yeah, that's what we think too. But oh, such insincere, saccharin flattery. It's sickening. What a setup and to thin-- that they would think--that the Lord is going to fall for this. Of course, they knew the people thought all of this, and the you've got to win the people if you're a hypocrite. Plus, they would communicate to the people, or this would communicate to the people that you know, like you, we too are seeking the truth here.

We must always be on guard for this kind of hypocrisy. I've seen it so often down through the years. And often these people are winsome, knowledgeable, talented, charismatic, in the sense of their personality, their interpersonal style of relating many times; they're even orthodox. But they will have some aberrant twist in their theology somewhere. And quickly, you'll see them garner a following. But gradually, little by little, issues begin to emerge, you'll begin to hear strange stories about what's happening with them and other people, divisions begin to develop. And gradually, a once hidden agenda of control and manipulation becomes increasingly obvious. I've seen that happen in our church. And then there's conflict. Boom, things begin to blow up. Many times, there's moral failure associated with all of that. Paul warned about this in First Timothy five verse 24. He said, "The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their sins follow after." In other words, there's somewhere you can tell "no way, we can see this deal a mile away." But others, you have to wait and then you begin to see what's really going on. Again, we've had that in this church. We may even have some of that going on right now. I'm not aware of it, but it probably is and eventually, it'll surface. I've been here almost 30 years. I know how these things work, so do the other elders. In fact, Paul said that this is inevitable in churches, First Corinthians 11, beginning of verse 18, "When you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it." And here's why, "For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you." In other words, God uses factions, he uses hypocrisy in the church, to reveal those who are spiritually mature and trying to honor Christ, versus those who are not. And this is especially a difficult situation when a pastor or a church leader is involved. Because my friends, the pulpit has no place for cowards, for charlatans, for entertainers, for entrepreneurs, and certainly not for hypocrites. Jude spoke of this beginning of verse 12, "These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever." And certainly, this is a perfect description of the religious leaders of Israel, who were trying to trap the Son of God.

Now back to our text. These hypocritical Pharisees and Herodians are masquerading now as these emissaries of truth. They're trying to promote their own deceptions. They're serving their father, the devil, who is master of all of this, like the phony Apostles in Corinth. Remember, Paul described them in Second Corinthians 11, beginning of verse 13, "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds."

So, they approach Jesus, "oh wonderful teacher who defers to no one. You who are impartial to anyone, but only teaches the way of God in the truth, like us." And this brings us to the third point, and that is, hypocrites lay traps to discredit their enemies and advance their agenda. You see what they must do is publicly humiliate and discredit the Lord Jesus Christ, while at the same time portraying him as an insurrectionist rebelling against Roman authority. That's what the whole motivation is here. Notice in verse 14, they asked the question, "'Is it lawful to pay a poll-tax to Caesar or not? Shall we pay or shall we not pay?'" Oh, this is ingenious. Satan is a genius in his schemes. Now, the Jews had to pay a variety of taxes to Rome. And it was deeply humiliating to them. Frankly, it was forced idolatry. They hated it. But the worst tax of all, was the poll-tax. It was also called the head tax, the "tributum capitis." And it required one denarius per year--that would be about one day's wages. It was payable by all males 14 through 65. And we believe that they had to even pay for their wives as well. But the poll tax was different than all of the other taxes, taxes on things like property and agricultural yield of crops they had, they had sales taxes and toll taxes and duties on agricultural goods and all kinds of things. But this was especially reprehensible to the Jews. And that's why the Pharisees and Herodians picked this one. Notice they didn't say, Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, but rather specifically pay a poll-tax to Caesar? Why was it reprehensible? Well, number one because of denarius, which was a silver coin, bore the image of the emperor, Tiberius Caesar, along with inscriptions claiming divinity. Of course, this is idolatry. This is a violation of the second commandment, that you are not to make or bow down or serve a graven image. They're being forced to do this.

But the second reason why it was so reprehensible is because the clear implication of this tax was simply this-- that Caesar owned them; that they were his possession. Not Yahweh's. And just for this reason that the Jews wouldn't even carry a denarius. So this was a hot button issue. In fact, 25 years earlier, in about AD six, a Galilean named Judas founded the Zealots to revolt against Rome, quoting from the wars of the Jews two, comma 118, from Flavius Josephus, who was a first century Jewish Roman historian. He wrote this, this was written about AD 75. Here's what he said, "Under his administration," and this was referring to Coponius, who was the Roman procurator, at that time, "under his administration, it was that a certain Galilean whose name was Judas prevailed with his countrymen to revolt, and said that they were cowards if they would endure to pay a tax to the Romans, and would after God, submit to mortal men as their lords. This man was a teacher of a peculiar sect of his own, and was not at all like the rest of those their leaders." We read about him as well in Acts 5:37. There we read "Judas of Galilee, rose up in the days of the census and drew away some people after him; he too, perished and all those who followed him, were captured." By the way, one of Jesus's disciples was Simon the Zealot, and he belonged to this movement prior to coming to Christ. It's also worth noting that this highly offensive taxation led to another revolt against Rome, between AD 66 and 70. And it was put down by the Romans in AD 70, when they utterly annihilated Jerusalem.

So, knowing how the Jews despise Roman taxation, their question to Jesus was quite a setup. You know, think about this, if Jesus says, "Well, you need to pay it," then Jesus would be promoting idolatry, and he would lose favor with the people. But if he said, "don't pay it," and Herodians would label him as an insurrectionist and would report him to Rome. So, either way he loses. But I have to laugh at this; like all narcissistic hypocrites, they thought they could outsmart God. One thing you will discover in seasoned hypocrites, is they are a legend in their own mind. In fact, you will see this all the time with people who are in power. No matter how stupid they may be, they think they're smarter than everyone else. We deal with this on a regular basis in our modern politics. We've got people in positions of authority that are dangerously dumb. I don't say that to be unkind. I mean, they're intellectually challenged. And when you listen to them, you think, how could anybody be that stupid? Worse yet, how could anybody be that stupid to vote for these people?

Dear friends, let me put it to you practically, because we all have to guard our hearts with this. You may think that you are pulling the wool over other people's eyes. And you may be very effective in doing this, but know this, the penetrating eye of divine omniscience can see right to the very soul of your being. You are not fooling God. He knows your every motive. And you think of the doctrine of divine omniscience, and we see biblically that he knows everything that is actual and everything that is possible. There has never been a time where he lacked knowledge, where he lacked information. John 2:25, "He Himself knows what is in man." Hebrews 4:13, "There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." And the Psalmist puts it this way in Psalm 139, verse four, "Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold, oh Lord, you know at all." So, in verse 15, we read, "But He, knowing their hypocrisy." In other words, he knew their motive, he knew what was going on. "Said to them, 'Why are you testing me?'" Luke's account in Luke 20 and verse 23, we read, "He detected their trickery." And Matthew's account in chapter 22, verse 18, he "perceived their malice." So, Jesus said to them, "'Bring me a denarius to look at.'" He didn't carry one. Most of the Jews wouldn't carry one, they are not going to carry a little image of an idol around with them. Probably it was only the Herodians that had some and so they had to find one or here's one. "'Bring me a denarius to look at.' They brought one. And He said to them, 'Whose likeness and inscription is this?' And they said to Him, 'Caesar's.' And Jesus said to them, 'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's.' And they were amazed at Him." Well, that's an understatement, right? Can you imagine being there? I mean, to argue with him would have required them to favor one of either of those sides, if they were to argue in favor of paying it, then they indicted themselves. If they said that, well, no, you shouldn't pay it, then all the people would be against them. So Jesus just flipped the whole thing on them. And I'm sure that people realize that they were no match for Jesus intellectually. Reminds me of the little saying "better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt." Right?

And it's also interesting to think about this; this dialogue took place in the public arena of the Court of the Gentiles. So everyone heard it. Everyone's hearing this. And yet you don't hear anybody in the crowd say, "Excuse me, Rabbi." No, nobody's gonna say anything. Luke's account, says this in chapter 20, verse 26, "And they were unable to catch Him in a saying in the presence of the people; and being amazed at His answer, they became silent." Matthew 22, verse 22. "And hearing this, they were amazed, and leaving Him, they went away."

Now, there's an important lesson here that needs to be learned if I can digress for a moment. Jesus clearly teaches that we must pay our taxes to a secular government, even though much of its policies are wicked. When Jesus said, "Render to Caesar," the term "apodidomi" in the original language literally speaks of the repayment of something owed. So you owe them this. And what is it that is owed? Well, they're providing for you: peace, safety, protection, infrastructure, roads, bridges; for us electrical grid, and on and on it goes. Paul spoke of this in Romans 13, beginning in verse one, "Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore, whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience' sake. For because of this, you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. Render to all what is do them: tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor."

Now, much of what our governing authorities do, is reprehensible in the eyes of God. And we have to expect this. I mean, these people are at enmity with God, they're spiritually dead. They're acting consistently with their depraved nature. They're ruled by that. Ephesians I'm sorry, Romans chapter eight, and verse five. Paul describes him as "Those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh." He goes on to say in verse seven, "the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so. For those who are in the flesh cannot please God." So naturally, our fallen leaders are going to act consistently with their depraved hearts and how Satan works in them to accomplish his purposes to thwart the purposes of God. Nevertheless, civil authorities are ordained by God. It's an example of God's common grace, I think, where we would be if we didn't have any governing authority, right? If you want to get just a little sample of what it might look like, look at liberally controlled cities today and you see the anarchy, you see drug addicts and sexual perverts and criminal gangs and homeless encampments; unimaginable filth, syringe needles laying around. That's why a lot of you have moved here to Tennessee, right? But where government and sanity and the rule of law prevail, we as citizens are protected. And we can live in peace and in varying degrees of prosperity. Peter spoke of this as well, First Peter two beginning in verse 13, "Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every human institution, whether to a king as the one in authority, or to governors as sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and the praise of those who do right. For such as the will of God that by doing right, you may silence the ignorance of foolish men. Act as free men and do not use your freedom as a covering for evil but use it as bondslaves of God." In other words, willing slaves of God. "Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king." I mean, the only time we can ever rebel against civil authority is when they force us to do something that God forbids or forbids us to do that which God commands. And for this reason, we're even commanded to pray for those that God has placed in authority over us. Paul spoke about this in First Timothy two beginning of verse one, "I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men." And then he adds this "For kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity." And I pray often that God will protect us and our children from the exceedingly wicked authorities that he has placed over us to accomplish his purposes, in ways that we can't fully understand.

Now you have to wonder, if the Pharisees and Herodians really heard what Jesus said, When they were trying to trap him, again, "'Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's,'" and then this last phrase, "'and to God the things that are God's.'" Now, they may have had to have thought this through, as I have thought it through. But here what we see is the ultimate authority speaks with ultimate authority. All right. I want you to notice again in verse 16, he says, "'Whose likeness,'" it could be translated image an inscription, '"is this?' And they said to him, 'Caesar's.' This is so powerful in light of what is happening here. I mean, think about this--God is the only and ultimate sovereign and we as human beings are made in his image. Therefore, it is God, not man, who possesses the only rightful claim on his image bearers. Therefore, by implication, as James Edward states, quote, "If coins bear Caesar's image, than they belong to Caesar. But humanity which bears God's image, belongs to God." So, let's render to God the things that are God's. And how do we do that? Well, by obeying the supreme commandment to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, love our neighbors as ourselves. And only by God's grace, can we even begin to do that? Romans 12, beginning of verse one, "Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and a holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." In other words, don't allow the world to impose its values on you, in such a way as you begin to look like it and act like it and think like it. But rather, by the renewing of your mind, let there be a metamorphosis, where who you really are in Christ begins to be manifested more and more.

So, we want to ask ourselves, does any of this apply to me? Are you an actor? Are you a pretender? Do you just come here to church on Sunday, and you say some spiritual things, and you claim to be a follower of Christ, but in reality, you don't really love him. You don't really have any desire to honor him in your life, to be a holy living sacrifice, to give glory to God. Are you and here I'm going to use the quintessential hypocrite example. Are you a Judas Iscariot? The prototypical pretender, the greatest of all phonies, like all hypocrites. Judas was motivated by self-will for the purpose of self-aggrandizement and self-promotion. I mean, he was a skilled hypocrite. I mean, none of the others in the group could see it, right? He was callous in his hatred of Christ. In fact, he was so proficient in his masquerade that Matthew says that all of the disciples responded to the Lord's chilling announcement that one of you are going to betray me by saying, is it I, Lord? And even Judas said, according to Matthew 26, is it I, Rabbi? You want an example of the power and the insanity of sin. Solomon described this perfectly in Ecclesiastes nine three when he said, "The hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives." I mean, Judas knew that Jesus knew about his plan to betray him. Because Jesus had made that clear in his earlier statements, but Judas was so hardened in his hypocrisy, and his hatred of Christ. He didn't care. The only reason he chimed in with the other disciples by saying, "Is it I, rabbi?" was to somehow keep up the appearance of being like everyone else, with no care of how God saw him.

I want to close this morning with just some pastoral thoughts to you. Okay? Some things that I thought would be helpful, just very briefly, with respect to hypocrisy, because we all have to guard ourselves against it. I want to give you five concepts number one hypocrisy can thrive in any soil.

Beloved, a hypocrite can thrive in a godly church, as well as an ungodly church. In fact, I would argue that the more Christ honoring the church, the more skilled the hypocrite. And they will form alliances with other hypocrites within the church, to promote themselves, to promote their agenda. Guard against that beloved.

Secondly, hypocrisy breeds increasingly worse sins. I mean, sin always goes from bad to worse right? Never the opposite. Hypocrisy is like cancer that weakens the entire body. Cancer never comes in and says, you know what, this organ is enough, we'll just stay here. No, it will metastasize and go on and on. And that's what happens. Hypocrisy gradually sears the conscience and makes us more susceptible to even greater and more destructive sins. I mean, think of the Pharisees in Luke 12 one Jesus said, "'Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.'" And as you know, leaven is what you put in bread; it permeates through a process of fermentation. And in Scripture, it's used to describe influence, corruption, defilement, sin. And that's what happens; hypocrisy begins to ferment in you, shall we say. It permeates your life. It permeated the lives of the scribes and the Pharisees to a point that they would murder an innocent man--

their Messiah. Thirdly, hypocrisy believes public piety outweighs secret sins. The hypocrite merely gives lip service to true worship. We see this in the Lord's words in Isaiah 29:13. "Therefore, the Lord said, 'These people draw near with their mouths and honor me with their lips but have removed their hearts far from Me.'" Hypocrites love to find the spotlight so that they can go run and take a bow in it. This is what the Pharisees did with their religious garb, their public prayers, setting in the chief seats, demanding people to respect them. I might add that self-promotion is always a certain sign of hypocrisy. The humble will be willing to serve God in obscurity but not the hypocrite.

Fourthly, hypocrisy seers the conscience and predisposes the soul against heartfelt repentance. I mean Judas is a classic example of this, was he not? Jesus gave him every opportunity to repent, and he never did. He remained unrepentant and determined, the same with the scribes and Pharisees. They saw all of Jesus's miracles, all of his teaching; they heard that and yet they attributed his miraculous works to Satan. As a result, God judicially sealed them in their unbelief.

And finally, hypocrisy will attack and abandon anyone who can see through its masquerade. Consider the scribes and the Pharisees. They were absolutely apoplectic at the very name of Jesus, because he exposed them. Jesus saw right through them. In fact, he reserved his most scathing rebuke for their hypocrisy. But rather than humbling themselves in brokenness and repentance, they determined to kill him. The hypocrite is always on duty, to avoid detection, and he will attack and abandon anyone who dares to unmask him. This, my friends, is the Satanic power, of religious hypocrisy. May we all guard ourselves from it. May we all cultivate within our hearts, devotion to God. Live it out in private worship, and public service, but be willing to do that in absolute obscurity, for the glory of Christ knowing that he sees and he will reward. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word that have such power in our hearts. May we all respond with obedience, knowing that you love us and you want us to experience the fullness of all that is ours in Christ Jesus. And Lord for those that perhaps are convicted under the weight of what has been said, I pray that you will bring them to a place of true brokenness and repentance and reconciled them to you in genuine saving faith. We thank you, we give you praise. In Jesus name. Amen.

As believers, we simply will not grow in Christ apart from the systematic, in-depth teaching, preaching and application of the Word of God. And therefore, we will forfeit many of the blessings that could be hours. With that in mind, we return once again to the study of His Word by looking at Mark's gospel chapter 12. For those of you that, perhaps have not been with us, we go through various books of the Bible verse by verse so that we don't miss anything. And we have been in Mark 12 now, the Gospel of Mark and now we come to Mark 12, having taken a little bit of a detour into Isaiah five to better understand what Jesus is saying in this text. This is the third and final part of a little series that I've entitled "Judgment Upon the Failed Vineyard."

Let me remind you of the context here; it is now Wednesday before his crucifixion, the Lord Jesus Christ has cleansed the temple; purged it of money changers and other nefarious characters. This has infuriated the Jewish leaders. He has also been preaching the gospel, refuting the works righteousness system of apostate Judaism of that day. And as a result, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders, were attacking him. In chapter 11, verse 28, they say, "By what authority? Are you doing these things or who gave you this authority to do these things?" And of course, his response, humiliated them in front of all of the people, and as a result, they stood self-condemned before the judge of heaven and earth. And because of their deliberate, conscious rejection of the truth, Jesus judicially sealed them in their unbelief, extinguishing forever in the light of divine revelation, that they might endure the eternal darkness that they loved.

So this brings us now to chapter 12. Jesus is speaking to a crowd that has surrounded him. It would have been literally hundreds of people, including the religious leaders, that are trying to trap him. They want to arrest him; they want him dead. And with that, we read in verse one of Mark 12, that Jesus, "began to speak to them in parables. 'A man PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT, AND DUG A VAT UNDER THE WINE PRESS AND BUILT A TOWER and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. At the harvest time, he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers. They took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again, he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head, and treated him shamefully. And he sent another and that one they killed; and so, with many others, beating some and killing others. He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But those vine-growers said one another, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!' They took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others. Have you not even read the Scripture? THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER STONE; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES.' And they were seeking to seize Him. And yet they feared the people, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so they left him and went away."

As we look at the parable, we can see very clearly what Jesus is referring to here. The slaves that were sent and mistreated and killed depict the prophets of God from Moses all the way to the last Old Testament prophet John the Baptist. The "son" that was killed refers to Jesus, the Son of God. And the "vineyard," as we've studied over the last couple of weeks out of Isaiah five, refers to the house of Israel and the men of Judah, his delightful plant--Isaiah five seven. And the journey really symbolizes that period between God's original dealing with the descendants of Abraham, the transformation of the people into a nation, the covenantal expectations of them through the Mosaic Law, the rebellion and the divine dispersion that he caused to occur all the way through the arrival of the Messiah, the incarnate Son of God, the Lord Jesus, that stood before them. And the harvest that he expected was the spiritual fruit of godliness. Because he had called the people of Israel to be the ones that proclaim the true God. And all of this was illustrated by his miraculous works, even in their midst. They are the ones that were to reveal the Messiah, the anointed one, who would be the savior of the world. They were to be God's "priest nation." As God told Moses on Sinai, in Exodus 19, six, "'You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, and holy nation.'" A priest is a mediator between God and man and all of Israel was to serve as that mediator for God to the rest of the world. But as you know, they failed miserably. They rejected Christ. And this parable is therefore a graphic picture of the outrageous wickedness of not just Israel, but the religious leaders, the vine-growers, given the responsibility to care for God's vineyard, Israel.

And in verse one, as we come here, Jesus quotes the Parable of the Vineyard from Isaiah five that we've studied in great detail the last couple of weeks, and there you find a summary of God's lament over the rebellion of his people and the specific categories of sin that brought about his judgment upon them, and the same kinds of things Jesus accused them of. And this parable really parallels what we see in Isaiah five, Let me remind you of the six woes of Isaiah five--the categories of sin that kindled his wrath against them. There was first of all, the sin of covetousness, the avarice, greedy materialism. Secondly, the sin of dissipation; self-indulgence that really resulted in a refusal to contemplate the works of God and creation and history and redemption. The sin of mockery; they dared God to judge them. They shook their fist in his face. The sin of perversity where they called good, evil and evil good. This included by the way, the sin of homosexuality, that's an abomination to God. We read about this, for example, in Isaiah three and verse eight, and following, "For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their speech and their actions are against the LORD, to rebel against His glorious presence. Their expression of their faces, bears witness against them, and they display their sin like Sodom, they do not even conceal it, Woe to them, for they have brought evil on themselves." And then there was also the sin of self-deification; the height of arrogance, the text says, "they were wise in their own eyes." They knew more than God, so they did their own thing. And finally, the sin of corruption; dishonest drunken leaders that could be bribed to advance the agenda of the wicked. And together, variations of this list of wickedness continued to characterize Israel even through the days of the Lord Jesus.

Now let's look more closely at the parable. Again, verse one, "He began to speak to them in parables: 'A man PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT, AND DUG A VAT UNDER THE WINE PRESS AND BUILT A TOWER.'" And you will recall that this demonstrates that there was thorough preparation and protection of this precious vineyard of Israel. He lavished his love upon them and blessed them with supernatural endowments and resources. Nothing was left to chance. Nothing more was to be desired in that land in which he placed them. And he expected his people to produce good grapes; grapes of righteousness, if you will. But the harvest was that of "beusim"-- the inedible sour berries that had to be discarded. And what a graphic picture of the vile nature of Judah's corruption. And now here it is, even in this first century, Jesus dealing with it again. He goes on to say in verse one that he rented out this vine grove to "the vine-growers and went on a journey."

Now this was a common practice in that day, even as it is today, there are tenant farmers that work the fields of other people and then they would share in the harvest. Verse two, "'At the harvest time he sent a slave to the vine-growers, in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers.'" But then notice what happens, "'They took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed.'" I mean, this is shockingly outrageous. The people that are hearing this would be flabbergasted. They would be overwhelmed. I mean, this is not only a violation of the contractual arrangement, but this is this is despicably cruel. But the violence gets even worse. Verse four, "'Again, he sent them another slave, and they wounded him in the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another. and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others.'" I mean, this is an amazing display of patience, and sacrifice on part on the part of the one that owned the vineyard. He kept sending slave after slave to collect what was rightfully his. In the parallel account in Matthew 21, verse 35, we read, "'The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one and killed another and stoned a third.'" Now as you can see, the allegory here is building to a climax of sheer rage over such atrocities. Jesus is leading them exactly where he wants them to go. They are being set up. No rational person could excuse the violent reaction of the vine growers. I mean, no one could excuse that. But now the story reaches just the pinnacle of drama. Rather than being justified and sending armed forces to annihilate the wicked tenants, the owner takes an incredible risk by sending his beloved son, notice verse six, "'He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.''" Excuse me, this unexpected response would be considered equally outrageous to Jesus audience. No doubt they were saying, "my what a stupid thing to do. I mean, look what has happened, you're not going to send your son--you know what they're going to do to him." But the owner sends his son and they treated him as everyone would expect verse seven. "'But those vine growers said to one another, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him, kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!'" Now I might add that this was consistent with the laws of that day, they would have understood that land that is unclaimed for three years, reverts to the people that have been working it and they become the owners. So verse eight, "'They took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.'" In other words, they didn't even give him a decent burial. Unbelievable. Now, the scribes and the Pharisees would have been horrified with such ungrateful criminal behavior. And this is exactly the reaction that Jesus wanted them to have. However, as we will see, they did not realize at first that this whole story was an indictment against Israel in general, and them specifically.

So, to the astonishment of the listeners, the owner of the vineyard sends his beloved son hoping that they would respect him, that they would listen to him. As I reflected upon this, my mind went to the Mount of Transfiguration where, with Jesus, Peter, James and John together, saw Moses and Elijah. And then you will recall in Mark nine, seven, a cloud formed overshadowing them. And a voice came out of the cloud. "This is my beloved Son," what? "Listen to Him!" LISTEN to Him. But "He came to His own," John 1:11, "but those who were His own did not receive him." And sadly, some of you will hear the glorious truths of the gospel and see the infinite perfections of the person and work of Christ, and yet you will not receive him.

I'm also reminded of the time when Jesus would be arrested and made to stand before the corrupt high priest. And this would have happened just a couple of days later. He would hear all of the insults against him. And according to Mark 14, beginning in verse 61, it says that "Jesus kept silent and did not answer. Again, the high priest was questioning Him and saying to Him, 'Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?' And Jesus said, 'I am; and you shall see the SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF POWERE AND COMING WITH THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN.'"

So again, in the story, they did not listen to the son; had no respect for him. Verse eight, "'They took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard.'" And then Jesus brings it to a climax and says, in verse nine, "'What will the owner of the vineyard do?'" Matthew adds this in his account in Matthew 21, beginning in verse 40. "'Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?'" Now, what he is going to record is what the religious leaders said. "They said to Him, 'He will bring those wretches to a wretched end and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.'" And I imagine after they said that they're, you know, prancing around high five, and you know, we will nail that guy, or those guys, right? And then "Jesus said to them," in Matthew's account, "'Did you never read the Scriptures.'" I Imagine you could have heard a pin drop at that point. "'Did you never read the Scriptures? THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME TE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES'?" Mark puts it this way, in verse nine, "What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others." And Luke gives us even more clarification of what went on there. In Luke 20, beginning of verse 16, Jesus says "'He will come and destroy these vine-growers, and will give the vineyard to others.'" And then it says this; see now they're catching on. "When they heard it, they said, 'May it never be!'" The strongest way of putting a negative in the language. Suddenly they realized they were the ungrateful, ungodly vine-growers deserving of death that they had just pronounced upon themselves. Imagine the look on their faces. And then Jesus looked at them. Folks, you got to put yourself there. Can you imagine the Son of God looking at you? Jesus looked at them, eyeball to eyeball. What then, is this that is written:" He said, THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNERSTONE. Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces; but whomever it falls, it will scatter like dust.'" Mark expresses the same thing in verse 10. "'Have you not even read the Scripture: THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND IT IS MARVELOUS IN OUR EYES.’” There by the way, Jesus is quoting a messianic psalm, Psalm 118, verses 22 and 23, pointing them to the reality of his Messiahship. Like the cornerstone of a building, whose perfect symmetry and strength was crucial for the construction and the stability of a building so too the Lord Jesus Christ is the cornerstone of the kingdom of God.

You will remember later on at Pentecost, Peter would proclaim to the same murderers what is recorded in Acts four beginning in verse 10, "let it be known to all of you, and to all of the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead...'He is the STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED by you, THE BUILDERS, but which BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone. And there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven, that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.'"

So indeed, the Jews inspected the cornerstone, but he didn't measure up to their selfish needs. They wanted a deliverer from Rome, not a deliverer from sin, like so many people today. They wanted to blesser, not a savior. They wanted someone to make them happy, not holy. They wanted a life of success and prosperity and fulfillment. Because after all, God exists for me, right? Rather than I exist for him, they rejected the cornerstone. It's interesting, in his first epistle, Peter said, this in First Peter two beginning in verse six, "'BEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION A CHOICE STONE, A PRECIOUS CORNER stone, AND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.' This precious value, then, is for you who believe; but for those who disbelieve, 'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THIS BECAME THE VERY CORNER stone and A STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE'; for they stumble because they are," catch this now, "They are disobedient to the word And to this doom, they were also appointed." Meaning they were fixed conclusively, and authoritative ly as a consequence of their own unbelief. Paul describes those who are united to Christ as those who can rejoice. He said this in Ephesians, two verse 19, "You are no longer strangers and aliens, but are fellow citizens, with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone."

So, Jesus trapped the scribes and the Pharisees, causing them to literally pronounce judgment upon themselves. And once they realized that they had condemned themselves, notice their reaction. It was not one of repentance, verse 12, "And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the people, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so, they left Him and went away." And because they rejected the cornerstone, Matthew tells us this, what Jesus said, in Matthew 21 verse 43, "'Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it.'" I believe this is a reference to the church of which Jesus Christ is the cornerstone, as well as a future remnant of believing Israel. This is the only vine able to produce the fruit of the kingdom. Jesus said, "'I am the vine, you are the branches, He who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit. For apart from Me, you can do nothing.'" Peter says this in First Peter two nine referring to the church as "A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's own possession." Holy nation refers, it's literally a people that are set apart. They're divinely separated from the world, to have intimate fellowship with God. And eventually we know that the kingdom promises of Israel in the Old Testament will be literally fulfilled when the Jewish people finally embrace their King in saving faith. Romans 11:25 through 29 makes this abundantly clear. And at his second coming, they will finally receive their Messiah, Zechariah 12 and verse 10, and Zechariah 14 and verses eight and nine speak of this, and then he will finally establish his kingdom on earth for 1000 years and so forth.

But Jesus went on to offer further condemnation. Matthew records this in Matthew 21 verse 44. He says this, "'And he who falls on the stone will be broken to pieces; but on whoever it falls, it will scatter him, like dust.'" My friends herein is the eternal tragedy of those who reject Christ and fall upon him, so to speak, in rejection again. As I said, In First Peter two eight where he quotes Isaiah 8:14, he describes Christ as "a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense." Well, isn't that the truth? All you have to do is present Christ to people and see how offended they are. It goes on to say why. "For they stumble because they are disobedient to the word, and to this doom, they were appointed." And indeed, the Jews fell upon that stone by crucifying him. But all who refuse to repent and bow the knee to Christ will eventually be as the text says, "scattered like dust." Think of it this wa, those who fall on the stone will be crushed. But those upon whom the stone falls, will be pulverized. This is judgment.

Here we're also reminded of Daniel's prophecy, if I can take you there just for a moment. Remember, the prophecy of the 10 toes of the iron kingdom. It's described in Daniel two--we've studied that before--verses 41 and following, that points to 10 future kings that will eventually come about during the rule of the Antichrist; they will control the territory of a revived Roman Empire during the 70th week of judgment upon Israel, that Daniel describes in Daniel 9:24 through 27. That will be a future seven-year period of pre-kingdom judgments that will end with sin's final judgment, and Christ's reign of righteousness, the return of Christ on the establishment of his millennial rule upon the earth. But in that passage in Daniel two verse 44, we read this. "'In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. In as much as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountains, without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.'" The symbolism of a stone cut out of the mountain without hands, clearly indicates divine origination, and clearly the kingdom of God will not replace will not only, I should say, replace every vestige of all preceding kingdoms, but it will utterly destroy them. That's my king and that's the kingdom that I'm longing for. I hope you share in that.

So here in Mark 12 one through 12, Jesus pronounces judgment upon the failed vineyard. And I wish to help you see a little bit more of the wickedness of the leaders of that day and draw some parallels with contemporary evangelicalism. As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes one nine "there is nothing new under the sun." There, we can go for a few minutes to Matthew 23. Jesus unleashed a scathing denunciation on these false shepherds. I want to give you first of all, just five, briefly, five characteristics of false religious leaders. They had them then, we've got them now.

First of all, we see in Matthew 23, number one that they are self-appointed, not God ordained. Verse two, "The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses.'" You see, the Jews understood that the chair of Moses was a reference to divine authority. Moses was God's spokesman. He was the law giver. He was divinely appointed. He was divinely ordained, he was divinely gifted to be able to say to the people, "Thus saith the Lord." But they have seated themselves in the "chair." "Chair"-- "kathedra"--we get cathedral from that, originally referred to a position of, or even a place of, spiritual or ecclesiastical authority. For example, in universities, you know, they have department "chairs", esteemed professors. And the term also referred to the actual seat that was found in the front of a synagogue where the authoritative teacher would go and sit. And Jesus is basically saying that you scribes, and you Pharisees, you seat yourself in a position of authority. I have not put you there. You are self-appointed. Like so many people we have today in pulpits, they're self-appointed. They're not God ordained. They're not God-appointed, God-gifted. They're self-styled teachers. Peter speaks of this in Second Peter two. He describes them as those who "secretly introduce destructive heresies." He says that "many will follow their sensuality," and "in their greed they will exploit you with false words." They will "indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties." He goes on to say their eyes are "full of adultery," and they "never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed." He went on to add that they speak "out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires, by sensuality, those who barely escaped from the ones who live in error, promising them freedom, while they themselves are slaves to corruption." And all of this begins with naive, and often, very desperate people, give them that authority.

So not only are they self-appointed, rather than God ordained, but secondly, they're hypocrites that do not practice what they preach. Verse three, "'Therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them.'" Scribes and the Pharisees were notorious for telling everyone how to live, how to honor God, how to obey the law, and they had endless lists of duties--right and wrong, but they were unable to even practice what they preached. And the reason for that is they were unregenerate. The Spirit of God did not dwell within them; nothing to restrain the flesh. I might add, according to Romans seven and verse 22, only a person who has been born again, can quote, "joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man." If you've never been born again, then you're going to hear the Word of God, it's going to be foolishness to you, and you can't understand it and apply it.

Jesus goes on to describe them as not only self-appointed hypocrites, who don't practice what they preach, but thirdly, they lacked genuine compassion. I mean, these guys were overbearing, legalists. Verse four, and "'They tie up heavy loads and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.'" And Judaism, in that day, was absolutely unbearable for the people. They were burdened with countless rules that you couldn't even remember, much less keep. They were saddled with loads that they could not bear. And then the leaders would berate them because of their disobedience. What a way to control people. This is so indicative of false religions today; works righteousness systems. The Jews were taught basically that your good will outweigh your bad, and if it does you will, you know, make it to the kingdom. A lot of people think that way today, don't they? That God basically grades on the curve, and you know, I'm not as bad as some, not as good as others, but I, you know, I think I'll make the cut. The Jewish leaders had no compassion, no sympathy for the people. They were overbearing, abusive legalists. What a contrast to the gentle Jesus, the Good Shepherd, who according to Matthew 9:36, "felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and downcast like sheep without a shepherd." That's why He said in Matthew 11 verse 28, "'Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me. For I am gentle and humble in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my load is light.'" But inevitably, these false religious leaders would contrive elaborate systems of works righteousness as an effort to maintain control of their followers. In fact, Peter said in Second Peter two and verse three, he warned how that "in their greed they will exploit you with false words." You ask anyone that's been around some of these cults, or some of these legalistic systems, and they will tell you of the onerous rules; never ending rules, bizarre interpretations of Scripture.

Fourthly, they were desperate to be noticed. Verse five, says, "'But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments.'" Now, the Pharisees were notorious for ostentatious garb. If you want to get a little sense of that look at Roman Catholicism, because much of the way they dress and the things they do, came out of how the Pharisees looked and conducted themselves. There was a pretense of spirituality without the reality of it. It says that they would broaden their phylacteries. "Phylactery" is a transliteration of a Greek term, "phylakteria," meaning protection or safeguard. And frankly, there was no record of their use until around 400 BC during the intertestamental period. Sometimes it was called the "tefillin," derived from a Hebrew word translated "frontals." And it was worn on the head, and they had one that's worn on the left arm which is closest to your heart. You'll see this in various aspects of Judaism today. You see what they did is, the Jews took literally the four commands in the Pentateuch, that his law was to be on their hands and foreheads to remind them of his holy standard. And however, it should be understood figuratively, and symbolically that God's law should basically govern all that we think and all that we do. But the description was this--it was a little box made of ceremonially clean animal, and it was dyed black, with leather that was sewn into a box with 12 stitches, the 12 stitches refer to, or symbolized the 12 tribes of Israel. And the phylactery worn on the head, consisted of four compartments, each containing one of the four texts in the Pentateuch book, written on a tiny piece of parchment, and the phylactery that was worn on the hand, on the left hand, contain one piece of parchment with all four texts written upon it. And sadly, the term itself came to be used as a synonym for a magical amulet or charm in pagan cultures. And many Jews gradually adopted that, and they would use it to ward off spirits and evil spirits and so forth. Most Jewish men wore them when they prayed. Today with a bar mitzvah, when a young man turns 13, he's given a set of phylacteries to be worn during morning prayer. But what happened is the Pharisees wore this all the time. It became a symbol of pride, and the Pharisees even broadened these things so that it would be even more obvious; symbolizing the advanced status of their spiritual superiority. They even lengthened their tassels. Now Jesus did not wear phylacteries, but he did wear tassels. Remember the woman with the hemorrhage of blood that touched the tassel? In, what was it Mark, or Matthew. Matthew nine I believe it is. And this originated from Numbers 15, beginning of verse 38, where the Lord commanded Moses to tell his people to "'make for themselves tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, that they shall put on the tassel of each corner, a cord of blue. It shall be a tassel for you to look at and remember all the commandments of the Lord, so as to do them and not follow after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you played the harlot in order that you may remember to do all My commandments and be holy to your God.'" But sadly, what God intended to draw people unto himself, became a pretentious means of drawing attention to themselves. They were desperate to be noticed by men and anytime you see religious garb, religious clothing and paraphernalia, you know that you're dealing with a false teacher.

Fifthly, They were egomaniacs. I like to put it that way. Verse six, and "'they love the place of honor at banquets, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the marketplaces, and being called by men Rabbi.'" In other words, they looked for the place where the spotlight would shine on them. You see this with a lot of false teachers today; the most dangerous place on earth is between them and a camera, especially if it's a television camera. False shepherds thrive on being on stage. I've been around them a lot over the years. I used to work with a lot of them, especially in the music industry. Prima donnas, many of them, temperamental; explode into anger if they're inconvenienced, or they're criticized; demanding special privileges, demanding enormous fees from booking agents. Would never come to a small church, only the big churches. They had to have limos in the best hotels and eat in five-star restaurants. They had to have fruit baskets with certain favors, in the baskets in the dressing rooms. I know all about that stuff, folks--that's the stuff of false teachers. This is what the Pharisees were like. Jesus said they love the "'respectful greetings in the marketplaces and being called by men Rabbi'." This was a title that had the connotation of the most knowledgeable one. Right? The supreme one.

Jesus then pronounced a series of woes against them. I'll just read them to you as we wrap this up this morning. He went on to say, "'But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.'" By the way, I want you to know how un seeker-sensitive this is. I want you to notice how in love Jesus spoke the truth directly to them. He went on to say but, "'Woe to you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites, because you devour widow’s houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore, you will receive greater condemnation. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. Woe to you, blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.'" In other words, they had their own trickery in how they could make oaths and be obligated to some, but not to others, depending upon what they placed the oath upon. "'You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold of the temple or the temple that sanctified the gold?"

Verse 23, "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides who strain out a gnat, and swallow a camel! Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they're full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish so that the outside of it may become clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, 'If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them and shedding the blood of the prophets.' So you testify against yourselves, that you were sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up then the measure of the guilt of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?'" Imagine the look on their faces after enduring that, knowing full well that was absolutely true.

Folks, this is what happens when people deny the Word of God and the will of God. It's a slippery slope, isn't it? And this is what has happened even in our culture. People have a superficial understanding of the word of God. They lack biblical discernment. Little by little the world squeezes them into its mold and conforms people into its image. People begin to compromise. We see apostate churches, for example, embracing the whole LGBTQ perversions. They embrace apostate churches and preachers. I've witnessed over the years, the destruction, the damage of theological liberalism, that has morphed into political liberalism. And as a result, you have people in churches, and now in government, that are immoral, incompetent, and corrupt. I mean just look at our government. Today, it's a DEI government. People deny the inspiration and the inerrancy and the authority of Scripture. They're wise in their own eyes, they call evil good, and good evil. And as a result, you've got churches that just make up stuff. You see this in the charismatic movement. You see it in the Messianic movement, the prosperity gospel, the social gospel, on and on it goes. They despise sound doctrine, so they don't have any discernment. And there's just no end to the insanity.

And I want to close with four areas of sin that I really want us to guard ourselves against. Because it's easy for us to see these things and not apply it to our own lives. And I want to say this with great love and kindness to each of you. But these are the types of things that can cause us to forfeit God's blessing and place us in the pathway of divine chastening. One of the first sins that I see in evangelicalism is a failure to cultivate intimate fellowship with the Lord. Are you developing a deeper and deeper love for Christ? Are you hungry and thirsting for righteousness? Do you have, real practically, have an appetite for the Word, so that you long for those times when you can sit down alone with the Lord, and immerse yourself into his word, and hear His voice, and allow him to speak to your heart and nourish your soul. And give you discernment. Are you a Psalm one, kind of Christian that meditates upon the Word? If not, you're going to be subject to failure, you're going to forfeit blessing in your life.

Secondly, there's a failure in the church today to come out and be separate from the world. The internet has been blowing up over this whole issue of one prominent preacher that told a grandmother that it was okay to go to their grandson or daughter, I forget, wedding, a homosexual wedding, being married to a transsexual person, and that maybe you could even take a gift and that way you wouldn't be perceived a judgmental and maybe then have an opportunity to witness to them. And I know some of you have asked me what I think about that. Would I recommend that you go to a homosexual wedding? With them knowing that you disagree with that? And the answer is, in the most emphatic way I could possibly put it, absolutely not. Absolutely not. To attend a homosexual wedding, is a supreme act of blasphemy against the Most High God. Do you realize that God in his great love made us to be men and women as image bearers and he ordained marriage to be a picture of his love for his bridal church? And Satan has distorted all of that. And to go to something like that would communicate to them that somehow you're okay with this. I mean, when does accommodating the world and compromising with the world and making sure the world likes you become a strategy for evangelism that's better than preaching the gospel. I think of Psalm 12 and verse eight, where we read, "The wicked strut about on every side when vileness is exalted among the sons of men." I mean, to affirm and to celebrate that which God sees as blasphemous is a horrific thing. I think of Second Corinthians six, where we are told that we are not to be partners with unbelievers in any kind of a religious enterprise. I mean, what does light have to do with darkness, right? What is righteousness and lawlessness, how can that work together? What fellowship does Christ have with "Belial." Later in that passage, it talks about how we're to come out and to be separate from them. You see, what I would recommend if you have a situation like this, that you tell those people forthrightly, with love, that in good conscience, I could never do something that would be so reprehensible to me and to God, because what you're doing is blasphemous. It's making a mockery of who God is, and what he has said in his word. But I tell you what I will do on your wedding day, and even in the night, when you begin to enjoy the pleasures of your wickedness--I will fast, and I will pray all day and into the night, that God will be merciful to you. And that he will make you absolutely miserable in your sin, until you come to a place of brokenness; that you will repent, and that you will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Failure to come out and be separate from the world, folks, don't let the world squeeze you into its mold, but be "transformed by the renewing of your mind."

Thirdly, there's a failure in the church to raise children in the discipline in the instruction of the Lord. Let me ask you parents, how often do you sit down with your child and talk with them about Jesus? How often do you tell them about the glories of his grace, who he is what he's done, what he's doing now, how he's transformed your life? How often do you tell your children the things that I'm telling you now about, for example, the whole LGBTQ thing? These dear people need the gospel, they need our love. They need to hear these truths. And our children therefore need to hear these things. We simply must get serious about protecting our children from the ways of the world and communicating the great truths of the gospel to them. Nancy told me something that blessed my heart the other day. Our little nine-year-old granddaughter, just out of the blue said, "Nana, what's your favorite Bible verse?" You know, Nancy is trying to think, well, which one, you know? And she talked with her second, well, I can't wait, I want to tell you my favorite verse, you know. And I forget where it was, First Peter, something and she knew a verse and spouted it off. And I was, you know, we're just thrilled. I mean, that's what you want for your kids, right?

And then the final thing, folks, that can be a sin, that we tend to overlook, and that is, a failure to evangelize because we don't have a burden for the lost. If you truly love those who are lost, you're going to get to know them, you're going to spend time with them. And you're never ever going to be ashamed of the gospel. You're going to give it to them with clarity, with conviction, and you're going to pray for them. And by God's grace, many of them will come to a place of genuine saving faith. So let's guard our hearts against these things because even as the ancient Jewish people failed, because they did not listen to the Word of God, we too, can do likewise, if we don't guard ourselves. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word. I pray that all that you have communicated through it here today will not only be a blessing and an encouragement to our heart but also that you will use it to edify us, to equip us as we do battle against the enemy of our souls. And for those that do not know you as Savior, oh God, how I pray that you will break their heart, that you will give them eyes to see who you really are and what you have provided in Christ Jesus, for it's in his name that I pray. Amen.

This morning we return to part two of a discourse on God's judgment on a failed vineyard. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Isaiah chapter five? We're actually studying Mark 12 but in order to better understand what Jesus is saying in Mark 12, we need to step aside and understand his illustration taken out of Isaiah five. Let me remind you of the context. It's been a while since we were together, and I want to make sure you get the flow here of what's happening. It is the Wednesday before Christ's crucifixion. And he has forcefully taken over and occupied the temple precincts. He has humiliated the Jewish leaders who are scheming to kill him, and he has been preaching the gospel to many people. And that temple area, which could have been several 1000 people, and now with a large crowd gathered around him in Mark 12, verses one one and following, Jesus gives a parable of a vineyard that had been perfectly prepared, had been perfectly cared for and therefore you would expect that vineyard to produce wonderful fruit. But instead, it produced worthless inedible berries. And of course, this symbolized all that God had done for Israel and, unfortunately, the way she had turned out. And in this parable, in Mark 12, Jesus quotes, the same parable in Isaiah five. And the purpose of the parable in Isaiah five is basically twofold-- as well as what he's saying and Mark 12-- basically to expose the outrageous wickedness of the religious leaders; the vine growers who were given the responsibility of caring for this vine of Israel, that he had planted and cared for so carefully. But the second purpose was to steer his audience toward self condemnation, to actually pass judgment on themselves because no rational person listening to the parable would side with the wicked vine growers, but instead, they would denounce them in the strongest terms, and in so doing pass judgment on themselves.

So to better interpret and apply Jesus parable in Mark 12, we must examine the historical background of Jesus combination, along with the specific categories of sin that kindled his wrath against Israel many years prior. And now once again, in the first century. The last time we were together, we examined this whole historical context where God speaks through Isaiah to warn Judah of impending judgment because of her wickedness. There were really three categories that we looked at: number one, the Lord's rigorous preparation of the vineyard. Secondly, the Lord's reasonable expectation of the kind of fruit it should produce, and then finally, the Lord's righteous retribution. And that's where we're at here today to finish this up. And in that context of his righteous retribution, is indictment is made up of six categories of evil that finally kindled his wrath against them. And each one of these categories of sinfulness begins with the word "woe."

By way of review--because we looked at the first three the last time we were together--the first sin was that of covetousness, avarice, greedy materialism, which was a violation of the 10th commandment. As we read in Exodus 20 and verse 17, God said, "You shall not covet." Which means to selfishly desire, or somehow take pleasure in your neighbor's house. "You shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." And so with this background, knowing that they had violated that, and many different ways, he said, as he says, in Isaiah five and verse eight, woe to those who add house to house and join field to field, until there is no more room, so that you have to live alone and the midst of the land!" And you may recall that the problem here was that wealthy land speculators, wealthy people, would devise ways of driving out poor people from their land, and then they would steal their property to create for themselves enormous estates. And as we read here in the text, they would "add house to house," which basically means they would take an existing structure, and they would just keep adding on to it and adding on to it, until they had their own magnificent, massive mansion. This also, by the way, disregarded the law that God had gave them concerning land ownership. The land was sacred to the Lord. It was a sacred trust that he had given to the people. Individual families were allowed to live on their own land, but it was all part of his estate. And the land they possessed as his stewards was an inheritance from the Lord and it was supposed to remain in those families. But obviously, all of this went awry because of the sin of covetousness.

And I might add that this sin of covetousness, wanting that which you do not have; being discontent with what has given God has given you, is a very wicked thing. And it rules the hearts of many people, especially in our culture, especially those who do not find their satisfaction and joy in the Lord. But instead, they have to have other things that they feel will bring them happiness. Well, God went on to promise Judah, a taste of hell on earth because of their covetousness; promising famine conditions in the lands that they had stolen. And I might add, and bear this in mind now, when Jesus accused the Pharisees in Mark 12, he's accusing them of the same thing. Because they too were guilty of robbing the poor to enrich themselves.

The second woe was that of dissipation or drunken debauchery, gluttony, self-indulgence and so forth. Verse 11, "Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may pursue strong drink, who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them!" And as I brought out the last time we were together, the issue here is not so much in temperance and the wickedness of drunkenness and alcohol addiction that this describes--as wicked as that is, but rather, you go on to look at the next verse. The real issue is a refusal to pay attention to the deeds of the Lord and consider the work of his hands; all that God has done with respect to creation, and redemption. People that live that way give no thought of that which is truly important, and they deal with things that are eternally inconsequential. Few people ever pensively reflect on the realities of what God has done is doing and will do in those who live that way; Paul says in Romans one "are without excuse." Romans one and verse 20, and in verse 21, he goes on to say why, "for even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened." And to be sure, those that are alcoholics, that are kind of constantly inebriated, are constantly using some kind of chemical to add all their emotions; those type of people never give thought to the deeds of the Lord or the works of his hand. They have no desire to know the God of history and redemption. And so they are devoted to self-indulgence, and pursuing the fleeting pleasures of this world, with no regard for the glory of God. And with respect to the ancient people of Judah, they too were unable to discern these things; the things that they heard from the prophets, as well as that which had been given to them and the scriptures, and they therefore ignored the warnings of the prophets. So God pronounced judgment on them in verse 13. "Therefore My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge; and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude is parched with thirst. Therefore, Sheol has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure and Jerusalem splendor, her multitude, her den of revelry and the jubilant within her descend into it. So the common man will be humbled and the man of importance abased, the eyes of the proud also will be abased. But the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness. Then the lambs will graze as in their pasture, and strangers will eat in the waste places of the wealthy."

The third sin that they were guilty of is that of mockery. They blasphemed God, they dared God to judge them. Verse 18, "Woe to those," God says, "who drag iniquity with the cores of falsehood, and sin as if with cart ropes." In other words, they exert themselves to sin, like beasts pulling a heavy float of iniquity. We see this for example, the gay pride parades and things like that that are so reprehensible in our culture. Verse 19, he went on to say what they say, "'Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work that we may see it; and let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel Draw near and come to pass that we may know it!'" Of course, this depicts the utter disregard even contempt for the moral authority of God. This is spiritual arrogance at its worst. This is depraved defiance--strike me down if you're there. That's the attitude. And Jeremiah also described the same kind of ridicule that he endured. We read about this in Jeremiah 17:15. He says, "Look, they keep saying to me, 'Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come now!'" And you see, that was the zeitgeist of that day, as it is in our culture. In other words, the spirit of the age, the general attitude that resulted in behaviors, that dominated their culture. And we again, see this so prevalent here today. And it's fascinating in Isaiah chapter eight the first four verses, we read something more about this particular mockery. There Isaiah says, "Then the Lord said to me, 'Take for yourself a large tablet and write on it in ordinary letters: Swift is the booty, speedy is the prey.'" In other words, I want you to take a large placard and I want you to engrave on that and Hebrew, "Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz," which means "quick to the plunder swift to the spoil." Which depicted the speedy and the imminent defeat of Israel and Aram also known as Syria, under the hands of the Assyrians. And in verse two of Isaiah eight it says, "'And I will take to Myself faithful witnesses for testimony, Uriah the priest and Zechariah, the son of Jeberechiah.' So I approached the prophetess," which by the way, just means the wife of a prophet; she had no miraculous abilities and this is Isaiah's wife, "and she conceived and gave birth to a son. Then the LORD said to me, 'Name him name him Maher-shalal-hash-baz; for before the boy knows how to cry out 'My father' or 'My mother,' the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria." So he announced his son's name before he was even conceived, which underscored the in editability of his birth. And the certainty, therefore, of the Assyrian invasion, that would occur before Isaiah's child was even able to say daddy or mommy. Walvoord and Zuck state quote, "Isaiah's son, Maher-shalal-hash-baz, was a sign of the coming break in the Aram-Israel alliance against Judah. In about a year and nine months--nine months for the pregnancy and one year of the child's life-- Assyria would plunder both Damascus, which was Aram's capital city and Samaria, Israel's capital. This happened in 732 BC, which confirms the date of 734 for Isaiah's prophecy, and when Damascus and Samaria fell, all Judah should have turned to God, as Isaiah had told them to do. But unfortunately, Uriah, one of the two witnesses, followed Ahaz's orders after 732 BC, and changed the temple worship, to conform with the pagan worship practiced at Damascus." Unbelievable. Folks, I don't want you to lose the big picture of what the Spirit of God is saying here, through the prophet. In this series of woes, which again, have practical applications for each of us individually, as well as all nations as a whole, one must expect mockery of God's promised judgment to follow those first two categories of wickedness. There's a progression of sin that we see here. I mean, think about it, those whose hearts are filled with covetousness are ruled by every imaginable form of loss. They have no fear of God. They fear climate change in our culture, they fear disease, they fear terrorism threats from other nations, but they have no fear of God. They're too busy going after other things that they think will make them happy in life. And even though they know he exists; they will not submit to Him. Paul says in Romans one that they "suppress the truth in unrighteousness." In verse 20, he says, "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made so that they are without excuse." Now, what's the best way to somehow suppressed the inconvenient truth of inescapable divine judgment because of a holy God that you have offended? Well, the answer is simple. Anesthetize, anesthetize. Silence your conscience with alcohol, with drugs, with parties, with entertainment, with materialism, and then join the mockery mob in blaspheming God; daring him to judge you. Why do you think we have such a drug and alcohol problem in our country? It's such a materialistic problem. And the result of this is people are unable to discern the truth of who God is. They're blind to according to Isaiah 5:12, "the deeds of the Lord and they do not consider the work of His hands." Reminds me of First Corinthians 2:14, that to the natural man, the unsaved man, "the things of the Spirit of God"... "are foolishness." The text says, "and he cannot understand them," because he's spiritually appraised. So what do people do? They mock God. They shake their fist in his face and dare him to judge them. I'm going to live the way I want to live. I don't care what God says in His Word. And when I look at his word, I'm going to twist his word to somehow make it say that which will help me fulfill my agenda. So people laugh at the thought of God's judgment. Isn't an interesting despite the evidence of God's past judgments that we see in Scripture, and in the annals of history, not to mention the undeniable evidence of a worldwide flood, despite all of that, people today laugh at the thought of the Second Coming of Christ and the judgment that he has promised. And isn't it incredible that approximately 1200, or I'm sorry, 2500 prophecies that are in the Bible, about 2000 of them have been fulfilled literally. In fact, the Old Testament contains more than 300 references to the Messiah of Israel, that Christ fulfilled when he came. Despite all of that, people laugh at what God has said.

Well, with all of this, the next category of sin that God promised to judge will be of no surprise. They progress from the woe against covetousness, dissipation and mockery to number four perversity. The sin of perversity; a practice by perverts who redefine morality. And this is one of Satan's most powerful and most deadly deceptions. Those who think they know better than God, and therefore they have a skewed perspective of right and wrong. I was thinking of Proverbs 11:20, as I was studying this, "The perverse in heart are an abomination to the Lord." And that's what we see in this fourth woe. Notice it in verse 20. "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness."

Now, throughout Scripture, light and darkness symbolizes good and evil. And here we basically have a description of a person who is utterly bereft of reason. I mean, only a madman would look at the daylight and say it's dark, and vice versa. I'm reminded of what God said to Paul, when he sent him to preach the gospel to the lost. It's recorded in Acts 26, verse 18. The Lord sent him to preach the gospel and "to open their eyes," it says, "so that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me."

Notice what else God says through his prophet. In verse 20 of Isaiah five they "substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!" In scripture, bitter often symbolizes evil, which will taste good to the pervert but bitter to those who love God. I think of Psalm 19, beginning in verse 10, there we read that those who fear the Lord, the righteous judgments of God are, quote, "sweeter also than honey." I hope that's how you perceive the Scripture, folks. It's just sweeter than honey, it is so tasty, it's so precious, "sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them Your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward." You see that is the heart of genuine saving faith, to have an insatiable appetite for the Word of God, and a longing to obey it for the glory of God.

Contrast this to the description of the nature of the wicked that we read about in Deuteronomy 32, beginning in verse 32, "For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison, their clusters, bitter. Their wine is the venom of serpents, and the deadly poison of cobras." Now, there are numerous examples of this kind of perversity in Israel's history, as well as in every nation's history, but I'll give you just a sample of a few of them where they call what is good evil and vice versa. Jeremiah seven for example, in verse 18, we read that "The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to spite Me." Now, the "queen of heaven" was another name for the Assyrian deity Ishtar, the Canaanite Astarte they believe to be the wife of a Baal or sometimes called Molech; the goddess of war and love and fertility. And this worship included all manner of sexual immorality. Israel's corruption was so severe that they would sacrifice their newborn children to their god Molech. There's evidence of the statues of Molech; a large metal statue of a man with a bull's head and outstretched arms that would be red hot with the fire. And he would hold out his arms you would toss your infant into his arms. Jeremiah describes the "high places of Topheth" it's called, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is an East/West Valley at the south end of Jerusalem. The term Topheth comes from a Hebrew word "tof" for drum because they would actually play flutes and beat drums to drown out the screams of the children. And so with holy outrage God described this horror in Jeremiah 7:31, "They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnon, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind." I mean, this is incomprehensible. This is satanic expression in ways that really boggle the mind, do they not? I mean, how could anybody do that? And here's the thing, they actually believed that such acts of barbarism would bring blessing to their life. What was evil, they saw as good. They believe that the Canaanite God Molech would reward them. You can read about this, for example, in Second Kings 23 and verse 10. As I've written elsewhere, this is where Judah's religious apostasy had led them and they had no fear of God. They scoffed at his law, and thought they were above it. So with a seared conscience, they were comfortable with this depraved practice, one that is no different than when millions of preborn infants are brutally sacrificed every year to the God of self on the altar of personal expediency and corporate profits. Folks, this is moral perversity, a result of satanic blindness. This is the doctrines of demons. And the ungodly deceive themselves, and they're deceived by others. So they end up redefining morality to fit their own agenda. Think of how we see this in in our culture today, things that God calls an abomination. For example, homosexuality is now called an alternative lifestyle, it's considered to be a good thing. Same sex marriage is now the freedom to love who you want. Gender now is fluid, it's not fixed. So if your gender identity doesn't match the sex assigned to you on your original birth certificate, you can change it to become whoever you want it to be. I think they call it nonbinary. I can't keep up with all these terms they come up with. Pedophilia is now destigmatized by calling these people minor attracted persons. Abortion for convenience is called pro-choice, it's part of a woman's reproductive rights. Social justice, which is nothing more than cultural Marxism that has been responsible for the destruction of so many nations and the death of so many people. These people see themselves as liberators that must somehow usher in a new world where rational thought and scientific reason and social justice govern humanity rather than the Word of God. And of course, all of this requires the elimination of biblical Christianity. You've got concerned parents today speaking up in school board meetings appalled over the teaching of the whole LGBTQ perversions. And in many circles in the government, they're called domestic terrorists.

I mean, these are people, dear friends with no moral compass, no moral authority, other than their own lusts. And of course, this is all part of the whole woke agenda that we see where our government is legislating immorality and criminalizing morality. This is the sin of perversity; redefining morality to accommodate your own depravity. The ancient Israelites were guilty of this. In fact, in Matthew 17, verse 17, Jesus described his own kinsmen as quote, "an unbelieving and perverted generation."

Let me add just for a moment--what is our responsibility to this culture that is so wicked? Paul addresses this in Philippians two verse 15. He says "prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life." And isn't it wonderful to see how God is a redeeming God and continues to save people out of the kinds of wicked things that we are describing?

Well, perversity leads to number five, the sin of self-deification. This is the height of arrogance. Notice verse 21, "Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight." I might add this is the exact opposite of what we would read in other passages. For example, in Proverbs three and verse seven, we read, "Do not be wise in your own eyes, fear the Lord and turn away from evil." Well, what they did is they violated God's law in favor of their own opinions. They rejected the word of the Lord from his prophets. They were offended by the truth--"don't tell me those things, it hurts my feelings; tell me what I want to hear; I don't care what God says." And so they replaced the holy wisdom of God with the depraved foolishness of man. You know, Paul warned about this, did he not? Remember First Corinthians three, verse 18, he says, "Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness before God. For it is written, 'HE IS THE ONE WHO CATCHES THE WISE IN THEIR CRAFTINESS'; and again, 'THE LORD KNOWS THE REASONINGS of the wise, THAT THEY ARE USELESS.'" Self-deification--I will be the God of my life, I don't care what God has said in his word. I will be the one who speaks with final authority in my life. And Israel’s history is filled with examples of this kind of thing, of how we know better than God. For example, in Numbers 33, verse 55. God says there, "'But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall come about that those whom you let remain of them will become as pricks in your eyes and as thorns in your side, and they will trouble you in the land in which you live. And as I plan to do to them, so I will do to you.'" No, we're going to be wise in our own eyes, clever in our own sight; we're going to reject the word of the Lord and we're going to allow these people to continue to live with us.

Let me give you an individual example of what can happen when this occurs. Remember the story of King Saul? He refused to obey God's command to destroy the Amalekites and kill their king Agag. The Amalekites were among the most vicious of all of the people; they would attack the Israelites and their wilderness wandering especially from the rear. First Samuel 15, three we read, "'Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him, but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'" Utter genocide because of their wickedness. In chapter 15, and verse eight, we read what he did. "He captured Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were not willing to destroy them utterly.'" You see, this is tantamount to tolerating their sin, and their hatred of Yahweh. So God sent the prophet Samuel, as you will recall, to tell Saul of his fate, First Corinthians, I'm sorry First Samuel 15, verse 23, "'Since you rejected the word of the LORD, He has rejected you from being king.'" And you know the rest of the story. And sadly, this kind of disregard has plagued Israel down through the ages.

Again, think about what he said in Numbers 33:55 that I just read, that you are to "drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you." Otherwise, he went on to say, they will "become as pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides and they will trouble you in the land in which you live." And we see this command reiterated during the age of the judges. In Judges two beginning in verse two we read, "'You shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed Me, what is this you have done? Therefore, I also said, 'I will not drive them out from before you; but they will become as thorns in your sides and their gods will be a snare to you.'" And look what has happened with Israel ever since. In 1993 they signed the Oslo Accords, which gave their avowed enemies, the Palestinian Authority, much control over Judea and Samaria. Then they abandoned the Gaza Strip, you remember seeing that in 2005? I'll never forget it, seeing it on the news. Destroying 22 Jewish settlements that were flourishing in that region. And in turn, they allowed Hamas terrorists to take control. And the result was the Second Intifada. It broke out and we are continuing to witness the horrific consequences of all of that to this very day, endless strife. 18 years of nonstop rocket attacks, terrorism, inhumane torture and murder and hostage taking. Move ahead a little bit to 2011. Israel freed 1207 murderous Hamas terrorists in exchange for Gilad Shali, an Israeli soldier abducted by Hamas. What kind of trade is that? And one of those released was Yahiya Sinwar, the master be mind behind the October 7 slaughter, who now surrounds himself with hostages to protect him. And you don't think God means what he says?

Now you have the godless and gullible leaders of the United States, Great Britain, of the UN, demanding a two-state solution. Just the opposite of what God has instructed. You can only wonder if Israel will choose to resettle the Gaza Strip; since by the way, it is part of the land that God promised them. The details of all of that described in Joshua 15, which includes according to verse 47, quote, "Gaza, its towns and its villages as far as the brook of Egypt, and the great sea even its coastline." But too often, Israel ignored God and went their own way instead. So God cursed them. In verse 21, "Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and clever in their own sight." The consequences are absolutely devastating. In fact, Amos, the prophet Amos, said this in chapter two, verse four, "Thus says the Lord, 'For three transgressions of Judah, and for four I will not revoke its punishment, because" and here's what they did, "they rejected the law of the Lord, and have not kept His statutes. Their lies also have led them astray; those after which their fathers walked, so I will send fire upon Judah, and it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem.'" Oh dear friends, guard yourself against self-deification. "Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight."

I might add that this is why Paul commanded Timothy, and all of us, to preach the what? Preach the word. Why? Second Timothy four beginning verse three, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." So the progression of woes begins with covetousness. It moves on to dissipation and mockery, perversity, self-deification, and finally, to just corruption. Corruption--dishonest drunken leaders and judges that can be bribed. Verse 22, "Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and valiant men,"--that is powerful men, "in mixing strong drink, who justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the rights of ones of the ones who are in the right!" You see those guilty of the previous five sins, will have no problem just kind of living in a state of inebriation, and accepting bribes to somehow rule in favor of the guilty and against the innocent. Amos described this as well, in Amos five verse 10. He says, "They hate him, "referring to the plaintiff--"They hate the plaintiff who reproves in the gate." And the gate is where they would typically adjudicate these things; it was kind of like their court room. "They hate the plaintiff who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks with integrity." In other words, they abhor the witnesses that could provide the necessary information to indict the guilty and promote justice. They hate that. So, God says "Therefore because you impose a heavy rent on the poor and exact a tribute of grain from them, though you have built houses of well-hewn stone, you will not live in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, yet you will not drink their wine. For I know your transgressions are many and your sins are great, you who distress the righteous and accept bribes and turn aside the poor and the gate. Therefore, at such a time the prudent person keep silent, for it is an evil time."

And my again, the illustrations of this in our culture today are many. I mean, we see this in our own government, and we see how the DOJ and the FBI and other government agencies have been weaponized to silence political opponents and promote leftist agendas. It's just so commonplace anymore. I was reading in The Daily Mail the other day about the quote "Treasury Department officials suggested that banks review transactions at sporting and recreational supply stores like Cabela's, Dick's Sporting Goods and Bass Pro Shops, in order” to quote, "to detect customers whose transactions may reflect potential active shooters." I mean, I got a Cabela's card that I've had for probably 20 years. So, I guess I'm on that list. And I shop at Bass Pro all the time. They went on to say in addition, "Officials warned banks of" quote "extremism indicators, like the purchase of a bus or plane ticket" quote, "for traveled to areas with no apparent purpose, or the purchase of a religious text like a Bible." And I was reading according to a September 19, 2023 study, conducted by the Pew Research Center that said quote, "Currently fewer than two in 10 Americans say they trust government in Washington to do what is" quote, "right just about always or most of the time. This is among the lowest trust measures in nearly seven decades of polling."

Six sins that ignited God's wrath against his stubborn people, Israel and Judah. The same types of sins that Jesus alludes to in Mark 12: covetousness, dissipation, mockery, perversity, self-deification and corruption. Back to Isaiah five as we close this morning, we read God's judgment begin in verse 24, "Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes stubble and dry grass collapses into the flame, so their root will become like rot, and their blossom blow away as dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. On this account, the anger of the Lord has burned against His people, nd He has stretched out His hand against them and struck them down. And the mountains quaked." That's always evidence of the divine presence. "And the mountains quaked, and their corpses lay like refuse in the middle of the streets. For all His anger is not spent, but His hand is still stretched out." Verse 26, "He will also lift up a standard to the distant nation and will whistle for it from the ends of the earth; and behold, it will come with speeds swiftly." (whistles) Assyria that's what he's talking about. Verse 27, "No one in it is weary or stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps; nor is the belt of its waist undone, nor its sandal strap broken. Its arrows are sharp, and all its bows are bent; the hoofs of its horses seem like flint and it's chariot wheels like whirlwind. It's roaring is like a lioness and it roars like young lions; it growls as it seizes the prey and carries it off with no one to deliver it." I mean, this is describing an irresistible predator. "And it will growl over it in the day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress; even the light is darkened by its clouds." And if you read the ancient history of what the Assyrians did, and some of it you can see, for example, in the Lachish relief, that is now housed in the British Museum, you will see that these people were barbaric, and did things that you cannot even begin to conceive. Dear friends, this is speaking of divine rage. And this is what happens when we live inconsistent with the word and the will of a holy God. And aren't you thankful for his grace, because apart from it, we would all be doomed. But as believers, we must do everything we can to guard ourselves against these very same sins that can creep up in our flesh and wreak havoc in our marriage, in our family and our workplace, and in our church. So let's all guard our hearts and celebrate the goodness of the Lord and saving us and giving us the hope of eternal life in Christ, amen. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these eternal truths. I pray that you will help us to grasp them with all of our heart and live consistently with them. And Lord, for those that are deceived, those that are blind, we know that only you can give them sight. Only you can raise them from spiritual death to spiritual life. And so we pray for the miracle of regeneration. And I pray that you will use us as instruments of righteousness, to present the gospel, preach the gospel, and to live out the Gospel to accomplish your eternal purposes. We thank you; we give you praise in Jesus name. Amen.

We will begin this morning in Mark's gospel, if you will turn there to Mark chapter 12. In a moment, I'm going to read verses one through 12. And we will use that as a launching pad into Isaiah five. And I hope you will understand why when we do so. This is a very sobering, convicting, relevant passage; relevant to our godless pagan culture in which we live. And I've entitled my discourse to you this morning "Judgment Upon the Failed Vineyard." And we will probably be here for three, maybe four weeks.

Let me give you the background so you are thinking in the proper context. Jesus has come into Jerusalem, now he's making his way inexorably towards the cross. He has purged the temple grounds from the very lucrative mini mall created by the high priest and us. In fact, it was called the Bazaar of Annas in that day. And this further infuriated the religious establishment for several reasons, not the least of which it cut off their money supply. They were getting wealthy from all of this, but it also threatened their power, and their prestige in the eyes of the people. And of course, money, power and prestige always motivate false teachers, religious phonies. And then the next day, Wednesday before his crucifixion, he goes back and he preaches the gospel, which refuted the works righteousness system of the Jewish apostate Judaism, I should say. And as a result, the chief priests and scribes and the elders attacked him. And in chapter 11, verse 28, we read what they said, "'By what authority are You doing these things or who gave You this authority to do these things?'" And then his response utterly humiliated them in front of all of the people that were standing around. And as a result, they all stood self-condemned before the judge of heaven and earth. And because of their deliberate, conscious rejection, Jesus then deliberately sealed them in their unbelief, extinguishing forever the light of truth, so that they could remain in the darkness that they loved.

And this brings us now to chapter 12, where Jesus speaks to the crowd, that's surrounding him, along with these humiliated religious leaders that are trying to trap him, so that he could be arrested and ultimately be put to death. So follow along as I read, Mark 12, beginning in verse one. HAnd he began to speak to them in parables: 'A man PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT, AND DUG A VAT UNDER THE WINE PRESS AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. At the harvest time, he sent a slave to the vine-growers in order to receive some of the produce of the vineyard from the vine-growers. They took him and beat him and sent him away empty-handed. Again, he sent him another slave and they wounded him in the head and treated him shamefully. And he sent another, and that one they killed; and so with many others, beating some and killing others. He had one more to send, a beloved son; he sent him last of all to them, saying, 'They will respect my son.' But those vine-growers said to one another, 'This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance will be ours!' They took him and killed him and threw him out of the vineyard. What will the owner of the vineyard do? He will come and destroy the vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others. Have you not even read the Scripture: 'THE STONE WHICH THE BUILDERS REJECTED, THEIS BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone; THIS CAME ABOUT FROM THE LORD, AND ITIS MARVEOUS IN OUR EYES'? And they were seeking to seize Him, and yet they feared the people, for they understood that He spoke the parable against them. And so they left him and went away.'"

This is a very graphic parallel to many other passages of Scripture that depict the wickedness of the Jewish people. And in this parable, you can see very clearly the outrageous wickedness of the Jewish leaders--the vine growers--given the responsibility for caring for God's vineyard, Israel. Now, obviously, no rational person would hear this parable and side with the wicked vine growers. But instead, they would denounce them in the strongest of terms. And in so doing, they would pass judgment upon themselves. And that was Jesus' intention. And while it is important to interpret the parable, which as you will discover is really rather straightforward, I wish to spend more time helping you understand the historical background of Jesus' condemnation, and the specific categories of sin that kindled his wrath against his covenant people and their leaders. And this will also help us examine our lives, frankly, to hopefully bring us even to, perhaps some place of repentance. Because friends, what we will see here is that there's nothing new under the sun. The same evils that resulted in God's judgment against Israel and Judah, in the Old Testament, by the hands of the Assyrians and the Babylonians, and later on, even the Greeks and the Romans, and all of the pogroms; in other words, the organized massacres that have occurred since then--all of those same type of sins that brought all that about, exists today. Evils not only in Israel, but evils that we see in every sinful nation. And frankly, we see in every sinful person, including ostensibly evangelical churches. The damning iniquities that infuriated God in the past, still exists today. And his judgment is as certain today as it was in days gone by. Now, to accomplish all of this, we have to go to Isaiah five, the passage that Jesus quoted in this very indicting Parable of the Vineyard .

Notice again in Mark one, or Mark 12, verse one, "And He began to speak to them in parables. A man PLANTED A VINEYARD AND PUT A WALL AROUND IT AND DUG A VAT UNDER THE WINE PRESS AND BUILT A TOWER, and rented it out to the vine-growers and went on a journey." Now you cannot fully understand why Jesus used this illustration and the implications of all of it, unless you have a grasp of Isaiah five, which I can assure you, those people understood very clearly. So we go to Isaiah five.

Let me give you the context of Isaiah five. Isaiah prophesied during the period of the divided kingdom, with his primary audience being the southern kingdom of Judah, which had developed into a very prosperous commercial entity. They were militarily invincible, or so they thought; they perceived themselves to be this way. And under the reign of Uzziah, their military preparedness and their economic prosperity were comparable to those that were experienced many years before in the reign of David and Solomon. I spent some time in studying some of the ancient Israelite Judean military service articles, things that most of you probably wouldn't want to spend much time reading, but it was quite fascinating. Especially one article by Haggai Olshanetsky, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Basel in Switzerland. And here's what he said so that you get a grasp of what they had there, okay, in terms of military power. Quote, "Massive chariot forces were recorded as being deployed by the Israelites as can be seen in the Kurkh monolith where the battle of Qarqar from 853 BCE is depicted. According to this monolith, King Ahab's Israelite force included 2000 chariots." He went on to say, another inscription from the period, which mentioned their military might, is the Tel Dan stele. A stele is a stone slab and a number of us we've been to Tel Dan, you may recall that. That stele also has; a stele is like a piece of stone that has engravings on it. It's also called the "House of David" inscription. It's displayed now at the Israel Museum. But it was found at Tel Dan--Dan was, is one of the oldest sites in Israel, it dates back to 5000 years, and you can actually see the gates that they've uncovered in the city when it was an ancient Canaanite city, and those would have been the gates that Abram would have gone through, when he was chasing the captors of Lot. So anyway, in that place, they found the stone slab and he says, "And on that slab, the armies of the kingdom of Israel under King Jehoram, and of the kingdom of Judea, under Ahaziah, of the house of David had 2000 chariots at their disposal." So you can imagine that type of military might. And sad, yet very typical, they feared their enemies, all around them and prepared to protect themselves. But they did not fear the Lord, the greatest enemy of all; they had no fear of God. I'm reminded of our own country, right? We fear China and Russia and all of these other places, but we have no fear of God. Proverbs says in chapter one, verse seven, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Fools despise wisdom and instruction." And the Psalmist tells us in Psalm 20, and verse seven, "Some boast in chariots and some in horses, but we will boast in the name of the Lord our God.'

Now, ancient Judah, like all affluent countries, gradually ignored God, and began to embrace the wickedness of the culture around them. They intermarried with the pagans; began to adopt some of their thinking, some of their religious practices, and their Judaism became nothing more than empty ritualism combined with pagan idolatry, and all of the wicked practices that went with it. For example, and we'll study this more later, they sacrificed babies to the fires of Molech. And when we were in Israel, we saw some of the high places where they did that. And they also worship the Queen of Heaven, which was a goddess that was considered to be the wife of Baal or Molech, he was called either one, she was called Ishtar, or Ashtoreth, or sometimes Astarte. So all of this wickedness was going on. And as a result, it absolutely exhausted God's grace, given all that he had done for them. And he then brought the Assyrian invasion to the coastal regions of Israel, in about 701 BC. And as they were heading toward Egypt, they began to spill over into Judah. And in that process, Sennacherib conquered many of the cities there in the southern kingdom as well, all the way up to Lachish, which is not far from Jerusalem. And you can see what they did there. And the Lachish Relief that is now housed in the British Museum, unimaginable torture. The same types of things that you would see in many of their ancestors today, in that region. And you may recall that when they moved towards Jerusalem, Hezekiah-- because Isaiah had talked with them--refused to bow to him, and in Second Kings 19 we read how the angel of the Lord came and killed 185,000 Assyrians. And Sennacherib then returned to Nineveh. But then consistent with Isaiah's prophecy, where we're at here today, about 100 years later, the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem in about 597 BC. And it finally fell in 586 BC. And in Second Kings 25, verse nine, we read this "Nebuchadnezzar burned the house of the Lord, the king's house and all the houses of Jerusalem; even every great house he burned with fire. So all of the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem. Then the rest of the people who were left in the city and the deserters, who had deserted to the king of Babylon and the rest of the people, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away into exile."

Now, that was just a historical summary of what happened, and where we're at now is the prediction of all of those things. So beginning in Isaiah one, you basically have a courtroom scene, where the Lord is the plaintiff, and Israel is the defendant. And the charge against them is literally failure to obey the Holy One of Israel. In fact, you read that title, many times, I think it's about 25 times in Isaiah, the "Holy One of Israel”; the one who had lavished his undeserved love upon them and protected them and provided for them. And their rebellion against the "LORD of hosts," which is used 60 times by Isaiah, that rebellion was so irrational, because he was the one that could destroy all of their enemies in a word. Yet they did not fear him. And in chapter one, verse 10, God likens their wickedness, to the godless homosexual perverts in Sodom and Gomorrah, that he destroyed. So the first four chapters really sets forth his case, as well as a promised day of reckoning, a time of judgment. And chapter five, where we're at this morning, is basically a summary of his lament over the rebellion of his people, and the specific categories of sin that animated his wrath against them. The same type of sins, mind you, that Jesus accused his people, and the religious leaders, of committing in his parable of the failed vineyard in Mark 12. So all of this was very familiar to them.

I want to look at this passage of Scripture over the next few Sundays, under three headings. We're going to see number one, the Lord's rigorous preparation, secondly, his reasonable expectation and finally, his righteous retribution. So let's look first of all, at his rigorous his meticulous, careful, painstaking preparation, verse one of Isaiah five. "Let me sing now for my well-beloved"-- Isaiah is speaking here, speaking of the Lord his God as his well-beloved--"Let me sing now for my well-beloved. A song of my beloved concerning His vineyard." In verse seven tells us that the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is "the house of Israel and the men of Judah His delightful plant." I want to sing a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. "My well-beloved, had a vineyard on a fertile hill." By the way, you can imagine the Prophet here, visualize him in your mind, the prophet comes to speak, the people know he's a prophet, they begin to gather around, you could hear a pin drop as he began to speak. So they're very interested here, and they understand the imagery, because this was a part of their life. He says in verse two, "He dug it all around, removed its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. And He built a tower in the middle of it and also hewed out of wine vat in it." So in other words, he went to great lengths to prepare the land. And certainly, we know that this is what God did with his people; he prepared that land for them. He removed the stones of the Canaanites, he placed them--the choicest vine--in it. And indeed, God's covenant people are among the most noble and brilliant strain of genetics on the planet. So there's enormous effort here. He built a tower in the middle of it, which they would do, to protect the vineyard, as well as to process some of the vines and so forth. And even hewed a wine vat in it, which would be a large stone type of structure. We've seen them over there, they still exist today. A stone that would have another stone on it, that would crush the grapes, and it would go into a large vat.

And then it says, "Then He expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced only worthless ones." In Hebrew, it produced only "beushim", which was a sour, inedible, worthless grape, a fruit of some sort. It also denoted offensive putrefaction and the Arabs called the fruit of the nightshade "wolf grapes." We see the same imagery used in Deuteronomy 32, verse 32, where God describes the wickedness of Israel's enemies. It says, "For their vine is from the vine of Sodom, and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison, their clusters, bitter. Their wine is the venom of serpents, and the deadly poisons of cobras." So this is the type of thing that he sees now. What a tragedy. The Lord has done all of this, for his covenant people. He delivered them from the slavery of Egypt, he parted the Red Sea, he led them with his very presence. He cared for them in the wilderness. He gave them his law to govern them, morally, and socially and religiously. And he brought them into a promised land that was flowing with milk and honey. A land in the middle of two great civilizations, in that day of Egypt and Mesopotamia. Because of the Arabian Desert, all of Asia, Africa and Europe had to go through what was called "The Land Between", which was another designation--and even to this day is a designation of Israel. Israel connects three continents. He gave them victory over their enemies in miraculous ways. God took a family, the family of Abram, and eventually made them a nation. And as we look at Scripture, we see that their role was to proclaim the true God that was manifested in their midst through his miraculous deeds; to reveal the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Savior of the world would come through them. They were to be God's priest nation. As God told Moses on Sinai in Exodus 19, six, "You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation." A priest, being a mediator between God and man; all Israel was to serve as a mediator for God to the rest of the world. We see in Scripture that they were charged with the preservation and transmission of divine revelation. They were to show the world the faithfulness of God, the blessedness of serving God, to show God's grace in dealing with sin. Indeed, He lavished his love upon them in ways that are unimaginable. He blessed them with supernatural endowments, and resources; nothing was left to chance. Nothing more was to be desired. So naturally, he expected his vineyard to produce good grapes of God glorifying righteousness, but instead, they produced "beushim." What a graphic picture of the viral nature of Judah's corruption. I hope you can hear the pathos of the heart of God in all of this. What a heartbreaking thing--I have done all of this for you. And this is how you turn out?

One of the great difficulties in shepherding is pastoring and caring for parents who did all they know to do for their children. And they ended up being "beushim." What a heartbreaking thing. I think of all that God has done for me, all that he has done for you, and I hope he looks at us and sees good grapes and not "beushim."

So this is the Lord's rigorous preparation, which moves us to the second point in our little outline, the Lord's reasonable expectation. Verse three, "And now all inhabitants of Jerusalem, and men of Judah, judge between Me and My vineyard." And again, you can hear this is just a plaintive lament, a song of mourning. God has greatly grieved. Verse four, "What more was there to do for My vineyard that I have not done in it?" Then the answer is, Well, that's obvious. There's nothing more that you could have done. He says, "Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes, did it produce worthless ones?" Despite his infinitely holy, righteous, rigorous preparation, they spurned his love, they squandered his provisions. They ignored his divine power, they mocked his wisdom, they disregarded his promises. And what's happening here is God is steering his audience towards self-condemnation. This is what's happening here, as well as what Jesus did in Mark 12.

And this brings us thirdly, now, and here, we will count for some time, the Lord's righteous retribution, verse five. "So now let Me tell you what I am going to do, to My vineyard,"--to my covenant people, distinct from all other people groups, the apple of my eye, the primary object of my supernatural care, the ones that I separated from all of the other nations to manifest my glory, here's what I'm going to do. "I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed." They put hedges around vineyards in many places around the world, they still do that. Hedges would be made up of large mounds of thistles and thorns that you couldn't possibly get through. I'm going to remove your hedge. "I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground. I will lay it waste." And certainly this would happen later on when the foreign powers would come and invade and conquer. "It will not be pruned or hoed, but briars and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain, no rain on it." In other words, I am going to deprive you of any and all means of life. I'm going to make your land a complete wasteland. And you people the object of scorn and derision, which we see an anti semitism even to this day.

Verse seven, "For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice but behold, bloodshed; In other words, he looked for the righteousness of God being manifested in his people, people that would be just in how they conducted themselves. Instead, he sees bloodshed. In other words, he sees violent murderers. Then he says he looked, "for righteousness, but behold a cry of distress." In other words, he would expect to see righteousness in the land and instead, he hears desperate expressions of anguish from people. And in the Hebrew, it's a play on words in this song. It basically says he looked for justice which is "mishpat," and instead behold, bloodshed which is "mispah." He looked for "mishpat" and he got "mispah." For "sedaqa" and he got "seaqa."

He then goes on to indict them with six categories of wickedness that kindled his wrath. Six woes--that is six judgment, six curses--against his people. "Woes" are the opposite of blessings. And we will look at three of them here this morning. The first one is the sin of covetousness. Or it could be avarice, greed, materialism, which by the way is a violation of the 10th commandment. In Exodus 20, verse 17, God said, "You shall not covet." Covet means to selfishly desire or to take pleasure in that which is not yours. "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor." You're not to do that; you are to be content and be thankful for what I have given you. So with this, we read the first woe of covetousness, in verse eight of Isaiah five. "Woe to those who add house to house and join field to field until there is no more room so that you have to live alone in the midst of the land!" You see, this was a curse against greedy property and land acquisition by the rich people of Judah, a serious problem in that day. In fact, Micah speaks of this in Micah chapter two verse two. He said, "They covet fields and then seize them, and houses and take them away. They rob a man and his house, a man and his inheritance." You see, this is what godless people will do. They live only for themselves, not for God and his glory. And they will go to great lengths to accumulate things that don't belong to them. Because this life is all they live for. Land speculators in that day, would devise clever schemes to drive away land holders and then steal their property to create for themselves enormous estates. And we've seen this down through history, haven't we? And then they would, as Isaiah says, "Add house to house." This means they would add on to existing structures to erect massive mansions to exalt themselves. And they would join field to field until there is no more room. In other words, there is no more room for anybody in all of my estate except me and my family. But we must understand that the land was also a sacred trust belonging to the Lord. It all belonged to him, and he allowed his people to live on it. And he gave each of them a portion of the lot as part of their inheritance. Individual families were allowed to live on, shall we say, the Lord's estate, the land they possessed as his stewards was an inheritance from the Lord. And they were required to remain--that the land was required--to remain in the family. And it's for this reason that the law says in Leviticus 25 verse 23, "The land, moreover, shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are but aliens and sojourners with Me. Thus, for every piece of property, you are to provide for the redemption of the land. If a fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor, he has to sell part of his property, then his nearest kinsmen, is to come and buy back what his relative has sold." I might add that God instituted the jubilee restoration of possessions in order to protect inherited belongings, and holdings of each family. We read about this, for example, in Leviticus 25:13, “On this year of jubilee, each of you shall return to his own property."

So what God describes here, in this first woe, is a very clear violation of his law, and exposes their avarice, their greed, their covetousness. And all through Scripture, we see how wicked that is. In fact, in First Kings 21, Ahab is a great illustration of this, you will recall, Ahab coveted Naboth's vineyard, you remember that story? They both had a vineyard, and Ahab wanted it for himself because it was close to his property. He wanted to grow vegetables on it, and he told Naboth, hey, I want your vineyard. I'll either buy it from you, or I'll trade you for a better piece of land. But in First Kings 21 verse three, "Naboth said to Ahab, 'The Lord forbid me that I should give you the inheritance of my father.'" And then you'll recall the rest of the story. The demon-possessed Jezebel schemed and had Naboth killed and on and on it goes, all through Scripture.

And certainly it's been my experience, we see that the sin of covetousness, when it is allowed to rule in a person's heart will ultimately destroy them and everyone around them. And it's a graphic illustration of the fact that they do not find their greatest source of joy in the Lord. The Lord is not their satisfaction. They have to have what other people have. And their commitment will not be to him, it will always be to themselves. I find it interesting to see how Americans today are absolutely drowning in debt. And much of this is fueled by the sin of covetousness. US credit card debt is 1.79 trillion, as of the third quarter of 2023. According to the latest consumer debt data from the Federal Reserve Bank, I was reading that 56 million credit card holders have been in debt for at least one year and nearly 30% are behind on debt payments in the nation's 100 largest metros. By the way, while I'm on it, debt is a cruel wicked taskmaster dear friends. Proverbs 22, seven, "The rich rules over the poor and the borrower becomes the lender's slave." You show me a greedy man who is always scheming to somehow have more material wealth and I'll show you a man that will never be satisfied. And I'll show you a man whose satisfaction and joy is not in the Lord, but in material things. In Matthew six, Jesus said in verse 21, "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." In verse 24, "No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth." And likewise, Paul told Timothy in First Timothy six, beginning in verse 10, "For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs." And then he went on to say, "But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance and gentleness." Dear Christian, if God is not the source of your greatest satisfaction, and joy, you will be tempted to greed, and your heart will go in secret search of other lovers and you will act wickedly to gain what you think you must have. But on the basis of the Word of God, I can tell you that what you're pursuing will never satisfy and God will judge you for your idolatry. Because greed is idolatry. In fact, Paul says this in Colossians, three, beginning of verse five, "Therefore consider the members of the earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and," here it is, "greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience." So dear friends, guard yourself from this wickedness. Left unchecked, covetousness will depose God from the throne of your life, and you will be ruled by your own depravity and the father of lies. Like all idols, greed, will promise what it can never deliver. And because of this, this was one of the first sins that God condemned Israel, Judah about and this is what we see in Isaiah five, a woe to those who add house to house and join, field to field. In other words, woe to you covetous thieves, that have annexed the dwellings of other people's lands, poor neighbors, forcing them to live someplace else, so that you can have it all for yourself.

In fact, King Uzziah seemed to be one of the worst offenders. In Second Chronicles 26:10, we read that he built towers in the wilderness and hewed out many systems, for he had much livestock, both in the lowland and in the plane. He also had Plowman and vinedressers in the hill country, and the fertile fields for he loved the soil. Now, I want you to remember this because when we get back to Mark 12 you will see that Jesus accusations against the Pharisees included the sin because they were guilty of the same thing, robbing of the poor, to enrich themselves. So notice the consequences. In verse nine we read, "In my ears the Lord of hosts has sworn," in the Hebrew is very clearly it's fascinating here. It is essentially saying that Yahweh has directly, verbally revealed his outrage by exclaiming it in my ears. I've heard him say this, surely many houses shall become desolate, literally a desolation. The term the Hebrew, carries the idea of waste an appalling horror, that your houses shall become a waste, either through decay or by being destroyed. He goes on to say even great and fine ones, without occupants. In other words, all that you have accumulated unfairly will be a desolation. And then he described famine conditions, the curse of barrenness on their land, verse 10. "For 10 acres of vineyard will yield only one bath of wine." "10 acres" here could be translated ten yolks, which is a reference to the area 10 oxen could plow in a day, and 10 acres would normally yield an average of 500 baths. One bath is equal to about six gallons. So 10 acres would typically yield about 3000 gallons of wine, instead of one bath, which would be six gallons. And he says, "A homer of seed will yield but an ephah." An ephah is a 10th part of a homer, which is about one bushel of grain. So it would yield only a 10th of the seed sown. In other words, 90% failure.

Oh, dear friends, please hear this. If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind. And that's what is happening here in this judgment. So we go from the first woe against covetousness. Secondly, to the woe of dissipation, which could also be described as drunken debauchery, gluttony, self-indulgence, and so forth. "Woe" verse 11, "to those who rise early in the morning, that they may pursue strong drink." This is indicative, is it not, of alcohol dependency and addiction, people that have to start with alcohol, kind of keep drinking it through the day. Then he says, "who stay up late in the evening that wine may inflame them!" Now I want you to understand that this is not merely an attack against the spring break crowd as we would understand it; not merely those who live in bars and honky tonks and nightclubs, and who love the drunken debauchery of music concerts, and all of that type of thing. Certainly, this is describing more of a person that just lives in a state of mild intoxication all day, and then kind of throws a binder at night. And certainly, it speaks to that, but as you're going to see, it's more than that. People do that in order to deaden their senses. They need to silence their conscience and squelch the horrifying reality of death and judgment, and they need chemicals to somehow alter their state of consciousness so they can kind of get through life, and they become dependent upon this. And of course, those chemicals give a temporary state of euphoria. And gradually that euphoria is less and less. So you have to have more and more chemical. And there you have the whole cycle of addiction. But the issue here is not so much in temperance in the wickedness of drunkenness and alcohol addiction, as wicked as that is, but rather, it is primarily a refusal to pay attention to the deeds of the Lord and consider the work of his hands. In other words, you people are just--you're like a bunch of drunks, and in many cases they were and therefore you're not paying any attention to the deeds of the Lord. You're not considering the work of his hands as it relates to creation as it relates to redemption. I mean, to be sure you talk to a party animal about these essential truths and they don't pay any attention to any of this; they never think about this. You talk to an alcoholic or a drug addict and ask him, do you ever give any thought to the deeds of the Lord or the works of his hand? They just kind of laugh at you. Like, huh,? What are you talking about. But this applies to anyone who uses alcohol or any other means to somehow escape the realities of life, as it pertains to God and his glory, and who he is in history; what he's up to in history and in your life, and the judgment that is to come. But these people couldn't care less about what the Lord is up to. They have no appetite for his word, they have no desire to know Him to worship Him, to serve Him; they just live for themselves in a state of stupor. So they have no sense of what God is doing. And obviously, these people were unable to therefore discern the word of the Lord that was given to them through the prophets. They disregarded the judgment, the warnings given to them. In fact, as we will see, they will eventually kill Isaiah. People don't want to hear the truth. You try having a spiritual conversation with folks like this. People that are just drunks, and you all know that. Maybe they're not drunk all the time, but they just kind of always have to have a glass of wine in their hand. You know, it's just how they live. You try to ask them something about theology, ask them about their love for Christ, they're longing to know more of him. And you'll see real quickly there's no one home. Unbelievers depend upon the anesthetizers of life, to help them suppress the truth in unrighteousness, that gnaws at their conscience, as Paul said, in Romans one, eight, "because the wrath of God has revealed from heaven against all men who suppressed the truth in unrighteousness." And they will do this, even though, as Paul went on to say, "that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them." And this is certainly indicative of what was going on with the people of Judah. I mean, they knew who God was, they had his law. They could see him in nature and the prophets. But they love darkness rather than light. They knew they were violating God's law, but after a while, they don't really care because after all, there's doesn't seem to be any consequences. So let's just keep living for ourselves. And so they defied him to judge them. But deep down, they're trying to silence their conscience. So they are devoted to self-indulgence. They're devoted to the fleeting pleasures of this world.

Verse 12, "Their banquets are accompanied by lyre and heart by tambourine and flute, and by wine; but they do not pay attention to the deeds of the Lord, nor do they consider the work of His hands." Certainly, we have to guard ourselves against this temptation. Peter addressed this in Second Peter three verse three, where he warns believers about falling back into that kind of wicked mindset. He said, he describes it as "the desire of the Gentiles, having pursued a course of sensuality, lusts, drunkenness, carousing, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. In all this, they are surprised that you do not run with them into the same excesses of dissipation, and they malign you; but they will give an account to Him who is ready to judge the living and the dead."

You're all familiar with Ephesians five in verse 18, where the apostle tells us under the inspiration of the scripture of the spirit, "do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit." God then speaks through his prophet and he pronounces judgment on those who further blind themselves to the word and will of God, verse 13, "Therefore, My people go into exile for their lack of knowledge." Lack of knowledge concerning the judgment of God that was upon them, especially since the false prophets were preaching to them peace and safety, everything's gonna be okay. Haven’t we heard that before? "And their honorable men are famished, and their multitude is parched with thirst. Therefore, Sheol," which is the place of the departed dead, or the grave, "has enlarged its throat and opened its mouth without measure." What a striking passage. Here, the grave is personified as, as some hideous monster with an insatiable appetite, ready to devour the wicked. And they will go to their grave in the same stupefied, befuddled state, that spiritually dull condition in which they lived.

And then he goes on to say, "And Jerusalem's splendor, her multitude, her din of revelry and the jubilant within her, descend into it. So the common man will be humbled and the man of importance abased, the eyes of the crowd also will be abased. But the Lord of hosts will be exalted in judgment and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness. Then the lambs will graze in their pasture, and strangers will eat in the waste places of the wealthy." This is a picture that J.A Motyer describes as, quote, "The empty achievement of human vanity, the net profit of pride." How sad to see people flaunt their ungodliness living in a fool's paradise.

And we'll close this morning with one last woe; one last sin, and that is the sin, number three, of mockery. This is to blaspheme and dare God. Verse 18, "Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood, and sin as if with cart ropes." In other words, they exert themselves, like beasts of burden, pulling a cart of their iniquities. It reminds me of how Sodomites flaunt their gross immorality on large floats, and gay pride parades, daring anyone, including God, to challenge them. What a heartbreaking scene it is.

Verse 19, "Who say, 'Let Him make speed, let Him hasten His work, that we may see it. Let the purpose of the Holy One of Israel draw near and come to pass that we may know it!'" Obviously, this is what Isaiah is hearing from the people. This depicts the utter disregard of the people, their utter contempt for the moral authority of God. Dear friends, this is spiritual arrogance at its worst. This is depraved defiance, like we see in our lives. How many times have we heard people arrogantly get up in front of others and say, "oh if there's a God, I dare him strike me down right now." And nothing happens. And so that's proof that there is no God. You would expect this, because these people were unable to discern the truth of God. They were, according to verse 12, "blind to the deeds of the Lord and they did not consider the work of His hands." So they shook their fist in God's face, and they dared him to judge them.

Peter reminds us of this very thing, and certainly we all are aware of this, Second Peter three beginning of verse three know this. First of all, he says, that, "in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation. For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world and that time was destroyed, being flooded with water." Obviously, speaking of the worldwide flood in Noah's days. But he went on to say, "But by His word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like 1000 years and 1000 years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance."

Well, the next time we get together we will examine the other three woes, but I pray that you will examine your own heart in light of these great truths, because indeed, God is a righteous judge and he will not allow sin to go unpunished. But aren't you thankful that there is grace in the gospel that God is a redeeming, long suffering, forgiving, gracious God? Were that not so we would have no hope. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the glorious truths of your word. May we grasp them, not merely in an intellectual way, in an academic way, but may we embrace them with our whole heart that they might motivate us with a longing to know more of Christ, to experience more of the joy of serving, of worshiping Him, and we thank you that there is grace in Christ. And we thank you that you are coming again one day to take us home. And for all of this, we give you praise. In Jesus name. Amen.

Once again, we have a wonderful opportunity to open up the Word of God. So will you take your bibles and turn to Second Corinthians chapter five. We're going to be in verses one through eight this morning as we continue to make our way through this amazing epistle. Although it was written back in the first century, it has such relevance to each of us today. I'm sure that most all of you will agree with me when I say I am homesick for heaven. I am homesick for heaven. I know what it's like to be overseas, especially in lands where you can't understand anything they're saying. And you have to depend upon somebody else to interpret. And I know what it's like to really be homesick, and I'm sure a lot of you have felt that as well. But my, I have to say that given everything that's going on in the world, right now, I really am feeling more than perhaps ever in my life, what it is to be an alien, in a foreign land. I mean, we are citizens of another kingdom. And people that have never been born again, people that know nothing of what it is to be a new creature in Christ; and suddenly your citizenship is in heaven, and everything's changed. People don't understand that. But those of us that have been transformed by the power of the Spirit, know that feeling. And so it's always wonderful to come together and open up the Word of God and hear truth. I'm so tired of hearing deception. I mean, you don't know who to believe, right? With so much of the stuff that's going on today. But certainly a lot of things we know are absolute deceptions, because we compare them to the Word of God. So what we have before us are some very encouraging words, truths that will speak to each of our hearts; those of us who know and love Christ. We're looking here at the words of the Apostle Paul, who has suffered in ways that, frankly, we couldn't even imagine, as we have examined what happened to his body, you could just see in your mind's eye, a body that was just absolutely disfigured, especially from 195 lashes that he had experienced over the course of his life. And so here we're learning how the Apostle Paul was able to not lose hope, okay? And so this will be an encouragement to all of us as we reflect upon these great truths and apply them to our life. This is a way of understanding how he was able to endure the things that he endured, and therefore helpful for us to be able to endure what we're experiencing now. And as you've heard me say many times, persecution against the true church is mounting rapidly. This will also help us understand how we can have joy, how we can have confidence even in the face of death.

So let's pick it up at verse 16, Second Corinthians five...I'm sorry, Second Corinthians four beginning of verse 16. We're going to look at verse five and following but I want to start in chapter four. Verse 16, he says, "Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." And now the text that we will examine here this morning..."For we know that if the earthly tent, which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For indeed in this house, we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven, inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked. For indeed, while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal will be swallowed up by life. Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the spirit as a pledge. Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord--for we walk by faith, not by sight--we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body, and to be at home with the Lord."

I've entitled my discourse to you this morning "Groaning for Glory." And I think you can understand why. It's interesting as I age, I find myself making more noises when I get up out of a chair. Maybe some of you can identify with that kind of strange groanings that I catch myself doing. And of course, we all groan with physical aches and pains, and we groan because of heartaches; the great difficulties that we experience in life. In fact, life in general includes a lot of groaning. The more we experience life in this fallen world, the more we long for heaven. Now, when we were young, we didn't think about those things that much, we were all excited about life. And we had all of these dreams. And in fact, a lot of young people, when I asked them about heaven, they really don't want to talk about that, that much because, after all, they want to get married, and have their career and do all of these things. But as we begin to age, we begin to see that things aren't the way we wished they would be all the time. And we begin to long and, in fact, God has set eternity in our hearts. We're told in Ecclesiastes three and verse 11. In fact, as we look at Scripture, we see that God has created within us a void, that only he can fill. He created us to bring glory to him. And we can never find any satisfaction in life, any real fulfillment in life, unless we are living our life for his glory. The problem is, we are limited in our ability to do that, because of our body, because we still remain incarcerated in unredeemed flesh, unredeemed humaneness. So we groan for glory. And by faith, we wait patiently for him to take us home and to clothe us in our glorified bodies.

Now, as we prepare to look at this text, let me ask you, do you find yourself longing for heaven? Do you find yourself groaning for that day when you will be in the presence of Christ? Do you "exult in the hope of the glory of God," as Paul said, in Romans five, verse two? Do you yearn for a resurrected body? If not, you're probably grasping onto this world far too tightly. You know little of your sin and the Savior, and you're living for yourself rather than living in light of eternity. Well, as we look at this text, we see that Paul lived his life in light of eternity. And as we look at this text, we can see that there are basically two lenses, if you will, that he looked through, as he looked at his life, and all that was happening to him. And these will be two very simple points in a little outline that I've given you this morning. He lived in light of eternity, because he was confident of two promises. Number one, a glorified body awaited him. And secondly, he knew that a sovereign God was preparing him. Very simple, very profound. And I pray that these truths will encourage you so that you don't lose hope in the days to come, especially when it's your time to face death, as we all will.

You will recall when Job was suffering, he was abandoned by his brothers, he was abandoned by his friends, his relatives, his wife, his household. In fact, his wife told him to curse God and die. Where did he turn? He set his mind on things above. In fact, we read that he set his hope on fellowship with God that would come one day and on a new earth and a resurrected body. He said this in Job 19, verse 25, "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh, I shall see God; whom I shall see for myself and my I shall behold, and not another, my heart faints within me." He was consumed with a longing, or desire, to be with the Lord his God. Someone has well said that diamonds are best displayed on black velvet. And that's what we see here. Beloved, do you believe in the physical resurrection of the body? I hope you do. This is fundamental to the Christian faith. In fact, the prophet Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 26, verse 19, "Your dead will live; their corpses will rise. You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy, for your dew is as the dew of the dawn, and the earth will give birth to the departed spirits." Folks, there is nothing more encouraging, there is nothing more exhilarating, there is nothing more exciting in the Christian life, than to know that we are in the process of being conformed into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, and one day we will be glorified with Him. I hope that hope is yours. One day we will be given a glorified body. In fact, the old theologians used to call it "the beatific vision"--that moment, when we will finally feast our eyes upon the visible presence of Christ and enjoy his infinite beauty and love forever. And that's the goal of the Christian life. Ultimately, that day when we will see God, when we will, as Jude tells us in verse 24, when we will "stand in the presence of His glory blameless with great joy." That instant, when, for the first time, for the first time, we will experience unhindered perfected, fullness of Triune love. I mean, can there be anything more exhilarating than that? And that's what motivated the Apostle Paul.

Now in light of this, Paul, who, by the way, was a tentmaker on the side, which is very important. He says, this beginning of verse one of chapter five, four, "we know that if the earthly tent, which is our house, is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." Now the phrase "for we know," emphasizes that they had already been taught these things, and they were confident of these doctrinal truths. And then he goes on to say that "if the earthly tent"--which is a metaphor, describing the temporary dwelling of the mortal body that houses the soul-- "we know that if this earthly tent, which is our house is torn down"-- referring to death--"we have a building from God," and that denotes a permanent dwelling house, "not made with hands, eternal in the heavens."

And this brings us to the first lens through which the Apostle Paul viewed life and that is he knew number one, that a glorified body awaited him. Now, why did he say "if the earthly tent, which is our house, is torn down?" Why didn't he say "since?" Well, I believe it, because he understood along with the people that he was speaking to, that the imminent return of Christ would also include perhaps being snatched away in the rapture of the church. This would mean that there would be a possibility that they wouldn't die, that they would be taken up into glory. Instead of dying, they would according to First Corinthians 15, "be changed, in a moment in the twinkling of an eye." In fact, if we go to that text at First Corinthians 15, verse 51, as we read earlier, "Behold, I tell you will mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed." Speaking to believers here, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed." This refers to the same eschatological event that is described in First Thessalonians four, verses 16 through 17. There we read, "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord." "Caught up," a term in Greek--"harpazo"--it translates "harpazo" and it means to be suddenly snatched up, suddenly caught up, suddenly removed. So whether raptured or resurrected from the dead, this transformation is going to be instantaneous; an amazing thought in and of itself. It's going to happen in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye. I don't know who measured this, but I looked it up the twinkling of an eye is 1/10 of a second. So that's pretty fast. And it will happen at the last trumpet. That is, it's symbolic of the sound that was used historically in Israel to summon the people. And this will be the final sound of the church age when the bridal church will be prepared for her groom, who comes to snatch her away unto himself.

John spoke about this in his Gospel; Jesus speaking here in chapter 14, beginning of verse two, "'...I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.'" He will then according to Scripture, take his raptured bride to celebrate the marriage supper. There we will receive our rewards and then we will return back with Christ when he comes again to establish his earthly kingdom. This is according to Colossians three, four, "When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." In fact, in Romans 8:19, we read, "For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God." And back to First Corinthians 15 and verse 52, At the last trumpet..."the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality." And as we all know this, this body is subject to death, it is subject to decay, and we must be clothed with something, a body that that is going to be indestructible, something that is going to be eternal. And dear friends, Paul knew this and he waited for this, he longed for this. What about you?

Back to Second Corinthians now, chapter five, verse one. He speaks of, "a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." No wonder would he say in First Corinthians 15:54, :But when those perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, 'DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?'"

Now, people will rightly ask, what is the nature, what will be the nature of the glorified body? Well, the word of God gives us a little bit of instruction here to help us understand what it's going to be like, at least a little bit. First of all, we know that it will be a renovated version of our current body. Romans chapter eight and verse 11, we read that God will also "give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who dwells in you." As we look at Scripture, we see that our bodies are going to be changed. They're not going to be exchanged; as we read, for example, in First Corinthians 15:51. Remember, he says in verse 53, of First Corinthians 15, "This perishable body," in other words, the one that we have right now, "must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality." So there will be continuity, you might say, with our present body, yet, it's going to be radically different in ways that that we can't even begin to comprehend. Remember, Christ is the first fruits of the resurrection, as we read in First Corinthians 15:23. And that figure, the first fruits, is really a powerful figure, a powerful image. And by the way, it harkens back to Leviticus chapter 23, where the Lord spoke to Moses, concerning the first fruits of their barley harvest, which would happen in March and April. Barley similar to what we would call wheat. And that was the initial feast of "first fruits" that symbolized the consecration of the whole harvest to God. And it was a pledge of the whole harvest that was to come. An amazing thought. It pointed to, as we see in other passages, a future resurrection fulfilled in Christ.

Now, in that first fruits, harvest and all that went with that in that sacrifice, in that feast, what we see is that the first sheaf of barley was a representative sample of a harvest that already existed. And this is very important to keep in mind. This is very exciting to me, it already existed. It was the first installment of a fully ripened crop that was waiting in the field to be harvested. That was the point of all of this symbolism. And Paul's point, in that whole passage, was to basically say, How could Christ be the first fruit? If he were the only fruit? You see that would be totally absurd. I mean, do you really think he is the only sheaf of the barley? Well, of course not. That's ridiculous. And his point in all of this, is that the resurrection is certain. The resurrection is certain. The first sheaf cannot be harvested and offered unless the rest of the harvest is also ripe; unless the rest of the harvest is also ready to be harvested. So since Christ has been raised, and since you belong to him, you also are ready to be raised from the dead. Christ is the first fruit of a resurrection harvest that includes each and every person that belongs to Christ through saving faith.

Now back to the nature of our glorified body. Since Christ Himself is the first fruits of the resurrection, and since he himself will "transform the bodies of believers into conformity with the body of his glory"-- Philippians 3:21, it is safe to assume that our, the believers glorified body, is going to somehow be like Christ's body. And we know that he was raised with a renovated version of the body in which he died. Remember, Thomas the doubter, actually saw the scars and nail prints and so forth; placed his hands in his wounds. And he was, Jesus was recognized by those who knew him well. And as I'll talk about, in a moment, we are going to know each other and others in heaven, we will recognize them. But like Christ's resurrection body, our body will be radically different than the way we have now. Hallelujah? First Corinthians 15:42 and 44, again, that we read earlier, provides for contrasts, and I want to dwell on just for a moment, where Paul underscores the vast difference between our current body and our resurrected body. The first one is in verse 42. He says, "it is sown a perishable body, but it is raised an imperishable body." And certainly again, we know that decomposition and decay is the natural, it is the inevitable process of this body, but he says, it is raised an imperishable body. It means a body that is impervious to decay. It is incorruptible, in other words, is not going to break down. No arthritis, no disease, no sickness. And we will probably be forever youthful, perfect specimens of maleness and femaleness. By the way, there's no hint of multiple genders in heaven. There's no hint of gender confusion, none of those LGBTQ whatever perversions.

The second contrast in verse 43, "it is sown in dishonor, but it is raised in glory." Now dishonor speaks of a state of shame, a state of disgrace. We were created in perfection, with the ability to bring glory to God and all that we do. But sin ruined all of that. And more often than not, we dishonor God in our bodies, we fail to present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice that's acceptable under God, but not so in our resurrected body. Moreover, there's nothing honorable about a decaying body. I've been around decaying bodies, you probably have to, and the horrible stench of putrefaction alone speaks of that disgrace. It was considered unclean in the Mosaic law, to be around the body, certainly to touch a corpse. Numbers 19:11, "The one who touches the corpse of any person shall be unclean for seven days." But the resurrected body will not stay as it was in internment. It's going to be raised in glory. And it's safe to assume that our resurrected bodies will have all the marks of youthfulness and marks of strength; a perfect manifestation of the intended beauty of God's creation in maleness and femaleness that will help us be able to render praise to our Creator forever and ever.

A third contrast is in verse 43, "it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power." And we would all agree that our bodies are very limited in physical strength and stamina, we lack vigor. Some are stronger than others, but we're all weak people. Again, I am amazed at how such a microscopic thing called a Coronavirus can absolutely put us down. And for some put us away. We are fragile, we're vulnerable to disease, we're vulnerable to injury. And when the body dies, that lifeless corpse is really a symbol of its weakness. But as we read here, it's going to be raised in power. We're going to be able to function in ways that we cannot imagine. We're going to be able to worship God in the realm of the supernatural. Now, how so? Well, we're not real sure, Scripture doesn't tell us. But we know that we will be like Christ. First John three two says "We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him." And I find it interesting, if you examine the post-resurrection manifestations of Christ's glorified body, you begin to pick up a little bit of what our body is going to be like. It's going to be very similar in appearance. In other words, we will be able to recognize each other, but it's going to be radically different. Again, in ways that we cannot comprehend. When you think about Christ, what could he do? Well, he could suddenly appear, and then he could suddenly disappear. Boy, you want to get away? Remember that commercial? I wish I had that ability, there's times where I wish I could suddenly disappear and appear and then reappear in a distant place. Amazing. He could pass through walls and closed doors, and yet he could eat food, he could drink liquids, he could speak he could interact to others with whom he chose to reveal to himself, he was able to ascend into heaven, and he has promised to return physically. And in the same way, folks, God only knows how he is going to use the power that he is going to give us. I mean, perhaps we are going to rule other galaxies. I don't know, you don't know. Scripture doesn't say. I know he's not going to give me all that power to play a harp because I don't like harps. But I like other things, you get the idea. I mean, we may be ruling in galaxies that are not yet created. We don't know. But it's going to be something beyond our ability to comprehend. It's what he talked about in chapter four and verse 17, "the eternal weight of glory" beyond all, I forget exactly the term there--beyond our ability to comprehend is basically how it can be translated. beyond all comparison, I think is what he says.

Well, a fourth contrast in verse 44, "it is sown a natural body"-- that's what we have now, but "it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body." Now, the natural body is one suited for life on this earth. It is not suited for the supernatural realm; it's suited for the natural world. But we're greatly limited in our ability. There's no way that we could live in the new creation that's going to require a spiritual body. Now you must understand spiritual does not mean ethereal. It does not mean immaterial. It does not mean that we're some disembodied spirit that's going to float around throughout eternity like a ghost, that's not what he's referring to here. In fact, saints in heaven right now, have not yet received their glorified body, which is a fascinating thought. Heaven is the dwelling place, according to Hebrews 12:23 of the spirits of righteous men made perfect, but they are able to recognize each other, and God recognizes them, obviously. We could look at passages for example, in the Old Testament where saints that die are described as those "gathered to his people," Genesis 25:8, 35:29, and many other passages. In Second Samuel 12, you remember how David spoke with confidence that one day he would go to his infant son that had died and that he would see him. And he expected to actually recognize him. In Matthew chapter eight and verse 11, Jesus promised, "many shall come from the east and the west and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven," which implies that we're going to recognize them. Matthew 17--you will recall on the Mount of Transfiguration--Peter, James and John, were given the ability to recognize Moses and Elijah that appeared with Jesus, although they existed in the form of a spirit with a spiritual body; obviously, they retained their individual identity. So even prior to the resurrection, the resurrected body, all the redeemed, will retain their identity forever. In First Thessalonians four, let me give you another example, Paul comforted the Thessalonian believers who thought their dying loved ones would miss the return of Christ. And he said in verse 17, "we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord." Well, what comfort would that have been to them if they were going to be caught up, but they couldn't recognize anybody? Obviously, that's foolish. Paul's promise that we will be together, forever, implies that we are going to enjoy sweet fellowship with all whom we have known in this life and other saints down through redemptive history. Won't it be fun to be able to recognize Noah and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and got a Enoch--got of questions for these guys. But the good thing is, they will know us as well.

Now back to our resurrected body, First Corinthians 15:44, "It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Again, doesn't mean ethereal, doesn't mean immaterial. But by "spiritual," Paul means that it will be perfectly submitted to the Holy Spirit that now dwells within us. Folks, this will be that time when our sanctification will finally be perfected. When we will be like Christ, when we will be conformed into His image. Our resurrected body will not be subject to temptation, not be subject to sin; no more limitations of the mind or the body. It will be able to instantly respond to every impulse of the new creation without the slightest weakness, or aspiration or ability, that would somehow be hindered by anything at all.

Back to Second Corinthians five now, verse two, Paul says, "For indeed in this house, we groan, longing to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven." Verse three, "Inasmuch as we, having put it on, will not be found naked." Now, it's important that you understand this phrase, "that we not be found naked." This was given to the folks in order to counteract the Greek and Roman influence upon the culture with respect to what was called "philosophical dualism." You will recall that they, the pagan Greeks, believed that the spirit was good, but material is bad. And so they believe their souls needed to be freed from the prison of the body. So this idea of we're going to get another body, oh, no, who wants that? And so he's explaining this, by the way, Seneca, who was a Roman stoic philosopher, and even an advisor to Nero said this, quote, "I am a higher being and born for higher things than to be the slave of my body, which I look upon as only a shackle, put upon my freedom." He went on to say, "and so detestable a habitation dwells the free soul." End quote. Well, obviously, this idea of the soul being freed from the body at death, and existing as some kind of disembodied spirit for eternity, was in conflict with what God is teaching through His Apostle. And he says we longed to be clothed with our dwelling from heaven and as much as we haven't put it on, will not be found naked again. We're not going to be some disembodied spirit suspended in space. I love what William Barclay writes, quote, "Paul is not looking for nirvana, with the peace of extinction. He is not looking for absorption in the divine. He is not looking for the freedom of a disembodied spirit. He is waiting for the day when God will give him a new body, a spiritual body, in which he will still be able, even in the heavenly places, to serve and adore God."

And then Paul goes on to say, "For indeed, while we are in this tent, we groan." Boy, again, can't we all identify with this, we groan over relationships that don't work. We groan over bodies that are subject to injury and disease. We groan over kids that break our heart. We groan over apostate Christianity, corrupt politicians, domestic terrorism, terrorists, and corrupt politicians to support them. We groan over rampant sexual immorality, and the vilest forms of sexual deviancy that's just constantly being crammed down our throats. So often, I have to deal with these things in counseling with people. We groan because of mounting persecution, and the list goes on and on. And think of all that Paul dealt with, all that he suffered. And we've gone over this at length on other Sundays, but folks, one of the things I find interesting in studying the life of the apostle Paul--although there were so many things that that tormented him, both physically as well as in terms of the sins of others--his greatest misery was his own sin. Think about that. For example, he said in Romans 7:24, "Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?" Referring to the mortal body in which sin operates, in which sin ultimately brings about decay, and death. And it's interesting, this could possibly be a reference to a horrific practice that was implemented near where the apostle Paul had lived. If you kill someone, they would strip you and take the corpse of the one that you had killed, and strap it to your back, and then banish you into the wilderness. And within days, the corruption of that corpse would eat away until it killed you. That's how he saw it. That's how he saw sin in his own body. You know, folks, it's easy for us to look at the speck in your brother's eye and not see the log in our own. But Paul mourned over his sin. And you know, as you mature in Christ, his holiness becomes even more vivid, all the more clear to us. And in the light of his purity, and in the perfections of his person, we begin to see the corruptions of our own soul in ways that we hadn't seen before. That's what causes us to sing "Amazing Grace" from the very core of our hearts, right? His word is like turning on a light down in the cellar. And when that happens, all of a sudden, all of the little critters begin to run away into the corners. Don't you feel that at times when you read the Word of God?

By the way, this is why sinners hate the Bible. This is why people apart from Christ, hate the laws of God. Some men love darkness rather than light. Why? Because their deeds are evil. We just don't want to see that. But when we look at even the sin in our own lives, we begin to see things that wish we weren't there and by the way, we only see the tip of the iceberg. Aren't you glad the Holy Spirit doesn't convict us of everything all at once? It'd be overwhelming. Jesus said, Matthew five, five, "blessed are those who mourn," referring to mourning over their sin, "for they shall be comforted." And certainly the comfort comes in the forgiveness that is ours when we place our faith in Christ. Not only the forgiveness, but the imputed righteousness of Christ, that is then put into our account; he takes our sin, gives us his righteousness. But our mourning over sin, dear friends, is in direct proportion to our ability to see the holiness of God, the purity of God, the law of God. And as I say, when we see that, we are amazed at his grace. In fact, we can never be truly amazed at his grace until we're amazed at our sin. 17th century English Puritan Thomas Manton said this, “Paul was whipped, imprisoned, stoned, in perils by land and sea, persecuted by enemies, undermined by false brethren. But afflictions did not set so close to them as sins. The body of death was his sorest burden. Therefore did he longed for deliverance. A beast will leave the place where he findeth neither food nor rest. It is not the troubles of the world only which set the saints a groaning, but indwelling corruption, this grieveth them. They are not yet rid of sin, that they serve God with such apparent weakness and manifold defects, that they are so often distracted and oppressed with sensual and worldly affections. They cannot get rid of this cursed inmate, and therefore desire a change of states. By the grace of God they have got rid of the guilt of sin and reigning power of sin, but the being of it is a trouble to them, which will still remain till this tabernacle be dissolved, then sin shall gasp its last and the saints are groaning, and long for the parting day, when by putting off flesh, they shall put off sin and come and dwell with God."

Oh Child of God, I pray that this is the burden of your heart. David's lament you will recall in Psalm 38 goes like this beginning in verse four, "There is no health in my bones because of my sin. For my iniquities are gone over my head; as a heavy burden they weigh too much for me. My wounds grow foul and fester because of my folly. I am bent over and greatly bowed down; I go mourning all day long. For my loins are filled with burning and there is no soundness in my flesh. I am benumbed and badly crushed; I groan because of the agitation of my heart." Paul said this in Romans eight beginning in verse 23, "And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit,"--in other words, believers--"even we ourselves groan within ourselves," literally, we groan inwardly; "waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body." Then I love what he says, "For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it." Beloved, this is the glorious, life-dominating, soul exhilarating expectation of the redeemed.

I remember on several occasions in Siberia going to visit some of the elderly people, mostly elderly widows, they don't have nursing homes there. In fact, there's no place to take care of the elderly. Usually what happens is the little churches build on little shanties to wherever they meet, and house these people. I remember going into the room of several of these elderly ladies with Natasha, my interpreter, and sitting down with them, and for them, it was the first time they'd ever seen an American, much less another believer. And I remember sitting with them, and they love to hold my hands, you know, and they would hold my hands and they would look at me and rattle off things that I had no idea what they were saying and Natasha would interpret them. And one lady kept doing this, she would get my face and she kept doing this. And finally she calmed down and Natasha told me, she said, she can't wait to go home. She said, "I'm ready to go home." And then she talked about a glorified body. And they all started talking about the glorified body, talking about the resurrection. Folks, these were happy people, and they had nothing. How sad, we have everything. So many people today are unhappy. And the reason why is because they don't have the Lord. They have no hope. They have no help.

We see this as well, this hope, in Second Corinthians five four, Paul says, "For indeed, while we are in this tent, we groan, being burdened, because we do not want to be unclothed but to be clothed, so that what is mortal, will be swallowed up by life." I mean Paul knows that his suffering is not in vain. He knows that he's going to be rewarded. He knows that his sinful, dilapidated, mortal flesh is wasting away. But someday it's going to be totally renovated. Indeed, "what is mortal," he says, "will be swallowed up by life." Again, folks, this is what he was referring to, in chapter four, verse 17, "the eternal weight of glory, far beyond comparison." And may I remind you that Christ is the ultimate glory of heaven. Too often, I come across Christians who would be fine if they went to heaven, and Christ wasn't there. Now, they don't really want to admit that, but that's how they think. They can't wait to see aunt so and so, and mom and dad, and kids and all these things, and that's wonderful. But folks, Christ is the jewel of heaven. You see, the offer of the gospel, if I can put it real practically, the offer of the gospel is not social justice. The offer of the gospel is not health and wealth. The offer of the gospel is Christ. And he is the glory of heaven. You must understand that Christ is not a means to an end, but rather he is the all sufficient and all glorious end himself. Ephesians one three, we read that "God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." Now, there's so much more that could be said about our union with Christ. But folks, I hope you're groaning for Christ. Because if you truly know Him, you will.

Paul spoke of this, as well in First Corinthians 15:54, "But when this perishable will put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, DEATH IS SWALLED UP IN VICTORY." By the way, he was probably alluding to Isaiah 25, beginning in verse eight, where we read, "He will swallow up death for all time." The idea of consuming something, to bring it to a complete end, "He will swallow up death for all time and the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, and He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; for the LORD has spoken. And it will be said in that day, 'Behold, this is our God for whom we have waited, that He might save us. This is the Lord for whom we have waited; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.'"

Well, Paul knew that he had a glorified body that awaited him. And finally, in closing, he also knew a sovereign God was preparing him. Look at verse five. He says, "Now He who prepared us for this purpose." "Katergazotai" in Greek, it means "to equip, to prepare." He's prepared us for this purpose. Literally "this purpose" is referring to "for this very thing." Who is it? Well, it's God, "who gave to us the spirit as a pledge." A pledge is a down payment, it is a first installment, it is a guarantee. In other words, the "clothing" of verse four awaits us, this complete transformation from the perishable to the imperishable. And it's interesting that Paul uses the same verb "katergazotai" in verse 17 of chapter four. He says, "For momentary, light affliction is producing for us,"--same verb, "an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison." You see, folks, what he's saying here, is that he knew that a "swallowing up" power was already at work within him. And nothing could stop it. It was the sanctifying work of the indwelling Spirit of God, the Christians pledge of the future inheritance.

Ephesians one and verse 13, "You were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession to the praise of His glory." And Philippians one in verse six, you're familiar with it, "I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." John MacArthur said this, "The indwelling Holy Spirit is God's guarantee that believers are His possession, and that He will redeem them to the praise of his glory. For that reason, it is ludicrous to believe that Christians can lose their salvation. Nothing can interrupt the plan God set in motion in eternity past--referring to election--and has pledged himself to carry through until eternity future--referring to glorification. To argue otherwise, is to assume that God is incapable of achieving His purposes, and thus to diminish His glory." How true.

Beloved, dwell on these things, the next time you're tempted to lose heart, the next time you're filled with fear. And in verse six, he says, "Therefore being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord--for we walk by faith, not by sight--"meaning our lives right now are lived in the sphere of faith, we trust in Him. Verse eight, he says, "We are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body, and to be home with the Lord." So as we walk in the realm of faith, dealing with these decaying bodies, dealing with all of the sin around us, as well as our own sin, we can be deeply encouraged. Why? Because the Holy Spirit is preparing us, he's doing this. And it's certain, it's guaranteed. And I might even add, it's because of him, we are all groaning for glory; because we want to be at home with the Lord, "to be absent from the body, is to be at home with the Lord." Dear Christian, I pray that this is the passion of your heart. And if so, won't you live in light of his glory. And the more you learn of him, the more you worship him, the more you serve him, the more you commune with him, the more you will see the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, your Lord; everything else becomes rubbish, as the Apostle Paul tells us. And as this happens, the more we experience the power of his presence deep within our soul. The more he blesses us, the more he reveals himself to us, until that day, when he takes us home. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these eternal truths. They certainly speak to our hearts, they encourage us, especially in these dark days of such deception, the freefall of immorality that we're witnessing in our country, Lord, the apostasy in the Church. But Lord, even our own sin, my goodness, we just long for you to come to take us away. And we're thankful that we know that you will indeed do that either in death, or you will come and snatch us away. We know that that's going to happen. But we thank you that you are preparing us for this time. And in this we rejoice greatly. So encourage us with these truths. And for those who know nothing of what it is to be in Christ, those who have never placed their faith in Christ because they've never seen the horror of their sin, they've never seen the glory of the cross, Oh, Father, I pray that by the power of your Spirit, you will overwhelm them with such conviction that they will run to the cross and be saved. Thank you for this time we could share together. Minister to us as only you can do, I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Once again, we have a wonderful privilege to be able to open up the Word of God here this morning. And I would invite you to do that. Take your Bibles and turn to Second Corinthians four. We're going to be looking at verses 16, actually, through verse 18, this morning, under the heading, 'The Triumph of Saving Grace." If you haven't been with us, we go through each book, the Bible verse by verse, in an effort to glean all that we can from what the Spirit of God has revealed to us. And what a joy it is to be able to come together and worship, amen? To be able to sing together and fellowship and open up the word that's a lamp unto our feet and a light into our path. And my we need a lamp and a light today, don't we, with everything that's going on? I mean, every time you turn on my pillow, I mean, Fox News. Every time you turn it on, your jaw just drops, it's like what else is gonna happen, you know. And people are afraid, not just because of this pandemic; that's been grossly exaggerated for political purposes; but people are afraid of some of the other groups that are out there, this Antifa and Black Lives Matter and certainly the wicked politicians that support these things. I find it fascinating you really cannot buy ammunition. Ammunition manufacturers are as much as three years behind. It's sad, it's hard to buy a gun. I mean, people are preparing for war. Militias are forming; secret militias are forming within the military and within law enforcement. It's really frightening times. And of course, you know, these, the Antifa and Black Lives Matter protests are nothing but political theater filled with phony propaganda, dedicated to promoting mayhem and lawlessness to somehow promulgate their phony narratives, exercise power, and all of that. And, you know, if they gain power, I mean, we are in for, for some severe threats in our country.

And certainly, as you've heard me say before, as we've studied some of these groups, Biblical Christianity simply cannot coexist with what these groups demand. And that's frightening. I was noticing that there were Black Lives Matter protests in Portland, where they were burning Bibles along with American flags in the bonfires. I mean folks that's where it's headed, because ultimately, Satan is behind all of this. God's judgment is upon this nation, a nation that has mocked him; persecution is mounting. And certainly, we know according to Second Timothy three, beginning of verse 12, Paul said, "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted. But evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." And that's what we see today. But may I remind you, that persecution purifies as well as grows the church? We've seen this historically. And that's the exciting thing with all that we see happening, the Lord has promised to build his church, right? And I mean, you look at China today, there's an estimated 300 million people that worship the Lord like us today, they have to do it underground. In North Korea, the church is growing, but they have to meet in groups of two or three, sometimes four, hidden in places, and they sing hymns by whispering them, but the church is growing. The same thing in Russia. So you can go on and on. And you can see that the Lord is behind, ultimately, behind all of this, in that he has allowed these things to happen for his purposes.

And, and I know people will say, "But Pastor, I mean, our precious children are going to be exposed to these things and we're just watching our way of life just being destroyed right in front of our eyes. What are we to do?" Well, Bible is very clear, and we're gonna look at some of that this morning. But we're to set our mind on things above not all the things of this earth, right? We're to present the gospel. I was so impressed, maybe you saw this, if you haven't, you ought to see the interview with Orlando Magic forward. Jonathan Isaac, did any of you see the interview with him? It just happened. He became the first NBA player not to kneel during the national anthem, since the league resumed on Thursday. And you can see all of his other brothers, kneeling with Black Lives Matter t shirts; they're all locking arms and he's standing up with his uniform on and his head bowed. It's really moving. And later on, he was asked, you know, don't you believe Black Lives Matter? And he said, Yes. And I wrote down some of what he said. He said, "kneeling or wearing a Black Lives Matter t shirt doesn't go hand in hand in supporting black lives." He said, "My life has been supported through the gospel of Jesus Christ. And everyone is made in the image of God, and we should live for God's glory." He went on to say how "sometimes we point fingers at whose evil is worse. And sometimes it comes down to who's evil is most visible." I thought that was rather profound. He went on to say, "you know, I feel like we all make mistakes, but the gospel of Jesus Christ gives grace." He went on to add, "Jesus came and died for our sins. And if we all come to an understanding of that, and that God wants to have a relationship with us, we can get past all the things in our world that are messed up, that are jacked up." He added "racism isn't the only thing that plagues our society." And boy, isn't that the truth that plagues our nation that plagues our world? "I feel like coming together on that message, we can get past not only the racism, but everything that plagues our society. I feel like the answer is the gospel." It just brought tears to my eyes. I mean, that's what you do in these days.

And as the true church comes under attack, we're all going to experience mounting persecution, but we know that ultimately, God is in control and his plans and his purposes will not be thwarted. But none of us have ever come close to experiencing anything close to what the Apostle Paul experienced in his persecutions and suffering. When Second Corinthians one five, he said, "the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance." In fact, he went on in verse eight to describe the affliction; it was so great that he says, "we were burdened excessively beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life." And if you study his life, you see that his life and his ministry was just perpetual conflict. The Jews are trying to kill him, the Gentiles are trying to kill him. In Lystra, the Jews did stone him. In Acts 14, we read the Jews came from Antioch and Iconium, and having won over the crowds, they stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing him to be dead. And in Philippi, we read that he was beaten with rods, and after receiving many blows, he, along with Silas, were thrown into prison, Acts 16. Second Corinthians 11, beginning of verse 23, Paul says, "I was beaten times without number often in danger of death. Five times I," catch this, "five times, I received the Jews 39 lashes." Five times, that's 195 lashes by the way. The reason they would say 39 lashes is because normally the 40th lash would kill a man. And so without giving a death sentence, they would say, well, let's just give him 39 lashes. I mean, folks, his back and his ribcage would not have looked human, it would have been so scarred. That's why in Galatians 6:17 he says, "I bear on my body the brand-marks of Jesus." Second Corinthians 11, he went on to say, "Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, a night and a day I have spent in the deep. I've been on frequent journeys and dangers from rivers, dangers from robbers, dangers from my countrymen, dangers from the Gentiles, dangers in the city, dangers in the wilderness, dangers on the sea, dangers among false brethren; I have been in labor and hardship through many sleepless nights, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Apart from such external things, there is the daily pressure on me of concern for all the churches." Worse yet, beloved, he was abandoned by all of his friends, in his last imprisonment. I mean, think about this, in Second Timothy 1:15. He says, "You are aware of the fact that all who are in Asia turned away from me, among whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes. And then in chapter four and verse 16, he says that "my first defense no one supported me, but all deserted me." Then he says, "May it not be counted against them." You imagine that?

Now, here in Second Corinthians remember that he is under enormous stress through the slander the scurrilous markings of these false teachers that had slithered into the church and had seduced many of the naive and immature saints into believing their lives and turning against their spiritual father. That's why in chapter four here in verse eight, he says that he was "afflicted in every way"-- perplexed, persecuted, struck down, "always carrying about in the body, the dying of Jesus; constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus sake. I mean, none of us can say that we've been anywhere close to that. Nevertheless, according to verse 15, are verse 14, he was at peace, "knowing," he says "that He who raised the Lord Jesus will also raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you."

Now, that's the background of where we are here this morning, Second Corinthians four beginning in verse 16. "Therefore, we do not lose heart. But though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." Dear friends, I ask you this morning, are you tempted to lose heart? Do you find yourself struggling under the weight of all of the difficulties of life, whatever they might be? How do you endure persecution? How do you endure loneliness, and suffering, sorrow? And even beyond that, what is your attitude toward death? Because we're all headed there aren't we? Every single person in this room. Now the unbeliever refuses to think much about death in particular and Satan provides a myriad of ways to distract him from those realities, all of the pleasures of life, drugs, alcohol, whatever they might be, and then false teaching, that would say, Oh you're a pretty good person, so you will make the cut; those types of things. But a mature Christian looks at it, head on, face on and realizes that it's coming. But beyond that, knows that it can face that last enemy of death, actually, with joy, you know, as I often think, to myself, I'm not afraid of death. It's the dying part that I'm not looking forward to, right? I mean, we all we all know what that means. I mean, you never know how you're going to go, but boy, the death part--we're in glory. So this is what we see here. This is why I've entitled this discourse to you "The Triumph of Saving Grace" and here in this passage, we're going to discover three principles that are key to experiencing joy and power. And frankly triumph in the face of severe adversity and suffering, and even death. Three spiritual realities; realities that should really capture our attention; be dominant within our heart. And here they are, we can rejoice knowing number one: our inner man grows stronger as our outer man grows weaker. Or as our outer man weakens, I should say. Number two: our eternal reward grows greater as our suffering for Christ intensifies. And number three: our earthly joy grows fuller, as our mind is set on eternity.

First of all, let's familiarize ourselves with the terminology that Paul uses. First of all, he speaks of the outer man, this is referring to the physical body. In fact, in verse seven, he calls it "the earthen vessel," verse 11, "mortal flesh." In other words, this is all that is visible. Unlike the soul, that is the inner man that is invisible. And at death, we know that the soul vacates the body and goes to heaven or to hell. The souls of believers will receive a glorified body suited for heaven in one of three stages of resurrection. Let me give them to you very briefly. The first stage is for those that are saved from Pentecost to the rapture of the church, when they will be joined by living saints to meet the Lord in the air. And then those second stages those saved during the tribulation and all of the Old Testament saints will be raised up when Jesus returns to Earth to reign with Him during the Millennial Kingdom. And then finally, those who died during the Millennial Kingdom, we believe that they will probably receive their eternal glorified bodies instantly, immediately at death. Now, you might say, Well, what about unbelievers? Do they get a resurrection? Well, they do. Revelation 20 in verse five, "The rest of the dead did not come to life, until the 1000 years were completed." This is a reference to the unbelievers. Then the text says this is the "first resurrection," which is actually referring to the resurrection of believers in the previous verse. But Paul speaks of this as well, in Acts 24, verse 15, "there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just, and the unjust." And Jesus spoke of this in John 5:29, there is a "resurrection of life." And he went on to say, on the "resurrection of judgment," or it can be translated "of condemnation." And this resurrection of condemnation for unbelievers will occur at the end of Christ's millennial reign upon the earth at the Great White Throne Judgment. And that is described in Revelation 20, verse 11, and following. And at that time, all of the places that have held the bodies or the DNA, you might say, of the unrighteous dead will yield up a hideous body suited for eternal torment in hell. We don't know what that body will look like. We may have a preview of that, in some of the things that we see, like the horrifying repulsive bodies of the of the Living Dead that so many people feed on, I don't...I can't understand that. But people like to watch that demonic stuff. But they will be raised to eternal death, which is called the second death biblically, Revelation 21 in verse eight, we read, "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

So folks, this is the dreadful state of all those who reject Christ. You know, whenever I reflect upon the justice that I deserve, and the mercy that I have received, I just become speechless. I mean, that's when the great old hymn Amazing Grace really captures it. And that's frankly, why I resent so many people singing that song as if it's just some, you know, pop tune. So the outer man is the visible, the physical body that houses the soul or the spirit, the inner man. By the way, soul and spirit are not two separate entities, they are one in the same the terms; are used interchangeably throughout Scripture. In fact, Mary said in Luke 1:46, and 47, "my soul" which is in Greek "psuche", "My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit,"--"pneuma"--"rejoices in God my Savior"' many other passages say the same thing. So as we look at who we are as human beings that God has created, we exist as both material and immaterial beings, we have a body and we have a soul. You will recall in Genesis two seven at creation, God formed man out of the ground, there's the material part. And then what did he do? He breathed life into him, there's the immaterial part and so forth. And I might add, that Jesus makes this distinction between body and soul in Matthew 10 and verse 28. Jesus said, "'Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear him who was able to destroy both soul and body in hell.'"

So here Paul is facing the reality that he's having to face all the time in his life and ministry, the reality of death and decay of the body. He says, the outer man is decaying, literally, it is in the process of deteriorating. Now, when you're young, you don't notice this. But as you start getting older, it's real obvious. In fact, I always laugh at my kids, when I hear, and grandkids, when I hear them howling in the other room in laughter. I know they've gotten into some of the old pictures, you know, and those of you that are my age will understand that. So there's a natural progression in life, a progression of deterioration, an aging process that we all experience. And hair color, makeup, plastic surgery, exercise all of those things may conceal it at some level for a while, but it cannot do away with it completely, it cannot prevent it. Death by the way, is the consequence of sin. And we are all born sinners. We're sinners by nature. Romans 5:12, "Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned."

Now I want to take you for a moment to Ecclesiastes chapter 12. Want to look at just seven verses in here. King Solomon, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit describes the the inevitable decay of the outer man, and frankly, the importance of reflecting upon the reality of death, and the judgment that is going to follow. Ecclesiastes 12 one, let me give you just a real brief exposition of it; it's quite powerful. "Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come." In other words, before the times of misery and trouble that we're all going to experience at the end of life. "And the years," he says, "Draw near, when you will say, 'I have no delight in them.'" And then he goes on to describe the inevitable decline in life that can be seen very easily in all of us.

Verse two, "Before the sun and the light, the moon and the stars are darkened, and clouds return after the rain." And here now he's illustrating the evil days. And what he's referring to here is in old age the eyes begin to fail. The vision begins to get cloudy, like the process of glaucoma.

Verse three, and "in the day that the watchman of the house tremble"-- you see that in old age, both physically the hands, for example, begin to tremble, and emotionally we get weak and feeble. In old age, we become increasingly paranoid, increasingly vulnerable. And then he says, "And mighty men stoop"--referring to the major muscle groups that begin to weaken and the back begins to bend. "The grinding ones stand idle, because they are few"--referring to teeth. "And those who look through windows grow dim"-- a reference again to the eyes.

Verse four, "and the doors of the street are shut as the sound of the grinding mill is low, and one will arise at the sound of the birds and all the daughters of song will sing softly." We know that the shutting of doors refers to the ears as people shut doors. Why do they do that? Well, they want to exclude outside noise. But this is a reference to deafness that begins to take over, as indicated by the sounds of grinding and singing that fade out. But he says, rising up at the sound of birds, and this alludes to a very cruel paradox and old age, doesn't it? It's really funny when you think about it, you can't hear hardly anything but you sleep so lightly, that the slightest little sound of a bird wakes you up. That's what he's speaking of here.

Verse five, "Furthermore, men are afraid of high places." And with aging, you have an increased fear of heights-- "and of terrors on the road." Again, an aging man is unable to protect himself; that begins to wane. And then he says, "the almond tree blossoms." This is a reference to the hair that begins to turn white. By the way, the white color of the blossoms of an almond tree come toward the end of winter before the leaves even begin to sprout. Then he says, "the grasshopper drags himself along." Probably, we believe a reference to bad joints, swollen ankles, certainly a halting walk, the elderly shuffle, and they drag themselves along with an awkward gait. And then he says that, "the caperberry is ineffective"--a paraphrase in the Hebrew would be "and desire is no longer stirred." And apparently this speaks of the loss of sexual desire in old age. In fact, the Targum, which was an Aramaic interpretation and paraphrase of the Hebrew Bible, the Targum paraphrases this more directly it says, quote, "you will cease from sexual intercourse." Now the ancient peoples in the Near East, prized the caperberry for stimulating sexual desire, and in the advanced years, however, the caperberry no longer works as an active stimulant. And then a man continues to decline; eventually he dies. We see here, goes on in verse five, "For man goes to his eternal home while mourners go about in the street." So aging is a harbinger of death. The aging tells us that we're on our final journey, he says to our eternal home. By the way, Jewish community still to this day refer to their cemeteries as "beit olam," which means eternal home; the same phrase that is used here. We see a similar description in Second Corinthians five one, "For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house"--referring to the body--"is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." And so aging is that ultimate harbinger of death.

But death is seen as returning to God in verses six and seven, he says, "Remember Him before the silver cord is broken, and the golden bowl is crushed." The silver cord or the silver chain depicts the value of life, perhaps even the spinal cord, we're not real sure, but finally it breaks with age, and the head--the golden lamp--crashes to the stone floor. And likewise, the pitcher that holds the life-giving water drawn from a well or a cistern cannot serve his task if it breaks. He says, "the pitcher by the well is shattered and the wheel of the system and is crushed." The wheel, of course is the pulley that would lower the pitcher into a well, it can no longer be drawn. So the end has come. So remember him, remember your Creator before this happens.

Verse seven, "then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it." Now, back to Second Corinthians 4:16. Indeed, the "outer man is decaying." I think I have made that point very clear. I don't think there's anyone that would differ with me on that; differ with the word I should say, "yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." Now, folks, this is where it gets really exciting. This is so exciting. The inner man speaks of the heart or the soul, the spirit; terms used again interchangeably; that immaterial, invisible, immortal, spiritual part of man that is reborn at salvation. This is what Paul called in Ephesians 4:24 The "new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth." Colossians 3:10 He says that we are to put on the "new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him." What an exciting truth that is. First Corinthians 15:42, where he's speaking concerning the resurrection of the dead where the body is likened to a seed planted in the ground, he said, "It is sown a perishable body, but it is raised an imperishable body." And in verse 44, he said, "It is sown a natural body, it is raised the spiritual body. If there is a natural body, then there also is a spiritual body.: There's the inner man.

Now that we understand the terms, let's look closely at the beleaguered, disfigured, persecuted apostle, and try to understand now why he didn't lose heart in the face of all of the adversity that he experienced. Verse 16, "Therefore we do not lose heart. But though,"-- there's a hint of hope there right, a hint of triumph of victory--"but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." Oh, dear Christian, this is the secret to joy in the midst of sorrow, especially when we face death. And it brings us to our very first little point here, our inner man grows stronger when our outer man weakens.

I mean, have you ever considered this? What a magnificent truth this is? It's astounding. In Ephesians 3:16, Paul says, we are "strengthened with power through His Spirit in the"--here it is--"inner man." Why? "So that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith." So that we will experience the soul satisfying soul exhilarating joy of the living Christ deep within our soul. That's what's going on within us. Now the unbeliever cannot say this. As his body weakens his soul stays the same; it's dead, it's alienated from God. It is lifeless, it is at enmity with God. And it will blaspheme God and the solitary confinement of hell forever. But not so the redeem. Our inner man is forever hidden in Christ. An amazing thought, we're forever united to Christ. We have died, Paul says in Colossians, three, three, and our "life is hidden with Christ in God." Verse four says he "is our life." You see folks in the inner man, we enjoy communion with God, we enjoy intimate fellowship with him. In the inner man he speaks to us through his word by the power of his Spirit. And he grows us into the likeness of Christ. Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me." Obviously, it's not my physical body, it's my inner man. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself up for me. Dear friends, it is the inner man, not the outer man that deserves our full attention. That should be the priority that should captivate our thoughts. It is our soul, not our body that is most important. And of course, we live in a culture that is obsessed with the body; absolutely obsessed with the body. We've got to show it off, we got to paint graffiti all over it. We've got to do all of this exercise, we've got to take steroids to make us look more muscular, for the guys. And I guess for some of the girls, we've got to go to the beauty salon, which never does that for me for some reason. We've got to do all of these things. But God looks at our heart, not our body. Proverbs 4:23, "Watch over your heart, with all diligence for from it flow the springs of life." So we've got to guard our hearts, our inner man, we've got to cultivate godliness within our soul, we've got to pursue holiness in the inner man.

Again, the body is decaying, that's just gonna happen. And yeah, I know you want to paint it up, you don't want to look as bad as you can I understand that, you know. You've got to do certain things, I get that. But it's the inner man that deserves our full attention. Because it is there by the power of the Holy Spirit, that Christ is revealed to us. And we become likened unto him. That's the process of sanctification. Paul spoke of this, in Second Corinthians three, verse 18, "But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord..." by the way, you will recall, it's a reference to seeing Christ in Scripture, we behold "the glory of the Lord." Well, what happens? We're being "transformed in that same image, from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."

Now we know when we first come to Christ, we are babes in Christ, spiritually speaking, but we gradually grow into maturity. In first, John 1:29 and following, John gives us a description of three stages of spiritual growth he speaks of little children, and then young men and fathers; we're not going to look at that closely, but he speaks of, first of all, there's the little children. That's how we all start. We're immature men of God, we possess just the most rudimentary fundamentals of God and his gospel. And then we begin to mature into young men, where we are now, shall we say, moderately mature, in the Lord; we have a grasp of sound doctrine, he tells us and, and we're able to stand against Satan, and walk by the Spirit, not by the flesh. But then the final stage is the father, the mature man or woman of God, that person who has a profound experience of the living God within their soul and has such a grasp of the knowledge and the fullness of God, that they live for the glory of God. It's not a duty, it is a desire, it is the passion of their soul. This is the one who walks in intimate fellowship and communion with God. But whatever the stage of maturity, we know that it's always the spirit that is at work in the inner man, to make this happen. This is why Paul never lost heart. That's the point. He keeps growing us in the grace and the knowledge of Christ and at death, at death, the renewing process is complete. Suddenly, the soul of a believer vacates the body, leaving all of the sin and all of the sorrow behind and it is instantly transported into the presence of God. Dear Christian, is this your testimony? Is this a testimony of your soul? Or are you hearing this and saying I have no idea what that man is talking about? Well, if that's the case, unless you do business with God and trust in Christ, you will perish in your sins. So we want to ask ourselves does this thrill our heart, does this animate our worship? And if it does, you're not going to lose heart when you face these things. When all of life seems lost, we know that all is about to be gained. We know that the fires of suffering are purifying the silver, if you will, of our life. We know that the Lord is purifying the inner man, we know that he tempers the steel of our faith. And then on the anvil of adversity, he shapes us into men and women that will live for His glory. And in the context of all of that, we enjoy amazing benefits of what it means to be in Christ. And then at death, we can say with Paul, "oh death, where is your victory? O, death, where is your sting?" I've been in the presence of both believers and unbelievers, in the final days, sometimes hours, sometimes minutes or even seconds of their death. I know some of you who are nurses, medical people, you've been there as well. What a difference, what a difference, the difference between terror and triumph, the difference between panic and peace. I've heard people howl in horror as they are about to slip through the veil, and to hell. I've heard them growl at me as I present the gospel to them in the final moments of their life. I've seen and I've heard people at the close of their life suddenly start grasping for things, knocking furniture lamps grasping to hang on to life, as they perish in their sins. And then I've been around believers, who are perfect peace, who typically are ministering to me more than I'm ministering to them and who want to sing praises to the Lord, in whose presence they are about to appear?

Well, how will you face death? How will you face eternity? We never know when God will summon us to pass through the veil. But in the face of death, a true Christian is going to experience that peace that surpasses all understanding. Why? Because that man or that woman knows that his soul is going to be released from his body and he is going to enter into the glorious presence of God, where there is fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore. Why? Because he knows his inner man has been "renewed, day by day," over the course of his life. And as we weaken in our body, we gain strength in our spirit. What an amazing paradox. That's why Paul said in Second Corinthians 12:10, "Therefore, I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ's sake;" and here's why, "for when I am weak, then I am..." There it is, there's the inner man. So our inner man grows stronger when our outer man weakened.

Secondly, our eternal reward grows greater when our suffering for Christ intensifies. Notice what he says in verse 17, "For momentary, light affliction is producing..." In the Greek it can be translated "preparing" or "cultivating"--"for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison." My goodness, what an amazing perspective. It almost seems like a non sequitur here. It's like, Whoa, I thought this was Paul, the guy that's being beat up. And yet he's saying this "momentary, light affliction?" Are you kidding me? All the suffering that he's enduring, and he says, "momentary, light affliction?" You see, it's all relative, isn't it? It's relative to what he's going to receive in heaven. Romans 8:17, "if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him." He speaks about, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God." Peter said the same thing in First Peter one beginning in verse six, "In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ."

Now, I want you to notice something technical here in the original language. It's really fascinating. It helps us understand what the Spirit is telling us through his inspired apostle with respect to our eternal reward. He says, "For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison." In Greek “kata hyperbole eis hyperbole," we get our English word "hyperbole" from this term. It's a double expression here in Greek and it indicates extra ordinary overabundance. I just have to start stacking superlatives up here to give you an idea here. In other words, this is a beyond all measure weight of glory. That's the point. That's what he's saying. This momentary and light affliction of ours is producing for us an eternal load of glory, that is incomparable. It is inconceivable, it is immeasurable in degree. It's beyond all proportion. It's beyond all comparison, or exaggeration. It exceeds the limits of the imagination. O dear Christian think of this the next time you cower in fear? Think of what awaits you because of what the Spirit of God is doing in the inner man. Too often we could be likened to, I don't know this is probably a corny illustrations--most of mine are-- but sometimes we're like the guy who's in a prisoner of war camp, okay. All of a sudden he finds out he's going to be released. Not only that, he's won $300 million in the lottery. But he can't enjoy it. He just can't enjoy it. Why? He's got a hangnail on his thumb. Got a hangnail, I'm really hurt. The journalist says, are you excited about getting out? Well, not really. I got a boo boo here. All they can focus on is his boo boo, got this hangnail here. Boy, I just don't know, you get the point. I mean, folks what we're going to receive is way beyond a get out of prison ticket and $300 million.

I've been around a lot of believers in countries where they're persecuted, I think of African believers, Russian believers, people that struggle in profound ways. Christians in Israel who are being persecuted by the Hasidic Jews, the Gur Hasidim. But they're filled with joy. They're overflowing with joy. I think of the last time I was in Uganda and every time I would speak, there were, I don't know, 300 pastors or so from all over Africa that were there. And when I would finish speaking, they would come around, and they would start asking questions. And before you know it, I would just have a group of them around me. And you know what, what they wanted to know about? Without fail, what they wanted to know about is tell us about Christ returning to the earth, and the establishment of His kingdom. Tell us about the second coming of Christ. We want to know about the end. That's what they were excited about. And as I would start to open up the scriptures to them, they would clap, and they would weep. And they would laugh, and they would sing and even at times, they would start dancing. I mean, it's real different than the way we do things here, you know, and I know I'm rather stoic myself inside, I'm really dancing and clapping, but I don't do much of that on the outside. I don't want you to think I'm some of those people. You know how that works. John MacArthur put it this way, "Whether suffering comes from believer's, faithful, loyal, committed testimony about Jesus Christ, or the patient enduring of life's normal trials, such as disease, divorce, poverty and loneliness, if endured with a humble, grateful God-honoring attitude, it will add to the eternal weight of glory." Folks, this was this was the apostle's heart. And this is why he was giving this message to the saints at Corinth.

Again, "Therefore we do not lose heart, though the outer man is decaying, yet her inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison." And so why, in light of this, he's not looking at his boo boo. He's looking at the eternal glory that awaits him. That's why he says in verse 18, "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen, are eternal." You see, he wasn't concerned about what he could see, what he could experience in his body; all of that transient. All of that, the Lord is in control of that. What he's concerned about is what is presently unseen, that will soon be revealed.

And this is why, thirdly, we see that our earthly joy grows fuller when our mind is set on eternity. Let's stop and think about this. For the unbeliever, the only joy that they can have is experienced in this body, and in what they can see, because their inner man is spiritually dead. They can only experience sensory perceptions of the body. So they can enjoy many things, they can enjoy the pleasures of this world; they can enjoy it, you know, a good football game, a good meal, great literature, great music, all of those things. But when they don't have that. Life is not very happy. Had a doctor friend of mine saying, Dave, if we don't have college football, this fall, I'm gonna go postal. And there's a lot of people, probably some in here, that say the same thing. When the Nazis bombed London in World War Two, Parliament demanded that they have blackouts at night, so that the Nazis couldn't see as well. So they shut down all of the bars and all of the theaters and all of the sports arenas. And as a result, massive protests broke out. Because the people said, we are going to go mad if we have no way of escaping the miseries of life. Not so for the believer. Oh, yes, we enjoy those things. But my life has not lived in what I can see. My life is not lived with my body. My life is lived in the inner man in relationship with the Living God. That's where my inner man, and her inner man--my wife--connect in the oneness of marriage. That's where you enjoy what God has given us. And that's what Paul is saying here.

In Romans five and verse three, Paul says, "we also exult in our tribulations"--interesting, "we exult in our tribulations." By the way, the Greek helps us understand that. He's not saying we exult in spite of them, but rather we exult because of them. Why? "Knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance, and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our heart through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." So again, because of what God is doing in our inner man, we know that we are citizens of another kingdom. I mean, we're just passing through here. So therefore we count it all joy when things begin to fall apart. We set our mind on things above. And then we experience that soul satisfying joy of God's presence, the peace of God that that surpasses all understanding, guards our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus. Peter put it this way again, First Peter 5:10, "After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you." When we come to the end of life, with this perspective, we can say with Paul, Second Timothy four, verse seven, "I have fought the good fight. I have finished the course. I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing." Beloved, let these great truths be the center of gravity around which your life orbits especially those of you who are perhaps today tempted to lose heart. To know that the spirit is renewing your inner man constantly.

And perhaps I can close with the words of Isaiah the prophet, to encourage those going into the Babylonian captivity, to remind them, as I will remind you now, of this work of God's grace in the inner man. He said in Isaiah 40, "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth never grows weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary and to those lacking might, He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous, young men stumble badly, yet those who wait upon the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles, they will run not get tired. They will walk and not become weary." Beloved, these are the promises that are ours; our hope, and our help is in Christ, because he is preparing us for the triumph of saving grace and eternal glory. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these eternal truths that minister so deeply to our hearts as your people. But may they be more than just some intellectual understanding of great theology, But Lord, may this be the very food that we eat, the very air that we breathe, the theme of every song that we might enjoy--the fullness of your glory and grace, even this side of heaven. And for those that do not know, you know, Father, I plead with you. Bring conviction to their heart, that they might believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved and experience even this day, the miracle of the new birth. For it's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.

Will you take your Bibles and turn to Second Corinthians chapter four, we are going to be looking at verses seven through 15. As we continue to make our way through this epistle, I've been titled by discourse to you a "Priceless Treasure in Earthen Vessels." Before we look at the text may I say that in a world drowning in a cesspool of wickedness, it is always a wonderful thing to see the saints come together who long to see the glory and the greatness of God, who long to hear his word, who are willing to humble themselves before the word. May I remind you that God is always looking for hearts in which to dwell, that have a passion for his word. And certainly I've seen that here at Calvary Bible Church. In fact, in Isaiah 66 and verse two, we see how God promises to focus intently and bless those who are humble and contrite of spirit, and who tremble at his word. So I'm deeply humbled to be able to minister the word of God to such a group of believers as that. Those of us who were all debtors to his grace.

Now, before I read this text, and we look at it closely, may I say that this is a very personal passage of scripture for the apostle Paul. It’s one that reveals just some of the very core longings of his soul and some of the things that he's excited about. And I might say that this is a passage that is that is deeply moving, as we look at it--to each of us. It’s also one that is very encouraging. Now remember, Paul is defending himself against the scurrilous slander of the false teachers. He's not doing this out of personal ambition or pride to somehow just defend himself; he's concerned about the gospel. Because if these people are able to discredit his apostolic authority, and therefore discredit his message, then they will be allowed the freedom to proclaim their deceptions and propagate their lies. So in humility of heart, what's really fascinating here, in humility of heart, rather than refuting their claims about the apostle--that he's ugly, that he's unimpressive, he's imperfect, and all of those things--rather than refute those things, he agrees with them. It's really an amazing thing. He gives God all of the glory for whatever virtues are there, and whatever success in ministry. And what is really remarkable is that his humble acknowledgment of personal weaknesses, not only become his greatest asset, but also the most convincing proof of his apostolic authority. And that's what we're going to see play out here. And as we will discover his testimony of God's grace in his life and God's power in his life, even though he is feeble, and he's flawed, becomes just a profound encouragement to all of us who are likewise predisposed.

So let me begin in verse seven, Second Corinthians four verse seven. "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves; we were afflicted in every way but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body, the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you. But having the same spirit of faith according to what is written, 'I believed, therefore I spoke,' we also believe, therefore we also speak, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you. For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God."

As we read ancient history, we discover that included in a Roman general's triumph--included within that procession of a conquering general--would be a number of things, but especially several large carts of clay pots filled with all of the spoils of war, all of the beautiful diamonds and emeralds and rubies and golden bracelets and silver and all of those things; fabulous treasures of a conquered empire. All of them concealed in fragile, ugly, worthless, disposable clay pots. Well, I think you know where we're going here, right. Paul uses this as the perfect illustration of the treasure, of a transformed soul, the soul of the redeemed, concealed in human flesh. The soul of those of us who by God's grace have been transformed, we're transformed image bearers, and we're housed in the earthen vessels of these bodies; the priceless treasure of those whom He has revealed, according to verse six, "the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." That's what's inside these earthen vessels. Those of us who have been united to God by the gospel, whose inner man now reflects the glory of the Triune Godhead, whose soul now is the habitation, the temple of God. And o, dear Christian never lose the wonder of this. Christ in you, the what? "The hope of glory;" in you and your soul, the soul that never dies, that lives eternally because it is united to Christ.

Later in verse 16, Paul speaks of the profound importance, yea, the mystery of the believer's soul, he calls it our "inner man." Notice what he says in verse 16. "Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our inner man our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." In verse 18, he says, "we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen, are eternal." Folks, take a moment, just look at your hands. Look at your hands, look at your arms, look at your body. Look at those around you. Look at all that you see here in this worship center. You realize all of these things are going to disappear one day, none of these are going to last. It's only the things that we cannot see that are eternal. And who knows what we can't see, I'm sure there are angelic beings all around us, we can't see them. Another thing that you cannot see is my soul or your own soul. But the priceless treasure of a redeemed soul, a soul that has been made partakers of the divine nature, the soul that has been given, as Paul says, the "Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ" that is eternal. Oh how we should cherish the new nature that has been wrought within our soul by the power of the Holy Spirit. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but loses his soul? Think of it dear Christian, your soul, biblically is forever hidden in Christ Jesus. I mean, these things make your head explode, right? I mean, we believe them by faith, and we can experience some of the reality of this, but it's amazing to think that that our soul is housed in a body that is getting weaker and weaker. Now, if you're young, it's going to get stronger and stronger for a while, but trust me, you know, you're going to reach a point where all of a sudden it's going to start doing this and then seems like it gets steeper and steeper, you know as it goes right. But though we're growing weak and frail, and someday we will return, you know, to the soil--ashes to ashes, dust to dust. I mean, though we were fashioned from the dust of the ground, and we were cursed by God, because of sin, because of that, we're going to experience death, we're going to experience decay and, and one day we'll return to the dust. Nevertheless, the soul belongs to God. It's an amazing thing. It has been renewed into the likeness of God and it's gradually being more conformed to express the glory of Christ. It's the very temple in which the Triune God lives forever. And it is the glory, dear friends, of this magnificent arrangement that Paul addresses here in this passage, and thus the title of my exposition, "Priceless Treasure in Earthen Vessels."

And here we learn why God has done this, let me give you four reasons, four little categories, that will kind of help us frame our thoughts as we go through this passage. He has done this, number one, to demonstrate the power of God. Secondly, to manifest the life of Jesus, number three to embolden gospel witness, and finally, to multiply God glorifying worshipers. And I trust God will impress these great truths upon your heart today. Now let's look closely at the text in verse seven. "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels." Now, some would say that this treasure is the gospel. And at some level that is true, but I believe it's much more than that. The "treasure" is the human soul that God has renewed by the power of the gospel; that soul that has been given as he says in verse six, "the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." That soul that now reflects that same glory through a human body. That is, according to Romans 12 one, "a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God." That inner nature that is being renewed every day, that inner man that causes the outer man to redound to the glory of God.

But notice, this priceless treasure is concealed. He says, in "earthen vessels;" literally, clay pots; perishable earthenware, that's what he's referring to. And the analogy here is obvious. The human body is relatively worthless in comparison to the soul, in comparison to the priceless treasure that it contains. Like a clay pot, we are fragile, we are unattractive, some of us more so than others. And we are disposable, right? O the glory that resides within. Now, remember the context here. Paul is agreeing with the accusations of the false apostles. Yes, I am weak, I am ugly, I am unimpressive. I am expendable. I'm of little value whatsoever. But know this, I am the trustee of a glorified soul; a priceless treasure. For within me resides the Triune Godhead. Within me, resides "the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." Therefore I will preach it, come what may. And why? Why is it in there, in this is clay pot? The end of verse seven, "so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves." Now he doesn't say this, but I'm sure in the back of his mind, and consistent with the with the context, he's saying, unlike you pompous, self-righteous emissaries of Satan who receives your power from the father of lies and your own flesh. So the priceless treasure is concealed within the earthen vessel of this body number one to demonstrate the power of God.

Beloved, we have no power in and of ourselves. None whatsoever, even physically, I mean, we grow strong for a season then we begin to wither and we begin to die. I mean, think about it. There's this microscopic, little demon floating around called a Coronavirus. And we can get that and it can cause all kinds of problems, for some people it could be fatal. There's accidents, right? We're frail, it doesn't take much to destroy this body. And, frankly, we're homely, you know? I mean, I don't want to be crude here. But if we look at ourselves without our clothing, without our makeup, without our hair coloring, without all that we realize, ew, you know, we're not exactly the most beautiful creatures on the planet. So a clay pot is a pretty good analogy. But folks, we are equally weak spiritually. I mean even though the Spirit dwells within us, there's this constant battle, right-- Galatians, five. I mean, the flesh and the spirit, it's always in enmity with one another. Jesus said, apart from me, you can't do very much. No, no, he said, You can't do anything. Right?

I recall what was going on with Timothy, you may remember, his spiritual knees were buckling under the weight of persecution, he was afraid all the things going on at the church at Ephesus. And Paul said to him, and Second Timothy two, one, "be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." That's where we get our strength. Also, in First Corinthians two, beginning of verse three, Paul said, "I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God." Where does he get that power? It's from within the soul. It's what resides within that clay pot. And remember the extreme weakness that Paul experienced as a result of that thorn in the flesh, that that emissary of Satan, that messenger of Satan, that false teacher that was trying to destroy him; remember, he asked the Lord three times to remove that thorn. And what did the Lord say? No, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness."

You know, I love to reflect upon the ways God is. God proves himself powerful on our behalf. I think that over the course of my life, he has always used just ordinary, flawed people just like me to do extraordinary things. And you think about it, he chose 12 ordinary men to be his apostles. Four of them were Galilean fisherman. One of them was a tax collector. The other guys were just ordinary guys. And later, he had chosen the apostle Paul. Even though he was a brilliant rabbi, he was also a persecutor of the church. Prior to his conversion, in fact, in First Corinthians 15, nine, he said, "I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church." First Timothy 1:13. He says, "I was formerly a blasphemer, and a persecutor and a violent aggressor." But God saw him said, I'm going to turn that man around and use him for my glory. Second Corinthians 10:10. His critics said his "personal appearance is unimpressive and his speech contemptible." And he admitted that he was unskilled in speech, Second Corinthians 11 six. And apparently he had some kind of a repulsive eye condition that caused people to kind of want to back away from it. We read about that in Galatians four. Nevertheless, he said in First Timothy 1:12, God "considered me faithful, putting me into service." You know, when I think about that, I rejoice and I can say, Boy, there's hope for all of us, right? There's hope for all of us. His life and ministry was so God honoring that he was even able to exhort others to say, "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ," First Corinthians 11:1. And in Second Corinthians 11 six, that :even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge." Again, over the course of my life, and I'm sure you will agree with this, as I look back over the years and see the type of people that had a gospel impact on my life, they've always been simple, ordinary people, unimpressive in the eyes of the world. In fact, I can safely say is that some of the most godly, humble, yet spiritually powerful people, that exist on the planet are a part of Calvary Bible Church, and other churches like ours. That's the way God likes to do it, right? It's an amazing thing. And yet, the world will never know those people. If they did know them, they would scoff at them. And yet one day, these are the very saints that are going to rule with Christ in His kingdom. And yet today they are nobodies. In fact, they're considered fools for Christ's sake. I think about this often--people driving by this church right now, lots of times on the way to church, I'll see, you know, people, you know, they've got their boats and their jet skis and all these things, and they're getting ready to go out and have a great day. And I think my, they're living for the now rather than for eternity, and they could come right down the road. And there's a little church here in rural Tennessee, that could give them the keys to the kingdom of God through the gospel, that they might be saved. And yet they want nothing to do with it. They want nothing to do with these obscure kind of odd people who actually believe that Jesus saves and he's coming again, do you realize how utterly ridiculous that is to the world? And yet how true it is.

First Corinthians one, verse 26, and following, Paul said, "For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world ashamed, the things which are strong, and the base things of the world, and the despised, God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by his doing, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. So that just as it is written, 'Let him who boasts," what? "boast in the Lord." Boast in the Lord.

You know, some of you, I'm sure are struggling in some significant ways in your life, it's just part of being in a fallen world, right? Things are difficult for you. But I would encourage you this morning to remember that you have this treasure in this earthen vessel. The treasure of a transformed redeemed soul that will one day be glorified. A priceless treasure. One, a soul that has been renewed by God, an invisible temple of the Triune God, that the world cannot see. An eternal soul that is forever hidden in Christ. A soul that is alive to God, but dead to sin; the opposite of the world. If you were to look into the soul of the unredeemed, you would see a corpse. You would see a person that is dead in their trespasses and sins; alienated from God. But "we have this treasure in earthen vessel, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves." When people see Christ, they don't say, "Wow, isn't that because of this great man or great woman?" No, it has nothing to do with that. It has everything to do with the one who dwells within me, and who dwells within you.

Now Paul gives some examples of some of his own struggles. And he does this through a series of paradoxes. In verses eight through nine, actually, you might say that there are four balanced antitheses that summarize his life and ministry. Notice what he says in verse eight. "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed." "Afflicted", carries the idea of being distressed by severe difficulties. But he's not crushed. In other words, he's not hopelessly distressed. Now, why is that? How can that be? How can a person be afflicted and yet not crushed? Well, the answer is clear. It's because of the "surpassing greatness" of the power of God within the soul. I mean God's grace is always sufficient, right? He goes on to say, he says, we're "perplexed, but not despairing." "Perplexed" literally means "filled with confusion." Sometimes you just don't know which way to turn, but you're not despairing. You're not losing your emotional and mental composure. How can that be? Well, it's because of the "surpassing greatness" of the power of God within the inner man. I think of Isaiah 26 three, "The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, because he trusts in You." Folks, serenity and hope is always anchored in our faith in God.

He goes on to verse nine and he said, we're "persecuted, but not forsaken." "Persecuted," it's an interesting term. In the original language it is one that refers to just a systematic attack on a person because of their belief. But we're not forsaken. In other words, even though that's happening, we're not abandoned. We don't feel neglected here. Well, how can that be? Because of the "surpassing greatness" of the power of God within the inner man. He has promised to never leave us nor forsake us. He goes on to say in verse nine, we're "struck down" a term that literally carries the idea of being knocked to the ground by a severe blow. Sometimes we feel that way, right? We've just feel like somebody just taken a baseball bat and hit us and we're just on the ground looking up. He said we're struck down at times, but we're not destroyed. In other words, we're not irreparably damaged. Well, how can that be? Because of the "surpassing greatness" of the power of God within the soul. I mean, he has promised to never tempt us beyond what we are able, right? First Corinthians 10:13, "but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that we may that we may be able to endure it." Folks, remember, all of the sufferings that we experience in life, are merely ways that the Lord uses to conform us into the likeness of Christ. With every wound, he chisels away at the relics of corruption that continue to cleave to our unredeemed humaneness. He's fitting us to be placed in the temple of God in the New Jerusalem.

I was thinking about this, you may recall in the Old Testament record, it is revealed that that King David was given the plans for the temple. And he gave it to Solomon. And part of those plans included the importance of precutting and prefitting every stone that would go into the temple. To do that in the quarry, and then take it in to the temple so that there would be no sound of chisel when the temple was erected. And this of course, was done to basically underscore the solemnity of their task and the perfections of holiness that that would symbolize. Can you imagine? I've seen these temple stones? I mean, they are just mammoth. Can you imagine cutting them that precisely and when you look at them, the way they're fitted together, it is astounding. First King six, seven, "The house," referring to the temple, "while it was being built, was built of stone prepared at the quarry, and there was neither hammer nor axe, nor any iron tool heard in the house while it was being built." Great Puritan Thomas Manton wrote this, "The present life is an incurable disease, and sometimes attended with that sharp sense that death is desired as a remedy and accepted as a benefit." He went on to say "Here, the living stones are cut and wounded and made fit by sufferings for a temple unto God in the New Jerusalem. But as in the building of Solomon's temple, the noise of a hammer was not heard. For all the parts were framed before with that exact design and correspondence that firmly combined together. They were hewn in another place, and nothing remained but the putting them one upon another in the temple. And then, as sacred, they were inviolable. So God, the architect, having prepared the saints here, by many cutting afflictions, places them in the eternal building, where no voice of sorrow is heard. Beloved, what a joy to know that he who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus and he's working on us right now.

But not only is this priceless treasure in earthen vessel there to demonstrate the power of God but secondly, to manifest the life of Jesus. Notice verse 10, he says "always," not occasionally, but, "always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body." I mean, this is why he experienced the hardships described in the previous verses. He is saying to them, Look, despite what these phonies are telling you, I'm not experiencing hardship, because there's some secret sin in my life, that God is somehow punishing me. I'm merely submitting to the will of God who has ordained my afflictions, who has ordained by sufferings, so that the power of Christ would be manifested in my life, so that my life and my ministry would be a purposeful sacrifice. This is why he said in First Corinthians 15:31, "I die daily."

Now, as we look at verse 10, there's a key here that's interesting, the word "dying." Normally in Greek, in the New Testament, the term "thanatos" would be used; the word used to describe the actual event of a death, but here, it's "nekrosis." The prolonged process of dying, that includes the events that lead up to death. In English we have the word "necrosis" from that; it describes the death of cells in an organ or tissues or whatever. So Paul's life for Christ here, I'm sorry, Paul's love for Christ in his life manifested by obedience to Christ, was part of what was gradually destroying his outer body, because of all of the persecution. And because the world hates Christ. it hated him and hates all of us. So Paul denied himself, he was willing to take up his cross daily and follow the Lord. And of course, when you do this, Satan and his minions are going to attack you.

Verse 11, "For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh." But why? Why is this happening? So God can prove himself powerful on our behalf. And so others can see the power of God put on display in our life. Think of those that you have known over the years who have taken a stand for Christ in a hostile environment. People watch the response of that. Sinners had been converted because of the response of godly people who have suffered. I think of Stephen. Remember in Acts six. We read how he was full of grace and truth. And in verse 10, we read that "they were unable to cope with his wisdom and the Sirit with which he was speaking. So they secretly induced men to say, 'We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God.'" Well, that was just pure baloney. That was just slander. So what did they do? They took him out they and they stoned him. They were going to kill him. And then they did. In fact, we read that the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul. Isn't that interesting? We read the Stephen called upon the Lord and said, "'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! And falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, 'Lord, do not hold a sin against them!' And having said this, he fell asleep." Folks, take a stand for Christ and watch what happens. You are going to experience the hostility of the world. Put biblical truth on facebook, watch the reactions you'll get. You will experience just the venomous, malicious attacks of the ungodly, but also you will see how it will soften the hearts of the redeemed. And when you do this, you will be "carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in your body."

You know, satanic persecution is always certain proof that you're penetrating the kingdom of darkness, right? And one of the best ways to determine a godly man or a godly woman is by identifying their friends as well as their enemies. Jesus said, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way." So again, in verse 12, "So death works in us, but life in you." Folks, evangelism comes with a cost. Have you ever thought about the sacrifice that others have made in your life over the years so that you could hear the truth of the gospel? The great English theologian and seminary professor at the University of Oxford, John Wycliffe, stood against the heresies of Roman Catholicism in the 14th century. And among many things that he stood against one of the things that he stood for was the translation of the Bible, from the Latin Vulgate into the common vernacular so that people could actually read the Word of God. Of course, the Roman Catholics didn't want that at all. So he was hated, and he was hunted. He, by the way, was one of the forerunners of the Protestant Reformation. He had to flee for his life and eventually, he worked himself to exhaustion, he died of a heart attack. And then it's interesting, 41 years after his death, the Roman Catholic Council of Constance declared Wycliffe, a heretic on May 4, 1415. They hated him so much that they banned his writings and excommunicated him retro actively. The council decreed that Wycliffe's work should be burned, and his bodily remains removed from consecrated ground. and the order was confirmed by Pope Martin the fifth. it was carried out 1428. And so what did they do? They went to Wycliffe' grave, and they exhumed his body, they burned what was left, and they took the ashes and cast it into the River Swift. That's how much Satan hates those that follow Christ. And we could recount 1000s of similar stories of people who were willing to die for Christ so that others could experience life in Christ. But folks, the priceless treasure of Wycliffe's soul was in glory, right? It was beyond the reach of their venomous malice. You want to ask yourself, "To what extent am I willing to sacrifice?" I'm thankful for parents that I had when I was a little boy that would read Bible stories to me. You know, I still remember a lot of those. I remember they brought me a set of books called the Book of Life. And it was kind of age appropriate, up through, you know, maybe high school and I remember looking at those pictures and reading those stories. I'm thankful that my parents took me to the churches where the truth was taught, I'm thankful for especially godly older women that taught me as a young little boy. We used to have flannel graphs. I know that's ageing me, but some of you shake your head, you know what flannel graphs are, I still remember those stories. I'm thankful for godly pastors that taught me. I'm thankful for godly youth leaders that gave themselves, that I might know and live the truth; that took me on campouts and canoe trips up to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota and on and on and on it goes. They sacrificed. Romans eight verse 36, that we read earlier, Paul says, "Just as it is written, 'For your sake, we are being put to death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' But," and I love the word "but" there, "but in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us,." Folks, the trials may be great, but the victory is infinitely greater. You must remember that.

And while languishing in a Roman prison cell, Paul wrote to the saints at Colossae, in Colossians 1:24. He says, "Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh, I do my share on behalf of His body, which is the church, in filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions." You see, he understood that suffering is a grace-granted privilege; in that in our dying, the church may receive life. As we give of ourselves, the Gospel goes forth, and men and women and boys and girls come to saving faith in Christ. And by enduring persecution intended for Christ, he was, as he says, "filling up what is lacking in Christ's affliction." You see, you might put it this way, He was the lightning rod for the world's unending hatred of Christ, a hatred that was not fully meted out at the cross but will continue throughout eternity with the blasphemies of the damned, as we read in Revelation 16. And like Christ, Paul was happy to endure an extra measure of suffering, as a willing substitute on behalf of the church, and perhaps even sparing the church some of the heartaches of that suffering, while at the same time putting the glory of Christ on display, so that they could look at him and say, wow, look what look what God can do in the life of his redeemed. And in Paul, they could see Christ. But again, how could such a frail and humbly man have such an impact on so many? How could a man press on in the midst of all of this persecution with such vitality and such joy? Well, the answer is in the text, it's because a priceless treasure was concealed within an earthen vessel, that treasure of that renewed soul.

So dear ones, God placed this priceless treasure of the gospel redeemed soul in these earthen vessels, to demonstrate the power of God to manifest the life of Christ. And thirdly, to embolden gospel witness. Think about this, despite the inevitable hostility that the gospel produces, Paul would never compromise. Verse 13, "But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, 'I believed, therefore I spoke,' we also believe, therefore we also speak." He is quoting by the way, Psalm 116, verse 10, "I believed, when I said, 'I am greatly afflicted.'" The idea here is, despite the magnitude of his troubles, even as the Psalmist said, he was confident that God would deliver him. You see, folks, faith not only survives, but it transcends suffering. It transcends persecution, sorrows, fear of death, and all of those things. That's why Paul was not ashamed of the gospel. He knew that it was the power of God unto salvation. And that's why he said in First Corinthians 9:16, "Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel." Because he knew that's the only message that will save. And that is why dear friends, we must remain steadfast in our commitment to preaching the gospel, and not get off in all of these other tangents--oh, the gospel is all about giving you a purpose driven life, or oh, the gospel is all about making you happy, and healthy and wealthy, or the gospel is all about promoting social justice and racial equality. Folks, none of that is true. None of that is in Scripture. That is not what the gospel about. The gospel is all about reconciling sinful man to a holy God. And once you move away from that, you have nothing more than the foolish rantings of man. Useless in preventing the decay in this world. The salt loses its saltiness in the church. And that's what we've seen today.

By the way, we see this most markedly in the new evangelical obsession with improving the social and economic problems in the world. But folks, if you will excuse just a very brief digression. When the gospel focus becomes humanitarian, rather than redemptive, you have no gospel at all. It's just another form of human wisdom that God calls foolishness. Paul knew the saving, transforming truth of the gospel, so he preached it without compromise, regardless of the costs. You might say, "well, yes, but Pastor, I struggle with fear." Join the club, don't we all? Paul did. Remember Ephesians 6:19. He said, "Pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness, the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak." But concealed in that frail, fearful earthen vessel was the infinite power of the Triune Godhead.

Back to verse 14, "knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you." Oh Child of God, will do well to remember this passage of Scripture, when you find yourself trembling in fear, standing before maybe even just a few people in your family, as you present them the gospel, realize that the very power that raised Jesus from the dead dwells within your earthen vessel, in your soul. We must always remember the implications of the resurrection, and glorification of Jesus Christ exceed, indeed, that exceeded the importance and power of all other events in history. I would say only the act of creation rival to this, because within the resurrection body of Jesus Christ, in whom we have been forever united, existed the supernatural power source of eternal life in God's everlasting kingdom. For this reason, Paul prayed for the Ephesians in Ephesians 1:19 that they would know what is the "immeasurable greatness of His power in us who believe, according to the working of his might, which he accomplished in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and made him sit at his right hand in the heavenly places." Folks, this is a prayer that we should pray often for each other, for our family.

So indeed, God placed this priceless treasure of a renewed soul in an earthen vessel, to demonstrate the power of God manifest the life of Jesus, and embolden gospel witness. And finally, as we close this morning to multiply, God glorifying worshipers, Well, isn't that what we all want? Don't you wish the whole world would worship Christ? You know, one day we're going to see that happen at the beginning of the millennial kingdom. The glory of the Lord will fill the earth as the waters fill the sea; amazing thought. Notice what Paul says here in verse 15, "For all things are for your sakes, so that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to abound to the glory of God." Oh, dear friends, what a testimony we have here of selfless, selfless love. His passion was to see men and women and boys and girls come to saving faith in Christ; not only for their eternal good, but for God's eternal glory. He wanted to see more and more clay pots, if you will, filled up with the glory of God and the souls of his redeemed. Saints that will one day join in the heavenly choir and sing "Worthy is the Lamb." Earthen vessels that will one day burst forth with the effulgence of the glory of God even as we saw in the Transfiguration of Christ on the mountain. In fact, the prophet Daniel says in Daniel 12, in verse three, "those who have insight will shine brightly, like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever." Oh, how I long to see all of you in the company of the redeemed when these earthly vessels will be exchanged for a glorified body; one that is suited to exist in the presence of the glory of God, one that is suited for eternal worship, in the presence of our thrice Holy God. When according to First Corinthians 15, verse 54, "this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written 'Death is swallowed up in victory. Oh Death, where is your victory? Oh, Death, where is your sting?' The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore," Paul says, "My beloved brethren, be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord." Well may these truths animate your heart to further praise and motivate your will to obedience and service to the one who deserves our utmost. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these eternal truths. We are so humbled by them. They are beyond our ability to even fathom, but by the power of Your Spirit that dwells within us, we are we are able to comprehend at least a portion of that which you would have us understand. And in so doing, we find our souls being lifted up into the heavens, as we are able to, perhaps a new way, even this morning to set our mind on things above and not on the things of this earth. Encourage each of us as we reflect upon what you have done in us what you're doing through us, and what one day you will do for us in the presence of your glory. For it's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.

So here we are, once again, with the wonderful privilege of looking into the Word of God. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Second Corinthians chapter three. This will be the third and final exposition of this section of scripture under the heading "Beholding the Glory of the Lord." We're in Second Corinthians chapter three, beginning in verse 17. And actually, I'm going to be mainly in chapter four, but all of it fits together, as you will see. Now before I read that, let me remind you that here we have the opportunity to understand what the Apostle Paul was communicating with respect to beholding the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ as he is revealed in Scripture; of beholding his majesty and his meekness, of being able to see the glory of his grace to see his power and his authority. For indeed, he is the Savior of sinners, and he is the Lord of the church. And unlike the old covenant believers, the new covenant believers like us are able to see Christ very clearly, as he is revealed in Scripture. We see him with, as Paul says, an unveiled face as Moses did on Mount Sinai. And the more we gaze upon him in Scripture, the more we contemplate the glories of his person and work, the more we become like him. And this was Paul's great concern for the saints in Corinth. Because you will remember the context here, there were false apostles that had come into the church, and they were trying to deceive people into believing that you needed to arbitrarily take some aspects of the old covenant and mix it with the new covenant in order for salvation and sanctification to occur. And as we will see, Satan continues to use that strategy of legalism, along with many other strategies, to deceive people, and he does so with devastating power. And as we've seen thus far, in the little outline that I have given you, seeing Christ in Scripture accomplishes five amazing realities in the life of a believer. Number one, it reveals the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, it transforms believers into the likeness of Christ. Number three, it emboldens believers to stand firm in their faith in Christ. Number four, it motivates believers to renounce sin, pursue holiness and proclaim the truth of Christ. And then the final one that we will deal with this morning is, it dispels the darkness of sin, and ignorance concerning the person and work of Christ.

So let me read this section to you and then we will begin to look at it closely and apply it to our lives. Second Corinthians three I want to begin with verse 17. "Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, justice from the Lord, the Spirit. Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bondservants for Jesus sake. For God who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness is the one who is shown in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.'"

So indeed, as our fifth point tells us, beholding the glory of the Lord in Scripture, dispels the darkness of sin and ignorance concerning the person and the work of Christ. Now again, a bit of context, in his absence, and behind his back, the false apostles and their sycophants in the church at Corinth were saying all manner of things to somehow discredit the Apostle Paul. And although they were according to verse two of Chapter Four "walking in craftiness and adulterating the Word of God," they accused Paul of that very thing. They even ridiculed his personal presence. They ridiculed his preaching style and his content. Boy, do I know what that feels like? I get that all the time. In Second Corinthians 10 and verse 10. Then he tells us how that they ridiculed his personal presence, saying it it was" unimpressive, his speech is contemptible." In other words, he's just a weak, ineffective person, you don't need to listen to him. They were saying that his preaching was offensive, and that it alienated people. First Corinthians 1:23, "to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness." Now remember, in ancient Corinth, and that whole area of the Greco Roman Empire, they preferred lofty, skillful rhetoric, eloquent oratory, steeped in philosophy, so that these speakers would woo and wow the audience; sway the crowds. They were the original seeker sensitive people, okay. They were culturally relevant ear tickling philosophers. That's what they were used to. But Paul's method and his message, were counterintuitive. He didn't do any of that. In fact, he said in First Corinthians two two, "I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." My goodness. That's it. From verse four, he went on to say, "my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but, “here it is, "in demonstration of the Spirit and of power." You see, he understood that it's not the messenger, but the message that God uses to save sinners. It's not cleverness, but it's clarity. He understood that it's not trickery, it is truth. It's not a message of relevance, but a call to repentance based upon the pure gospel of Jesus Christ.

And so again, in verse two, he says, "We have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God." In other words, like the false apostles, "but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." And then he says this, and this is where we're going to focus in a few minutes, "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." You see, folks, the reason why people do not respond to a clear, bold proclamation of the gospel is not because it is not packaged properly or presented properly. It's because people are spiritually dead in their trespasses and sins, Ephesians two, one. It's because, according to John 3:19, they "love the darkness more than the Light for their deeds are evil." It's because according to First Corinthians 2:14, The natural man is "spiritually discerned." In other words, he is incapable of discerning the activities of the Spirit of God. He cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God. They're utter foolishness to him, and we've all encountered such people. When you try to give them the gospel, they look at you like you've got two heads. Men and women reject the gospel, dear friends because they are spiritually blind. Jesus says in Matthew six, and verse 22, the lamp of the body is the eye. "If therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light." But here he's making a spiritual comparison, "If your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" You see, unbelievers cannot see the light of truth because the internal corruption of their very nature emanates darkness within them causing them to walk in darkness, which they perceive to be light. Worse yet, as we will see, they are double blinded. Not only are they blinded because of their depraved nature, but Satan does everything he possibly can to deceive them with all manner of strategies of darkness to keep them in unbelief. So what is it that gives man spiritual sight? It is the gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit. It's the miracle of regeneration. That instantaneous, supernatural impartation of spiritual life to the spiritually dead, like we would see pictured, even in Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. You see, the miracle of spiritual sight is what we must understand if we're going to have boldness in our evangelism. Because sometimes we think it's up to us to be really clever and come up with really cool ways to somehow help people be soft to the Gospel. And I'm not saying we shouldn't be kind, and we shouldn't present it in a loving manner. But folks, it's not going to be up to you to do that. It's going to be the truth that the Spirit of God uses to open their eyes. You will recall the miracle of spiritual sight that was pictured in John nine. In that narrative, Jesus takes the initiative to show mercy to a man born blind from birth, the text says, you know, those born blind from birth, give no value to sight, because they don't know what they're missing. They don't even know what it is. What a picture of spiritual death, right? And likewise, the spiritually blind have no capacity to see the wretchedness of their very nature of their condition, nor are they able to see the imminent danger that they are in. So they have no capacity to see their desperate need for the Savior. And they have no ability to see the glory of the person and the work of Christ. So God must do something. And folks, none of us would have ever seen the glory of Christ; we would have never seen our sin had the spirit of God not taken the initiative and stooped down to give us sight. Because there is none who seeks after God, Romans 3:11. So God must seek after us, as we read in Luke 19. And he must seek after us and he must save us. In fact, Jesus said, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God, as in the case of the blind beggar, we too were utterly destitute, utterly helpless. And were it not for a merciful God to come and to seek us out, we would have never been saved. So, folks, the point is, it is God, it is not man, that opens the eyes of the spiritually blind.

Now back to Second Corinthians four. Later in verse six, Paul is going to describe this very thing when he speaks of the sovereignty of God, granting spiritual eyesight to sinners. Remember there he says, "God who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shown in our hearts, to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." So it is not human persuasion, but the divine Spirit through his word that causes us to be born again. This is why evangelism must begin with the word, with the gospel, not apologetics. In fact, Peter states in First Peter 1:23, "For you have been born again, not of seed which is perishable, but imperishable, that is through the living and enduring word of God." He went on to say in verse 25, "And this is the word which was preached to you." Similarly, in James 1:18, James says, "In the exercise of His will, He brought us forth by the word of truth." The apostle John said, in John 1:13, "We were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God." Let me give you another passage, Paul told Timothy in Second Timothy two, beginning of verse 24, "The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wrong, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition. If perhaps," now catch this, "if perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil having been held captive by him to do his will." And this is why Paul would say that he's not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God unto salvation to all who believed, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. So again verse three, he says, "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing." In other words, unlike what these false apostles are saying about me, that the reason people aren't believing, the reason the church isn't filling up, so to speak, is because this guy's not saying the right things. That's not at all what the issue is. It is veiled to those, notice, who are perishing, which means those who are spiritually discerned, those who are spiritually blind; they're dead, they are doomed. Only God can open their eyes. It is not veiled because the preacher isn't clever enough. It is not veiled, because they're not hearing a non-offensive, culturally relevant, entertaining, conversational style sermon that'll kind of soften them up in order to somehow help spiritual cadavers be more comfortable, so that they will accept the gospel, so that they will be open minded towards the person and the work of Christ. Folks, that is just foolishness. That's just unbiblical. Nor is it dependent upon a preacher who can manipulate people emotionally, to get them to make a decision for Christ. Very dangerous.

He says again, in verse three, "If our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing." "Tois apollymenois" in the original language, it's a phrase used in chapter two and verse 15, where Paul described his ministry as a fragrance of death to those who rejected Christ. By the way, it's also used in Second Thessalonians two in verse 10. It says, he describes those who perish again, same phrase, "tois apollymenois,” those who perish, they do so because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. Now, this brings up a very important theological distinction that I want you to be aware of. Because I fear that this kind of, or misunderstanding, what Paul is saying here, and in many other passages of Scripture, has led to a great deal of false conversions so to speak. You know, we see this especially in what I call altar call evangelism. You've probably seen this before, at the conclusion of many church services, or evangelistic crusades. People are given an invitation to respond to the gospel message, which in many cases is is grossly distorted. And they are asked to raise a hand or walk an aisle, repeat a prayer and some of these types of things. Where upon they will immediately be welcomed into the kingdom of God, without giving any evidence whatsoever that they'd been made a new creature in Christ and the old things have passed away, the new things have come and so forth. And here's why this is dangerous. Friends, when an immediate external act in response to an evangelistic appeal is considered evidence of new birth, instead of a changed life, many people are going to be deceived into believing that they are born again when in fact, they are not. It's almost like, Oh, this is all I need to do to get my ticket punched. Okay, I'll do that. You probably have seen this with Franklin Graham here recently on television, where he gives kind of a gospel invitation and says, repeat this prayer and if you've repeated this prayer, there's people on the other end, and they'll talk to you and they're basically going to say, welcome to the kingdom. Don't let anybody ever tell you that you weren't just now born again. Well, you may have been, but there's a real danger with all of that. And furthermore, when a non-offensive kind of watered down gospel that appeals to carnal minds is the gospel that is preached. And then when masses of people embrace that kind of gospel, the perceived success of that kind of evangelism and the perceived success of that kind of, shall we say, gospel seed guaranteed to grow in any soil--when people see that, they say, Well, you know what? We need to adopt that style because that's bringing in the masses. Unfortunately, this is the tragic legacy of the errant Arminian and I would even say Pallagian theology of the flamboyant revivalist preacher, Charles Finney. He lived from 1792 to 1875. And this has been adopted by many evangelicals over the years, very common even to this day. Finney believed, quote, "human depravity is a voluntary condition." Didn't believe in, you know, the depraved nature of man. It's a voluntary condition. That is to say, it's continuance depends upon the choice of the human will. He went on to say, "Let a man once decide for Christ and he will become a new man." So the evangelist is not simply to preach Christ and tell men of their duty to believe he has to help make that believing reality by appointing some outward action to assist a change of will. Ian Murray, writes this concerning Finney; Finney believed, quote, "That evangelism has to involve telling gospel hearers that they are able to become Christians at once. They have to be presented with an immediate choice, and to show the sincerity and reality of their choosing Christ, let them do something to prove it. Hence, what became known as the altar call. That is the practice of calling those who would be converted to take some visible action, which would clinch the matter. The fact that such novel public actions were calculated to create natural excitement was the opposite in Finney's mind to being a drawback." He said, "God has found it necessary to take advantage of the excitability there is in mankind to produce powerful excitements among them before he can lead them to obey."

Now perhaps you've been in revivals, so called revivals, or crusades or whatever, you know, at the end of the sermon, there is a gospel invitation and all of a sudden the organ comes on, begins to set the mood. Typically, "Just as I am," you know. And then you begin to see people get up from all over. And they've been preprogrammed to do this in order to prime the pump, to get other people to kind of join in because we tend to be sheep. And, obviously, this method of evangelism, and based upon this kind of a gospel, really rules out dependence upon the sovereign grace of God to save people. That's the danger. And then the danger is that many of these people become false converts. And we know that to be true. It's not to say that some aren't saved, but many are not. In 1838, Joseph Ives Foot, a Presbyterian minister who lived in that era, and witnessed Finney's ministry wrote this quote, "During 10 years, hundreds and perhaps 1000s were annually reported to be converted on all hands, but now it is admitted that Finney's real converts are comparatively few. It is declared even by himself," even by Finney that, quote, "the great body of them are a disgrace to religion." Writing in 1835 in the Princeton essays, Albert D. Dodd, made a similar observation, quote, "Appearances were somewhat in favor of the new measures, at least wherever they were carried, converts were multiplied. But it is now generally understood that the numerous converts of the new measures have been in most cases, like the morning cloud and the early dew; in some places, not a half, a fifth, or even a 10th part of them remain." You know, someone has well stated that the one thing we learn from history is that we never learned from history. And this is certainly true in this regard. Countless people have responded to these kinds of emotional invitations without ever really even understanding the true gospel, without really understanding their own heart, their own nature, their own sinfulness and their own need for Christ. Nevertheless, as Michael Horton has aptly stated, quote, "The New York revivalist was the oft quoted," and by the way, he's referring to Charles Finney, "The New York revivalist was the oft quoted and celebrated champion of the Christian singer Keith Green and the Youth with A Mission organization. He is a particularly esteemed or he is particularly esteemed among the leaders of the Christian right. And the Christian left by both Jerry Falwell and Jim Wallace, Sojourners magazine. And his imprint can be seen in movements that appear to be diverse, but in reality are merely heirs to Finney's legacy-- from the Vineyard Movement and the Church Growth Movement to the political and social crusades, televangelism, the Promise Keepers movement, and even as a former Wheaton College President glowingly cheered, 'Finney lives on.' That is because," as Horton goes on to say, "Finney's moralistic impulse envisioned a church that was in large measure an agency of personal and social reform, rather than the institution in which the means of grace, Word and Sacrament are made available to believers who then take the gospel to the world," end quote. See, folks although Finney's theology was errant on many levels, which is beyond the purpose of our discussion here, his denial of the doctrine of original sin, and man's utter inability to somehow contribute to his salvation, because of the bondage of his will, and his nature. All of those things just are really contrary to the true gospel, contrary to the doctrine of regeneration, and justification. After all, who needs the Spirit, if a clever preacher can get someone to make a decision for Christ? Who needs the Spirit, if you can get a man to lift his own veil off of his eyes so that he can see the truth? Who needs the Spirit if you can cause yourself to be born again. And by what standard of measure, can anyone be called a Christian? If all that is necessary for man to do is just to decide on himself, make a decision for Christ, with the help of a compelling evangelist, of course, and then validate that conversion solely on the basis of some external act and a profession of faith. That is the great danger. And over the years, I've seen many people come to faith in Christ. I've seen them break down and weep. And in the middle of a service, I've seen them, go into a back room and just come to Christ, often with great emotion, sometimes not. I know of many others who have gone home, I can just think of story after story, where they've gotten down on their knees and come to Christ. But folks, the other dangers, whenever you have a sanitized, watered down version of the gospel; some seeker sensitive form of the gospel, what you have is just a hybrid of the same kind of system. You know, let's soften up the crowd with some entertainment. Let's get the lights right, get the music right. Make sure everybody's kind of getting into it, and then offer them a feel-good sermon. And invite them to ask Jesus into their hearts so that they can be happy. Because after all, God wants you to be happy; doesn't mean he wants you to be successful and all of those types of things. He even wants you to be prosperous. Boy, watch what happens. And what happens is you fling open the wide gate, and you make it wide as possible so that people enter the wide gate rather than the narrow and they traverse down the broad path that leads to destruction.

You know, it's funny, I bring this up because Satan had been at all this stuff and we could see it all the way back in the first century with the apostle Paul in Corinth. The false apostles were into this type of thing, their own version. And they were criticizing Paul because he wasn't. You know, all Paul did, I mean, he was just dumb enough to just unleash the truth on people. We see this, for example in First Thessalonians two beginning of verse two, Paul says, "after we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi as you know, we had the boldness in our God to catch this, to speak to you the gospel of God amid much opposition. For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity, or a by way of deceit; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts." I've had a number of evangelical preachers that I've interacted with over the years that have told me, "So Dave, we could never get away preaching some of the things you preach in your church." And one guy telling me, you know, brother, that stuff just turns people off. You know, I remember one preacher called me and he said, he said, If I were to preach, and he was talking about a certain message that I preached, kind of a series, he said, If I would have preached that they would have hauled me off of the stage in the middle of the sermon.

And I reminded him of what Jesus said in Luke 6:26, "Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way." Folks, as people that know and love Christ, and had been saved by His grace, we're not trying to win some popularity contest. We're trying to give people the truth of the gospel, the truth of what the Word of God has to say. And then let the Spirit do what only He will do. And whenever the truth is preached, it will do one of two things, it will either harden hearts or soften hearts, and that's up to the Spirit. "So even if our gospel is veiled," Paul says, "It is veiled to those who are perishing in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving." The word "world"-- "aion," in the original language, it could be translated "age." Paul described it by the way, in Galatians, one four as this "present evil age." It's a description of this whole world system that God has allowed Satan to oversee, to influence, to control a system that is in opposition to God, that's designed to hinder the work of God, and to hinder his people. We all experience this. And that's what he says, in whose case the god of this world, referring to Satan, is the one doing this. By the way, "god" small g, obviously, Satan is a created being. Nevertheless, he has dominion, albeit temporary and limited; nevertheless, he has subjects--they are called unbelievers. I like the way John MacArthur put it, quote, "Satan is the archetype of all the false gods in all the false religions he has spawned."

So he's the one that has blinded the minds. "Minds" are a term in the original language that speaks about a person's ability to apprehend, to reason, to understand logically. "He has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel," and so forth. Now, how does he do this? He doesn't necessarily do this by indwelling people, even though that has happened, and that can happen. But rather, he does this through temptations, and through deceptions that appeal to a man's innate, depraved nature. Think of it this way. He's the pimp that provides the prostitute to the man who is already enslaved by his immoral loss. He's the cartel that provides the drugs for the people who are already living in a state of unimaginable depravity. He is the record label that promotes the artists who sing the lyrics that appeal to those who are in love with the world. He is the Hollywood that produces the filth that appeals to depraved minds. Here's the educational system that trains the teachers who teach the students who are already alienated from God and walk in darkness. He is the political party that deceives the masses, makes laws to oppose God's law and therefore panders, the wickedness that is already there in the human heart. We see this today with the satanic groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter; Marxist revolutionaries that grossly exaggerate racial inequalities in order to push their agenda of social injustice and create division amongst the people so they can quote, "disrupt the Western prescribed nuclear family structure." Can you imagine that? Yeah, that's what Satan does. Also the Black Lives Matter people say they want to dismantle cisgender privilege and uplift black trans folk, especially black trans women who continue to be disproportionately impacted by trans antagonistic violence. Basically, they want to promote sexual deviancy, things that are an abomination to God. They don't want to promote radical feminism; they want to abolish the police. Basically, they want to abolish capitalism, they want to abolish the Constitution. And folks, please hear this. They want to abolish biblical Christianity. That is at the very core of what Satan is doing here. And if you don't understand that, you've been deceived. Think of the unbelievers that, you know, not only are they dead, spiritually, and blind because of their depravity, because they love darkness rather than light, but virtually everything that they experience in life is Satan’s way of somehow deceiving them and blinding them even further. I mean, think we send kids to, not everybody, but a lot of people will send kids to school. And by the way, I understand some people have to do this, but we have ungodly teachers, you know, they're going to tell the kids that there's no creator, for example. College professors, phony churches, false teachers, media, music, politics, social media. I mean, these are things that are designed by people whose father is the devil, and they want to do the desires of their father as Jesus said in John 8:44. These are people who want to kill unborn babies right up to the point of birth, and some of them to let them die even beyond that. I dare you, go to a high school principal and say, Look, I want to make sure that my child is not put in a class where they teach the LGBTQ agenda and watch the reaction you get. Can you imagine asking permission from the mayor in New York City to go there in front of the Trump Towers next to the Black Lives Matter thing that they've painted on the thing? May we also paint something right next to that, we just want to paint John 3:16. Oh, my we couldn't do that. That would be racist. And you know, on and on and on it goes. Folks, this is how Satan blames the minds of unbelievers. They're already hostile to God. They're already ruled by the lust of their flesh, and he just comes along and provides more opportunities to tempt them and to deceive them. Why do you think millions of people clamor to these prosperity cult charlatans? I mean, they just fill up these massive, ordered auditoriums. Why do you think that's so? It's because Ephesians, according to Ephesians, two beginning of verse two, "they walk according to the course of this world." That's why. "According to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience." Paul went on to say that they're "living in the lust of the flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and are by nature, children of wrath." You see, these people simply cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.

I love to read a lot of the old dead guys all right, can't wait to meet them someday. I glean so much from them. And under the heading Satan and the Gospel, an 18th century Scottish churchman Horatius Bonar, he lived from 1808 to 1889. He offers some very compelling, powerful insights regarding Satan's diabolical opposition to the purposes of God. And it's as if he could have written this, I know the language is a little bit old English, but he could have written this as if he had written it today, okay? I want you to listen to what he writes, quote, "Let us mark how in these days of ours, Satan works and tempts and rages. He comes as an angel of light to mislead yet pretending to lead to blind yet professing to open the eyes, to obscure and bewilder, yet professing to illuminate and guide. He approaches us with fair words upon his lips, liberality, progress, culture, freedom, expansion, elevation, science, literature, benevolence, nay and religion too. He seeks to make his own out of all these, to give the world as much of these suits his purpose, as much as will make them content without God, and without Christ and without the Holy Ghost." He went on to say, "He sets himself against God and of the things of God in every way. He can deny the gospel, or he can dilute the gospel, or he can obscure the gospel, or he can neutralize the gospel just as suits his purpose, or the persons with whom he has to do. His object in regard to the gospel is to take out of all of it that makes it glad tidings to the sinner. And oftentimes this modified or mutilated gospel, which looks so like the real, serves his end best. For it throws men off their guard, making them suppose that they have received Christ's gospel, even though they have not found in it the good news, which it contains." He goes on to say the "Satan rages against the true God, sometimes openly and coarsely and other times, calmly and politely. Making men believe that he is the friend of the truth, but an enemy to its perversion. Progress, progress, progress is his watchword now, by means of which he hopes to allure men away from the old anchorages, under the pretext of giving them wider, fuller, more genial teachings. He bids them soar above creeds, catechisms, dogmas, as the dregs of an inferior age and a lower mental status. He distinguishes too, between theology and religion, warmly advocating the latter in order to induce men to abandon the former. He rages against the divine accuracy of the Bible, and cunningly subverts its inspiration by elevating every true poet and philosopher to the same inspired position. So successfully has he wrought in disintegrating and undermining the truth, that there is hardly a portion of it left firm. The ground underneath us is hollow, and the crust on which we tread ready to give way and precipitate us into the abyss of unbelief." Folks, that was back in the 19th century. Look where we are now. You say, Well, is there any hope for sinners? Yes, it's the gospel. It's the power of the Spirit unleash it upon people. You don't need clever sermons. You don't need emotional altar calls with 37 verses of "Just as I am," you don't need all of those things. No smooth-talking crowd pleasers, not a non-offensive, self-esteem promoting conversational gospel, you don't need all of that. The only thing that dispels the darkness is, as Paul said, the manifestation of the truth.

So in verse five, we begin to wrap this up. He says, "For we do not preach ourselves." In other words, we're not trying to promote ourselves like the false teachers do. We're not peddling the word, we're not in this to make a buck. So many pulpits today are filled with entrepreneurs, not men that God has called and gifted to shepherd his people. By the way, later on, Paul will expose the false apostles in chapter 10 and verse 12 and following. He talks about how they would compare themselves with each other, which was common in their culture, using vicious smear tactics against their rivals. Can we say politics in America today? Guilty of character assassination, being boastful, territorial. In fact, self-boasting was an act of honor in their culture. Of course, you see Satan using the same types of things today.

Well, Paul denied being this way. He attributed whatever success there was, to one thing it was the ministry of the Lord through His Word. First Corinthians two and verse three. He said that he came to them again in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. He went on to say "on my own behalf, I will not boast except in regard to my weaknesses." Second Corinthians 12 five, and then verse nine, "I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me." You see, folks Paul didn't want a personal following. He wasn't trying to get a man to make a ministry empire. He simply preached Christ Jesus as Lord. He wanted Christ alone to be worshipped and praised and served and obeyed. And he didn't want people to serve him. He didn't have his own personal entourage carrying all of his bags and treating him like some prima donna. Instead he was there he says bondservant. "Doulos" in the original language; it could literally be translated "slave." He was their slave, for Jesus sake. By the way, the understanding of that term the slave was a person who was legally owned by someone else, and whose entire livelihood and purpose was determined by their master. That's who Paul was. That's who we need to be.

Well, then he closes the section by underscoring the sovereignty of God in salvation, by comparing it to the sovereign work of God in creation. And this passage always moves me to tears. I think I'll be okay here this morning. But it is so powerful when you think about it, folks, because this is the story of my life and yours. In verse six, he said, "For God who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness is the one who has shown in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." By the way, this is a reference to the Spirit's role in creation. When he spoke the world into existence out of nothing, we read about it in Genesis one, three. There, it says, God said, "Let there be light and there was light." One of my professors in seminary, Dr. Dick Mayhue, who writes this, "In regeneration, God unites the external call of gospel preaching with his sovereign, effectual call unto new life, into darkened and dead hearts, He speaks the command, 'Let there be light.' And he instantaneously births in us the light of eternal spiritual life where it had not existed."

Dear friends, I pray this as your testimony. You see, because regeneration is that great bridge of grace that that spans the infinite chasm between man's depravity and all that is needed, the righteous demands of the law, necessary to enter God's kingdom. Because of this, Paul was thrilled, he rejoiced, knowing that God had made him a minister, as he said in Second Corinthians three, six, "of a New Covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." So I would challenge you in closing here this morning to spend more time in the Word and less in the world, okay. As you go into the Word, and as you behold the glory of the Lord in Scripture, you are going to see the five little points that I've given you here in the outline, the Spirit of God will reveal the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, transform you into the likeness of Christ embolden you to stand firm in your faith in Christ, motivate you to renounce sin, pursue holiness, and proclaim the truth of Christ. And then finally, it is going to dispel the darkness of sin and ignorance concerning the person and work of Christ so that you will have discernment. And you can teach your children to have discernment. My great fear for each of you is, it's so easy, especially in these days, to be deceived by the enemy. And then, with all of the things that are bombarding us, not only are we deceived, but we end up being distracted. You know, one of the things that drives me nuts is when I click on something on the internet, I want to read an article all sudden, pop up, pop up, I can't even what is this? And now I'm fighting to get rid of all these things. You know, that's what Satan does. You know, you try to focus on something that is pure and lovely, and holy and godly in your life. And what happened? Boop, boop, there's just stuff everywhere. And we get distracted. We get distracted. I know so many people today, and there's, by the way, there's a place for some of this, but they're more concerned about stockpiling guns and ammunition and an ammo than they are having a secret devotion to God and prayer and worship and evangelism. And again, I know there's a place for all that, we need to be concerned with some of those things. Christians joining militias all over the place. People obsessed with the news and politics, horrified to see what's happening in the country and all of these types of things, getting all depressed and discouraged. Folks, please let me remind you again, our hope is in the in the Lord. It's not in anything else. It's not in politicians. It's not in anything in this world. We're citizens of another kingdom. You know, expect these things to happen and glorify Christ in the midst of them. Use it as an opportunity to present the gospel. Let your light shine before men so that they will see who Christ really is. But as Paul said in Second Corinthians 11 three, "I am afraid lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, that your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." Therefore, I would encourage you, as Paul said, in Colossians, three one, since "you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of the Father. Set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you have died and your life is what it is hidden with Christ in God." Then I love that next phrase, he says, "When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory."

Folks, let me close by encouraging you. King Jesus is coming again. Don't forget that. King Jesus is coming again as he has promised, believe the next thing on the prophetic stage is the church is going to be snatched away. Then Daniel's 70th, week of judgment upon Israel and upon the nation's will begin, sometimes known as the tribulation. He's going to judge the nations, he is going to restore a remnant of Israel and then he is going to return in power and great glory as King of kings and Lord of lords; we are going to return with him and he is going to establish his earthly kingdom. He is going to reign upon this earth for 1000 years in fulfillment of the Abrahamic and the Davidic covenants. As well as hundreds of Old Testament and New Testament prophecies, that will be a time when as Habakkuk says, "The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." O how I long for that day, don't you. But folks, it's coming, mark it, it's coming. And we pray that his kingdom will come and his will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Then that magnificent millennial kingdom will be the consummating bridge between human history and the eternal state. And we will dwell with him forever. All because of the glory of his grace. Amen? Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your gospel that has not only saved us, but that is in the process of sanctifying us. May we embrace these things with all of our heart and live them out in such a way that others will see the glory of Christ emanating from us. May our lives redound your glory. And once again, use us as salt and light in this very decaying, corrupt and dark world, that many will come to faith in Christ and finally, Lord, come quickly. I ask, come quickly. We long to see you face to face. For it's in Jesus name that I pray. Amen.

I'm always deeply honored to be able to minister the word of God to you. And we do that once again by looking at Second Corinthians chapter three. We're looking at verses 17 through verse six, actually of chapter four. I don't think I'll get all the way through this. But this is the second part of a little series on beholding the glory of the Lord. So follow along, as I read the text, and if you've not been with us, we go through the Bible verse by verse in whatever book we're in so that we don't miss anything, and we can apply all that the Lord has for us. So, second Corinthians chapter three, beginning in verse six, or 17. "Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness, or adulterating the Word of God, but by the manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond servants for Jesus sake. For God who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shone in our hearts, to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."

Here we see the power of gazing upon the Lord Jesus Christ as he is revealed in Scripture. And certainly, this was the passion of the apostle Paul as he endeavored to defend himself against the attacks of the false teachers, and some of the sycophants that he had developed within the church of Corinth. Remember, these were false teachers that were trying to mix elements of the Mosaic Law, the old covenant, with the new covenant, trying to say that you've got to do certain rituals and you've got to be circumcised, and all of these types of things, in order to be saved. And we've talked much about that. But what he is wanting them to do is to look clearly at the glory of Christ in the new covenant. And to be sure, we need to do this often in these dark days of deception that we find ourselves in; days of violence and lawlessness, and mounting persecution against the church. I've had the joy, this last week of speaking with several pastor friends of mine. Some of them are black pastors, and in black communities, others are white pastors in inner cities, that where they're dealing with all of the Antifa and Black Lives Matter and all of this, and it's wonderful to hear their biblical understanding of what's going on that really echoes what I have been telling you, but certainly, the domestic terrorism that we're watching unfold before our very eyes; I agree with all of my brothers this is, this is just one of many evidences of God's judgment upon just a godless nation, a pagan idolatrous nation. We are witnessing frankly, the wrath of divine abandonment. You've heard me talk about this before. Romans one. God has given so many people over to a depraved mind to do things that are just not only irrational but immoral and bizarre. And beloved, mark my word, your faith is going to be tested in ways like you have never had it before. We've had it really good here in the United States for many years. That's drawing to a close. Marxism and Biblical Christianity cannot coexist. Paul told Timothy in Second Timothy 3:12, "Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."

Now we know biblically that most of the persecution is going to come from, (cough) excuse me, the unbelieving world; people that hate Christ. But it's also going to come from the unbelieving church that says it's Christian. By the way, this has been how it has worked down through history. I mean, the greatest opponents of God's people, even in ancient Israel, were the religious leaders. The greatest opponents of Christianity at the birth of the church, were once again, religious leaders, the Pharisees and so forth. And we're going to see the same thing continue in the era in which we live. Don't be naive, the greatest threat to the true church is going to be from other professing Christians. Now, I know many of you are afraid of what you're seeing happening with the kind of the leftist movement, the Marxist movement, we've talked about that before. It's, not just Antifa. It's behind the Black Lives Matter movement. And of course, most of the people that are a part of that don't even realize that they're pawns in a much larger game that's going on here. But we want to remember that there are people, for example, in the Black Lives movement that are just trying to expose what they perceive to be is ethnic. So social inequality, they want unity. And they're clueless about how Satan can use maybe some legitimate things to accomplish his nefarious diabolical purposes and ultimately, prepare the world for the Antichrist. Lot of people were ignorant of that. Some of my brothers that I talked with said that, that most of the people in there, as one brother said, most of the people in my community couldn't spell Marxist, much less know that anything was a part of what they're doing or that that's part of what's fueling much of this. But there are many people in these movements that embrace agendas that are absolutely an abomination to God. Especially the whole LGBT Q. What is it? AI plus movement. These are things that we must not partner with as believers. Second Corinthians six clearly states that; that Christians cannot partner with these kinds of ungodly movements. So righteousness has no fellowship with lawlessness, Paul says and so forth. But whether it's Black Lives Matter, Antifa, LGBTQ IA plus adoption agencies, the leftist political party, or even the godless conservatives, the godless, a lot of the people that are pro life absolutely hate Christ. Regardless of whatever the movement might be, you must understand that these people serve their father, the devil, and most of them don't know it. They serve the father of lies who was a murderer from the beginning. They love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil, and they need the gospel. And I'm convinced that at their core, the agenda of the whole social justice, Black Lives movement is to ultimately silence Christians, to silence those who preach the gospel and who pursue holiness. They have no fear of God. They bow to no authority other than their own. They hate all authority. They love darkness rather than light. They love the world, and they hate Christ and all who belong to him.

I know, I have been accused, and I'm sure you have as well, of being a conspiracy theorist. Well, you know what, I am a conspiracy theorist because I know the Word of God. And there is a conspiracy going on. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but powers and principalities. And we know according to Second Thessalonians two that the mystery of lawlessness is already at work that started even back in the in the first century when that was written. We know that the lawless one is going to be revealed and his coming is in accord with Satan, referring to the Antichrist, and all of these things. So folks, indeed, there is a conspiracy, it's been going on since the fall. And we're a part of it in terms of those that Satan and his people hate. I love what we read in John 16:33. "'In the world, you have tribulation, but take courage I have overcome the world.'" isn't that wonderful promise. Because there's no way we're going to elect enough politicians to overcome the world. Somebody told me the other day Pastor, you need to get woke. And, you know, the idea that you need to feel guilty because you're a racist, that you're, you know, the very fact that your white means you're a racist, and you need to feel guilty for your white privilege and he kind of went through this type of thing. You need to embrace critical race theory--that is utterly unbiblical. You need to embrace social justice and Black Lives Matter and all these types of things. And I tried to be kin-- I think I was--but my mind went to Ephesians five and I reiterated this a bit to this brother. In verse 11, the apostle Paul says, "Do not participate." Let me say it again, "Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light. For this reason, it says 'Awake sleeper.'" This is how I want to be woke, right? "'Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead. and Christ will shine on you. Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil." And sadly, much of the church today has no clue as to what's going on in our world. The church has really become like the world. In fact, we live in an evangelical era where people really don't know how to define a Christian. I mean, think about this, if you were to take, let's just take 1000 public school teachers, okay, let's just pick them at random. Let me ask you this question, school teachers. Do you believe that all men and women are born in sin that we have a sin nature? That all we do, and all we are is fundamentally offensive to a holy God. And therefore, the wrath of God abides upon all men. And the only hope of our salvation is placing our faith in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And obeying His Word, which tells us that such things as the LGBTQ and so many of these other movements are an abomination to Him. How many of you believe that teachers? I don't know, we might get one hand, maybe two or three. Now, let me ask the next question. How many of you are Christians? Do I make my point clear; many hands would rise up or would raise up? Well, since the inception of the church at Pentecost, dear friends, Satan has been sowing tears amongst the wheat. And this will continue we know, until the Lord returns.

Dave Harrell

And this causes evangelism to take on a whole new image. I mean, you think about how so many evangelicals evangelize today. They have an obsession with church growth at the expense of Bible doctrine. And so rather than the church being the proclaimer, and the protector of divine truth, it has become an amorphous amalgam of social services and pseudo-Christian entertainment and prosperity hustling and political activism and on and on it goes. The church for the most part has become a cross between, I don't know, a circus and a country club. The church has gone out of its way to coddle unbelievers to make sure that they are culturally relevant. So they don't offend anybody. And therefore, no one who hears a pseudo phony gospel is truly going to be born again. But they're going to fill up churches. And therefore you have churches filled with unbelievers.

Now many evangelicals are trying to find some common ground with all of these lawless haters of God that we see in our world; trying to find some nuanced position between what we believe as Christians and what you believe out here with, for example, critical race theory and gender identity, and same sex marriage and all of that. Because after all, we don't want to be called a racist, or a bigot or a homophobe, or transphobic, or whatever else you hear. But pastor, we've got to build bridges. No dear friends, we don't, we have got to preach the gospel. There is no bridge between the sinfulness of man and the holiness of God. There is no bridge between heaven and hell. And there is but one mediator between God and man. And that is the man Christ Jesus. I hear people say why I'm just so confused. I just, I just don't know what to do. I don't, I don't know what to say. Then let me end that today, the Scripture is very clear about this. What we need to do is preach the word, we need to proclaim the gospel.

Folks, you really have to ask yourself, and by the way, I am going to get to the text in a moment because it does fit in. But you really have to ask yourself, do you really trust God? You know, when it's all on the line, do you really trust him? Come what may? Well, yes, but Pastor, I mean, I don't want to lose my job. I don't want to get beat up, right? I mean, these people just get in your face. They just intimidate you and they could burn my house down and all these types of things. Well, yeah, and I certainly hope that none of that happens, but it might. Jesus said, If you're going to come after Me, you gotta be willing to deny yourself, take up a cross. You know, are you willing to do that? Or maybe just up to a point. As long as it doesn't cost me anything, I'll follow Jesus. But when it comes time to stand up, and look the enemy in the face, and love them enough to say, Thus saith the Lord? Are you willing to do that? I've given you tracks to handout. I'm ashamed to say that most of them are still here. Are you linking these things on your internet? We're trying to do everything we can to give people the gospel. Are you serious about that? First Thessalonians, two, beginning of verse two, the apostle Paul says, "After we had already suffered and been mistreated in Philippi, as you know, we had the boldness in our God to speak to you, the gospel of God, amid much opposition. For our exhortation does not come from error or impurity or by way of deceit; but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak a," catch this, "not as pleasing men, but God who examines our heart." Beloved, your faith is about to be tested in the days to come, the years to come, like never before. The question is, are you going to cower in fear? Or are you going to stand in the strength of the Lord our God? Did you not give your life to Christ? You said you did. Well, now it's time to, as we say, put your money where your mouth is right? Oh for boldness.

Jesus warned about the days that are coming upon us, Luke 21, beginning in verse 12, "'They will lay their hands on you, and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons'"-- in other words the religious authorities, and the-- "'prisons, bringing you before kings and governors, for My name's sake. It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. So make up your minds, not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves, for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.'" Isn't that a wonderful promise? When they get in your face, and I've had this before, it's amazing to see how the Spirit of God gives you just the right words to say. "'But you will be betrayed even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death. And you will be hated by all because of my name.'" Folks, churches like ours are targets of the enemy. The voices like mine are going to be drowned out; voices like yours are going to be drowned out by the mob. It's inevitable. That's part of what's going to happen on this earth before our Lord returns. And as persecution mounts, those who resent the truth and love the world are going to leave Calvary Bible Church. It's inevitable. Of course, we've had this for years, every church has this. But others who love the truth and resent the world are going to come from other churches. We're seeing some of this mount even on the internet. Because the saints are starving for truth. And what's going to happen as persecution mounts is you are going to long for the glory of Christ and for his return like you never have before. Your hunger for the Word of God will become absolutely insatiable. Prayer will become the very air that you breathe. Payer meetings, which we want to enact once again here in the fall when things get back, hopefully to a little bit of more like normal, prayer meetings or will be attended like Sunday morning services. Fellowship will take on a whole new meaning. You're going to sing hymns with a renewed passion. I've been around people in other parts of the world. Like my Russian brethren, who know all about Marxism. And when you hear them pray, and you hear them sing, it's like you're in a parallel universe. We're all going to find ourselves invigorated with a zeal for evangelism like never before, and people are going to be saved. That's the amazing thing about persecution. God uses it to bring people to Himself. God's saving purposes are always concealed in calamity. But whatever God sends our way we can know that God is in it and that he is going to accomplish his good purposes in us and through us.

Well, all of that, by way of introduction here, Paul knew exactly what it was like to be persecuted in ways, frankly, that we can't imagine. And in this section of his letter to the Corinthians, he underscores the key to survival during suffering, and that key is the holding the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, as he is revealed in Scripture. In this section, as you will recall, in our previous times together, seeing Christ in Scripture accomplishes at least five amazing realities in our life. I've delineated them as following; seeing Christ in Scripture number one, reveals the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, it transforms believers into the likeness of Christ. Thirdly, it emboldens believers to stand firm in their faith in Christ. Number four, it motivates believers to renounce sin. pursue holiness and proclaim the truth of Christ. And number five, it dispels the darkness of sin and ignorance concerning the person and the work of Christ. Just remember the five verbs seeing Christ in Scripture: reveals, transforms, emboldened, motivates and dispels.

Now remember Paul's line of argument here, he is reminding the folks who are being tempted to go back and arbitrarily mix some aspects of the Old Covenant Mosaic Law with the new. He's reminding them that unlike Old Covenant believers, New Covenant believers are able to see the face of Christ with an unveiled face as Moses did on Mount Sinai. Moreover, he's reminding them that the radiance of the glory of God that emanated from Moses’ face gradually faded, but the glory of the Lord that resides in the believer, through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, is reflected in the life of a believer, and it remains that way forever. In fact, it gradually increases and the more we gaze upon him in Scripture, the more we contemplate his perfections the more we reflect upon His person and work, the more we become like Jesus. That's Paul's whole argument here. The more his glory will emanate from us, the more our lives will redound to his glory. And as you will recall, our sanctification is a process, an ongoing transformation. But that transformation as we studied the last time we were together, that transformation is affected by-- in other words, it is brought about by--our quote, "beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord," referring to the gazing upon Christ as he's revealed in Scripture. And one day that process of sanctification is going to be completed. I cannot wait until that day. I was waiting for my wife to say amen. Won't that be something when one day we will be glorified? My my, my.

First John three, in the verse two, "We know that when He appears, we will be." what? "We will be like Him. Because we will see Him just as He is." By the way, do you remember when God was calling you and when he drew you unto himself, and suddenly you really saw who Christ was? Who He is? You could see it in Scripture. For most of us, that was a gradual process. It certainly was for me. But it was finally a time when the veil just came off. And I just, I just saw it. It was Elementary. I mean, I was only nine years old. But I knew enough that I was a sinner. I knew enough that God's wrath abided upon me, and that I knew that I needed to repent and ask Jesus to save me because I couldn't save myself. And I know that God saved me. You know, the natural man is incapable of seeing any of this, in order to be reconciled. In fact, he wants nothing to do with any of this. First Corinthians 2:14. But with the miracle of the new birth, suddenly, the sinner has given eyes to see his rebellion against the Most High God and he's given the ears to hear the truth of the gospel. You read about this in Matthew 13:16, and 17. By the way, this is often called the "effective" or the "efficacious call of God." An operation of the Holy Spirit through the word of God whereby individuals respond in faith, and they accept the gift of salvation that God has given us. I was thinking about this the other day, we read about this in so many places. I love the passage in Romans eight verse 28, and following, "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew,--referring to being for loved,--He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; and these whom He predestined," here it is, "He also called and these whom He called he also justified'--and certainly that happens at regeneration, when were born again--"and these whom He justified, He also glorified." It's interesting in Scripture, the effective call of God in regeneration seems to happen simultaneously. For example, Peter states in First Peter one, verse 23, "for you have been born again," he goes on to say, "through the living and enduring word of God." And in verse 25, "and this is the word which was preached to you." Similarly, in James one in verse 18, James says, "In the exercise of His will," not our will, but "in the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth." You know, I always marvel at the power of regeneration; God's power to instantaneously and supernaturally impart spiritual life to the spiritually dead. And I remember once reading a poem called The Hound of Heaven, maybe you've read it. It's 182 line poem, very long poem, written by an English poet, Francis Thompson. It was first published way back in 1893. And it describes God's loving pursuit of a sinner, with his grace pursuing them, chasing after us, as we run from him until finally, he captures us with his love and saves us. Every believer knows what that's like. And I wanted to share with you a story as told by Andrea Wolf, she was on staff with CoMission in Raleigh, North Carolina, it was published by R. Kent Hughes under the title, "The Hound of Heaven and a Young Agnostic." And it reminds me of many of my conversations in my times in Siberia, with the pastors in the churches there. Let me read this to you. It's powerful. "In the 1930s, Stalin ordered a purge of all Bibles and all believers." By the way, folks, if things continue on and escalate, this is where we're headed. Okay? Don't be deceived. This is where we're headed. And Stavropol, Russia, this order was carried out with vengeance. 1000s of Bibles were confiscated, and multitudes of believers were sent to the gulags--prison camps--where most died, unjustly condemned as quote 'enemies of the state.' The CoMission was sent a team to Stavropol. The city's history wasn't known at the time. But when the team was having difficulty getting Bibles shipped from Moscow, someone mentioned the existence of a warehouse outside of town, where those confiscated Bibles had been stored since Stalin's day. After the team had prayed extensively, one member finally mustered up the courage to go to the warehouse and asked the officials if the Bibles were still there. Sure enough, they were. Then the CoMissioners--part of the mission organization--asked if the Bibles could be removed and distributed again to the people of Stavropol. The answer was, 'Yes!' The next day the CoMission team returned with a truck and several Russian people to help load the Bibles. One helper was a young man--a skeptical, hostile agnostic collegian who had come only for the day's wages. As they were loading Bibles, one team member noticed that the young man had disappeared. Eventually they found him in a corner of the warehouse, weeping. He had slipped away, hoping to take a Bible for himself. What he did not know was that he was being pursued by the 'Hound of Heaven.' What he found shook him to the core. The inside page of the Bible he picked up had the handwritten signature of his grandmother. It had been her personal Bible. Out of the 1000s of Bibles still left in that warehouse, he stole the very one belonging to his grandmother--a woman, who throughout her entire life, was persecuted for her faith." My what a coincidence. He goes on to write, "No wonder he was weeping--God had powerfully and yet tenderly made himself known to this young man. Such was his divinely appointed meeting with the sovereign Lord of the universe, the 'Hound of Heaven,' who had tracked him down to that very warehouse! Remember, Jeremiah's words, Jeremiah 23:24. 'Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?' declares the Lord. 'Do not I fill both heaven and earth?'" declares the Lord. Then he closes saying "Jesus is truly the ever-present, all-seeing 'Hound of Heaven.' He can track us down wherever we're hiding! And once on the trail, he sets his heart with relentless zeal and undivided focus to the pursuit."

Well, what happened here is by the power of the Spirit of God. The Word of God was revealed to him. And in that word, he saw the glory of Christ. There, God miraculously saved him, and set his sanctification into motion. So indeed, seeing Christ in Scripture, not only reveals the glory of Christ, not only transforms us into the likeness of Christ, but now number three, and we finally come to our outline, it emboldens believers to stand firm in their faith in Christ.

Notice chapter four verse one. "Therefore, since we have this ministry," Paul says, "as we received mercy, we do not lose heart." A term in the original language means we do not become disheartened and act like a coward, very clear. Now, the false apostles and some of their sycophants were absolutely hammering the apostle Paul, as we have studied, and it would have been easy for him to give in, to cower. But no, he knew the truth of the gospel. He knew the truth of who Christ is, that he is the Creator, the Sustainer, the Redeemer and ultimately the consummator of all things. And so he did not cower, nor should we. O child of God, don't miss this. And this is Paul's point because of the New Covenant ministry of the Holy Spirit. He has now caused us to be new creatures in Christ, the old things pass away, the new things have come, He dwells within us. So now we can see Christ for who he is. And on that basis, we are able to speak candidly and forthrightly and boldly about Christ, and the glory of his saving grace.

We have no need to be ashamed of the gospel. For it is the power of God unto salvation to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Paul told Timothy in Second Timothy one and verse seven, "For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline. Therefore, do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord or of me His prisoner, but join with me and suffering for the gospel according to the power of God." Oh dear friends, I grow weary of cowardly Christians, especially pusillanimous pastors that refuse to stand before men and women and open up the Word of God with clarity and conviction. Jesus said in Matthew 10, and verse 32, "everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess Him before My Father who is in heaven." But catch this now, "Whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother and a daughter in law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me, is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it. And he who has lost his life, for My sake, will find it." Oh, dear Christian, I plead with you to look to Christ often, see His mercy for what it is and how he has extended it to you. And on the basis of that mercy, be bold in your gospel witness. So indeed, as we see Christ revealed in his Word, the Holy Spirit emboldens believers to stand firm in their faith in Christ; but number four, it motivates believers to renounce sin, pursue holiness, and proclaim the truth of Christ.

Notice in verse two, "but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame." "But" can be translated, "on the contrary," in other words, as opposed to losing heart, on the contrary of losing heart. That's the exegesis here. On the contrary of that, "we have renounced the things hidden because of shame." You see Paul completely and totally rejected all of the treachery and unscrupulous, underhanded ways that false teachers were dealing with other people. Unlike the false apostles, who were shrewd and treacherous and cunning in their manipulation of the truth; always trying to massage the truth to fit their agenda, to make sure everybody liked them. Paul just spoke the truth. And, of course, the hypocritical, even immoral lifestyles of the false teachers were just shameful practices that were devised and lived out in secret. And of course, all of this is, is energized by Satan and his minions. These things are designed to deceive people and promote the teacher, or the politician or whoever it might be. So he says, "but we have renounced the things hidden because of shame." And then he says, "not walking in craftiness." The term could be translated "cunning"; not walking in deceitfulness that's practiced by wicked people. We're not doing that. nor are we adulterating the Word of God. "Adulterate"-- an interesting term, it can be translated, "to falsify, to distort or manipulate or add something." I mean, this is what we see all the time, for example, with fake news. I mean, they'll take something that happened, and by the time they get through describing the event, it's not even anywhere near what the truth is. By the way, if you want to see what CNN really is, go to Japan, because in Japan, and I learned this the hard way, that's the only English-speaking station that you can get. And as I listened to CNN, I realized they're not even talking about the same country here. It is so deceitful. While many false teachers do this. I mean, for example, I've heard false teachers preach about loving your neighbor. And they use that as the basis for a social justice gospel that Jesus came to liberate the poor and the oppressed, something Jesus never taught, nor did he ever pursue. Social gospel, again, and part of that social gospel is the whole same sex, marriage, homosexual, all of that stuff; the unbiblical, presuppositions of critical race theory and on and on and on. And let me give you another example. Think of those who walk in darkness and adulterate the Word of God who are part of the whole word of faith movement, just an absolute total cult. Preachers who claim God that speaks to them directly, telling people that they need to go out and claim things, material things, in the name of Jesus. Fake healings, bizarre, frenzied, emotionalism nonsensical, babbling, uncontrollable laughter, falling on the floor and claiming that somehow, you've been slain by the Spirit. I mean, folks, only Satan and his minions can cause someone to prostrate themselves upon the grave of a deceased preacher to soak up the quote, "anointing." Something called grave sucking, absolutely wicked. Only a person bereft of the indwelling Spirit of God could possibly believe that the seizures and hypnosis and and hysteria and being slain in the spirit or works of the Holy Spirit. These are false teachers guilty of, as Paul said, peddling the Word of God, entrepreneurs trying to make a buck off of the gospel. Salesmen who seduce Christians, and mostly pseudo-Christians, into believing these lies. People who, as Paul said, in Second Timothy four, "will not endure sound doctrine." No, they don't want to hear that. We will not endure that. The wanting to have their ears tickled, they accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desire. Text goes on to say they "turn away their ears from the truth they turned aside unto myths." But what Paul is saying is here is this, look, New Covenant believers see the glory of Christ. They've been made new creatures, the Holy Spirit dwells within them. And we know biblically that when the Spirit of God dwells within a believer, he becomes, shall we say, their illuminating guardian. The one who guides all believers into all truth, as we read in John 16:13. He is the one that empowers us to know all things pertaining to the revealed word of God, as Jesus said in John 14, as well as in John 16. He is the believers, shall we say, resident lie detector. I mean, if you truly know Christ, and you're a part of those chaotic, wicked things, eventually, the Spirit of God is going to expose it to you and you're going to come out of it. First Corinthians two verse 12. "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things freely given to us by God, which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom. but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thoughts with spiritual words."

You see, friends, the unregenerate know nothing of this. They are what the Word of God describes as fools. First John two and verse 19, the apostle Paul explains how that those who promote these types of false theologies and all the false teaching and those who embrace them are not believers. But then in first John two and verse 20, he says, "But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know." He went on to say, in verse 27, "As for you, the anointing which you receive from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him."

And in First John four verse 13, we read, "By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit." Well, folks, this is what Paul goes on to say here, as we begin to wrap this up here this morning in Second Corinthians four and verse two, he says, "but by the manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." John MacArthur said this, "All people, even those who have not heard the gospel, have an innate, though limited, knowledge of God's law. The preaching of the Gospel activates the conscience, which bears witness to the truth of the message, even in those who reject it. That is true because," and then he quotes Hebrews 4:12. "'The word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul, and spirit of both joints and marrow, able to judge the thoughts and the intentions of the heart.'"

Now, what those false teachers were doing in Corinth is similar to what they do today. They tell you things that you never thought you could see before. Throw in a little bit of mysticism, a little secret knowledge--I bet you all didn't know that--yeah, well, God told me that. Yeah, let me tell you some of the things that he's revealed to me. Oh, and people say, Oh, my, whoa, I better listen to that guy. I better listen to that woman; God speaks to them. Man, can you believe that? Yeah. And then what they do is they cherry pick passages that support their position and advance their agenda that have nothing to do with the authorial intent of the passage, and people get sucked into their deceptions. This happens all the time. All you have to do is turn on the television or look at the hundreds of videos of of preachers, both men and women, who are constantly telling you about their private conversations with God. Folks, as soon as you hear that, don't walk. run to get away from it. That person is a heretic.

Paul didn't do any of these things. First Corinthians two four, he said "I determined to know nothing among you except here it is. Jesus Christ and Him crucified." Though it was, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness, First Corinthians 1:23, he knew that his uncompromising proclamation was the only truth that could save. And so it caused him to say in First Corinthians two, four, again, "my message and my preaching, were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power.

I was thinking about the sanitized gospel that is preached so often today, this non offensive gospel that, frankly cannot save, you know, don't tell anybody about their sin, oh, no, you don't want to talk about that. Don't tell them that the wrath of God abides upon them. I mean, the people don't want to hear that type of thing. I mean, how do you expect people to come to your church if you preach that way? Of course, the point is, I care nothing about people coming to church, I want them to come to Christ. There's a huge difference. No, tell them how much God loves them. And how desperate he is to make them happy and successful in their life. Boy, there's the wide gate that leads to the broad way of destruction.

Let me tell you how their consumers typically respond to this kind of gospel message. And I wrote this based on numerous conversations that I've had with people who've come out of these types of churches. "Yeah, if God is real, I suppose I am guilty of ignoring him. I don't think about God very much, and I love lots of things more than God, so to that extent, I suppose I am living in prideful rebellion. And yeah, I have fallen just like the whole Satan analogy. I mean, just look at all the junk in my life. Relationships are messed up, my marriage is boring. My finances are a wreck. I hate my job. I basically feel as though my life is going nowhere fast. For sure, I need to be saved from all this stuff. Maybe God is the answer to my unhappiness, my lack of success, my negative emotions, my lack of purpose and direction in life. I'm just glad God loves me just the way I am. Because I'm not sure I could ever change. I mean, I am what I am. And I'm not sure why Jesus had to come and die for me, assuming all that's true. But I'm glad he did, I guess. I sure don't get all that stuff about the Father killing his son. And there's so much for a loving God. But I'm told I have to accept it that stuff by faith. So I guess I will. I mean, nothing else seems to be working. I suppose Jesus died on the cross. So he could demonstrate what selfless love is all about. Not sure. But anyway, I want to take advantage of anything God may have to offer to make my life better. So I think I'll accept Jesus as my personal Savior and see what happens." And then somebody says, repeat this prayer, they repeat the prayer, and then they say, welcome to the kingdom brother.

And some day, the Lord's gonna say to them, "depart from me you worker of iniquity, I never knew you." Ah, dear friends, this is what happens when you walk in craftiness, and you adulterate the Word of God. Well, we're going to have to close let me do it by first of all, we're going to look at the last point the next time we were together. Okay, we're together, I want to challenge you to do a few things. My list is very short here. But I want to leave you with something very practical. Based upon this passage, and all that we've examined here today. First thing I would love for you to do dear friends is get serious about your own personal pursuit of holiness. Turn off Fox News. Get rid of your MAGA hats. All of your Trump stickers. You get where I'm going here. If you're on the other side, get rid of your BLM shirts and quit putting hashtag Black Lives Matter. I mean, all of this political stuff, folks, put all of that aside and immerse yourselves in the Word of the living God. And get on your knees and begin to pray for yourself and your family and your church and the leaders of your country as we're going to see. Because when you immerse yourself in the Word of God, what's going to happen, You're going to see Christ in Scripture. And seeing Christ in Scripture reveals the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ; transforms that believer into the likeness of Christ, emboldens believers to stand firm in their faith in Christ, motivates believers to renounce sin, pursue holiness, and proclaim the truth of Christ and it dispels the darkness of sin and ignorance concerning the person and work of Christ. Folks get serious about your own personal pursuit of holiness.

And number two, get serious about evangelism. Beloved, God did not call us to protest he called us to preach. Get serious about that. Don't be ashamed of the gospel. Pass out the tracks, or whatever else you want to use. By the way, they're available up here on the piano with some of my books, and they're out there as well. I mean get serious about evangelism.

Number three, get serious about teaching your children especially if they're in public schools, which is basically a brainwashing machine, run by ungodly people that know nothing of Christ. And along with that, limit their screen time, social media, YouTube, all of that stuff. I mean, all of those things are Satan's way of just providing a conduit of deception. Ephesians six four, "Fathers," could be translated parents, "do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord."

And then finally, pray for the leaders that God has placed over us. Don't hate them, love them enough for the sake of the gospel. Pray for them that God would save them and certainly that God would protect us from them. You say But Pastor, I mean, these some of these people, I mean, they're just, they're just satanic. Yeah. Aren't you glad that we have a saving God? Do you know? Paul told Timothy to pray for Nero and couldn't have been a guy on the planet that's ever worse than that guy. Here's what he said in First Timothy two beginning in one, "First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgiving be made on behalf of all men." Then he adds this, "for kings and all who are in authority,"--and here's why--"so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity." Well, we've enjoyed that down through the years, haven't we? A tranquil and a quiet life in all godliness and dignity. I fear that that's coming to an end, but we pray that by God's grace, He will protect us. As we make these things a priority in our life, regardless of the level of persecution, we can know that the Lord will reveal Himself to us. And we will experience the soul satisfying joy of his presence deep within our souls. May God have mercy on all of us. And for those who do not know our precious Savior, let's pray.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths that you have given us in your word. Thank you that indeed they are a lamp unto our feet and a light into our paths. I pray that you will take what we've examined here today and by the power of your spirit, cause the seeds of truth to germinate in our hearts and bear much fruit for our good and for your glory. For it's in Jesus name that I pray. Amen.

Well, what a joy it is to be able to minister the word of God to you again this morning. So if you will take your Bibles and turn to Second Corinthians chapter three, if you have not been with us, we are making our way verse by verse through this epistle. And this morning, we will be looking at Second Corinthians three, beginning in verse 17. Ultimately, we're going to go through verse six of chapter four, but it's going to take a few times to do that. So I am starting, probably it will be a two, maybe a three part, series on beholding the glory of the Lord.

Now before I read the text, and we begin to look at it closely, I know that that many of you are frustrated, you're frightened as we continue to watch what's happening in our country. It's as though America is in a freefall of anarchy and immorality. The diabolical and clearly stated Marxist agenda of the Black Lives Matter movement is even being embraced by many so-called evangelicals. That movement, by the way, is really rooted in a Hegelian Dialectic, a material worldview. It's a philosophical worldview. Hegel was a, a German philosopher, Marx picked up on that. And ultimately, they believe...that philosophical view believes that there's no such thing as absolute truth. That truth is always evolving; that new truths come up and has to replace the old truths. You see that, by the way, in the fight over the Constitution. It's kind of like, well, that's outdated. We've got no truth now. So let's, let's do things differently now. And ultimately, that's at the root of what's going on with the Black Lives Matter movement. Marx took that to an extreme. He believed that you had to have a revolution to get the new truth to come forward. And obviously, these people reject the Bible, the Word of God, as being the authoritative source of truth. And for them, you worship the state, you don't worship God. And of course, Biblical Christianity cannot coexist with that kind of a system. It's frightening communist regimes that have embraced this type of thing historically; have killed over 100 million people. So I don't want you to be naive as to what's really going on here. The Black Lives movement is committed to something way beyond racial justice, social justice, social equality; they’re committed to Marxism. They believe that they must, for example, disrupt the nuclear family.

I was reading some of their website and their positions. They say, "we disrupt the Western prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families,” end quote, "villages that collectively care for one another, especially our children." That translates into government control of your children and their education. They want to end private education, have the community control the curriculum, you know, abolish the police, reparations for black people, redistribution of wealth, and certainly one of their big things as the advancements of their sexual agenda--the LGBTQIA plus movement, they've added IA plus, that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual.

I read an article last night in the Wall Street Journal. It's entitled "The Abolition of Man and Woman." It's written by Crawford and Hanby. I would encourage you to read it. They are condemning the Supreme Court ruling in Bostock versus Clayton County. The ruling holds that sexual orientation and identity are included in the definition of sex under the title seven of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Just very briefly, the underlying assumption in the ruling is that a man who identifies as a woman might really be a woman. That to be a woman is a mental state, not a biological state. Gender has nothing to do with our embodiment at birth as a male or female. It's arbitrarily determined by a subjective sense of quote, "identity." That's at the core of what they're saying here. The author's arguing against that say, quote, "If each of us is defined by a," quote, "gender identity related only arbitrarily to sex, we are all transgender now." Folks, this is Romans 1:28--"And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper." Well, certainly the movement that we see out there, especially with the Black Lives movement, and the Antifa movement, this is at the core of all of this. And so now, we have angry mobs of Marxists seeking to take control. They say they want justice; they say they want equality. But what they really want is privilege and power, they want reward without responsibility. You know, if you see yourself as oppressed, then that gives you the right to go take things from other people, and so forth. And what they want is way beyond big government, what they want is a totalitarian regime. If you'll notice, by the way, most of the quote "protesters" are white, educated, millennial women, who are grief stricken over their white guilt and their white privilege. Folks, these people need our love, they need our prayers, they need the gospel, and we need to give it to them. We need to be bold and give it to them. And where's the church and all of this? I've had several people ask me, can you be a Christian and support the Black Lives Matter movement, for example? And I think the answer is well, yes, you probably could, but you would have to be seriously misinformed; seriously lacking in biblical discernment. You would have to be the worldly Christian, that Paul spoke about in First Corinthians three, controlled kind of by your flesh, immature babes in Christ. But folks, most of the church today is not Christian. You must understand that most of the church today consists of pseudo-Christians that are Christian in name only. Jesus warned about this, for example, in Matthew seven, they have no spiritual discernment. They've not been born of the Spirit, they're still spiritually dead.

I remember a number of years ago, when the Purpose Driven Life book first came out, I read that and I thought to myself, and I know I shared it with many of you, I thought, this is one of the most clever satanic deceptions that I have ever read. Because it says so many wonderful things, about how we can be happy, we can have purpose in our life, but it never tells you how because it never gave the gospel. It never explained how we have violated God's holy law, his wrath abides upon us, we are utterly unable to save ourselves. It never explained what sin really is. It never explained repentance. It never explained God's wrath. It never explained hell or any of those things. And so what happens is many people rush through in hordes, they rush through the wide gate, start traveling down the broad way that leads to destruction. People fill up churches that are not born again. And like so many of the seeker sensitive new movement, they see people that come to church as consumers. And the gospel is the product. And the pastor has to be the salesman. And so you have to make the product appealing to the people. And so you've got to do things to it, kind of massage it, so everybody's gonna like it. Of course, that is just blatantly unbiblical. And you see what has happened now. So ultimately, Jesus died on the cross to save us from our unhappiness. So it's no surprise that so many professing evangelicals believe and buy into and support some of the things that we're seeing today.

Again, before we look at the text, I just want to remind you of something. In first Corinthians 2:14, we read a "natural man." In other words, an unregenerate man, a person that has never been truly born again, "does not accept the things of the Spirit of God." Does not accept them, "for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot,"-- not that he will not--"he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised." That term "spiritually appraised"--"anakrino," it was a judicial term, it was used to describe a judicial investigation. It meant to examine, to scrutinize, to discern, to evaluate. People apart from Christ cannot do that. They have no capacity to render a decision because they cannot discern the facts. Why? Because they're bereft of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit is not dwelling within you, you're not going to be led into truth and holiness. And so they are bereft of illuminating grace, if you will, and are therefore utterly incapable of spiritual discernment; and that's much of the church today. Finley says, quote, "The unspiritual are out of court as religious critics. They are deaf men judging music." Powerful. So you wonder why so many ostensibly evangelicals embrace so many of these crazy things that are out there, things that God forbids? Because they're not saved. They're of the world and the world loves its own. "If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him," First John 2:15. They belong to their father, the devil. They're "Christian" in name only, Matthew seven. Jesus said in John 8:47, "'He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason, you do not hear them, because you are not of God.'" Of course, Jesus said in John 10:27, "'My sheep hear my voice,'" and what do they do? "'They follow Me.''"

So whenever I listened to the incoherent and irrational and emotional rants of the progressive leftists and the unbiblical babble of liberal evangelicals that support them, I'm reminded of so many things, but especially this last week, I was just reminded of Proverbs one and verse seven. "The fear of the Lord," is what? It's "the beginning of wisdom." That's where it has to start. Fools despise wisdom and instruction. Proverbs 18:7, "A fool's mouth is his destruction, and his lips are the snare of his soul." So I thought about this, I looked up biblically, the concept of a fool and here's what you will find. I won't give you all of the references. But fools biblically, are without the knowledge of God, they deny God, blaspheme God, mock sin, hate knowledge and wisdom, die for a lack of wisdom. They feed on foolishness, display their folly, produce folly, make sport of mischief, walk in darkness, hate to depart from evil, their worship is evil to God. They're described as corrupt and abominable. They're self-sufficient, self-confident, self-deceived, mere professors of religion, full of words given to quarreling, slanderers, liars, slothful, angry, contemptuous, proud, they come to shame, they destroy themselves by their speech, companions of fools, will be destroyed. The lips of a fool is a snare to his soul, they will cling to their folly, worship idols, trust in their own hearts. When they hear the gospel, they will not obey it, their mouths pour out folly, and to honor them is unbecoming. God has no pleasure in them, they shall not stand in the presence of God, and believers should avoid them. The other thing I always think about when I contemplate these things is, were it not for God's grace, I would be in a fool's paradise, just like all the rest of them, and so would you. And therein we celebrate the gospel. And folks, this is why people need the gospel. And I hope you are burdened for these people. I hope you're praying for them. Titus three and verse three, the apostle Paul says, "For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope, of eternal life." And its to this gospel that we now turn, all right? It's to this glorious gospel that we turn, as we examine the words of the Apostle Paul here in Second Corinthians three.

Now, let me remind you that here we are learning from the beleaguered apostle that has been slandered so severely by false apostles that have been come into the church at Corinth, preaching a false gospel, trying to mix old covenant with new. And some of the dear people that he loved had bought some of their lies, and he's trying to defend himself. These are vicious wolves devouring the sheep. And here in this particular section of Scripture, we learn how the apostle Paul, and I might say millions of others, were able to endure seasons of great sorrow, and great danger. And frankly, we're in that today, and I fear it's gonna get much worse. Let me ask you, if somebody came to you and say, Alright, you know, I'm a Christian, you're a Christian, I'm curious. What do I need to do to find joy and sorrow? How can I find strength in weakness? How can I find peace in peril? How can I somehow triumph over trouble? What would you tell them? Well, obviously, it's the gospel. Well, yes, I believe the gospel but what else should I do? Well, the apostle Paul is going to answer that. And ultimately, the answer is in the title of my discourse to you. The answer is, we do this by beholding the glory of the Lord, by looking at the face of Christ as he is revealed in his word in the Bible. This is what Paul did, and this is what we must do. We don't look to our political leaders; we need to look to Christ. And we see him in the Word of God.

So with that background, let me read the text to you, Second Corinthians three beginning in verse 17. "Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord the Spirit. Therefore, since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, we do not lose heart, but we have renounced the hidden things because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond servants for Jesus sake. For God, who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shone in our hearts, to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ."

This is such a precious, it's such a practical passage of scripture that speaks to our hearts. And here we see the power of seeing Christ, learning of Christ, knowing Christ as we look at him in the word of God. And certainly this was Paul's great concern for the believers there in Corinth because they were being led astray by these false teachers that were having them look to the law, rather than looking to the new covenant that reveals Christ. So it's a very, very important passage of Scripture. He wanted them to look to the Lord. In the old covenant, people could only see a tiny portion of God's glory, but the veil is lifted in the new covenant. That's Paul's argument here. And when the blinding light of God's shekinah glory encompassed Saul on the road to Damascus, later became Paul, he suddenly saw the light of the glory of God revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ. What a magnificent scene that would have been. And suddenly he realized that all of his law keeping was for naught. All that mattered was the glory and the grace of Jesus.

The new covenant lifted the veil of God's glory from his eyes, we read about this for example, in Hebrews one beginning in verse one. The writer says, "God after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also he made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high." Now none of us have had a Damascus Road experience, at least not to my knowledge. I haven't been blinded by the shekinah glory of the living God. But you know, we're all still able to see the glory of Christ, as he is revealed in his word. That's the power of the word. That's where Paul was going in this argument.

And what we see here in Second Corinthians is the importance of seeing Christ in Scripture. And I've broken it down so that there are basically five amazing realities in the life of a believer that occurs when you see Christ in scripture. We're gonna see five things. Number one, seeing Christ in scripture reveals the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, it transforms believers into the likeness of Christ. And those are the two that we're going to deal with today, okay? But let me give you the other three. Seeing Christ in scripture emboldens believers to stand firm in their faith in Christ. It motivates believers to renounce sin, pursue holiness, and proclaim the truth of Christ, and it dispels the darkness of sin and ignorance concerning the person and work of Christ. If you just look at the verbs there, seeing Christ in scripture reveals, transforms, emboldened, motivates and dispels. What a magnificent set of truths these are.

So let's be reminded again of the context here. If we go back to verse 16, Paul was saying that whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away, suddenly a person will be able to see that the Old Covenant law is over, the New Covenant of the Spirit, it has begun. Then in verse 17, he summarizes this, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." And indeed, it is the Spirit's work of regeneration that causes us to be born again, as he said, in verse six of chapter three. He is the one that takes away the veil that obscured the glory of God in the face of Christ. We're going to see this in verse 16. And when this happens, truly, there is liberty; we suddenly see the liberty of saving grace, we see the liberty from the bondage of sin, the liberty from the condemning tyranny of the law that we could never ever keep. We see the liberty from Satan's dominion, liberty from the fear of death, and so forth. And then in verse 18, he says this, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord," I want to stop there. This brings us to the first little point in my outline, number one, seeing Christ in Scripture reveals the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, let me explain the background here. Remember, after Moses had been in the presence of God, he had to wear a veil over his face, in order to prevent himself from just terrifying the Israelites when they saw the glory of God emanating from his face, it was a terrifying glow. But whenever he would return, to talk with the Lord, he would take the veil off. He would remove the veil. And what Paul was saying here is that because of the new covenant, all believers can do the same. We can all take off the veil now, we can all see the glory of God; we can all enter into the presence of God with an unveiled face, so to speak, not only to see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, but also to experience some measure of that same transformation. One that will ultimately result in our glorification. What does John say on First John three, verse two? "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be." And he adds this, "We know that when He appears, we will be," here it is, "like Him,"--"like Him, because we will see Him just as He is." Moreover, beholding the Lord Jesus Christ in Scripture is like looking in a mirror, where we have a visible representation, or a reflection of our own image. And when we look in a mirror, we can take our time, we can see all the specific aspects of our reflection and some of those things aren't all that great. Every year I have to go to the skin doctor to have certain things frozen, precancerous things from being in the sun so much over the course of my life. And I'll always ask her "What about this brown spot?," "What about that?" No those are okay, that's just part of it. So in other words, he's just gonna have to live with it right? Or wear makeup. And no, I will not wear makeup. So anyway, the point here is, now we can see Christ in Scripture, but we're not going to be disappointed because we're not going to see any blemishes. But there's an intimate view here. Now think about it. How did you come to know Christ? Well, somebody gave you the gospel. Somebody gave you the Word of God, John 5:39. Jesus said, The scriptures "testify of Me", we would never know really who Christ is apart from his word. Acts 18:28. Paul, it says, vigorously "refuted the Jews publicly showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ." And Paul reminded Timothy, that it was, quote, "The sacred writings that are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus," Second Timothy 3:15. And in First Corinthians 15, three, Paul says, "For I delivered to you as a first importance"-- In other words, here's the priority--"what I also received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures." So we see Christ in Scripture, it revealed his glory.

But will you notice another astounding truth here at the end of verse 18. Let me just read the whole verse. "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." What an amazing statement. All believers are being changed into the likeness of Christ. It's absolutely astounding. The likeness of Christ as we see him mirrored in Scripture. This means that seeing Christ in Scripture, not only reveals the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, but secondly, it transforms believers, into the likeness of Christ. The word "transformed," in the Greek its "metamorphoo." We get our word "metamorphosis" from that. It means to be changed in an outward appearance. And in this context here, unlike the fading glory of Moses, believers have an ever-increasing glory, because of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us; who is progressively transforming us into the image of Christ. And grammatically, this transformation is in the present tense, meaning it is an ongoing, it is a continuous, it is a a progressive, transformation.

But now, here's where it gets really, really exciting, what is it that facilitates this gradual metamorphosis? What produces this ongoing change? And the answer is "beholding as in a mirror." Really fascinating, "beholding"-- "katoptrizo" in the original language. And here, grammatically, is what we call a present participle, making it the means by which we are continuously, progressively, being transformed into the image of Christ. This is what some define as, quote, "transformation by vision." In other words, the more we behold the image of Christ, as he is revealed in Scripture, the more we become like him. Absolutely astounding. And one day, this transformation will be fully and finally accomplished. Boy, I'm looking forward to that day, I know you are as well. It will no longer be a gradual, progressive change. It will be instantaneous, and it will be complete. First Corinthians 13, verse 12, "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then,"-- in other words, when we see Christ, --"I will know fully just as I also have been fully known." And in chapter 15, verse 49, "Just as we have borne the image of the earthly, we will also bear the image of the heavenly." Oh dear friends, the glory of the gospel, the glory of it all. I mean, think about this, at regeneration the process begins when he makes us new creatures in Christ. He changes our desires, the process of sanctification begins, Gradually, sin loses its power over us. Gradually, we begin to manifest the fruits of the Spirit fruits of obedience. But we've got to understand this in light of Paul's argument, he's making a contrast here, he's making a contrast between Jews who only saw a tiny portion of the glory of God, emanating from the face of Moses. Remember, Moses could only see a tiny portion. And then he comes down off the mountain, and he's glowing so much that he has to cover his face. But yet, still, they're only seeing a tiny portion of what Moses saw. And so the contrast here is that Moses had to cover his face, but the glory of God, bear this in mind, now remained outside of them. The glory of God did not take up residence within them. The Spirit of God did not come to live with him permanently. There was no change of nature, they were not made new creatures in Christ, so to speak. But because of the Spirit's internal work of regeneration under the New Covenant, he causes us to be born again. He raises us to walk in newness of life. And now we can behold the glory of God in the face of Christ, by seeing his radiance in Scripture.

Moreover, the radiance of God's glory, on the face of Moses gradually faded, right? Gradually faded. But the glory of God that now resides in the believer, by the power of the indwelling Spirit is reflected in the life of the believer, and it gradually increases in brilliance over time. This is Paul's argument. What a brilliant, Holy Spirit inspired argument it is. It's just overwhelming. And the more you gaze upon Christ in Scripture, the more you become like him. The more you contemplate his glory, his person, his work; the more you become like him, and the more his glory will emanate from you, the more your life will redound to His glory. Folks, that's why it's so important to study the Word of God, to meditate upon the word of God, to know it, to live it, to pray it, to preach it. In regeneration we’re instantly justified forever. Our sanctification is a progressive process. An ongoing transformation that is affected by, quote "beholding, as in a mirror the glory of the Lord." The Greek grammar helps us understand that. This happens until our final and complete glorification at the consummation of all things. I don't get too excited about a lot of things, at least externally, but let me tell you, in my heart, I am really excited. Okay? I hope you can see that. And I hope you share that. Again, I go back to the end of First John three, "We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, that's just overwhelming to me, we will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is." And then in verse three, he says, "And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure." Beloved, don't miss this. At salvation we're raised from spiritual death to spiritual life. And this transformation of the inner man occurs immediately. All right? Just like that. However, over time, we're gradually going to become more like Christ, but only in proportion to our willingness to behold the glory of Christ as he is revealed in his Word, the Bible. The reason so many Christians today don't look much like Christ is because they don't know very much about him. Well, they might have a head knowledge. But even at that it's weak. Colossians 3:10, Paul says "Put on the new self, who was being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him." And this is why Paul even likened his passion for ministry to a woman who was about to give birth to a child. He said in Galatians 4:19 "I am again in labor until Christ is formed in you." And folks, this is why our number one priority in life should be to run "toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus," Philippians three. And what is that prize? What's the ultimate? It's Christ likeness. May I ask you? Is this the goal of your life? Is this the priority of your life to become more like Christ? If not, why not? Can you not see that by beholding Christ in Scripture, not only will you begin to see the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in ways that you never have before, but also by doing that you're going to be transformed more and more into his likeness.

I want to camp on this a bit more by taking you to Romans chapter 12. And we'll stay here for the next few minutes until I'm finished. In Romans chapter 12. I'm just going to kind of hit the highlights here. In verse one, Paul urges believers, "to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." And then he tells us how to do this. Very, very important. If you wonder, well, how can I do that? How can I present my body living in a holy sacrifice, which is my spiritual service of worship? Well, here's at least one of the major themes to help you understand that. Verse two, and "do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." In other words, this is how we give our mind to him; our way of thinking, our disposition, our manner of thought, our attitudes. He says, "Do not be conformed,"-- "syschematizo" in the original language. It was a term that came to mean a masquerade or a mask, playing a role, putting on an act according to a script, a schema. And "syschematizo" is a term that refers to assuming an outward expression, or a form that does not accurately reflect what is on the inside, that does not come from within. It does not reflect an inward reality. It's the idea of being something on the outside that you're not on the inside. And as we look at the term exegetically, the prefixed preposition "sun," S U N, dds to the meaning of the verb that is the idea of assuming an expression, or assuming a form that is pattern after something, namely the world. And so what he's saying here is, do not allow something on the outside to shape you in such a way that it does not accurately reflect who you are on the inside, your inner nature. In other words, don't be something on the outside, that you're not on the inside.

By the way, who are we on the inside? We're a new creature in Christ, we've been clothed in the righteousness of Christ, we saw a little glimpse of the glory of Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, a glimpse of the glory that we will one day share. Now, what's fascinating in this text, is that the verb is passive, it's not active. So in other words, the shaping, this conforming, this molding, if you will, is not something you will choose to do. But it will be something that you will allow to happen to you, really without even knowing it is going on. And what's that? The world is going to shape you into its image. This is what Satan does all the time. He provides a world system that shapes us into his image. And what is the world this term "age"? Well, it's this world system dominated by Satan, all of the things that he does to thwart the purposes of God. So he's saying here, if you're going to present yourself as a living and a holy sacrifice that's acceptable to God, do not let the world shape you into its image, stop allowing yourself to be shaped by Satan, stop masquerading, therefore, in the garments of this world; adopting its styles, its habits, its attitudes, its mannerisms, its speech and so forth. I like the JB Phillips, famous translation, "Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold." Boy, it's so easy to do, isn't it? Linhart says, quote, "What madness it is to join in this puppet show, which is displayed on a tottering stage. Christians have been introduced into the life of the world to come. What a tragedy then, if they conform to the perishing world they have left." And remember, Satan orchestrates this world system in an effort to destroy you, to destroy your family, to destroy your marriage, to destroy your kids; make monsters out of your children, to destroy your testimony, to destroy your power, to destroy the church. And this has been going on for millennia. Think of the ingenious ways he has of doing that. He provides just a myriad of ways to deceive us. And in fact, our minds, especially through media, through those little cell phones, these little screens, television, music, pornography, false teachers, worldly philosophies on and on, and on it goes. All you have to do is listen to the news today and you will see one satanic deception after another, they just pile up on top of each other.

So Paul is saying in order to present your bodies a living and a holy sacrifice acceptable to God, do not be conformed to this world. Don't allow the world to shape you into its image without you realizing this. Beloved, we must guard our children against this type of stuff. We must guard ourselves, what fellowship has light with darkness, as we read earlier today. But here's the contrast in verse two. "Be transformed." There's that word again. "Be transformed by the renewing of your mind." Again, transformed from the word "metamorphoo." We get our word "metamorphosis" from that. It connotes, as I said earlier, a change, an outward appearance that reflects an inner nature. I mean, that's what happens when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly, that kind of concept.

Matthew used the same word to describe Jesus' transfiguration. He said in Matthew 17, two, "He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun and His garment became white as light." And you will recall how the effulgence of Christ's glorified inner nature suddenly blazed forth from his person in ways that we cannot understand. A manifestation of the glory of his inner nature. You might say, a preview of coming attractions for us, right? But the key here is understanding that this transformation is also in the passive voice. It carries the idea of allowing ourselves to undergo a radical, thorough change, where we become on the outside who we are on the inside. When it says "Don't be conformed," that's referring to, don't be on the outside who you're not on the inside. To be transformed, is saying, become on the outside who you really are on the inside. Where our outward conduct reflects our inner. Our transformed, redeemed nature that will one day shine forth with the same ineffable glory that we could see in our mind's eye that occurred when Christ transfigured himself on the mount.

Folks, how does this happen? Again, it's in the passive voice, not the active, you're not the one that is going to make this happen. It happens by the renewing of your mind. It's the renewing of your mind. Renewing means to cause something to become new and different with the implication of becoming superior. And this is what Paul is saying here, Second Corinthians 3:18, "Beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord." It's the word of God once again, that causes this transformation to occur. He is the sanctifying one who works within us. He is the agent of regeneration and transformation. By his word he animates the outward transformation that has already occurred because of an inward transformation of our mind, by our thinking and that continues to develop as we look into the Word of God.

So indeed, back to Second Corinthians three, verse 18, "We all, with unveiled face, beholding us in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." Beloved, please hear me. You will never be able to present yourselves as a living and holy sacrifice to the Lord our God and be a person that is acceptable to him, not in a saving way, but in a sanctifying way, apart from the renewing of your mind. If you allow yourself to be conformed by this world, you're going to rob yourself of blessing. And you're going to diminish your ability to glorify God. It's only when your mind is saturated with the Word of God, will you automatically do the will of God? Paul spoke of this often in the New Testament Colossians 1:28. "We proclaim Him admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every man complete in Christ. Chapter three, verse 16, he tells us to, "let the word of Christ richly dwell within us, with all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in our heart." And we've got to understand that there is both a moral and an intellectual component to this transformation; this continuous process of renewal that occurs through the word. Jesus prayed to the Father, in John 17:17. "Father, sanctify them in the truth, Thy word is truth." So again, is this a priority for you? I pray that it is. You see, we don't just automatically drift towards holiness, do we? We automatically drift in the other direction. There's always this conflict between the Spirit of God and the flesh. That's why we have to treasure the word of God, as David said in Psalm 119:11, "Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against you."

And then finally, here. Notice the result, the end of verse two, Romans 12, "that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." To "prove," it means to put to the test, to approve. The renewed mind can know and live the will of God and thus prove it. It can demonstrate it, and thus, give glory to God. And his will is, isn't it interesting, it is good, it is acceptable, and it is perfect. And folks, when his will becomes our will, at that point, our lives will be a living and a holy sacrifice to him.

Back to Second Corinthians 3:18, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." And Paul is essentially saying to the people there that are being deceived--folks, the days of all of the rituals, and all of the ceremonies and of all the law keeping are over. Christ has satisfied the demands of the law, he paid the penalty that you never could, that we never could. He has paid that penalty. We have been justified by his blood. And the indwelling Spirit is now sanctifying us he is transforming us. And ultimately by that same power, he will glorify us. And we see all of this in the new covenant.

Well, when I was contemplating these things in my study, even this week, as is so often the case, my heart went to a hymn. Don't you find that happening a lot when you're studying the Word of God, all of a sudden you just break out in a hymn. I couldn't remember all of the words; my wife Nancy knows all the words to all to hymns. So I said, "Honey, do you remember it?" She immediately started singing it. It always amazes me. And we're going to sing it just a moment. But in light of all of this, here's what came to my mind, a hymn called "One Day." I used to say it was a little boy. "One day when heaven was filled with His praises. One day when sin was as black as could be. Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin, dwelt among men. My example is he.” and the refrain goes, "living he loved me, dying he saved me, buried he carried my sins far away." "Rising he justified, freely forever. One day he's coming. Oh, glorious day." How many of you know that hymn? (Audio cut off, end of transcription not available)

Before we look at the text, I would like to remind you of why we do what we do right now; why do I stand before you and open up the Word of God and preach it to you? Well, certainly there are many reasons. But first of all, we must remember that sinners cannot be saved, apart from the hearing of the Word. They need to understand it so that they can believe in it. Secondly, saints cannot be sanctified, unless they understand the word and apply it to their lives. And then thirdly, because Satan is so deceptive, it's important for us to understand the truth so that we can spot the counterfeits. Weak preaching will produce weak Christians. And so it's very important that every pastor, fulfill the role of a pastor teacher, as delineated. For example, in Ephesians, four, beginning of verse 12. My role, my responsibility, my calling, my gifting, is to equip the "saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God." The text goes on to speak of how that is to bring you to a place of maturity, so that you will, "no longer be children tossed here and there by waves carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming." And certainly, that is one of Satan's greatest tools to fill pulpits, and Bible colleges and universities, with those who are going to teach things that are false. And shallow preaching that does not deal with the word of God systematically, and exegetically, will ultimately banish believers to an island of spiritual infancy. Most Christians today have very little understanding of Bible theology, and so they have very little spiritual discernment. And they get sucked into all kinds of crazy things that are out there. Perhaps one of the most graphic manifestations of this can be seen in the typical American, quote, "Christian" teenager. I was reading an article on this, Christian Smith and his fellow researchers with the National Study of Youth and Religion at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, conducted interviews with 3000 American adolescents to learn about their religious beliefs. And they discovered what they identified as moralistic therapeutic deism; a concept by the way, which is summarized in his book, Soul Searching the Religious and Spiritual Eyes of American Teenagers by Christian Smith, along with Melinda Lundqvist Denton. But according to the researchers, moralistic therapeutic, deism consists of beliefs like what follows. They discovered that they believe number one, that a god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on Earth. But secondly, God wants people to be good; nice and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions. Thirdly, the central goal of life is to be happy, and to feel good about oneself. Fourthly, God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life, except when God is needed to resolve a problem. And then finally, good people go to heaven when they die. And frankly, that's how most people think today. This is consistent with deists. "Deist" comes from "Deus" in Latin which is word for God. And deists believed basically those things, they believe in the existence of a supreme being, but even though he's the creator, he's not really involved that much with his created world. And we know a lot of diests today. President Trump is a deist; he is not a Christian. He is a deist. Our founding fathers were deist; they weren't born again Christians, most of them. The researchers went on to say quote, "That in some," referring to those five concepts, "when it came to the most crucial questions of faith and beliefs, that in some, is the Creed to which much adolescent faith can be reduced. When it came to the most crucial questions of faith and beliefs. Many adolescents responded with a shrug and quote, 'whatever'." As a matter of fact, the researchers found that American teenagers are incredibly inarticulate about their religious beliefs, and most are virtually unable to offer any serious theological understanding. As Smith reports, quote, "To the extent that the teens we interviewed did manage to articulate what they understood and believed religiously, it became clear that most religious teenagers either do not really comprehend what their own religious traditions say they are supposed to believe, or they do not understand it, and simply do not care to believe it. Either way, it is apparent that most religiously affiliated US teens are not particularly interested in espousing and upholding the beliefs of their faith traditions, or that their communities of faith are failing in attempts to educate their youth, or both." End quote. And as the researchers explained, quote, 'For most teens, nobody has to do anything in life, including anything to do with religion, 'whatever' is just fine. If that's what a person wants." End quote. Well, beloved, we must do better with all of our people, certainly with our young people, but with everyone, we are not a social club. We are not a social activist organization, preaching a social gospel, trying to promote social justice, we're not a word of faith, prosperity cult, learning how to manipulate God so that we can pry goodies out of his stingy fingers. But rather we are the church of the living God, the pillar and the support of the truth, as Paul said, In First Timothy three, verse 15. And as elders we are, "to preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction; Second, Timothy four, two. So that's why we're here right now. That's what I'm doing. That's why I'm doing what I do every Sunday morning. So just a reminder, I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I just want you to really grab a hold of that, because it is so important.

Now as we come back to the word, and this text in Second Corinthians three, may I remind you of the context here; Paul, has been defending himself against the scurrilous and the satanic attacks of the false apostles that had invaded the church at Corinth. They were for the most part Judaizers that insisted obedience to the Mosaic Law was necessary for salvation. And so they mixed elements of the old covenant with the new and so forth, trying to blend it together. And in this section of his defense, Paul provides a short summary of the new covenant that underscores some of the amazing blessings that are inherent in it. And we have looked at the first two of five that I have described in weeks gone by. We looked at number one: the new covenant is the source of eternal life by the Holy Spirit. In other words, as we studied, it is the Spirit who causes us to be born again, he delivers us from the slavery of sin; the power of Satan. He causes us to be more and more conformed to the likeness of Christ and so forth. But secondly, we celebrate the blessings of the New Covenant because it is the source of the imputed righteousness of Christ. The old covenant could not do that. But you have to have the righteousness of Christ or you cannot be saved. And now, thirdly--that we're going to look at today--is that it is also the source of eternal glory. Number four, it is the source of courageous hope. And number five, it is the source of unveiled gospel clarity. So let me read the text beginning in Second Corinthians three in verse 12.

"Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech, and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away. But their minds were hardened; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their heart; but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." And I pray that the Spirit of God will give us real understanding, as we look at this text. As I was thinking about the blessings that we can celebrate from the New Covenant my mind, for some reason, went to the Publishers Clearing House commercials. You've seen those where all of a sudden, this van pulls up, these people get out with this great big check, and somebody gets $5,000 a week for life. I assume that's true. I'm not even really sure. But that's beside the point. But you see these people, they're just overwhelmed with joy. It's like the greatest thing that's ever happened to them. Well, folks, the greatest thing that could ever happen to anybody is not winning $5,000 a week for life. It's coming to saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the blessings of the new covenant. My point is simply this, we need to have the same kind of exhilaration at least that the people have when they win Publishers Clearing House.

So we've examined in days gone by, that the new covenant is the source of eternal life by the Holy Spirit. It's also the source of the imputed righteousness of Christ. And now we're going to look at the final three in the series of five, beginning with--it is the source of eternal glory. Now, you will recall that when Moses received the law on Mount Sinai, he came into the presence of our infinite, holy, transcendent God, and the Shekinah glory of God encompassed Moses. And of course, that glory of God--that dazzling light--in the Old Testament, and even in the new, is always a picture of the visible manifestation of the power and the perfections in the presence of God. And according to Exodus 34, beginning in verse 29, we read how that blazing light of God's glory stayed with Moses. And it emanated from his face when he came down off of the mountain. And that light was so blinding, it was so terrifying, that he had to put a veil over his face. Imagine what that would have looked like. And what is even more fascinating is to note that the effulgence of God's glory that encompassed Moses was only a tiny fraction of the total glory of God. He saw only a partial glory, not the full glory. Of course, that would have destroyed him had he seen that. Let me remind you of this. It's written in Exodus 33, beginning in verse 18. "Then Moses said, 'I pray You, show me Your glory!' And God said, 'I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.' But he said, 'You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!' Then the Lord said, 'Behold, there is a place by Me and you shall stand there on the rock; and it will come about, while my glory is passing by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away, and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen.'" It's amazing, isn't it? Despite Moses veiled exposure to that tiny, little portion of God's glory, his face shone with such devastating brilliance that it terrified the Israelites and he had to wear a veil. By the way, what will it be like when one day we see the Lord face to face. Because you'll have to be in a glorified state before that can happen or we’d just be disintegrated. But the veil, you must understand, served another purpose, not only to prevent them from just kind of passing out in fear, as they were horrified, it's such a sight. But what we're going to see a little bit later in verse 13, it says Moses "put a veil over his face, so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away." A reference to the Mosaic Covenant, the old covenant. You see the concealment prevented them from seeing the fading splendor that accompanied the old covenant. Let me take you back to verse seven of this chapter. There we read, "But if the ministry of death in letters engraved on stones,"--which by the way is reference to the old covenant law, that which God Himself etched on the stone tablets we read about in Exodus 32--"If the ministry of death in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses, because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory?" A reference to the new covenant. "For if the ministry of condemnation has glory,"-- a reference to the law--"much more it is the ministry of righteousness abound in glory"--a reference to the new covenant.

Now friends remember the old covenant could only damn, it could never justify. It was the basis of condemnation, not the basis of salvation. It could only expose our unrighteousness; it could never impute the righteousness of Christ. And without the righteousness of Christ, no one can be reconciled to a holy God; nobody could be saved; nobody could be redeemed; nobody could enter into the glory of heaven and so forth. And Paul went on to say in verses 10 and 11 of Second Corinthians three, "For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory." You see, dear friends, the old covenant law faded after it served its purpose. And its purpose was to expose man's sin and his utter inability to save himself; his utter lack of righteousness and need for the righteousness of God that only he could give. And so its purpose was to bring conviction and to bring repentance, not salvation. But the new covenant, the Gospel, superseded the old covenant and so therefore, as the text says, it "remains," its permanent; it will never fade away. And that's Paul's argument here. He's saying, essentially, to the saints there in Corinth, who are being deceived by these people who are wanting to take elements of the old covenant and add it to the new he's saying, Folks, why do you want to return to that which was obscure; that which was veiled? Yet it was glorious, yes, the Mosaic Covenant, but all of its symbols and types and mystery-- all of that pointed to the new covenant. In fact, its glory was intended to diminish. Its glory would ultimately be superseded by an infinitely greater glory in the glory of the new covenant, a permanent glory. So why resort again to all of the external rituals and ceremonies and sacrifices and diet restrictions and Sabbath restrictions. The old covenant was intended to curse, not to bless. Hebrews 9:12, we read that we are saved, "not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." And when we come to saving faith in Christ, that's what we believe. We are saying, Father, I have no merit of my own. I have nothing to contribute to my salvation. I am wholly dependent upon your mercy and your grace and so I cry out to you in faith, asking you to save me. And on the basis of such a profession of faith, we obtain, as we've seen here in the text, eternal redemption, access into the glorious presence of God.

Now remember Old Testament saints were saved the same way New Testament saints were. They were saved by grace, through faith alone--grace alone, faith alone, but on the basis of the new covenant that was promised in Jeremiah 31, for example. You see, the new covenant was ratified at the cross, but its benefits were appropriated by faith that believed that God would fulfill his new covenant promises, that were given in the Old Testament. So you might say that the Old Testament saints were saved on credit. Hebrews nine, verse 15, says, "For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the transgressions that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." So dear friends, because of the new covenant, we are glory bound; it is the source of eternal glory. I was thinking of that great hymn, "Blessed Assurance, Jesus is mine, oh, what a foretaste," of what? "Glory divine. Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his Spirit, washed in his blood." So we celebrate the new covenant because it is also the source of eternal glory.

But number four, it is the source of courageous hope. Notice verse 12; "Therefore, having such hope, we use great boldness in our speech." You know, all you have to do folks is look around and you see a world that has no hope. It's really sad, isn't it? People hope in their political ideologies, they hope in their politicians, they worship the god and goddesses of government. I think of all of this chaos that we see around the country today. The people that basically say, Look, folks, we can have Utopia on Earth, if everyone will just agree with our presuppositions with our agenda. And if you don't, we are going to silence you. We're going to force you to agree with us. What kind of hope is that? Other people hope in their religion; their personal efforts to impress God with their good works, with their rituals and ceremonies. And of course, that's what was going on in Paul's day with Judaizers. We see this in many branches of Protestant evangelicalism, even today. Jesus came to make salvation possible, but only if you do your part. And folks, that's not the gospel. You have nothing to contribute. All false religions have their list, don't they? Do this, do that; earn your salvation. And of course, all of those are counterfeits. These are people that really have no hope. You've heard me say before that when I encounter Jehovah's Witnesses, or Mormons or Muslims, I will always ask them somewhere in the conversation, “So I'm curious, do you think you're going to make the cut?" And it's always fascinating to watch the reaction. Because down deep, they just don't know for sure. And sometimes they will tell you that. And I always love to be able to say to them, "boy, I know I couldn't. But I trusted Jesus who made the cut for me. He paid a penalty I could never pay. So my confidence, my hope, is in Him; in what he has accomplished." I always like to tell people; the law says here's what you must do. But the Gospel says here's what Christ has done. And therefore, we can sing "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ, the solid rock I stand all other ground," is what? "Is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand."

Back to verse 12. "Therefore, having such hope, we use great boldness in our speech." The term "boldness" here is a reference to the fearless proclamation of the gospel even in the face of great adversity. You know, I've given you a tract here that you can hand out. Or you can link it online to somehow plant the seeds of the gospel. And it's easy for us to be filled with fear--oh I'm not sure what somebody might say. And then suddenly we become more afraid of man, have fear of man more than we do of God. We very subtly become ashamed of the gospel. But folks, when your heart is absolutely consumed with the Gospel; the triad of the gospel, which is faith, hope, and love, then you will have boldness. I mean, think about it, you have to have faith, otherwise, you have no hope. And if you have no hope, you will have no real love for other people to share the good news of the gospel with them; you're too concerned about protecting yourself. So if you're afraid of opposition, you need to think about this. You need to be obedient. First, Thessalonians, five, eight, where Paul says, put on "as a helmet, the hope of salvation." I see a lot of the police out there, they've got these helmets and the masks, they keep the bricks and all the other opposition coming at them. Well, we've got a helmet too. And it is the hope, the helmet of the hope of salvation. So again, the new covenant is the source of courageous hope. Romans 15:13, Paul says, "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Folks, this is the hope according to Colossians, one five that is "laid up for you in heaven, of which you previously heard in the word of truth, the gospel." According to Hebrews 6:19, this is the, "hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope which is both sure and steadfast, and one which enters within the veil."

You see, this was the new covenant hope that Paul preached that absolutely infuriated the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. But also, it was the new covenant gospel that saved many of them, as it has us. Aren't you thankful that people were bold enough to share the truth with us? Paul prayed for the Ephesians in Ephesians 1:18, "that the eyes of their hearts may be enlightened, so that they would know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints." This is, according to Hebrews seven and verse 19, "the better hope through which we draw near to God." This is, as Peter said, In First Peter, one, three, "the living hope, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." And for this reason, he went on to say in verse 13, and verse 21, he said, "fix your hope completely on the grace to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ....Your faith and hope are in God." You know, as I was meditating on that passage, I just thought to myself, Lord, when you come to take me home, I want to be found as a bold, indefatigable, wounded, perhaps, soldier who just never gave ground; battle scarred, but refused to give up the post. And folks, I want you to be with me. And I know so many of you are. But what drives that kind of boldness? It's the hope that we have in Christ. It's the new covenant. It's the gospel. We serve the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the victory is ours. I know a lot of times it looks like we're losing the war. You know, it's kind of like playing in a football game, and they just keep moving the goalposts. It's like, you're just never going to win. But ultimately, because of Christ, we win. So we fix our hope completely on the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ, our faith and our hope are in God.

So, the new covenant is the source of eternal glory. It's the source of courageous hope. And number five, it is the source of unveiled gospel clarity. Again, verse 12. Notice, "Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech." Verse 13, "and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away." What's going on there? Why do the veil? Why would God have him do that? Well, verse 14 says, "But their minds were hardened." In other words, what he's saying here is, in contrast with Moses--who wanted them to understand the impermanence of the law; who wanted them to understand that its purpose was to reveal sin and our inability to keep it; to expose our need for a Savior, to expose the fact that it was a covenant that was going to fade away and be superseded by the new covenant--Unlike them, you know these truths. Of course, the Jews had lowered the moral standards of the law. They came up with creative, superficial ways of keeping the requirements externally. When I think about that, boy, that's me, my heart just naturally goes to that. I can always come up with some way that I think God is going to be impressed with me. Kind of the shortcut, you know? We've all got a little bit of hypocrisy in us, right? And that's what they were doing. And like all legalists, they invented ways to be righteous in their own eyes. And it's for this reason that God hardened their minds and their hearts. I mean, after all, think about it, who needs a savior if you can save yourself? That's what he's saying to them. So in verse 14, we read that God judicially hardened their minds. "Mind" in Greek, it comes from the word, "noema." Which refers to our faculty of thought; our ability to apprehend or understand things. And because they were playing this ridiculous game, trying to come up with ways of being obedient to the law, and thinking that they were righteous in God's eyes, because of this, God rendered them unable to recognize the significance of the fading glory symbolized in Moses' veil. They just couldn't see it, they didn't get it. So their ability to apprehend, their ability to perceive the truth of the new covenant was dead. And as I say, two plus two is five. We run across that all the time. You give people the gospel, you explain it to them--two plus two is five. Unless the Spirit of God does something in their heart, it's always going to be five or six, or seven, or whatever, but it will never be four. Unless the Spirit of God changes their heart. It says, verse 14, that their "minds were hardened." "Poroo", in the original language. It comes from a Greek word "poros." It was used to describe a stone, for example. A stone that would be used in, in construction. But it was also used to describe the formation of that kind of bony callus that forms around a fractured bone. That's the idea. And in that sense, and especially because it's a passive verb, there's the indication here that their unbelief caused their minds to become calloused over, or to become hard. Metaphorically, they became insensitive, blind to the truth. We see this concept of hardening in numerous passages in the Old Testament. Let me give you one, Deuteronomy 29. If we go there, we would see that the context describes how the despite all that God had done for the Israelites, and rescuing them, delivering them from the bondage of Egypt, they still did not fear the Lord. They still disregarded His glory and the awesomeness of his character. They still disobeyed him; tried to pursue righteousness on their own. And so in Deuteronomy 29 four, we read, "Yet to this day, the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear." And of course, we saw this in the first century and it continues to this day.

The same spiritual blindness continues among most--not all--Jewish people. Paul spoke of this in Romans 11 and verse eight. He said, "Just as it is written, 'God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes to see not and ears to hear not, down to this very day.'" Jesus described this as well, you may recall, John five, Jesus excoriated the Jews for their fastidious rule keeping, where they thought that they could somehow impress God and obey the law even though they were mucking around with it to get it where they could; obey it superficially. And, of course, this prevented them from seeing the truth of the new covenant. And so in John 5:39, Jesus says, "'You search the Scriptures because you think that in them, you have eternal life.’” Then he says this, "'it's these that bear witness of Me.'" The point is, you can't see it.

And by the way, Christ is the main theme of Scripture. In verse 46, of that same chapter--in John five--Jesus said "'For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.'" So in other words, you just wouldn't see it in the Old Testament. And ultimately, we see that God blinded them--judicially hardened their heart because of their unbelief. If you go to Deuteronomy 18, verse 15, we see the Lord clearly there. "'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.'" It's as if Jesus was saying to the Jews, I mean, what do you think when you read that? You couldn't see me in that? You couldn't see me and the new covenant promises in Jeremiah 31? You couldn't see me in the royal messianic psalms and the Psalter? You couldn't see me in Isaiah 52, verse 13, through Isaiah 53? Paul tells us that Israel's blindness is going to continue until the Messiah returns and saves a remnant of his people. Romans 11, verse 25, and following, here's what Paul says, "For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery--so that you will not be wise in your own estimation." In other words, you Gentiles, I don't want you to get cocky here. I want you to understand what God has done with the Jewish people. And he says this, "that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until great word of hope there until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS."

So indeed, back to our text in verse 14, "their minds were hardened." I see this as well in Luke 24. Remember, when Jesus met with a couple of his disciples on the road to Emmaus? You know, I mean, they were they were frustrated. They were talking about, well, you know, Jesus, we thought he was the Messiah, we thought the kingdom was going to be brought in, and then all of a sudden, I mean, He's crucified. And now there's rumors that he's been risen from the dead? What's going on here? They were astonished at all of this. They had no idea they were talking with Jesus, until later. And Jesus said to them in Luke 24, beginning in verse 25, "'O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!'" He went on to say, "'Was it not necessary for the Christ,'" the Messiah, "'to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?' Then beginning with Moses, and with all the prophets, Jesus explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures."

See again, if only the Jews had embraced the purpose of the law, and the passing glory of the Old Covenant, that would be superseded by the new--had they done, so that veil would have been removed. And fortunately, someday, for many it will be. And some are having it removed now. But Paul's point with all of this, with the Corinthians, is to say, look folks, unlike the hard-hearted Israelites in the days of Moses, your hearts have been softened by the Holy Spirit who now dwells within you. Verses two and three speak of that in this chapter.

Back to his Jewish kinsmen, in verse 14, at the end, he says, "for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant," which by the way, they would do in the synagogues, "the same veil remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. But to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lives over their heart." I've got Jewish friends that have come to faith in Christ and I love to hear them describe how the Spirit of God lifted the veil over their eyes. But how sad, think about it, even in Paul's day. People knew who Christ was, he had healed everybody in Palestine, basically. They knew of his crucifixion, his resurrection from the dead, or at least claims of it. They had all this new covenant clarity from his preaching, and the preaching of the Apostles and others, that explain the purpose, and impermanence of the old covenant. And yet, despite all of that, they still would not believe it. And in their arrogance, they believe that they could somehow accomplish their own righteousness by keeping their version of the law. And of course, this is totally contrary to anything you would read in the Old Testament. I think of Isaiah 66. You may recall the context there is how God is not looking for a temple of stone to dwell in, he's looking for tender humbled broken hearts. And in verse one of Isaiah 66, he says, "Thus says the Lord, 'Heaven is my throne and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest? For My hand made all these things, thus all these things came into being.' declares the Lord. 'But to this one I will look.'" In other words, this is what gets God's attention. "'To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.'" That's what the Lord's looking for. He dwells in that kind of a heart. And ironically, Israel's unbelief actually fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies that he would have to suffer. Really an interesting thought. Paul described this to his Jewish audience in Antioch. He was speaking in a synagogue; they're telling them all of these things they certainly didn't want to hear. We read about it in Acts 13, verse 27, he says, "For those who live in Jerusalem, and their rulers, recognizing neither Christ nor the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled these by condemning Him." In other words, fulfilled the fact that Messiah would have to suffer. And I must confess, I fear that some of that same hard-hearted unbelief may exist even among some of the people here at Calvary Bible Church. I mean, you want to ask yourself, am I humble and contrite of heart? Is my heart tender to the reality that I have nothing to offer God to earn salvation? And I'm wholly dependent upon his grace. Do I tremble at his word? Or am I indifferent towards it, like the typical American, quote, unquote, "Christian teenager," and just say, "whatever, no big deal." You hear the gospel, but it really doesn't impact you. You kind of wish the preacher would just hurry up and get through it all. You don't embrace it wholeheartedly. Folks, if that is you, you're spiritually dead, and you will perish in your sin.

Dear friend, examine yourself. Don't be deceived. Hebrews 10, beginning in verse 28, says, "Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses." But then he adds this, "How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God." In other words, rejected the Gospel. "And has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?" Then he says, "For we know Him who said, 'VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.' And again, 'THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE." It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Folks, we must remember that God only saves those who are absolutely convinced that they have nothing to offer. Those who are desperate for mercy and grace. His grace is only available to those who know they cannot earn it. He only saves the broken and the humble and the contrite and the desperate; those who mourn over their sin; those who hunger and thirst for righteousness beyond their own.

In verse 16, he says, "But whenever a person turns to the Lord," here it is, "the veil is taken away." I love that. You remember when the light came on in your life? I do, when I was a young boy. Gospel clarity. When suddenly you could see the horror of your sin, the glory of the cross and all of a sudden it made sense. By the way, when that happens, that's called regeneration. Reminds me of an old bluegrass song we used to sing--"I saw the light, no more darkness, no more night. Now I'm so happy, no sorrow inside, praise the Lord. I saw the light." That's what verse 16 is. Whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. Paul spoke of this in Second Corinthians four six, he said, "For God, who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness.'" A reference to creation. That same God is, "the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." Folks, that's what the new covenant does. That's the power of the gospel.

I'll deal with verse 16, or 17, and the end of 18 the next time we're together, but jump down to verse 18. He says, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord." The analogy here is this-- When Moses was in the presence of God on the mountain, his face was unveiled, even though he was only allowed to see a tiny portion of the glory of God. But now, new covenant believers--those who have placed their faith in Christ--can behold the glory of the Lord with an unveiled face. That's the idea. O child of God don't miss this. We celebrate the blessings of the new covenant because it is the source of unveiled gospel clarity. Think of it this way, regeneration produces illumination. It causes us to be born again, as we see the light of the amazing truth of the gospel. So what was once concealed in all of the types and the mysteries of those symbols, and the pictures; all of that's now clear. The New Covenant explains what was once a shadow of what was to come-- the glory of the gospel. So Paul is saying, you people are being duped by these false apostles. Why go back to the shadow when you have the reality? That's the point.

Well, may I challenge all of you to celebrate the blessings of the new covenant in your family and in your life. Fathers, especially you. Real men, godly men, shepherd their families. Men that don't are wimps. That's all there is to it. So many wives, so many children are frustrated because their husbands and fathers don't shepherd their people. Godly men are going to take these truths and understand them, make them such a part of themselves, that they're gonna share them and teach them to their children.

First Corinthians 16:13, "Be on the alert, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong." And that's my encouragement to all of the men here on Father's Day, but to all of us. Let's see, let's examine, reexamine and celebrate the blessings that emerge from the new covenant, because it is the source of eternal life by the Holy Spirit. It is the source of the imputed righteousness of Christ. It is the source of eternal glory, the source of courageous hope, and the source of unveiled gospel, clarity. And all God's people can say, Amen. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these truths. May they bear much fruit in each of our hearts as we celebrate them in our lives, as we live them out, so that others can see the hope that is in us. And because of our faith and our hope, and our love, may we be bold in our proclamation of the gospel. We commit all of this to you in the name of Jesus and for his sake. Amen.

Good morning, everyone and welcome to Calvary Bible Church via the internet. Unfortunately, I'm speaking to an empty sanctuary. But I know that you are there via the computers and all of the technology that we have. So I'm glad to be able to minister the word of God to you this way, unfortunately, the pandemic has come into our church with at least one individual that we know of. So as you're probably aware, we are going to shut down for a couple of weeks to quarantine ourselves. And Lord willing, this will pass and just pray for the individual that has this and pray that God will be merciful to the rest of us to keep us healthy.

Well, this morning, we come again to our study of First Corinthians or Second Corinthians, I'm sorry, Second Corinthians chapter three, if you will take your Bibles and turn there, we're going to be looking at the second part of this concept of celebrating the New Covenant. We're gonna be looking at verses six through 11 this morning. And as we begin, may I prepare your hearts and minds by reminding you of a little gland that we have on our body. It's called a pituitary gland. And the pituitary gland is about the size of a pea, it's right behind your nose, it's at the base of your brain, it's right in the very center of your brain. And until the invention of super powerful microscopes and technology that could measure infinitesimal amounts of hormones, scientists didn't really know what that little gland did. But once they discovered what it was really doing, they understood that it was, what they now call, the master gland. It was a gland that secretes hormones that regulate many of the organs in our body, many of the glands in our body. Well, I give you that as a little analogy of this passage of Scripture. We can come to this passage of Scripture, and we can think to ourselves, well, this really isn't all that important of a passage of scripture. And so we tend to just kind of read over these things and, and not really look into them. But as we take our time, and really look at what the Apostle Paul is saying here, we find ourselves just overwhelmed with a myriad of great truths that are both exhilarating to those of us who know and love Christ and very instructive as well. So I invite you to, to look at this portion of Scripture with me once again. Remember, Paul is defending himself against the slanderous attacks of the false apostles that had invaded the church at Corinth, Judaizers that were trying to mix Old Testament law with the new covenant and so forth. And, as I mentioned to you the first time we were together, there are five reasons that emerged from this text. Five Reasons to help us celebrate the New Covenant. We're going to see, as we looked at the first-time last week, that it is number one, the source of eternal life by the Holy Spirit. Secondly, the new covenant is the source of the imputed righteousness of Christ. Number three, it's the source of eternal glory. Number four, it's the source of courageous hope. And finally, it is the source of unveiled gospel, clarity. So we're going to look at least a couple of these this morning as we continue to make our way through this passage very carefully.

So let me read it to you. Second Corinthians chapter three, beginning in verse six. God, "also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit failed to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more than that which remains is in glory."

Now the last time we were together, we looked at the first source of celebration of the new covenant. Number one, it's the source of eternal life by the Holy Spirit. I want to elaborate on that a little bit more, before we move to the second reason that we can rejoice. Now remember, if we come back to verse six, unlike the false apostles that were trying to mix Old Testament law with the new covenant, he against says, "God also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." Remember the letter of the law, in other words, it's legalistic, external requirements that the Jews were trying to keep in order to merit salvation, all of that kills; just what Paul says it kills your joy, it kills your peace, it kills your hope. And to know that if you violate one aspect of God's holy standard, then you have violated it all. And it's punishable by death. And so the old covenant saints were living under that bondage, plus all of the rules of the rabbis. I was reminded by a friend that sent me a video this week of Manhattan, where a lot of Orthodox Jews live, there is what's called an "eruv;" e, r, u, v--a Hebrew word that stands for a boundary. And in this case, in Manhattan, the whole urban area is enclosed by a single wire boundary. And you if you go to Israel, you will see this in many places, you'll see eruv in various parts of the land. But anyway, this wire boundary symbolically extends the private domain of Jewish households into public areas. And this in their mind permits them to have activities in a much larger area that would normally be forbidden in public on the Sabbath. And so it gets crazy, the types of things that people will come up with, to impress God. That particular wire, by the way, that circles around Manhattan, I believe, is 18 miles long. They say it costs $100,000 a year, just to keep it up, to make sure that it's not broken. And there's a rabbi that travels around every day, to make sure that it's not broken. So you see these types of things that rabbis impose on top of what God's law was.

They also have for example, "mezuzahs", as they're called. It's a little decorative box. And inside is a piece of parchment that has some of the Torah some of the law rolled up inside of it. They will have, for example, Deuteronomy six, four and following, "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with, with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your might." And they take literally Deuteronomy 11:20, where God said, "You shall write them," referring to the law, "on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." So if you go to Israel, for example, you go to a hotel, you go into your room, right there on the doorpost is a little mezuzah; got some of the law in there. You'll see in a restaurant; they are right on the doorposts. In fact, I've been in restaurants in Israel, where the waiters and waitresses will go in and out of the kitchen, there's a mezuzah right there on the doorpost, every time they go by, they will touch it and kiss it. And you just see this routine going on and on and on.

Well, unfortunately, these are the types of things that people believe when they misunderstand the old covenant, and they do not appreciate the new covenant that it pointed to, that now surpasses it in all of its glory. And remember, the law never had the power to redeem people. That was not its intention. All it could do is condemn us. And obedience to the law was never meant to be a means to salvation Romans 3:20, "by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin." So we come back to verse six here at the end And Paul says, "but the Spirit gives life." And as we discussed the last time we were together, it is the Spirit that produces regeneration; he causes us to be born again. Otherwise we would remain under the power of the evil one; First John 5:19. John three, remember, in verse five, Jesus told Nicodemus, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water, and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." The Greek when it says, "he cannot," "ou dynamai," it means you have no power, you have no ability, in and of yourself to enter into the kingdom of God, by any other means whatsoever. I mean, it's very strong language. And he says, "you must be born of water and the Spirit."

By the way, that has nothing to do with water baptism. Water and spirit were frequently used in the Old Testament; they were used together to symbolize renewal and cleansing. And of course, this would have resonated with Nicodemus. He would have understood this very clearly because he was a great teacher of Israel. And he would have known that what Jesus is referring back to is Ezekiel 36, beginning of verse 24. And by the way these rabbis memorize, essentially the entire Old Testament, so he would have known about this, Ezekiel 36:24, God says, "'For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your land.'" By the way, that's part of the promise of the Abrahamic covenant that will ultimately be fulfilled, but that regathering and that restoration of Israel in the Land promises, cannot occur until there is salvation, until there's a new heart and so forth; and we see the beginnings of that now. But then he goes on to say, "'Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.'" My what a day that will be for those people, as it is today for many of us who have been saved by God's grace. And Paul uses the same metaphorical imagery when he describes regeneration as being sprinkled with clean water and being given a new heart. He uses this in Titus three, verse five, where he says, "He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit." So regeneration is therefore, shall we say, a cleansing from sin. It's a purifying renovation of our very nature, a creation of a spiritual life. It's something that the old covenant law was never intended to do. And this change is referred to in the New Testament as "a new creation" Galatians 6:15. We're called "a new creature" in Second Corinthians 5:17; "the new self," Ephesians 424. It's called "being born again," First Peter 1:23, and so forth. Oh dear friends, what a miraculous transformation. And we must celebrate this. This is part of the new covenant. There is a a supernatural breaking from what Paul said, "our former manner of life," Ephesians 4:22 and our quote, "former lusts," First Peter 1:14. As new creatures Paul says that, "the old things passed away, behold, the new things have come," and we can all who know Christ, we can see that in our in our lives, in our hearts, in our minds. Colossians 3:10, "We have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge, according to the image of the One who created him." In Romans 12 and verse two, "We are no longer conformed to this world, but we're transformed by the renewing of our mind." John 3:19, Jesus went on to tell Nicodemus that we, "no longer love darkness rather than light." Indeed, dear friends, we come to the light by the power of the Spirit, because he has made us to love the light; we have new affections, we have new desires because of the Spirit; new desires that the natural man cannot understand because the natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God. They "are foolishness to him," Paul says, and they "cannot understand them," First Corinthians 2:14.

Now think about this, have you ever noticed how different our desires are from the unregenerate from those that don't know Christ, all you have to do is look at the hideous display of depravity in the police brutality that we witnessed last week, and also the rioting and the looting of these depraved anarchists, and arsonists that are destroying parts of various cities around the country. And then to look at the the utterly astounding absurdity in the lack of response from these progressive leftist mayors and governors. It's astounding. I shake my head when I listen to some of these politicians and some of the pundits, they're utterly clueless about what's really going on; how to diagnose and therefore treat the problems in our country. And of course, the answers are always political--Oh, it's systemic racism. It's white privilege. It's white supremacy, it's income inequality. If we would just provide better jobs and educational opportunities and on and on and on it goes, then all of our problems will go away, folks, that's foolish. That is utterly foolishness. The problem is human depravity. And the answer is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, whereby the Spirit of God changes people's nature; changes their desires; changes their hearts. True Christians do not care about the fads of the world. They don't embrace its values or its wisdom, which God calls foolishness. They don't take up its causes. God has saved us to take us out of the world, not to make us conform to the world. "But whatever is born of God overcomes the world," First, John five and verse four. We know according to Romans 12, two that the believer is constantly seeking that which "is good and acceptable and perfect." And folks, we do this, because of the power of the Spirit of God at work within us. And this is why Paul told the Corinthians in First Corinthians two verse four, "my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God."

Now, the folks in Corinth understood this; most of them were true believers. Some of them were undoubtedly Christian in name only; you always have that in churches. But the important point to remember is this-- what validates genuine saving faith, what validates the fact that a person is regenerated or has been born again, is not some profession of faith. It is not church attendance, or denominational affiliation. It's not even outward morality; not even the conviction of sin. The real evidence is a changed life. And it is the indwelling Spirit of God that energizes that obedience.

If you drop down a little bit lower in our text in verse 17, Paul says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." Indeed, there is. There is liberty from the unsuccessful attempts of trying to impress God by keeping the law. It's the spirit that brings liberty from the bondage that people had to the law; Romans seven, one through six. It's liberty from the power of Satan, who terrorizes people with the fear of death and coming judgment. In fact, Paul says in Romans eight two, "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death." And certainly, it's also liberating in that it liberates us from the enslaving power of sin, so that we might walk in newness of life, as we read in Romans six. And if you also look at verse 18, at the end, he says, We "are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." That's the work of the Spirit. This is why we celebrate the new covenant, just even in this aspect of it. Colossians three, beginning in verse eight, Paul says, "But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander and abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices, and have put on the new self, who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him." Folks, this is what the Spirit of God enables new covenant believers to do. And, of course, this is a great concern of mine; for the church today, even here at Calvary Bible Church. A person can make all kinds of affirmations about the gospel, all manner of professions of faith and yet be a total stranger to the saving and sanctifying power of the gospel. I remember the testimony of a good friend of mine who was saved out of a very liberal denomination that he attended faithfully for many years. But a denomination and a church where they never taught the gospel. He had no clue what the true gospel was. He eventually came to Christ. He's been a pastor for a number of years. But let me let me read to you part of his testimony. Here's what he said, "Having lived most of my life in the so called "Bible Belt," I have met and known scores of people who profess to be Christians. Yet in their daily lives have been indistinguishable from those who have never made such a profession. In fact, I myself used to be such a person. I have lived both sides and seen the fallacy of one and the truth of the other. Such people as I, once rarely read their Bibles, much less know them. They take no delight in talking about the things of the Lord, their lifestyles, are as worldly and self-indulgent as their incomes will allow. And oftentimes more than they will allow. Their minds are set on and preoccupied with earthly things. In their dress, they take their cues from the culture, or are driven by personal preference rather than biblical principles, and are just as immodest, provocative, ostentatious and sensual as the world. They allow the culture to dictate the standard of modesty and morality, and what is appropriate and inappropriate. They watch the same ungodly movies, listen to the same music, are influenced by and follow the same fads and trends and reflect the same values, priorities, thinking and reasoning of the culture. Their speech is often course and profane. Their social media platforms are shallow, vain, self-promotional, compliment-seeking and narcissistic. They have no devotion or love for spiritual truths and biblical principles; especially if they contradict some preference or presupposition, or require an alteration in their thinking, values, beliefs and lifestyles, and to forsake some cherished lust and sin." He goes on to say, "They're giving to the work of the Lord is sporadic, self-serving, and minimal at best, with virtually no inconvenience to their overall lifestyle. They are not only utterly incapable of discerning truth from error, the clean from the unclean, the holy from the profane, and the fruit that is from the spirit of the world, from the fruit that is of the Spirit of God, but they are completely indifferent toward them. They can listen to what is good and true and what is bad and heretical without any discrimination. But for all of this, they are quite certain they will go to heaven when they die. If you ask them. 'What is the basis for this confidence?' They will tell you that many years ago, they accepted Jesus as their Savior, and invited him into their heart,” end quote. ''Once saved, always saved,' is their comfort and assurance." But he says, "the sign and evidence that someone is truly regenerate, is not some empty prattling about how secure they are once they made a profession of faith. But," quote, "'that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed'--Romans 6:17," end quote.

And, folks, this is the great danger of cultural Christianity; a Christianity that is in name only; a Christless Christianity and may I humbly encourage all of you to examine your life. Later on in this epistle, Paul encouraged the folks of Corinthians, to do that very thing. He said in Second Corinthians 13, five, "Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless, indeed you fail the test?

Now, I want to make a very important digression; a very brief one, but an important one. I want to offer you three very basic tests that you can use to examine your heart, examine your life, and there's many others. There's a number of them in First John, for example. But these are evidences of regeneration. Number one, ask yourself, do others see Christ in me? You know, many professing Christians live respectable Christian lives on the outside, but they know nothing of the reality of the new birth on the inside. Physically speaking, we know that a child will manifest a likeness to his or her parents. When you see a baby, we always can very quickly say, "Oh, my goodness, that child has his father's nose and maybe his mother's eyes" or whatever. They will share many of the same qualities because they share that DNA. Well, the same is true spiritually. Those born of the Spirit will manifest qualities that are consistent with their divine nature. In fact, Second Peter one four we read that we have, quote, "become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust." But when we come a child of God, we began to manifest characteristics consistent with holiness. We're able to escape the power which the rottenness of the world can overcome us with. And we see this in this new life. And think about it all life manifests characteristics consistent with its nature. Jesus said that, "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit nor can a bad tree produce good fruit," Matthew 7:18. And Jesus went on, by the way, to tell Nicodemus remember, in John three and verse six, he said, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Now, obviously, no believer can attain to perfect holiness; that is not going to happen until glory, but if you're truly born again, you're going to see decreasing patterns of sin, and an increasing hatred of it.

I can thankfully say, I am not what I want to be, but by God's grace, I am not what I was. And that is all the work of the Spirit in my life. And so many of you can say the same thing. First, John three, beginning in verse nine, the apostle says this, "No one who is born of God practices sin," why? "Because His seed abides in him, and he cannot sin." In other words, that will not be the pattern of his life, "because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God." So you want to ask yourself the question, "Do others see Christ in me?"

A second question that gives evidence to regeneration is this, "Do I have a hunger for spiritual food?" First Peter two beginning in verse two, "Like newborn babies, we are to long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow and respect to salvation, if you have tasted the kindness of the Lord." Now we know that a little child cannot survive, and he certainly cannot grow, apart from proper nourishment. Well, the same is true of a person born of the Spirit. We cannot survive. We cannot grow apart from the word. And so like a newborn baby, a true believer is going to crave the pure milk of the word. He's going to crave that like a little baby craves mommy's milk. It's like a matter of life and death. The true believer is going to love the Word of God. They are going to love to read their Bibles. They're going to love to hear good solid preaching and teaching and read books that help them understand how to know and how to serve the Lord their God. The excellency and the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ will be their food and drink. And they will constantly gaze upon the cross and all that Christ has done for them. They will have what Jonathan Edwards called, "holy affections." That is the work of the Spirit. They will therefore have a hunger for spiritual food. Those who have no appetite for the pure milk of the word, have no basis to believe that they have been born of the Spirit. It's very simple. I mean, think about it. By nature, carnivores love meat, and herbivores love plants. And by nature, vultures love roadkill. Human beings can't stand to even get near it. Only a change of nature can change those desires. And we know for example, according to Ephesians, two three that the unregenerate quote, "indulge the desires of the flesh and of the mind." Why? Well, by nature they are, quote, "enslaved to various lusts and pleasures." Titus three, three--from same sex attraction to pornography, from alcoholism to materialism, from self-exultation to self-fulfillment, that's where their mind is. They're enslaved by the lusts and pleasures that God abhors. But not so those who have been radically transformed by the Spirit of God, we have no desire for those things; the things of the world--the philosophies, the psychological theories, the values, the false religions, the false doctrines that are out there. Most forms of worldly pleasure and entertainment are like roadkill to the truly regenerate. We've got to change nature, but not so for those who had never been born again. According to Romans eight, five, "For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh." So you want to ask yourself, "Do I really have an appetite for the Word of God?"

So number one, do others see Christ in me? Number two, do I have a hunger for spiritual food? And finally, "Am I growing into the likeness of Christ?" Dear friends, this is a basic principle of lif; all living things grow. If they're not growing, they're dying. Those born of the Spirit will according to Second Peter 3:18, "grow in the grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." And biblically we know that growth is proportional to one's commitment to know and obey the Word of God. Growing into spiritual maturity requires a deepening knowledge of Scripture. This is why for example, God has given pastor teachers to the church, we read about this in Ephesians, four, beginning in verse 12. God has given pastors and teachers "for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the Body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." He goes on to say as a result, "we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth and love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ." And as we grow up, we began to manifest the fruits of the Spirit, as we see in Galatians five, "love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." This is what will grow on the vine of our life. Those who walk by the Spirit, in other words, those who yield to the Spirit of God as He has revealed Himself in Scripture--on a moment-by-moment basis--they are going to look, and they are going to act, they're going to talk differently than those who don't. They are not going to be ruled by the flesh. The unregenerate are ruled by the flesh. Galatians five goes on to say that in verse 19, there Paul speaks of the deeds of the flesh he gives a little list they are: "immorality, impurity," which is another term for fornication. "Sensuality idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing and things like these." So you need to ask yourself, can I see and can others see measurable growth into Christ's likeness in my life? Or do I just kind of play an external game? Am I just part of the churchianity crowd? Am I just a more religious version of the same self- willed, self-serving hypocrite that I've always been?

Well, the new covenant makes all of this possible, because it is the source of eternal life by the Holy Spirit. Now, some have asked, and I want to address this very briefly, an important footnote here; some have asked, did Old Testament saints receive the same type of spiritual blessings as the New Testament saints? In other words, were they born again as well? Were they regenerate? Well, the answer is ultimately, yes. The Holy Spirit regenerated Old Testament believers, and this is evidenced, by the way; there's a number of reasons we could go into, but certainly, Jesus' conversation with Nicodemus gives evidence to this because that occurred before the ratification of the new covenant with Jesus' death; as we read about in Luke 22:20. So regeneration essentially involved a quote, "circumcised heart," as you read in the Old Testament. But the Holy Spirit did not permanently indwell Old Testament saints. He did, however, abide in them, as we see, for example, in Haggai two and verse five. You might say that the spirit dwelt with the Old Testament saints through the community, but he did not permanently dwell in them individually and intimately, as Jesus indicated in John 14:17, where he said to the disciples, quote, "'You know Him, because He abides with you, and will be in you.'" And of course, that happened at Pentecost. This is what Jesus referred to in John seven, beginning of verse 37. There he says, "Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, 'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.''" But he goes on to say, this, "He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive; for the spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified." So there John helps us see by quoting Jesus. So it's fair to say that that New Covenant believers enjoy a more permanent and more intimate experience of the power and the presence of the Holy Spirit than old covenant saints. But his essential work and salvation was the same.

So back to our examination here of this amazing passage, we can celebrate the new covenant number one, because it is the source of eternal life by the Holy Spirit, but secondly, it is the source of the imputed righteousness of Christ. Notice verse seven. "But if," or could be translated, "since"..."the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones"-- referring to the old covenant law, which God himself etched on tablets of stone, as we read about in Exodus 32--"but since the ministry of death and letters engraved on stones came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses, because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. Now, this is fascinating. Remember, his opponents were telling everyone that Paul just doesn't see the glory in the old covenant; he is opposed to God's law. And we read about these charges, for example, in Acts 21. But of course, none of that was true. For example, in Romans seven beginning of verse 12, Paul says this, "So then the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore, did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death, through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful." You see, again, the purpose of God's law was to expose man's depravity in light of God's purity and drive him to the Savior. Romans seven in verse seven at the end, "I would not have come to know sin," Paul says, "except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, 'You shall not covet.'" An interesting example that he uses "covet," "epithumeo" in the original language; it means to lust or to strongly desire; to have what belongs to someone else; to crave that which is forbidden. It carries the idea of an evil desire. We're not to have evil desires. By the way, this refutes the unbiblical and very misguided position that some evangelicals promote regarding same sex attraction. They say, Well, hey, that's just normal for some people, and therefore it's acceptable. But if they act on it, then it's sin. No, no, no, no, no. That is not true. The desire itself is sin. And the power of regeneration changes those desires. What a glorious truth that is. Regeneration just doesn't just merely change behaviors, it changes our very desires to act in ways that are reprehensible to God.

By the way, you shall not covet is taken from the Old Testament law and the 10 commandments that God gave to Moses in Exodus 20. And this is the 10th commandment actually, in Exodus 20, verse 17, we read, "You shall not covet." In other words, you shall not lust for or strongly desire for the following, "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant or his female servant, or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor." Now, it's also fascinating that Paul uses other concepts to describe how he wasn't opposed to the law. We see that the Holy Spirit inspired him to tell us something else that the law would do. And that is that the law would actually incite him to do more sin. And he wants people to understand this as well. We read about it in Romans seven in verse eight, "Sin, taking opportunity through the commandment, produced in me coveting of every kind, for apart from the Law sin is dead." So on the one hand, he's praising the law because what it exposes, but also, he showing how sin took advantage of him.

By the way, the key to interpreting that text is understanding the little phrase, "taking opportunity through the commandment." "Taking" in the original language means "to seize or to grasp"-- what he's saying here is that it seized me and it's the idea of a cause to give occasion for something that is going to take a hold of you. In fact, the term was used to describe a staging area or a base of military operation to begin an expedition. So we could literally translate what Paul was saying, like this-- sin, making use of the commandment as a base of operations--produced in me coveting of every kind. It's a fascinating concept. And here, sin is personified as an evil power that is antagonistic towards the law, intent on making a mockery of it by producing more sin that will violate it. So what is he saying? He's saying this, when I understand the laws, once I understood the laws, strict prohibition against lust, against coveting, my rebellious flesh was incited to further covetousness, to further rebellion. It used the commandment as a staging area to launch an attack of every kind, on coveting. Its why he says "it produced in me," an interesting term. It was a powerful term in the original language to mean, "to accomplish something with absolute success and thoroughness." And what is it that that the law accomplished in him? Well, it incited further rebellion. Notice the last phrase, in verse eight, "For apart from the Law, sin is dead." So what he's saying is, yes, the law is holy, it's glorious; it exposes sin. But it also causes our sin nature to be provoked, to actually come alive as it were. It's as though we have these malignant cells that lie dormant within our bodies, as if they are dead until something activates them to more corruption.

You see, friends it is characteristic of our sinful nature to rebel against all manner of authority, especially God's authority. Man is by nature a rebel. Man is by nature one who despises rules and regulations. He is a fool that has no fear of God. Now we see this in our little children, right? I mean, do you tell them? No, or Yes, more than the other? Obviously, we tell them no far more than we tell them, yes. Because they're demanding their own way. Moreover, you can tell them, look, children, you can play anywhere in the house, anywhere on the property, but do not go into that red shed back there. Well immediately what's going to happen in the heart of a child? I'm going to get into that red shed one way or the other. I've got to go in there. Well, this began in the garden, didn't it? Remember with Eve? I mean, God told Adam and Eve that you can freely eat of every tree in the garden, except the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Of course, that was a test. They already knew good. But if they disobeyed, suddenly they would know evil. And what happened? Well, Eve basically said, as she responded to Satan's temptation, I don't care what God says, I'm going to eat that forbidden fruit.

So back to Paul's defense here in Second Corinthians three and verse seven. Paul was basically saying to them, Look, you know, if you try to rely upon the law for salvation, you're in for an eternity of suffering, because the law is, as he says, "a ministry of death." Now, mind you, this was in stark contrast to the Jewish idea that the law is life-giving, but rather it is life-taking. And then he uses the illustration of the Shekinah glory of God. Remember that dazzling light that was the visible manifestation of the perfections, and the power in the presence of God that encompassed Moses when he went up onto Mount Sinai and he stood in the Lord's presence, and the Lord gave him his law. This is recorded in Exodus 34, verse 29, let me just read this to you. "It came about when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets of the testimony were in Moses hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him. So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him." As we study that passage, we see that it was so bright it was like they couldn't really look at him. It was just a terrifying thing. And later on, and in that same section of Scripture, we read how that all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them the commandments; all that the Lord had spoken with him on Mount Sinai, and then what happened? He put a veil on his face. And this concealment prevented the people from seeing the fading splendor that accompanied the old covenant. But Paul's use of this illustration refutes any accusation that Paul did not see the glory of the law; that somehow, he opposed the Law. No, no, not at all. The old covenant manifested the ineffable glory of God, of his perfections and his power, his presence, but also his holy nature, his justice, his wrath. It shows his glory even in his judgment. But it only pointed to that which was far greater, namely the new covenant. The new covenant that reveals the ineffable grandeur of his compassion, of his mercy, of his grace, of his forgiveness.

So in verse nine, back to our text, Paul says, "For if the ministry of condemnation has glory," which obviously he's saying it did, "much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory." You see, the point here is the old covenant had no power to impute the righteousness of Christ to believers. And without his righteousness, there's no salvation; we can never enter into the presence of a holy God. And for this reason Paul declared in Romans three beginning of verse 21, “But now apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested." Oh, what a wonderful truth. "Apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all those who believe."

So Paul goes on in his defense here in Second Corinthians three, in verse 10. He says, "For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory, because of the glory that surpasses it." Yes, the moon is beautiful. It has glory, until you see the sun. Then he says, verse 11, "For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory." Folks, this helps us better understand Paul's amazing testimony. Remember, in Philippians three, there, he listed all of his impressive credentials. He gave his resume, you might say that would be reason that anyone would think that of all people, this man can have confidence in his religiosity. I mean, he was a super Jew, if you can put it that way. I mean, Superman wore Rabbi Saul pajamas in those days if we can imagine this. Chuck Norris, of that day, had Rabbi Saul's poster in his bedroom. I mean, Saul was just, he was just super Pharisee. And yet, look what he says in Philippians, three, beginning in verse four, all because of the new covenant. He says this, "If anyone else has a mind put confidence in the flesh, I far more: circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to the righteousness which is in the Law, found blameless. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I might know him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained it, or have already become perfect, but I press on, so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus." My what a profound source of encouragement for every believer who can read that and say, my, I can attest to the same thing. I can look back at my life and realize that there, there's nothing in it that's worthy of showing a holy God and saying, aren't you impressed with what I've done. But rather, we see the horror of our sin and we see the righteousness of Christ that was imputed to us, that changed everything. All because of the new covenant; the power of the Spirit to transform our heart. Dear friends, we have so much to celebrate in the new covenant. Indeed, it is the source of eternal life by the Holy Spirit, and it is the source of the imputed righteousness of Christ.

Dave Harrell

I want to close this morning with a true story of a man who was born of the Spirit in Scotland in 1839. I love testimonies, because it puts the glory of Christ on display, not the glory of man. And this is a testimony that's going to thrill all of us who, by God's grace, have experienced what it means to really be born by the Spirit. But I might also add that this testimony will sober those who have not. This is actually an extract from a letter written by George Moody, Esquire; the son in law of Pastor W. H. Burns, who was the faithful pastor of the church in the little village of Kilsyth Scotland. He served there, by the way from 1821 till 1859 when the Lord took him home, and this letter was one that was written to give evidence of the Great Awakening that occurred there for a small period of time in that region in Scotland. And here's what the testimony reads, quote, "The case of D.S." He doesn't give the name to protect the man's name, "collier," which is another word for coal miner, he was a coal miner. The case of this coal miner "may be mentioned as interesting." He says, "he had for some time been thoughtful and had been given up entirely, taking any intoxicating liquor, and might be characterized as one of the more hopeful description. Since the present awakening, he was deeply convinced of his sin and misery. And for a month was deeply exercised in spending much time in secret prayer and reading the scriptures." By the way, folks, there's evidence of regeneration--being born by the Spirit. "On the evening of the 21st of August, he had a meeting with several of his praying companions, and spent the night in prayer, praise and converse. He appears to have obtained peace during that night and came home to his house in a very happy state of mind. After taking just two hours rest, he worshiped with his family, and proceeded to his work. Being the foreman, it was his lot to descend first into the pit, which he did with unusual alacrity and with prayer," alacrity is another word for enthusiasm. "On the reaching of the bottom, the air instantly exploded, and in a moment, he was ushered into eternity. How soothing and cheering, the thought that he has escaped the everlasting burnings and has passed literally, through the fire, to the regions of glory." O, dear friends, what hope we have in Christ. And if you're within the sound of my voice, and you know nothing of the miracle of the new birth, because you have never come to Christ in repentant faith and pled with him to save you, by his grace, which he will do instantly, then you are living in a very dangerous season of your life because you never know when something might explode, so to speak, and take you into eternity. And so I pray. I pray, especially for our children, for our youth, for anyone that has some phony religion or whatever. If you do not know Christ, you need to do business with God today. You need to cry out to him for his saving grace. And he will save you, even as he saved this dear saint that I just read about. And for those of us who know and love Christ, I just closed by asking you to just rehearse some of these great truths in your mind in your heart. We've got all of this terrible news out there, you turn on the television, and after a while, it just almost makes you sick. You're seeing all of this depravity. You're seeing all of the insanity. Folks come back to the glorious truths of the word of God. And it will bring refreshment to your soul. Celebrate what Christ has done for you, what he is doing, and what he will ultimately do. And because of this, we will worship him with great adoration, and others will see Christ in us. And by his grace and by his power, we can be salt and light in a world that desperately needs cleansing; it desperately needs truth. And hopefully, they can see that in our lives and in our testimony. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths that always emerge from your Word, and penetrate our hearts with such clarity and such conviction. And for those that don't know Christ, I pray that you will bring conviction and bring them to saving faith. Lord please don't let any of our people be self-deceived with a cultural Christianity. And Lord, for those of us who know and love you, even though we fail in so many ways, we celebrate the power of your grace. We celebrate what it means to be born again. And we thank you for the sanctifying power of your spirit. Use us mightily for your sake, in our families, in our workplaces and in our communities. I ask all of this in the precious name of Jesus, and for his sake. Amen.

This morning, I would like to begin a series that will take us through the next several Sundays. I'm not sure how long, we'll just see how the spirit moves within me through his word. But I want to talk with you about celebrating the new covenant. So take your Bibles, turn to Second Corinthians chapter three--we're continuing to make our way through this epistle. This morning, we will begin to look at verses six through 11. Before I read the text, may I remind you of the context, Paul continues his defenCorinth andhe scurrilous attacks of the false apostles that have infiltrated the church at Corinth, and made all kinds of ridiculous accusations against him. They were for the most part Judaizers, those that were trying to mix elements of the old covenant with the new, trying to impose mosaic aspects of the Mosaic Law upon believers. And in this section of Paul's defense, we find a beautiful summary of certain aspects of the new covenant, which really underscores the amazing blessings that are ours in the Gospel. And in this text alone, we have sufficient revelation to fuel our hearts with celebratory praise for eternity. So let me read it to you. Second Corinthians three beginning of verse six. God also "made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, how will the ministry of the Spirit failed to be even more with glory? For if the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory. For indeed what had glory, in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. For if that which fades away was with glory, much more that which remains is in glory."

We live in a culture that has no fear of God. And of course, that is indicative of the heart of fallen man. But sadly, we're also witnessing that same dynamic in the evangelical church. Most professing Christians are biblically and doctrinally illiterate. In many ways, they're too ignorant to know they're ignorant, which is sad. They have no concept of the holiness of God, they have no concept, therefore, of the sinfulness of man; they have no concept of the eternal wrath of God that abides upon sinners and his gracious deliverance that is available to all who repent and come to faith in Christ. So for many people, in churches today, the good news of the gospel just isn't really all that good of news. In fact, because the gospel is so offensive, many have opted for a less offensive version of the gospel, to make it more appealing to the masses. And so the emphasis is on how much God loves you, and how God accepts you just as you are, how he died to make you healthy, and happy and successful in life. And so the gospel is all about self-esteem. In many churches, it's all about eliminating guilt. It's all about promoting tolerance, and social justice. And in an effort to validate the subjective feelings of unbelievers and believers alike, the church has largely abandoned bold, exegetical, preaching and teaching, that exposes very clearly the righteous wrath of God against sinful man and exalts the mercy and grace of God that can deliver them from it. And as a result, the church is constantly being filled up with more and more unbelievers. People who are Christian in name only. Satan continues to sow tears amongst the wheat. So even in churches today, wrong has replaced right, worldliness has replaced godliness, hypocrisy has replaced genuine saving faith and deception has replaced truth. Because to the natural man the things of the spirit of foolishness. And like the proverbial frog in the kettle, religious people sit in their churches with a self-righteous grin as Satan gradually and imperceptibly turns up the heat of deception on them until they are utterly destroyed eternally.

You know, many people today in churches are concerned about how COVID 19 is affecting churches and rightfully so. But dear friends, I would submit to you that the horror that is happening, in evangelical Christianity, makes any fear of COVID-19 pale into utter insignificance. We have women preachers; we have homosexual clergy. We have churches blessing animals. We have drag queens reading Bible stories to children, in so-called worship services. We have people lying on the graves of deceased preachers to soak up the, quote, "anointing from the corpse," a practice known as grave sucking. In many churches, there is nothing more than unfettered emotionalism and ecstatic gibberish that they call worship; that frankly, mirrors the type of satanic pagan worship that existed in ancient Corinth, known as Extasia. A friend of mine sent me a YouTube video of a woman preacher, Paula White, who I understand is a spiritual adviser to President Trump, which is frightening to me. And in this video, she says this, "The queen bee is known for her dance, and she starts dancing, fluttering her arms going up and down and twirling around," and by the way, as she says these things in between everything she says, is a rhythmic gasp, to work people like that. And so that's kind of the dynamic here. "The queen bee is known for her dance. She goes into a frenzy to get all the bees activated. And she leads the way by stirring something up. I dare you, Deborah, come on"-- a reference to Deborah I think is possibly the prophetess Deborah in Judges. "I dare you, Deborah, come on, stir it up right now in the name of Jesus, stir up faith in others, stir it up. Do you think I was ashamed to stand on the lawn of the White House in front of the President, the Vice President, the FLOTUS, the nation, and the press and declare in the name of Jesus? I declare right now an end to this COVID-19. What good if I pray some cute little prayer? What good am I if I have some fancy little poem or just talk about the problem? Everybody knows the problem. But who's going to come forth with the solution? Stir them up, stir them up. Come on, Deborah. Stir them up right now. Stir them up. There's a whole lot of food, there is revelation. Come on. Where's my Deborah, where's my Deborah?" Folks, I ask you, how does that in any way point to the glory of Christ? And how can ostensibly evangelical people tolerate that kind of insanity? That kind of blasphemy. And we're worried about COVID-19's effect on the church. Jesus prayed "Father sanctify them in the truth, Thy word is truth." How is that going to sanctify people? Like so many others, she's making Christianity a laughingstock to the entire world. 1000s of so called Christians follow this woman and many others like her, which is not only a demonstration of a lack of discernment, to say the least, But also, I would submit to you, a lack of genuine saving faith. I know of women, even in this town, in the Nashville area, and in other parts around the country who are into the prosperity gospel cult, who will go to the most expensive clothing stores down in Nashville, knowing full well they can't afford anything in there. But they will go there and lay hands on the clothes that they want and claim them in Jesus name. Now what kind of insanity would promote that? No true believer will be deceived for long with such imbecility because the Spirit of Truth dwells within true believers. Jesus said, "They shall be taught by God," John 6:36. And we're all worried about COVID-19 and what it's doing to the church? Yet we're witnessing an unprecedented freefall of apostasy in the church today.

Recently, I noticed a teaching pastor position on an online church staffing website. They were looking for a teaching pastor, nondenominational church, about 1000 people, let me read you part of the job description, "They will be open minded and non-religious." With the next sentence here, "they will have a solid grasp of the principles and values that Jesus taught. They will have the ability to complete a message in a timely fashion, and the ability to deliver it in the 30 minutes or less time allowance." Rules me out, right? They give the name of the church and say, "we're in agreement with Rob Bell, John Shelby Spong and other more liberal leaders, we are an all-inclusive community that welcomes and affirms all, regardless of history or sexual orientation or preference. Our goal as a community church is not to get people," quote, "saved, as they do not need saving." "We believe in the transformative power of love and grace that Jesus offers, but do not believe in traditional punitive models of hell, requiring salvation."

Dear friends, what I just read, finds its source in the father of lies. What I just read is satanic. By increasing numbers, instead of the church being, as Paul said in First Timothy 3:15, "the household of God," literally the dwelling place of God, the church of the living God, the pillar and the support of the truth, the church has become, in many sectors, the dwelling place of Satan, the pillar and support of deception. While many churches do not embrace some of the charismatic error that's out there, or some of the blatantly apostate forms of liberalism, they do embrace just a dumbed down, watered down superficial gospel. Cotton candy, sermonettes for Christianettes. Shallow as water on a plate. Therefore people don't grow.

Now the consequences of a superficial man-centered church is multifaceted, but certainly at the top of the list is a gross misrepresentation and mitigation of the holiness of God. And when God isn't all that righteous, man isn't all that sinful, right? Who needs a savior if God's just kind of our buddy, and he just kind of winks at sin? Well, God knew that this would be part of the depraved part of mankind. He knew that we would be foolish, and that we wouldn't really understand his holiness and the depths of our sin, and our need for a Savior. So what did he do? He gave us his law which is crucial for our understanding of the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant and understanding the text before us.

So let me take you back and help you understand a little bit about the law of God. This is crucial. The Law of God, sometimes referred to as the "Mosaic Code," was the codification of God's holiness. It was the divine standard for righteousness. And as we look at the law, we can see various elements of it. First of all, there was a twofold summarization of the law. Very simple. We are to love the Lord God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves. But then there was a 10 fold summarization of the two fold summarization, which was called the Decalogue, or the Ten Commandments. It was also called the Tablets of Stone; the Mosaic law given to Moses on Mount Sinai in Exodus 19 and 20. It was also called the Old Covenant. Now, under the old covenant, God said, if you will obey what I tell you, I will bless you. If you disobey, if you violate it, I will curse you. As we look at the Decalogue, we see that the first three were basically on how to love God perfectly, then you have the Sabbath, and the rest of them are how to love your neighbor. But then there was also a manifold summarization of the 10-fold summarization that summarized the two-fold summarization, you with me? And the manifold summarization was called the Words of the Covenant Exodus 24:7. In fact, the entire Book of Leviticus is a detailed expansion of the law. And all of this was written down and it was placed in a receptacle next to the Ark of the Covenant. And the Ark of the Covenant, of course, had the tablets of stone inside of them. Deuteronomy 31, verse 26, God said, "Take this book of the law, and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you." You see, the purpose of the law was to expose sin; a witness against you. Any breach of the law, any violation of the law, means that you broke the whole law, and the consequence was always death. So it was very oppressive. It exposed man's need for mercy and for grace, for savior, for a righteousness beyond our own.

Now, the law, which could also be understood as the Old Testament scriptures, had three divisions. First of all, there was the moral law that regulated Israel's...the way they were to love the Lord their God with all their heart and love their neighbor as their self, which was based upon the 10 commandments; that was the moral law. And then secondly, there was the judicial law that regulated Israel as a theocracy. And then there was the ceremonial law, which regulated how Israel was to worship. And ultimately, we know biblically, that Jesus fulfilled each division of the law as we read in Matthew 5:17. His sinless life fulfilled the moral law, and his condemnation and temporary judgment upon Israel, whereby they were temporarily set aside as a nation, fulfilled the judicial law. And then finally his atoning work on the cross fulfilled the ceremonial law.

But I want to add, we don't want to forget that while the judicial and the ceremonial laws were fulfilled in Christ and are now obsolete, the moral law is still being fulfilled through the church, through us, because we are united to Christ through faith. For example, the apostle Paul spoke of this in Romans chapter eight, beginning in verse three. Sobering words here, he says, God sent, "His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the requirement of the Law,” catch this, "might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." And if we look, for example, at the first four verses of Romans seven, Paul reveals to us that because of the fact that we have died in Christ, we've been freed from the penalty of the law. We are now hidden in him, the one who has fulfilled the law, the one who is perfectly satisfied. The justice that God demands in the law, we are no longer in a position of somehow trying to keep the law. However, the law was never intended to save us. Because the law never had the power to redeem anyone from their sin. All it could do, was condemn. Constantly. Obedience to the law was never a means of salvation, Romans 3:20, "By the works of the Law no flesh will be," what?.."justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin."

Now, as we go to Corinth with Paul, these false apostles come in, requiring people to obey certain aspects of the old covenant, which would naturally be a direct attack upon the finished work of Christ, an affront to grace. You see works and grace are mutually exclusive. When it comes to salvation, works will always be the fruit of grace. But it will never be the route of grace. And this is Paul's point here in Second Corinthians three, seven through 11. And here in his defense. We discover five reasons to celebrate the blessings of the new covenant. I'm gonna give you all five, but we're just going to do part of number one today, okay? There's just so much here.

We celebrate the new covenant, because number one, it is the source of eternal life by the Holy Spirit. Number two, it is the source of the imputed righteousness of Christ. Number three, it is the source of eternal glory. Number four, it is the source of courageous hope. And finally, it is the source of unveiled gospel clarity. And I pray that the Holy Spirit will use this to illuminate your minds with these astounding realities that Christ may have an even greater preeminence in your heart.

So first of all, under this first heading that we'll begin to examine today, we see that the new covenant is the source of eternal life by the Holy Spirit. Again, notice verse six, God, "made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." The phrase, "the letter of the law," is a reference to the external requirements of the law that the Jews would try to live by; they would try to obey. And Paul was saying, that kills. It does. It insults your self-righteousness; it exposes your sin. Let me take you to Romans chapter seven to better understand this, beginning in verse nine. Here's what Paul, who remember now was a Pharisee; was a rabbi; He was a fastidious keeper of the law. Here's what he said, Romans seven, verse nine, "I was once alive apart from the Law;" in other words, I thought I was really spiritual, before I really understood the law; I thought I was quite alive, I was doing well and my ignorance, as the old saying goes, ignorance is bliss, right? "But," he says, "when the commandment came, sin became alive, and I died." My what a striking reversal. Think about it. First sin is dead, and I am alive. And then sin is alive, and I am dead. In other words, what he's saying is when I was alive apart from the law, sin was dead and I was alive, sin had not yet provoked within me a true grasp of God's holiness, of his righteousness. I felt like I was doing pretty good. I mean, I was a Pharisee, I was an expert in the law, I was fulfilling all those externals, but not from the heart. I was a self-righteous hypocrite, thinking that somehow, I could justify myself and sanctify myself. But when I truly understood the law, suddenly sin became alive, and I died. You see, when you understand the holiness of God, suddenly sin goes on a rampage within your heart. I remember this, when I first came to Christ, I began to see sin like I had never seen it before. How it was animated within me, within my...even my imagination, I see it like never before. Suddenly, I can see the horror of my guilt. It's running rampant in my imagination; I can't get away from it. Sin is alive, because corruption is lurking within the caverns of my imagination, within the very depths of my soul, and worse, yet, I am utterly helpless to do anything about it. That's what the Lord does. It's almost as if Paul was saying, I was once like the Pharisee in Jesus' parable, remember Luke 18. He went to the temple to pray and verse 11, he says, "'God, I thank Thee that I'm not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax gatherer. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.'" And on and on it goes. But it was the tax gatherer that truly understand the law. He understood it because It exposed the depths of his sin. If we go back to Romans seven, verse 10, Paul said, "and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me." You see, the law can't do anything to bless an unbeliever by keeping it, because we can't keep it. So he says in verse 11, "for sin, taking an opportunity, through the commandment, deceived me, and through it killed me." The idea here is that the sin tricked me into believing I was good enough on my own to be acceptable to God, therefore, I didn't need a savior. So this Jesus comes along, he's like, What are you talking about? So obviously, folks, it was not the law that was sinful. I want you to understand that. Nor does it inspire sin; the law is perfectly holy, but the commandment became the occasion for sin, the opportunity for sin, and death becomes the tragic consequence of it. So for this reason, Paul goes on to say in verse 12, "So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good." Yes, because it's illuminating us to see our sin and cry out to Christ, and put our trust in him, and therefore glorify God. So he says in verse 13, "Therefore, did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death, through that which is good, so that through the commandment, sin would become utterly sinful."

Now back to second Corinthians three, verse six, God also, "made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter," not of all those external requirements, "but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." Let me show you how the letter kills. I want to take you back into the Old Testament. Let's be the dear Jewish people that are trying to obey the law, let me give you a sample of what that would have been like. And again, remember that God gave the law to reveal his holy standard, so that people would cry out for a savior. And you're going to see this, as I go through some of this Galatians 3:24, "The law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith." Not by works by faith. "But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor."

So let me give you a sample of what it was like to live under the old covenant. And I want to do this by examining the dominant feature of the old covenant of the Mosaic law and that is the Sabbath, the Hebrew Shabbat, which means rest, which means cessation. So let me begin by taking you to Exodus 31, beginning in verse 13. God says to Moses, "'But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, 'You shall surely observe My Sabbaths,''" plural, with "''this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. Therefore, you are to observe the Sabbath, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among the people. For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death.''" You get the idea, friends, that God is serious about his holiness? By the way, the command for the Sabbath is the fourth of the ten commandments, but it is not repeated anywhere in the New Testament, because it belonged to Israel under the mosaic economy. It does not apply to the new covenant economy of the church age. In fact, it is nullified completely in the New Testament. For example, read Colossians 2:16 and 17.

Let me tell you what it was like. Every single sabbath day the Jewish people were reminded of their obligation to keep the two-fold commandments, summarized by the ten-fold commandments, expanded in great detail by the manifold commandments, right? That's what you were to do every sabbath day. The sabbath was again a constant reminder of your need to obey God's righteous law. It was never to be violated or you would be put to death. For example, you could not work on the Sabbath. You might recall in Number 15, the Jews found a guy, well he was gathering wood on the sabbath, and they hauled him before Moses and said, "Moses what should we do?" And Moses said, "The man shall surely be put to death all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp." That's what they did. You see on the sabbath day, all activities were completely suspended. And you will say, well, what did the people do? Very simple. They basically sat and contemplated the depths of their depravity, and their wretchedness and their need for righteousness that was not their own; so that they would cry out for mercy. You also had to stay at home; you could do absolutely nothing at home, you couldn't even cook. Meals had to be prepared the day before. You couldn't even start a fire. This is why if you go to Israel today, they have what's called Shabbat elevators. On the Sabbath day, when you go into an elevator, every button is pushed, you know, like the kids do that make you mad when they get on and just punch all of them, and it takes you forever because it stops at every floor. That's what happens in the elevators in Israel. And the reason for that is because you can't light a fire. If you touch it, there's a spark; violate the law. See how crazy it gets. In fact, Orthodox Jews have timers on their lights in their home so that they won't turn on a light on the sabbath and kindle a spark. You couldn't carry a load. You couldn't buy or sell anything. So it's not like, well, hey, let's order a pizza; no, can't do that. Couldn't post something, what is it, you post stuff on to sell, you couldn't do that. You couldn't order anything on Amazon. I mean, all that's out. Isaiah 58:13 talks about the sabbath, "you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and honor it, from your own way." In other words, you couldn't enjoy anything according to your own preference, or he says, "from speaking your own pleasure." So no personal indulgences. Or he says "speaking your own word." So in other words, there was no mindless chit chat. Basically, you did nothing but contemplate the holiness of God and your own sinfulness.

It was a day to be as holy as possible, a day of complete rest, but also a day to celebrate the perpetual covenant that God has made with Israel, Exodus 36:16, which will cause you to "delight in the Lord your God," Isaiah 58:14. So again, folks, what I'm trying to impress upon you is God is serious about his holiness, real serious about his holiness. And God has not changed. Fortunately, he's given us a new covenant, where Christ has satisfied the demands of the law on our behalf, otherwise we would be toast. Right? Now, they're obeying all of these things, in addition to all of the sacrifices and ritual cleansings and celebrations. I want you to understand that the Sabbath, and all of the other feasts and sacrifices and so forth, were the very center of gravity around which the entirety of their lives would orbit. It controlled everything they did. And then you have all of the holy convocations and feasts. Let me give you a little sample of them. These are other forms of sabbath. In Leviticus 23, there's the Passover. That was followed immediately by the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Verse eight says, "For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you should not do any laborious work." Then there's the Feast of First Fruits with all of its restrictions, then the Feast of Pentecost; 50 days more of restrictions. Then the holy convocation of the Feast of Trumpets, verse 23, we read in the seventh month on the first of the month, you shall have a sabbath. There's another sabbath, a reminder by blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation, you shall not do any laborious work. And remember, now, during all of this, you're still having to keep the sabbath every single day. Then you have Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, Leviticus 23:27. "On exactly the 10th day of the seventh month is the day of atonement; it shall be a holy convocation for you, and you shall humble your souls and present an offering by fire to the Lord." So we all line up now and we bring our offerings. "You shall not do any work on this same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement on your behalf before the Lord your God. If there is any person who will not humble himself on this same day, he will be cut off from his people. Then verse 33, you have another sabbath, the Feast of Booths, it says in verse 34, "On the 15th day of the seventh month, the Feast of Booths for seven days to the Lord. On the first day is a holy convocation, do no laborious work." By the way, during the Feast of Booths, when you're in Israel, and even in certain parts of the United States with Orthodox Jews, you'll see the people making little huts out in their yard and they will stay there. Verse 36, "For seven days you shall present an offering by fire to the Lord. On the eighth day you shall have a holy convocation and present an offering to by fire to the Lord; it is an assembly. You shall do no laborious work. These are the appointed times of the Lord which you shall proclaim as holy convocations, to present offerings by fire to the Lord--burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each day's matter on its own day--besides those of the sabbath's of the Lord, and besides your gifts, and besides all your votive and freewill offerings, which you give to the Lord. On exactly the 15th day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the crops of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the Lord for seven days, with the rest on the first day and the rest on the eighth day. Now on the first day you shall take for yourselves the foliage of beautiful trees, palm branches and bows of leaves, leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. You shall thus celebrate it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in the year. It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it and the seventh month. You shall live in booths for seven days; all the native-born in Israel shall live in booths, so that your generations may know that I had the sons of Israel live in booths when I brought them out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.''" It's a good way to sign off. Right? "So Moses declared to the sons of Israel, the appointed times of Lord." Boy, talk about a complicated onerous system.

Let me give you a little bit more, in case it hasn't sunk in sufficiently. In Numbers 28, verse 11, we have what's called the New Moon convocation, "at the beginning of each of your months you shall present a burnt offering to the Lord: two bulls and one ram, seven male lambs one year old without defect." Peter would have had a fit in those days right? Then in Leviticus 25, he describes the restrictions for Sabbath years, each seventh year they had to leave the ground alone. Then in verse eight, there's another Sabbath called the Jubilee. You, "count off seven sabbaths of years," seven times seven every 49th year, it's the year of Jubilee. And if you violate any of God's covenant law it's punishable by death. It's interesting they punished a lot of things; God had capital punishment on many things. If you look it up, you'll see that if you were a child or a teenager and you cursed and dishonored and disobeyed your parent, you could be put to death. Be put to death for adultery, homosexuality, bestiality, idolatry, incest, and the list goes on. By the way, there were no prisons in ancient Israel; that didn't come along until the monarchy. You were either executed or enslaved, to make restitution for what you did.

Now you add to all of this, the ridiculous rules that the Pharisees came up with; rules that God didn't ask, but stuff they came up with, I won't even go into it. They are they are ludicrous. And you can see why Jesus said to the people, "Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden." Don't you know they were? I get weary and heavy laden, just talking about it. Just thinking about it. "Come to Me and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle, and humble of spirit and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." This is why the apostle John would say in First John five, three, "His commandments are not burdensome." No, they're not because of the new covenant. The Psalmist said "Oh, how I love your law." Psalm 119:97. Psalm 40 verse eight, I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law within my heart." Lord, I know I try the best I can, but I know that ultimately, I'm just dependent upon your grace. By the way Old Testament saints were saved just like New Testament saints, they were saved by grace, through faith; and Christ that had not yet come.

By the way, I hope you understand how absurd it is for some people, like, for example, the Seventh Day Adventists to arbitrarily transport certain aspects of the law and grace, the Old Covenant, into the new. You know, I've talked with some of them before, and they say, Yeah, you know, we keep the Sabbath. Oh really? First of all, which one? And secondly, all of it? You know, which parts do you leave out? Really, you keep the Sabbath? Oh, my, you know, the diet restrictions alone would leave me out. Boy, I love a good pork BBQ sandwich, you know?

Now back to Paul's defense that God made us "adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter"-- not of all those external things that you have to do--but of the spirit, "for the letter kills." Yeah, it kills your hope. It kills your joy; it kills your peace. You're always wondering if you're gonna make the cut. And this is the horror of legalism. Always coming up with another hoop you got to jump through; some external religious hoop to impress God, and somehow make you feel better about your own spirituality. Because after all, you're doing all these things that other people aren't. Talk about hypocrisy; the futile works of sacramental ism and ceremonialism. Romans 10, verse three, "not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God." So here in Second Corinthians three, Paul is saying, Look, God did not make me a servant of the old covenant, of all that stuff. I mean, the letter kills, he made me adequate to be a servant of the new covenant, because the Spirit gives life.

And, folks, here's why I would say that number one, we see that the new covenant is the source of eternal life in the Spirit. You must understand that it is the Spirit of God that is the agent of regeneration. Do you realize that by His power, you and I were born again?

Remember, when Nicodemus the Pharisee, this great leader of all of Israel, he was on the governing body of the Sanhedrin; this teacher of Israel at the very pinnacle and prominence of Israel. He comes to Jesus, confessing that he's this great teacher and miracle worker. And, and in essence, what he's saying is, what do I need to do to get into the kingdom? I'm doing all these things, but I need to know what must I do to be saved? And basically, what did Jesus say? Well basically what he said, You must be born again. Got to be born again. Notice what Jesus didn't say, Well, you need to, you need to keep this rule here. And you need to start doing this. And then this and this, quit doing this and start doing this. No. You see, folks under the new covenant, it's all of grace. It's not of works. Jesus said, John three, three, "'Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.'" In other words, what Jesus is saying, and this is why the true gospel is so offensive; and I'm going to give you elements of it right now--what Jesus is saying is that sin has so corrupted and polluted the soul of man, that there is absolutely nothing that he can do to save himself. He is utterly dependent upon God to do a total renovation of his nature. He is saying that all that man is, and all that man does, is fundamentally offensive to a holy God. It is only the Spirit that gives life. That's what he's saying. You can't do certain things and somehow cooperate with God's grace and then save yourself. It's the Spirit that gives life. Jesus repeated this in John 6:63, "It is the Spirit who gives life."

You see in regeneration, we are born according to John 1:13, "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." In regeneration, man is entirely passive, wholly dependent upon the miraculous work of the Spirit to give spiritual life to a spiritual corpse, because we're dead in sin. James 1:18, "In the exercise of His will," not ours, but his will, "He brought us forth by the word of truth." And of course, Jesus uses this amazing imagery of birth. I mean, think about it, even as a child makes no contribution to his own conception or birth in the physical realm. He’s totally dependent upon the activity of the parent. So too, a sinner who is dead, spiritually dead, totally depraved, and totally dependent upon the sovereign grace of God, can't do anything to contribute to his spiritual birth. It is the Spirit who causes man to suddenly see the horror of his sin. And it is the Spirit that causes us to acknowledge that sin, to cry out for mercy, to repent and to believe in Christ. Even though that is our responsibility, it is the Spirit that causes us to act consistently with what God has called us to do. Jesus said in John three verse eight, back to Nicodemus, "'The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from, and where it is going.'" Then he says, "'so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.'" I like the way John Murray put it, quote, "The wind is not at our beck and call, neither is the regenerative operation of the Spirit," end quote. By the way, this is the danger of altar calls. This is the danger of revivalism. This is the danger of us trying to say "Spirit of God, I'll take over here, I'll do some things to manipulate people. Let's get the music just right, get the stories just right, get everybody kind of worked up. And let's get them to make a decision for Christ." Folks, we give them the gospel and it is the Spirit of God who gives them life. That is the glory of the new covenant. The effectual call of regeneration is pictured in the future regeneration of Israel. Remember, in Ezekiel 37:1 through 11, there the Spirit of God breathes life into a valley of dry bones, my what a picture of man and his depravity, utterly lifeless, unable to respond. Then in Ezekiel 37:12, we read, "'Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves.'" In verse 14, "'and I will put my Spirit within you and you shall live.'" O, child of God, salvation is a gift of grace from beginning to end.

The effectual call of regeneration is also pictured in the story of Lazarus, remember that in John 11? What an amazing story. Jesus stands before the tomb of his friend that's been dead for four days and Jesus cries out, "Lazarus, come forth!" And the text says, and the man who had died came out. Jesus did that with me when I was nine years old. He called me from death unto life. He's done that with you, I hope all of you.

We also see the Spirit giving life in Paul's comparison of regeneration to God's creation of the world. In Second Corinthians four six we read, "For God, who said, 'Light shall come out of darkness,' is the One who has shown in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.'" There he's referring to the Spirit's role in creation, where he spoke things into existence out of nothing, "ex Nihilo," where he said, "Let there be light and there was light." That's what he does in our soul. So indeed, Paul was made a minister of the new covenant, where the Spirit is the source of eternal life, not your own works.

One of my former professors, Dr. Dick Mae who said quote, "In regeneration, God unites the external call of the gospel preaching with his sovereign and effectual call to unto new life, into darkened and dead hearts, he speaks the command, 'Let there be light,' and instantaneously births in us the light of eternal spiritual life, where it had not existed." Oh, dear friends, the blessings of the New Covenant are beyond our imagination. They exceed the bounds of language. You see, in regeneration we have that great bridge of grace that spans man's depravity and the righteous demands of God's law. That is the requirement to enter into the kingdom. But you ask, well, what must I do to be saved? If it's all a work of the Spirit? How can I be held responsible? Well, it's true, that you are responsible; we are responsible to believe in God's sovereignty and man's responsibility is a matter that's perfectly compatible in the mind of God. He doesn't even try to explain it knows we couldn't understand it. And for us, it's an inscrutable mystery. But let me say this. If you truly see the horror of your sin, and you see the righteousness of Christ and the glory of the cross, and you know that unless God does something, you are going to perish in your sins; if you see that, know full well that is the Spirit of God that has quickened your heart and given you that light. He is speaking light into your life. If a person experiences that and they suddenly are crying out to God in mercy, know that it is the Spirit of God that has caused them to do so. Know that it was the Spirit of God that had written their names in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world. Know full well that if that is in your heart, if that is your desire, it's because God elected you to his grace before the foundation of the world; that he chose you in Christ before time began. Never will there be a person who can stand before a holy God and say, Oh, it was just all up to you and you just didn't do what you were supposed to do. And so how can I be held responsible? You say I just don't believe in it that okay? Then you will perish in your sins. But if you want to be saved, Paul says in Romans 10 Nine, "If you confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead," what's gonna happen? He says, "you will be saved." "For with a heart a person believes resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation."

You see, dear friends, man's responsibility is to respond to the gospel. And when man responds to the gospel, it is the Spirit of God that has caused him to do so. It is the Spirit of God that is quickening his heart, speaking light into that corpse and life into that corpse. And it is the Spirit of God who then will cause a person to be born again, because we can't "born again" ourselves.

Well, the next time we're together, we'll look at more works of the Holy Spirit. There's just so many great things that we need to understand, especially as it relates to the new covenant. And I pray that today you have a renewed appreciation of the holiness of God, because it is sorely missing in evangelicalism today. And when you don't understand the holiness of God, you'll never be able to sing, sincerely, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me." Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these eternal truths that speak so clearly to our hearts. Thank you for the new covenant. Thank you that we are united to Christ, who has fulfilled the law perfectly. And therefore, on our behalf, he has satisfied your demands. This is the glory of the gospel. And we celebrated here today. And Father, if there be one that knows nothing about what it means to truly be reconciled to a holy God through faith in Christ; they know nothing of what it means to have that intimate relationship, that joy, that peace, that comfort, that hope, that faith, I pray that by the power of your Spirit, you will breathe life into that spiritual cadaver, cause them to come alive, cause them to see the horror of their sin and come running to the cross, pleading for a mercy they do not deserve and a righteousness they cannot have on their own, that they might be saved. Lord, I pray this for members in my family, for friends, for people in this church, for our young children, Lord, be merciful and save them. We thank you We give you praise in Jesus name. Amen.

Will you take your Bibles and turn to Second Corinthians chapter three. We continue to make our way through this epistle; we're going to be looking at the first six verses, under the heading "Five Marks of a True Shepherd." That's where we are in our study of Second Corinthians and I might add that this is going to be encouraging to all of you and instructive to all of you, not just to pastors or to elders. Before I read the text, let me remind you of the context. It's so important.

The Corinthians, as you will recall, we're in love with the wisdom of man, philosophy. They loved that and that was their form of entertainment. And rather than having their favorite football team or their favorite basketball team, or whatever, they attach themselves to their favorite philosopher, kinda like political parties or whatever. And so a skilled orator would move an audience with their soaring rhetoric. And of course, they were doing it to make money. And people naturally we're attracted to their favorite orator or their favorite preacher in Corinth. Remember that as well, I've of Paul, I'm of Apollos, and so forth. Well, naturally, with the growth of Christianity, comes the growth of people that are interested in it and want to know how they can make a buck off of it. And so that's what happened. This caught the attention of these characters who had superficially attached themselves to the church. We believe that the ones that came to Corinth were probably from Jerusalem; I'll maybe hint about that a little bit more later. But certainly everybody was aware of the miracles that Jesus had done. It was well known. So people were fascinated with this. And I might add that every church is a magnet to every weirdo and nut job and con artists and false teacher in the world.

So Satan dispatches these greedy, unscrupulous men, mostly Judaizers, to hound the apostles, and to infiltrate the churches. Now, remember, the Judaizers were ones that they accepted some of the new covenant, but they wanted to mix the Old Covenant in with it. And so, in order to be saved, you had to also be circumcised, you had to do the Jewish rituals and, and all of those types of things. So they would impose all of this Judaism on to these new Gentile converts. And so these false teachers had drifted into the church with their phony letters of commendation that they had received from some other church and they come into the church and they begin to con the people there in Corinth and that's what they would typically do with other churches as well. They would get a letter of commendation whether it was phony, or maybe it was real that some of the people in the church had given them a letter, they would go to the next church and they'd begin to ply their trade in that church. And Paul said that they were guilty of quote "peddling the Word of God" in chapter two verse 17. They were con artists; they were shuck stirs they were they were charlatans. And Jesus warned about them, as well as the apostles, for example in Second, Peter and Jude in particular, you read much about the character of these people. In Second Peter two beginning of verse one, here's how Peter described them, "But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves. Many will follow their sensuality, and because of them, the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed, they will exploit you with false words." And of course, there's 1000s of these kinds of people today, men and women. They are entrepreneurs. They are not divinely called and gifted shepherds serving Christ. In fact, all women preachers are self-appointed. God has not called them; they are forbidden to be in that position. The New Testament is so clear about that. But these people were all over the place then, they're all over the place today. I've got one guy that follows me on the internet and he's trying to make noise about how that the cross is the mark of the beast, and all kinds of bizarre things. I mean, you just get these crazy people, especially on the internet. Well, this was what was happening in Corinth.

Now mind you, Paul had been there for 18 months, these people knew who he was. And he had led many of them to Christ. But after he departed, the wolves started to come in. The shepherd leaves, now you've got wolves coming in to devour the sheep, and they viciously attack Paul's character in his absence. And of course, there was a main guy, who we believe is Paul's thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan. So they challenged his apostolic authority; they challenged his competency as a pastor. And unfortunately, some of the people bought the lies. And this was heartbreaking to Paul, to know that there were people that he loved, that he had led to Christ and that he had disciples that were suddenly believing these demonic lies. And so in this passage before us, he continues to offer a defense not so much for himself personally, as for the sake of the Gospel, for the glory of God, he doesn't want them to be led astray.

So anticipating that his adversaries would spin everything that he would say, in their favor, in their advantage, and accuse him of being arrogant and self-promoting, here's what he says, and this is our text, Second Corinthians three, verse one, "Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you? You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of the new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."

Now, we all know that defending your integrity from scurrilous, slanderous attacks is very difficult. You know how it works, even with a business, you can have 1000 satisfied customers, and have four or five dissatisfied customers, and guess who makes the most noise, right? And in fact, now, there's a whole industry of reputation restoration out there where they can somehow help you retrieve your good name. And I know what it's like, I've been called just about everything, it tends to go in one ear and out the other. But when the people of Calvary Bible Church began to believe a lie, now that's different. That's when I must defend not just my integrity, or the integrity of the elders, or of the church, but actually, for the sake of the gospel, we must defend from the lies. You know, "The first to plead his case seems right," Proverbs 18:17, "until another comes in examines him." And although truth and time walk hand in hand, sometimes you have to accelerate that process. And that's what's going on here with Paul and he does this so brilliantly, obviously, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. But from this portion of his defense, we are able to glean some fascinating insights into the marks of a true shepherd.

By the way, this is the type of information that every pastoral search committee and every person looking for a church should know very well. So I've broken it down into five categories for you that I hope will be helpful. The life and ministry of a true shepherd will be marked by five things, number one, a virtuous reputation. Secondly, a fruitful ministry. Number three, a confident calling. Number four, a godly presence. And number five, a new covenant message.

So let's look closely at what the Holy Spirit is revealed to us through his inspired apostle. I want you to notice first in verse one that Paul asks them two questions. And both of them require a negative answer. He wants them to rebuff the allegations of the false apostles on their own. Especially the allegation that somehow, he's arrogant, that he's self-promoting, that he's tooting his own horn. And I'm sure they're capitalizing on some of the things that he said earlier. For example, in First Corinthians, he has to assert his apostolic authority, because they were believing lies, and this this was important, it was necessary for correcting error. But notice what he says in verse one, "Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? The word "command" means "to introduce" or "to recommend, " to recommend a person as worthy of high regard of acceptance. I've written many letters of recommendation, he says, do we have to do this again? Really? Is this what's going on? He goes on to say, "Or do we need, as some, letters of commendation to you or from you?" Now, you might wonder, why is he using the word we when he's talking about himself? Well, that was a customary literary device. It's called the "editorial we" rather than saying "I," it was a way of kind of being humble and self-effacing in the communication. But he's asking them to make an honest evaluation of his character based upon the 18 months that he had been with them. In fact, he's saying really? After all, that you saw when I was with you, you think my character is in question? You're believing what these people are saying about me? Now, they were used to receiving letters of commendation. We know for example, in Acts 18, verse 27, there's a description there of a letter of recommendation that the church received at Corinth, from Ephesus, regarding Apollos to come to them. Verse two, he says, "Are we beginning to commend ourselves again?" The answer, of course, is no. "Or do we need a some letters of commendation to you or from you?"

Now, evidently, the false apostles told them that he lacked the proper official letters of commendation, which were customary in that day. And it's customary in these days when you don't know something about other people, and they need to be properly introduced. So these wolves probably came from Jerusalem originally, we get a hint about this, and Acts 15:24. But they present some kind of phony letters of commendation. And here in the second part of verse two, we see that they wanted the Corinthians to give them letters of commendation so that they could use them to go on to the next church to do the same type of thing. By the way, Paul addresses this in Second Corinthians five, verse 12. He says, "We are not again commending ourselves to you but are giving you an occasion to be proud of us, so that you will have an answer for those who take pride in appearance and not in heart." And in chapter 10 and verse 12, he adds, "For we're not bold to class or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding." And in verse 18, he went on to say, "For it is not he who commends himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends." Beloved, from this, we can clearly see that the life and ministry of a true shepherd will first be marked by a virtuous reputation. Everybody that knows that man will know who he really is based upon the pattern of his life. And Paul's life was not marked by self-promotion, not marked by arrogance, or by greed or anything else as he had been scurrilously charged by his opponents. A man's life and a man's ministry must and will speak for itself, as he will go on to say, in fact, he says in First Timothy three two that, "An overseer, then, must be above reproach"--referring to elders, pastors, elders, got to be above reproach--"the husband of one wife," meaning them must be devoted to their wife and not a womanizer, must be "temperate, prudent, respectable...free from the love of money." It goes on to say, verse seven, "He must have a good reputation with those outside the church."

Well, certainly Paul's conscience was clear on all of this, as he stated in chapter one and verse 12. He says, "For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you." You see, Paul's life and his ministry, were beyond reproach. He had a virtuous reputation. He had no desire for wealth, he had no desire for fame. He wasn't trying to build a ministry empire; he wasn't trying to build a mega church. Boy, he could have done that with all of his giftedness, and with his apostolic powers, but that wasn't what he was about. He was gladly willing to suffer for Christ and serve him faithfully and sacrificially in obscurity.

You know, there are many examples of men and women, especially missionaries, who have done the same pastors as well. I'm currently reading a powerful biography, that I would encourage you all to read. It's a biography of a 19th century Scottish Minister, the name of the book is "The Pastor of Kilsyth: The Life and Times of W. H. Burns: Kilsyth, by the way is k i l s y t h and it was written by Islay Burns, who was his son, and his son lived between 1817 and 1872. You say, well, my goodness, I've never heard of W. H. Burns. Well, that's exactly the point. He won't show up on a Google search, except with reference to this book. He served Christ faithfully in obscurity in rural Scotland, from 1800 until the Lord took him home in 1859. Talk about a virtuous reputation. On the jacket of that book, it says this "In a celebrity driven age, (from which the evangelical church is far from exempt), this is exactly the kind of life that ministers, especially young ministers would do well to study. For it is good to be reminded of the beauty, dignity and ultimately, the glory of humble, obscure Christian service (Matthew 10:42). While there is needed times for towering leaders such as John Calvin, and John Knox, it is nevertheless true that the great work of the church is ultimately carried forward by those who receive little earthly reward and recognition (but whose reward in heaven is great). William H. Burns, the pastor of Kilsyth was one of these, and we need many more like him in our day." Folks, this was the heart of the apostle Paul and his life. And his ministry validated the integrity of his heart, and he needed no further commendation apart from a just as virtuous life. You want to ask yourself, can I be characterized in that way?

Well, the life and ministry of a true shepherd will be marked not only by a virtuous reputation, but secondly, a fruitful ministry. Notice again, verse two, "You are our letter, written in our hearts." That's a phrase denoting his great love for them. "Known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the Living God, and not on tablets of stone, but on tablets of human hearts."

Now, this, of course, is consistent with God's covenant promises given to the Prophets, especially Jeremiah, for example, a new covenant promise, remember, and Jeremiah 31, verse 33, "'But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,' declares the Lord," here it is, "'I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God and they shall be My people.'" And certainly Paul is harkening back to that great truth; that great promise the Lord spoke to Ezekiel as well. Ezekiel 11, beginning of verse 19, "And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them. And I will take the heart of stone out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in My statutes, and keep My ordinances and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be their God."

So Paul is saying to the saints in Corinth, the Spirit of God has written his letter of commendation for me, he has written it on your hearts--the ones that he has saved, that he is transformed by the word of Christ that I preached to you. By the way, this was a letter the false teachers did not have right. They did not have a fruitful ministry. In first Corinthians two chapter four, or chapter two, verse four, Paul said this, "my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God." O, dear Christian, there is no greater evidence of the power of the gospel than men and women whose lives have been transformed by it. Nor is there any greater authentication of a man's ministry than seeing those that he has shepherded; to see lives that have been changed by the power of Christ--saints who are born again; that's the great power of regeneration--when the spirit breathes life into our spiritual corpses and he raises us from spiritual death to spiritual life. It makes us new creatures in Christ. All of the old things that once appealed to our flesh, no longer do; these new things have come. And now we begin to walk by the Spirit. That's so different than the Christless Christianity that we typically see today. This cultural Christianity, this phony churchianity, where people are Christian in name only. They say they're born again but there's nothing in their life that would validate that. You know, it's like being pregnant. You either are or you're not, right? And if you're pregnant, it's going to show there's going to be evidence of that. And if you're not pregnant, there's going to be evidence that you're; it's the same thing with Christianity. You know, you say you belong to Christ, then let's see the fruit of Christ's likeness in your life. The fruits of the Spirit--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. That's the only letter that Paul needed--the fruit of his ministry, and that's what was going on with many of those dear saints, even though some of them had been snookered by these false teachers. The only letter Paul needed was a fruitful ministry of transformed lives that loved Christ. Remember, First Thessalonians chapter one, verse five, Paul said this, "For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in," catch this, "power and in the Holy Spirit." You see, he's the one that causes us to be born again. Verse eight, he goes on to say, "For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but also in every place your faith toward God has gone forth, so that we have no need to say anything. For they themselves, report about us what kind of reception we had with you, and how you turn to God from idols to serve a living and true God." Folks, this is the power of a fruitful ministry that results when a man of God preaches the transforming truths of the gospel; the Spirit of God changes people. First Thessalonians two verse 13, he says, "For this reason, we also constantly thank God that when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe." Folks, if you want to measure a minister, look at the fruits of his ministry. It's real simple. Don't look at his popularity, don't look at the size of his church. Don't look at all the numbers of special ministries that are offered. My goodness, if that was the criteria, Jesus and the apostles fell woefully short of all of that; they would have been considered miserable failures in our culture. Look at the people that that man shepherds; men and women who have the mind of Christ, who love Christ and serve Christ. And when you look at their lives, they manifest Christ. It's fascinating. So think about it, in the New Testament, Christ, praised God. For virtues, I should say in the New Testament, well, yes, no, that's it is what I want to say Christ did give praise to God for virtues that in many ways we don't even think about in our culture these days. I mean, most people attend churches based upon what their kids want. You know, this is like asking your kids to develop their own educational curriculum and how they want to study. My goodness, can you imagine what that would be like? I mean, by the time they're 12 years old, they'd weigh 300 pounds, they would be totally illiterate. And all they could do is look at screens and press buttons. I mean, that would be their life. Proverbs 22:15 says that "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child." And we know that a fool has no fear of God. That's where unsaved kids are. And the fear of God is the beginning of what? Beginning of wisdom. So really, you're going to let a child decide where you're going to grow and be fed and worship Christ? Well, a lot of churches understand that's how people think. So they try to create their own version of Disneyland, where children and youth are going to be excited, because that is, if you read any of the church growth movement today, they will tell you that if you want to grow your church, you must focused on children's and youth ministries. That is the key to church growth. And my response is biblically, that is the key to spiritual immaturity. Parents and adults never grow into spiritual maturity in those types of churches. Those types of churches will constantly be attracting unbelievers, the church will fill up with unbelievers. Many times, you hear them say, well, we want to church the unchurched. Well, really the unchurched are those people that are for the most part, unbelievers and what ends up happening? You fill up the church with unbelievers and so the unchurched, un- church the church, if that makes sense, I think I said that the way I intended. Well, the result is no discernment in a church. And its people mirror the world rather than Christ marriages eventually begin to suffer, families begin to suffer. Frankly, many churches today are nothing more than religious country clubs with the spiritual discernment of liberal Democrats. And they have the morality of a frat house on spring break. I mean, I see this all the time. I mean, think about it. There are numerous Christian denominations today that preach social gospel. Many Christian denominations, that see nothing wrong with same sex marriage and promote the LGBTQ agenda. They even ordain sodomites and lesbians to be their pastors, people who will never enter the kingdom of God, we read in First Corinthians 6:10. Folks, this is staggering. And it's satanic. A true shepherd will not allow this type of thing to happen. He will have a fruitful ministry. You can look at the people and you can see that they are people that love Christ, that have been transformed by the gospel.

One of the greatest mission fields today is the so called Christian church. I was thinking about this, this past week. Let me remind you of a few things that Jesus commended churches for in the Bible. I'm not going to give you the reference, but there's references for all of these. And this is therefore what we need to look for at church: moral purity, love of the truth, pursuit of holiness, devotion to the Word of God, good deeds, hard work, endurance, discernment, suffering, love, faith, righteous living, willingness to discipline sin, submission, repentance, loving the brethren, prayer, strong teaching and preaching, spiritual leadership, joyful attitudes, generosity, boldness, submission to God's sovereignty, and true worship. Folks, this will be the fruit of a true shepherd. This will be the fruit of true elders.

Let me give you just a short list of what Jesus condemned: lost love, compromise, tolerating sin, immorality, idolatry, deadness, lukewarmness, hypocrisy, false teaching, false preaching a different gospel, undisciplined living, disunity, sin, arrogant divisions, prolonged spiritual immaturity, abusing Christian liberty profaning the Lord's Supper, misappropriating spiritual gifts, unwillingness to forgive, and poor financial stewardship. This will be the fruit of a false Shepherd. But many of the saints at Corinth were a living testimony to the transforming power of the gospel that Paul preached. And this was the only letter of recommendation that he needed. That was his point. He had a living letter of transformed lives that loved and served and worshipped Christ. And I would encourage you to ask yourself, Is my life bearing spiritual fruit? I hope that it is. And I know for most of you it is.

So the life and ministry of a true shepherd will be marked by a virtuous reputation of fruitful ministry. And thirdly, a confident calling. Notice verse four, "such confidence we have through Christ toward God." You see, Paul was not arrogant. He was confident in his calling. He was confident that God had commissioned him to do and to say, what he was do doing, and what he was saying. In Colossians 125, he says, "Of this church, I was made a minister, according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God." In First Thessalonians two, beginning in verse four, "we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts. For we never came with flattering speech, as you know, nor with the pretext for greed--God is witness." You see, Paul was confident of his calling, as every pastor, as every elder should be. And frankly, every believer should be with respect to what God has called them to do within the realm of their spiritual influence. I mean, Paul knew what happened on the road to Damascus, talk about a calling. Paul knew how Christ, himself, had taught him for three years in the desert of Arabia. He knew that he had been given supernatural abilities. He knew that the Spirit of God had inspired him to write what he was writing. And he knew that God had even given him a tour in heaven. But he also knew that it was all of God's grace. It was not because of any merit of his own. In fact, in Ephesians three, verse seven, he said, "I was made a minister, according to the gift of God's grace, which was given to me according to the working of His power." First Corinthians 15:10, he said, "By the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me."

In my book, "Seven Key Principles for Effective Ministry: Nurturing Thriving Churches in a Postmodern Culture," I've devoted a whole chapter to this issue of a pastor being convinced of his calling. And there are essentially five divine tests of divine calling to vocational ministry that emerge from the study of the apostle Paul, in particular. I'll just give them to you. A man must have these five things: number one, a longing to know and serve Christ. Number two, a sense of urgency to preach the gospel. Number three, a pervasive feeling of inadequacy. Number four, a burden to shepherd the flock. And number five, a public confirmation of spiritual gifts, character and abilities. Dear friends, if a man does not have an unshakable conviction, that these realities are true in his life, he will have no certainty that God has called and gifted him to be a shepherd and therefore, he will never survive the inevitable difficulties of ministry.

Well, to be sure, the false apostles knew nothing of any of this. They weren't serving Christ, they were serving themselves. And so ultimately they were serving Satan. So Paul had no doubt whatsoever that God had called him to the ministry. And his confidence was anchored in the Gibraltar of something that is absolutely crucial in our understanding of our salvation. And that is the anchor of our union with Christ. He knew that he was in Christ and Christ was within him.

Notice verse four, "Such confidence we have through Christ toward God." In other words, it was a gift from Christ in relation to God, to be pleasing to God. And with confidence, dear friends comes courage, which can often be mistaken for arrogance. You see, he spoke with confidence and courage, and with authority because he was God's messenger. He knew the truth; he proclaimed the truth. He knew that he was united to Christ; this is what he was to do. He rejoiced in that and of course, that infuriated his adversaries. And every faithful pastor knows what that is like, you know? There's a constant assault on divine authority and anyone who proclaims that divine authority, I mean, people want authority for themselves, right? Strong convictions in our postmodern culture are considered arrogant. You ask the average millennial about, you know, absolute truth and they will reject every expression of certainty. They scoff at the idea that God has spoken in his Bible, and that is the end of the matter. This is what God has said, this is authority. This is absolute, authoritative truth. Well, such an idea these days is considered just the worst form of elitism, of bigotry, of intolerance. That kind of thinking is oppressive. You tell the average person today that God has said something about a particular issue and watch the response. Well, that's just your interpretation. Well, that's your truth. But that's not my truth. Well, who are you to tell me what to believe? Well, the Bible is full of myths and superstitions. So I can't believe any of that silly stuff. So, what happens in order to appeal to the culture, avant garde evangelicals, in other words, the kind of elite forward-thinking evangelicals have decided to conform to the culture rather than confront it. So what they do is soften the truth, so it won't be so offensive--let's lighten up on doctrinal things, let's don't be so cut and dry. After all, doctrine divides, right? So let's focus on style and methodology. Let's embrace the hermeneutics of humility. Because really, none of us can say for certain what the Bible says or what we need to believe.

But folks, truth is inextricably bound to God himself. Because God is truth and he has revealed himself in his Word, and he longs for people to worship him in spirit and in truth. In fact, we know that Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father, but through Me." So Paul came to this exceedingly immoral, idolatrous city of Corinth and he did just the opposite of what modern evangelical pragmatism would tell us to do. He cared nothing about coming in and in looking like them and being cool like them and talking like them and kind of using their methodologies and their style and their techniques to move an audience. None of that type of thing. In fact, what he did, you might say, seems counter intuitive. What he did is just unleash the truth of the gospel. And look what happened. Yeah, he didn't fill up auditoriums, but people were saved. You know, as my friend Dr. Culbertson said years ago, the President of Moody Bible Institute, he said, "What you win them with, you win them to." And he didn't win them with entertainment. He didn't win them with boosting their self-esteem and affirming them in their sin. He won them with the gospel. He said this in First Corinthians two beginning of verse two, he said, "For I determined to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you, in weakness and in fear, and in much trembling, and my message and my preaching, were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God."

You see, he knew that the only truth that can save is the truth of the gospel, that most all men will hate. But he was not ashamed of the gospel. For he knew that it was the power of God, unto those who believed to the Jew first and also to the Greek. Now, beloved, this is not arrogance. This is faithfulness to the God of truth. Paul knew he had no authority on his own, but his authority was from God. And it was because of this, that he was resolute in his devotion to God, who had called him to do what he was doing and called him to do it in the way that he was doing it, not in man's way. So he was bold, he was uncompromising, but he was not arrogant. He was not self-promoting as the false teachers were alleging.

Second Corinthians four verse seven, we read, "But we have this treasure," referring to the gospel, "we have this treasure in earthen vessels"-- A reference to a disposable clay pot that was used for human waste and garbage. That's how we need to see ourselves. That's how I've seen myself. I mean, I'm disposable. I'm nothing. The treasure is in me, the treasure is in you, but we're nothing. He went on to say, Why did God do that? "So that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves." He went on to say, "we are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body of the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death, for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh." Folks, only a man who was confident in his calling, would sacrifice himself in such a way. Are you confident in what God has called you to do? And are you faithful ain doing it?

Well, the life and ministry of a true shepherd will be marked by a virtuous reputation, a fruitful ministry, a confident calling and fourthly, a godly presence. Let me explain this to you. And first of all, notice verse five, "Not that we are adequate in ourselves," he says, "to consider anything is coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate." You see, Paul took no credit for any success that he had in ministry, all of it went to God. I mean, he knew his own limitations. He knew that all wisdom and strength and power that made him adequate, all of that came from God. Jesus said, "Apart from me, you can do nothing." He understood that. Second Timothy two two remember he told Timothy, who was who was weak and vacillating. He said, "Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." Paul understood this in First Corinthians 15, nine, here's what he said, "For I am the least of the apostles." Talk about a guy that doesn't toot his horn. "I am the least of the apostles, and not fit to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me." Folks, that's where the power is. He understood that God's power is perfected in weakness, not in human strength.

We see this clearly in the Lord's repeated response to Paul's threefold implorations to have that thorn in the flesh removed when the Lord said in Second Corinthians 12 nine, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." And there we discover a most important truth. And that is this; God's all sufficient grace is the conduit of his inexhaustible power that is perfected in our weakness. And even as the Spirit empowered the Lord Jesus Christ, to endure the horrors of the cross, so too, is he sufficient to empower all of us who are united to him to endure the most grueling labors, the most trying temptations, the most cruel sufferings, that he brings our way. So Paul was a living example of the grace of God, the power of God; a man therefore, that I would call having a godly presence with God, or what Paul called "a man of God," First Timothy 6:11, a man who is quote, "full of the Spirit and wisdom,' Acts six three. Which by the way, are the qualifications that saints were to look for in deacons, and deaconesses; virtues not every man possesses. A man who according to First Timothy 4:12, in "speech, conduct love, faith and purity shows himself," or we could even add herself, "an example of those who believe." Boy aren't we all drawn to people like that? Men and women who just manifest the power of Christ in their lives? I've written on the subject as well, regarding pastors in particular, men like Stephen, like Paul, the apostles, and so forth. I'll share this with you, "By godly presence, I mean a man with a noticeable aura of godliness about him, both in and out of the pulpit. A man like Jesus. A man who possesses a palpable sense of humility and love that draws you into his presence. A man who exudes spiritual strength, confidence, boldness, wisdom, and a noticeable fervency that marks him as a man of God, and a man on a mission. A man so lost in the wonder of the majesty of God, so filled by the divine presence that nothing in this world causes him to despair or tempts him to distraction. This is that rare man whose authority enters a room with him and commands respect without ever asking for it. This is that exceptional man who has such a great likeness to Jesus, that he actually emanates his power in ways that are mysteriously transcendent, and profoundly influential. He manifests what Paul described as 'the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe it in accordance with the working of the strength of His might,' (Ephesians 1:19). A personal power that only comes from Him "who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us (Ephesians 3:20). Well, to be sure, dear friends, this describe the apostle Paul. A man whose adequacy was from God, not from himself; a man who had a godly presence, who needed no further commendation. And may I encourage you to ask yourself, How do I impact other people? What do other people see when they are around me?

Well, finally, not only will the true shepherd be marked by a virtuous reputation of fruitful ministry, a confident calling and a godly presence, but a new covenant message. In verse six, he says that he has made us "adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." You see, unlike the false teachers, he did not arbitrarily transport certain elements of the old covenant of the Mosaic covenant of law into the glorious new covenant of God's grace, like the false apostles, did. You see this in a lot of cults, you see this in seventh day Adventism and that type of thing. You see the gospel of God, the new covenant, does not require anyone to conform to certain external religious rites or rituals of Judaism or any other system of human achievement for that matter. The new covenant is actually a synonym for the gospel of Christ. Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, as we see in the windows around us. You see, according to Hebrews nine, verses 11 through 15, we read about the new covenant. Unlike the old covenant, the new covenant is not ratified by the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer, but by the blood of Christ. That's what Paul preached. It's Christ's accomplishment, not our own, that saves us. This is why Paul was singularly devoted to preaching the gospel, in all of its purity and power. He was a servant of, he says, "a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit." "Letter," by the way, referring to the onerous requirements of the law that could never save. All of those requirements were there to show us the holiness of God, in contrast to the sinfulness of man. And to help us see O, my God, have mercy on us, I need a Savior. I need help. I can't keep all of these laws. So you got to remember that the law was never intended to be a means of salvation, but rather, it was intended to be our tutor, to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith, Galatians 3:34. And we all know that indeed, "the letter kills but the Spirit gives life." Think about it. What Paul's saying is that the letter of the law produces guilt, it produces frustration, that actually produces damnation, unless we repent. No one is good enough to impress God with their own merits. "Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at one point, he has become guilty of all," James two 10. Counts me out, counts you all out. If you've ever been around legalism, you know what this is like. It seems like there's a new law, a new ritual or a new something that you've got to do every day. And all of that just gives you the illusion of spirituality. But it can never save. I feel sorry for the Jehovah's Witnesses, and the Mormons, and other cultic people that are trying to earn their way to heaven. But with the new covenant, the Spirit gives life. How? He causes us to be born again. He indwells us and enables us to fulfill God's law; He imputes to us the righteousness of Christ. And as a result, we rejoice in the eternal life that is ours because Christ has paid the penalty for our sins and given us his righteousness. Folks, are you passionate about the gospel? I hope that you are.

Well, dear friends, I hope and pray that you've asked God to save you by his grace. If you haven't, and you are still under the wrath of God, and one day you will die and you will spend an eternity in hell. But the good news is, Christ is offered forgiveness through faith in him. And for those of us who know and love Christ, I pray that we will all emulate the life and the ministry of the apostle Paul, the ministry of a true shepherd and whatever sphere of influence he has placed us. May your life be marked by a virtuous reputation, a fruitful ministry, a confident calling, a godly presence and a new covenant message and then with Francis Havergal, we can sing, "Take my life and let it be, consecrated Lord to Thee. Take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise. Take my heart, it is thine own, it shall be thy royal throne. Take my life and let it be consecrated Lord, to Thee." Let's pray together.

Father, may these indeed be the marks of each of our lives that we might bring glory to you and enjoy the fullness of your grace in our lives this side of glory. Thank you for the power of your word. May it bear much fruit for Jesus’ sake. And it's in his name that I pray. Amen.

It’s always an amazing thought to my heart to know that I have the opportunity to minister the word of God to you. And once again, we have that opportunity. So you take the infallible record of his word and turn to Second Corinthians chapter two. We're going to continue our exposition of this epistle under the heading this morning of "Gaining Victory over Heartache." Certainly a reality for many people who are struggling in serious ways. Let me read the text beginning in Second Corinthians two verse 12. Apostle Paul speaking here, "Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord, I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus, my brother; but taking my leave of them, I went on to Macedonia. But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God, among those who are being saved, and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other, and aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God."

Heartache is the great risk of love. Most of us know that pain, the pain of betrayal. We all know that loving someone deeply opens up the possibility of being hurt deeply when that love is spurned. And certainly, the apostle Paul loved the saints in Corinth very deeply, and many of them hurt him deeply when they drank the Kool Aid that was passed out by those false apostles that infiltrated that church and turned many of them against him. Satan dispatched these men to slander Paul, to seduce the saints, who were already spiritually immature. They were babes in Christ. You will recall that they were worldly, heavily influenced by the pagan culture around them from which they came. They were divisive, they were hateful, they were selfish, they were disorderly, they were suing each other over trivial things. I mean, it was a mess. They flaunted their freedoms in Christ. They abused their spiritual gifts trying to show off making up their own version of tongues. It was so bad that someone cursed Christ in an unknown tongue and they thought it was from the Holy Spirit. So the church was a mess in many ways. And yet, there were some people there that were more mature, and they were all growing in Christ.

And by the way, I might add that churches that are immature, that are poorly taught, that are poorly shepherded are going to be undiscerning. And they're going to be easy prey for false teachers. And that's what was going on in Corinth. These wolves had come into Corinth, to assassinate Paul's character with trumped up allegations to somehow undermine his credibility and his authority as an apostle; to discredit his teaching and replace it with their own. This was heartbreaking to Paul. It was devastating. Now the slander was bad enough, but then to add on top of that, being rejected by people you love.

After writing First Corinthians to confront them on all of this, you will recall he had an intensely painful visit with them as we read in chapter two here in verse one, then he returned back to Ephesus. He wrote a severe letter to them that Titus had to deliver to them. And then he had to wait to hear how the people reacted; to hear whether or not they had repented and embraced him once again. So that's the context of what's going on here. Folks, it's hard to imagine the kind of emotional pain that the apostle Paul suffered. We know that he was beaten, he was stoned, he was imprisoned. I mean, the list goes on and on. In chapter one, beginning in verse eight, he describes some severe trial; we don't know really what was going on there. But he says, "For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction, which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we have the sentence of death within ourselves." And in Second Corinthians chapter four, in verse eight, he said, "We are afflicted in every way."

Worse yet, we know that Paul's ministry in Ephesus wasn't going well. There were a number of people that came to Christ as you will recall, but because of that, they were burning their idols, giving up their idols. And so all of the idol makers; that was a huge business there in Ephesus, those guys were really upset, so they attacked Paul and a riot happened there in Ephesus. Paul says in First Corinthians 16:9, was filled with "many adversaries," and so he has to leave and there's all kinds of problems going on for this. But folks, there's there is no pain like relational pain. That's the worst kind. And that's what's pictured so graphically here. We read about it as well in Second Corinthians 12, verse seven, he says, "Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations," referring to his opportunity to go into heaven and see those glorious things, "for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me-- to keep me from exalting myself!" If things weren't bad enough, he had to endure this.

Let me comment on that for just a moment, the term "thorn," "skolops" in the original language; refers to something pointed, something that produces great pain. And in this case, the vexing torment was a quote, "messenger of Satan." In verse seven, the term "messenger"--"aggelos"-- is used 186 times in the New Testament. And in every case, it refers to a person, either a human being or an angel. And given the context of Second Corinthians, where he's defending his apostleship against these false teachers that are trying to destroy him, it's reasonable to believe that this messenger of Satan refers to the leader of that pack of wolves. This should be no surprise Paul says in chapter 11, verse 14, "Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguised themselves as servants of righteousness."

Furthermore, I might add that the verb translated "torment" refers to harsh treatment from another person throughout the New Testament. So this thorn in Paul's flesh was probably a demonically possessed false apostle; a messenger of Satan, who treated Paul with such contempt. The language that is used is likened to being struck in the face. That's how bad it was. But sadly, a number of the people in Corinth believed this guy and others who were with him. He had his sycophants, as all these kinds of divisive people do. They believe the slanderous lies. This was heartbreaking to the Apostle Paul. And I might add for anybody that's in pastoral ministry, in whatever capacity, certainly as a pastor, ministry can be very, very difficult. Satan absolutely despises those in leadership. I can give you many testimonies of men that I have known over the years who had to endure such terrible things that they were afraid it was going to cost them their life and they gave up.

One example cited in A.T Robertson's, "The Glory of the Ministry," reveals why one pastor threw in the towel. Here's what he said. He wrote to a another pastor, missionary friend by the name of Jim. He says, "My dear Jim, I'm through. Yesterday I handed in my resignation to take effect at once. And this morning I began to work at an unnamed certain company. I shall not return to the pastorate. I think I can see into your heart as you read these words, and behold, not a little disappointment, if not disgust. I don't blame you at all. I'm somewhat disgusted with myself. Do you recall the days in the seminary when we talked of the future and painted pictures of what we were to do for the kingdom of God? We saw the boundless need for an unselfish Christian service and longed to be among men doing our part toward the world's redemption. I shall never forget that last talk on the night before our graduation. You were to go to the foreign field and I to the first church," and he names the church. "We had brave dreams of usefulness, and you have realized them. As I look back across 25 years, I can see some lives that I have helped, and some things which I have been permitted to do that are worthwhile. But sitting here tonight, I am more than half convinced that God never intended me to be a minister. If he did, I am not big enough and brave enough to pay the price. Even if it leads you to write me down as a coward. I'm going to tell you why I've quit. In these years I have found not a few earnest, unselfish consecrated Christians. I do not believe that I am specially morbid or unfair in my estimate. So far as I know my heart, I am not bitter. But through all these years, a conviction has been growing within me, that the average church member cares precious little about the Kingdom of God, and its advancement, or the welfare of his fellow men. He is a Christian in order that he may save his soul from hell and for no other reason. He does as little as he can, lives as indifferently as he dares. If he thought he could gain heaven without lifting a finger for others, he would jump at the chance. Never have I known more than a small minority of any church, which I have served to be really interested in and unselfishly devoted to God's work. It took my whole time to pull and push and urge and persuade the reluctant members of my church to undertake a little something for their fellow men. They took a covenant to be faithful in attendance, but upon the services of the church, and not one out of 10 ever thought of attending prayer meeting. A large percentage seldom attended church in the morning, and a pitifully small number in the evening. It didn't seem to mean anything to them that they had dedicated themselves to the service of Christ. So I'm tired. Tired of being the only one in the church from whom real sacrifice is expected. Tired of straining and tugging to get Christian people to live like Christians. Tired of planning work for my people, and then being compelled to do it myself or see it left undone. Tired of dodging my creditors when I would not need to if I had what is due me. Tired of the frightening vision of penniless old age. I'm not leaving Christ. I love him. I shall still try to serve Him. Judge leniently old friend. I cannot bear to lose your friendship. Yours as of old, William.

While all pastors and missionaries, and anybody involved in ministry is going to be a target of Satan, and it's going to experience great difficulties, it's interesting how some quit and others persevere. The early days of Charles Spurgeon's ministry the pain of slander and scorn was so great that his wife Susanna would hide the morning newspaper to protect him from further insults. He described his melancholy this way, quote, "The iron bolt, which so mysteriously fastens the door of hope and holds our spirits in a gloomy prison needs a heavenly hand to push it back." His ministry was very difficult. Spurgeon struggled with depression, but he never quit. Why do some quit and others persevere? I know of no one who has suffered like the apostle Paul. I sure haven't; I haven't even come close. I will admit there have been times, especially early on in my ministry here at Calvary Bible Church, that the pain was so great in dealing with wicked people that I prayed on numerous occasions that God would just take me out of the ministry or take me home. I would rather die than go on the way that it was. I know that pain. I was tempted to quit. But I will tell you that the text that we're looking at this morning was one of the texts that the Lord used to speak to my heart in those early days of ministry.

So how did Paul overcome the debilitating discouragement that he experienced? How did he gain victory over heartache? Well, this text is going to help us answer this question. And I might add that it applies to every Christian, not just those in ministry, as you will see, giving you a very simple outline, we're just going to have two headings. We're going to look at the tragedy and then secondly, the triumph. And under the triumph, we're going to look at five practical insights into gaining victory over heartache.

Well, first of all the tragedy and I've already given you some background, but remember, Paul's preaching in Ephesus eventually caused a riot. So he had to, he had to get out of dodge, as we would say. And so we read here in this text that he goes to Troas, which was a seaport on the Aegean Sea; it would have been in Western Asia Minor, the northwest part of Turkey; look at Greece go across the Aegean Sea, and that's where he would have been; 10 miles from the legendary city of Troy, home of Helen, remember that story in Greek mythology in the Trojan War, and all of those things.

So let's read more of the tragedy here in verse 12. He says, "Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ, and when a door was opened for me in the Lord, I had no rest for my spirit, not finding Titus my brother;" when he says "the door was open for me in the Lord," that's a phrase that Paul commonly used to describe a favorable opportunity to preach the gospel; an opportunity where people were literally responding to the gospel. So he had this door open to him, but his heart was in turmoil. It was breaking over all of this that was going on in Corinth; all that was happening to him. And he was anxiously awaiting to hear from Titus, wanting to hear how they responded to First Corinthians; how they responded to the severe letter that he wrote. And he knew Titus would need to pass through Troas to return to Ephesus, but he couldn't find him there. So it says, and he says at the end of verse 13, "but taking my leave of them, I went on to Macedonia." So he went across the Aegean Sea to northern Greece. Folks, for Paul to have left an open door tells you that he had to have been severely depressed, really struggling. I can't imagine the loneliness, the anxiety, wondering what happened. I mean, there were no cell phones, no email, no way of communicating. I mean, think about that. But Paul didn't give up, even though as he says in chapter four and verse eight, that he was "afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not despairing." Well, I wonder why.

Well, the second part of what he has to say helps us understand that we moved from the tragedy to the triumph. This is how he gained victory over his heart ache. Let me give you a quick answer, and then we're going to expand upon it. How did he gain that victory? He set his mind on things above, not on the things of this earth. He changed his focus by counting his blessings. He literally breaks into a doxology of praise, as he refocuses his thoughts.

Notice verse 14, "But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him and every place." My what are the abrupt change between the previous verses? Now, we're not sure why the sudden shift, I mean, there's no indication that suddenly he found Titus and he heard some good news. And we know that he eventually does hear some good news, but he doesn't talk about that until chapter seven. And even if that were so, he still would have known that the false apostles were still in that church, that his sycophants were still there, and some of the skeptics would still be there, and that there would be pockets of resistance that still needed to be dealt with.

By the way, this is the whole purpose of Second Corinthians, to deal with that. Remember, God refused to remove Paul's thorn in the flesh, this messenger sent from Satan; to keep him from exalting himself; that character would have still been there. So folks, the change here is not in circumstance, the change is in perspective; an obvious work of the indwelling Spirit of God. Here's an example of God's all-sufficient grace at work. Remember, in chapter 12, verse nine, The Lord answered him about the removing of the thorn, he said, "'My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.' Most gladly," Paul says, "therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong." You know, this is reminiscent of Job isn't it? Remember, he finally saw the glory of God and in his sovereignty, and he was so overwhelmed by it that he repented of his pride, of his of his ignorance and of his presumption, even before God changed his circumstances. Causing Job to say, "I have heard Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees Thee."

Now I wish to draw your attention to five perspectives that really gripped Paul's heart that emerged from this text that really contributed to him gaining victory over heartache. Five essential preoccupations, if you will. Preoccupations of his heart that helped him transcend the inevitable sorrows of this life that are passing away and experience the blessings of the unseen spiritual world that will last forever; to get a little taste of heaven, this side of it. To keep him from losing heart when his heart is breaking. Before we look at this, I might remind you of what he says later in Second Corinthians 4:15, he rejoices in quote, "the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of thanks to a bound to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. But though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen, are eternal." So how did he gain victory over heartache? Well, number one, he was grateful for God's leading in his life. He was grateful for God's leading in his life.

Notice verse 14, "But thanks be to God, who always leads." Folks, what a profound comfort to know that God's hand of Providence is always leading us, according to his perfect plan, according to his purpose. It's astounding to me to think that God governs all things, to pre-ordained ends; that his sovereignty is always at work. He's always at work in our life, as I say often, he's always up to something in our life. God leads us. I think of Psalm 23, where David asserts the sovereign ruler of the universe, and he condescends in such a way as to is to take up the task of shepherding for us in a personal intimate way. He says, "The Lord is my shepherd," my shepherd. "I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul. He guides me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake." You see, Paul celebrates this in his life as we all must do. Therefore, he could say with David, "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil." Why? "For you are with me, your rod and your staff, they comfort me." Dear friends, are you grateful for God's leading in your life?

We get a glimpse of this in his testimony to Timothy in First Timothy one, beginning in verse 12. He says, "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because he considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor and a violent aggressor." My, talk about God leading in our life. He goes on to say, "Yet I was shown mercy, because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant. With the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus. It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am the foremost of all. Yet for this reason, I found mercy, so that in me as the foremost, Jesus Christ might demonstrate His perfect patience as an example, for those who would believe in Him for eternal life." Beloved, we can either fret in our misfortunes, or we can rejoice in our fortunes; we really have a choice. And certainly, that would include having a heart that is filled with gratitude. Oh, God, thank you that even in the midst of my pai and my suffering, thank you, that you are sovereignly at work in my life, and that you are leading me toward a preordained end for my good and for your ultimate glory. To know that, you will never abandon me, to know that there will be times that you will let me wander, but you will never let me go.

I was thinking about this, when our now five-year-old little granddaughter, she was probably maybe threeish or so, she had a tendency to want to wander off, as all kids do. We were in the mall, and we're always saying you hold Papa’s hand or hold Nana's hand, and of course, they're always pulling away, and they're wanting to wander off someplace. And I remember one time, we were in a particular store, and she kept doing that, and I thought, okay, let's just see what happens. So her grandfather kept an eye on her, but you know, how they have these round circles of clothes and all that type of stuff; she was wandering off and I just kind of kept my eye on her. And then eventually, she realized that she was alone. And all of a sudden, you hear the scream, and she doesn't know what to do. And she starts running around. And I thought, you know what, I'm just gonna let her panic here for a minute. People are looking and here's this child running desperately looking for Papa and for Nana. And some, I don't know if there was a clerk or who came and tried to comfort her; and about that time, I appeared and she came running toward me. And you know, the only good thing about, well the good thing about it is, I think she learned a lesson. The bad thing is I had to carry her for about the next hour. But that's the point, in such a more glorious way. Our heavenly Father is constantly watching over us. He's constantly caring for us. And we need to be grateful for his leading in our life.

Well, secondly, he was grateful for the privilege of serving Christ and sharing in his triumph. Look at the text again, "But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ." Now, here, Paul uses a familiar metaphor that they would have understood; that of a Roman triumph and his opportunity here to serve under Christ, the conquering king of kings and Lord of lords. I want to read a description of this triumph, written by a theologian, a scholar, William Barclay. I can't improve upon this, this is really helpful. Here's what he says, "In Paul's mind is the picture of a Roman triumph and of Christ as a universal conqueror. The highest honor which could be given to a victorious Roman general was a triumph. To attain it, he must satisfy certain conditions. He must have been the actual commander in chief in the field. The campaign must have been completely finished, the region pacified, and the victorious troops brought home. 5000 of the enemy at least, must have fallen in one engagement. A positive extension of territory must have been gained and not merely a disaster retrieved or an attack repelled. And the victory must have been won over a foreign foe, and not in a civil war. In a triumph, the procession of the victorious general marched through the streets of Rome to the Capitol in the following order. First came the state officials and the Senate. Then came the trumpeters. Then were carried the spoils taken from the conquered land. For instance, when Titus conquered Jerusalem, the seven branched candlestick, the golden table of the showbread and the golden trumpets were carried through the streets of Rome. Then came pictures of the conquered land and models of conquered citadels and ships. There followed the white bowl for the sacrifice which would be made. Then were walked the captive princes, leaders and generals in chains, shortly to be flung into prison, and in all probability almost immediately to be executed. Then came the lictors, bearing their rods, followed by the musicians with their lyres, then the priests swinging their sensers with sweet smelling incense burning in them. After that, came the General himself. He stood in a chariot drawn by four horses, he was clad in a purple tunic, embroidered with golden palm leaves, and over a purple toga marked out with golden stars. In his hand, he held an ivory scepter with the Roman Eagle at its top, and over his head, a slave held the crown of Jupiter. After him, rode his family and finally, came the army wearing all their decorations and shouting, 'lo triumphe," which in Latin means triumph. As the procession moves through the streets, all decorated and garlanded amid the cheering crowds. It made a tremendous day which might happen only once in a lifetime." That is the picture, he says, that is in Paul's mind. He sees Christ marching in triumph throughout the world and himself in that conquering train. It's a triumph which Paul is certain nothing can stop.

You see, friends, Paul understood that victory comes through suffering. But victory does come. Notice again, verse 14, "But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ." Not occasionally, but always, even when the world scoffs at us. Even when the world mocks us. Even when we suffer at the hands of wicked man, even when our hearts are breaking. He's always leading us as victorious soldiers in a triumphal procession. Folks, we are marching to glory. Someday the world will see the Son of Man returning in power and great glory, and we are going to be with him. Dwell upon that the next time you're in pain, right? The next time you are suffering.

Matthew 24, Jesus speaks of this, beginning of verse 29. He says, "But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other." And dear friends, because as Paul says in Colossians, three, verses three and four, because "you have died and your life is hidden with Christ and God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory." Boy, talk about a triumph. The saints are going to accompany our glorious King. We read about this in Revelation 19 verse 14, let me read that in context beginning in verse 11, "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called The Word of God." And catch this. Here we are, "the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses." Magnificent imagery. "From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS."

Dear friends, this is the triumph that awaits us. And it's for this reason that there is nothing more important in life than serving our Lord, our Savior and our King. Lightfoot comments, quote, "The veil which now shrouds your higher life from others, and even partly from yourselves, will then be withdrawn. The world which persecutes, despises, ignores now will then be blinded with the dazzling glory of the revelation." And you're drowning in sorrow and unable to function over what? You see the point? Folks, you just have to change your perspective. Oh Child of God, the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Yes, the pain is real. I've been there. It is real and I'm not in any way trying to mitigate that reality. But you simply must not lose perspective. Someday you are going to join in that triumphal procession. Someday every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. And the key to gaining victory over heartache is to stay focused on the glories of Christ, not the sorrows of your life. Remember, we are in Christ, right? We are eternally united to him, we have died with Christ. We've been crucified with Christ. We've been buried with Christ. We've been raised from the dead with Christ. We are now seated with Him in heavenly places. We read all of these amazing truths; we're going to be glorified with Christ. Therefore we can rejoice as Paul did and say, "Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ." Dick Mayhew says, quote, "His life is our life, His punishments are our punishment. His death, our death. His resurrection, our resurrection, His righteousness, our righteousness, His ascension and glorification, our ascension and glorification," in quote. So naturally, we can be thankful as Paul did, knowing that he's always lead us in triumph in Christ, even when we think all is lost. That is what's ultimately happening. Even when our heart is breaking, and we think we can't go on. That is what God is up to. And the victory is certain.

So Paul was grateful for God's leading and grateful for the privileges of serving Christ and sharing in his triumph and thirdly, he was grateful for the privilege of proclaiming Christ. My what a story we have to tell. Verse 14 we read, "He manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of him and every place." And once again, Paul applies the metaphorical imagery of a Roman triumph where priests carrying censers would burn incense to carry praise to these made up gods. And this sweet aroma would also be mixed with the somewhat pungent smell, or I should say, that pungent smell of that incense would be mixed with all of the flowers, all of the garlands that would be spread out over everywhere. Moreover, according to D.E. Garland, he says, quote, "Filets and garlands bedeck 125 stall fed oxen with gilded horns being led as sacrifices by young men wearing aprons and handsome borders, and boys attending them carrying gold and silver vessels of libation. My goodness, what a scene that would have been. Well, obviously the sweet aroma that was carried about on the breeze that wafted across the spectators, and all of those in the triumph; that breeze would have would have carried the aroma of the incense and of the flowers. And that aroma would be one of triumph and joy to the victors. But that same aroma would be an aroma of defeat and death for the prisoners.

Well, the analogy is obvious. Again, the end of verse 14, he "manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place." Folks think about this, even as the sweet smell of garlands and the pungent odor of incense are distinct and quickly capture the attention of our olfactory senses, so too the knowledge of Christ, when the secret wind of the Spirit causes it to waft about through the faithful proclamation of the saints. It's going to be offensive to some, and it's going to be precious to others. When Jesus explained to Nicodemus the need to be born again, remember what he said in John three, beginning in verse six, "'That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit of spirit. So do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.'" And he makes the statement, "'The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from, and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.'" Aren't you thankful that the wind of the Spirit blew in your direction, and by the power of the Spirit, you saw your sin, you came to saving faith in Christ? And beloved, everywhere we go as believers, by the power of the Spirit, we manifest the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Christ in every place.

And for this, Paul was so grateful. Oh, dear child of God, let this sink in for a moment. What a glorious privilege it is to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ. There is nothing more important in all your life than that. Paul understood this in his life. Remember, in Ephesians, three, beginning in verse seven, he said, "I was made a minister, according to the gift of God's grace, which was given to me according to the working of his power. To me the very least of all saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unfathomable riches of Christ." You see, Paul understood that contemplating the reality of this privilege is the greatest of all antidepressants. Folks, ask yourself, does this privilege of being able to proclaim the unsearchable riches of Christ, does this bring joy to your heart? Is this a passion of your heart? Are you just caught up in all of the difficulties of life, living for yourself? You know, I learned a number of years ago, and I have to confess that I have to pray that the Spirit will help me when these things come up, but I learned that when I'm experiencing relational pain, especially in the church, when I've been slandered, or you know, something's going on, that's really hard, I've learned that the best thing to do is just double down in your service to Christ. Because what Satan wants you to do is, 'oh, woe is me,' you know, get in the fetal position on the couch, put your thumb in your mouth, and just get all depressed and you just can't function. I am just not going to do that. You just can't do that. What a privilege we have to proclaim Christ. I'm going to double down. So I don't know, I guess I go into some manic mode and I'm writing emails and letters and I'm calling people and saying, 'I'm just going to fight all the harder folks.' That's what we have to do. Satan wants to distract us from being that sweet aroma of the knowledge of Christ in every place.

John MacArthur says, "No preacher should take light lightly his inestimable privilege of proclaiming the saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether or not preachers are successful, achieve popularity or fulfill their ambitions, it's immaterial. The satisfaction of having an eternal influence for Jesus Christ should be sufficient. The issue is not results, but privilege. The disheartened preacher is disheartened because he focuses on circumstances. The joyful preacher is joyful because he focuses on the eternal worth of his service to God. The disheartened preacher considers his difficulties, the joyful preacher considers his privilege." Dear friends, if you're struggling right now, with some great heartache, may I encourage you to focus on this privilege, and perhaps get on Facebook and just unleashed the gospel? Boy wouldn't that be nice? I mean, a lot of times, Nancy will show me something on Facebook, and I just start losing brain cells. I mean, it is absolutely absurd, watching people trying to get affirmation, putting pictures of themselves and you know, all of this silly stuff. Unleash the gospel, what a privilege we have. Be that sweet aroma of the knowledge of Christ in every place, go to the barbershop or the hairdresser, if you can get in. I understand that the dynamics right now, but, but what that's always a captive audience, to begin to share your testimony. And you watch people start squirming and getting on their phones. But oh, what a wonderful opportunity. You say, but Pastor, all that does is bring further pain and rejection. People don't want to hear that stuff. Well, of course they don't. They're spiritually dead. But it's the gospel that gives them life. Isn't that what happened with you? Well, of course, therein lies the problem. If that's your attitude, you're ashamed of the gospel. You fear man more than you fear God. It's a very dangerous place to be. Paul said in Galatians, 1:10 "For am I now seeking the favor of men or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ.

And this leads us to the fourth preoccupation of his heart. Number four, he was grateful for the opportunity to be pleasing to God. What an amazing thought, verse 15, again, "For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved, and among those who are perishing." Do you realize that the sweet-smelling odor of the knowledge of Christ that was diffused in every place by the Ministry of the apostles, and that is diffused in every place by the Ministry of the saints today? Do you realize that odor, a sin is to the nostrils of God, do you realize that that is pleasing to Him? You see, folks, we proclaim Christ ultimately to God, not to men. It's important for you to remember that he is our primary audience, not men. And I must say, and I hope you hear this in the spirit that it's intended, when I preach, I really care nothing about the size of the audience, or even their reaction. In many ways, I don't even see those in front of me. I have an audience of one and that's God himself. And I preach to be pleasing to Him, and let him deal with everything else. Same is true when I write. I write ultimately for him.

This was the grueling passion of Paul's heart. In chapter five and verse nine, he says, "Therefore we also have as our ambition whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him." Is that the passion of your heart? Colossians 1:10, so that we are to "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord to please Him in all respects." First Thessalonians, two, four, "just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel, so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God who examines our hearts." Folks, what an astounding blessing. What an amazing opportunity we have to be pleasing to God by sharing the knowledge of Christ to others. Is that a priority in your life?

Verse 15, "For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other, an aroma from life to life." You see, folks, if I can stick with the analogy here, the smell of the gospel will produce joy to repentant sinners who are longing to be reconciled to a holy God and be in fellowship with Him; to have their sins forgiven, and to gain the righteousness of Christ. But the smell of the gospel is going to produce guilt and anger and hatred and fear to those who reject Christ. Remember, they spend their life, according to Romans one, "suppressing the truth in unrighteousness." Constantly trying to keep a lid on what they know to be true about a holy God and their sinfulness. They don't want to hear it, they don't want to think about it. They love darkness rather than light. So you come along with the gospel, and oh my, that's the light. And as I say, it's like flipping on a light down in a cellar and suddenly you see the cockroaches running for cover. Isn't that how you feel? A lot of times when you get around unsaved people and you start sharing Christ, man, they just run for cover. But boy there's going to be some that will hear it and be saved. Men love darkness rather than light. But we are to be the light. Remember, according to Hebrews four, verse 13, for "the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing as far as the division of the soul and the spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and the intentions of the heart." People don't like that, but that's what the word does. The text goes on to say, 'And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."

Oh, how grateful we should be for the opportunity to please God through our gospel witness, knowing that yes, it's going to be used to harden the hearts of some, but it will be used to soften the hearts of others. And this leads us to the fifth and final preoccupation that we see here that Paul dealt with. He was grateful for God's leading; he was grateful for the privilege of serving Christ and sharing in his triumph. He was grateful for the privilege of proclaiming Christ for the opportunity to be pleasing to Him. And finally, he was grateful for Christ who strengthened him. He says in verse 16, at the end there, "who is adequate for these things?" The answer is, of course, no one. We are only strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And we only tap into the power that is there when we live lives that are consecrated to him. When we are faithfully serving our master. Verse five of chapter three, he makes this clear, he says, "Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God." Jesus said, "'Apart from me, you can do,'" what? "'Nothing.'" But oh, what a joy it is to experience the power of Christ in your life. Lots of times we don't even realize it's happening until maybe it's over. In Colossians, one, verse 29, Paul says, "I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me." And back to our texts in verse 17. It closes this section and he says, "For we are not like many, peddling the word of God. The term "peddling" in Greek "kapeleuo" is an interesting term. It's used to refer to someone who is selling something or offering something that is secondhand through false or deceptive practices. And of course, here he's focusing in on these false apostles that have taken over the church in his absence. He's saying basically, I'm not like them. I'm not using the word of God as a means to promote my Judaistic opinions because that's what was going on largely; mixing law with grace and mixing other manmade philosophies in with Christianity, like so many people do, even to this day; To somehow seduce people into believing things that are not true. And also so they can line their pockets; make a buck off the gospel. I fear that most people in pulpits today are more entrepreneurs than they are true shepherds. But in verse 17, he just says here that, that we're not walking like many peddling something through the word of God, "but as from sincerity." The term "sincerity" in the original language is one used in this context that would speak of a life and message that can withstand the most intense light of divine scrutiny. In other words, he's saying, there's no pretense here, folks, I'm not coming to you in deceit. I am not putting on a charade here unlike the phony predators that have conned you, with a false gospel, filled with all manner of clever deceptions to make a buck off of you. My life and my message is sincere. And that's why he says at the end of verse 17, "but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God." In other words, God is our witness. And for this reason, Christ strengthened him right? He said in Second Corinthians Nine, eight, "God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed." That pretty well covers it.

I would say, oh, dear Christian, if your heart is breaking over some trial, may I encourage you don't give up. Look up. Don't give up. Look up. Remind yourselves of these great truths. Have a heart that is filled with thanksgiving; be grateful for God's leading in your life. Be grateful for the privilege of serving Christ and sharing in a triumph that is inevitable; that is coming. Be grateful for the privilege of proclaiming Christ, and for the opportunity to be pleasing to Christ. And then finally, be grateful for Christ who strengthens you. And when your heart is truly filled with this kind of grateful praise, for these kinds of things, you will see that God will restore your joy, even in the midst of a heart that is breaking. Let's be thankful to these ends. Let's pray.

Father, thank you for these great truths. May they bear much fruit in our lives. Especially Lord, during these times that we all experience when our heart is breaking. Bring these things to remembrance. And may they be so powerful in our mind and in our heart, that we are animated to praise and therefore opened up to the joy that you will bring to us as we get a sense of your soul satisfying presence. I thank you and I'll give you praise for these great truths. Bless us with them. In Jesus name. Amen.

Well, once again, we can come together via the Internet and worship the Lord. The Lord has been so good to us, I'm sure he has to you as well. We're thankful that no one to our knowledge has this virus in the church, but we still remain in our homes. And I'm still speaking to some cameras that are out there. And I miss you all, and we all miss each other. If they allow us to, we might begin meeting once again, even next Sunday, we'll wait and see; you'll be hearing from us. And when we do, we are setting into place some new policies, we'll be having two services, one beginning at 8:30 to 10. And then we'll have an hour in between and have another service. I will give us a chance to disinfect things and give us opportunities for social distancing. We won't have any Sunday school; we won't even use the Family Life Center. But you'll be getting more information on those things. And fortunately, we believe this will be temporary, but we want to do everything we can to protect you, to protect us from each other during this time.

But we come this morning once again to the Word of God. And I would invite you to take your Bibles and turn to Second Corinthians chapter two. We will continue our verse-by-verse exposition of this epistle. And the title of my discourse to you this morning is "Lessons in Forgiveness." And we're going to be looking at verses five through 11. So follow along as I read Second Corinthians two, five through 11. But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in some degree--in order not to say too much--to all of you. Sufficient for such a one is this punishment, which was inflicted by the majority, so that on the contrary, you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him. For to this end also I wrote, so that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things. But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed what I have forgiven, if I have forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes, in the presence of Christ, so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes."

Because we all struggle with an exaggerated sense of self-importance, because we all struggle with pride, because we can tend to be easily offended, many times, it's hard for us to forgive another person who has wronged us. Someone says something bad about us, and rather than ignoring it and trying to treat it with grace, we take it personally, we get defensive and we counter attack, which merely throws gas on the fire. And of course, we see this type of cycle happening all the time with cyber bullies, for example, on social media; and they've turned this into an art form. And since so many people on social media platforms get on there, in order to find affirmation for themselves, we see that there's a direct link between social media and depression. Because often the type of feedback, the type of affirmation they get, isn't what they wanted. And especially younger people tend to get very depressed and so it just fuels this anger. And this sense of wanting to get even with other people. In fact, in one study that I read that was quoting several recent studies, it said that teenage and young adult users who spend the most time on Instagram, Facebook and other platforms, were shown to have a substantially higher rate of reported depression than those who spent the least time and that rate is from 13 to 66% Higher. So what you tend to see in our culture is many people live in the cycle of attack and kill under attack. All you have to do is drive on the interstate and you see that. Certainly what you don't see is the idea of loving your enemy. You don't see people praying for those who mistreat you and forgiving those who seek to be forgiven. That's foreign in our culture. And many times we bring that into the church. We have this attitude of "go ahead and make my day." Just think of perhaps someone who's offended you. How do you think about that? How do you respond to that? What's your attitude? Are you bitter? Are you spiteful? Have they come to you and asked for forgiveness, and you kind of give lip service to it, but down deep, you really resent them? And perhaps you even slander them? If so, you’re going to struggle with what you're going to even hear today as we look into the text. And frankly, this is going to speak to all of us, because we all struggle at some level with these kinds of things. You really want to ask yourself, "am I a forgiving person, when people come and seek forgiveness?" What's your attitude towards people who mistreat you? Do you seek revenge or do you pray for their repentance? Are you forbearing? Are you patient? Are you gentle? Do you try to restore perhaps a sinning brother or sister in the spirit of gentleness? Or do you operate in the flesh and seek retaliation and so forth? Using the example of an abusive master, let me remind you of what Peter said, and First Peter two beginning in verse 18, he says "Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrow when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God."

Well, certainly this is contrary to our flesh. Our flesh fights this kind of attitude. I think of the unimaginable torture that our Lord Christ experienced while hanging on the cross. And yet, he prayed to the Father, "'Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.'" Now, obviously, dear friends, to respond in such a way when we have been injured, especially when we've been severely injured--to respond with that kind of Christlike love, requires a special work of the Spirit. Even in our new nature, we find our flesh fighting against that. And we need help from the indwelling Spirit. And we can be thankful knowing that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. Well, our text this morning, helps us get a little glimpse of how believers are to deal with these things, especially in light of our selfish proclivities, if you will; our flesh that wants to get even with people, and really not forgive them in our heart. And here we can learn some very important lessons in forgiveness.

Now, let me remind you of the context. The Corinthians really struggled with pride and self-will. They were a very divisive people. They were factious, and some had believed the slanderous attacks against the apostle Paul, that the false teachers had made known and some of their sycophants, other malcontents, kind of drank the Kool Aid, if you will, and believe Paul can't be trusted and so forth. And evidently, one of these guys confronted Paul publicly to try to humiliate him and verbally attacked him in what is called the painful visit, as we read in chapter two and verse one. But providentially, we see that there were enough mature saints in the church that they saw that this was wrong, and that this man needed to be dealt with. And so they were willing to discipline this man. And because he was unrepentant, actually disfellowship him, according to Paul's instructions. And fortunately, the excommunication accomplished what it was intended to accomplish, and that is repentance. But unfortunately, there were still those in the church-- probably those that belong to the "pro-Paul cult," if you will, and they were wanting a little more flesh. They wanted a pound of flesh more, shall we say. And they wanted this guy to pay more for his wickedness. And so Paul is coming in and saying, look, the guy has repented and I'm instructing you now to forgive him, to comfort him, to reaffirm him, to show love for him publicly. And as we examine what Paul said, under the inspiration of the Spirit, in the scriptures, I believe what we're going to see is at least four lessons regarding forgiveness, and we would all do well to learn them.

So, let's look at the text. He says, first of all, in verse five, "But if any has caused sorrow," referring to the offender, but guarding him by not using his name. "But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in some degree--in order not to say too much--to all of you." Beloved, here we see a heart of tender forbearance towards someone that has mistreated him. He speaks in rather vague generalities. He avoids mentioning his name; he says nothing even about the offense of the nature. And no doubt this man would have heard this letter. He may have been in the same room when it was read. Certainly he would have known the contents of it. Imagine the unnecessary grief, had Paul mentioned his name, and even described the offense once again. I mean, he didn't say "Well, yes, you know, Octavius caused me great sorrow when he called me a lying dog that was devouring all of you for personal gain, et cetera, et cetera." No, he didn't say any of that. And obviously, I don't know what all the issue was, but what we see here is Paul guarding him, and basically saying, look, his punishment was enough. He's repented. And what you'll notice here, and all through Second Corinthians, you'll see that Paul did not take this personally. Obviously, the man had caused great sorrow in the church, and sorrow even to Paul, but that's past, it's over. It's needs to be forgotten. It's forgiven. And so he says, "he has caused sorrow not to me, but in some degree--in order not to say too much--to all of you. When he says, "in order not to say too much," he's saying, you know, rather than exaggerating this thing, and blowing it out of proportion. So once again, he's guarding him. Of course, the man caused disunity and strife within the church. Everyone knows that. But Paul was basically saying, Look, don't single me out as if I need a pound of flesh here; as if my pride has been wounded and it would be an insult for you to somehow forgive him and restore him to fellowship. No, no, don't think of that at all. I seek no vengeance here, and neither should you. That's the point.

So the first lesson that we see here is don't take injuries personally. That's really hard to do. I mean, when somebody offends you, and I've had this happen so many times, I can't even keep track of them. But when somebody does that, you have to say to yourself, look, I don't know what's going on for this person. Now, certainly, if I've done something, and I need to repent of that and go seek their forgiveness, that's a whole different story. But when you hear of something and somebody's mad at you, you don't know what's happened, you have to say, look, I don't know what's going on with this person. I don't know what type of lies they have concocted in their head or heard from other people, some other malcontent who knows what kinds of exaggerations they have invented, and in their mind and to accomplish some personal agenda. I'm not sure what's going on with them. And certainly, I'm not sure what God is up to, in their life, in the agencies of divine providence; I don't know what he's up to, even in the life of the church or their family or whatever it might be. I mean, folks think of the times you've been perhaps falsely accused or demeaned, maybe even publicly, when someone says or does something that is profoundly embarrassing. You know, even when your conscience is clear. You know there's really nothing you can do about it; you're sorrowful, you're hurt, you're disappointed. And I'm sure Paul felt all of those things. I'm sure he was, he was righteously indignant--and rightfully so. But at the end of the day, we all have to say, what we see Paul saying here is, look, God is up to up to something here, in the life of this person, in the life of the church, this person has enormous problems. And, and we're just going to trust the Lord to deal with that, and we're going to deal with it biblically within the church. And many times, I have to say, look, whatever's going on with this person, I'm really not a part of it, I'm kind of the most available dog to kick. All I can do, Lord is trust in your goodness, trust in your Providence. I know you're up to something way beyond me here. Therefore, I just have to let you deal with it. And so then the bigger issue, as you've heard me say before, is what's for lunch? I'm just not going to let that person rob me of joy, rob me of fellowship with other people, and distract me from doing what God has called me to do. And that was certainly Paul's attitude here.

Paul realized, as we all should, that he was only a tiny little fish in the ocean of divine providence. Folks, when these things happen, God is up to things that are way beyond our comprehension. And so don't think of yourself as the center of the universe here, that needs to be treated in a special way or whatever. So I think of this situation, like the story of Joseph. You will remember the unbelievable mistreatment that he suffered at the hands of his brothers, when they sold him into slavery into Egypt. And yet, eventually, what does God do? God makes him, basically the prime minister of Egypt, and God used the treachery of his brothers to accomplish things that Joseph could have never dreamed of. Joseph forgave his brothers, you will recall, he calmed their fears. He comforted them. And in Genesis 50, verse 19, he says, "Do not be afraid, for am I in God's place?" The answer is obviously, yes. And he goes on to say, "As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive," and so forth. So know that God is up to something in these things.

But a second lesson that I think we can learn from this, is don't keep stoking the fire. That's in essence, what Paul is saying, drop it, forget it, it's over. Rejoice. The person has repented. That's what we've prayed for. And now he's asking for our forgiveness. Let's forgive him. Don't keep reminding him of his sin. I mean, think of the father of the prodigal son. What did he do? He ran out to meet his son. He loved his son, he embraced the penitent with full forgiveness; he offered him gifts of acceptance, and that's what we need to do. We need to kill the fattened calf; we need to have a banquet of celebration. Beloved, this is how God treats us when we are repentant. He forgives, he comforts, he embraces us. The prophet Micah reminds us of just the forgiving nature of God in Micah seven beginning in verse 18. He said, "Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, you will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." And the Psalmist tells us in Psalm 103 and verse 12, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." In other words, he's taking them so far away, they no longer have any effect on our relationship with Him. In fact, the words "far" and "removed" in Psalm 103:12 are of the same word in Hebrew, meaning "to become far off" or "distant." And hear the term is used both as a noun and as a verb, and could be translated, as is "the distance from the east to the west." So he distances our sins from us. Yahweh takes our sins. He removes them as far away as possible. Beloved, can there be a more vivid picture of forgiveness?

I'm always deeply moved when I think of Hezekiah's praise to God for his undeserved mercy in delivering him from impending death and for forgiving his sins. We read about this, for example, in Isaiah 38. And in verse 17, Hezekiah says, "It is You who has kept my soul from the pit of nothingness, for you have cast," literally hurled, "all my sins behind Your back." Beloved, when we are truly repentant, God is truly forgiving. The idea here is that that he consigned our sins to oblivion; our sins are no longer a barrier between God and us. And contrast this to God's attitude towards a person who is unrepentant. In Psalm 90 and verse eight we read, "You have placed our iniquities before You. Our secret sins in the light of Your presence." What a horrible thought. But we also know that "when we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness." And my friends, this is the glorious, good news, even of the New Covenant, as the writer of Hebrews describes it in chapter eight, when regenerating grace bring sinners to repentance. And verse seven of that chapter, and following and especially in verse 12, the writer says, "'For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness,'" speaking for God here, "'and their sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more.'" Think about that--"'I will remember them no more.'" Now folks I ask you, how wicked would it be for us to remember what God has chosen to not remember? To remember no more? He takes our sins--when we're repentant--he takes our sins, he casts them into the depths of the sea, he removes them as far as the east is from the west, he hurls them behind his back, and yet we're gonna keep bringing them up? Well, you get the idea.

Now back to our text in Second Corinthians two. Not only are we learning here not to take injuries personally and don't keep stoking the fire, but number three: be quick to forgive and comfort the truly penitent. Be quick to forgive and comfort the truly penitent. Notice verse six. "Sufficient for such a one," he says, "is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority." Here the original language, the terms that are used, it really helps us see that he's speaking of the disciplinary actions that occurred as the result of a formal gathering of the whole church. The "majority," in other words, agreed to discipline this man; to excommunicate or disfellowship this man. Now think about it; unlike our modern era, with the church on every corner, this guy had no place to go. There was no Second Baptist in Corinth. This was like the only church. And the great sorrow associated with being removed from the fellowship that he once enjoyed with his Christian brothers and sisters brought him to a place of genuine, genuine repentance. You see, we need to understand that the severance of fellowship really heightens the type of breach that has occurred between a person that is unrepentant, and the God they claim to love. And of course, the purpose of discipline--of church discipline--is always reconciliation, never retribution. And that's what happened here.

And I might add that any church that does not practice church discipline is in flagrant violation of Scripture and shows that they really have very little love for sinners. Moreover, they have very little concern for the purity of the church. I know of a number of churches like this, and frankly, they bear little resemblance to a New Testament Church. And the people who attend those churches bear little resemblance to New Testament believers. Because what has happened is the church gets filled up with people living in blatant sin. It even happens amongst the leaders. And then little by little more tears grow within the church than the wheat; they become more goats than sheep, and truly "a little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough," as Paul said, in First Corinthians five, six.

Beloved, whenever there is flagrant, hard-hearted, unrepentant sin, it must be dealt with. Jesus made this so clear in Matthew 18, beginning in verse 15, he says this, "'If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private; if he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that BY THE MOUTH OF TWO OR THREE WITNESSES EVERY FACT MAY BE CONFIRMED. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.'" In other words, you treat them as if they don't even know Christ.

There's really just four stages in church discipline, first, you go to a person privately; you confront them lovingly, gently. But if there's no repentance, then you move to a second stage where you bring two or three, to witness the fact that they've either repented or not. If they are still unrepentant, then you tell the entire church to enlist them in prayer, as well as in calling this person to repentance--out of love, out of a desire to see them reconciled to God and to the rest of the body. And if they're still no repentance, then they are to be excommunicated. And folks, you must understand, to continue to fellowship with someone living in blatant sin demonstrates a profound lack of care for them, a lack of love for them, and certainly a lack of care for the glory of Christ. Because actually, you become a co-conspirator in their rebellion against God. You're watching them walking towards a cliff of divine judgment, and you're not doing anything. Christ is being dishonored; the transforming power of the gospel is being called into question, and you're acting as if nothing's wrong. Second Thessalonians chapter three and verse six, Paul says, "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition, which you received from us." And then a little later in verse 14, he says, "If anyone does not obey our instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not associate with him, so that he will be put to shame." Now, the same dynamic had occurred earlier in the life of the church in Corinth. You will recall that they had to discipline another member because of gross immorality. And in First Corinthians five, beginning in verse four, Paul says, "In the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus, I have decided to deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." In other words, let me just give him over to the consequences of his iniquity, so that he will be brought hopefully to a place of genuine repentance. Later on, in verse nine, he says, "I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people." Now he adds, "I did not at all mean with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, and swindlers or with idolaters. For then you would have to go out of the world. But actually," he said, "I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother." In other words, a person living in flagrant sin who claims to be a Christian, "not to associate with any so-called brother, if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler--not even to eat with such a one."

So the saints at Corinth disciplined this man and by God's grace, he repented. And so in verse six, Paul says "Sufficient for such a one is this punishment, which was inflicted by the majority, so that on the contrary, you should rather forgive and comfort him, otherwise such one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow." Yes, the punishment was deserved, but it had its desired effect. And this is what Paul longed for. So now it's time to forgive. Now it's time to comfort. Now it's time to restore. And all of this is essential to unity within the church. And so a third lesson we can learn here is be quick to forgive and comfort the truly penitent. And folks, this is at the very heart of Christian love. And you want to ask yourself, Does this describe me? Is this the attitude of my heart? In Colossians, chapter three and verse 13, Paul says that, as believers we are to be characterized by quote, "bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone." Whenever I think of the way the Lord forgives my mind will go to Isaiah 55, verses six through nine. There you may recall, he describes how that, that when, when the wicked man forsakes his way, and the unrighteous man, his thoughts, and he returns to the Lord, the text says that "the Lord will have compassion on him"... for He will abundantly pardon." What an amazing thought. In fact, he goes on to essentially say that the extent of God's compassion is beyond our ability to comprehend. Therefore, the Lord goes on to say this, "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,' declares the Lord. 'For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.'" Oh, dear friends, what a great compassion the Lord has toward sinners, what a merciful and forgiving God, we have. And of course, we see this most vividly in the person and the work of Christ and his willingness, not only to forgive our sins, but to actually bear their punishment in his body on the cross. And beloved, this is our supreme example when it comes to forgiveness. Now think about this, how can we, who have been forgiven such heinous sins against the Most High God, not forgive the lesser sins that people have committed against us? How ridiculous is that? And of course, this was the theme of Jesus' parable. In Matthew 18, beginning in verse 21 and following, you will recall that one of the king's servants embezzled an enormous amount of money that he couldn't possibly repay. And what did the king do? He graciously and compassionately forgave the debt. However, that same servant refused to forgive a fellow servant who owed him some tiny debt. And of course, that's a great picture of ingratitude, and selfishness and pride. And when we act that way, we're making a mockery of the gospel of grace, whereby God has forgiven us a debt we could never pay. James two in verse 13, we read that "judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy." Beloved, please hear me, there is a very high price to pay for unforgiveness. You will become a very angry person that seeks revenge and that will consume you. It will consume every relationship that you will have; you will become bitter. You will become sour and sullen. You'll be that person with a chip on their shoulder. You'll be easily offended, always looking for a fight. Like constantly picking at a scab, the wound will never heal. You've been around those types of folks before, unforgiving folks, and suddenly they'll bring up some past offense and past injury that may have happened 30 years ago. And they will describe it as if it happened yesterday. And you know, dear friend, if this is you, please understand that Jesus says you're going to be given over to the most extreme forms of discipline, what Jesus called the torturers of life.

In Matthew 18, he went on to say this, in verse 32, regarding the king, and the servant, "'Then summoning him, his lord said to him, 'You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?' And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him. My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your heart.'" You say, Well, what are torturers? Well, the various kinds of discipline that the Lord will bring upon those who are unforgiving, those who are so far out of fellowship with the Lord, that they would refuse to forgive someone that seeks it. It could include things like just the destruction of your flesh. I mean, your health begins to go, your marriage, your family, your testimony, all of it begins to fall into a state of disarray. Your effectiveness in service to Christ goes away. You question, you grieve the spirit, you just walk in the flesh, you ruin your life. Oh, dear Christian, be quick to forgive and comfort the truly penitent.

But there's a fourth lesson here. And that fourth lesson is this, reaffirm your love for the truly penitent through acts of private and public restoration. Let me give that to you again. Reaffirm your love for the truly penitent through acts of private and public restoration. Notice verse eight. He says, "Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm your love for him." He's urging them to do this. The term "reaffirm" is interesting. The original language, it means to "rule judicially," "to decide on" or "to make a formal declaration about something." In fact, Paul used the same term in Galatians 3:15 to describe the judicial, formal, ratification of a covenant. And the point here is he's urging them to do this with this repentant brother. They needed to restore him lovingly both privately, as well as publicly.

By the way with respect to church discipline, and stages one and two, when it's private, the restoration and the reaffirmation of love need to just remain private, you don't go tell everybody about all of that. But in stages three and four, the reaffirmation of love and restoration needs to occur not only privately but publicly. I mean, where sin has occurred publicly and where the discipline has occurred publicly, and where a repentance has occurred, then reaffirmation of love and restoration to fellowship must also be public. And that's what he's urging to happen here with this penitent brother. John MacArthur said this quote, "At its core, unforgiveness is a lack of love. Forgiveness, on the other hand, fulfills the royal law of love--for example, James two eight." He went on to say, "Forgiving love is a precious jewel, a rich treasure in the life of the church. Without it churches are torn, split, and fragmented. Churches that faithfully practice church discipline must also forgive penitent sinners. The greatest demonstration of love, both by individual believers and the church collectively is forgiving others."

Now, Paul continues in verse nine, and he says, "For to this end also I wrote, so that I might put you to the test, whether you are obedient in all things." Isn't that interesting? I find it fascinating. God was putting the saints to the test to reveal what was really in their heart. Now you will remember that they were a self-centered bunch, self-promoting, they were jealous. The church was just fraught with strife and divisiveness, factions; cliques had developed. "I am of Apollos. I'm of Paul. Well, I'm of Cephas, well, I'm of Christ." And so these people were promoting their own agendas. In fact, the word "puffed up" referring to self-promoting pride occurs six times in First Corinthians, so they were a puffed-up bunch. And people that are puffed up are not prone to forgiveness. They were accustomed to personal animosity, to all the sectarian rivalries and vengeance rather than forgiveness. So what does God do? He puts them to the test to see whether you are obedient in all things.

Now think about it. First of all, are you obedient in disciplining sin? Well, the answer is yes. But then secondly, and equally as important, are you willing to forgive a person when they are genuinely repentant? And the answer is also, Yes. Isn't that good news? They passed the test. You know, you want to ask yourself, "Is God putting me to the test in my life, in some area, perhaps in the area of forgiveness? Are there areas of unconfessed and unrepentant sin that I need to deal with?" Well, obviously, Paul celebrated their obedience and even commended them for it later on. In chapter seven, beginning of verse 12. Here's what he says, "So although I wrote to you, it was not for the sake of the offender, nor for the sake of the one offended, but that your earnestness on our behalf might be made known to you in the sight of God. For this reason, we have been comforted. And besides our comfort, we rejoiced even much more for the joy of Titus, because his spirit has been refreshed by you all. For if in anything I have boasted to him about you. I was not put to shame; but as we spoke all things to you in truth, so also, our boasting before Titus proved to be the truth. His affection abounds all the more toward you, as he remembers the obedience of you all, how you received him with fear and trembling. I rejoiced that in everything I have confidence in you." I mean, folks, Paul is ecstatic here. He's watching these people grow in Christ. And this is the passion of every pastor's heart. It's the passion of every parent's heart. Don't you long to see your children grow in the grace and the knowledge of Christ? And when they say those things, and do those things that are Christ, like, you just kind of go, "Oh, my Thank You, Lord. How exciting is is to see them growing into maturity." And that's what's going on here with the Apostle Paul.

And to grow in Christian maturity, it means that we're going to be a loving people, which includes two things as we look at this text: confronting sin, and then forgiving sinners when they are repented. Both are equally as important. I'm reminded of Galatians six, beginning of verse one, Paul says, "Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, so that you too will not be tempted." Then he says, "Bear one another's burdens," literally the idea of getting underneath a burden of sin that a person has and helping them carry that; helping them deal with that. And then he says, "and thereby fulfill the law of Christ." Well, what's the law of Christ? Well, it's the law of love. We are to love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. So this is the commandment. And this is what Paul saw happening with the people so we celebrate the restoration of the sinning brother back into the fellowship. In verse 10, he says, "But one whom you forgive anything, I forgive also; for indeed, what I have forgiven, if I forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ." I mean, folks here you see it very clearly. Paul's passion was for unity in the body of Christ. And essential to that unity is not only confronting the sin but forgiving the sinner. And he cared nothing about himself, he knew he wasn't the big issue. As I say, he knew he was just a tiny fish in the ocean of divine providence; he knew that God was up to all kinds of other things. So he wasn't going to take it personally, and get all bent out of shape. He wanted the glory of Christ to be put on display in his life, and in their life. And as Christians, we are most like Christ, when we forgive.

But notice that little phrase, "I did it for your sakes, in the presence of Christ." You see, Paul knew that he was living his life before Christ, that the Lord knows his every thought. And certainly the Lord knows all of our thoughts. You see, Paul lived, "coram Deo", the Latin that means "before the presence of God" or face to face in the presence of God." You want to ask yourself, "Is this how I live? Do I realize that he sees all of my thoughts, all of my deeds?" I like the way RC Sproul put it, quote, "To live in the presence of God is to understand that whatever we are doing, and wherever we are doing it, we are acting under the gaze of God. God is omnipresent. There is no place so remote that we can escape his penetrating gaze. And Paul knew that, and he reminded them of that great truth. This is how he lived. In fact, later in verse 17, he reminded them that he spoke quote, "in Christ in the sight of God." And he knew that both, confronting sin and forgiving sin, are attitudes and actions that never escaped the penetrating gaze of God and he would reward or judge accordingly. And all of this is so, so very important.

In verse 11, "so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes." Folks, to be sure, Satan tempts us to sin, as well as tempts us to ignore our sin and even ignore the sins of others. His goal is to fill the church with tears. And this cannot be accomplished if a church is serious about holiness. If a church is serious about purity, if a church is therefore serious about lovingly, disciplining, sinning saints, and then forgiving them, and restoring them and comforting them, when they repent. And furthermore, a church is going to forfeit divine blessing if it refuses to forgive, because forgiveness is really the fruit of love.

Well, in closing, may I just remind you, may I challenge you, examine your heart, don't take injuries personally. Don't keep stoking the fire when someone has repented and the thing is over; be quick to forgive and comfort the truly penitent and reaffirm your love for the truly penitent through acts of private and even public restoration. Aren't you glad that that's the way the Lord treats us? And I'm so thankful that we have a church that understands these things, I can truthfully say that I know that I'm preaching to the choir this morning. Nevertheless, it's great to hear it once again because it reminds us of God's grace for each of us. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these eternal truths. I pray that they will bear much fruit in our hearts, that Christ might be exalted in everything that we say and do. That people will see our love, not only for you, but for other people, and therefore be dumbfounded by just the way we treat each other, even when there is sin. And certainly when there is restoration and forgiveness, because we know that through that, you can use that living illustration of the gospel, to bring others to saving faith, help us to be that kind of people. So we commit all of this to you for your glory. In Christ's name. Amen.

Well, once again, we come together to look into the Word of God and see what the Spirit of God has for us. Having spent the last, about three weeks, I believe, dealing with the issue of the pandemic, looking at it from a biblical perspective, trying to bring encouragement and even exhortation to your hearts during this difficult season, I believe that now it's time to return once again to our verse-by-verse exposition of Second Corinthians. So if you will take your Bibles and turn there turn to second Corinthians chapter one. Notwithstanding the seriousness of the days in which we live and in an effort to not in any way minimize what we're experiencing, I believe that if we continue to just focus on all of our problems, that really can be counterproductive. I frankly, think it's unhealthy to deal with this all the time. Yes, people are sick. And yes, people are dying, and that's a tragedy. But people are always going to be sick, and people are always going to be dying. We live in a fallen world, and the wages of sin, obviously his death, but to obsess over this pandemic, 24/7, I believe is unhealthy. And I believe it can be dishonoring to the Lord and certainly distract us from the hope that we have in Christ and the glories that are ours in our inheritance. And it even distracts us from the opportunity to really fulfill the Great Commission. We need to be all about telling other people about the transforming saving truths of the gospel. And I might add that the inconveniences that we are experiencing and the uncertainties about the future, even the loss of income, it's tragic. Frankly, all of those challenges for us are minor, compared to what most people in the world are dealing with. Frankly, most people around the world are struggling just to find enough food to eat. Many of them are afraid of violence. They're afraid that someone will come in and take all that they have, even take their lives. Most people live in fear of starvation and disease and dying on a daily basis. And frankly, most people around the world would give anything to exchange their struggles for our struggles. So we want to keep this in perspective.

And this is certainly true of the first century saints in the nascent Church, the new church that was being birthed during that time. They were undergoing enormous difficulties in those early days of the church. And I might even add, on a lighter side, but if you're like me the media's 24/7 obsession with this Coronavirus, is beginning to to play on my mind. I was telling some friends the other day that I feel like I'm turning into that guy on television "Monk," the OCD germaphobe that was, I think he was the detective. I've never seen the show. I've seen these commercials and he's always wiping his hands and cleaning everything off. And that's how I think I'm getting and maybe you're getting that way too. It's like I've got a germ phobia. I'm afraid to touch anything. I'm afraid to get near anybody. I'm afraid to breathe the air. It's getting insane. And I'm even keeping a close eye on our stock of toilet paper. I mean, it's really insane when you begin to think about what's going on. People are lost and they're dying in this world; they need the gospel, and we're obsessed about toilet paper? I mean, really, it can get silly after a while.

Moreover, I must add one final thing while I'm on a roll here on all of this. I think if I hear one more news conference, where biased liberal reporters interrogate the President and his administration, in an effort to somehow make them look bad I think I will vomit. I believe I heard some amens. So may I humbly ask you to join with me by refocusing on matters that have eternal rather than temporal significance; matters pertaining to the gospel; matters pertaining to the church, and the body of Christ; which is to be the pillar in support of the truth. And may I also remind you before we look at our text of the Apostle Paul's encouraging words, of exhortation to the saints at Philippi, remember, he was writing from a prison cell, a prison cell. And he knew that he was soon going to be executed. And in Philippians, four, he said, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, whom I long to see, my joy and my crown, in this way, stand firm in the Lord, my beloved." He said, "Rejoice in the Lord always, again, I will say, rejoice. Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near, Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." And then he went on to say this, and this is my encouragement to each of you, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence, and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things, the things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me," he says, "practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you."

Now, with that brief introduction, let's go back to the context of what's going on. In Second Corinthians, you will recall that some wolves had infiltrated the ranks of the church, some false teachers. And these were predators that were spreading lies, false accusations about the apostle Paul. They were telling the people, you know, this guy is secretly immoral. This is why he's constantly suffering. God is punishing him. And they were telling the people that he was deceitfully manipulating them, that he was just a con man trying to get money from them. And he was also just a self-appointed false teacher who merely fabricated his message and distorted the true Word of God that we're teaching to you. So that was the message. Bottom line, they were telling the people that he was just a phony, and that you shouldn't listen to him. And so they sought to ruin his credibility by undermining his authority and destroying his character; to discredit his teaching so that they could teach their own deceptions. So, this was obviously very convincing to some of the people in the church, because some of them actually bought into the deception, bought into the slander. And of course, that was heartbreaking to the Apostle Paul.

So, Second Corinthians is a letter where he responds to all of this. His concern is not only to express his joy and relief, because most of them repented, but also to defend his apostleship and confront these false teachers. In Second Corinthians one, verses 12 through 14, you will remember he spoke of his proud confidence and how God had manifested himself through the apostle Paul, in his grace, in the power in his life, in his ministry, and his message. And he glories and what God has done in and through him. And he gives testimony as to how his conscience affirmed his moral, his relational, and his doctrinal integrity. But now, in chapter one, beginning in verse 15, through chapter two and verse four, where we will be this morning, he is going to zero in on more a specific bogus accusation attacking his trustworthiness. You will see that they were claiming that he was duplicitous, that he would say one thing but means something else; that he was therefore dishonest that what he said about spiritual things, about doctrinal matters, really couldn't be believed; that he was erratic. He was unpredictable. He was, he was vacillating. He was indecisive, so he can't be trusted. Don't pay any attention to him, he's a deceiver. He's just playing you. He's just using you. And what we're going to see is that the reason they were making such a charge, now catch this, is because...he changed his travel plans. Really? He changed his, yep, he changed his travel plans. Oh my goodness, you can't be serious. Talk about a flimsy feeble, unconvincing, unconvincing piece of evidence. But you know, that's what deceptive control freaks do. In order to advance their agenda, they must discredit their opponent, and they will come up with anything to somehow do that.

By the way, this is how dishonest, divisive, narcissistic politicians function on a daily basis. We see it all the time. And sadly, wicked people in the church can do the same type of thing; bullying tactics to somehow get people to believe that which is false about another person. Now, what we see here in Second Corinthians, especially in this passage, is not only helpful in learning how to spot this type of thing, but also how to defend against it. So I want to give you just a real simple four category outline, we're going to see, first of all, the tactics of deceivers. And then Paul is going to explain the defense of the gospel. And then thirdly, the appeal to God. And then finally, the motive of love. That's what we will be looking at. And it's my prayer and my confident assurance that you will be instructed, that you will be encouraged; you will be exhorted, as we examine this frankly, rather obscure passage of scripture that perhaps you've never studied closely. But I believe the Spirit of God has much to teach us here.

So first of all, I want you to notice the tactics of deceivers. Notice in verse 15, "In this confidence," he says, "I intended at first to come to you." Well, in what confidence? Well, we go back to the end of verse 14, he says that "we are your reason to be proud as you also our hours in the day of our Lord Jesus." In other words, he's saying, "you should be proud of me, as I am proud of you. I am your spiritual father." He mentioned this in First Corinthians four verse five. And he's essentially saying, "Look, folks, it was through my ministry and my gospel message, along with Timothy as well as Silas, that God saved you by his grace. And as a result, together, we anticipate--what he says here, "the day of our Lord Jesus," that day when we can proudly point to you as our spiritual children. In First Thessalonians chapter two, he says the same thing to the saints at Thessalonica. In verse 19, he says, "For who is our hope, or joy, or crown of exultation? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? For you are our glory and joy." So essentially, what he's saying is "folks look, had I been a con man who distorted the Word of God, a false apostle, that merely came to deceive you for my own benefit, then how can you explain your salvation? I was loyal to you, you have been loyal to me. So how do you explain this?"

Now, by the way, not everyone believed the deceptions. But obviously, there were a number that did. So again, verse 15, "In this confidence, I intended it first to come to you, so that you might twice receive a blessing; that is, to pass your way into Macedonia, and again for Macedonia, to come to you and by you, to be helped on my journey to Judea." Let me explain this. This is really interesting. You will recall in First Corinthians 16, verses five and six he revealed his initial plan, what we might call Plan A, that he would leave Ephesus, that he would go directly to Macedonia, and then, after that come to Corinth where he would winter. Because it's difficult to travel during the winter. But after writing First Corinthians, he altered his original plan. He came up with, shall we say, a plan B. And he decided to go from Ephesus, first to Corinth, and then go to Macedonia, and then come back to Corinth again the second time before he would go on to Jerusalem. And this way they would receive as he says, twice the blessing, twice the benefit of his fellowship, of his shepherding. And this, by the way, demonstrated just how much he loved them and how he wanted to be with them and minister to them. However, later in chapter one of Second Corinthians, verses 23, through the first verse of chapter two, he explains why he had to change from Plan B, back to basically Plan A, which, as we will see, was to spare them the rod of discipline, to avoid unnecessary conflict, to give the Holy Spirit an opportunity to work in their hearts and bring conviction and repentance to those who had sided with the false teachers against Paul.

So with that background in verse 17, he says, "Therefore, I was not vacillating when I intended to do this, was I? Paul uses an interesting word here, "vacillating." "Elaphria' in the original language, it means fickleness. It means levity of character or of behavior that is capricious, that is whimsical, that is impulsive. The type of person that starts to do one thing, oh, I think I'll do something else. That's what they were accusing him of. And he's saying, Surely you don't think that I changed my plans, on some whim? On some motive to just benefit myself, like men of the world? He went on to say "Or what I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, so that with me, there will be yes, yes and no, no at the same time? In other words, you think I do this according to the mood of the moment on the basis of self-interest? Obviously, that was what the false teachers were accusing him of. That he was somehow guilty of either prevarication. In other words, being deliberately vague and evasive, or just being a two-faced liar; speaking out of both sides of his mouth, as we would say, in our vernacular, they may have even been using Jesus words against him. Remember, in Matthew 5:37, Jesus said, "'But let your statement be, 'Yes, yes,' or 'No, no,'; anything beyond these is of evil.'" By the way, there, Jesus was condemning false vows. The people were taking oaths, or I should say making oaths in the name of the Lord and appealing to God as the punisher of all falsehood. And therefore, the oath would be binding when they did it in his name. And unfortunately, the people were misusing this. They felt as though they could tell little white lies to people. They didn't have to be truthful, if an oath wasn't attached to what they were saying. Therefore, they didn't have to be truthful because it wasn't binding. But Jesus was saying that look, even in your everyday speech, you should be truthful, you should mean what you say. If you say yes, it should be yes. If you say no, it should be no; you should never be evasive. You should never be duplicitous. But of course, the false teachers aren't interested in an accurate interpretation of what Jesus said. They didn't care about that. They have one thing in mind, and that's to score political points.

So again, Paul says in verse 18, "But as God is faithful, our word to you is not yes and no." I mean, he's simply saying, Look, you know that what God says is always true. And you know that I was sent to you by God to preach the gospel. Now, do you really think that he would send me and that I would speak on his behalf, if I was duplicitous? If I was vacillating? If I was whimsical or capricious, just a deceiver?

By the way, one of the things that I noticed, as I meditated upon this passage is that Paul is dealing with the same kind of tactics that Satan has used ever since the Garden of Eden. Remember what he did with Eve? He would spin what God said, and do something that God didn't say, get her off balance, get her confused, and then create doubt, and suspicion in God's character, in his plan, in his purposes, and then to get you to believe that somehow you're being hoodwinked; that maybe you're being treated unfairly. That maybe even you've been deceived, and then encourage you to reject what was said, and rebel without any consequences. Now, over the years, I've seen and experienced this kind of wickedness, in my life, especially in the church. I've seen this on a regular basis. People outside of this church, and even in our own church. And practically, the tactics of divisive deceivers kind of goes like this; I'll give you six of them very quickly. Number one, they will make mountains out of molehills. Number two, they will seize upon the very worst possible interpretation of the situation. Number three, like a poisonous spider, they spin facts into fiction in order to ensnare their victim. And then number four, they secretly keep a record of wrongs, whether real or perceived. And number five, they are always looking for more wood to fuel a fire, rather than water to extinguish it. And then number six, they're constantly recruiting other malcontents to join their cause. And this was what was going on there.

Let me give you an idea of what they would have would have heard there in that first church in Corinth. "So did you hear that Paul changed his plans? You hear about that? You know, I wonder what that's all about. I mean, really, I mean, it's hard to trust the guy who says one thing, and then all of a sudden, boom, he's going in a different direction." "I don't know. I'm just uncomfortable about this. Or maybe he never even meant what he said. I mean, clearly, he said he was going to come here first, and then nope, going to do something different. I guess he's unaware of what Jesus said, 'But let your statements be Yes, yes or no, no, anything beyond these is evil.' I don't know. Yeah, there just seems to be something going on here. I just don't like the smell of this thing. I'm not sure what it is. And I mean, I don't want to falsely accuse anybody, but there's something not right with this. I got a funny feeling about it. I mean, really, he makes special plans to see us before he goes to visit Macedonia, as if he really wants to spend time with us, as if he really loves us, as if he really wants to shepherd us and then whoops, changed my mind. I mean, really, who wants a pastor like that? How can this guy even call himself an apostle of Jesus Christ, if he vacillates like this? And you know, if you really think about it, if you can't trust the guy on the little things, how can you trust him on the big things?"

Well, you get the picture. Again, politicians do this all the time. False teachers do it all the time and wicked people, divisive people in a church, will do this as well. So these are the tactics of deceivers. Secondly, notice how Paul speaks of the defense of the gospel. In other words, he's going to use the gospel as part of his defense. Now, apparently, these false teachers were attacking the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so I find it interesting that Paul uses the full Christological title to describe him in verse 19, "For the Son of God, Christ Jesus," you just got to stop there, folks. Don't miss this. I mean, what an amazing truth and what astounding power there is in this title, and in this name. And here, Paul appeals to the highest of all witnesses. This "Son of God" who is faithful and true, as he said in verse 18. This reminds me by the way of a time when I was in Siberia, on one of my trips there teaching pastors, and I was asked to speak at some of the various churches in the area around Lake Baikal. And I went to one church one evening, church of about a couple of 100 people, in Angara. And I'll never forget it. The pastor was such a dear guy, he was a converted Russian Olympic boxer, a champion boxer, and he had come to saving faith in Christ. And so I remember coming into that church, it was meeting in an old Communist Party building, which was now a library, it was up on, I think, the second floor. And it was a huge room with these kinds of tall tables that you could fit probably six people around at least. And all of the people were leaning over on the tables, and they were praying. It was, it's their custom there to never pray seated, they either pray on their knees, or they're standing and they're leaning on something. It was a precious sight to see. And, and after a little bit, the prayer meeting was over. It was time to start the service, and the interpreter introduced me, and I remember standing before them and I began by saying something like this "on behalf of the saints at Calvary Bible Church and Tennessee, I greet you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." And as soon as I said, that, to my astonishment, they all jumped up. I had no idea. I thought, Oh, my goodness, I have said something wrong here. As soon as the interpreter said what I said, they jump, they stand up, and they immediately say something back to me. And so I looked at my interpreter, and he said, "and they greet you as well, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." And I thought, Oh, good. And I told the interpreter, I didn't know what just happened. And he kind of expressed that to them. And, and we all had a great laugh, but my what a, what a tremendous response. And what an appropriate response of the people of God when they think about the lover of our souls, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Well, "For the Son of God, Christ Jesus, who was preached among you by us--by me and Silvanus and Timothy--" "Silvanus is another name for Silas, "was not yes and no, but is yes in Him." In other words, we weren't duplicitous. Three of us have been called and gifted, to come to you to give you the gospel. And you believed and you were saved. Three of us have preached the transforming truths of the Word of God to you, the truth of who the Son of God is. And since two or three witnesses are required to verify the truth of something, here they are. Surely you don't think that my preaching was deceitful. But what they preached, which was the same message, was not. Surely you don't think that we are all duplicitous, vacillating, whimsical deceivers?

By the way, there's a great lesson to be learned here. Whenever you hear some accusation against someone, certainly against a pastor, you want to measure that against the pattern of that man's life and the pattern of his message, to see if that would in any way contradict the allegation. I mean, don't judge a man on the basis of some strange scenario that's really out of character, that is not indicative of who that man is, and what he has preached for many years. Or on the basis of some flimsy evidence tantamount to Paul changing his travel plans--on the basis of something like that; believe the worst about a man.

Verse 20, he goes on, he says, "For as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes; therefore also through Him is our Amen to the glory of God through us." My what a powerful statement. Think about it, he knew that the most all of them would agree that the covenant promises of God to believers are all ultimately fulfilled in Christ. In him they are "yes." In other words, I really want to camp on this for a moment; this is so precious to me. I'm a Gentile. Most of you are Gentiles. And may I remind you that all of the promises of God, were also given to the Gentiles; promises that were fulfilled in Christ. In fact, Jesus told his disciples in Luke 24:44, "all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses, and the prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled. And indeed, they were fulfilled in Christ. But we also, even as Gentiles, are the recipients of these blessings. I mean, this is what Paul said, for example, in Ephesians, two, beginning in verse 10, and by the way, this would have been the same truths that he would have given to the saints at Corinth. Remember there he says, "For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, so that we would walk in them. Therefore, remember that formerly you the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision, by the so called circumcision, which is performed in the flesh by human hands. Remember that you were at that time, separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But now," oh, what precious words, dear friends, "But now in Christ Jesus, you who were formerly far off, have been brought near by the blood of Christ."

The apostle Paul spoke of this as well in First Corinthians 1:30, where he declared that Christ Jesus "became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption." So, Paul is speaking here in verse 20 of the many "promises of God" affirming the fact that "in Him they are Yes." And I was thinking about those promises; there's so many, but fundamentally, they are rooted in the unconditional unilateral, irreversible, covenant that God made with Abraham in Genesis 12, and Genesis 15 and again in Genesis 17. An everlasting covenant that contained four elements. It contained the promise of a coming seed, referring to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, that would become the Savior of all who would believe in Him. Also promises concerning a specific land, a specific territory. And the promises of a nation. And promises of divine blessing and protection for Abraham's posterity. And ultimately, we as Gentiles, have had been grafted into the vine that is rooted in the blessings of the Abrahamic covenant. Romans 11 is very clear about this. And indeed, according to Galatians, three and verse nine, Paul said, quote, "those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer." So I think of the promises that God has made, that they are true. The promises that he gave, for example, to Abraham, that was later reaffirmed to Isaac and Jacob. And then the Messianic Kingdom promises that he gave, for example, to David in the Davidic Covenant, in Second Samuel seven. So the promises of God that Paul speaks of would include all of these things, all of the promises about the coming Messiah, all of the promises about the kingdom that were given to the Old Testament patriarchs and to the prophets; all of these are fulfilled in Christ. Indeed, they "are yes in Him." The promise of a coming Messiah who would bring salvation to all who would believe in him, who will rule the earth in an intermediate kingdom, prior to the eternal state. The Messianic Kingdom where Jesus will reign as the last Adam; where he will reign from and over the realm where God first tasked the first Adam to rule and to reign--but where he failed, a visible reign in the realm where the Messiah was rejected, and where his people had been persecuted, a time in history when all aspects of the biblical covenants and promises will be fulfilled. A time of great blessings for the nations of the earth; all those who believe in the Lord.

And by the way, during this pandemic, dear friends I find myself often just longing for the Lord to come and snatch us away in the rapture of the church. To take us unto himself, and then to return with us to establish his promised earthly kingdom. And when I think of the promises of God that are yes, in Christ, my heart is stirred to worship, it is stirred to praise. And it is animated with anticipation. O, how I long for the Lord to return.

So back to verse 20, since all God's saving promises are true in Christ, "therefore," Paul says," also through Him is our Amen." Amen means mean, "surely," it's a transliteration of the Hebrew word. "A-mon," I think is how they pronounce it. A-mon."" And it was a term that was used to solemnly affirm the truthfulness of what has been said. And we say that a lot, we say "amen" after certain things, and that's what he's saying here. "Therefore, also through Him is our Amen, to the glory of God through us." And then he expands upon this firm faith that Christ is wrought within our souls. In verse 21 he says, "Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God." Now, this is interesting. The term "establishes" it means "strengthens" or "solidifies" or "makes us stand firm." And what's amazing, folks, when you think about this, God is currently in the process of establishing us together with each other in Christ. He goes on in verse 22, and says, "who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge." Now, I'm going to get technical for a moment, but I hope that it will become very clear to you. It's interesting here that he uses three aorist participles, or past tense participles, to affirm this amazing reality of this establishment that we have. And each of them are antecedent actions of the main verb, which is "to establish." And the grammar indicates here, therefore, that something has happened in the past, that has ongoing results. Well, what has happened in the past was certainly he has "established us," but also he has "anointed us", "sealed us", and "gave us"; in other words, he has given us the deposit of the Spirit.

Now I want us to look at this closely for just a moment. This is so precious. First notice, he "establishes" us in Christ, referring to our salvation, when we are born again, when we're united to Christ in saving faith. It's that marvel of being in Christ. I've recently written a book and it's just now been released one of my many books, entitled, "The Marvel of Being in Christ: Adoring God's Loving Provision of New Life in the Spirit." And I go into great detail about our union with Christ; an amazing doctrine. Beloved, think about this. Christ is not a a means to an end, but he is the all-sufficient and all glorious end himself. We now share a common spiritual life with Christ. He lives in us and we live in him; Galatians 2:20; Colossians three, three; we have died and our lives, our life is now hidden with Christ in God. So he first of all establishes us, but then notice, secondly, when we were established in Christ, we were also anointed with the Holy Spirit. And this happens at the moment of our new birth. "Anoint" denotes the idea of dedicating something, even commissioning something, consecrating something, someone especially to serve God. First Corinthians 12:13. Paul says, "For by one Spirit, we were all baptized," in other words immersed, "into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit."

So we have been established, we've been anointed. Thirdly, we've been sealed, God has sealed us. A seal, of course, is a token that assures that someone owns something, a piece of property, or whatever. And here, God's stamp of ownership is on all those who belong to Him. And that stamp of ownership that mark, is the indwelling Spirit of God, who instructs us and empowers us and guides us in our life and helps us put the glory of Christ on display. In Romans eight and verse nine, "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him." The point is, those that have the Spirit of Christ, belong to him, that is the mark of ownership; we have been sealed in him. And certainly a transformed life that is devoted to the glory of Christ through faith and obedience is always the certain mark that individual belongs to God in Christ. In Second Timothy two, verse 19, Paul said, "The firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, "'The Lord knows who are His' and, 'Everyone who names the name of the Lord is to abstain from wickedness.'" Folks, what a joy it is to know that we belong to him, that nothing can separate us from his love.

And fourthly, we see that God gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge. A "pledge” refers to a down payment or a deposit. You might say he is the "earnest of our inheritance," the first installment of all the promises of redemption, that belong to the redeemed; all that awaits us. Romans 8:23, we have the "first fruits of the Spirit." He goes on to say "waiting eagerly, eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body." And in Second Corinthians five, verse five, Paul says, "Now He who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave to us the spirit as a pledge." And also in Ephesians, 1:13 and following, he says, "In Him, you also, after listening to the message of the truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory." Now, Paul's point here, in reminding them of all these magnificent realities that he has preached, and they have embraced in saving and transforming faith; the point of it all is simply this: how, in light of all of this, can you question my integrity simply because I felt it was necessary to change my travel itinerary? Really, folks?

So we've seen the tactics of deceivers, the defense of the gospel that he preached that changed their lives in eternal destiny. And thirdly, we see now that the appeal to God, notice verse 23, "But I call God as witness to my soul, that to spare you I did not come again to Corinth." You see, here, he's explaining why he didn't come to them, why he changed his plans. "Not that we lord it over your faith, but are workers with you for your joy; for in your faith you are standing firm." Then verse one of chapter two, "But I determined this for my own sake, that I would not come to you and sorrow again. For if I cause you sorrow, who then makes me glad, but the one whom I made sorrowful? This is the very thing I wrote you so that when I came, I would not have sorrow from those who want to make me rejoice; having confidence in you all that my joy would be the joy of you all." He said again, the reason he decided not to go to Corinth on his way to Macedonia, as he changed his plans to do, was to spare them of the rod of discipline, as I mentioned earlier. To avoid unnecessary conflict; to give the Holy Spirit of God an opportunity to do his work in their heart, to bring conviction and repentance; especially those who had sided with these false teachers and had joined in a mutiny against the Apostle Paul. He knew that those who believed those slanderous lies, those lies of the false teachers, and those who joined against him, needed time to really think about and pray about the severe letter that he had written them confronting them. I mean, we all know that you don't want to confront a man or a woman when their bloods up; when they're mad, let them cool down, let them think about it. Let them be encouraged by other godly people. Don't be guilty of provoking them more at a time when they haven't really cooled off and thought about things rationally and biblically; that just causes unnecessary confrontation. So he's basically saying, folks, look, I didn't walk, don't want to walk, into a hornet's nest. I didn't want to have to assert my apostolic authority. I didn't want to have to lord it over you. I didn't want to come in and let's get into big fight. I don't want to bring sorrow upon sorrow. My goal is always to work with you for your joy.

If I can add a little footnote here, folks, when you see me and the elders make a change in the church, maybe a change in ministry, or personnel or whatever. Please don't immediately think that this is some whimsical idea. Please don't think we're being duplicitous; that what we're saying is poorly conceived, that we just kind of up and changed our travel plans. But rather realize that there's a good reason for what we're doing. Reasons that have the glory of Christ, and your best interest at heart, knowing that we love this church and also know that, that we are privy to information that you do not have. And that in most cases we're not able to give to you. And if you knew what we knew, undoubtedly you would agree Oh, yes, that's absolutely the right thing to do. So, despite all of the hysterics, and all of the drama, that sometimes goes along with some change in the church, all of the accusations that start flying, and all of the weeping and wailing and the gnashing of teeth, know this dear friends, we can honestly say, as Paul did that we can call on God as witness to our soul. That what we have done is for his glory, and for your joy, for your good.

So having seen the tactics of deceivers, Paul's defense of the gospel and his appeal to God, finally, in closing, notice the motive of love. Even though his love was under heavy fire, he still loved them, verse four, he says, "For out of much affliction and anguish of heart, I wrote to you with many tears;" referring to the severe letter that he had written, "not so that you would be made sorrowful, but that you might know the love which I have, especially for you." Folks, Paul's passion was the truth of the gospel. His passion was for the purity of doctrine, for the purity of the church--for unity within the church for the glory of Christ. Why? Because of his great love for Christ, and because of his great love for the people. And I trust you share these passions. I would just challenge you to learn these lessons.

Well, beware certainly of anyone that stirs up divisions in the church. Beware of false teachers. Guard your heart against being sucked into whatever the drama is of the moment, but also celebrate the fact that we have been established in Christ. Celebrate the fact that he has anointed us he has sealed us and he has given us the deposit of the Spirit of God. Oh, what hope and joy and promise and peace we have in Christ. What a glorious future awaits us in him. Let's think about these things, especially during this difficult season. Will you join me in prayer?

Father, we are always humbled by the power of your word, and we are often moved to a place of deep reflection and joy when we consider the saving, transforming truths of the gospel, the inheritance that is ours in Christ. And we're also moved when we consider the dangers that are all around us, not only outside the church, but even within the church. And I pray that as we reflect upon what we have heard this morning, that by the power of your Spirit, you will bring conviction, you will bring encouragement, you will bring comfort and certainly peace and joy to each of us who know and love you. And if there be one that does not know you, as Savior, and Lord, I pray, as always Father that by the power of your Spirit, you will bring conviction to their heart. Help them to see the wrath of God that abides upon them, but the grace and the mercy that's available to them through faith in Christ, our Redeemer, save them by your grace, Father. Save our children, save our grandchildren, save our friends. We ask all of this in the precious name of Jesus, the Son of God, our Lord and our Savior. Amen.

Well, Greetings, everyone. It's a joy to be with you on this Lord's day morning. This is a very strange Lord's day morning because I'm looking out at only a handful of people. We've asked that people not come today because of the Coronavirus. And so this is going to be a little bit different, knowing that you're scattered all over, looking at the sermon this morning through the electronic media, just a word about the Coronavirus. We want to be cautious. We may do this again next Sunday. We're not real sure. But we will let you know. But I was thinking about the difficult times in which we live and especially in light of this virus that's going around and my mind went to Psalm 56, beginning in verse three, There we read, "When I am afraid I will put my trust in You. In God whose word I praise, in God, I have put my trust; I shall not be afraid. What can mere man do to me?" And I hope that is the testimony of your heart. And likewise, in Isaiah 26, beginning in verse three, we read, "The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace." And I hope you have that steadfastness in mind. He went on to say, "because he trusts in You. Trust in the Lord forever, for in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock." And so with those words of confidence and trust, knowing that God is in control of all things, let's just bow our heads in a word of prayer, as we prepare our hearts for his word this morning.

Father, it is a joy to be in your presence. And to be a part of this service that is being broadcasted to our dear saints scattered around. I pray that by the power of your Spirit, you will speak to each of our hearts I pray that your word will go forth with with clarity, and conviction and bring comfort and encouragement. And I pray above all that Christ will be honored and all that is said and done. So we commit ourselves to you this morning in Jesus name. Amen.

I've entitled my discourse to you this morning "The Testimony of our Conscience." And I would invite you to take your Bibles and turn to Second Corinthians chapter one. And we will be looking at verses 12 through 14. As we continue to make our way through this amazing epistle verse by verse. Let me read the passage to you. "For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom, but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you. For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand. And I hope you will understand until the end; just as you also partially did understand us, that we are your reason to be proud as you also are ours in the day of our Lord Jesus."

So here, the apostle Paul speaks of this concept of the conscience. The term "conscience" in the original language describes that faculty within us that distinguishes between right and wrong, between good and evil. And the conscience will either exonerate or accuse a person depending upon what they have done. You might think of the conscience as the little what we call idiot lights in a car. When a little light comes on your dashboard, you know that something's awry, something needs to be examined, something is wrong. That's what our conscience does. And of course, we all know what it is to have a guilty conscience. When we violate some moral or ethical standard in our life, something that we believe to be right, our conscience bothers us. Maybe no one else knows. Maybe we've done something that we know is wrong. We wish we hadn't done it. But we did it and we feel guilty about it. And maybe your conscience is alarmed right now. Perhaps you're involved in something that is sinful, something that you're ashamed of and you would be horribly embarrassed if anybody found out about it. That is your conscience speaking to you. But what's really fascinating is that when we violate our conscience long enough, the guilt tends to go away. It reminds me of a time when I was with a friend, and he asked me to drive his old Chevy pickup truck. And I got in, he got in on the other side and as I turned on the engine and started down the road, I noticed that there was a little light that came on the dashboard, something like, check engine soon or whatever. And I said, "Oh my did you know that your engine light is on?" And his response was, "oh, yeah, I know, that thing's been on for years. I don't pay any attention to it, I just ignore it." So I said, Okay. So sometimes people do that in their conscience. And eventually, they pay no attention to the light whatsoever. You see, your conscience will only hold you to the highest moral and ethical standards that are in your mind; that are in your heart. But if you ignore it long enough, those standards no longer have any authority in your life. And we all know people that can do things, and we would say seemingly, they have no conscience. I'm reminded of a Indian friend of mine, a Canadian, first; First Nations Indian, as they call them, up in Canada, a man that was an ex-con, he came to saving faith in Christ while he was in prison. And I remember talking to him about his background, he said that when he was a little boy, he watched his father and watched his mother shoplift and steal things here and there. And his father said to said to him, "Look, we have suffered at the hand of the white man for so long, it's not wrong to steal from them." And unfortunately, this was bothering the little boy's conscience. But when he heard that, he began to change his mind a little bit. And he said that his father also told him that, that after all, people get money from insurance companies. And so it's not like they're losing out on anything. And so with that example, and with that explanation, his moral, his ethical standards, were gradually lowered sufficiently to silence his accusing conscience. And so he would do the same things. His stealing gradually went from shoplifting to more expensive items, he began stealing things like chainsaws and trucks and cars, from ranchers, even horses and cows. And eventually he got caught and had to go to prison. But I remember one thing that he said, and I'm paraphrasing this, he said, you know, Dave, when I was doing all of those things, it really didn't bother me all that much until I heard the gospel. And once I heard the gospel, once I saw God's law, I was consumed with guilt, which God used to bring me to repentance and to faith in Christ.

So that's the purpose of the law, isn't it? The purpose of God's law is to show us God's holy standard. And it drives us to the gospel that saves us from the curse of the law that we have violated. And then suddenly, when we see how the law of God reveals His character, we see our sinfulness all the more vividly. When we see his law, it teaches us what is pleasing to him, which in turn causes us to literally pant after his law after his word to delight in it. For example, in Psalm 119:131, the Psalmist says, "I opened my mouth and panted, for I longed for your commandments." He went on to say in verse 143, "Trouble and anguish have overtaken me, yet your commandments are my delights." And when this happens, we can say with the apostle Paul, in Romans 7:12, "The law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good." And in verse 22, he says, "For I delight in the law of God, according to the inward man."

But there's something else that God has revealed to us about our conscience that is really fascinating. And that is, when we are born again when we come to true saving faith in Christ, God cleanses the very conscience that he has revived. It's a fascinating concept. That same conscience that didn't feel anything suddenly screams of our guilt and our bondage to sin. And yet when we come to faith in Christ, he cleanses that conscience. We read about this in Hebrews nine and verse 14, where the writer says, "The blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God." It's an amazing thing, isn't it? At the point of original regeneration, the accumulated guilt and shame that we experience deep within our conscience is suddenly cleansed. And according to Hebrews 10:22, our hearts have been "sprinkled clean from an evil conscience." And when this happens, we can say, with David, "I acknowledged my sin to You and my iniquity, I did not hide, I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin."

But there's something else that is fascinating, when we consider the conscience, a well-informed conscience, a conscience that is anchored in God's standard of righteousness. And that is, when we are falsely accused our conscience will exonerate us, even if the evidence appears to say otherwise, even if our friends believe a lie, a fully informed conscience will overturn the false verdicts of a slanderer. And that is at the heart of this passage that we're looking at here this morning. Remember the context, Satan had commissioned and empowered some false apostles to really hunt down the Apostle Paul. They were vicious wolves in sheep's clothing. In other words, they looked like real apostles, real pastors. They looked like that, they talked like that. They acted like that as though they were true messengers of God. But in reality, they were vicious predators. But the people in the church couldn't see it. They were sheep, and they began to follow these men. And we know that they came from within the early church, and this happened a great deal back then, as it continues to happen today. They were phony believers who had superficially attached themselves to the church; they saw how they could make money and gain recognition and power from naive and ignorant Christians. They were, you might say, the original televangelists, the original charismatic prosperity teachers, the original mega church charlatans and so forth. But their most delicious prey happened to be the Apostle Paul, and all who believed his apostolic message. You will recall, Paul described them, probably one man in particular, as "a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to buffet me," Second Corinthians 12 seven. And also in Second Corinthians 11 in verse 13. He describes him he says, "Such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds."

And of course, we know that the same kind of predators fill pulpits to this very day. In fact, the greatest enemies of authentic Biblical Christianity has been and will always be, religious people, especially those who claim to be Christian. You will recall in Matthew seven that Jesus warned that hell will be the abode of many who called him Lord, Lord. He described them as those who said, they prophesied in his name and we, in your name, we cast out demons and in your name, we perform many miracles. But we know according to Jesus words that these people will never enter the kingdom. He says only those who have entered in through "the narrow gate" the narrow gate of genuine repentance, brokenness of heart over sin; crying out to God for saving grace. And they will be the ones, who by God's grace and power, will do the will of the Father. But in Matthew seven, Jesus described the leaders of this pack of wolves as, quote "false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves." Verse 15.

So back to the context, these ravenous wolves infiltrated the ranks of the Corinthian church and began spreading lies about the Apostle Paul. They accused him that he was secretly immoral, which was the reason why he was constantly suffering and being persecuted. They thought that that was a sign of God's judgment upon him. They said that he was deceitfully manipulative, that he was just using people for his own gain; that he was nothing more than a con man trying to line his own pockets. They also accused him of being a self-appointed false teacher, who merely fabricated the message that he gave and distorted the true word of God. Bottom line, they said that he was a phony that couldn't be trusted. So they sought to ruin his credibility. They sought to undermine his authority. They sought to discredit his teaching so that they could replace it with their own. And they were obviously very convincing in their slanderous attacks, because unfortunately, many people at the church in Corinth believed them. And that's when it's really heartbreaking. To hear slanderous lies about you is bad enough, but when friends believe them, that is especially difficult.

So you may recall Paul left emphasis, and went to Corinth to confront these men. It was called the sorrowful visit, as we read in chapter two and verse one. It didn't go well, evidently, one of these guys publicly insulted the apostle Paul, there was some kind of altercation. And yet shockingly, most of the church did not come to his aid; did not defend him. So Paul is heartbroken. So he goes back to Ephesus, he writes what is called the severe letter, as we read in verse four of chapter two, he had Titus deliver it to them. And later we learn from Titus that, or he learned from Titus that they had repented of their rebellion against Paul. So in Second Corinthians now, his current concern is not only to express his joy and his relief, but also to defend his apostleship and to confront the false teachers. And here in Second Corinthians, one, verses 12 through 14, Paul expresses his proud confidence in how God manifested his grace, and manifested his power in his life and ministry, and glories in what God has done in and through him.

And so verse 12, he says, "For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience." In other words, he knew for certain that he had dealt with the people there in godly sincerity and faithfulness, virtues that he rightly attributes to the grace of God in his life and not to himself. He knew for certain that God had called him and empowered him to be an apostle, despite his weaknesses. And he knew for certain that he had faithfully and accurately proclaimed the Word of God, the Gospel, that's why so many of them had been saved. So in verse two, or I should say in these two verses, he gives testimony to how his well-informed, and you might say his truth saturated conscience, really affirmed three things. His conscience affirmed number one: his moral integrity. Number two: his relational integrity, and finally, his doctrinal integrity.

So again, notice verse 12. "For our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly, wisdom, but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you." So first, we see how his conscience affirmed his moral integrity. Notice what he says. He knew that he had conducted himself first of all, "in holiness." Holiness means to be set apart from sin and set apart unto God; to be morally pure. Now, I don't want you to get the wrong idea about holiness because sometimes, we tend to do this. Yes, to be holy means to be set apart from sin. Actually the term means other, totally other, utterly transcendent set; apart from any kind of corruption, unapproachably and unimaginably pure in morality. And therefore we know that no sinner can ever enter into the presence of a holy God, apart from the imputed righteousness of Christ, the Son of God, who was infinitely holy. He was the Holy One of Israel.

Now, understand this, while Jesus should never be considered some kind of smiley face God that winks at sin, he is also not to be thought of as some kind of a bad tempered school principal with a perpetual scowl on his face. And sometimes people in our circles can mistakenly see Christ as stern and unapproachable, as austere and demanding as if he's always kind of standing there, shaking his head with his arms folded, kind of in disgust, disappointed in us pointing his finger at us and anger and sometimes shouting at us. And others see him as one who is kind of put off by us that he kind of holds his nose when he gets close to us. Because we're so filthy and so on, kind of like the first time a child is asked to bait his own hook. Perhaps you've seen this, I've seen this before, and my children and my grandchildren, they have that grimace on their face, and they kind of turned their head away and they slowly reached to grab a nightcrawler but when they feel that revolting slime, they drop back and disgust. Some people may not admit it, but that's how they see Jesus. That's how they see God. But Jesus said, in Matthew 11:29, "'I am gentle, and lowly," or "humble in heart." If you want to know who Jesus is, that's who he is. Gentle means meek and mild. In other words, he's not harsh, he's not easily angered. His arms are never folded in frustration, but they're always open in affection welcoming us to him, and he's also humble or lowly, which means he is meek and he is accessible and approachable.

Reflecting on this passage, the Old English Puritan, Pastor Thomas Goodwin, made a very astute observation. Here's what he said, "Men are apt to have contrary conceits of Christ. But he tells them His disposition there," in other words, in this text, "By preventing such hard thoughts of him, to allure them unto Him the more. We are apt to think that He, being so holy, is therefore of a severe and sour disposition against sinners, and not able to bear them. But no, says He, I am meek, and gentleness is my nature and temper." Now, some will say, well, yes, but according to Revelation one, in verse 14, we read that that "His eyes are like a flame of fire." We read that "His feet are like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace and His voice was like the sound of many waters." It goes on to say that "Out of His mouth comes a sharp two-edged sword; His face is like the sun shining in its strength." Well, yes, that is true, but that's how he must be perceived by the impenitent, not the penitent. By the unredeemed, not the redeemed. That is how he must appear to those who reject him, not to those who receive him, in humble repented faith, to those who are broken over their sin and weary of their suffering; for those who are desperate for forgiveness and mercy and grace; for those who are humble and contrite of spirit and who tremble at his word. His arms are always outstretched. He is always welcoming us, because he is gentle and humble in heart. Remember that he delights in mercy. He is a high priest; a faithful high priest that sympathizes with our weaknesses. He is the one who ever makes intercession for us. He is the one who was our advocate before the Father's bar of justice. In fact, in Hebrews chapter five and verse two, we read how he "deals gently with the ignorant and the wayward." And that's why we read, again, in Matthew 11:29, Jesus says, "'Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle, and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, for My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.'"

Now, my point with all of this is when Paul said that he conducted himself "in holiness," this is what he meant. Yes, he was morally pure, but he was also gentle and humble in heart like Jesus. And frankly, this should be the defining virtues of every Christian, of every believer; all of us who were debtors to his grace. So the great Apostle Paul would have been meek and mild and humble and approachable; an accessible man with his arms always open to those in need of the Savior. So yes, we see here that as he says, he knew that he had conducted himself in holiness, but also, he knew that he had conducted himself in "godly sincerity."

This is an interesting concept. This is the quality of being honest, of being straightforward in attitude, and in speech. This carries the idea of having no pretense, no duplicity. No devious motives, no saying one thing but meaning something else. We might say that he was the real deal. Now, the term "sincerity" in the original language, literally means "tested by the light of the sun," which is a fascinating concept. In fact, it comes from a compound word in Greek, "eili". Which means "the sun's heat," and "krino," which means "I judge." And together they denote the purity of something that has survived the testing, and the searching of the blazing light of the sun. In fact, the term sincerity is well illustrated by a first century testing procedure that people would use to determine the genuineness, you might say the structural integrity of a piece of pottery. You see dishonest potter's would use wax to cover up cracks in a pot that they were trying to sell. And when they would put the wax on it, it would make a crack virtually invisible to an undiscerning eye. So a wise consumer would take the piece of pottery, and they would hold it up to the sun, then oh, I'm beginning to see some cracks there. And if you held it there long enough, guess what would happen to the wax, it would begin to melt. So the sun's rays would expose the pretense. So the point here with the Apostle Paul, with the idea of godly sincerity, is simply this; when examined and tested by the searching in the searing light of divine holiness, Paul's life would certainly reveal cracks. Every sinners got a crack or two or many cracks in their pottery, you might say. But none of those cracks were concealed with the wax of religious hypocrisy. Paul's conscience confirmed this to be true.

Now it's also important to note that grammatically, both his holiness and his godly sincerity are qualified by of God. In other words, both virtues are godlike. God is the object and he is the source of all holiness and sincerity. And remember this folks when you experience a person who is holy, who is gentle and humble in spirit who is set apart, who is morally pure, so to speak, and a person that's filled with godly sincerity. What a joy they are to be around. For in their Christlike example, we get a little glimpse of God. He is the object, he is the source of every righteous virtue. In fact, Paul says in First Corinthians 15, verse 10, "By the grace of God, I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me." And to the Ephesians, he described, what is "the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe these are in accordance with the working of the strength of his mind, which he brought about in Christ." And so it's always God who animates and empowers us to be holy and sincere. And to the Colossians. Paul wrote, "For this purpose, also I labor, striving according to His power," not my power, but his power, "which mightily works within me." And what a powerful reality that is. What a powerful testimony, and what a motivating truth to know that we can live a life, a holy life, a life of godly sincerity, by the power of the Spirit of God, come what may.

Now the point is, this was Paul's conscience. He knew all of this to be true, no matter what anybody else said. He knew that these allegations were without merit. And he knew that God knew that he lived his life in such a way. Now, we must understand that Paul also knew that he wasn't without sin. He wasn't in a state of sinless perfection, that won't happen until we get to heaven. If I could put it this way, he knew that there were cracks in his pot. We all have them. Some are quite obvious. Some have been covered over with the wax of our hypotheses, and some are hidden in the inner part of the pot. Paul knew that he wasn't sinless. In fact, in First Corinthians four beginning in verse three, he says, "But to me, it is a very small thing that I may be examined by you, or by any human court; in fact, I don't even examine myself." There, he's speaking of the great danger of being far too influenced by man's opinions, whether they're good or bad; criticism can cause you to either become weak and just kind of wither away, or praise can fuel your pride and make you desire more of it. So Paul was not saying he was close to all criticism, you know, beyond just wise, loving feedback; nor was he saying he was closed to all praise. To be sure, we all need some of that. But what he's saying is, look, I know I've got holes in my pot, but my only concern is the approval of the Lord. You know, not so much what you say or what I even think of myself, I care supremely for the approbation of my master. And when I know in my heart that I am serving him in humility, and in faithfulness to his commands, than the judgments of man, whether they are pro or whether they are con, mean little in comparison. He went on to say in verse four, "I am conscious of nothing against myself. Yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord." Of course, self-examination can sometimes produce the wrong verdict, can it? Whether guilt or innocent. But he didn't worry about that, he didn't seem to care much about the opinion of other people about himself. But certainly he had to care at some level when his apostolic authority and his apostolic message was being threatened in the church, he had to protect them from the wolves.

If we go back to the passage in First Corinthians four that I was mentioning, Paul went on to say, "Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time." In other words, avoid premature, uninformed, definitive verdicts. You Corinthians, be careful with that and all believers, you can't judge the motives of a man's heart, whether they're good or bad, you only see the outside, God sees the inside. Plus, we're all prone to see the speck in our brother's eye and not see the log in our own. It's interesting how self-interest is the secret bribe of judgment in our own heart. Paul went on to say, "But wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the hidden things in the darkness." In other words, those things that are unknown even to us, those things concealed and protected from scrutiny by the darkness of our own judgment. He says that he is going to "disclose the motives of men's hearts." In other words, he is going to make plain, or transparent, those secret thoughts. "And then each man's praise,"" he says will come to him from God." So again, while Paul's conscience was clear, he knew that he was not without sin. In fact, John tells us in First John one eight, "If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us."

But I also want to make another point about this, it's very important for us to bear in mind, allow me to make a very important distinction based on what the Apostle Paul has said, as well as many other passages of Scripture, there's a difference between remaining sin and reigning sin. In Romans six beginning of verse 12, Paul said, "Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness." In other words, how foolish is it to obey the lusts of your mortal body that is temporal and die. Even though the sin principle, that law of sin, remains in our body, remember this dear friends, we are not subject to it. It no longer reigns over us, we do not have to obey its lusts. Romans 8:13, Paul says that we are to "put to death the deeds of the body." We must remember folks that sin cannot be domesticated, it must be eradicated. To say it very practically, you don't sleep with your pet cobra. I must add something else that can be very practical in our own personal pursuit of holiness. And our own personal pursuit of godly sincerity. And that is to remember that this world is not our home. Aren't you glad that it's not our home? Paul knew this. The apostles knew this. I love how Peter puts it in first Peter two nine. He says "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation of people for God's own possession." In other words, he's reminding them and reminding us, that you are no longer part of this sphere of influence. And he went on to say in verse 11, "I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts which wage war against the soul." And to be sure we're all strangers. We are all aliens in this world, this god hating system ruled by Satan; this kingdom of darkness filled with sin and sickness and death. This realm filled with tornadoes like we just experienced a week or so ago; these viruses; the people that think it's okay to kill babies; this place filled with lying, greedy politicians and so forth. We're aliens, we are strangers to this, to this world. We are united to Christ in glory. And, you know, folks, the older you get, and I'm seeing this more and more in my life, the older you get and the more you walk with Christ, the more you see the glory of his grace in your life, the more you see him work in the lives of other people and the more you experience the wickedness and the misery of this world, the less you want to be a part of it. All of that loosens your grip upon this world and causes you to want to separate yourself from it more and more. And even as Paul had to modify his flesh, that is to starve it from finding satisfaction, we must all do the same. And when we do that, we can say with Paul, back to verse 12 of our text here this morning, "our proud confidence is this: the testimony of our conscience, that in holiness and godly sincerity." And then he says, "not in fleshly wisdom." The idea that we have not conducted ourselves in these ways, that phrase "not in fleshly wisdom." Another way of thinking about this is not in the foolish philosophies of fallen man that will inevitably exalt man and diminish God, not in the idiotic psychological theories and therapies of of spiritual cadavers that can no more bring genuine help and hope to fallen man, or even to believers, than a dung beetle can build a space shuttle. He said, I didn't come to you that way. But I came in, he says, "but in the grace of God." In other words, only through the power of God's grace revealed to us in the person and work of Christ and in his Word; only through that power, can we be reconciled to God, can we live in joyful obedience to him. That's how I came. And he says, "We have conducted ourselves in the world," but in the grace of God, "we have conducted ourselves in the world, and especially toward you." And I think that last phrase, he's basically appealing to their conscience. It's like, "people, you know this to be true."

So his conscience, first of all affirmed his moral integrity. And secondly, his conscience affirmed his relational integrity. You will recall how Paul was falsely accused, for example in Second Corinthians 10, beginning in verse 10 we read, "For they say, 'His letters are weighty and strong, but his personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.'" In other words, oh, he writes real tough, real mean when he writes, but when he comes in your presence, not that way at all. He's just phony. You know, it's kind of like people that post things on Facebook, you know, they're big talk, or they're mean, they say these horrible things. But all of a sudden, if they see you face to face, they cower in fear, especially when they know that what they said is untrue. That's what they were saying of him.

Verse 11, of that text, Paul says, "Let such a person consider this, that what we are in word by letters when absent, such persons we are also in deed when present." So don't accuse me of writing something and then when I get in your presence, I'm something altogether different. So in an effort to deny those false charges, and defend his relational integrity, go back to our text in verse 13. He says, "For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand. And I hope you will understand until the end, just as you also partially did understand us." In other words, there was nothing obscure about my correspondence with you, you know that none of it disguised my motives. There was no hidden meaning in any of this. There's nothing deceptive, nothing manipulative. Everything that I wrote was clear and compelling and consistent, and straightforward. No different than the way I conduct myself when I'm in your presence face to face. And it was obvious from what he wrote it, that there was no merit to this accusation. He was not in any way trying to defraud them. He simply wrote the inspired Word of God, that they could read and understand, as he says in his text, so that they could gain a greater apprehension of divine truth.

Now, what's interesting, by using the words "read" and "understand," Paul employed a very interesting play on words in Greek that emphasize that what he wrote and who he was, we're in complete harmony with one another. You can even hear it in the Greek the word. "Read" is "anaginosko" And the word "understand" is "epiginosko." So they sound alike. The similarity in sound therefore, and in other words, the way they rhyme, illustrate that his message and his character conformed to one another. There is no dissonance. There was no discord. There was no disconnect. Now, to be sure, each of us must make sure that what we say, is always consistent with who we are. We often put it this way, we need to practice what we preach. I fear that is missing in the church today. You remember what Jesus said in Luke 6:46 says, "'Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?'" Why do you merely give lip service to my lordship in your life and then live in disobedience?

You see, the point that he's trying to make is: genuine faith produces obedience. Spurious faith produces disobedience. Jesus says you will know them by their fruit a tree will be known by its fruits. Just prior to that, verse 44, Jesus said, "'For each tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they pick grapes from a briar bush. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth what is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth what is evil; for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.'" And if I can put this very practically a husband who says he loves his wife, as Christ loves the church, but fails to manifest a gentle and humble heart, like Christ, is duplicitous. A woman who says she submits to Christ as her loving head but refuses to subject herself to the loving headship and servant leadership of her husband and tries to rule him instead, is duplicitous. Young men and young women who profess Jesus as their Savior, and claim that he is the Lord of their life, and yet they have no desire to present their bodies as a living in a holy sacrifice acceptable to Him; those type of people are duplicitous. And God does not bless a hypocrite. He chastens them. And what a wonderful thing to know in your heart, that who you are on the inside is exactly who you claim to be on the outside. And that was Paul's conscience here before the Lord. You see, Paul was not a hypocrite. Even in what he wrote in First Timothy one, five, he said, "But the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." And he went on to describe the importance of keeping faith and a good conscience in verse 19, which he warned, "some have rejected and suffered shipwreck in regard to their faith." And then Peter says in First Peter three and verse 16, "keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame."

I'm constantly dealing with pastors and church leaders from all over. And one of them in particular that I've been dealing with of late had been slandered by, and actually he's continued to be slandered by some very vicious wolves that infiltrated his church, brought destruction to a small startup church, destroyed his health, his family's health, almost caused him to give up. And one of the things that he said, and that not everyone will say, certainly been my testimony as well. One of the things that really keeps you going in those dark and difficult times is not only, not only the fellowship with your friends, and especially your wife, as he said, and certainly the Word of God, but beyond all of that, the great comfort, perhaps the greatest comfort, is a clear conscience. A clear conscience, knowing that whatever is being said, is not true. And knowing that the Lord knows it.

So knowing his conscience was clear, Paul says in verse 13, "For we write nothing else to you than what you read and understand, and I hope you will understand until the end, just as you also partially did understand us." And what he's saying here is, I want you to understand this totally, I want you to understand this completely, that what I wrote and who I am, are in perfect harmony with one another. I know you know this to some degree now, but I want you to know, the fullness of this reality. Understand this "until the end." "End" literally means completely, totally, entirely.

And so in closing, not only did his conscience affirm his moral integrity and relational integrity, but also finally, his doctrinal integrity. And we see this at the end of verse 14. He says that, "we are your reason to be proud as you also are ours in the day of our Lord Jesus." And what he's saying here is this: you ought to have proud confidence in me, as I do in you, because it was through my ministry and the gospel message; along with Timothy who was with me, it was through all of this, that God saved you by His grace. And as a result together, we eagerly anticipate the day of our Lord Jesus. That day when we will stand in the presence of his glory, blameless with great joy. He described a similar thing to the saints in Thessalonica. In First Thessalonians two, beginning in verse 19, he said, "For who is our hope, or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? For you are our glory and joy." So where he's going with this is simply to say, look, had I been a con-man trying to use you, trying to distort the Word of God as a false apostle; had I come to you in deception, just to deceive you for my own benefit, then how can you explain your salvation? That we have "reason to be proud in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ."

Beloved, false teachers can distort the Word of God and they do it all the time, and 1000s of people will follow them. They will follow their phony lifestyles, their superficial teachings. The world is filled with religious charlatans; entrepreneurs that can fill buildings, with people with all kinds of activity. They can pack auditoriums; they can fill stadiums, but their message will never save sinners and sanctify saints it will not happen. That's, in essence, what Paul is referring to here. I mean, just look, you people came to saving faith in Christ. And now we're looking forward to the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. Again, let's remember there's a big difference between a crowd and a church. And much of what passes today is nothing more than country club, cultural Christianity. But Paul's message was truly God's message, the gospel message that is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. In other words, the proof was in the pudding. And he's reminding them of this. In fact, in chapter two and verse 17, he said, "For we are not like many, peddling the Word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God." And in chapter four, verse two, he went on to say "we have renounced the things hidden, because of shame, not walking in craftiness, or adulterating the Word of God, but by the manifestation of truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God." And that's what he is doing here in this passage.

Well, dear friend, may I ask you, do you have a clear or an accusing conscience? If it's an accusing conscience, I would plead with you, as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to come to Jesus. His arms are outstretched. He is gentle, and he is humble in heart, and he will save you and his blood will cleanse your conscience. In fact, the writer of Hebrews tells us, "that for the joy set before him he endured the cross." What joy was that? What's he referring to? Well, it's the joy to see sinners come to him. That's what brings great joy to the heart of our blessed Savior. If I could leave you with an analogy, imagine if your family was sick and dying of some dreadful disease and you secured an antibiotic that would cure them. Then you come to your family that you love so much and you say, "I have the cure here," but they say no, no, we don't want that. We will use our home remedies and we will try to survive on our own. And as they get sicker and sicker and they begin to die, you plead with them. And then finally, you have a son, then a daughter that comes and says, Dad, let me let me try your medicine. What do you think the dad feels when that child comes to them? He feels inexpressible joy. And that's what Jesus feels when we come to him, because this is his heart: come to him and he will forgive your sin. He will cleanse your conscience. He'll not only cleanse it, he will inform it with truth. And when you come to saving faith in Christ, you will find that everything changes. And as we walk in fellowship with him, by the power of his Spirit, we will be more conformed into his likeness, so that our life like Paul's life, can manifest holiness and godly sincerity. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word that speaks so directly to each of our hearts. I pray for that person that may be within the sound of my voice that knows nothing of the gentle and the humble in heart Savior, the Lord Jesus. I pray that the beauty of his holiness and his love for them will draw them unto him that today they might be saved. And Father, for those of us who know and who love you, I pray that we will once again recommit ourselves to living lives for your glory, in loving and joyful obedience to the lover of our souls. That in all things Christ might have the preeminence for it's in his name that I pray. Amen.

It is always a privilege, a joy and honor to be able to minister the word of God to you. And we're able to do that again this morning. And we're going to do it by looking for the final time at the concept of God of all comfort in second Corinthians chapter one. We're going to look at a few verses in verses one through 11. As we prepare our hearts for what the Spirit of God has for us this morning, I might say that I have lingered long upon this topic, because it is so rich. It is so important, especially in these days of mounting persecution, persecution against true Christianity, here in the United States and around the world. And while none of us may suffer the kinds of things that the apostle Paul suffered, we know that all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, Second Timothy 3:12. And as we endeavor to live lives that honor Christ in this fallen world that is so hostile to him, we're going to experience more and more of that kind of persecution, some of you have experienced it already, others of you will. I've talked with a friend this last week, who's not a part of this church. He works in the IT department of a rather large company here in Nashville, and his job is being threatened because he refuses to attend the inclusivity workshops that is really nothing more than forced LGBTQ indoctrination, and he refuses to join them when they have the special parades downtown, the gay pride parades and so forth. By the way, imagine them requiring employees to attend a biblical morality workshop. You see the point, imagine having a traditional family parade downtown Nashville. And I know a number of you are experiencing similar forms of Christian discrimination right now. But I want us all to be able to rejoice in the comfort that is ours, because we are united to Christ; the comfort that God gives that he makes available to all who are willing to suffer for his sake. And also, I want you to be reminded of the kind of love that we need to have for those that do not know Christ, that remain blinded to their sin, including those who hate us. And it's this love that must continue to drive us to present the gospel to them and what a joy it is to see people come to Christ, right? We've seen some of that in the last few weeks, even here in our own midst.

So there's three important concepts that we've studied that emerge out of verses one through 11 of Second Corinthians one, we've seen over the last couple of weeks, that God indeed comforts those who are afflicted, and Paul was greatly afflicted, as you will recall. But then secondly, we see that believers are comforted, to comfort others. That's what we're going to look at this morning. And then finally, prayer unleashes the power of God, we're going to see that as well. So let's pick it up at verse three, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction," and here's why, "so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." So this moves us to our second point in this little outline, and that is that believers are comforted to comfort others.

Now we all understand that we have cells in our human body. And each cell has a function. Each cell is to help the rest of the cells and the rest of the organs. And that's the way it's supposed to be as well, in the body of Christ. We are all a cell, shall we say, are all organs; we all need to work together. And what's interesting is that God uses the comfort that he provides us in our affliction, to equip us to comfort others in their affliction. It's an amazing thing, so we are comforted to comfort others. Now how does this work? Well, to be sure, the Spirit of God comforts us in ways that we can't fully understand. John 14, verse 16, Jesus says, "I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever." That is the spirit of truth. And the term "Helper" comes from a Greek term "parakletos," it means advocate or comforter or helper. Now, we know that the Spirit of God sent the comforter and that he dwells within us, right? But what's interesting is that the activities of the Holy Spirit are far more than just comforting. We know that he is the one for example, who convicts the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. He is the one that glorifies the Lord Jesus Christ by transforming sinners, and saving us by his grace and causing us to become more like Christ. We know that he is the supernatural and the sovereign agent of regeneration, baptizing all believers into the body of Christ. The word of God tells us that he indwells, he sanctifies. He instructs, he empowers believers for service. He seals us for the day of redemption, so many things. But we also know that he is the comforter. And he does this in mysterious ways. But what you will find is that he always does this in conjunction with the exhortation of his word, through the use of his word. And we've all experienced that kind of comfort, haven't we, in the midst of some great trial, suddenly, some passage of Scripture, as I say, just leaps off the page at you and touches your heart like never before. Maybe it's something you hear in a sermon, something you read in a book, the lyrics of a hymn. In fact, I might put it this way, you will not find any kind of lasting soul satisfying comfort in your life, apart from the ministry of God's word, it's not going to happen. I'm reminded of Psalm 19, beginning in verse seven. There David says, "The law of the Lord is perfect, restoring the soul." And here he is speaking of the Word of God in different ways versus the law of the Lord. It's perfect, restoring the soul. That he says "the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart." Another aspect of comfort, "The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true; they are righteous all together. They are more desirable than gold, yes, then much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them, Your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward." And of course, that great reward includes the astounding benefits of the Word of God that were just mentioned in the previous verses.

Now, when Jesus asked the Father, to send the Helper, certainly he knew that the Helper would be needed in our lives, especially in the realm of comfort. And it's interesting in John 14:26, we read "But the Helper," again the parakletos, "the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to remembrance all that I said to you." And in chapter 15, verse, verse 26, he says, "When the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, that is the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, He will testify about Me, and you will testify also." So the divine helper is going to use his word to bring comfort to those that He indwells. The comforter is going to use his Word in a way that brings peace and tranquility and understanding and instruction to our heart. He is going to bring these things to remembrance. He's going to bring his word to bear upon our soul, and he is going to use others in that process, especially those who have the gift of exhortation, the ability to speak comforting truth from the Word of God.

Now practically speaking, if you are in need of comfort, you must go to the God of all comfort by going to his Word and by fellowshipping with those people who have been afflicted and who have been comforted by the word of God so that they too can comfort you. Now, let me explain something to you. This is a fascinating concept in describing spiritual gifts. In Romans chapter 12 and verse eight, we see the Spirit of God speaking through his inspired apostle Paul, using the same term parakletos. He says, "He who exhorts, in his exhortation," and here he's describing the spiritual gift of exhortation. The word exhort comes from "parakaleo" and exhortation is "paraklesis." It's all rooted in that same word. And it's a compound word in the original language. "Para" means alongside and "kaleo" means to call. So this is the person with the gift of exhortation, is one that can come alongside, that can call alongside, they can speak alongside; so joined together they constitute the title "parakletos," or, as you've heard the spirit called the "paraclete" the Helper, the advocate. And this is used not only to describe the Holy Spirit, as I've just noted, but also the Lord Jesus Christ. In First John two and chapter one we read, "If anyone sins, we have a "parakleton," "an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous." Now stick with me, back to Romans 12 and verse eight, "He who exhorts in his exhortation." What's fascinating is that the Holy Spirit has uniquely gifted some people with the gift of exhortation, "paraklesis," one who, on behalf of and empowered by the Spirit of God can come alongside those in need; fellow believers to minister to them the word of God in their time of need to help them understand and apply his word. And of course, this is going to vary according to individual people and their circumstances.

Sometimes, it's admonishing someone who has allowed some kind of life dominating sin to overcome them. Or maybe it's to instruct and correct someone, that's deceived by some kind of error. And many times, these things really come out in the midst of suffering in the midst of anguish, or to comfort someone who is hurting, or to strengthen someone who is collapsing under the weight of some great trial. But in every situation, the agent of comfort is always God. The God of all comfort, and the instrument that he uses is the word of God. And the messengers that he uses is all of us, especially those with the gift of exhortation. When I reflect upon those who have had the greatest impact in my life, especially in times of great suffering, they have always been mature saints. They've always been older saints, with the gray hairs, many of them white hairs. But they've always been people who have suffered greatly for the cause of Christ. And they've also been people who are gifted greatly with biblical exhortation, men of the word. Some of them I've been able to talk with personally. And many of them have been with the Lord for hundreds of years.

If I could give some practical advice to you, young people, when you're in need of comfort, don't go to your friends. Go to somebody older and wiser. Somebody who's hurt, somebody who knows the word; some man or woman, look for somebody with gray hair with worn out Bibles, and calloused knees. Those are the people that God can use to bring you comfort, and to bring you clarity. Also, don't go to some secular counselor or some psychologists. They know nothing of the Word of God or the God of all comfort. They know nothing of the power of the word, the power of the Spirit. And also I might add, be careful even going to a lot of so called pastors. I was meeting with a prominent Christian leader this last week and we were talking about this and I told him that, you know, frankly, I would say most of the pastors in Nashville, Tennessee, I would not allow to teach Sunday school in my church. I hate to say that and I know that sounds hideously arrogant, but I wouldn't. Many are unsaved apostates, and many of them are nothing more than entrepreneurs. I might also add a practical note, I would encourage all of you to read biographies of great men and women of the word people who have suffered. We even see this in Hebrews chapter 12, and verse one, with respect to those who are found in Scripture, it says, "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses, surrounding us," which by the way, was a reference to the enduring faith of the examples that were set before them in chapter 11, he goes on to say, "Let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin, which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance, the race that is set before us." Of course, that great cloud of witnesses surrounding us are witnesses of God's faithfulness of his power of his mercy, of his grace and his love, especially in times of great uncertainty and suffering, these are the people we are to imitate. These are the people that we should study, let us run our race like they did with unwavering courage and with confidence in who God is. Because true faith as the writer of Hebrews 11 and verse one says, "is the assurance of things hoped for the conviction of things unseen." And folks herein we find comfort.

Now, let me give you an example of a great man of God outside of Scripture that has brought comfort to my life, as maybe he has to yours as well. And I would recommend this is a biography of William Carey. He lived, he was born in 1761, died in 1834. He was called the father of modern missions. And there is a biography about him written by his great grandson, S. Pierce Carey, who was a distinguished Baptist minister and missionary statesman, who became famous for his writing as a Christian author. And it the biography by the way that I'm recommending to you was, was published in 1923. But Carey was an uneducated cobbler from England, who taught himself Latin, Hebrew and Greek. But he also was a man with a burden for the lost. And so God ultimately led him to India, around the close of the Revolutionary War, which would have been around 1783 and following. By the way, during that, that time in history, there was really no such thing as a foreign missionary. It was completely foreign to people, especially in Great Britain. And he had a model, the motto of his mission was, quote, "expect great things, attempt great things." Well, as you read his story, you will soon discover that he was faced with enormous hardships, lots of suffering. Once he got to India, he lost one of his young children. His wife went insane and eventually died. His second wife eventually died. Most of his life, he lived in extreme poverty. It got better later on, but still he had nothing. He endured enormous persecution, not only from the pagans there in India, but from the British government. But God was faithful to bless his efforts, as God began to save people and to use the influence of the gospel to impact that culture. A people that did just hideous things they, they would do things like stick hooks in their back and swing from poles as part of a ritual. They had widow burning where if a young widow would lose her husband, she would climb into a pile of wood and all and they would set her on fire and just horrible things.

But God gradually began to build his church, helping Car toey survive and to learn the customs and to learn the languages; a number of languages and to translate them into the Word of God, and to print them; to print the scriptures in various languages and dialects. And then he gradually brought other people to come and co-labor with him. And according to his biographer, quote, "He produced six grammar as being often the first groundbreaker of Bengali, Sanskrit,” which that grammar was 1000 pages, "Marathi, Punjabi, Teluga and Kanarese. Not to mention a Bhotia grammar." Went on to say three dictionaries he compiled, "Bengali, Marathi, and Sanskrit as well as Bhotia vocabulary. That Bengali dictionary," he says, "with its 80,000 words in three volumes, resulted from the toil of 30 years, and was for long, the standard work." Professor H.H Wilson of Oxford said quote, "Local terms are here rendered with the correctness which carries knowledge of the people’s manners and his long domestication amongst them, enabled him to attain in his scientific requirements and familiarity with natural history; qualified him to employ and not infrequently to devise characteristic terms for the animal and vegetable products of the East." End quote: and on and on it goes. But later in his life and ministry in the year of 1812, his mission printing works, and huge warehouse burned to the ground in unimaginable horror. And while some translation manuscripts and some of the printing presses were removed in time, most everything was lost. It was a loss of 10,000 pounds in those days, which today would be $14 million. Talk about affliction. Talk about a man of sorrow. Much of his life's work went up in smoke. One man by the name of Thomason came in the afternoon to console the people and he said this, quote, "The scene was indeed affecting the long printing office reduced to a mere shell, the yard covered with burnt paper, Carrie walked with me over the smoking ruins, the tears stood in his eyes." Now, before I read what's next, I want to remind you what we've been talking about. And that is the power of the God of all comfort. Carrie said this quote, "In one night, the labors of years are consumed. How unsearchable are the divine ways. I had lately brought some things to the utmost perfection I could and contemplated the mission with perhaps too much self-congratulation. That the Lord has laid me low, that I may look more simply to Him." He also wrote to his niece Eustace, back in England, here's what he said, "This is a heavy blow, as it will stop our printing the scriptures for a long time. 12 months hard labour will not reinstate us, not to mention loss of property, manuscripts, etc, which we shall scarcely ever surmount." But a catch this, "I wish to be still and know that the Lord is God and to bow to His will and everything, He will no doubt bring good out of this evil and make it promote his interests. But at present, the Providence is exceeding dark. No lives were lost. We cannot tell him what was the cause of the fire." And then writing to his family back in England, he said, quote, "Much ground must be labored over again, and I have suffered most, but we are not discouraged. We are chastened and not killed. Cast down but not destroyed, perplexed, but not in despair." Oh, dear friends, what a magnificent example of the God of all comfort, who comforted one of his own through His Word. And now who in turn is comforting us through his testimony? Isn't it amazing how that works?

Now, please understand, God doesn't comfort us when we suffer because of our sin. A loving father doesn't comfort his son in his sin. He chastens the ones that he loves, we understand that. But when we come to repentance, then he comforts us as we seek to honor him. I think of David's grievous sin with Bathsheba. Remember in Psalm 32, he said, "When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long." Well, there's no comfort there. He went on to say, "For day and night, Your hand was heavy upon me. My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer." But then as we read on he talks about how when he acknowledged his sin, God forgave him and he was comforted. And that's why he began that psalm in verse one saying "How blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, who sin is covered. How blessed is the man to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity, and whose spirit in whose spirit there is no deceit." And in verse seven, he goes on, and he says, "Thou art my hiding place, Thou does preserve me from trouble. Thou does surround me with songs of deliverance." And at the end of verse 10, he says, "He who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shelter around him. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, you righteous ones, and shout for joy, all you who are upright and heart." Beloved, only the God of all comfort can animate that kind of sincere, heartfelt joy. What's more, God's comfort, included new, intimate, personal instruction in verse eight. The Lord says, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go, I will counsel you with My eye upon you."

We see a similar situation in Peters trial, and I'd like to take you to some of these concepts with Peter, you will recall in Luke 22:31, Jesus said, "'Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.'" Peter learned the hard way, didn't he? That God used his failure to humble him and bring him to a deeper state of dependence and trust in the Lord his God, but also to equip him to strengthen others. And because of this, he could comfort the saints that were later scattered abroad, because of persecution. And he would say this to them in First Peter five, beginning in verse five, "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Again, a lesson that Peter learned the hard way. "Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you." And let's admit it, that's very hard to do when we're suffering. When we're enduring some kind of persecution, to somehow cast our cares upon him. It's contrary to our flesh. Our flesh demands an audience with God; God, this isn't fair, you owe me an explanation. I demand my day in court to prove my case. Or maybe we're not that ungodly, but rather we say to ourselves, I'm going to take charge. Thanks, God, I've got this. I'll handle things in my own way.

But as we look at this text, we see Peter using an interesting phrase "mighty hand of God." That was a figure of speech describing God's sovereign rule over our life. Now you must understand that God is always at work in our lives, and sometimes his mighty hand is the mighty hand of testing. And perhaps you're experiencing that right now. Perhaps you're experiencing the grip of his hand in your life. Sometimes it's the mighty hand of testing, you will recall, and the gnawing pain of relentless suffering. Job mistakenly thought that God had abandoned him. And in Job 30, verse 20, we read, "I cry out to Thee for help, but Thou does not answer me. I stand up and Thou does turn Thy attention against me, that has become cruel to me with the might of Thy hand, Thou doest persecute me." Sometimes it might be the hand of divine chastening. We read about this in God's promise to cause Israel to repent, to restore her and one day rule over her in his kingdom. In Ezekiel 20 verse 33, we read, "'As I live,' declares the Lord GOD, 'surely with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with wrath poured out, I shall be king over you.'" And in verse 37, "'And I shall make you pass under the rod, and I shall bring you into the bond of the covenant.'" So sometimes his mighty hand is the hand of testing sometimes it's the hand of chastening. Sometimes it's the hand of deliverance. Exodus three beginning in verse 19, we read, "'But I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go, except under compulsion. So,'" now I love this, "'I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles, which I shall do in the midst of it, and after that, he will let you go.'"

Now, having said that, back to what Peter is talking about here, with respect to the mighty hand, in First Peter five, five, this is the mighty hand of testing that he's describing. Regardless of the purpose of his outstretched hand of testing in our lives, he's telling us that we need to humble ourselves under it, we need to willingly submit to it. Remember, Jesus said in Luke 14:11, "'Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.'" This is why I often say, we should never ask why in the midst of our afflictions. But ask what. God does not owe us an explanation, nor could we understand it, were he to give it to us. Instead of saying, God, why is this happening? We should say, God, what should I do to give you glory in the midst of this trial, I know that you're up to great things in my life, I don't understand all of this. And I plead with you to deliver me from the pain of this affliction, whatever it might be. But though you slay me, I will trust in you. And it's for this reason that we can rejoice knowing in First Peter five, notice what he says at the end of verse six, "He will exalt you at the proper time." Beloved, God's timing is always perfect. His purposes are always perfect. His plan is always perfect. And his hand of testing can also be the hand of deliverance in our life, as it often is. And there is the blessed hope of all of the redeemed, the confident hope that he will never leave us, nor will he ever forsake us. And He will exalt us at the proper time, which I've discovered is seldom "my" time, but it's always his perfect time. And because of these eternal truths, we learned to not only be receptive to God's purposes, but also confident in them. And that's why he says in verse seven, "Casting all your care upon Him, because He cares for you." What a precious statement. It is believed by most that here Peter is reflecting back to the words of David, the psalmist, in Psalm 55:22, where we read, "Cast your burden upon the Lord and He will sustain you, He will never allow the righteous to be shaken." Well, that's a passage that I've leaned on many times, haven't you? You know, in the furnace of affliction, we have a choice to make. We can either rely on ourselves or we can rely on God, being convinced that he cares for you; that he has ordained our suffering for our good and for His glory, that he's always working in it. And that one day, he will deliver us from it. O, child of God, it is so easy to forget that God is good, you know, that even in suffering, he is intimately acquainted with all our ways. And as we read, in Psalm 56, verse eight, he puts our tears in the bottle of his remembrance. One of the things that you will find in Israel in the archaeological digs is they find a lot of little, little glass bottles that were made somehow, in even dating back to the first and second century, where the Jews would make these little vials that looks like little test tubes, they're different colors. And those were symbolic of that verse, that God captures our tears in his bottle, he remembers them. And it's easy to forget, isn't it, that he is intimately acquainted with all of our suffering? Hebrews four verse 15, "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weakness." If you're struggling here today, do you remember that? Does this bring comfort to your soul as it should? Goes on to say, "But one who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need."

And then back to First Peter five, in verses 10 and 11, he said, "After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ," let me stop there for a moment. Here, Peter is reflecting back to the beginning of his epistle, where he encouraged them to live triumphant lives even in the face of adversity, because they have been according to chapter one, verse two, "chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father." So he says, "After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ" is the one who is going to bless you. This is what he's wanting them to think about. The God of all grace has called you to his eternal glory in Christ. It's amazing, isn't it, though we can suffer and we can be confused, sometimes we can be terribly discouraged, we must also be excited because there is a victory celebration that's going to come. God in all of his glory is going to celebrate that time with us.

By the way, as I think about Peter writing this, remember, he knew that he was going to be crucified at the end of his life. Jesus had told him that. Well, Scripture doesn't tell us this, I have to believe that as he was writing this, under the inspiration of the Spirit, tears were streaming down his face, down his cheeks. Can't you see his hands quivering in exhilaration as he writes these great truths as the Spirit of God guides him to write what he knows to be true? And can't you see Peter's wife, perhaps even sobbing with him? As her heart longs for relief, as together their heart races with adrenaline in the anticipation of glory. Tradition tells us that before Peter was crucified, he had to watch his wife being crucified and that he knelt before her and he kept saying, "remember the Lord, remember the Lord, remember the Lord." And perhaps he even quoted to her some of these things that are written here.

But as we come back to what Peter said, in verses 10 and 11, it says again, "and after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ." I want you notice something here, God is not only the God of all comfort, he is the God of all grace. Isn't that interesting? Now, mind you here, grace is far more than unmerited favor, though it is that. But grace is the transforming and sanctifying power of God that is available to all who trust in Christ, to all who have been born again. God's grace, you see, is comforting grace, and it is far stronger than any suffering that we could ever experience. Peter says, It is his grace that has called us to his eternal glory in Christ. Boy, you talk about power, there's power in God's grace. It's not something static. God has initiated and secured our salvation by his grace, right? This is the grace that has called us out of darkness and placed us into his marvelous light. This is the grace that caused us to be born again, to be resurrected from spiritual death to spiritual life. This is the grace that has saved us. And it is the grace of God, that delivers us from the power of sin and empowers us to live triumphant lives for the glory of Christ. Talk about comfort. And where does that comfort come from? From the Spirit of God, who has written the word of God; to exalt Christ to bring comfort to us, so that we can comfort others. It's an amazing chain. And notice what he will continue to do during the seasons of comfort, or seasons of suffering. It says, "the God of all grace...will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you." By the way, these are all terms, almost synonymous terms, that speak of supernatural empowerment. To help us stand firm in the battle and give no ground to the flesh, no ground to the enemy in his forces of darkness.

Let me tell you what these four terms mean. The term "perfect" in the original language means to restore or to repair. It was even used medically to describe the setting of a bone. Well, Peter who didn't Christ is speaking here from experience, isn't he? He knows what it's like to be restored, to be repaired, to have the bone set. The term "confirm" means to make one resolute and determined. You might say it means to fortify a person, to give a person courage, to persevere in trials, to help a person stand firm in the face of temptation, and to be steady in one's faith. And the term "strengthen" means to strengthen a person to be able to bear up under suffering, without ever wavering in their faith. This is what the God of all comfort does. And the term "establish," it literally means to establish you firmly. It speaks of the divine enablement that helps us lay a firm foundation of trust and confidence in him. And it even speaks of God's ability to strengthen; a personal quality or aspect in our Christian character. So we will always be able to endure. Beloved, this is what the God of all comfort and the God of all grace does. And he does it through his Word, especially via his people. One of our young ladies sent me a precious letter last week, thanking me for a sermon that ministered to her directly in some profound way. And I think about how this all works. The Spirit of God spoke to me, comforted me, helped me to understand the word I speak the word of God. She hears the Word of God, she finds comfort in the Word of God. So what does she do? What happens to her? Shall I say, well, as we read out right here, she was "perfected, confirmed, strengthened and established" just a little bit more by the word of God. And this is interesting; she then reciprocates to me, and she brings comfort to me and encouragement to me, so that I, too, may be just a little bit more perfected, confirmed, strengthened and established. Now I have a lot further to go than she does, probably. But isn't it interesting how the Spirit of God works? And now what am I doing? I am comforting you with the same truths. What a precious thing it is to see the hand of God at work in one so young. That's rare. We see that quite often here Calvary Bible Church and I rejoice in that.

Now let's go back to Second Corinthians one as we begin to wrap this up. And with all of this background, verse six and seven will be a little clearer to you. Paul says, "But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings, which we also suffer and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort." Beloved, here, we see that none of us suffer alone, right? This was the case with the the Corinthians. When one member of the family suffers, we all suffer, we know what that's like. But likewise, when one member of the family experiences the comfort of God, we all rejoice with them, and we are all comforted with them. You know, this is one thing that I confess is hard. That's hard as a pastor and I know the elders will agree with this. You know, I'm privy to many private sufferings that goes on in this church. A number of you know that you're on my heart, because we've talked; a number of you even this week. I'm privy to those sufferings, and I hurt with you because I love you, you're part of my church family. And I find that my prayer list tends to grow longer and longer, here of late. And often, even as I did this morning, I just cry out to the Lord, Lord, I can't even keep up with it all. People are struggling in so many ways with so many different issues. All I can do is give it to you. But I also get to share in your divine comfort. And sometimes no one else knows what God has done in your life but it is profoundly encouraging to me to see him comfort you, to bind up your wounds to soothes the aches in your soul.

Well finally, as we've seen, God comforts the afflicted, believers are comforted to comfort others. And then we see that finally, prayer unleashes the power of God at the end of verse 10. Notice he says, "and He will yet deliver us, you also joining and helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many." Now, while Paul praises God for his deliverances, he doesn't forget the secondary cause of the faithful prayers of the righteous. Charles Spurgeon said, "Gratitude to God must never become an excuse for ingratitude to man. It is true that Jehovah shielded the apostle of the Gentiles, but he did it in answer to prayer. The chosen vessel was not broken by the rod of the wicked, for the outstretched hand of the God of heaven was his defense. But that hand was outstretched because the people of Corinth and the saints of God everywhere had prevailed at the throne of grace by their united supplications."

O child of God, never underestimate the power of prayer. We know that the prayer, "the effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much," James five verse 16. And I praise God for the earnest prayers of so many intercessors here at Calvary Bible Church, but I wish there were more. And for this reason, Paul implored the believers at Rome, in chapter 15, verse 30, of Romans, he says, "Now I urge you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me, in your prayers to God for me." People will often ask me, "Pastor, is there anything that we can do for you?" Yes, you can pray for me. You can pray for the elders; we need to pray for one another.

In Ephesians six, verse 18, Paul said, "With all prayer, and petition, pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness, the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in proclaiming it, I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak." Well, I'm not in chains, at least not yet. I may be eventually, we may all be, but I need your prayers. We all need to pray for one another. We need to do this privately. We need to do this corporately. We have opportunities every other Wednesday night here in this area. Every other Thursday night now out in Mount Juliet. We have opportunities with our Wi Fi groups, with the heating plant here early on Sunday morning. We have a group of young men that meet with a couple of our older young men and the high school guys that meet with a couple our, not too much older, but a little bit older young man every Sunday night. I've been with them to see what God is doing there is amazing. To hear some of these young men pray, it just brings joy to my heart. But this is what we all need to be doing. We are not to forsake the assembling together, as is the habit of some as we read in Hebrews 10:25 and sadly, it seems to be the habit of most when it comes time to pray.

Dear saints, your prayers glorify God by demonstrating your dependence upon him, then your confidence in him. It is an act of worship. Our lowliness in prayer is an expression of our weakness and our acknowledgement of his greatness of his power. Can there be any greater expression of adoration for the Lord our God, than to be on our face before him in supplication? Asking him to help us give glory to his name? I think not. Well, may I challenge each of you. Let's learn well the great truths of the God of all comfort. And let's rejoice in the way that he comforts us. And let's be all about comforting others because of the way he is comforted us, using his word as the instrument of that comfort that the Spirit of God can use.

And then finally, I encourage you all get serious about your prayer life. Who you are on your knees before a holy God is who you are, nothing more. Paul said in First Thessalonians five you don't have this on the screen. But in verse 17, he said, "Rejoice, always pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." May we continue to be that kind of people. And may we, as Paul told the Thessalonians, "Excel still more" in all of these areas. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these truths, encourage our hearts with them. May the seeds that have been planted here today bear much fruit, for your glory and for our joy. We ask all of this in the precious name of Jesus, our Savior, and for his sake. Amen.

We return once again to Mark's gospel. So if you will take your Bibles and turn to Mark chapter 11. We've been away from our verse-by-verse exposition of this gospel, because of the holidays, and this morning we're going to examine verses 27 through 33, under the heading "By What Authority."

Let me give you the context before I read the passage. This scenario occurred on the Wednesday of the Passion Week, just a couple of days before our Lord went to the cross on our behalf. And the day before Jesus had purged the temple and occupied its precincts, which further infuriated the Jewish leadership, who had for some time determined to kill him. He had been, for three years, exposing their hypocrisy, their greed, their corruption, their ignorance, their works righteousness system; he challenged their authority. And that's something you never do to a narcissist. And so they were furious with him. So they had three years of pent up hatred for Jesus. But they were afraid to push him too far, because the people were truly impressed with him, albeit for all the wrong reasons. So once again, the Jewish authorities decide they're going to trick Jesus into saying something that would expose him as a fraud, as a blasphemer, perhaps even an insurrectionist. So with this in mind, we come to Mark 11, verse 27.

"They," referring to Christ, and his disciples, "came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to Him, and began saying to Him, 'By what authority are You doing these things, or who gave You this authority to do these things?' And Jesus said to them, 'I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will tell you by what authority I do these things. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? Answer Me.' They began reasoning among themselves, saying, 'If we say, 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Then why did you not believe him?' But shall we say, 'From men?' --they were afraid of the people. For everyone considered John to have been a real prophet. Answering Jesus, they said, 'We do not know.' And Jesus said to them, 'Nor will I tell you, by what authority I do these things.'"

Obviously, this is a passage that deals with the issue of spiritual moral authority. And I would ask you, by what authority do you function in your life? By God's authority, by man's authority, by your own authority? Many Christians will say, "Well, the Bible is my authority." And yet, often when you look at their lives, you see that some of the things the Bible says they will agree with but other things they won't. So it's easy to pick to choose. And others will have some other religious document that they believe is their authority. Muslims have the Koran, and so forth. For many people religious tradition is their authority, or some religious denomination. Perhaps one of the most dominant ones in our country, perhaps even around the world, is the Roman Catholic Church. They have three sources of authority: scripture, tradition, and the magisterium. And they believe that all three are equal sources when it comes to spiritual religious authority. When it comes to Scripture, they reject sola scriptura; you will see as part of the five solas in this worship center. Sola scriptura was one of the dominant themes of the Reformation; the reason why the Protestants broke away from the Roman Catholics. Sola scriptura simply meant that scripture was the sole, and infallible authority for the Christian faith. But they rejected that because they would say, no man is fallible. So God uses two other forms of authority to help safeguard his word. And one of those forms is tradition. Tradition being passed down from the apostles to the early church fathers and so forth. In fact, they would argue that tradition actually preceded Scripture. They would say that the official canon of the Bible was not established until around 382 AD at the Council of Rome, which again, they would say, would refute this idea of sola scriptura. By the way, that is false. The church did not establish the canon, it recognized it. A book is canonical because it was declared to be the word of God and the people of God recognize that, and there was consensus regarding that, especially with the Old Testament. That consensus was was finalized basically by the time of Christ. And the Gospels and Paul's letters were considered canonical by AD 90. And canonicity was based upon three things: their divine qualities, the consensus of God's people, and the connection to an apostle. People recognize that and based upon these three factors, the Canon was recognized by the people and then officially recognized by around the fourth century. But Christians coalesced around the Old and New Testament books very early.

Dave Harrell

I might also add that Roman Catholics include the Old Testament and New Testament apocryphal books in their canon. These are books that are considered by most as esoteric or suspicious; even heretical. It actually came from a Greek adjective, "apokryphos," which means private and "apokryptein," which was the verb that means to hide away. And so it literally, early on, meant to be a text to be read in private. But it later came to mean that which is esoteric or that which is suspicious or heretical. And the Old Testament apocryphal books that they have added to Scripture were written sometime between the end of the Old Testament and the beginning of the New Testament. And they were not considered canonical by the Jews, even of Jesus time, nor by most of the early church fathers. And the New Testament apocryphal books were written in the second and third century and many of them include systems of doctrine, that are contrary to, or even antithetical to, other doctrines in the canon of Scripture.

So they believe in Scripture, but also you have to have tradition for your authority, but you also have to have one more thing and that is the magisterium, which is a compendium of Creed's and councils and articles of faith and traditions. Ex cathedra pronouncements by infallible Popes; and all of this is considered authoritative and binding upon the souls of men and women, even if it contradicts Scripture. Some of you may hold to that. In other words, Roman Catholicism as your authority, and sadly because of this, you have numerous heresies--that salvation is not by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone--but it's by faith plus works; grace plus works and so forth. You have the unbiblical concept of the mass where you have repeated sacrifices and the substance of the bread and the wine supposedly, become truly the body and blood of Christ. So, you have this constant infusion of grace in the sacraments which is blatantly unbiblical. You have the veneration of saints, the veneration of church relics, the immaculate conception or the sinlessness of Mary, and her ascension into heaven, her perpetual virginity, literally the worship of Mary. You have punishment and purification in a place called purgatory. And you have the infallible pope that can say just about anything. And now of course, he's blessing that which God calls an abomination with respect to same sex marriage and so forth.

Well, for others, the spiritual authority is really society. Its culture. It's what you were taught at home, what you were taught at school, what you were taught at the university, kind of the spirit of the age--after all majority rules, right? Some people just trust their gut. If it feels good, I'll do it, as long as it doesn't hurt somebody else. That's my authority. And for some, maybe you're a synchretist. You just combine all kinds of different beliefs, different philosophies, different religion, until you come up with your own. And frankly, that's where most people are at.

But the most important question before us today, dear friends, is, what is your spiritual authority? And if I can put it a little bit differently? What authority does Jesus have in your life? Is he the Lord and the master of your life? Or do you just say he is, and then go and do your own thing? Along with this, we need to remember who Jesus said he was? Is he really God? Or was he just a man? If he was truly God, how do we know how to obey his authority? What happens if we don't? So all of these were issues that the first century Jews, and many of the Gentiles were grappling with, and what every person should answer correctly. So let's look closely at what happened here, and then let's allow the Bible--God's Word, which should be our spiritual authority--to answer these questions. And we're going to do so under two headings this morning. We're going to look at number one, the attack on his authority. And then number two, the consequence of rejecting His authority. And I pray that each of you will listen very carefully, as well, especially you young people. Because the authority that governs your life, will determine the eternal destiny of your soul.

So let's look first of all, at what happened in this historical narrative under the heading: the attack on his authority. Verse 27, "They came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple," let's stop there. Remember, the temple area was filled with courtyards, there were hundreds, perhaps several 1000 people constantly milling around. And rabbis would typically walk around, and they would teach groups of people. That's what Jesus was doing. Luke adds a little bit more of a perspective regarding what was happening in Luke 19, beginning in verse 47, we read, "And He was teaching daily in the temple; but the chief priests and the scribes, and the leading men among the people were trying to destroy Him, and they could not find anything that they might do, for all the people were hanging on to every word He said. And then in chapter 20, bringing it right to where we're at, in Mark 11, this is what Luke says, beginning in verse one, "On one of the days while He was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes with the elders confronted Him, and they spoke, saying to Him, 'Tell us by what authority You are doing these things, or who is the one who gave You this authority?'" Now we read in that passage that he was teaching and he's preaching the gospel. May I remind you what that is. What he would have said to them had to do with the holiness of God; that God is infinitely holy and that we are a sinful people, that we have violated his law. That we are depraved people. We have an inability to save ourselves, frankly, to even see our sin unless God does something. And therefore, it is crazy to think that through keeping laws or rituals or whatever, that somehow you could merit God's grace in saving you. He would teach them about the inevitability of divine judgment and eternal hell. He would speak to them about the love of God and the promises of God and, and all of the authority that is in his word. He would speak to them how the saving truths of Christ and his kingdom were veiled in the types, and the shadows of the law; and how they were promised in the writings of the prophets until John the Baptist announced Jesus as the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world; the long-awaited Messiah of Israel. In fact, we read in Luke 16, verse 16, that he said, "'The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John; since that time the gospel of the kingdom has been preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.'" What does that mean? They are passionately, with great zeal and with great fervor, demonstrating their need for Christ, and crying out to him for saving faith. But what he said was incredibly contradictory to what they had been taught. And horribly blasphemous, because he actually is telling them that he had the authority to forgive sin.

Of course, we know this from other passages. Remember when they took the paralytic and they cut a hole in the roof and they dropped him down in front of Jesus, in front of the crowd, and Pharisees and the scribes are watching all of this. And in Luke 5:21, Jesus said to him, "'Friend, your sins are forgiven.'" And of course, the Pharisees at this point, they were apoplectic. I mean, they just exploded in rage. And in verse 21 they said, "'Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?'" And then Jesus responded in verse 24, "'the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.'" This is what Jesus was teaching and preaching in the temple.

We have other examples of his authority to forgive. In John one and verse 12, we read very familiar passage, "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right." In other words, to them, he had the authority to make them "children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born out of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God." We have another public acclamations of his authority to forgive in John seven, verse 37. We read, "Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood up and cried out"-- can't you imagine this? They're having a feast and all of a sudden, Jesus stands up, and he cries out so everybody can hear--"'If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" Likewise, in Matthew 11, beginning of verse 28, Jesus said, "'Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle, and humble in heart, AND YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. For my yoke is easy, and My burden is light.'"

Furthermore, you will remember after Christ's death, this was at the very heart of Peter sermon, recorded an Acts four beginning in verse 11, where he said, "He," referring to Jesus, "IS THE STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED BY YOU, THE BUILDERS, BUT WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER stone. And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved." So these are the essential truths of the gospel, that Jesus would have been preaching in the temple, that infuriated the Jewish leaders.

So again, "He was walking in the temple, and verse 27 goes on to say that as he was doing this, "the chief priests and the scribes and the elders came to Him and began saying to Him, 'By what authority are You doing these things or who gave You this authority to do these things?'" Now, they knew full well what the answer was, because he had clearly and publicly stated it before. For example, in Matthew 11, verse 27, we read that, "'All things have been handed over to me by My Father.'" Plus they witnessed His authority over the demons, did they not? All the people had seen this. In fact, in Mark 1:27, in light of that, we see that, "they debated among themselves saying, 'What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.'" And in John five, beginning in verse 21, we read Jesus words, "For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom He wishes. For not even the Father judges anyone, but He has given all judgment to the Son.'" He goes on to say in verse 26, "'For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself; and gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man.'" And then in verse 30, "'I can do nothing.'" Jesus said, "'on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and my judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.'" There is where his authority is from. He had made that abundantly clear. The scribes and the Pharisees knew it. John 6:38, Jesus said, "'I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.'" And of course, they witnessed the power of His authority, even from the response of the crowds. You remember, after Jesus finished his sermon on the mount, recorded in Matthew five through seven, in chapter seven, verse 28, we read, "When Jesus had finished these words, the crowds were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as their scribes." You see, what they were used to, were the scribes and the Pharisees just quoting what other rabbis had said; not speaking on their own authority.

So again, Mark 11:28, "They began saying to him, 'By what authority are You doing these things? Who gave you this authority to do these things?'" Basically, what they're challenging him on is, is your authority, human or divine? Are you speaking the Word of God or the word of man? Because they thought in their minds, if he says his authority is divine, then we can say, he's a blasphemer. And we can insist upon his execution. So they're setting a trap, and waiting for Jesus to step in it. And if he says, it's not divine, then well, he's a fraud. And once again, he's doomed.

Verse 29, you learn a very clear lesson. Don't ever try to outsmart God. Don't ever try to trick God. Verse 29, "Jesus said to them, 'I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I tell you by what authority I do these things.'" And here's the question, verse 30, "'Was the baptism of John from heaven or from men? Answer me.'" By the way, answering a question with another question was a common thing for rabbis to do. But this was a real quandary for these guys. They had to choose between two very difficult and frankly, dangerous, choices; two equally difficult alternatives. Because the people recognize John the Baptist as a true prophet of God, who called them to repentance, who declared Jesus to be the Messiah.

So in verse 31, we read, "They began reasoning among themselves saying," Ooh. By the way, "ooh" isn't in there, okay? But I hope you see that I think you could kind of put it in there in your mind. Can't you see these guys? It's like, guys, we got to huddle here, we got a big problem. "If we say 'From heaven,' He will say, 'Then why did you not believe him?'" Well, what were the things that they should have believed if John was from heaven? By the way, this is rather comical, I think, because John the Baptist, he made it very clear what he thought of these guys, and he exposed them. Remember, in Matthew three and verse seven. "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, 'You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore, bear fruit in keeping with repentance; and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our father'; for I say to you that from the stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham. The axe is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.'"

So they're thinking, My goodness, if we say, John, the Baptist authority is from heaven, then he will say, Well, then why didn't you believe him? Verse 32, But shall we say that his authority is "From men," then we got to deal with the people, right? The text there in verse 32, goes on to say, "they were afraid of the people, for everyone considered John to have been a real prophet." So what did these unparalleled theological experts--the wisest of the wise, the spiritual authorities--have to say to all of this? Now, mind you, there'd be all kinds of people gathered around, waiting to hear this. Don't you know, you could heard a pin drop?

Verse 33, "Answering Jesus, they said, 'We do not know.' Now, the text doesn't say this, but I would imagine Jesus said, "Say what?" "I did not, or we didn't, we do not know." "A little bit louder."" We do not know." Jesus said to them, "'Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things.'" You see, friends, these men knew the answer, but they stubbornly refused to submit to it, and therefore, to submit to Jesus, and they had murder and violence in their heart. So they stood before himself condemned. If you want an example of the unpardonable or the unforgivable sin, here it is. It is the deliberate, conscious rejection of the truth that has been given to you through the convicting work of the Holy Spirit of God--the very Word of God, from the very lips of God. And we don't have Jesus here today, but we have his Word. And that is the authority. Three years of undeniable examples of his deity in his miracles. Three years of irrefutable, compelling, divine truths. And now because of their persistent, hard-hearted rejection, the door of opportunity will be forever closed. Frightening thing. The light of divine revelation will now be forever extinguished.

Perhaps like some of you, they rejected Jesus warning, recorded in John 12, beginning of verse 35. "Jesus said to them, 'For a little while longer, the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.'" Well, they rejected the Light, and so there would be no further Light. They would be sealed now, permanently, in the darkness that they loved.

And this brings us to our second category of thought, and that is the consequence of rejecting his authority. And folks, this is where the rubber really meets the road. Jesus said, "'Nor will I tell you by what authority I do these things.'" This is a terrifying condemnation. They knew exactly what Jesus had said, they knew exactly who he claimed to be. It was irrefutable, but they rejected him. And they found every possible reason to condemn him. Satan had blinded their minds as we read in Second Corinthians four, four. And by extinguishing the convicting light of truth, Jesus acted consistently with what he said in Matthew seven in verse six. "'Do not give what is holy to dogs, do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces.'" You see, friends, these men loved the darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. So God judicially sealed them forever in the darkness that they loved. Jesus said in Matthew six, verse 22, "'If the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!'" And one day they will be according to Matthew 22:13 thrown "'into the outer darkness; in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'"

This is not easy to preach, but I want to give it to you as clearly and as forthright as I possibly can because I fear that some of you may be perilously close to having the light forever extinguished from you; that some of you might be forever sealed in the darkness that you love. Here we see an example of the wrath of divine abandonment where God judicially seals hard-hearted unbelievers in their unbelief. This is a terrifying form of judgment. You know, Jesus saw this coming when he entered Jerusalem on his final journey. Remember Luke 19:41, we read, "When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and he wept over it." The idea that he cried aloud over what he saw; it was breaking his heart. And here's what he said, "'If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.'" We see this illustrated in a number of passages of Scripture. You may recall if you go to the book of Nehemiah, in Nehemiah chapter nine, verses five through 37, there's a long confession there and a recitation of God's mighty acts; it's probably written by Ezra. And it was read by a group of Levites to the people. And in verse 30, of Nehemiah nine, we read this, "You bore with them for many years, and admonished them by Your Spirit through Your prophets, yet they would not give ear. Therefore, You gave them into the hand of the peoples of the land." Isaiah speaks of this in chapter six, familiar passage, beginning in verse nine. When God commissioned Isaiah, He said, "'Go and tell this people: Keep on listening, but do not perceive; keep on looking but do not understand.'" Then he tells him "'render the hearts of this people insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim, otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and return and be healed.'" We read more of this in Isaiah 29, beginning in verse nine, where he says to the apostate rebellious people, "Be delayed and wait, blind yourselves and be blind; they become drunk, but not with wine, they stagger but not with strong drink. For the Lord has poured over you a spirit of deep sleep, He has shut your eyes, the prophets; and H has covered your heads the seers." In other words, when you deliberately blind yourself to the truth, you will be blinded by lies. And that's what happened to the people. They refused to heed the words of the true prophets. So God allowed them to be deceived by the false prophets. And he judicially seal them in the lies they embraced.

In fact, Paul later described the same condition in Romans 11, verse eight, "Just as it is written, 'GOD GAVE THEM A SPIRIT OF STUPOR, EYES TO SEE NOT AND EARS TO HEAR NOT, DOWN TO THIS VERY DAY.'" You realize this is why Jesus began speaking in parables. It was an act of judicial hardening. Matthew 13, verse 12, he says, "'For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have abundance;, but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled which says, 'YOU WILL KEEP ON HEARING, BUT WILL NOT UNDERSTAND; YOU WILL KEEP ON SEEING, BUT WILL NOT PERCEIVE; FOR THE HEART OF THIS PEOPLE HAS BECOME DULL, WITH THEIR EARS THEY SCRCELY HEAR, AND THEY HAVE CLOSED THEIR EYES, OTHERWISE THEY WOULD SEE WITH THEIR EYES, HEAR WITH THEIR EARS, AND UNDERSTAND WITH THEIR HEART AND RETURN, AND I WOULD HEAL THEM.'"

We read about this as well, how it will happen during the days of the Tribulation, under the rule of the Antichrist. Paul speaks of this in Second Thessalonians two beginning in verse 11. He said, "For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness." And certainly, that is occurring even now, in our culture, as it has been down through redemptive history. Paul spoke of this so clearly, you will recall in Romans one, beginning in verse 18, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." In other words, they try to keep a lid on the truth so it won't spring forth, and they have to deal with it. So they will suppress the truth in unrighteousness because, "that" he says, "which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them." Later on in verse 28, we read that he finally gives them over to "a depraved mind," he says, "and just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind"-- literally a worthless mind, a mind that cannot function as it should--"to do those things," he says, "which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving and merciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them." And certainly, we can see this being played out in our society today. We live in a postmodern, post-Christian world, that does not recognize the authority of God as it is revealed in Scripture. They do not recognize the authority of Christ. People no longer believe in absolute moral truth and so skepticism and subjectivism and relativism now rule the day. You hear people saying often, "these folks have no moral compass." And it's true. And as a result, all viewpoints no matter how absurd, or how contradictory, must be considered equally valid, unless of course, it is a viewpoint that comes from the Bible. So biblical values have been replaced by laws that impose a godless, immoral, oppressive social agenda on our country. The priority of the left today includes absurdities like climate change, white supremacy, DEI, racial reparations, abortion on demand, adherence to Coronavirus group think, transgenderism, unquestioned allegiance to the LGBTQ ideologies; and certainly, the woke cult in our country has successfully divided our country into oppressors and the oppressed. And Satan's end game through the use of this cultural Marxism that receives its authority from Satan himself is to somehow legalize unrighteousness and criminalize righteousness and then prosecute those who refuse to submit.

Reminds me of the Israelites after they had settled in the Promised Land. They were filled with apostasy and idolatry, gross immorality, And in Judges 17 verse six, we read, "In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what is right in his own eyes." Dear friends, you must understand that Jesus Christ has the sovereign authority over all that he has created. And he repeatedly demonstrated this in his incarnation and affirmed this. In Matthew 28, verse 18, he declared, "'All authority has been given to me on heaven and on earth.'" And He has revealed the essence of his authority in his word, because Christ is the living word. As we read in John one, for example, the same one who spoke the universe into existence is the one that imparted revelation to the prophets, often being personally there with them. And we know that the Father sent the Son as his Messenger, and then the Holy Spirit superintended, the inscripturation of the message that he was delivering through his inspired writers. And this resulted in divinely authoritative, and inerrant words written in the original autographs. And for this reason, Paul says in Second Timothy three, this passage that you're also familiar with, beginning in verse 16, "All Scripture is inspired,"--"theopneustos" in the original language--it is God breathed; God breathed out the word of God that we have in the canon of Scripture. "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training and righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. Dear friends, can there be any greater proof of the authority and the sufficiency of Scripture, when it comes to my life and how I need to live my life to honor God, and to enjoy his blessings? I don't need a psychologist. I don't need a philosopher. I don't need psychotherapy. And I certainly don't need the government. I need the Word of the living God who created me.

So the question is, is Jesus and His word, your sole authority? Or do you just give lip service to his lordship in your life rather than genuinely obeying him from the heart? Jesus addressed this in Luke 6:46. "'Why do you call Me 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?'" He went on to say, "'Everyone who comes to Me and hears My words and acts on them, I will show you whom he is like: he is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid a foundation on the rock; and when a flood occurred, the torrent burst against that house and could not shake it, because it had been well built. But the one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.'" Dear friends, I fear that for some of you.

I wish to give you an example of what happens when people depart from the authority of Christ and his word; one that we would be familiar with in our culture. We're all familiar of Harvard and the other Ivy League schools that are so antisemitic. And you know, all of the full blown woke stuff that we've seen on the news and so forth. That reminded me of something. Harvard was founded in 1636, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, by English Puritans that migrated to New England. And they would have believed, as we do, the five solas of the Reformation. They saw a need to train clergyman in their new Commonwealth; men who would proclaim the saving truths of the gospel; truths so instrumental in the founding of our country, and frankly, inherent in our Constitution. And at Harvard, even today, there are tablets flanking the Johnston gate which read, quote, "After God had carried us safe to New England and we had builded our houses provided necessaries for our livelihood, reared convenient places for God's worship and settled the civil government, one of the next things we longed for and looked after was to advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches when our present ministers shall lie in the dust. And as we were thinking in consulting how to affect this great work, it pleased God to stir up the heart of one Mr. Harvard (a godly gentleman and a lover of learning then living amongst us) to give one half of his estate, it being an all about 1700 pounds towards the erecting of a college and all his library. After him and other 300 pounds others after them cashed in more in the public hand of the state added the rest. The college was by common consent appointed to be at Cambridge. A very pleasant and accommodating place and it is called according to the name of the first founder, Harvard College. Alright, there's the history. But now, because they gradually, little by little, at times imperceptibly, rejected the authority of Christ and his word, we see an institution that is not only hostile to Christianity, but it is violently opposed to it, even their seminary. I went to the website of Harvard Divinity School and here's part of what they said, "Students come to Harvard Divinity School from a variety of spiritual and religious backgrounds, including non-religious backgrounds." In other words, you can come to Harvard Divinity School, you don't have to be a Christian; goes on to say, "Some of our students come with a faith tradition. We have a number of students that are not affiliated with a religious tradition. What all Harvard Divinity students share in common is a willingness to explore the complexities of religious thought, and life through academic curiosity and practical encouragement." Another part of their statement has the goal. And the goal of the training is, quote, "to study religion with attentiveness, to issues of diversity in regard to race, class, gender, ethnicity, sexuality, religious tradition and ideology." And it went on to say, "to foster a welcoming and inclusive community among our faculty, students, alumni and staff." And then finally, it says, "to commit to ecological sustainability and good environmental stewardship." I mean, that's just woke insanity. It has nothing to do with the gospel, with the Word of God; the authority of Christ in His Word. Contrast that with The Master's Seminary, I went on their website. And here's part of what they had to say--here's what they're trying to produce, "to have a ministry that pleases God, pastors must prioritize His Word. Our doctrinal statement carefully outlines the seminaries teaching position on major biblical doctrines. It is the framework for every class, syllabus and lecture." And in their preamble, they said this, "The affirmations which follow carefully specify our teaching position with regard to the major biblical doctrines and thus provide a framework for curriculum and instruction at the seminary. They also provide an anchor to protect the institution against theological drift. For this reason, members of the Board of Directors, administration and faculty members are annually required to sign a statement affirming agreement with this statement of faith." And their goal is to produce "a well-rounded pastor and preacher; The Master of Divinity program prepares you to handle God's word precisely and shepherd God's people effectively." You see the difference?

I'm reminded of what Paul told Titus in Titus two and verse 15. He said to the young pastor, "These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you." What things was he talking about? Well, the things in verse one, "Speak the things which are fitting for sound doctrine." That's what you teach. With all authority. I have no authority over you, whatsoever. The only authority that I have is what comes from God through his word. There's the authority. He even said, in verses 11 and following, here's the type of thing you've got to teach, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, and instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, and righteously in the present age looking for the blessed hope in the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds. These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you."

Dear friends, new revelations conjured up in the imagination of someone's mind has no spiritual authority. Self-appointed, phony apostles have no spiritual authority. Creeds and councils and tradition, and a pope has no spiritual authority. The government has no spiritual authority when it comes to faith and practice. Nothing apart from the Word of God recorded in this canon of Scripture has any binding spiritual authority on the souls of men. And for this reason, Paul charged Timothy to preach the word right? "Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside under myths." The grammar in the original language indicates that when they hear the truth, they will deliberately, consciously reject it. And when that happens, without realizing it, the myths will take them over and deceive them as an act of divine judgment. Beloved, every time you have an opportunity, you need to speak the truth of the Word of God. Unleash its power on people. Never underestimate its power, "for the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, both joint and marrow, to judge the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare in the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."

So this morning, I pray that you will examine your heart. Ask yourself, is the Lord Jesus and his word my authority? Or is it something else? Is my authority from God or from man? When I raise my kids, do I look at the authority of the Word of God or the authority of man? When I conduct my business do I look at the words of God from the Bible or something else? When I choose a wife or a husband? Or whatever it is? Do I go first and last to the only divine authority? Or do I come up with my own? Dear friends, once again the destiny of your soul depends upon how you answer that question. And so I leave it with you that by the Spirit of God, he will bring conviction to your heart. And if you don't know Christ, today is the day that you need to believe on him. Place your faith in him. Repent of your sins and cry out for his saving grace and he will absolutely forgive your sins and change you in ways that you cannot imagine. And then the authority of his Word and of his person will not be onerous, it will be the very desire of your heart. Amen. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word. I pray that by the power of your Spirit, they will find access into every heart and that you will do what only you can do. And that is to save sinners and sanctify saints. We thank you, we give you praise in Jesus name. Amen.

I've chosen as my text this morning a passage out of Romans chapter 13. If you will take your Bibles and turn there, Paul's epistle to the Romans, we're going to look at verses eight through 14. And I've entitled my discourse to you "Awaken the Day is Near." Let me read the passage. Romans 13, beginning with verse eight, "Owe, nothing to anyone except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For this, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,' and if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, ' YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR ARS YOURSELF.' Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts."

As we embark upon a new year, I believe it's appropriate for us to begin with an understanding and a firm conviction of how important it is for us to be sober minded as believers; especially as it relates to the schemes of the devil as he tries to destroy us, destroy our families. And therefore we need to awaken ourselves, awaken our life, to a greater sense of obedience and service to Christ. We're very familiar with that term that's batted around all the time, the term "woke." It's really a nebulous, liberal buzzword that encompasses an obsession with social inequalities, real or perceived, such as racial injustice or sexism, LGBTQ discrimination, and so forth. And of course, all of this has fueled the morally bankrupt groups like the alphabet mafia. Black Lives Matter, DEI, which is now collapsing under its own stupidity--thankfully; and even the pro-Hamas movement that we are dealing with today. Of course, none of this can coexist with biblical Christianity, yet it is being forced upon us at alarming rates. And very successfully, I might add, even in so-called "woke" churches. We are commanded in Romans 12 nine to quote, "Abhor what is evil; cling to what is good." And Paul said in First Thessalonians 5:21 that we are to "abstain from every form of evil." Evil is essentially everything that God opposes. It can be classified really under two headings, moral evil and supernatural evil. Moral evil, is that evil and that enemy within us; supernatural evil is that enemy outside of us. Moral evil is basically sin that dominates human life; wickedness that violates the law of God. It's the abominations that God describes. There's a number of them, especially the abomination of sexual immorality, homosexuality, transgenderism, murder, idolatry and so forth. In fact, Proverbs six beginning of verse 16, we read, "There are six things which the Lord hates, yes seven which are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who spreads strife among brothers." So those types of things would be consistent with moral evil that we are to abstain from and to abhor.

But then there's supernatural evil, that's demonic evil; the unmitigated wickedness that characterizes Satan's world system. And we're all aware of First John 5:19 that says that, "The whole world lies in the power of the evil one." The world certainly is the the supernatural expression of evil against which we all wrestle as believers. Abhoring what is evil and abstaining from it and clinging to what is good will always be the mark of a true believer and distinguish true believers from false believers. R.H Mounce said, quote, "To love God is to regard evil with horror. Unfortunately, familiarity with a culture that is shaped by the forces of Satan has lulled to many believers into a state of general tolerance for whatever deviant behavior is in vogue at present. We are to abhor evil, because it is the enemy of all that leads to Christlikeness." As I have written elsewhere, it is appalling to witness the creative yet blasphemous ways the Bible is distorted among many professing Christians in their effort to embrace everything from homosexuality to transgenderism, as if such things are morally acceptable in God's eyes. Worse yet, such blatantly unbiblical positions are boldly touted as being examples of Christian love, when just the opposite is true. When the eternal souls of men and women are at stake, there can be no greater act of hatred, than to make people comfortable in their sin, and thus doom them to God's righteous judgment, like the false prophets, who, according to Jeremiah, 23:14, and 16, "strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one has turned back from his wickedness. All of them have become to Me like Sodom, and her inhabitants like Gomorrah...They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination, not from the mouth of the Lord."

So what must we do as we face a new year? How can we fortify ourselves against all of the things that we see surrounding us that are evil? All of the damning deceptions? How can we protect our children from them? How can we honor God in the battle? How can we enjoy the fullness of all that is ours in Christ in the midst of the types of things we are experiencing in our culture?

You know, I was thinking about this, with respect to the term "woke" as Christians; we need to be woke in the biblical sense, right? This was Paul's concern for the persecuted saints at Rome, that we read in our text this morning, especially in verse 11, he says, "Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us, nearer to us than when we believed." So he says, "Do this," well do what? Curse the Romans? Obsess over all of the evil of that day? Compromise with the world so that somehow they will like Christ? And like us? No, he says, instead, "lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." And that's what we want to understand better this morning so that we can apply these principles to our life in a very practical and real way in the days ahead.

You will recall in Ephesians six, the Apostle Paul speaks to us about the armor that we need to wear in this battle against Satan's world system. He says beginning in verse 11, "Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm." And then, as you will recall, he goes on to describe the various pieces of armor that symbolizes our need for sound doctrine for truth, for holy living. Likewise, Paul said in First Thessalonians, five, beginning in verse four, "But you brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief." There the day is referring to the "day of the Lord" that has been described previously. The day of the Lord is for the people of the night, the time of judgment, the people who prefer darkness rather than light not for people of the day. He went on to say, "for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet, the hope of salvation."

So Paul's admonition in our text here this morning, especially in verse 12, will further elucidate these great principles in a very practical way. He says, "The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." And again, I find it fascinating--he's addressing persecuted saints, trying to encourage them, helping them to know what they are to do. And by the way, they were persecuted in ways that are far beyond what we are experiencing. And they were about to experience things even far worse. But there is no call here to political activism. There is no call here to rebellion against the government, as evil as that government was, but rather his overall emphasis, in this chapter, is to live submissively as living sacrifices, especially as it relates to fulfilling our obligation to love one another, in light of the end of the age.

Isn't it true that when we are besieged with evil all around us, it's easy for us to focus our attention on the evildoers, right? And neglect our own heart. We can get angry at all of the wicked things that we see, that we experience; the unfair things, the insane things that we see, that's indicative of the wrath of divine abandonment on our country, consistent with Romans one, where he finally just gives people over to a worthless mind, literally a mind that cannot function. It's easy to shake our fist at all of those things, and neglect the issues of our own heart, and that's what Paul is dealing with here. And that's what we must hear as well. We must love our enemies enough to give them the gospel, to pray for them. And most importantly, we must love the Lord our God, with all of our heart, all of our mind, all of our soul, our all of our strength. And when we do this, we will be obedient to Him. And we will love one another because dear friends, we need one another, especially in great times of difficulty. We need fellowship, we need to be around other believers. And we need to love them; and this is the heart of the apostle's admonitions.

Let me give you the context here. You will recall that Paul has just explained the astounding doctrine of the justification of faith, along with the amazing truths pertaining to Israel's election, defection and salvation as we read in Romans 9,10 and 11. And then beginning in chapter 12, he addresses the very practical issues concerning the Christians attitude toward God, toward fellow believers, and all people, even civil authorities. And now in verses eight through 14, he summarizes these great truths by drawing our attention to the second commandment, that we should love our neighbor as ourself. Again, persecution can lead to frustration, it can lead to anger, it could lead to hatred, it can wear us down and cause us to become self-focused. And so without us realizing it, we can become just the opposite of who we are to be and how we are to think and how we are to function. For example, how we are to love our neighbor as delineated in that great Treatise of love that's found in First Corinthians 13. Allow me to read the opposite of what the Apostle Paul says. And I'll try to make that very practical for each of us. If we are impatient, unkind, jealous, we love to brag about ourselves, if we're arrogant, rude, demanding, controlling, easily offended; if we keep a record of wrongs if we try to justify our unrighteousness; if we tolerate error and untruths in our life, if we gossip and love to expose, ridicule, criticize, and harm those we don't like, rather than trying to cover their sin and support and protect and restore them. Or if we are always suspicious of others, and immediately believe the worst in them. If we have a reputation as one who has no desire to restore others to righteousness, especially those people that we don't like, if we quickly give up hope that God's grace will restore a person that has fallen, if we give up on others easily instead of enduring with them with a steadfast faith in God's redeeming and restoring love. If that is us, dear friends, then our love bears little, if any, resemblance to Christ's love for us. And we stand guilty as charged, do we not?

We all struggle with these things, even more so when difficulties are pressed upon us. And as a result, we forfeit God's blessing in our life. We grieve the spirit, we can forfeit the Spirit's work in our life, and quench that work. Little by little, we become ruled by our own flesh rather than the spirit. And worse yet, we undermine our witness for Christ. Because in our life, the way we function, is dishonoring to him. So I've chosen as a real simple outline, to look at this passage this morning-- three categories that I hope will help us all grasp what the Spirit of God is saying through his inspired writer. We're going to see the priority, the function and the urgency of love.

First of all, notice what he says with respect to the priority of love. He says, "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another." Now, you may recall that he has just exhorted Christians to pay their taxes to civil authorities. And he now focuses on the same obligation to pay our debts in our private life, namely, the debt of love. A debt that can never be fully paid. I mean think about it, none of us can say you know, I have loved all I need to love, my obligation is now finished; none of us can say that. The 20th century theologian H.C.G. Moule, said this, "The Christian is to allow no debt to remain outstanding except the one that can never be paid off-- the debt to love one another. The obligation to love has no limit."

Now, as a footnote, this is not a prohibition against borrowing money, as some people will claim. Jesus permitted that, for example, in Matthew 5:42. He said, "'Give to him who asks of you and do not turn away from Him who wants to borrow from you.'" In fact, borrowing and lending money were permitted under the Mosaic Law, according to Exodus 22 and verse 25. However, nowhere in Scripture are we justified to borrow more than we can afford to pay back or for the reason of purchasing luxuries that we really don't need and we can't afford. But we can also conclude, even from this statement, that the financial debts are to be paid promptly. And in this connection, we read according to Psalm 37:21, "The wicked borrows but does not pay back." It's like the one who runs up his or her credit card, buying more than they can possibly pay back and eventually they drown in debt. And then they get bailed out by somebody else and we all pay for it with higher interest rates, right? That's how that whole thing works. But Paul's use of the imagery of debt here, you must understand this--it extends far beyond the issue of personal finances. It speaks of the Christian's perpetual obligation of love. That's his point here. We are debtors to God for the undeserved mercy and grace of his love that he is lavished upon us. We are to love the Lord our God, and to love our neighbors and because of God's transforming grace, the Holy Spirit dwells within us. And therefore, we have all of the necessary resources to make payments on all of this.

First Thessalonians, four nine, "you yourselves are taught by God to love one another." And is this not the first fruit of the Spirit? In Galatians, five and verse 22, the Holy Spirit that prompted us to come to repentant faith, that caused us to see our sin for what it was and to see who Christ is, and what he has done for us--that same Holy Spirit prompts the believer to obedience, that is the desire of our heart. Especially in the realm of self-sacrificing love. You see, obedience will be the natural desire of that transformed heart, and what an amazing resource we have in Christ, to help us love as we should. In fact, we read in Romans five, five, Paul reminds us that, "The love of God has poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

You see, the point with all of this is when we submit to the Holy Spirit, in our daily walk, we have at our disposal, the supernatural power of the indwelling Spirit that produces within us an inexhaustible reservoir of self-sacrificing love with which we can love others. So the key is walking by the Spirit, being obedient to the Spirit of God, as He has revealed Himself in His Word. And when we do that, this love is going to be a fruit that just naturally grows on the vine of our life. May I ask you, is this kind of love a distinguishing characteristic of your life? Would those who know you best say that it is? But our love must not only be extended to our brothers and sisters in Christ, but even to the unsaved. Our first obligation is to fellow Christians. We read this, for example, in John 13, beginning in verse 34. "'A new commandment,'" Jesus says, "'I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you that you, also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.'" So fellow believers are to be the first priority in love. They are to hold a special place in our hearts. In fact, Paul speaks of this in Romans 12 and verse 10. He says, "Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor," verse 13, he says, "contributing to the needs of the saints." Then he says, "practicing hospitality." The term "practicing" in the original language carries the idea of vigorous effort, intentional effort; using our home to help those in need, does that describe you? Is that a desire of your heart?

This, by the way, is at the heart of our philosophy of missions here at Calvary Bible Church, to first meet the needs of our own people, meet the needs of others as best we can around the world who know and love Christ. Our priority of benevolence is first to the saints. We see this for example, in Galatians six and verse 10, where Paul says, "while we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith." And Paul even exhorts us to love fellow believers in his letter to the Colossians. He said this in Colossians, three beginning in verse 12, "And so, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so that so you also so also should you. Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity."

But again, our love must be extended to all men even unbelievers, even our enemies, which is a fascinating thought; very difficult for us to comprehend. I'll try to make it clear. Jesus made this clear in Matthew 5:44. First of all, he says, "'You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.'" And Paul said in Romans 12, verse 14, "Bless those who persecute you; bless and curse not." Now, if you're like me, the natural response, typically of my flesh, is not to bless, but to retaliate. You know, to get even, to curse them somehow. But I have to make a choice to love. And by the way, the more we walk by the Spirit, the easier that choice is. So we are to pray for them. To seek to do them good. He goes on in verse 20 and following, "'BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." And this would include being obedient to the list that's found with respect to love in First Corinthians 13. And it would also include praying for the lost, giving them the gospel--doing all we can to somehow demonstrate the love of Christ to them so that they would come to repentant faith.

But I would also add, and this is very important, because sometimes people get confused with this. This is not a call to pacifism. This is not a call to pacifism or allowing evil to go unpunished or unrestrained. Loving your neighbor would include defending them from criminal attacks, from deceptive practices and even grievous sin in the church. I mean, there is a place for church discipline--Matthew 18. And there is a place to reject a factious man--Titus 3:10. There is a place for turning away from those who cause dissensions and hindrances in the church--Romans 16, 17 and following. There is even a time for war--Ecclesiastes three and verse eight. Which I might add as a necessary component of divine justice, and an extension of capital punishment. Genesis nine six tells us, "Whoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed." Now, the misguided pacifist will say, "Well, how can you harmonize a call to arms with Jesus blessings on meekness; we are to love our enemies, turn the other cheek, return good for evil?" Well, the answer is, in every case, when Jesus called for these virtuous attitudes, the issue was always the need for the mortification of pride that inevitably seeks retaliation for personal offenses. That was the issue. Jesus' passion was a call to surrender our fanatical, rabid commitment to personal rights and vengeance. That's just so natural for us and replace those attitudes with the love of Christ. But never do these admonitions apply to the very appropriate, and many times necessary, need for defense and retaliation against criminal offenses in the military aggression of evil men. I can assure you, if Hamas terrorists break into my house, I'm not going to reach for a Bible track, I'm gonna reach for my gun. I'm gonna love my family enough to protect them. I'm not going to say well, here's my other cheek, you know, go ahead and do these vicious things. I hope you understand that. God even considers capital punishment, as I said earlier, as a logical extension in war. And that is even a deterrent to crime as indicated in Deuteronomy 17, verse 13, where he warns, quote, "Then all the people will hear and be afraid and will not act presumptuously again."

So all of that to say God's call for us to love our enemies and turn the other cheek carries the idea of mortifying our self-centered pride, and our natural proclivity to retaliate when we are personally offended. It's not a blanket call to pacifism. So verse eight, "Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another." There's the priority of love. Now secondly, notice the function of love. The end of verse eight, "for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law." And here we see that this all-embracing love has a function and what is it? Well, it fulfills the law. And that is our duty. We cannot be obedient to God's law, if we do not love as we should. And Paul is merely repeating what Jesus said about the law being summed up in the commandments to love, as we read in Matthew 22, beginning in verse 37, where Jesus said, "'YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.'" Now bear in mind, no man is saved by keeping the law. I hope you understand that. "By the works of the law," according to Romans 3:20, "no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin." So Paul is not saying that, hey, if you just really love other people, the way you should, then you will fulfill the law and be saved. By the way, no one could ever love perfectly. No one could ever love the Lord perfectly.

And secondly, we know that salvation is always by grace through faith. Romans three verse 21, we read, "But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested." In verse 24. He says, sinners are "justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus." So how does love fulfill the law? Very appropriate question. I'm glad you asked. There's many places we could go to answer that, but Romans eight, beginning in verse three helps us. There we read that God, "condemned sin in the flesh," referring to how sin and that condemnation was poured out upon the flesh of Christ on the cross--in order that "the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." Beloved, this is so exciting, as Christians, think about this, we are no longer concerned about somehow meeting the requirements of the law in order to be saved. Right? All of that was taken care of on the cross. That's the great doctrine of justification; whereby the imputed righteousness of Christ causes God to say that we are now declared as righteous. But what he is saying here is that the requirement of the Law is now being fulfilled in us as the Holy Spirit works through and in us to cause us to walk in faith and obedience. It's the Spirit that empowers us to love. Again, bear in mind, the Law reflects the character of God. And for this reason, the Law is still perfectly valid, in that sense. But now, as we walk "according to the Spirit," as the Apostle says, God Himself fulfills the requirements of the Law in us and through us. And by our love for God and others, we put his holiness, and we put his glory on display. Beloved, this is the function of love; to fulfill the law by the power of the Holy Spirit that causes us to manifest the love of God in our lives, to the praise of his glory.

But there is more. As we love God and our neighbor, it is unimaginable what God does. Because when we do that God reciprocates in ways that are inconceivably precious. When we do that, the Triune God discloses himself to us, in intimate and powerful ways. We read about this in John 14:21, where Jesus said, "'He who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and he will disclose Myself to him.'" In other words, he will cause me to be manifested in a more intimate way to you, to make me more fully known in you, to reveal more of who I am in you. In verse 23, went on to say, "'and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.'" The term "abode" means to settle down, to make your home permanently. What a magnificent promise to experience the soul exhilarating joy of the presence of the Triune God deep within our soul. And the key to that is being obedient in loving others, even when we are persecuted.

Next, verse nine of chapter 13, Paul is going to illustrate what love looks like. He's going to cite five specific Old Testament laws. The first four are taken directly from the 10 commandments and the fifth from one that is cited in Leviticus 19 and verse 18, if you want to be technical. He says this in verse nine, "For this, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY, YOU SHALL NOT MURDER, YOU SHALL NOT STEAL, YOU SHALL NOT COVET,' And if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this saying, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.'" I love the way Hendrickson explains Paul's emphasis here, very helpful. He said, quote, "You shall love and therefore not commit adultery, but preserve the sacredness of the marriage bond. You shall love and therefore not murder, but help your neighbor keep alive and well. You shall love and accordingly not steal anything that belongs to your neighbor, but rather protect his possessions. You shall love and as a result, not covet what belongs to your neighbor, but rejoice in the fact that it is his." End quote. And by loving in such a way, we love our neighbor as ourselves.

You ever thought about that how you love yourself? Boy, I love myself warts and all, right? I am hopelessly biased in my own favor. I mean, I can see the speck in your eye, a mile away, I can't see the log in my own. That's how we love ourselves unconditionally. That's how we are to love our neighbor. We're blind to our own faults, right? We simply don't see our own faults typically. And when we do, they don't bother us that much, until the Spirit of God really gets a hold of us. Bear in mind that sin manifests itself primarily in the context of relationships. Our love of self warps our personality and it creates a myriad of manipulative and destructive interpersonal styles of relating. I mean, we could go around this room and just start pointing out each other's interpersonal style of relating, you know, and we can see that some are obnoxious, some are strange, others are controlling. Others are bossy, critical, angry, arrogant, goofy, flamboyant, rude, on and on it goes. And seldom do we realize how we impact other people. Because we're so comfortable with our interpersonal style of relating; it works for us. It's how our flesh functions. But boy we can sure get upset when somebody else's interpersonal style of relating bugs us; bothers us; causes conflict in us. But whether we like a person or not, we still must choose to love them. You've heard me say this jokingly before--and I sincerely mean this--I love all of you, but I wouldn't want to go camping for a week with all of you. I mean, that's just how it works, right? We're all different. But we love one another, and we care for one another.

Paul then adds this summary statement in verse 10, "Love does no wrong to a neighbor." Unless the guy's a jerk. Oh, no, no, it doesn't say that--I'm sorry. "Love does no wrong to a neighbor, love therefore is the fulfillment of the law." Indeed, love does no wrong to a neighbor because it's seeking the neighbor's highest good. You know agape love is that self-sacrificing love; that love of choice. It's the opposite of self-love, that is really at the heart of sin. And bear this in mind the next time you attack or ignore a neighbor, or the next time you deliberately seek to injure someone you don't like. When you do that you are not fulfilling the law. You're violating it and you're bringing reproach upon Christ. And you will forfeit blessing in your life and even bring about divine chastening, because typically that will become a pattern in your life. Don't you love being around people that really love other people? I mean, you can, it's like you can see it just almost immediately when you're around them. And then there's those others where it's kind of like, you know, when you turn the magnets where they won't come together, you know, you've got that, that can go on too. Well, even when you have that kind of person, you need to love them. And maybe by God's grace, they will come around.

So we've seen the priority of love, the purpose of love and then now we move into, I should say, the function of love, and then we move finally to the urgency of love. And I'll close with this. In verse 11 he says, "Do this, knowing the time that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed." So when he says, "and this do," he's referring to all the preceding admonitions, don't just read them, don't ignore them; don't be just a hearer of the word. But be a doer of the word. Why? Knowing the time, literally the season, the era in which you live-- which in this context, he's referring to the last days, the age of apostasy that will culminate in our Lord's return. And here the apostle is basically making an appeal to eschatology, to the imminent return of the Lord. And "this do, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep." "Ypnos" in the original language, we get "hypnosis" from that or "hypnotism." And many Christians live as if they're, they've been hidden and hypnotized by the world. They're spiritually asleep. They're oblivious to all the things going on around them. They're unresponsive to the Word and the will of God; there's no sense of urgency. They just kind of live out their life, looking for the next tailgate party. There's no imperatives in their life; there's no passion to present themselves as a living and holy sacrifice to God, which is pleasing to Him. Because He is coming, he's watching and he's coming. And that's what Paul is saying here. Make it a priority here--to love in this way, to do these things.

In fact, many people have no interest in Bible prophecy. "It's so confusing. Let's don't even study it. We don't know when he's going to come. So let's just don't worry about it." Well, that's not at all what the Lord tells us, what Christ inspired John to write in Revelation one and verse three. He said, "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it, for the time is near." By the way time there's the same word that Paul uses here in verse 11. The season, the era of Christ's return, the next great epoch of redemptive history, will be the imminent return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I must ask you, is there anything pertaining to your spiritual life that you would say is really urgent? Pressing, burning? Well, what Paul is saying here, he's exhorting us to make this something that is urgent, the things that he's been talking about here in this text. You know, we expect apathy from non-believers, they're blinded by their sin, they're at enmity with God. They hear the things of God and they think it's stupid. They can't believe anybody would believe any of these things, or live for any of these things, because they're spiritually dead. We were the same way until the Spirit of God changed us. But obviously, this was a serious issue, even for the saints in the first century. The imminent return of Christ and all of his glory was a powerful motivation in Paul's life, and it should be for us as well. First Corinthians 15, verse 34, Paul said, "Become sober-minded as you ought, and stop sinning; for some have no knowledge of God, I speak this to your shame." So again, he writes in verse 11, of Romans 13, "And this do, knowing the time that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep." It's time for you to be woke, Christians--woke in the biblical sense. To be awakened to a life of greater obedience and service to Christ, especially with respect to our love for him and for one another. He even shook the lethargic saints in Ephesus, in Ephesians five verse 14, he said "Awake, sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you." You see, there is no place for indolence in the Christian life; there is no place for apathy. There is no place for just kind of letting things go. Beloved, we are at war. And if you don't see that, you're a fool. You have been blinded. We are at war; the king is coming. That's why Paul said in Ephesians five, verse 16. "Therefore, be careful how you walk, not as unwise men, but as wise, making the most of your time because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is." Think about this the next time you post something on Facebook, the place where our culture tends to go to worship the idol of self, to get affirmed, to promote themselves. To put that real practically, can you imagine the apostle Paul, if they had Facebook and social media in that day, posting things about himself, all the trivia about his life? I mean, can you imagine a post like "Well, hey, had another run with the Scribes and Pharisees today. Took them to task, they got mad, as usual, getting behind on my tent making. You know, anybody that needs a tent let me know, sales are kind of slow right now. Oh, and still struggling with aching joints; the olive oil is not working. If anybody has any recommendations, let me know." You see what I mean? We laugh, don't we? Because those things are utterly absurd to the priority of seeing men and women come to saving faith in Christ and loving them enough to share the gospel. We are to be like Christ, we are to be about the business of the Heavenly Father. And in his first letter, Peter admonished believers in First Peter four, verse 7. That, quote, "The end of all things is at hand; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer." And similarly, James wrote, in James five verse eight, "Be patient; strengthen your hearts for the coming of the Lord is at hand." In other words, it's the next major thing that's going to happen in God's timetable.

So dear Christian, be careful. Don't let the world squeeze you into its mold so that you begin to think and act like them and lose perspective of what's really important. Again, verse 11, "And this do, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed." In fact, it's now 2000 years nearer than when they believed right? And here's the urgency of it all, in verse 12, he goes on to say, "The night is almost gone, the day is at hand." Night speaks of the darkness of Satan's kingdom. Some men love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil. In this age of spiritual blindness and unbelief and rebellion against God the Most High, is almost gone. It carries the idea of it's nearly over, it's ready to draw to a close, the next thing will be the return of the King. And then he says, "and the day is at hand." That's a New Testament term used to describe the dawning, as it were, of Christ's glorious appearing. Obviously, it's used here, and serves as a stark contrast to the night of evil and deception and wickedness and rebellion.

So Paul exhorts us all to be motivated to love, to obedience, because it's urgent. "The night is almost gone, the day is at hand. Therefore," he says in verse 12, "let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." The laying aside is used in other passages. It even carries the idea of changing your clothes. You might say here, folks, it's time to take off your pajamas and put on your armor. Because we're at war. That's the idea. Break away from your old way of living; all the worldliness; all the immaturity.

Verse 13, "Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing"--interesting term. It carries the idea of a binge party, an occasion for excessive eating or drinking with moral debauchery, normally ensuing. And he says, "drunkenness"--behave properly, not in drunkenness, "not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality." My that's a fascinating term in the original language. It means "shameless immorality." Don't we see that today? The way immorality is flaunted in our culture, there is no shame anymore. It carries the idea of indulgence and in sensual pleasure that is unrestrained by any kind of convention or morality. To put it real practically, it's the spring break mentality. It's the honky tonk mentality. It's the strip joint mentality. Break away from that, don't have any part of that. And then he says, as well, "not in strife or jealousy." Strife or just referring to bitter conflict--sometimes that can lead to violence. But instead, verse 14, "Put on," it literally carries the idea of clothing yourself, "put on the Lord Jesus Christ." The verb "put on" carries the idea of decisive action. It’s something you better see, you better commit yourself to, it's urgent--"put on the Lord Jesus Christ." It is a deliberate choice to let Jesus Christ be the armor that you wear. That's the idea; to be like Him, to live to the praise of his glory.

Then he says, "and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts." "Make no provision," the original language helps us understand that this is referring to this idea of not allowing anything to have any kind of evil to have a place in our thinking. We don't want to think about that, we don't want to see it, we don't want to act on it. Give it no opportunity--no opportunity for the flesh in regard to its lusts. Then in Ephesians four, verse 24, Paul says, the same thing, "put on the new self." What is the new self? The one that has been transformed, right? The one that has been clothed in the righteousness of Christ. This is, again, the glory of regeneration. Where there's a spiritual resurrection--we once were dead--he causes us to rise from spiritual death to spiritual life; we become a new creature in Christ, the old things pass away, the new things come. Our every desire, and the disposition of our mind and our heart, is now going in a radically different direction. Unless we allow ourselves, to once again, fall back into sin. Put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. May I challenge you, dear church family, make this your New Year's resolution. May we be a church that is known for our love. May we be a church that abhors what is evil, and clings to that which is good, that abstains from every form of evil. May we be a church that is fully awake to the reality that the night is almost gone and the day is at hand? Folks live in light of the return of our glorious Savior and King. These are dark days. Yes, absolutely. But my, they're exciting days, are they not? What a contrast God has given the world to see the light of Christ emanating from us, from our lives as our lives redound to the glory of God, and they see Christ in us. So let's be the light that we should be. And that it's manifested primarily in our love for Him and our love for one another. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word. My, they speak so directly to each one of us. And rightfully so, because it is your spirit that has written them. And it is your spirit that illuminates our hearts, so that we cannot just understand them intellectually, but we can embrace them wholeheartedly, in the very core of our being and live them out with great joy. So we pray to that end that you will help us to do as you have asked us to do and that in so doing, we might enjoy the fullness of all that is ours in Christ and that others will come to a place of genuine saving faith. We ask all of this in the precious name of Jesus and for his sake. Amen.

Thanks to each of you musicians that lead us so effectively and with such excellence, and humility, and love for Christ, we appreciate that very much. So, will you take your bibles and turn to Micah chapter five. We're going to look primarily at verse two, along with a number of other passages. Micah chapter five. For some of you, the pages in your Bible are still stuck together in that particular section. Amazing passage of scripture here that I would like to deal with under the heading "Bethlehem's King Prophesied."

Let me read the text. Micah five and verse two, "'But as for you, Bethlehem, Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you, One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.'" Clearly, God's redemptive purposes were ordained in eternity past, even as we have just read, and what a comfort that is to the redeemed, especially as we witnessed the catastrophic consequences of the wrath of divine abandonment upon our country, and we experience all manner of wickedness all around us. And how thankful we can be that according to Second Timothy, one, beginning in verse nine, God "has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." And because of this magnificent reality, the Lord has given us a great commission. As you will recall, we read about this in Matthew 28, beginning in verse 19, we are to, "'Go therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'" And this Christmas Eve, this morning, actually, which is the eve of Christmas, I hope to help you get lost once again in the wonder and the praise of who Christ is as we reflect upon his incarnation.

The Christmas story is filled with marvelous mysteries and captivating drama that animate the heart of every twice born saint to new levels of adoration and praise. And I wish to remind you this morning of some essential truths pertaining to Christ, that sometimes we forget, and certainly in our culture truths that are utterly eclipsed by all of the materialism and debauchery and everything else that this particular season now embraces. Because the more we know about Christ, frankly, the more we will love him. And the more we will long for his presence.

Now by way of introduction, in Luke two, we learned that the angel of the Lord appeared to a group of shepherds one night, as they were caring for their sheep on the hill surrounding Jerusalem, which would have been a grazing area for animals that were to be used for temple sacrifices. And they had no idea that the final sacrifice, the Lamb of God, was about to be born. Nor were they aware that they were the divinely chosen recipients of the angelic announcement that's recorded in Luke two beginning in verse 10. They, "said to them, 'Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.' And suddenly there appeared with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, 'Glory to God and the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased.'" Wouldn't you have loved to have been there, to have seen that. Ah, we will see much greater things will we not?

Well, immediately they went straight to Bethlehem, the city of David, which was on the southern slope of Mount Zion just a few miles away. And then Luke tells us in verse 18, that "they made known the statement which had been told them about this child." And then in verse 19, and "Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart." Imagine what would have gone through that young girl's mind. To think, "I have given birth to my Creator." The one who is utterly unapproachable, and holy, and transcendent, has taken on human flesh. And I now hold him in my arms. The one I caress; the one I nurse is the ruler of heaven and earth, the Messiah of Israel. The little hand that holds my finger is the omnipotent hand that will hold the royal scepter. How can this be? And it's astounding is it not, that the Christ child would be lying there in a feeding trough. There's the royal monarch in a place where animals would normally eat. He's not in a house or even a palace but in a stable. And then suddenly, the shepherds come. Don't you know they were sprinting as fast as they could go. They're wild eyed and out of breath, and they're trying to describe what they saw and what they have heard; trembling, shaking as they speak. And certainly Mary and Joseph had to have been speechless.

It's also interesting, as I think about it, prior to giving birth, Mary's comprehension of what was about to happen and the magnitude of her praise, really, as recorded in Luke one is a testimony of the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit, and her profound grasp of the Old Testament scriptures as a teenager. So Mary would have understood that what the shepherds told her was clearly a fulfillment of prophecy. One prophecy, in particular; the same prophecy later spoken to the terrified Herod who inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. Inquired of the, of the Magi--I should say, the chief priests and the scribes--and then later on the Magi come as we've just read. And you will remember that they told him where he was going to be born, and it was in Bethlehem. And they quoted Micah five two. "Herod, we can tell you it's recorded in Micah chapter five and verse two." Of course, it wasn't designated as such in that day. But I'm sure they read it to him. "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago from the days of eternity." What an amazing prophecy, one that was given roughly 700 years before Christ was born. Prophecy that no doubt Mary pondered in her heart.

And as we look at this text, I believe there are at least four spiritual truths that emerge from the prophecy; each one pointing to the glory we have Christ. And I'd like for us to just examine them briefly here this morning, as an act of worship. We're going to see first of all, the birthplace of the king. Then secondly, the rule of the King. Thirdly, the sending of the king and finally, the eternality of the king. Now, it's always important that we understand the context of a passage that we are examining. So let me help you remember this. The context of Micah's prophecy pertained to what was going on in Israel. In that day, the northern kingdom of Israel, was about to fall to Assyria when Micah began his ministry, which by the way, focus primarily on the southern kingdom of Judah where he was from. And unlike his contemporary, Isaiah, who addressed the court of Jerusalem, Micah, preached to the common folks like us, the Calvary Bible Church folks. And sadly, the reign of Ahaz had brought spiritual lethargy to the people and decay, hypocrisy, idolatry, and morality. All of those kinds of things. In fact, they violated the most basic tenets of the Mosaic Covenant. In chapter six, verse eight, he reminds them of what the Lord required of them, quote, "To do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God." But they weren't doing any of those things. It was all a show of religion. In that day, Judah was a very prosperous nation. Their culture was marked by affluence. They were militarily invincible, convinced that they were blessed by God, but their outward prosperity concealed their inward wickedness and rebellion against God. You may recall in Isaiah five there is a graphic picture of their corruption, which frankly, is a perfect portrayal of the United States of America. Judah was characterized by materialism and greed and drunkenness, and debauchery of all sorts. They redefined morality. They called evil good and good evil. They were haughty and defiant. Their leadership and their judicial system was corrupt. All of these things are in Isaiah five. And they fully embraced religious syncretism, where they would combine many different beliefs into one religion, like our modern ecumenism. And the Old Testament sacrificial system included the worship of some of the most vile forms of Canaanite fertility god-worship; worship of Baal and so forth. In fact, the land was filled with high places where those hideous practices would occur. So God commissioned his servant Isaiah, I mean Micah, to prophesy to them and Micah actually means "who is like the Lord." And his message was basically this folks-- Because God is infinitely holy and because of his covenantal relationship with Judah, he must judge you for your sin and your disobedience. But eventually, he will establish his kingdom and he will install his king who will reign in righteousness. And here we see a biblical theme that emerges all through Scripture, and that is salvation always comes through judgment.

And he gives a warning in chapter five and verse one, he says, "'Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops; they have laid siege against us; with a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.'" And although Assyria was the immediate threat, eventually, according to Second Kings, chapter 24, and 25, in 586 the Babylonians laid siege to Jerusalem. Burned it, plundered it, and they captured Zedekiah the King who did evil in the sight of the Lord, the text tells us and then in a hideous act of barbarism, they brought all of the sons of the King before Nebuchadnezzar and he then slaughtered all of Zedekiah sons before him and then put out the king's eyes, so that the massacre of his sons would be the last thing he ever saw. And then he shackled Zedekiah in bronze fetters and brought him to Babylon. So this was Micah's inspired prophecy of impending doom, because of their sin. But this horrific judgment was followed by a message of hope, a promise of salvation, a promise of future blessing. Because God is faithful to his covenant, because of God's unchanging covenant to their forefathers; and this hope is presented to us here in this text.

So first, I want you to notice what is said concerning number one, the birthplace of the king. And yes, Jesus is the King of kings, the Lord of lords. So when you see the baby in the manger, look beyond that and know who he really is. Again, verse two, "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you, One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel." Now let's look at this closely. "Ephrathah" means fruitfulness or abundance. And Bethlehem was known for its vineyards, its olive groves. But it is also the ancient name for "house of bread." Used to distinguish it from other towns that had the same name, like Bethlehem of Zebulon, and so forth. And Bethlehem here refers to where David was born, as we read in First Samuel 17, in verse 12. And already, we begin to see the initial sketchings of what would later become a divine masterpiece, painted on the canvas of redemptive history; you begin to see what God is doing here. And we live in such a remarkable age, because now we can look back, and we can see these things and see what they were pointing to, and see very clearly what God is saying. And for this little seemingly insignificant place, "Too little to be among the clans of Judah", one would be born, who cares for seemingly insignificant people, like you, and like me, that those who abide in him might be productive and bear much fruit.

Now, why of all places would the incarnate king choose to be born in such an insignificant village just a few miles south of Jerusalem? I mean, if I was in charge, I'd want him being born in Rome, you know, or at least Jerusalem. But Bethlehem, really? Well, I think there's a couple of reasons. First of all, we must remember that Bethlehem was a royal city of ancient days. Since Jesus was born the King of Israel, it was only fitting that he be born in the city where Israel's Great King David would have been born. You see, over 1000 years before the Messiah was born, God made an unconditional covenant with David in Second Samuel seven, promising him that that he would raise up from his loins, a descendant, the coming Messiah, that would establish David's kingdom forever, an eternal kingdom, whereby the whole world would be blessed through the coming of seed of David. A promise that was so profound that David was left speechless, he was overwhelmed with awe.

But another reason why he would be born there in Bethlehem, is Bethlehem's history is a picture of its coming Messiah King. Let me explain this to you; Bethlehem has a double meaning. It can mean house or place of bread, and also house or place of fighting and war.

The Hebrew noun "lehem", we would spell it L E H E M, means food, bread or grain. But the verb "laham," L A H A M, means to eat or use as food. But what's interesting is the identical verb also means "to fight" or "to do battle." And this suggests that the ancient Hebrews linked the act of military conquest with that of eating. Because frankly, hunger was what drove most nations to fight against each other so they could survive. But bread in Scripture is the symbol of life. Like manna from heaven, God gave to his people in the wilderness.

And Jesus spoke of this, as you will recall, in John six beginning of verse 33. The "'bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world.'" And then in verse 35, "'I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.'" Now, obviously, fighting and war produces death and sorrow; both of which characterized our Savior king; a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. In fact, conflict was his daily fare, along with all who follow Him. And when a man eats of the bread of life, he declares war on Satan, the god of this world, and we are at battle constantly. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 10, beginning in verse 34, "'Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth; I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter in law against her mother-in-law, and a man's enemies will be the members of his household.'" And I know a number of you experience that even more profoundly at Christmas. I often hear from people in the church saying, "Boy, I dread going to see my family. I love my family, but they hate Christ. And it's just a battle the whole time we're there." Well, to be sure, both life and death marked the past, as well as the future history of Bethlehem. You will recall in Genesis 35, God changed Jacob's name to Israel and said to him, "I am God Almighty, be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from you. The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you, and I will give the land to your descendants after you.'" And what's interesting is on the heels of that covenant, Jacob's beloved wife, Rachel, died in childbirth. And she was buried in Bethlehem, where he sat up a pillar over her grave. And as Rachel was about to die, she named her son Ben-oni, meaning son of my sorrow. But Jacob named him, Benjamin, which means son of my right hand. And Benjamin was one of Jacob's 12 sons, and eventually from Jacob's son, Judah, came King David. Ultimately, the greater King, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ would come from him.

And what a marvelous picture of that greater Son that would be born to Mary in that same place. When you think of what happened with Rachel. Like Rachel, Mary could have called her son Ben-oni meaning "son of my sorrow." But God the Father would ascribe to him an even greater name of our honor, even greater than Benjamin, "son of my right hand." He would call him Jesus, which means "He saves" or "Yahweh is salvation." We know of this very clearly, do we not, in Acts four verse 12, where Peter says, "And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." So it was Bethlehem where Rachel agonized in the birth of Benjamin. And that was a place that became a symbol also of the painful waiting of the sons of Israel, for their Promised Messiah.

Furthermore, Rachel was the ancestress of the northern tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, through Joseph, and Benjamin in the south. And when the Babylonians later came to carry them off into exile, the Lord spoke through Jeremiah the prophet, and said in chapter 31, verse 15, "'A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel is weeping for her children; she refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more.'" And what a sad harbinger of yet another atrocity that would take place in that same region, because it was Bethlehem, where the enraged Herod slaughtered all the male children as you read in Matthew two. And according to verse 17, "Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: 'A voice was heard and Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; and she refused to be comforted, because they were no more.'"

Now, when we move forward in the history of Bethlehem, we discover some more reasons for its royal greatness and symbolism. About 900 years after the death of Rachel, a Moabitess journeyed to Bethlehem, and her name was Ruth. There she became a servant. And a wealthy man named Boaz found her and took her unto himself as his wife. And Boaz, we know, was a type of Christ, the One who became Ruth's kinsman redeemer. And Ruth was included in the physical lineage of the coming Messiah as we read in Matthew chapter one, and verse five. And then Boaz, I always want to say Bozo, because as a little boy, I said that and I got in a great deal of trouble. I thought it was really funny. But it's funny when I preach, I still want to say Bozo, but it's Boaz, okay. Boaz and Ruth had a son named Obed, who became the father of Jesse, who lived in Bethlehem, who had a son named David. So it should be no surprise that the Son of David, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, would be born in that same royal place, as Micah prophesied. And it should be no surprise, that in the providence of God, Caesar Augustus would demand a census to be taken, and that everyone be required to register in the city of their birth.

And it should be no surprise, therefore, that Mary and Joseph would embark upon about a 70 mile journey through treacherous terrain, with her in an advanced stage of pregnancy, to make their way to Bethlehem, their tribal home in Judea. And the Scripture doesn't say this, but I would be surprised if Mary and Joseph did not, quote, Micah's prophecy, with the cadence of the hooves of the little donkey that bore the virgin mother and her child. And surely she pondered this when the shepherds told her their announcement, "Today in the city of David, there has been born for you, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." It's also fascinating, in Luke chapter two verses one through seven, the inspired author is very careful to precisely reveal the sequence of events that led Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Galilee, to Bethlehem of Judea. So this is very, very important.

Now, why not just register in Nazareth? Right? I mean, God could have allowed that to happen. But as I thought about this, the answer would be number one, to demonstrate the sovereignty of Almighty God, who alone can orchestrate the events of history through the miracle of divine providence, to accomplish his purposes, and that's what we see here.

Why would Caesar Augustus decide to have a census at that particular time? Why would he quarrel with Herod at this time? Why would he choose to tax Judea and make it a province instead of making it a separate kingdom. When you think of all these things, you can just see the providential hand of God working to accomplish his purposes. So I think about this kings and rulers, and presidents and congressmen and women and senators and all of that. They may think that they devise their own plans, but ultimately, it is God who directs their heart; even to act wickedly, to accomplish his purposes.

So why not register in Nazareth? Well, not only to demonstrate the sovereignty of God, and his ability to providentially work all things to accomplish his purposes, but also, I believe, to confirm the inspired truth of Scripture. I mean, think about this. As Alva J. McLean said, quote, "Upon the fulfillment of the jots and tittles rests the veracity of God." It is true, right down to the jot and the tittle.

And I think, thirdly, to underscore the supreme importance of interpreting scripture, including the rest of Micah's prophecy concerning the Messianic Kingdom, literally. But as we consider the picture that is painted here, by the village of Bethlehem notice also the prophet speaks of her as being, quote too little to be among the clans of Judah. I mean, folks, this place was not even large enough to be one province, I mean, it was a place of absolute insignificance. I mean, this was the little David amongst the Giants, shall we say? Yet, notice it says, "From you, One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel." Is this not a picture of Christ's great love for us? And for the character of his subjects? Did not the king say that we must enter his kingdom as little children, right? No agenda, no haughty spirit. Just simple, helpless, dependent, faith believing. Did he not say in Matthew five and verse three, "'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'" And in First Corinthians 1:26, the apostle Paul says, "Consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise." And he went on to say, "and the weak things of the world ashamed the things which are strong." And finally, the reason is that "no man should boast before God." I'm so thankful that Christ came unto those who are too little, in the eyes of the world to even be noticed; people like you and me. And to know that our names were written in the Lamb's book of life before the foundation of the world. We were betrothed to the bridegroom, to be his bridal church before time began. Our names are written on the very heart of God, the One who created us, the one who saved us. Christ Jesus, you might say, is the savior of the little ones like us.

So we've seen the birthplace of the king. Secondly, the sending of the King, Micah goes on to say, "One will go forth for Me." This is an amazing statement that the Father would send forth his Son. John five, in verse 36, Jesus said, "'The works which the Father has given Me to accomplish--the very works that I do--testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.'"And in John seven, verse 28, and nine, "Jesus cried out of the temple, teaching and saying...'I have not come up Myself, but He who sent me is true, whom you do not know. I know Him because I am from Him, and He sent Me.'"

It's always an amazing thing that when we consider the triune Godhead in salvation, though the Father sent the Son, we know that the Son voluntarily did the will of the Father. He set aside his glory that he might purchase our redemption. And all of this was empowered and accomplished by the person and the work of the Holy Spirit. It was the Father's love, that would cause him to send his only begotten Son to be our Savior. But it was the sons love that he would suffer and die in our stead. But also it was the Spirit's love to cause the virgin to conceive of the Incarnate Son, that the Word might become flesh and dwell among us, that we might behold his glory.

It was the Spirit's work, to empower the Son of Man, and to sustain him, even in the Garden of Gethsemane and on the cross of Calvary. And then to inspire the written word that we might know saving truth. And it's also the Spirit's work even to this day, to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment, and cause us to be born again. And then to seal us unto the day of redemption. So don't ever forget, though the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one in essence, they are three distinct persons, each equally deserving honor and praise. But often we tend to ascribe most of the honor to the Son, rather than also the Father and the Spirit. But as we can see, each member of the Triune Godhead has played, and will continue to play, a significant role in our redemption. So the Father sends forth his son, is conceived by the Holy Spirit; and yet, it's the Son that descended to earth and takes on human flesh.

And this leads us now to the rule of the King; number three. Notice what the Prophet says, "From you, One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel." Now some will be quick to say, well, that rule was quite a failure. I mean, after all, he came into his own, his own didn't want anything to do with him. Right? They crucified their king. Jesus came preaching the kingdom to the Jew, first, to the lost sheep of Israel, as the text tell us; to the chosen people of the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants. And they said, "We will not have this man to reign over us," right? The people asked, "Is this the son of David?" Matthew 12:23. But the Pharisees insisted that his miraculous works were not a testimony of the Holy Spirit working, but attributed those works to the power of Satan; unimaginable. Self-imposed blindness; blasphemy, which sealed their fate. Only judgment remained. Indeed, Israel rejected their king, they crucified the Son of Man, but this was precisely according to God's plan.

You remember what Peter said, and Acts two, "Men of Israel," beginning of verse 22, "Listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know-- this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men, and put Him to death." You see, what escapes the notice of the critic is that the promised King was also the promised Lamb, the final and the perfect sacrifice that came to make atonement for sin that we might be saved. And from the beginning of His earthly ministry, the Savior King preached, as we read in Matthew 4:17, "'Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" And did not Pilate say to him, in John 18 and verse 37, so "'Are you a king?'" Jesus answered, "'You say correctly that I am a king. For this, I have been born. For this, I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth.'" But also did not John the Baptist say in John 1:29, "Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."

And we know in the book of Revelation, that it is the Lamb that is worthy to open the seals of judgment that are recorded there in Revelation. We know that the wicked will make war on the Lamb and he will overcome. We know that the glorious light of the Lamb will illumine the New Jerusalem. So the long awaited Messiah that came to earth must wait a future fulfillment, when the king will return in all of his glory. And during the interregnum, this interval between the King's first and second coming, the kingdom has taken on a form that's called the "mysteries of the kingdom of heaven" as we read in Matthew 13:11, referring to the truths not disclosed in the Old Testament related to the gospel and to the church. But make no mistake dear friends, the King is coming again and he will be King over Israel as he has promised. Paul spoke of this in Romans 11, beginning of verse 26. The Christ will be king of Israel when quote, "all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, 'THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.' From the standpoint of the gospel, they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of God's choice they are beloved for the sake of the ; the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."

So the inspired Prophet reveals not only the birthplace and the sending and the rule of the King, but finally the eternality of the king. He says, "'His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity.'" This phrase reveals the existence of the Messiah from eternity past to eternity future; from before time began through the coming millennial kingdom on earth and throughout the eternal state. "His goings forth" he says, "are from long ago." And certainly Scripture gives testimony to this truth. The incarnate Christ appeared in the Old Testament as the angel of the Lord on several different occasions. You will recall that in Genesis 16, he appeared to Hagar near a spring in the desert and commanded her to return to Sarah. In Genesis 18, he appeared to Abraham, where he promised his elderly wife, Sarah, a son, and that out of Abraham, a great and powerful nation would arise, and all the nations on earth would be blessed through him. We also read in Genesis 31, he came to Jacob in a dream, and in chapter 32, 97 year old Jacob wrestled with him all night, after which the Lord blessed him and changed his name to Israel. And in Exodus three he appeared to Moses in the burning bush; in Joshua five he appeared to Joshua near Jericho, with a sword drawn in his hand and he appeared to Gideon, in Judges six, when he said, quote, "'The Lord is with you mighty warrior go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand, am I not sending you?'" We know as well in Daniel three he appeared in the furnace of fire with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. And dear friends, he will appear yet again when he returns in the blazing glory of his holiness and the fiery wrath of his indignation when he comes to judge the nations of the world and establish himself as King of kings and Lord of lords. We read a verse in Revelation 19, verse 15, "And from His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it, He may smite the nations and he will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wind press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh, he has a name written, 'KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.'"

Now all of that, to say that, as the prophet describes so clearly, yes, indeed, "His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity." It is absolutely incomprehensible to think that the Savior King has not only existed as the second member of the Triune Godhead from all eternity, but again that he set his love upon us. That is the wonder of it all. Second, Timothy one verse nine that I mentioned earlier, we read that, "His own purpose and grace was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity, but now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus." And Paul said in Titus chapter one, verses one and two that we were, quote, "chosen of God." He goes on to say that we have, quote, "the hope of eternal life, which God who cannot lie, promised, long ages ago." "Pro cronon" in Greek; before time; before time began, can you imagine that? I can't. What was it like before there was time, right? There was no time. There was no space. We read in Scripture that God created both time and space. And so we were chosen before time began. This is the eternality of the king. God set his love upon us, Scripture tells us before the foundations of the earth and under his sovereign control he orchestrated all of the events in my life and in your life, if you know Christ, to bring you to a place where you finally saw who you really were, and you were convicted of your sin, and you set aside all of the arrogance and all of the excuses and all of the ridiculous self-righteous stuff that you came up with to somehow justify yourself before a holy God. And he broke your heart over your sin, and you cried out to him as the only hope of salvation and he saved you by his grace. And all of that was set into motion and ordained before time began. Isn't it interesting that he has ordained the length of our life? We read that in Psalm 139, "In thy book, they were all written the days which were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them." In fact, Psalm 139 tells us that he was sovereignly in control, certainly, when we were conceived in our mother's womb. He superintended our development and our birth. The psalmist says "Thou just form my inward parts; Thou didst weave me in my mother's womb. Thine eyes have seen my unformed substance." Absolutely astounding. To know that before you were even born, he knew the color of your eyes, the color of your hair, the color of your skin. He knew the shape of your nails, your heights, the shape of your face, what your smile would look lik, the sound of your voice, the sound of your laughter. You know, not only knew all those things, he created all those things. He even knew that you would rebel against him and violate his law, that you would reject him and ignore him; that you would actually be his enemy, unable to save yourself from his justice, and his wrath. And yet, knowing all of this, he continues on with his plan of redemption, that cannot be thwarted; that was set into motion and ordained in eternity past.

And through his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the god baby comes into the manger. And as Paul says, in Romans five, eight, "God demonstrates His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." And this is precisely what Micah goes on to prophesy in verse four. "And He will arise and shepherd His flock and the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord His God. And they will remain, because at that time, He will be great to the ends of the earth. This One will be our peace."

Well, dear friends on this Christmas Eve, I pray that you will ponder these things even as Mary did, as Joseph did, and as the redeemed have done throughout redemptive history, that you will make it a priority to ponder these truths in your heart. And that you will also proclaim these truths in every opportunity that you have, especially through all of the social media, stuff that we have available to us today. Unleash the gospel and watch what God can do. And then finally, won't you pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven."

Let's pray together, Father, that is the cry of our heart. Thank you for the magnificent truths pertaining to our Savior and our King. For it's in his name that I pray. Amen.

Will you take your bibles and turn to Matthew's gospel; Matthew chapter one; we're going to look at verses 18 through 25, under the heading "Christ our Sovereign King." And I might say ahead of time that I'm not going to get real deep into every single phrase here, but use this as kind of a general launching pad into understanding more of who Christ is and exalting him. Let me read the passage, Matthew chapter one; familiar passage beginning in verse 18. "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother, Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save his people from their sins.' Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 'BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALLBE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,' which translated means 'GOD WITH US.' And Joseph awoke from asleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin, until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus."

What a wonderful privilege we have, as twice born saints, to contemplate the glories of Christ, to reflect upon the one who is our Creator, the one who is our Savior and King; especially in these difficult days. We all are aware of how God has essentially lifted his restraining grace on our country and we're watching the effects of wickedness all around us. Our country is drowning in depravity. People are trying to satisfy every perverted lust that they have. And God is allowing them to experience the tragic consequences of their wickedness. And that sin splatters on all of us; we all have to deal with it at some level. Moreover, each of us have our own troubles. We all falter under the weight of disappointment, distress, depression at time, dangers, disease, and even death. Most of you, even this morning, are carrying heavy burdens as you come here. It's part of life in a fallen world, right? Sometimes it's worse than others. Some of you are laboring under poverty. Others are dealing with pain--physical pain, sickness, wayward children, broken marriages, and on and on it goes. And we know that Satan has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they are unable to see the light of the glory of Christ. And we know that people without Christ love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil. Proverbs four and verse 19, says, "The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know over what they stumble." But thankfully, there is light in Christ, amen? There is light in Christ. In fact, Jesus said in John 8:12, "'I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness but will have the Light of life.'" And in Acts 26, verse 18. At his conversion, Jesus told Paul that he was going to send him to the Gentiles, quote, "'To open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.'" And friends, we know that this light was prophesied some roughly 700 years earlier. In Isaiah chapter nine and verse two we read this, "The people who walk in darkness will see a great light; Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them." And it is my purpose this morning to help you behold the glorious light of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we do this by contemplating the infinite perfections of his person and his work as we see the one who is full of grace and truth through the eyes of faith.

And the reason this is so important is not only because it's an act of worship, and worship is pleasing to Him, but also it is a soothing balm to aching souls. And I want to impress that upon you this morning. This was Jesus’ earnest prayer on behalf of his disciples on the eve of his crucifixion. You will remember in John 17, verse 24, he said, "'Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am'"-- and here's why--"'so that they may see My glory which You have given Me.'" And that should be our prayer. That we would see his glory. That was Jesus’ Prayer, it should be ours as well. Beloved, the apprehension of the glory of Christ should be the very air that we breathe as believers. We are forever united to the one who has created us, who has saved us by his grace. One day, and perhaps very soon, we will see him face to face. And what on earth could be more worthy of our affections than this? Especially during the Christmas season, right? What better way to prepare ourselves for the inevitable trials of life, and our own inevitable departure from this earth? What better way of finding refuge from our trials than contemplating the glory of the One in whom we are forever hidden?

You know, the inspired Apostle Paul understood this and he practiced this in Second Corinthians four. Beginning in verse eight, we read, "we are afflicted in every way." But he went on to say later, "we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison." Then he says this, "While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." And, folks, my goal this morning, is to help you turn your eyes away from the temporal and to gaze into the eternal and see the glory of our Savior. And when we do this, you will find that by the power of the Spirit, you will be able to transcend the inevitable difficulties of life. Beholding the glory of Christ will always be the daily habit, frankly, of the mature saint who longs to know more of the one in whose image they are gradually being conformed. And in whose presence they will one day spend eternity.

The apostle Paul spoke of this in Colossians, three, remember in verse one, he says, "Therefore if," or it could be translated, "since"-- "you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things," what? "Above"--not below--"keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not all the things that are on earth." And here's why, "For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God."

The Psalmist understood this and spoke of this in Psalm 16, beginning in verse eight, "I have set the Lord continually before me; Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; My flesh also will dwell securely. For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever." And dear friends, what better way of experiencing God's love for us than to meditate upon the glory of Christ? This is, according to Romans five, five the "hope that does not disappoint," right? The hope that does not disappoint. And here's why. "Because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." And what does the Holy Spirit use in this mystical way to communicate and help us understand and experience the love of Christ? He uses his word and he uses his people. And no wonder the Apostle Paul would testify in Philippians, three, eight, "I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ."

So, let's exalt the one who has purchased our redemption. There are four amazing themes that I believe emerge from this passage of scripture that I think can fan the embers, hopefully the flames of our worship of Our Lord. We're going to see four things, first of all, his royal lineage. Secondly, his physical lineage. Thirdly, his virgin birth, and finally, his eternal sonship. And mind you, these are just a few aspects of who he is.

Now, here in Matthew 1:18, through 25, we have a detailed announcement of the birth of Jesus Christ that emphasizes that Mary had been betrothed to Joseph yet she was pregnant. Not because of some immoral union with Joseph, but because of the Holy Spirit. Also, we see that Joseph is called, quote, "The Son of David." Very important. And the son's name has to be called Jesus, "for he will save his people from their sins." But also we see that this Jesus was to be the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy of a virgin birth of a son, whose name shall be called "Immanuel," God with us, referring to Isaiah seven in verse 14. And this detailed information was extremely important to the Jewish people that day because they would have to verify his claim to be the Son of David, the Messiah King. Later on in Matthew 22, Jesus will ask the Pharisees, the leaders of Israel, in verse 42, "'What do you think about the Christ, whose son is He?'" In other words, he's saying what is his genealogical record? What is his ancestry? From what Jewish line has he descended? And, "They said to Him, 'The son of David,'" which was the most common messianic title used in that day. Now, Jesus knew that they knew, and the Jews kept meticulous, genealogical records. He wasn't trying to find out, hey, do you guys realize...he already knew that? Because he knew that no one could possibly hold a position of authority or responsibility without verification of their genealogy. And so he wanted to press that upon their minds that yes, they knew his genealogy. Jesus then went on in that passage to demonstrate that not only must Christ be the physical descendant of David, but also as the Messiah, he would have to be the, quote, "Son of God," which they could not understand. And they could not believe--actually, they would not believe it.

Jesus was therefore not only underscoring his royal lineage but also asserting his deity. This was so disconcerting to the Pharisees that in verse 46, we read, "No one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question." Now, here's what's fascinating. Notice what precedes Matthew's account of the birth of Christ in verses 18 and following. That, of course, is the genealogy of Christ.

And so we come to my first point here, we're going to see his royal lineage. Verse one of chapter one simply says, "the record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the Son of David, the son of Abraham," and then it continues on in great detail. Now, it's amazing, because here we learned that Jesus was by birth, the one that was promised to Abraham in Genesis 12, verses one through three--the covenant that was made over 2000 years before Jesus was even born. And he is also therefore, a descendant of King David, therefore, the son of David, the Messiah King, who would fulfill the covenant promises that were given to David in Second Samuel seven; the promises of a future son that would establish David's kingdom forever and so forth. And we'll not take time to go through this record in detail, but I want you to understand that this was never disputed by the meticulous Jewish leaders, never disputed. It's intriguing that Matthew's genealogy moves forward from Abraham to Joseph, who was Jesus legal, not physical, but legal father. This was crucial, because the royal line must be passed through the legal father, the Jews would have understood this, they would have looked for this. And since Jesus had no human father, his royal lineage had to come from a father that the Jews would consider to be his legal father. One that could adopt him and grant him all the rights and privileges of sonship. And of course, Joseph was, you might say, his foster father. This was never in dispute. In fact, in Luke four and verse 22, Jesus's teaching in the synagogue in Nazareth, and the people were speaking well of him, and they were saying quote, "'Is this not Joseph's son?'" Now, there may well have been a second reason of Matthew's record done to underscore the claim of the virgin birth, it may have been an attempt to distinguish this virgin birth from other virgin birth myths that were floating around in that time of history. The ancient Babylonians had their versions, the Sumerians, the Acadians, even the Buddhists and the Hindus. The Greeks, for example, believed that Zeus empowered a snake to impregnate the Virgin goddess Olympias, who bore a son whose name was Alexander the Great. So you have all of this ridiculous stuff floating around. Furthermore, Matthew's account, along with Luke's later on, would also serve to refute some of the wild claims that Jesus was the son of a Roman soldier, or others were saying that Joseph merely defiled Mary out of wedlock.

Now, allow me a digression here. I believe it's worthwhile as we look briefly at this royal lineage. There is a fascinating footnote deserving our attention in verse 11. It says, "Josiah became the father of Jeconiah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon. After the deportation to Babylon; Jeconiah became the father of Shealtiel", and so on. Now, what is fascinating, if you look in Jeremiah 22 and verse 30--you don't have to do that, I'll tell you what's there--God pronounced a curse on Jeconiah, who is also called Jehoiachin or Coniah; he ruled only three months before he was taken into captivity, but the curse said that he would never have a son that would sit on the throne of David. So obviously, this would eliminate Jesus. If he had been in Joseph's bloodline, but God remedied all of that, because Jesus' bloodline to the throne of David came through Mary from Nathan, Solomon's brother, not Solomon. Jeconiah's line. Now, don't you know that the Jews would have spotted this if it had not been true and use it to their advantage. In fact, if there was one single cell of blood from that line, he would have been disqualified, and they would have pointed it out. He could not be in the line, descending from David through Jeconiah. So God bypassed that curse, through the virgin birth, yet at the same time, giving Jesus the royal right to reign as the legal heir of the father, as well as the blood heir of his mother who descended from David through Nathan. Notice in verse 16, "Jacob was the father of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah." "By whom," you don't see this in English, but in Greek, this is in the feminine, not the masculine gender, which clearly indicates that Jesus was not born by Joseph, but by Mary. Once again, we witnessed the miracle of the inspiration of Scripture, where the Holy Spirit superintended human authors to precisely record the stunning miracle of divine providence. So Matthew establishes these crucial truths from the very outset of the gospel. But Jesus had to be more than the legal heir of the throne of David; he had to be more than a royal king, he also had to be fully God; to be the perfect and holy sacrifice. That would be the propitiation for our sins; a sacrifice of infinite value necessary to atone for sin. Moreover, he also had to be fully human, in order to die in our stead, and take him upon himself the penalty of our sin, as our substitute, in order to conquer death through the resurrection, and thus guarantee the resurrection of all who trust in Him.

So Jesus had to also be the physical descendant of David--human blood, the human blood of Abraham, and David had to flow through his veins. Their very DNA had to make up his physical body. And it's interesting to demonstrate this, the Holy Spirit did two things. First, he follows the genealogical record with a detailed account of his divine conception in his virgin mother, Mary, in verses 18 through 25. But then, secondly, he carefully details a second genealogy, inspired by another author, Luke, we read about this in Luke three.

And we'll look at this briefly under a second heading. We've seen his royal lineage and now we're going to look at his physical lineage. And if we were to take time, we go to Luke three and look closely at verses 23 through 38. And this is actually Mary's genealogy. So unlike Matthew's genealogy that starts with Abraham, and moves forward in time to Joseph making it, shall we say Joseph's genealogy. Luke's genealogy begins with Jesus and moves backwards in time, all the way to Adam, making this Mary's genealogy, and this demonstrates Jesus's actual bloodline. So Matthew traces Jesus' ancestry beginning with Abraham, whereas Luke stresses his identification, shall we say, with the entire human race. Jesus is a son of Adam. However, unlike the disobedient Adam, Jesus is the obedient second, Adam. While at the same time, he is indeed the true son of God. Now bear in mind, Joseph and Mary's claim that they had remained sexually pure, even though she's pregnant--that they remain sexually pure in this period of betrothal and that the child that she bore was conceived by the Holy Spirit, that He is going to be the Messiah and so forth--that was a story that certainly the people would have found laughably absurd. Ridiculous. Imagine Mary trying to explain what the angel said to her right? Just imagine, yeah, the angel met with me, Luke 1:32. And here's what he said, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end." Yeah, right. And as soon as the leaders would hear this, they would instantly go to the genealogical records to refute this, to refute that. There was absolutely no possibility that these two young people; these nobodies, these teenagers, were speaking the truth. But instead, what's fascinating is that genealogical records corroborate their story. Matthew immediately establishes Jesus ancestry connecting it with the Old Testament and with Israel, but Luke waits until Jesus is into his ministry. Jesus would have been somewhere in his 30s when his claims to be the Son of God would have absolutely shaken the Jews to the core and infuriated them.

And Luke also makes it clear in chapter one that indeed this was a virgin birth. Notice, verse 34, "Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be since I am a virgin?'" verse 35, "The angel answered and said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; and for that reason, the holy Child will be called the Son of God.'" And when we see this emphasis, even in the genealogical record, we are amazed at all of it. Notice in chapter three and verse 23, "When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about 30 years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph." "As was supposed," or "so it was thought." And see what Luke is going to make clear is that Joseph was not Jesus' father. What a marvelous thing God did in these accounts, not only to prove Jesus royal lineage, but also vindicate and protect young Mary and Joseph from certain scorn.

Now, after considering the marvels of both his royal and physical lineage, let's reflect for a moment upon his virgin birth. Number three, in our little outline back to Matthew chapter one and verse 18. And again, my purpose here is not to carefully exposit every word of the text, but rather to focus just primarily, here at least, on the virgin birth. There we read in verse 18, "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit." Now, it's important for us to understand a bit of the culture of that day. A Hebrew marriage was arranged by contract between the families of the bride and the groom. And this contract was sealed by a dowry, a "mohar," paid by the groom's family, to the father of the bride. And this was to pay for the wedding expenses. The weddings were typically quite expensive. They typically lasted seven days,; we get off easy in our day, right? The bride's father would also hold a portion of the dowry and trust for his daughter as a life insurance policy for her if the husband were to die, and if he divorced her, the husband would never see any of the money until his father-in-law died. And then there would be an inheritance.

And a Jewish wedding custom typically included two very sacred stages. First, you have the "kiddushin" which was the betrothal period, the engagement period, and that included a contract and it was considered legally binding. They were even considered legally married, even though the actual wedding had not taken place. And the betrothal period typically would last about 12 months. And then that was done primarily to prove that the bride was not pregnant, and that the couple were dedicated to sexual purity.

And then the second stage beyond the kiddushin was the "huppah," the marriage ceremony. And obviously Mary's pregnancy required a great deal of explanation. In verse 18. We read "before they came together, she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit." And so knowing he was not the father, Joseph's reaction was to be expected. Right? Verse 19, "Joseph, her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, desired to put her away secretly." And he could have demanded her public humiliation. In fact, he could have even demanded a stoning, based on Deuteronomy 22. But because of his godly compassion, and his undying love for Mary, he chose instead to pursue just a private divorce. But notice what happened in verse 20. "But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, 'Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for that which has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.'" Now Joseph knew that what Mary had told him about the angelic announcement was, in fact, true. But don't you know, that would have been hard to deal with as a young man.

The angel went on in verse 21, "'She will bear a Son ; and you shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins.'" Then again in verse 22, and following, "Now, all this took place that what was spoken by the Lord, through the prophet," referring to Isaiah seven and verse 14, "might be fulfilled saying, 'BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,' which means 'God with us.'" Verse 24, "And Joseph arose from asleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him and took her as his wife and kept her a virgin, until she gave birth to a son and called his name Jesus."

Beloved, please understand, without a virgin birth, there would be no incarnation. You see, had Jesus been some illegitimate son, his claim to deity would be demonstrably false. Think about this, the work of redemption demanded a theater upon a god man. It required one who could supernaturally fuse the human nature with the divine and to some indissoluble bond. That's what we have in the incarnation of Christ. A man had to suffer punishment only God could endure, thus requiring birth. And as we think about it, a man had to be our substitute, to bear our punishment for all who would believe; yet only God could fully bear the entire wrath of God. A sinless man had to die, yet only God is holy, right? Human flesh had to go to the grave, yet only God could overcome the grave.

And think about this, how could Christ be our faithful high priest that could sympathize with all of our infirmities unless he were both human and divine. Neither man alone, nor God alone could accomplish these things. Both the human and the divine natures had to be supernaturally fused together. And that's what we see even in these genealogical records, an inscrutable mystery beyond our finding out. It's staggering to think about the two natures of Christ. I've reflected upon this on many occasions, and by the way, this is part of what it means to contemplate the glories of Christ. I mean, think about this, even as a fetus, growing within Mary's womb, he was, according to Hebrews one three" upholding all things by the Word of His power." He required milk from his mother's breast. Yet according to Colossians, 1:17, "In him all things hold together." In his humaneness, he would grow hungry. We would read how he would grow thirsty, weak and tired, yet in his divinity, he could multiply the bread and the fish in the water and the wine. And while on the boat with his disciples, remember how he slept in utter exhaustion, only to rise as the omnipotent ruler of the universe and calm the sea and the storm with a word.

Furthermore, his human nature, we know has now ascended into heaven, yet because of His divine nature, he continues to be omnipresent. Promising, according to Matthew 28 and verse 20, "'I am with you always, even to the end of the age.'" We know as well that in his humaneness, according to Hebrews four, verse 15, "he was tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin;" meaning he could not sin. In fact, in his divinity, he was not even tempted internally. Because as we read in James 1:13, God cannot be tempted with evil. Jesus had no sin nature; therefore, he could have never sinned. We read, for example, in Hebrews seven, verse 26, that he was, quote, "wholly innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners.": First Peter 119, he was "a lamb unblemished and spotless." Second Corinthians 5:21, "He made Him who knew no sin, to be sin on our behalf so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

So indeed, in the incarnation, we see this virgin birth, allowing this fusion of the human and the divine. And I might add that this was also prophesied in the "protoevangelium" or the first evangelistic message, that we read in Genesis three and verse 15. You will remember that passage; after cursing the physical serpent, God turned to Satan, the spiritual serpent that had seduced Adam and Eve in the garden and promised that there would be a perpetual battle that would occur from that day on, and here's why. He says, because you're seed--referring to Satan's offspring; unbelievers--and her seed; her descendent Christ and all who belong to him, would be at war. The term "seed" can be understood in a collective sense, referring to all who would make up the progeny of Satan and Eve. But he can also be understood as a singular, final and glorious product of a woman; one born without the seed of a male, but from the woman and the Holy Spirit. And Paul attests to this, for example, in Galatians, chapter four and verse four, we read "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman." No mention of man, confirming Jesus virgin birth once again, as well as his humanity.

So we've reflected a little bit on his royal and physical lineage, his virgin birth, and now finally, think about his eternal sonship for a moment. Notice in Matthew one, verse 23, "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL,' which translated means 'God with us.'" And the angel reveals more about the Son when he appeared to Mary in Luke 1:32, "he will be called the Son of the Most High."

So not only was Jesus Christ, the Messiah, king of Israel, fully God, yet fully man born of a virgin, but also, and this is so incredible, he was the eternal Son of God before he was conceived and born. He did not become the son of God at his incarnation. Scripture teaches that a father/son relationship pre-existed in eternity past. That relationship between the Father and Christ the Son. Again, Galatians, four, four, "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman." Romans one verse three, God promised his son who "was born of a descendant of David, according to the flesh." Now, some will argue that Jesus assumed the role of a son at his incarnation, a subordinate role that he did not have prior to the incarnation. And often they will use Hebrews chapter one and verse five, which is a quotation from Psalm two seven, as a proof text. And there we read, "'You are My Son, today I have begotten you, I will be a Father to Him and He shall be a Son to Me.?'" Now, since "begetting" normally speaks of a person's origin, and since sons are typically subordinate to their fathers, that would seem to support this view. And indeed Christ, though he was equal to God, voluntarily submitted to the Father, to do the Father's will. He willingly set aside his divine attributes in his incarnation. We read about this in Philippians, two and John 5:19. But we must understand that the context of Psalm two, that we read here in Hebrews, one must be understood figuratively, not literally, "This day have I begotten thee," is a reference to the eternal decree of God, not a specific event, and a point in time.

Let me explain this a little bit more. Since the term "begotten" can speak of the origin of one's offspring, it's natural to assume that the begetting of a son speaks of his conception. In other words, a point in time when a child comes into existence. And many apply this understanding to the conception of Christ. But there are big problems with this view. Number one, it was the Holy Spirit, not the father, who conceived the incarnate Christ. And this alone eliminates the idea of the Father begetting, or shall we say, originating the Son, in Psalm two and, and John 1:14. This obviously must refer to something other than conception.

But secondly, in John 1, verses one through three, it makes it very clear that Christ is not a created being. He is a pre-existent, self-existent, one. There we read that he was in the beginning with God. So what does this beginning refer to? If it's not to origin, I mean, other passages speak of Christ as the only begotten of the Father, John 1:14, verse 18; John 3:16, verse 18; Hebrews 11, verse 17. You see, the term "only begotten" in the original language, can mean something far more than merely the origin of one's offspring, it literally can mean "one of a kind," one of a kind. We see this in the created order. Every creature begets its own unique offspring, doesn't it? After its own kind, right? Genesis one. Every offspring bears the exact likeness of its parent. And when applied to Christ, this would emphasize his utter uniqueness and the likeness to his father. We see this explained, for example, in Hebrews chapter one and verse three, "He is the radiance of His glory, and the exact representation of His nature." So when the Holy Spirit uses the term "begotten," he's not speaking of origin. But rather, dear friends, he's speaking of the absolute uniqueness and oneness of essence between the Father and the Son. All of which is consistent with the essential oneness found in the Triune Godhead. Moreover, scripture's primary use of the title, "Son of God" reveals that it speaks of his essential deity and absolute equality with God, not his voluntary subordination or submission to the Father. And this was precisely the issue in John five, that infuriated the Jewish leaders when they charged Jesus with blasphemy. According to verse 18, we read, because He not only had broken the Sabbath," but also said that God was his Father, making himself what? Equal with God. So again, the title "Son of God" speaks of his deity and equality with God, not his submission to the Father.

So when we consider Christ as the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father, don't be confused by thinking in terms of procreation. But rather understand these concepts as conveying the transcendent truths pertaining to the essential oneness shared by the members of the Triune Godhead, and the utter uniqueness of Christ in his perfect likeness and essence to the Father, and the Spirit. They are co equal and con-substantial. They are all one of the same essence. And what an unfathomable concept this is. And here again, we gaze beyond the temporal into the eternal as we contemplate the glory of Christ. In his incarnation, he remained the eternal Son of God; he remained fully divine, yet he became what he previously had not been--fully human. Gregory of Nazianzus, the fourth century Archbishop of Gaston and Opal, and theologian said this quote, "He remained what He was; What he was not, He assumed."

In fact, Jesus did not give up his human nature, even after his death and resurrection. I want you to catch this now, he did not temporarily become a man, but rather in his divine nature was permanently joined to his human nature. When we see Christ, we will see one in whose image we reflect; he will look human, he will not be some something that you can't imagine. I guess that will be true at some level, but you understand what I'm saying, I think. He appeared to his disciples, as a man after his resurrection, did he not? They saw the scars of nail prints in his hands, he had flesh and bone. He ate food, he was taken up into heaven while talking with his disciples, and the angel promise in Acts 1:11, "This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven." And I think about Stephen, when he gazed into heaven as he was being stoned, and he saw Jesus. According to Acts 7:56, he saw Jesus as, quote, "The Son of Man standing at the right hand of God." And in John's vision, in the book of Revelation, he sees Jesus in his resplendent glory, and yet he describes him as quote, "One like a Son of Man," Revelation 1:13. As Paul said, in Philippians, two, beginning in verse eight, He is the one who "humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Dear friends, I pray that it will become more and more of your habit, to contemplate the infinite perfections of the glory of Christ. And through the eyes of faith, you will see not so much all of his glory, because that is beyond anything that we can really imagine, but what you will see is what's recorded in Scripture, you will see the one who is full of grace and truth. And when you apply that to your life, you will be so overwhelmed that you will transcend the temporal and begin to exist more in the eternal.

As the old hymn says, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory, and grace." So this Christmas season, let's take extra time to ponder the glory of Christ and may our hearts resonate with the humaneness, who captured this essence of the angelic praise. When he wrote "Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ, the Everlasting Lord, late in time behold Him come, offspring of the virgin's womb. Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity; pleased as man with me to dwell, Jesus, our Immanuel. Hark, the herald angels sing, glory to the newborn king." Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you that You have given us the eyes of faith to look beyond this world in which we live and to see the glory of Christ first. And I pray that for each one of us that know and love Christ, that we will make it indeed, our habit more and more. To pensively reflect on all that he is. The one who is full of grace and truth. And Lord as we do this, we know that by the power of your Spirit, we will experience more fully all that we have in Christ, even though the fullness of it all awaits glory. But until that time, may this be the priority of our heart as believers. So we commit to you and we thank you for all that you have done for us , for it's in Christ's name and for his glory that I pray. Amen.

We return once again to Mark's gospel. So if you will take your Bibles and turn there, Mark chapter 11. We're going to be examining verses 22 through 25, under the heading, "Essentials of Effectual Prayer." The great 19th century Scottish preacher, Robert Murray M'Cheyne, once said, "What a man is on his knees before God, that He is and nothing more." How do you see yourself as a Christian? What measure do you use to accurately assess who you really are? Does your self-evaluation match God's evaluation of you? Dear Christian, the most accurate measure of our true character is our secret devotion to God in prayer. What we are on our knees before God, that we are and nothing more. Christ was in constant prayer. Don't you think we should be as well? After healing many people with various diseases and casting out many demons, we read in Mark one verse 35, "In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went away to a secluded place and was praying there." Matthew tells us in chapter 14, verse 21, and following, that Jesus after feeding "5000 men who ate besides women and children...Immediately He made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side while He sent the crowds away. After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray. And when it was evening, He was there alone." And in Matthew 26, beginning of verse 36, we read, "Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and He said to his disciples, 'Sit here while I go over there and pray.' And he took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved, and distressed. Then He said to them, 'My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.' And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, 'My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet, not as I will, but as You will.'" Jesus said in Matthew six, verse six, "'when you pray, go into your inner room, close your door and pray to your Father, who is in secret. And your Father who sees what is done and secret will reward you.'" And Paul said in First Thessalonians five and verse 17, that we should "pray without ceasing." We need to just be in a constant state of communion with our Lord.

Our passage here in Mark 11 is very instructive regarding the essentials of effectual prayer. There will basically be three that we will look at. Let me remind you of the context; Jesus has entered into Jerusalem and been he's been hailed as the Messiah, they're long-awaited deliverer. Then the next day as Jesus and his disciples return to Jerusalem, he cursed and unproductive fig tree which was a powerful parable, portraying the pretense of spirituality that was indicative of the people and to give a preview of the coming destruction upon the temple. And there Jesus symbolically denounced the nation Israel for their unbelief. Next, Jesus cleansed the temple; he physically removed the criminal merchants that had occupied its precincts. Men that were working on behalf of the high priest. Jesus claimed possession of the temple, we believe, for probably two days, Monday and Tuesday of the Passion Week. And there he ruled as sovereign. And every stratum of official Judaism came and challenged his authority. They did this publicly, and he not only defeated every one of their arguments, he humiliated them. And during this time, Matthew 21 records Jesus speaking three parables that clearly condemned Israel. There was the parable of the two sons in Matthew 21, verses 28 through 32, that speaks of the rebellion of the nation, then the parable of the wicked husbandman in Matthew 21, verses 33 through 46, which speaks of the retribution of the nation. And then the parable of the wedding feast in Matthew 22 one through 14, which speaks of the rejection of the nation. And we know that during that time, some of the Pharisees and even some of the Herodians, approached Jesus to ask whether it is proper to pay tribute to Caesar. And Jesus answers them, you will recall, with the illustration of the coin, we will read more about that in Mark 12. The Sadducees approached Jesus with their favorite question about the resurrection because they didn't believe in a resurrection; they didn't believe in an afterlife. And he answers them and literally rebukes them openly for their ignorance of the scriptures. And again, we will see this more when we get to Mark 12. And later in Mark 12 we also read what was going on during this time there was a Pharisaic lawyer that asks a legal question of Jesus. He says, "which is the greatest commandment?" Mark 12:28. Jesus answered, 'The foremost is , "HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE TEH LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOULD, AND WITH ALL YOUR MOND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH." The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these. ‘The scribe said to Him, 'Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM; AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE'S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burned offerings and sacrifices.' When Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, he said to him, 'You are not far from the kingdom of God.'" Not far, but not in, which was a shocking insult to the Pharisee. And then we read, "After that no one would venture to ask Him any more questions."

And then, on the heels of that, Jesus went on to prove his Messiahship by means of an appeal to David, out of Psalm 110. So, I'm telling you all this to help you see that by now, the antagonism of the Jewish religious leaders was absolutely at a boiling point; that they were afraid to do anything to him, because the people were in awe of Jesus, albeit superficially so; they didn't really understand who he really was. Jesus had been living among the common people outside of Jerusalem all this time, but now he has invaded the very territory of the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Worse yet, he has publicly humiliated them by not only taking over the temple, but by completely besting them in all of their arguments.

Now, back to our text. If we look at Mark 11, actually, in verse 19, we can kind of get the flow here. "When evening came, they would go out of the city. As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter said to Him, 'Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed, has withered.'" And then we come to our text for this morning. "And Jesus answered, saying to them, 'Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them. And they will be granted you. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.'"

Now, as we read this, it's appropriate to ask why such an abrupt transition in the narrative. Peter says to him, "Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed, has withered." And then Jesus answers and says, "'Have faith in God.'" Then he teaches a lesson on prayer. At first glance, there was this, would seem to be a non sequitur. It doesn't seem to follow; it doesn't quite connect. But when you understand the context, when you understand what was happening at that moment, in time, it becomes very, very clear what Jesus was doing. Bear in mind that the Jewish leaders now are trying to kill him. And soon they would succeed. And soon after that the temple, which was called the House of Prayer, would be destroyed. Now think about it. Jesus has been with the disciples. He's been teaching them. He's been providing and protecting them. He's been encouraging them, strengthening them, but in a few days, he's going to be gone. They're going to be all on their own. They will be utterly dependent upon the power of prayer, to access God when Jesus is gone, therefore, now catch this. Therefore, they must be absolutely confident that they have access to the same power that withered the fig tree. And I wish to explain and apply this passage under three headings. I hope this will be helpful to you. And think of it this way, effectual prayer--in other words, prayer that God hears and answers--requires three essential convictions. Number one, we must be confident of God's power. Secondly, confident of God's character. And thirdly, conscious of God's forgiveness. Want you to examine your heart, as we look at this. And I might say that it's been my experience over the years and dealing with so many people, that what we are about to examine is foreign to a lot of Christians. So let's pray that the Spirit of God will help us see these things.

First of all, let's understand the issue of being confident of God's power. Notice again, how the Lord's teaching on prayer follows this miraculous withering of the fig tree, that he has cursed. Now, obviously, this isn't by coincidence, it's by design. You see, what the Lord wanted to do is give them a living illustration of what God can do. One, that they would remember, one that they would never forget. Because what was happening symbolically in the withering of the tree was going to happen in reality, especially in AD 70, when the temple was destroyed by the Romans, but first they must learn the essentials of effectual prayer. And that begins, it begins by remembering his supernatural works in the past. And this is what bolsters our confidence in who God is and what he can do in the present. Notice again, in Mark 11, verse 21, "Peter said to Him, 'Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed, has withered.'" Matthew adds this in Matthew 21, verse 20, "Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, 'How did the fig tree wither all at once?' And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea', it will happen.'" Obviously, Jesus is using hyperbole here to make his point. Then he says, "'And all things you ask and prayer, believing, You will receive.'" So what we see here is the profound importance that God places on remembering the miraculous works of deliverance that he has performed in the past. And this is what fortifies us in our prayer life. And the key is the word "remember"-- the word "remember." Let me give you some examples. In Exodus 13, verse three, Moses said to the people, "Remember this day in which you went out from Egypt, from the house of slavery; for by a powerful hand, the Lord brought you out from this place." And repeatedly, God instructed Moses to tell the covenant people to remember the powerful acts of God on their behalf in the past, in order to prepare them for what they would encounter in the future as they entered into the land of Canaan. Earlier we read out of First Chronicles 16, the story of when they brought the Ark of God and placed it inside the tent, which David had pitched for it, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God; and then David assigned Asaph and his relatives to give thanks to the Lord. And in verse eight, we read, "Oh, give thanks to the Lord." He says, "Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; speak of all His wonders, seek the Lord and His strength, seek His face continually." And here it is, folks "Remember His wonderful deeds, which He has done, His marvels and the judgments of His mouth." Psalm 105, beginning of verse five, the Psalmist says, "Remember His wonders which He has done, His marvels and the judgments uttered by His mouth, O seed of Abraham, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He is the Lord our God, His judgments are in all the earth."

And think about what David did when he was in the depths of despair, fearing for his own life, because in the enemies were about to destroy him; he was desperately in need of deliverance. We read about this in Psalm 143, verse five. It says, "I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your doings. I muse on the work of Your hands, I stretch out my hands to You; my soul longs for You, as a parched land." And, folks, this is so instructive to us. I mean, think about those times when we are in the depths of despair. When terror has overwhelmed us, where there is great sorrow or there is great pain. What we learn here is one of the things that we need to do. In fact, the very first thing we need to do when we call out to the Lord is remember who he is and what he's done. Oh, Lord, in the midst of my pain, right now, I am crying out for deliverance. My mind goes back to all that you have done down through redemptive history, my mind can rehearse those things that I read in the Old Testament, and what I can see in the New Testament, and what I can see in my life, thank you for that. Therefore, I will trust you come what may. Isaiah spoke of this in Isaiah 46, beginning in verse eight. "'Remember this," he says, "and be assured; recall it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all my good pleasure.''" But friends, I would ask you, is this characteristic of your prayer life? When you come before the Lord in prayer, do you take time to remember what he has done?

If not, you're going to lack confidence in God's power. You will operate in the flesh. And frankly, your prayers will, in many ways, be an insult to God's character. I encourage you to emulate Asaph. We read about him some earlier today and Psalm 77, for example, there's a record there of a communal lament where he expresses past and present fears and wonders if God is willing and even able, to deal with his concerns. And as one of God's chosen servants to lead the people of Israel spiritually, Asaph would have been accustomed to traversing the oceans of sorrow. And I'm sure he had weathered many a gale in his own life and his ministry. And often the storms of trials associated with serving the master can tempt one to even be drowned in your own tears. We can all identify with his agony of soul. Here's what he says in Psalm 77, beginning of verse one, "My voice rises to God, and I will cry aloud; my voice rises to God and He will hear me." So in other words, he begins by just voicing his complaint to God, rather than allowing his depression to cause him to sink even further into some self-centered morass. He verbalizes his problems before the throne of grace. He goes on to say, "In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord." In verse four, we read, "You have held my eyelids open; I am so troubled that I cannot speak." You know what those sleepless nights are like, don't you? I do. We've all been there. It's easy to sink further into a quagmire of depression and despair, to doubt God's goodness, to somehow think that he's abandoned us. How can we have confidence in God's power and goodness, if these deceptions are somehow ruling our mind? We can't. So we need to do what Asaph did in Psalm 77. He says this beginning in verse 11, "I shall remember the deeds of the Lord; surely I will remember Your wonders of old. I will meditate on all Your work and muse on Your deeds." You see, again, dear friends, rehearsing God's mighty acts in the past, bolsters our confidence that he could certainly perform them yet again. In particular Asaph recalls the Exodus, perhaps the most glorious of all the deliverances in the history of Israel, when the earth trembled, and God miraculously delivered them beginning in verse 13. We read "Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? You are the God who works wonders; You have made known Your strength among the peoples. You have by Your power redeemed Your people, the sons of Jacob, and Joseph. The waters saw You O God; the water saw you, they were in anguish; the deeps also trembled. The clouds poured out water; and skies gave forth a sound; Your arrows flashed here and there. The sound of Your thunder was in the whirlwind; the lightnings lit up the world; the earth trembled and shook. Your way was in the sea and your paths in the mighty waters, and your footprints may not be known. You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron." Folks, this is the stuff of effectual prayer. This is what one does when one is confident in the power of God.

But secondly, we must be confident of God's character. Notice again, verse 21 of our text and Mark 11. "Being reminded, Peter said to Him, 'Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed, has withered.'" And Jesus answered saying to them, 'Have faith in God.' Interesting statement, "have faith in God." You see, by itself, faith is powerless. Contrary to the teachings of so many charlatans in the word faith movement, our confidence you see must not be in our faith, but in the object of our faith. Namely, in the character of God. Faith is merely the door to having access to the power of God. Our faith is what successfully invokes God's supernatural power to accomplish his purposes, for His glory, whatever that might be. And most of the time, we don't really know what his purposes are, but we relax in them. In fact, I was thinking about this, it's easy for me to blur that line, in my thinking, in my prayers. It's easy for me, wanting God to somehow make me more glorious than what I would deserve; to somehow answer my prayer just for me personally, in some special way, because I'm deserving of this as if I'm the number one priority rather than him. And I'm thankful that the indwelling Spirit can help align my prayers to the will of God. Because we don't know how to pray as we should, right? We read about this in Romans eight, verse 26, "The Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words." There's some kind of inner Trinitarian communication that occurs, even while we're praying. "He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints, according to the will of God." I might add that the Spirit's work in our prayers, really parallel, Christ's high priestly work of intercession. But at the most fundamental level, we've got to have faith in God. And He will always respond consistent with his character. He will always respond in perfect holiness. He will always respond in perfect righteousness, judgment, according to his will, and according to his timing; always for the purpose of bringing glory to himself. Because you and I are merely incidental to his purposes. We can be confident knowing that he will never act contrary to the infinite perfections of his character. And it is this confidence that is so essential for effectual prayer. First, John 5:14, "this is the confidence which we have before him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, and whatever we ask, we know that we have the request which we have asked from Him." Practically, think of it this way. Father, it is my great desire to be healed from this dreadful disease. Father, it is my great desire to be healed from what has tormented me from years or to be delivered from this horrible situation? It is my will that somehow, we have a government that isn't corrupt, and oppressive. Father, I've got a whole list of things, but I am absolutely confident as I cry out to you with my requests, that you are going to hear the cry of my heart and you will act consistent with your holy character. I know that whatever your answer will be, it will be holy, it will be just, it will be righteous. And ultimately, it will be good for me and mainly for your glory. And therefore I know that you're always up to something grand and glorious in my life, something that I might not even experience and enjoy until glory. So I trust in your good purpose, to bring glory to yourself. Because I trust in your character. Because I'm united with you, I will one day experience the fullness of what that means.

So Jesus instructs them "'Have faith in God.'" And of course, what he's thinking is, things are gonna get really rough pretty soon. So you need to trust me, I'm not going to be here. And know that there is nothing that can thwart my purposes. Know that there is nothing that can separate you from my love. Know that I can do all things. Verse 23 goes on, "'Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them and you will, and they will be granted to you.'" Interesting phrase, "all things for which you pray and ask." Obviously, this would not include anything and everything that we would throw before God as if there's, you know, carte blanche; whatever we want, he's gonna give it to us. But anything that we pray and ask that is consistent with his will, to bring glory to his name. I was thinking about the Lord Himself. Remember, in the depths of the unimaginable agony that he experienced in the Garden of Gethsemane? Jesus cried out to the Father in Mark 14:36, saying, "'Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet, not what I will, but what You will.'" And folks, this has to be the attitude of our heart.

Now, it's also very important that we do as we read in the text of verse 24, that we "pray and we ask." James four two says, "You do not have because you do not ask." We know that it goes on to talk about how that many times we ask with the wrong motives, right? But to be able to say, you know, Father, I do not know your will on this particular matter but it is certainly my desire that you grant my request. But as always, I will submit to you, and in the humbleness of my heart, I know that you can do all of these things, but I don't know what your will is. But certainly, this would be the cry of my heart. John 16, beginning of verse 23, knowing that he would soon depart, and his disciples who would be left alone, he said, "'Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you. Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive so that your joy may be made full.'" Oftentimes, people will say, Well, how do I know what the will of God is on a matter? Well, many times we don't know. But much of it, we do know, because it is written in His Word. If you want to know what the will of God is, become a student of his word and his will, will become part of your will, because you will understand who he is, how he thinks, what he's up to, what would bring honor to him. I marvel at the Lord's provision for his own, how he blesses us. You know, I was thinking, as I was contemplating these great truths, you know, as a father, and as a grandfather, there is nothing that I wouldn't do for my kids, or my grandkids. You all know this, you're the same way. There's nothing I wouldn't do for them. Except granting them some wish, that I knew was absolutely stupid, and foolish, and it would destroy them. Right? And many times, I know what that is, and they don't. Often, especially teenage logic, you know, it ends up two plus two is five and you know, it snot going to be five. But I'm always deeply touched when my kids or my grandkids ask me for something when they want my help. It reminds me of what Jesus said in Matthew seven, beginning of verse seven, "'Ask and it will be given to you. seek and you will find, knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven, give what is good to those who ask Him!'" And so here again, we see the holy, gracious character of God.

But Jesus adds yet a third component of effectual prayer. And this is really intriguing. And that is,we need to be conscious of God's forgiveness. Let me explain what I mean by this. He goes on in verse 25 to say "'Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you and your transgressions.'" In other words, when you pray, be conscious of the fact that you have been forgiven, and therefore you need to have a forgiving spirit towards others.

Verse 26, "But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.'" Just as a side note, because some of you might ask this, in some of your Bibles that might have a little parentheses around it. Verse 26 is actually absent from the earliest and most important Greek manuscripts and was not part of Mark's original text. Its presence in the latter manuscript tradition is best explained by the insertion by scribal copyist imitating Jesus words recorded in Matthew six where he did say this in verse 15. "But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions."

Now, back to the text here, what Jesus is saying is this. We've got to have a forgiving heart when we come before Him and petition him in prayer. Because to do otherwise would somehow insult the grace that he has given us. Now, bear in mind the forgiveness Jesus is referring to here is not our eternal pardon, that one receives and justification, which is a comprehensive, a total acquittal from the guilt and just penalty of sin based solely on God's grace. That's not what he's talking about here. Instead, Jesus is referring to our unwillingness to forgive others that will inevitably result in divine chastening in our life. It carries the idea of holding a grudge against a fellow believer, that's the idea, which I might add, always betrays an exaggerated sense of self-importance. And I've also known that those who tend to be easily offended are always those that have a hard time forgiving other people. Think of someone perhaps that has offended you or injured you in some way? Maybe, at work, maybe in your family? I've even heard of it happening in the church, you know, think about that. What's your attitude towards them? Is it one of bitterness? Do you look for opportunities to slander them? To get other people to join your cause against them? You won't speak to them. Do you seek revenge? Or do you seek reconciliation? Big difference? Do you seek to destroy them? Or are you willing to suffer indignities with grace and humility; with forbearance, with patience, trusting God to accomplish his purposes in the ordeal; in you and in them and other people? Bearing in mind Ephesians 4:30, to "be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." Yes, but pastor, you don't understand what he did to me, or what she did to me. Oh, my, well, in that case, you need to get your pound of flesh? Absolutely. I mean, you can't forgive a person like that. That person doesn't deserve your forgiveness. Aren't you glad God doesn't try to get his pound of flesh from us? Think about that. We certainly don't deserve his forgiveness.

Over the years in counseling, I think of those times when I sit down with someone, and will say, okay, how can I help? And suddenly, they just unload on me. All of the things that someone has done to them. I mean, it's like suddenly you get sucked into outer space with them in this world of offenses; often, things that happened years ago. And they describe these things in vivid detail. Many people will literally have notebooks. I've had spiral notebooks filled with all that has happened. I remember one lady saying here, "I want you to read this." And I said, "no, I'm not going to read it. You know, Scripture says we're not to keep a record of wrongs. Why don't you just summarize it for me? And then let's deal with it here." You see, that's an unforgiving heart, and when you're that way, the wound, the wound never heals. And frankly, if that is you, you're self-absorbed. You're self-centered, you're self-righteous and you're self-deceived. And you wonder why you're miserable. And why everybody that knows you is miserable when they really get to know you, and they don't want to be around you. You see an unforgiving heart is certain proof that you're walking in the flesh and not with a spirit. You grieve the Spirit, you quench the Spirit. And folks, unforgiveness will inevitably produce bitterness and hatred and revenge, and it will imprison you in a dungeon of negative emotions. It's a very sad thing. You will be filled with self-pity, alienation, broken relationships, a fruitless powerless Christian life. I mean it's the opposite of First Corinthians 13 verse four and following, "Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own; is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things endures all things. I mean, what a mockery to petition God in prayer when you mock his grace in forgiving you, by not forgiving others. That's the point. And see, Jesus knew this with the disciples because remember, they're always bickering, wondering, you know, who's going to be first in the kingdom. You know all that stuff. Psalm 66:18, "If I regard wickedness in my heart, the Lord will not hear." James two verse 13, "Judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no mercy." Micah tells us this in chapter seven, verse 18, "Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?" You see folks, we are most like God when we forgive, when we have that kind of an attitude, and that is essential for effectual prayer.

So again, "forgive" he says in verse 25, Mark 11. "If you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions". And as I mentioned earlier, Matthew 6:15, Jesus said," If you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions." The idea of divine chastening. Using the example of an abusive master, Peter said this in First Peter two beginning of verse 19, "Servants," literally slaves, "be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right, and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God." I'm sure you're like me, my flesh wars against that. That's where you feel that battle between the spirit and the flesh right? Galatians five. And while suffering unimaginable torture on the cross, Jesus even loved his enemies and prayed in Luke 23 Verse 34, "Father, forgive them for they do not know what they are doing."

I want to camp on this forgiveness concept for just a few more minutes as we wrap this up this morning, I was thinking how we would all do well to learn the lessons in forgiveness found in Second Corinthians two, verses five through 11. Let me give you real briefly the context. Remember, Paul had dealt with a sending member in the congregation there in Corinth, a man was sexually involved with his stepmother. First Corinthians five talks about it. The church then officially excommunicated him and as a result, the man repented. And now it's time to forgive and extend mercy. So in Second Corinthians two, verse five, Paul says, "But if any has caused sorrow," and he's referring to the offender but he's guarding him by not even using his name, "but if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in some degree--in order not to say too much--to all of you." It's interesting. Here we see the heart of tender forbearance towards this man who mistreated Paul as well as the rest of the congregation. And he not only avoids mentioning his name, he doesn't even say anything about the nature of the offense. That's a heart of forgiveness. Imagine the unnecessary grief and shame Paul would have placed upon the penative sinner had he mentioned his name and then elaborated on the injury. "Yeah, well, so and so over here, you remember, he did this"...No, he's not doing any of that. He's protecting him. He's diffusing the whole thing. The man had been punished enough. He's repented. So he says, "he has caused sorrow, not to me, but to some degree--in order not to say too much." In other words, I'm not going to exaggerate this thing. I'm not going to blow it out of proportion. So folks, lesson number one, when it comes to forgiveness, don't keep stoking the fire, drop it, drop it, rejoice, the person has repented. They've asked for forgiveness, move on. Don't keep a record of wrongs. Don't keep reminding the offender of his or her sin. Psalm 103, verse 12. We see God as our example here, "As far as the east is from the west so far has He removed our transgressions from us." In other words, so as to no longer having any effect on our relationship with Him. How wicked it would be for us to remember what God has chosen to remember no more. As we read in Hebrews 10, I think it's verse 17.

So don't keep stoking the fire. Second, be quick to forgive and comfort the truly penitent. Verse six "Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority." You see, the great sorrow associated with being removed from the fellowship of his Christian brothers and sisters, produced what it was intended to produce, and that's genuine repentance. And then there can be genuine reconciliation. Church discipline really provides a living illustration of the broken fellowship that an unrepentant person has between him or her and God. And certainly the purpose of church discipline is reconciliation, never retribution. Verse six again, "Sufficient for such a one is this punishment, which was inflicted by the majority, so that on the contrary, you should rather"--catch this now-- "forgive and comfort him, otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow." Yes, the punishment was deserved, but it had its desired effect. This is what Paul longed for. When we've been offended and perhaps severely; do we have a longing for that person to see their offense? And to be reconciled to God because he has been more offended than we are? Is that the passion of our heart? Or do we want our pound of flesh? So now it's time to forgive and comfort. Which by the way, are two essentials for genuine restoration. So be quick to forgive and comfort, the truly penitent. I mean, this is it. This is at the heart of Christian love, beloved. And you want to ask yourself, does this describe me? Paul says in Colossians 3:13, that we are to be characterized by quote, "bearing with one another and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone." Again, this is our supreme example in forgiveness. And how can we, who have been forgiven the most heinous of sins against the Most High, not forgive the lesser sins that have been committed against us? That's the point.

If we don't have that kind of an attitude, we're just really out of fellowship with the Lord and it is going to hamper our prayers. A third lesson is we need to reaffirm our love for the truly penitent through acts of private and public restoration. Notice verse eight, he says, "Wherefore I urge you to reaffirm"-- "kyroo" in Greek, the original language; it carries the idea of "to rule judicially" or "to decide" or "make a formal declaration of something." "I urge you to reaffirm your love for him." In other words, he's asking them to be reaffirming, both privately and publicly in loving restoration. Now, I know oftentimes people or unrepentant. People will ask me, "Well, how can you forgive somebody that's unrepentant?" Then most of the time, that's the case by the way, and the answer is simply this well you pray for them with a forgiving heart that sincerely, passionately desires their repentance and their restoration and reconciliation; first with God and then with you. And if that doesn't happen, you move on. That's between them and God at that point. This is precisely the kind of situation dear friends in which we are commanded to turn the other cheek, Matthew 5:39. "Yes, but he or she did and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah..." Well, yeah, that's really bad and I'm sorry that's happened. We need to pray for his or her repentance and reconciliation. But you also know that you deserve far worse, so do I. So let's be open. Let's pray. Let's have an attitude of forgiveness. And pray that God will do a work in their heart. Now, granted, there are some times where people are so evil, that we have implications against them like the imprecatory psalms. I mean, there are times where you say, "Lord, I pray that you will pour out your wrath upon their unholy head." We understand that because God you have been offended. And there we're defending the glory of God. But my, so often what we do is we hold grudges against people, rather than going to them, like in Galatians six and try to restore them in a spirit of gentleness. So many times, I've had people mad at me, I have to laugh about it. Because, I mean, sometimes I deserve it, really, I truly do. And other times, I truly don't. But you know, whatever is the case, when fellowship is broken, you have to have an attitude of forgiveness and you try to be reconciled and if people don't do that, then you just have to move on. You just have to love them and let God deal with them in his own time. We've got to be like the father of the prodigal son, right. I mean, we're praying for the son to come down the road one day and then all my word there he is, well, what do we do? We run out to meet him. We kill the fatted calf, and on it gone, it goes. Proverbs 19:11, it's "man's discretion, makes him slow to anger and it's his glory to overlook a transgression." So friends, I exhort you, learn to forgive. Otherwise, you will remain bitter. And you will demand redress of your injuries, and you'll just stay that way. I won't take time to go through it. But in Romans 12:18 and following it says, "if possible, as much as it is up to you be at peace with all men." Don't be ruled by your wounded pride. Learn to forgive. Otherwise, you will forfeit blessing in your life. You will live under a cloud of divine chastening, and God will not answer your prayers, because you're out of fellowship with Him.

So in summary, this is what Jesus wanted his disciples to do. And by extension, all of us. Effectual prayer, prayer that God hears and answers, requires us to be confident in its power, to be confident of his character, and to be conscious of God's forgiveness of us, so that we too will forgive others. The disciples had to learn this, they did learn this, and so too should all of us, amen? Let's pray.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word that speaks so directly to each of us. Thank you for your goodness and your Grace. And oh, Lord, thank you for forgiving us. Thank you for providing a way, for we, as sinful people, to be reconciled to you as a holy God, through your gift to us, your Son that paid the penalty for the sins of all who would trust in Him. And Lord, not only have you forgiven us, but you have radically changed us. You've given us a new heart, a new mind, a new song, a new nature. And, most importantly, you have imputed to us the righteousness of Christ. So that no, even as we sin, and certainly we do, you do not see our sin, but the righteousness of your son, our Savior, and whom we are forever hidden. So we thank you for these eternal truths. May they bear much fruit in our lives. In Christ's name I pray. Amen.

This morning we returned to Mark's gospel chapter 11. So if you will take your Bibles and turn there, we will be examining verses 12 through 2 under the heading "Jesus Curses Fruitless Religion." Follow along as I read this text, beginning in verse 12 of Mark 11. "The next day when they had left Bethany, he became hungry. Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, 'May no one ever eat fruit from you again!' And His disciples were listening. Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And He began to teach and say to them, 'Is it not written, 'MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS'? But you have made it a ROBBERS' DEN.' The chief priests and the scribes heard this and began seeking how to destroy Him, for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at Hs teaching. When evening came, they would go out of the city. As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter said to 'Him, Rabbi, look, the fig tree which you cursed has withered.'"

Dear friends, there is nothing more offensive to God than hypocrisy. To pretend that somehow you are worshipping Him; and perhaps you do so with your lips or with some of your actions, but in your heart it is a lie. Pretend religion. No fear of God. No love for God, no passionate, personal pursuit of holiness in your life. No hunger for his word. No obedience really to his word. In fact, for many people that claim to be religious, those types of things never enter into their mind. No secret devotion to God, in intimate communion, no prayer life. Only superficial, perfunctory meaningless worship, living as if he really didn't even exist. God described this going on in his ancient people. In Isaiah, chapter 29, beginning in verse 13, he says, "'People who draw near me with their words and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me. And their reverence for Me consists of tradition, learned by rote.’” In other words, hollow ritualism. Doing what is expected, without any real understanding, without any passion, just routine ceremony. And frankly, we see the same thing here in our culture. I call it Sunday in the South. Sunday in the south, you go through the motions of worship, but it really doesn't mean that much to you. Your mind is elsewhere, typically self-focused, where it has been all week. Sadly, many people will come to church every Sunday, with the same attitude as the ancient Israelites, whom God described when they listened to his prophet Ezekiel but had no intention of really hearing and applying what he said we read about this in Ezekiel chapter 33, beginning in verse 31. God says, "'But as for you, son of man, your fellow citizen who talk about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, speak to one another, each to his brother saying, 'Come now and hear what the message is which comes forth from the Lord.' They come to you as people come and sit before you as My people and hear your words, but they do not do them. For they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their gain. Behold, you are to them like a sensual song by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not practice them.'" And sadly, many churches cater to this kind of religious pretense with sensual music, ear tickling sermons, that entertain but do not edify, that comfort but never convict.

So indeed, dear friends, as we look at this passage here today, we want to examine our hearts in light of all this because we're all prone to various forms of hypocrisy. It's so easy to pretend to love Christ, to act religious, to say the right things, and perhaps to even be Orthodox in your doctrine. But in fact, you're doing nothing more than promoting yourself, or trying to convince yourself that you are more spiritual than you really are. And in a desperate pursuit of affirmation, the self-promoting hypocrite will seek every spotlight to be seen, will grab every microphone to be heard, and will attack everyone who refuses to bow to his or her demands. Now these can be true believers ruled by the Spirit, or by the flesh rather than the spirit. Like the fleshy Corinthians, you will recall, in First Corinthians three. "Men of flesh," the first few verses, it describes them. "Infants in Christ," unable to digest deep doctrinal truths. They're filled with jealousy and strife, they walk like mere men, meaning they live as if they're not even saved. Or there can be those believers in a church that are just factious and divisive. Every church has them. I'm sure we have some here. First Corinthians 11 tells us that that's going to be true in every church. Or they can be unbelievers who are Christian, in name only, like the false prophets that Jesus described in Matthew seven, whose quote, "bad fruit betrayed that they were a bad tree that produced it. There in Matthew seven, beginning of verse 20, we read, "'So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.'"

Well, we see this very clearly in the legalists of ancient Judaism. What was going on for far too many was just a pretense of worship. They would come to the temple and just pursue empty ritualism. They would perform external obedience to somehow merit God's grace, a works righteousness system of religion. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 15, beginning of verse seven, "'You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men?'" Well, this hollow kind of worship again is horribly offensive to God. And this is why Jesus assaults the temple.

We want to examine this text under two real basic categories, number one, here we will see empty religious pretense, illustrated by a barren fig tree. And then secondly, empty religious pretense assaulted by the Messianic priest King, referring to the Lord Jesus. So first of all, let's look at this empty religious pretense that's illustrated by the barren fig tree beginning in verse 12. "On the next day when they had left Bethany. He became hungry. Seeing at a distance of fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps he would find anything on it. And when he came to it; He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, 'May no one ever eat fruit from you again!' And his disciples were listening." This is a very intriguing scenario, is it not? Imagine what the disciples were thinking? What on earth is going on here? Well, let's bear in mind that throughout Scripture, we see a fig tree as something that was very important, very important fruit in ancient life. It provided wonderful, delicious fruit. I've been in Israel, I love to eat those figs. They are absolutely delicious. And frequently a fig tree is used as a symbol of the nation Israel. We read about this in Hosea nine as well as Joel one, but also a symbol of peace and prosperity. Figs were one of the fruits described to the children of Israel as part of the blessing of the promised land. In fact, in First Kings four and verse 25, describing the prosperity of Solomon's reign, we read "Judah and Israel lived in safety, every man under his vine and fig tree." Moreover, divine judgment upon his people often included the destruction of their fig trees by marauding invaders, as we would read in Jeremiah five and verse 17. Now, what's interesting with the fig tree, as it begins to sprout leaves, figs would normally produce at least some immature, and even edible fruit. In this case, the tree had some leaves, but no fruit. Mark 11:13, "it was not even the season for figs," it says. So it's especially interesting that this particular tree offered the pretense of being fruitful, and yet it was barren. Unlike most fig trees that would have leaves, there would be some fruit on it, even though it wouldn't be fully developed. I also find it interesting as I think about it, it takes three years from planting a fig tree until it bears fruit. And this reminds me of the three years of Jesus's ministry that should have produced the fruit of repentance in Israel, but it did not. So, seeing this unproductive, barren tree that was planted in good soil and through its foliage should have borne at least some fruit, but it did not, Jesus cursed it. What a powerful parable. This is designed to portray the pretense of spirituality, the pretense of godliness, if you will; hypocrisy that really produces no love of God from the heart. I find it interesting as well in Isaiah five you may remember that great text. There we read how God cursed his vineyard, which was symbolic of the house of Israel. He cursed them because of their hypocrisy, and because of their apostasy, their idolatry. And in that text, we read how that he gave them everything that they needed to bear fruit. He planted them in the right vineyard of the Promised Land. On a fertile Hill, he says he removed all of the stones and planted the choicest vine. And in verse five of Isaiah five we read then he expected it to produce good grapes, but it only produced worthless ones. "Beushim," inedible sour berries. Verse seven he goes on to say , "For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel and the men of Judah His delightful plant. Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; For righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress." Justice and bloodshed as well as righteousness and distress, is really a play on words. In Hebrew, it says that he looked for "mispat" and he got "mizpah." He looked for "sadaqa" and he got "seaqa." And as a result, he pronounced judgment upon them.

By the way, the things that he accused them of, and certainly of which they were guilty, are the very things that we see in our country today. Greedy materialism, drunken, dissipation, defiant debauchery, sexual immorality, redefining morality so that you call good evil and evil good. Haughty humanism, which is the wholesale tolerance of every imaginable form of wickedness, crooked politicians and judges, corrupt spiritual leaders, and on it went. And as a result, soon Babylon came and destroyed them. So too here, in Mark 11, Jesus curses the fig tree. And what he's doing here is symbolically denouncing the nation of Israel for their unbelief. For indeed, he came into His own and His own did not receive him. And to this day, Israel is a nation that is a spiritually barren tree awaiting the second coming of Christ when God will soften their hearts. Bear in mind, according to Romans 11 and verse 25, currently God has hardened their hearts until the time, or the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so when the very last person in the church age is saved, and God then comes and snatches us away in the rapture, God will then judge the both the apostate church and apostate Israel, in Daniel's 70th week, the time of the tribulation. And according to Romans 11:26, we read "And thus all Israel will be saved." But what a powerful lesson to all of us how God hates hollow professions of faith, how he hates pretend Christianity, that fails to manifest Christ like humility, and a love for Christ, a love for His word love for God's people, and a burden for the lost.

By the way, this type of hypocrisy, this type of pretend Christianity is really something that cannot be seen often in our heart, especially those who are steeped in it over a long period of time. It's not like people all of a sudden wake up one day and say, "You know what, I think I'm gonna pretend to be a Christian." That's not how it works, but rather, they get a little bit of religion, and they begin to do a few things and they're around other kinds of superficial hypocrites. They begin to learn what to say and what not to say and what to do and what not to do. And then their religious peers or the church, their denomination, begins to reinforce what they think is true of themselves, that they are godly, that they are to be obedient to the Lord. But in truth, they will be weak in doctrine. They will love shallow preaching, shallow teaching, shallow worship, they will be undiscerning. They will typically attach themselves to religious organizations or denominations or churches that have lots of programs, lots of things going on, that provide the illusion of spirituality. But it's hollow, because there is no heartfelt love in those people. And folks, we must guard against that. We must guard against this. And as a result, their hypocrisy is affirmed by all of the trappings of religion around them. And by the way, it's even worse when people are Orthodox in their doctrine. And yet, they really have no love for Christ, and you do not see it manifest in their life. Well, this was true of apostate Judaism in the first century.

Again, quoting Isaiah 29:13. Jesus excoriated the scribes and the Pharisees for their hypocrisy. Matthew 15 Seven that I read earlier, "'You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.''" And of course, this fruitless display of religion could be manifested in the temple. And this was what was so infuriating and offensive to Jesus. The apostle Paul perfectly described the heart of their character and their conduct. In Romans 10, beginning of verse two, he says, "For I testify about them, that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge. For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God." Indeed, as Paul said, in Philippians, three and verse three true worshipers of God are those who, "worship in the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh." Well, the opposite was going on in Jesus day. So cursing the fig tree, Jesus, again, symbolically denounced the nation, Israel for their unbelief. And in verse 20, we read that it withered from the roots up. And we know about 40 years later, Israel was cut down when the Romans came in, and destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.

So we move from the empty religious pretense, illustrated by a barren fruit fig tree, to secondly, this empty religious pretense, assaulted by the Messiah priest king. And what a shocking thing this must have been to the Jewish people, the day before they had hailed him as their Messiah. And now they're watching him come in and do a number on the temple precincts. Verse 15, "Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple." Now, the term temple here "hieron" in the original language, is a reference to basically the temple campus that would accommodate 1000s of worshippers. It had various courts and inner courts and so forth, the most inner court being the Holy of Holies. And the Holy Place, which was designated by another term "naos" the most outer court was called the Court of the Gentiles. And that's where all of these shenanigans were taking place. Okay? Non-Jews were allowed in the outer court of the temple. And this is where the priests had basically set up their own mini mall, all right? Where they were making money, non-Jews were allowed out there, but the priests could also be out there. In fact, the high priest, Annas was, shall we say, the kingpin of all of this, he was kind of like the mafia Don? Or what would you call him like a mob boss, perhaps that's kind of what he was. In fact, the Court of the Gentiles was called the bazaar Annas. And this marketplace was comprised of a variety of franchises. And what would happen is, merchants would literally purchase a franchise right from the high priest so that they could sell wine and food and salt and oil and sacrificial animals. And the big thing here was exchanging money, because you have to have the right currency to purchase the temple offerings. And what they would do is charge exorbitant fees to change the money. It was basically extortion. And what's interesting is, whatever they sold a percentage of, it went to guess who? The high priests and other priests who had a cut on all of the loot.

And worse yet, according to the Levitical law, you have to have sacrificial animals that pass the inspection of the priest. You beginning to see how the fox is guarding the henhouse here? Well, of course, only those purchased from the priests would make the cut, and historians indicate that they would pay as much as 10 times for their sacrificial animal. You know, as I thought about this, we can't be too shocked. I mean, this stuff still goes on today, doesn't it? It's called faith healers and prosperity teachers, make billions off of desperate, naive, ignorant people collecting seed faith donations. I remember this one guy, I forget which one he was he was selling prayer hankies for 20 bucks, you know, hundreds of gimmicks. In fact, the whole word faith movement is nothing more than a Christian drug cartel. It's basically what it is. It's popularized on certain television networks. You've heard me say before, it's just a religious version of World Wrestling. I mean, everybody knows it's fake, but it's entertaining and a lot of people get sucked up into it, and they give all of their money, hoping to somehow buy a miracle. Somebody sent me a video clip the other day, it was a clip of one of the prosperity, charlatans. His name was Jesse Duplantis and he was interacting with some others, including Kenneth Copeland, on this large platform in front of a bunch of people. And he was bragging about being not a millionaire, he said, but a multi, multi, millionaire. In fact, he said the reason Jesus, this is a quote, I wrote it down. "The reason Jesus has the reason Jesus has not yet come is because Christians aren't giving enough." Well, you're familiar with this, you see churches, you know, they’ve become mega malls, Disney World. They got fitness centers, and coffee shops and all kinds of things like that. Even theaters, restaurants. So much of contemporary gospel music that I used to be a part of when I used to counsel many of the artists and the and the people in that industry, the executives, is filled with this type of thing. They're constantly giving themselves awards, you know, the Dove Awards. I always wonder why not pastor awards, right? And the pastor of the year is Joel Osteen or whatever. I mean, that's kind of how it would work. Well, by the way, in other words, I'm very familiar with what would go on behind the scenes in that and I can assure you that Jesus would have never been nominated. Never.

So like the first century Jewish con artists, we've got hucksters today, that make 1000s of dollars, fleecing people, just like the money changers. So having seen this kind of sacrilege, in his father's house, Jesus returns to the temple, and he physically removes the religious phonies. I wish I could have seen that. And thereby he pronounced his condemnation upon Israel's worship. Verse 15, "He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple." Now, I am aware that there are people who are shocked that this passage of Scripture, they cannot believe Jesus behavior. What happened to the gentle Jesus, the Jesus who is just filled with love. And unfortunately, people that think this way, simply do not understand the holiness of God. Holiness is actually the all-encompassing attribute of his infinite perfection, his purity and his power. People don't understand that people have a low view of God and a very high view of themselves. And his holiness is really the very essence of his glory. You will recall that God gave us a terrifying vision of his glory when he manifested it visibly in the pillar of cloud and fire that once covered Mount Sinai, and then led the Israelites through the wilderness to the promised land. And in Scripture, every time we see a demonstration of God's glory, we behold his holiness. Again, the all-encompassing attribute of his infinite perfection, purity and power.

And beloved, it is a zeal for God's glory that unleashes the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This is what produces genuine worship, and makes false worship, pretend worship disgusting, even to ourselves as it is to God. And a zeal for God's glory, causes our lives to redound to the glory of God and our souls to be flooded with the inexpressible joy of his presence. And you want to ask yourself, Do I have a zeal for the glory of God? Do I have a passion for the holiness of God? If not, please know that this kind of zeal simply cannot exist apart from a soul captivating, a sin destroying vision of the majesty of God. And if you cannot see the majesty of God, you will never understand what I'm trying to communicate to you, nor will you ever understand why Jesus was so incensed when he came to his Father's house. This is what's greatly missing in our evangelical culture today. Many worship what David Welch describes as a quote, "weightless God." Here's what he had to say, "It is one of the defining marks of our time that God is now weightless. I do not mean by this that he is a ethereal, but rather that he has become unimportant. He rests upon the world so in consequentially as not to be noticeable. He has lost his saliency for human life. Those who assure the pollsters of their belief in God's existence may nonetheless consider him less interesting than television. His commands less authoritative than their appetites for affluence and influence. His judgment, no more inspiring than the evening news, and his truth less compelling than the advertisers sweet fog of flattery and lies. That is weightlessness." End quote. Dear Christian, Don’t miss this. Jesus is God, he is infinitely holy. He is utterly separate from sin. And the temple was his Father's house that was to be the place where the divine presence would rest. And the infinite holiness of God, throughout Scripture, was always associated with God's presence in the temple. And unless you understand some of this, you will never have a zeal for God's glory and for His Holiness.

I want to camp on this concept for a moment and elaborate on the idea of God's presence in his holiness. You will recall, in Genesis chapter three and verse eight, we read, Adam and Eve, "heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden." The little phrase there "from the presence of" literally in the original language is "from before." And this is a technical type of terminology that is used to describe the sanctuary in the temple. In other words, God is walking now in the garden, and his presence is being manifested. In fact, grammatically, the Hebrew verb translated "walk"--"mithalek," is a unique kind of participle, indicating God's presence moved about constantly in the garden. I might add that the only other place this verb appears in this particular grammatical construction in the Hebrew is in passages describing God's presence descending upon the sanctuary. For example, in Exodus 33, nine whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses. So what we read there in Genesis three is Adam and Eve hid themselves from God's presence that was moving about in his Edenic sanctuary.

Now what happened when they sinned? Well, they were removed from his presence in the garden. They violated one law, just one thing, that God asked, Do not eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. My point with this, dear friends is God's abiding presence will be withdrawn from his people when they disobey him. The ultimate punishment being death. We saw this in the garden, but we also see it in the sanctuary of his temple. Whenever his laws would be violated, especially those in Leviticus 26, his presence would be removed. And ultimately punishment would even include for the Israelites, being exiled from the land which contained the temple.

Let me elaborate upon this a little bit more because I want you to grasp the weight of all of this. It's interesting that God arranged both the Garden of Eden and the sanctuary to the tabernacle and temple, in an East/West orientation. Really interesting as we look at this. The scripture in Genesis chapter two beginning in verse eight, we read that, "The Lord God planted a garden toward the east in Eden." And the Hebrew word for East, "qadim" literally means faceward or frontward, indicating God's presence was in the western part of the garden. Genesis 3:24, "He drove the man out; and at the east of the Garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life." In other words, to prevent sinful man from returning to the west. Later Cain was driven to a land east of Eden, Genesis 4:16, away from God's presence. And throughout the Old Testament, we see an East/West arrangement of the tabernacle and the temple, an orientation that's attributed to the garden. It's also fascinating. East is always the direction of idolatry in the Old Testament. In Ezekiel eight verse 16, the Prophet says, then God "brought me into the inner corner of the Lord's house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about 25 men with their backs to the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they were prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun." He's describing idolatry there. And in Exodus 27 verses 13 through 16. We read how that the altar in the tabernacle and later in the temple was positioned to the east of the edifice. And the only entrance to the Holy of Holies, positioned in the most westward part, opened eastward. Meaning that the priest had to approach the holy of holies from the east, to the west, to enter into the Holy of Holies. And it's interesting that just as God stationed his cherubim in Eden to guard the eastern entrance, so too God's presence above the Ark of the Covenant was entered from the east. And the cherubim served as the guardians of his holy presence, the divine presence that hovered over the mercy seat between the outstretched wings of the cherubim. And each year on Yom Kippur, the high priest would move from the east outside the camp and move westwardly toward the Holy of Holies. For example, when he would enter the tabernacle, he would pass by the sacred objects like the menorah, that probably symbolized the tree of life. And finally, he would enter into the Holy of Holies to offer the blood of the sacrifice, to propitiate, or to satisfy, the wrath of God that originally drove man away from God outside of the garden. What we see there is a reversal of the exile from God, experienced by Adam, and through Adam to all mankind. And we know, as we think about Israel, only through the shedding of innocent blood in their sacrificial system that God initiated, which pointed to Christ; only then could the nation be reconciled to God. And only through faith in his shed blood, can we be reconciled to God and only through Christ. Can Israel eventually be restored and fulfillment of both the Abrahamic and the new covenants? And there are there are numerous other passages that we don't have time to look at here that are undeniable parallels between Eden and the earthly temple. But the point that I'm trying to make here, that I'm laboring to make on your behalf, is that the ineffable presence of God is something that should overwhelm us. And it was this very presence that would be manifested in the tabernacle, and later the temple. And we could spend hours studying all of the stipulations that God had gave to protect the sanctuary, to protect from ritual impurity.

And I fear that a lot of these concepts, especially with respect to the holiness of God, and the glory of God, have been lost in our culture, where we worship a weightless God, a God that winks at sin, that tolerates everything and anything. This has manifested many times in modern worship; that is typically irreverent, bereft of awe. If you notice, there's very little that is transcendent these days. There is very little that is dignified today. Today, even in churches, everything has to be casual and flippant, lacking in dignity. It's interesting, because you think about the holiness of God, illustrated even in the portable sanctuary. Israelites could enter the courtyard, but bear in mind, they could not enter the tent in the tabernacle. Ordinary priests were allowed to enter into the holy place, but only the high priest could enter into the Holy of Holies one time per year. And what's interesting is God's holiness was even manifested in the craftsmanship of the tabernacle, and in the items that were used. Again, I want to show you how serious God is about his holiness. The two outer courts were constructed mainly by bronze, but gold was used in the inner court. Even the curtains that covered the frame of the tent reflected degrees of holiness. The innermost layer was made of fine linen that was manufactured from a plant and considered to be the purest of material. And then the next layer was of goat's hair. And then the outer layer was made of animal skins; skins were associated with death and were therefore the least holy. As you study the Scriptures, you see that there were differing levels of uncleanness that required various kinds of ritual purifications after being defiled. What God was constantly communicating to his people and what has been lost in our culture today, even in evangelicalism, is we can no longer discern between what is clean and what is unclean. We can no longer discern what is holy, and what is common. T. Desmond Alexander, in an excellent book "Face to Face with God: A Biblical Theology of Christ as Priest and Mediator," wrote this, quote, "Those who enter the holy place must conform to a level of holiness that exceeds what is expected of others. Leviticus 10 provides a vivid illustration of the danger posed by approaching God inappropriately." He went on to add, "The world of the Israelites is transformed by God's continual presence among them, as they reflect on the regulations and rituals that accompanied the construction of the portable sanctuary. They quickly appreciate that holiness is associated with perfection, purity and wholeness, whereas uncleanness is linked to imperfection, impurity and incompleteness." He went on to add, "Since holiness and uncleanness are associated with perfection and imperfection, respectively, it follows that holy living demands perfect behavior. The moral standards are reflected in the covenant obligations that God places on the Israelites to underline their importance the principal obligations of the Sinai covenant which God speaks directly to the Israelites at Mount Sinai, are later inscribed by God on stone tablets, and placed within the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies. God expects the Israelites to obey Him and keep His covenant so that they may become a holy nation, Exodus 19."

Well, obviously, all these matters pertaining to God's holiness, were carried over into the temple. And yet dear friends, it was against this unimaginable purity, that Jesus comes into the temple and sees all of this wickedness. Bear in mind that Jesus was an observant Jew in his life, to offer himself as the promised consolation of Israel. Remember at his birth, Jesus was presented at the temple in Luke 2:21. He was circumcised on the eighth day, according to the law, his mother Mary's ritual "mikveh" immersion, was in obedience to the purification laws. Even his dedication was accompanied by prescribed sacrifices, according to what was said in the law of the Lord, we read about this in Luke 2:24, a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons, coming out of Leviticus 5:11. His family, according to Luke 2:39, performed everything according to the law of the Lord. And this continued as they made annual pilgrimages to the temple for Passover. Jesus even performed the Jewish mitzvah on his 12th year when he reached puberty, Luke 2:42. And we read how Jesus even spent several days after Passover in the synagogue, which was located within the temple precinct, sitting at the feet of the rabbis. So my point with all of this is to help you see that throughout his life, and throughout eternity, Jesus had a holy and high regard for the temple.

Even the apostle Paul was an observant Jew in connection with the laws of the temple and assisted fellow Jewish believers that had become Christians in performing their temple obligations. We read about this in Acts. Perhaps now you have a better understanding of Jesus's zeal for his father's house, and part of his messianic role was to align the functions of the temple to the will of God. But that cannot happen ultimately, until he returns in judgment when Israel repents, in brokenness, and in mournful acknowledgement of their sin, especially as relates to the rejection of their Messiah. Then Israel will be saved, and it will be restored. Only then according to Malachi, three four will quote, "the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years." In fact, Zechariah describes the glory of his future coronation ceremony in Zechariah, six beginning of verse 12, "'Behold a man whose name is Branch,'" which by the way, was a messianic title that Zechariah used in one of his earlier visions, "'Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is, and He will build the temple of the Lord. Yes, it is He who will build the temple of the Lord and He will bear the honor and set and rule on His throne. Thus, He will be a priest on His throne and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices'"-- referring to the priest and the king that typically fought amongst one another, because he will be both priest and king.

So with all of this background, Jesus runs off the merchants, verse 17. And it says, "And He began to teach and say to them, 'is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations?'" For all the nations. We will see this ultimately in the millennial kingdom. You may recall in his dedicatory prayer for the temple, in First Kings eight, Solomon prayed in verse 41, and following, "'concerning the foreigner who is not of Your people, Israel, when he comes from a foreign country for Your namesake, (for they will hear of Your great name and Your mighty hand and of Your outstretched arm); when he comes and prays toward this house, hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all for which the foreigner calls to You, in order that all the peoples of the earth may know Your name, to fear You, as do Your people Israel, and that they may know that this house which I have built is called by Your name.'"

We know that even Gentile proselytes worshipped at the temple. And many of them, like many of the Jews, were godly people. And how embarrassed godly Jews must have been, even in Jesus’ day to invite someone to church, so to speak, and to see all of this wickedness. You recall the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, who according to Acts 8:27, came to Jerusalem to worship. So again, he begins to teach. And at the end of verse 17, he says, "'But you have made it a robber’s den.'"

And then in conclusion, "The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking to destroy Him." Naturally, right? They were being exposed. You know, lies, demand tolerance. But truth welcomes scrutiny. And we read that "they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching. When evening came, they would go out of the city." In other words, they would return back to Bethany. "And as they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from its roots. Being reminded, Peter said to Him, 'Rabbi look, the fig tree which You cursed, has withered.'" So indeed, there will be no harvest in that temple. And that temple even would soon be destroyed. O, dear friends, the power of Christ, to both bless as well as to curse. May I challenge you to examine your heart with respect to your own attitude towards worshiping the Lord? Is it a pretense? Is it merely Sunday in the South? Or is it a genuine expression of your love for God, and your passion to live for his glory, that your life would redound to his glory, that others would see Christ in you. If that is not the case and it's a mere pretense, I would plead with you to repent of that wickedness, lest God judges you severely. And if your worship is indeed as it should be, know this, it will not be something that only happens on Sunday morning. Sunday morning will merely be the ultimate expression of what you've been experiencing all week long. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word that exposes each one of us. My how easy it is for us to play the hypocrite. Forgive us, wherever we do that. And give us a zeal for your glory, a passion for your holiness. And we know that that can only come by the power of your Spirit working in us through the use of your Word, and the fellowship of your people. So we commit that to you. And Father, for those that do not know you, perhaps those who are Christian in name only. I pray that your convicting work will be powerful, even this day, that they too might come to a place of genuine repentance and enjoy the miracle of the new birth. For it's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.

Would you take your bibles and turn to Mark's gospel. We are returning once again to our verse-by-verse study of the gospel of Mark; and we are in Mark 11. And in a few minutes, we will look at verses one through 14. And actually, this is, and I'm somewhat embarrassed to say this, the second part of the Royal Entrance and False Coronation, that I preached on, I think, September 24. So we've had a little bit of a break there. I will review some of part one so that you get the connection, Lord willing. But before we look at it, may I just say, it is such a privilege to be able to come together and study truth in this age of deception. I'm sure you're like me, you just get so tired of being gaslighted, right? Of seeing one thing and having somebody tell me that that's not what you're seeing; to be constantly lied to. And so to have the word of God, and to be able to look at it, to read it, to study it; and to experience the Spirit wrought change that it produces in our heart, is something that we should never lose the wonder of.

I was thinking this week, we're all very familiar with the things going on in Israel. I just finished a four-part series on that, and we see the wickedness of the false religion of Islam and the types of things it can produce. And certainly, we are also experiencing in our culture, one of the most deadly destructive false religions that that I've seen in a long time, and it's basically the woke cult of Cultural Marxism. With its diversity, equity and inclusion, its social justice deceptions, is one of the deadliest false religions Satan has ever devised. A fanatical system that demands complete devotion and demonic religion, preparing the world for the rule of the Antichrist. And as you think about it, one of the things we must do, as we come together as believers is understand how Satan works. We're warned to be aware of the schemes of the devil. And certainly, this particular cult is invading our country and many others around the world. From kindergarten to 12th grade, from our universities to big tech; big business, journalism, science, entertainment, government, military-- the woke lunacy has successfully taken over every institution that can transmit their immoral and tyrannical agenda. Every institution except two. Every institution except the two that God has ordained: Christian marriage and the church. And it is not able to take over Christian marriage and the church, though they are trying with every breath. And what we are doing today is one of the primary reasons why they will not take over Christian marriage and the church. We belong to Christ. And we will continue to thrive regardless of the persecution because we are submitting ourselves to the most powerful, supernatural weapon in the universe. And that is the Word of the living God.

In Second Corinthians 10, verse three and following the Apostle Paul reminds us, "For though we walk in the flesh"--in other words, though we have human limitations--"we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses." And certainly, there he's speaking of our weaponry of the word and prayer. He goes on to say, "We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." And beloved, that must be our motivation, yet again this morning, as we come together and submit ourselves to the teaching of the Word of God.

Now with that, let me read our text in Mark 11. Actually, I'm going to go through verse 11. So Mark 11, beginning in verse one through verse 11. "As they approached Jerusalem at Bethpage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples, and said to them, 'Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. If anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' you say, 'The Lord has need of it'; and immediately he will send it back here.'" They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they untied it. Some of the bystanders were saying to them, 'What are you doing, untying the colt?' They spoke to them, just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission. They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it. And many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting: 'Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; blessed is the coming kingdom of our father, David; Hosanna! in the highest!' Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany, with the twelve, since it was already late."

This is an amazing passage that has astounding theological significance, historical significance; especially as it relates to the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. By way of review, in everything that Jesus did up to this point, as recorded in the gospels, was orchestrated to reach a high point on the day of what is commonly called the triumphal entry. Remember, he has raised Lazarus from the dead, that got enormous attention. He encountered then the rich young ruler, he gave sight to two blind men in Jericho. We see the conversion of Zacchaeus, the rich tax collector. And then he gives his parable in Luke 19, concerning a nobleman--referring to Christ--who travels to a distant country--referring to Heaven--to receive a kingdom; in other words, to receive official authority to reign and then he returns to rule over his kingdom. Then we read about Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem, over the tragedy that the Israelites could not see; that this was the time that the things that would make for peace, as Jesus said, and now he says that they will be hidden from your eyes, and therefore the earthly kingdom that they longed for would be postponed for a future time. Even his time of arrival in Jerusalem, was precisely the date promised by Daniel in Daniel 9:25. A prophecy given over 600 years earlier. Even his mount, a colt; the foal of a donkey was consistent with Zechariah's prophecy in Zechariah nine and verse nine; a prophecy given a few years later, probably around 550 or so BC. So everything that Jesus did, pointed to the day of his messianic presentation foretold by the Old Testament prophets. Prophets that predicted the manner, the moment and even the meaning of the king’s final offer to Israel, for indeed he came to present himself to Israel as the Messiah of Old Testament prophecy.

Following his entry, as we're going to see later, he will speak a new series of parables about the kingdom. He will do battle with, one last time, with the religious elite, and then state his last lament over the city. And then he will give his last and his longest eschatological discourse concerning the prophetic program of the end of the age, including the parenthesis of time and events which must intervene between his departure and his return again as King of kings. There in His Olivet Discourse, in preparation for that interregnum, he will emphasize two main events. Number one, God's judgment on Israel, especially in Jerusalem, involving the destruction of the temple. And also secondly, the glorious return of Christ to finally consummate the age and establish his earthly kingdom.

So, in our text this morning, we can see God's kingdom program and how this fits in to where he is going. This is the certain hope of the redeemed. The Messianic kingdom of our Lord will be a glorious metamorphosis one day that will merge the old world under the rule of the Antichrist into the radically new world under the rule of Christ; a renovated, a reconstituted earth that will exist under new and perfect conditions. And then, may I remind you that when death is finally defeated--death being the last enemy--the mediatorial kingdom will merge into the universal kingdom. As Alva J. MClain said, quote, "The mediatorial kingdom of our Lord will constitute the glorious consummating era of the first order of things and will serve as the divine bridge between the temporal order and the eternal order." End quote. And Paul spoke of this in First Corinthians 15, beginning of verse 24. "...then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when he has abolished all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy that will be abolished is death." And then in verse 28, "When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all." What a glorious promise. The mediatorial kingdom will no longer exist as a separate entity from the universal kingdom of God, but rather as an everlasting part of it. But may I remind you that even after the millennial kingdom, the Lord is going to continue to reign, but not on a separate throne, not a messianic throne, and the other, the Father's throne. Instead, the two will reign together in perfect unity. We read of this, Revelation three verse 21, "'He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne." So there's a little bit of an overview of where all of this is ultimately going, hitting some of the highlights of eschatology.

Now, let's return to the historical record here of our Lord's royal entrance and false coronation. Again, this is an official offer that had to be made to the nation, as a whole, to determine their final decision. As we read in Scripture, this was the time of Israel's final visitation to receive their king. But because they will ultimately reject their Messiah, the kingdom is going to be temporarily withdrawn and postponed on Earth awaiting a day, yet future, when he returns. Now, before I get into the weeds here of some of this text that is really fascinating, I want to answer a question that someone posed, and it's a fair question. How could Jesus offer kingdom blessings to these people? How could that be a genuine offer when he knew that they were going to reject it? Well, first of all, a holy God cannot lie. And so he would never say something to trick people or to deceive them, nor would he ever need to do so. First Peter two verse 22, we read that Christ, "committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in his mouth." So it wasn't like he was trying to trick them or deceive them in any way. Moreover, the kingdom blessings of the Abrahamic covenant were always conditioned upon Israel's national repentance and belief, something that only God could almost ultimately accomplish in them through the regenerating work of the Spirit of God. For example, in Leviticus 26, beginning in verse 40. We read, "If they confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me--I was also acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies--or," he goes on to say, "if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land."

So of course, Jesus' kingdom offer to Israel was genuine, even though he knew they would reject it. I mean, think about it--is God's offer of salvation and eternal life disingenuous when it is presented to those he knows will reject it? Of course not. In Genesis two, you will recall that God offered Adam life if he obeyed by not eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But death if he disobeyed, which he did. And God in his sovereignty and omniscience, knew that he would. I might even add that the necessity of Christ's saving work on the cross was decreed in eternity past. So it's not like if Adam hadn't have sinned, then Christ would have never gone to the cross. So again, God's sovereign plan even involved Adam sin; he knew that that would happen, and yet Adam had a real choice. So again, God's offer of salvation was genuine.

If I can give you another example, it was God's plan all along for David to be the one through whom the Messiah would come and the eternal dynasty over Israel ultimately exist. And yet, in First Samuel 13, verses 13 through 14, we read that God would have given Saul a permanent kingdom over Israel if he had obeyed; a genuine offer. But Saul disobeyed. And yet that did not mean that God's offer was disingenuous. So again, Christ's entrance into Jerusalem was a genuine, official and final, offer to the nation as a whole, to determine their final decision.

Now, something else is important as we approach this text, and I want you to get your mind wrapped around the scene here. Those of you that have been to Israel, you can kind of see in your mind's eye where the Lord would have been, you must understand that the Lord Jesus Christ did not enter his city with joy. But he did so with immense sorrow, with tears running down his cheeks. In Luke 19 verse 41, and following, we read about this. "And when He approached, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, 'If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the day shall come upon you, when your enemies will throw up a barricade before you and surround you and hem you in on every side, and will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.'" And of course, that happened literally a few years later, on April 9th 70, AD. Titus laid siege, actually in the summer, he slowly starved the inhabitants. And the Romans systematically slaughtered all of them, attacking one part of the city at a time. By the way, many of the people that heard Jesus and were there at the triumphal entry, endured that and died there. They utterly destroyed the temple. And they took many captives to Rome to be mocked and butchered in the Roman circus and gladiatorial bouts.

So with all that background, now we come to Mark 11 verse one, "As they approached Jerusalem at Bethpage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives." Let's pause here. Remember now multitudes, literally 1000s of people are with Jesus, following him from Jericho. They're going to the Passover and many others from Bethpage, which was a small village close to Bethany, which was the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus where he had been. John 12, beginning of verse one, we read that Jesus visited them six days before the Passover. No doubt he wanted to find comfort in fellowship, to find strength in fellowship, knowing that he was about to be the Passover lamb that would be slain. And again, this now is Passover. 1000s of Jewish faithful are making their annual pilgrimage. In fact, census records of that era 10 years later, tells us that there were 2.6 million worshipers with 260,000 lambs that were slaughtered, which would be a minimum, one for every 10 people. And there's every reason to believe that there was more than that, there on that day when Jesus came. So that's the scene here.

"As they approach Jerusalem, at Bethpage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples and said to them, 'Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here.'" Dear friends, such foreknowledge and omniscience is yet another illustration of the deity of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse three, 'If anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' you say, 'The Lord has need of it'; and immediately he will send it back here.' They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside the street; and they untied it. Some of the bystanders were saying to them, 'What are you doing, untying the colt?' And they spoke to them, just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission. They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it. And many spread their coats in the road and others spread leafy branches, which they had cut from the fields."

Now, I have preached on this before, some of you will remember what I'm about to say, but it's important for you to see something that's going on here. First of all, you've got two donkeys, you've got a mare, and a colt; they would have probably been the same size. Mark and Luke also tell us very specifically that no one has ever sat upon the coat. Now, why is this significant? Being raised with horses, and having worked with training horses, I can tell you that it would be an absolute miracle for someone, for anyone, to sit on a coal that has never been ridden. You would hope that there'd be some real soft ground around there because you're going to be on it in just a moment. It's interesting, in Genesis nine, God warned Noah of a drastic change that was going to take place that he would experience with the animals on the ark. He said in verse two, and "'The fear of you and the terror of you shall be on every beast of the earth.'" And certainly, that is what happened when the animals got off; it's part of the curse, we see that to this day. All creatures are terrified of man. And you must understand that donkeys are herbivores. They're also highly intelligent. But herbivores are naturally afraid of carnivores. I am a carnivore, I love meat. You are carnivores, too. We can eat some of the other stuff, but we especially like meat. Now, another thing that's interesting, if you know anything about donkeys, is they have excellent eyesight, and excellent hearing abilities. And they are able to smell things highly developed sense of smell. They're quick to spot predators. And you've probably heard them when they do they sound ridiculous with their baying. We've got five of them that live 500 yards from us. And every time a coyote or anything gets near, you'll hear that ridiculous sound. And that's why you see, by the way, many people around here and they're in their fields with their cattle, they'll have a couple of donkeys because the donkeys are able to protect them from wild dogs, coyotes. They've even been known to kill mountain lions. So these are serious little fellas but they're also; they also have an issue, because they are so sensitive to predators. They have a very difficult time trusting human beings; they live in constant fear because of the curse. Now you think about all of this with what the text says, you know, try putting a human garment, that to a horse or a donkey smells like a carnivore, try putting that--just put the garment on them, I mean, that's where you're gonna have to start and watch what they will do. And then try riding that young male donkey, who thinks all of a sudden, he's on the menu for dinner. A donkey that's never been ridden. And then let's add to that, let's take all of these carnivore's robes, garments, and let's put them on the road and ask him to walk on them. And let's even add to that, all kinds of these palm leaves. And to make it really interesting, let's have 1000s of people stand next to him, and scream and shout and wave palm branches. Folks, I can tell you that even a highly trained crowd control police horse would freak out with all of that. But obviously, the creator calmed his little creature down and was able to mount him and to ride him. I believe dear friends, what we see here is a foretaste of millennial blessing. That promised time of restoration and regeneration, both physically and spiritually when the King returns in all of his glory, for example, Isaiah 11, beginning in verse six gives us a glimpse of that. It will be a time when, "the wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze, their young ones shall lie down together and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra's hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper's den." You see, this will be a time of national restoration for Israel. This will be the time of the kingdom age the disciples and multitudes were longing for. This is why they were shouting "Hosanna!" thinking that Jesus now is going to inaugurate this kingdom. That glorious time when all of the redeemed will reign with Jesus, the Anointed One, as Daniel prophesied. In Daniel seven verse 27, "'Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.'"

So Beloved, I believe that hidden here, in this amazing scenario, is an example of the power of Jesus to miraculously cancel the effects of the curse in this young donkey that had never been ridden. And this was a subtle affirmation that he is saying, in essence, yes, I am the Almighty, I am the creator. I am the promised Messiah, the one who will one day accomplish all that I have promised. The pristine happiness and peace of Eden in the time of the regeneration, a time of tranquility that's even evidenced here, in this little scenario with the donkey.

And he goes on verse eight again, "And many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields." By the way, throwing your garments on the road was an ancient custom whereby king's subjects would do this as a demonstration of their utter submission to the lordship of their ruler. And palm branches, in that day, and biblically, are always symbolic of the joy of salvation. So imagine the scene, this enormous multitude, that's in front of Jesus, and behind Jesus, and they're shouting, verse nine, "Hosanna!" to the Son of David. "Hosanna" means "save now", son of David. An exclamation of both supplication, as well as adoration. "Blessed it is he who comes in the name of the Lord." And there is a quotation from Psalm 118 and verse six; part of six Psalms known as the Hallel. "Hallel, meaning "praise." And these psalms were sung at Passover, celebrating their deliverance from Egypt.

So they're thinking in their mind, here's Jesus now, and he's going to save us from Rome; not save us from our sins so we can become fit citizens to enter into the kingdom, but to save us from Rome. Here's the great miracle worker, the one that has fed 1000s; that has cast out demons, healed the sick. Here's the one who has given sight to the blind, even raised the dead. Surely this is the one who will now deliver us from Roman bondage. Surely this is the one now that will meet all of our physical needs, bringing the long-awaited kingdom. You know, as you think about this, it's like many people today who believe in a fabricated Jesus for the wrong reasons. People that are more concerned about temporal blessings than eternal blessings; they have no thought of eternity. And certainly these people, ancient Jewish people, felt like they were good to go for the kingdom. After all, they're sons of Abraham, they keep the law, etcetera, etcetera. They had no conviction of personal sin. No understanding that because of sin, they're separated from a holy God, and that they were in desperate need of being reconciled, and the only one that could reconcile them would be the Lord Jesus Christ. They didn't understand that. People today don't understand that. People today like people then, are looking for what they believe would be a well-deserved utopia.

In fact, the people shouting here in the first century were kind of like, I guess you could say, the original entitlement generation. But like most people today, they did not bow down and worship the Lord Jesus Christ. And I shudder to think of the eternal judgment that awaits. Those people even today, the god mocking politicians and professors of our day, that promote all of the blasphemous deceptions that are part of our culture, intersectionality and radical feminism, the critical race theory. Oh, how these people need the gospel, dear friends. How they need the gospel and how we should love them for the sake of the gospel and give them the gospel. Let them see the gospel in our lives. The social justice warriors, Black Lives Matter, anarchists, prosperity preachers. The ayatollahs and every other religious phony that mocks Christ. Vile men and women who prey upon desperate, and yet depraved souls, concerned only with the things of this world. And so many people go to church looking for a Jesus that's going to somehow meet all of those physical earthly needs with no thought of who he really is. And no thought of the desperate need that they have to be saved by his grace.

Verse nine, "Those who went in front and those who were following, were shouting: 'Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; blessed is the coming kingdom of our father, David; Hosanna, in the highest!'" And yet again, they failed to understand that Jesus did not come the first time to be crowned, but to be crucified; to be an atonement for sin, that people who believe in Him could be reconciled to a holy God because of his imputed righteousness, because we have none of our own. And tragically, they failed to make the connection even with Zechariah nine and verse nine where we read "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; he is just in having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey; a colt, the foal of a donkey."

They fail to understand that even their religious leaders In Israel--the scribes and the Pharisees, the Sadducees-- even those people had fabricated a deliverer of their own making. One that bore no resemblance to who Christ really was. And that's why they hated him. And certainly they did not know as they're shouting "Hosanna" that Jesus had initiated all of this as a judgment against them, causing them to affirm his messianic credentials. With full throat exuberance, crying out "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest!" And yet by the end of the week, they will say we will not have this man reign over us, "Crucify Him." Sadly, many today do the same thing.

I want you to notice the first thing that Jesus did when he entered Jerusalem. Very important, verse 11, "Jesus entered Jerusalem, and came into the temple." You see, this was his priority. This was his destination. And then we read, "and after looking around at everything, he left for Bethany with the 12, since it was already late." So he, I guess you could say, is reconnoitering the temple. He comes, he sees what's there. Of course, he already knew. But he looks at it. And all of this sets the stage for what's going to happen the next day when he assaults the temple and occupies its precincts.

Let me give you a little preview of where this is going to take us as I wrap this up this morning. What Jesus saw was disgusting. What Jesus saw, was blasphemous. Later in verse 17, we read "'Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a robbers' den.'" You see, it had become a place where phony religious leaders and their merchant associates would exploit worshippers by charging exorbitant fees for sacrificial animals. And to make it even worse, they would charge exorbitant fees to exchange their foreign currency. So they had a real racket going on. And you see, the temple was supposed to be a place of sanctity and worship. Why? Because God's presence was to be manifested there. This was his father's house. This was always the heart of Israelite worship. It was instituted by God. The temple was the place where his word was taught. And his infinite perfections were manifested, and exalted. But hypocrites and greedy con artists had taken over its precincts and its teachings. You know, Jesus saw this even at the beginning of his earthly ministry. Remember in John two, verses 13 through 16, we read that for at least a day he physically occupied the precincts of the temple grounds, and he evicted the corrupt merchants from the temple courts. And you must understand that all of this is a graphic picture of Israel's apostasy and her need to repent, which Jesus preached throughout his ministry. His message was always one of genuine worship. But that could only work through repented faith in the person in the work of Christ.

Here I'm reminded of what happened, even at the onset of Christ's ministry. You remember, in Matthew four, verse one we read, that he was "led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil," remember that? And that was the same place where Israel was tempted and tested and failed. But where Christ now the Messiah succeeds. And then next in Matthew four beginning of verse five, we read this, "Then the devil took Him into the holy city, and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to Him, 'If you are the Son of God, throw Yourself down; for it is written, 'He will command His angels concerning you.' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'" Think about this, why would Satan take Jesus to the temple? The answer is simple. Because that's where the presence of his father existed. It was sacred, it was precious to him. And what father would only let his son perish. That's Satan's whole goal in that scene. But if Jesus had cast himself into his father's protective care, he would have exploited the privilege of his sonship that he had set aside in his humiliation. Moreover, he would have acted independently from the will of his Father. And thus forfeited his status as the spotless Lamb of God, and thus violate the plan of God. My point with this little illustration is to simply underscore how precious the temple was and is to Jesus. Satan understood that. Satan knew how Jesus' great love for his father would be a powerful influence on him. And how the most precious place on earth to be near that protective love would be the temple. In fact, I find it interesting. Jesus first recorded words in the Gospel were in response to his parent's question concerning his continued presence in the temple, Luke 2:49. They're looking for him and he says to them, "'Why is it that you were looking for me? Did you not know that I had to be in My Father's house."' And it's no wonder why Jesus disciples reacted the way they did when Jesus ran the money changers out of the temple the first time at the beginning of his ministry. In John 2:15, we read, "His disciples remembered that is it is written, 'Zeal for your house will consume me.'" Oh, dear friends, would that we share his zeal for genuine worship? A genuine love for the truth.

Now, while the temple was the centerpiece of Israel's worship, where God's people went to worship Him, through the mediation of a priest, the church is now described as the temple of God in the New Testament. Jesus is the builder. The apostle Paul uses temple imagery to depict believers both independently as well as corporately. We read how the church is a spiritual edifice, the abode of the Holy Spirit. In fact, in First Timothy 3:15, we read that it is, "the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and the support of the truth." And in the New Testament, we read how we are living stones in God's temple. We offer spiritual sacrifices, right? But sadly, many in the church today are like the first century Israelites who praise Jesus for what they believe he can do for them on Earth; for they have no understanding, no desire to worship the Father in spirit and in truth in the church. And sadly, many churches cater to this. They become centers for entertainment, promoters of superficial, even false worship; are a place where entrepreneurs that disguise themselves as pastors can make millions of dollars. And, folks, we've got to all guard ourselves against this personally, as well as corporately. But I want you to remember that during the Tribulation, another temple is going to be built. A third temple and it will be desecrated by the Antichrist; you read about this in Christ's Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24. You also read about it in a Second Thessalonians two. And then after that, when the Lord returns, a fourth temple will be built by the Lord Himself, in the millennial kingdom. You read about that, for example, in Ezekiel chapter 43. In fact, Jesus actions, as we're going to see, in cleansing the temple, were really an initial fulfillment of Messiah, purifying the religious worship of his people. Malachi speaks of this at the end of the Old Testament, talking about when the Lord returns in Malachi three, beginning in verse one, "'Behold, I am going to send My messenger and he will clear the way before Me'"--referring to John the Baptist. "'And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,' says the Lord of hosts. 'But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness. Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.'" Oh, what a glorious day that will be. As the Prophet said, a day when "the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." My how I long for that day. To get out of all of this corruption and filth and deception, and immorality, and chaos and violence.

And then finally, when the messianic kingdom comes to an end, at the conclusion of that 1000 year reign, we read in the Bible prophecies that Satan will be released from the abyss. And he will lead a final rebellion against Christ in the holy city of Jerusalem. We read how God will then destroy the rebels with fire from heaven, and Satan will be cast into the lake of fire forever, Revelation 20. And then we read how God will uncreate the universe, a complete annihilation, Second, Peter 3:10, for example. There we read, "the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat and the earth and its works will be burned up." In verse 13, he goes on to say, "But according to His promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 24, verse 35, "'Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.'" And then we read how a new Jerusalem will come. It'll be the capital city of the new earth, Revelation 21 and verse two; imagine that scene. But there will be no temple in the eternal state, no more temple. Revelation 21, beginning in verse 22, the Apostle says, "I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb." It's as if we will be living in the Holy of Holies.

Well, may I challenge each of you to worship the Lord Jesus Christ for who he truly is. He is the Messiah King. He is the Savior of all who trust in Him. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords, who will return as he has promised, who will judge the nation's and judge all who mock him, who ignore him, who live as if he does not exist. Would to God that you not be amongst those. For one day, you will stand before him, either in triumph or in terror, but your knee will bow, as will mine. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. Because he is Lord, dear friends, we must bow before him every day of our life we should worship him. And our worship includes our love for him, our love for others even the lost; our love for his Word, our desire to have intimate communion and fellowship with him in the secret devotion of prayer. We should praise him, offer him our gratitude, our obedience, or service. We should hunger and we should thirst for righteousness because one day we will see Him face to face. And I long for that day. Let's pray.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word. Thank you that we can worship you, truly, in spirit and in truth. Thank you that we know who Jesus really is. Not because we're so smart, or we're so good. For none of those things are true. But we know these things because of the Spirit wrought regeneration within our souls. Because by your grace, you gave us eyes to see. And you have given us your word, and your spirit that illuminates your words so that we can understand it, and we can apply it to our lives. So for this, we are eternally grateful. And we long for our Lord to come and to take us away. But until he does, may we be found faithful and serving him. We ask all of this in the precious name of Jesus, our Savior and for his sake. Amen.

We come now to the fourth and final discourse on Israel and Bible prophecy. I know some of you would like for me to continue this on and on, and I will assure you that from time to time I will add things, but I think it would be appropriate to wrap this up today. We will be looking in a few minutes primarily in Revelation chapter 11. But I've got a number of other passages that we will look at before we get there.

By way of introduction, I've noticed on the news even this week, how people are constantly asking the question, why such global, perennial, antisemitism? What on earth is causing this? And nobody really has an answer. Why are there so many brainwashed fools on Tik Tok siding with Osama bin Laden? How can that possibly be? Why such hatred, of according to the Guinness Book of Records, the oldest minority in the world? According to the Pew Research Center, there are 14 million Jews around the world and they represent 0.2% of the global population. Why such hatred of these people? And how did the Jewish Phoenix spread its wings and rise out of the ashes of the Holocaust to become one of the most prosperous and powerful nations on the planet? How can that be, despite overwhelming odds against them? And of course, the big one is, so what's the solution for all of this? Is this really a land dispute? A two-state solution will solve it all? Nobody could be that naive, and yet some are. But to be sure, there is no consensus. There is no compelling explanation or answer.

And then the final question that really nobody's asking, except they will think it in their mind is simply this, what will the future of Israel be? Well, given the last three discourses that came from this pulpit, hopefully you will be able to answer all of those questions from a biblical, theological and prophetic perspective that you will be able to explain in general, where the world is heading, including Israel. The outline that I gave you really has five parts. We look number one it God's choice of Israel. Secondly, Satan's hatred of Israel. Thirdly, God's judgment on Israel. Fourthly, God's protection of Israel. And now today we're going to look at God's salvation, and restoration of Israel.

And of course, all of this is consistent with the promises that God gave to his covenant people Israel, through Abraham, through Isaac, Jacob, through David and certainly the terms of the New Covenant. In fact, God promised their eventual salvation and restoration. To Moses in Deuteronomy four, beginning in verse 30, "When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you, in the latter days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them." And again, through the prophet Ezekiel, God heralds a future spiritual regeneration for Israel when they are gathered from among the nations. Ezekiel 36, beginning in verse 24, "'For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes and you will be careful to observe My ordinances. You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people and I will be your God.’” Likewise through the prophet Ezekiel, in chapter 37, beginning in verse 21, "'"Thus says the Lord God, 'Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations where they have gone, and I will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land.'"'" And then in verse 23, "'They will no longer defile themselves with their idols, or with their detestable things, or with any of their transgressions; but I will deliver them from all their dwelling places in which they have sinned, and will cleanse them. And they will be My people and I will be their God.'"

Now, let me take you back to last week. And by the way, if you haven't been with us in the three previous discourses, some of this may be foreign to you. So I would encourage you to go back and to listen to those and that way you will be able to get caught up. But I want to go back to the discussion about God's pre- kingdom judgments, and God's protection of Israel, which is ultimately going to lead to the final point in our little outline that we'll look at today, with respect to God's salvation and restoration of Israel. As I said before, I believe that it's possible that the battle of Gog and Magog could be fought prior to the tribulation. I favor this view, but no one can be certain of its timing. But certainly we know it's going to happen. And this, plus the rapture of the church, will thrust the world into absolute chaos. That will bring in the first Seal Judgment that we read in Revelation six, the Antichrist will arise at that point, and he will make a covenant with Israel, a peace treaty, he will be a leader that will arise out of that vacuum of leadership in the world. And at that point, the Muslim nations will be left virtually without political clout. And this will allow the Jews to rebuild the third temple, something that they're terrified to do now. And what's fascinating, as we think about how God is going to save a very unregenerate Israel, and restore them, what we see is that immediately upon the removal of the saints, in that great snatching away, God is going to raise up two witnesses in Jerusalem, to preach the gospel. And we were going to see this in Revelation 11 in a moment. In fact, Paul tells us in Second Thessalonians, two and verse seven, "he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way." "He who now restrains," meaning he who prevents the Antichrist from functioning, will do so until "he," I believe referring to the Holy Spirit is taken out of the way. And may I remind you, that God will always provide for himself a witness somewhere on Earth, even as he did in the days of Noah.

So God will raise up two witnesses in Jerusalem immediately after the rapture of the church, and their preaching will obviously be sound theology, that will be the model for, according to Revelation seven, for the "144,000 seal from every tribe of the sons of Israel." So there's going to be the greatest evangelistic campaign in the history of the world during that time. And all of these 144,000, along with the two witnesses, will be proclaiming the gospel. And they are going to teach obviously the gospel, the finished work of Christ and the absolute necessity of the infinite and eternal efficacy of his shed blood for spiritual salvation. At that time, they will remind the Jews that Moses, and all of the prophets, taught that salvation is always a matter of the heart, and cannot be obtained through the blood of bulls and goats. And they will explain how the New Covenant principles actually existed even before the Old Covenant fulfilled its temporary purpose. But they will also remind them that the new covenant will include, as we read in Scripture, a holy place in Jerusalem. An altar for animal sacrifices; a Zadokian priesthood and a Melchizedekian high priest; you read this in Ezekiel 40, through 48. And so we know that the Jews during the time of the tribulation, the pre kingdom judgments, also known as Daniel's 70th week, will build a Third Temple. And at that point, they will reinstitute legitimate sacrifices on a Jerusalem altar, as a memorial of what Christ has done, as well as an outward corporate purification, a sanctification, ceremonial sanctification, as was the case in the Old Testament Levitical system. But that will not--the temple that they will build that the Antichrist will desecrate--will not be the fourth and final temple, the millennial temple that will be built when the Lord returns.

But the Antichrist now is going to allow all of this as part of the peace covenant with Israel. And according to Daniel 9:27, we read that, "in the middle of the week," that's a week of seven years, "he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering." And he will kill the two witnesses that that are proclaiming the gospel, and he will claim to be God, this is the abomination of desolations, which brings Jesus warning in Matthew 24:16, "'Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.'"

Now more on these two witnesses, and here we come to Revelation 11. And again, this is to help you have a little better understanding of God's promise to save and restore Israel. And I might offer a word of caution here. I mean, whenever we come to the prophetic literature, it's important to have a hermeneutic that honors the authorial intent, and the context and the language of the passage. So therefore, we want to embrace just the normal meaning of language and avoid the temptation to try to reinterpret or redefine or spiritualize the kingdom message. I have a great aversion to those, many that I love and respect, who would say, "Well, I know that's what God said, but that can't be what he meant, so let me tell you what he meant." A literal interpretation, consistent with the original message, and intent of the Old Testament authors will demonstrate that the New Testament does not transform, or somehow transcend the Old Testament storyline, but rather, it is a continuation of it. It all fits together. And we want to be very careful because to somehow reinterpret the plain meaning of an unambiguous text will inevitably do violence to the plain meaning of that text. And so as we approach these passages with that type of a hermeneutic, we will also see that Daniel's 70th week, and the millennial kingdom, is distinctively Jewish, pertaining to Israel, not to the church. Even the many components of the Old Testament Sabbath will be reinstituted. And this will continue into Messiah's reign. You see, the removal of the church will set into motion, the consummation, and the culmination of Israel, not the church. The church has been taken out and the Israelite components of the new covenant will produce the perfect blending of heart regeneration unto eternal life along with the distinctive Israelite theocratic functions that God has promised. And of course, this is going to be very foreign to us. Because when we think of worship, we think of the church and how we do worship here. But it's going to be radically different in the millennial kingdom. So you must bear in mind that what God does with Israel in the theocratic kingdom, will have unique purposes, I should say, within Israel. Moreover, as we will see, this will be God's way of taking the, quote, "natural branches” of Romans 11, referring to Israel, and the ones that were broken off during the church age and grafting them back into the tree of Abrahamic blessing.

So with that background, that introduction, we come to Revelation 11. These two witnesses, I'm going to hit kind of the highlights here, the first two verses, we see that the Jews were measured, or marked off, as belonging to God, and those whom He will preserve and protect during the final 42 months, or three and a half years of the tribulation. While the Gentiles, whom he does not claim, as his own will, quote, "tread underfoot the holy city." And they will do that under the leadership of the Antichrist. But then what we see is God raising up these two preachers with supernatural powers, who will be able to counter the prophetic signs and wonders of the False Prophet. And you can read about those particularly in Revelation 13, verses 11 and following. And the goal of his campaign, obviously, is to deify the Antichrist. Now, since the Antichrist is the final ruler, in the, quote, "times of the Gentiles," he will be ruling over a revived Roman Empire group of European nations. And this whole scene is going to, frankly recapitulate the vile symbiotic relationship between Satan and the ancient Gentile rulers that we've seen down through recorded history, along with their puppet priests and prophets that serve them to accomplish all of their nefarious purposes.

As a footnote, because I know some of you are going to ask, and I won't get into all of it, but I believe there's compelling evidence that the Antichrist will be a Gentile, and the false prophet will be a Jew, not a Gentile. But even as the ancient rulers of Rome, once controlled the masses, both politically and religiously, once again, Satan will continue this strategy under the rule of the Antichrist and the False Prophet. So the Lord raises up these two witnesses, of his saving grace, as well as of his escalating wrath. And these two powerful creatures will become a thorn in the flesh to the Antichrist and the False Prophet. So I want to look at verses three through 14, here under three categories, we're going to see their magnificent ministry, their morbid death, and finally their miraculous resurrection.

So first of all, let's look at their magnificent ministry, verse three, "'And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1260 days, clothed in sackcloth.'" You know, it is fitting for God to offset the false signs and wonders of the antichrist and the false prophets, so God raises these men up. And you have to remember as well that biblically, a testimony must be validated by two witnesses. And here "witnesses" is the plural of "martys;" we get our English word "martyr" from this. And indeed they will be martyred for their testimony, and we read that, "they will prophesy." Prophesy means "to preach" or "to proclaim, to speak forth." You must understand that New Testament prophesying is forth telling, not foretelling. And these two witnesses will proclaim the gospel, they're going to warn about further judgment coming out upon the earth; they're going to warn about an eternal hell. And they're going to do this, it says, for "1260 days," that's the final three and a half years of Daniel's 70th week. And I must add that this parallels the apostolic witness in the Second Temple, in Acts five and verse 20, where the angel of the Lord, you will recall, opens the gates of the prison, and he commanded them to quote, "Go your way, stand and speak to the people in the temple, the whole message of this Life." So that's going to happen here again.

Now I want you to notice in verse three, they were "clothed in sackcloth." This, of course is coarse cloth made of camel hair, or goat hair, often accompanied with ashes, worn by men, as well as women, in times of great distress. And it was worn by the prophets to call attention to some great wickedness amongst the people in the society, and to call them to repentance. Or sometimes it was to warn them of imminent judgment and punishment, as we saw, for example, in the days of Elijah, or in the days of John the Baptist. And all of this is part of what we see happening here. Plus, this was the proper Jewish response to intense grief. They did this for example, when they mourned the desecration of the temple. And this is going to happen again; they're going to mourn what's going on in the temple; what the Antichrist is doing, his tyranny. And of course, many Jews, as well as many Gentiles, who have come to faith in Christ will be massacred, while others have fled into the wilderness for protection. And remember, once the Antichrist enters into the Holy of Holies of the temple, and blasphemously establishes himself as God, the temple complex, along with the entire land of Israel, will be thrust into a state of ritual defilement. However, restoration and purification can only be accomplished by the Messiah, who will return physically. And at that point, he will defeat the desecrator he will cleanse the land and he will finally rebuild and consecrate the temple.

So verse four, "These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth." Now taken out of context, you wonder what the world is that mean? Well, John would have understood precisely what he was hearing. John would have known the background of this statement, one that Zechariah had prophesied almost 600 years earlier. You read about it and Zechariah four and there the Lord predicted the rebuilding of the Jewish temple, after their long exile, and it would be led by two men, the high priest Joshua, who was the spiritual leader, and Zerubbabel, who was the civil leader. And there we read of the same symbols as here in Revelation 11, " two olive trees and two lampstands." That symbolic of the oil of the Holy Spirit's power that would perpetually fuel the lamps of divine truth pertaining to saving grace. In Zechariah four six we read, "'Not by might nor by power, but my by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts." And then Zechariah four, verse 14, we read how Joshua and Zerubbabel are described as, quote, "the two anointed ones who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth." But like most prophecies, what we have in that text is both a near and a far fulfillment; as we see here in Revelation 11, for "these are the two olive trees, and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth," which is almost an exact quote of Zechariah four verse 14. The near future fulfillment of that prophecy was when the two witnesses were raised up as the lampstands of God shining for the light of saving truth. They were empowered by the Holy Spirit in those days to bring spiritual revival to Israel and rebuild the post exilic temple. The far future (cough "excuse me"), fulfillment is when these two witnesses are once again raised up in Revelation 11. They will shine forth the light of truth. Men empowered by the Holy Spirit not by demonic spirits; men, who will bring spiritual revival to Israel resulting in national conversion whereupon the Lord himself will establish his earthly kingdom and build his millennial temple.

Now, who are these men? Well, there's lots of speculation; can't be dogmatic. But I believe the most compelling evidence points to Elijah and Moses in Deuteronomy 18, verse 15, Moses prophesied that the quote, "'Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your own countrymen, you shall listen to him.'" And then in verse 18, the Lord said, "'I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.’” And to this day, the Jews are convinced the prophet will be Moses himself. Malachi four, verse five, "Behold, I'm going to send you Elijah, the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. And He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the land with a curse.'" And we know that John the Baptist came, did he not? He came Luke 1:17, he came "'in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready people prepared for the Lord.'" But this does not necessarily preclude Elijah from appearing again. So we know both Moses and Elijah were fearless prophets that boldly confronted the tyrants of their day, preached the Word of God without compromise. And both Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, where you will recall the Lord peeled back his flesh in some miraculous way, and allowed the effulgence of his glorious Shekinah, to burst forth, to blaze forth a preview of Second Coming glory.

And it's also fascinating to note that the miracles performed by the two witnesses during this three and a half years are very similar to the ones performed by God through Moses and Elijah. They will be able to destroy their enemies with fire, we read, and that's what Elijah did, you will recall, he called down fire from heaven. Revelation 11, verse six, "These have the power to shut up the sky, in order that rain may not fall during the days of their prophesying." And we know that in First Kings 17 that's what Elijah did, he pronounced a three-and-a-half-year drought on the land, the same period of time as the two witnesses here in Revelation. Again, verse six, "and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague as often as they desire." And likewise, we know that Moses turned the waters of the Nile into blood, he performed numerous plagues against Egypt. And finally, another thing that caused me to think that these two witnesses that God will raise up will be Moses and Elijah, is because these two witnesses will be supernaturally translated into heaven. In similar fashion, as Elijah, for example, who never physically died, but was taken into heaven, in a fiery chariot. And God himself buried Moses, secretly disposing of his body. And likewise, God himself will intervene, we know in some supernatural way with the departure of the two witnesses, even as he did with Moses and Elijah. But again, the text doesn't specifically identify them, so we cannot know for sure we can only speculate.

Well, we learned more about their magnificent ministry in verse five of the Revelation 11, "And if anyone desires to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth, and devours their enemies. And if anyone would desire to harm them in this manner, he must be killed." So by implication, many will desire to harm them. And, folks, this makes perfect sense. Think how people today hate the bold proclamation of the truth of the gospel. And it's going to be worse during the time of the tribulation because we read from the text that during that time, there's going to be these unimaginable plagues in the trumpet and the bowl judgments. Men and women are going to be crying out for the mountains and the rocks to fall on them, according to Revelation six and verse 16. and hide them "from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of the wrath has come." So they're going to know who is causing all of this. And it's not going to be Satan, it's going to be God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the wrath of the Lamb. And isn't it amazing, even at that, they will not repent. So by now the people of the world have rallied behind their new messiah, the Antichrist, they're mindlessly obeying him and worshipping him, and their disdain for anyone that would dare to preach Christ would exceed all other hatred combined. So these preachers will need to be able to protect themselves. Enemies who are going to attack them, and fire from their mouth will devour or consume them. And of course, this will only fuel the world's rage against them.

Verse six, "These have the power to shut up the sky, in order that rain may not fall during the days of their prophesying." That's going to be three and a half years. "And they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to smite the earth and every plague as often as they desire." And what's fascinating here is, remember that in the third trumpet judgment, God is going to poison a third of the world's fresh water supply. So now, on top of that, you have a three-and-a-half-year drought, which will result in just unimaginable catastrophic terror upon the earth; life on the planet will begin to grind to a halt. And the world will know that all of this is because of the wrath of the Lamb. And yet these invincible indefatigable preachers are preaching that very lamb; so they will hate him, they will hate them.

We moved from their magnificent ministry to their morbid death, verse seven. And, "When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss, will make war with them and overcome them and kill them." I might add that this is the first time we are introduced to the beast in the apocalypse. The "beast"-- "therion" in the original language; a term describing a vicious carnivore, a beast of prey like a lion or like a tiger. And so this is referring to an animal with a ravenous appetite that functions basically out of instinct; cruel, violent. And this will be the nature of the Antichrist, who is called the beast I might add, 36 times. More of him in chapter 13 and chapter 17.

And notice it comes up "out of the abyss." This is mentioned seven times in Revelation. And it describes a mysterious subterranean cavern on Earth that extends into the bowels of the earth through some kind of a shaft that God has sealed shut for the purpose of incarcerating the most vile demons. You can read more about this in chapter nine, under the fifth trumpet. Now I might add that this is not Satan who's represented by a dragon but rather, a man empowered by the demonic forces released from the abyss and that's, of course, the Antichrist. So here we learn that after the divinely decreed duration of their ministry, God allows the Antichrist to finally overcome them, and to kill them to the utter jubilation of the world. Verse eight, "And their dead bodies will lie on the street of the great city, which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified." Obviously, this is a reference to Jerusalem, which will be the primary staging area of their ministry, as well as I might add, the headquarters of the Antichrist, as we read in Second Thessalonians two. The city will be so infected with evil by now and wickedness that it is likened to Sodom and the original enemy of Israel, the nation of Egypt. The figurative likeness of these two places underscores just the loathsome depths to which the Holy City has now fallen. And so what we have here is a ghoulish, macabre scene, just kind of beyond anything that we can imagine. However, what we've seen with respect to what Hamas has done to those in Israel, gives us a little glimpse of this.

In verse nine, we read, "Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations," which by the way, is a technical term for the Gentile world, "will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth." My friends, can there be any greater demonstration of rejection than this? Obviously, the world is watching, and we know because of technology, that would be an easy thing to do. At this point, all of the politicians and all of the news anchors and all of the rioters that we see today, they're going to be rejoicing. I mean, this is going to be Christmas and Mardi Gras rolled into one. It's ironic, the whole Gentile world will celebrate the death of those who came to give them eternal life. Apparently great throngs of people are going to assemble to see this barbaric display. You know, within two to three days decomposing corpses will begin to bloat and omit the putrid odors of future fraction. And while this is going on, the wicked are going to be laughing. They're going to be celebrating the prowess of the Antichrist, and in their minds the defeat of Christ. But what they do not know is that the King of kings and the Lord of lords is about to return, in vengeance and in glory.

Notice what happens, thirdly, in the miraculous resurrection, verse 11, and 12. And "after three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them. And they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who are beholding them." That's got to be one of the greatest understatements in all of the Bible. "And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, 'Come up here.' Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them." Can you imagine what the news anchors are going to say when this happens? Suddenly, these decomposing bodies returned to their original state and they stand up. There's no record that they said or did anything. All they did is respond to the divine summons, "Come up here." And they're caught up in the clouds. It reminds me of First Thessalonians 4:17 where we will be quote, "caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord." Some of us will refer to this as the two-man rapture. You know, you might want to ask the question, Well, I wonder why God didn't allow them, at that point, to start preaching the gospel again? You know, why did he just take them up? I mean, talk about having their undivided attention. The answer, dear friends, is because by this time, their fate has already been judicially sealed. God has sealed them in their unbelief. And it would be useless to present the gospel to them. The day of grace is over, judgment has come.

You know, I might add that, throughout Scripture, we see that it is the convicting work of the Spirit, not signs and wonders, that brings people to a place of genuine saving faith. Jesus said in Luke 16:31, "'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead.'" Right? Now notice what else happens in verse 13. "And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and a 10th of the city fell; 7000 people were killed in the earthquake." 7000 people or could be translated persons, in fact in the Greek it's "onoma anthropon." And it's really means "names of men." And this unusual expression is thought to refer, and again, you can't be dogmatic here, but it probably refers to 7000, prominent men or leaders who served with the Antichrist there in his headquarters. And then we read, "and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven." And this is a reference primarily to the Jews that will still be--some of them--will still be inhabiting the eastern part of Jerusalem, in the region of the temple; ones that will be saved at that moment.

You know, whenever I think of these things, a couple of things goes through my mind. One is how this is an amazing picture of God's mercy and grace on me, a sinner, the one that deserves nothing, who rebelled against him and yet by the power of his love, and his mercy and his grace, the Spirit of God wrought new life within me and saved me, even as he will, his covenant people. And then I'm also reminded of God's promise to that end, in Romans 11, beginning in verse one, Paul says, "God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!" And in verse four, we read, "But what is the divine response to him?" He says, "'I have kept for myself 7000 men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal'. In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice." And then in verse 26, we read, "the partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will be saved."

Now, this section was really an interlude between the seventh trumpet in the final bowl judgments that will immediately precede Christ's return and at this point, this interlude ends actually in verse 14, it says, "the second woe is past, the third woe is coming quickly." So just by way of just a quick recap, they build the temple, the Antichrist desecrates the temple, God raises up these witnesses, they are murdered, and all of this is going to be followed by the terror of the Gentiles and devastating earthquake. And all of this points to the coming of Christ and the end, finally, the end of Gentile domination, and the salvation of his covenant people Israel. And you will remember that when the Lord's feet touches the Mount of Olives, the word of God says that it will part; it will divide, even using the same term as the division of the Red Sea. And that will do two things: it will provide an East/West escape route, as we read about in Zechariah, 14 in verse five, through the eastern side of the city, across the Kidron Valley, and through the Mount of Olives toward the Judean Desert. But it will also block the Antichrist--block the enemies of Israel, from escaping to the north or the south, and they will be trapped in the Kidron Valley, also known as the valley of Jehoshaphat, which means "God will judge" and there, even as God judged the Egyptian charioteers that we're pursuing Israel, they too, will be utterly destroyed. And then the Messiah will return and deliver Israel physically, as well as spiritually as we read in Zechariah 12, verses 10 through 14. And at that time, the Lord Jesus will enthrone himself in the millennial temple. Zechariah eight and verse three, "Thus says the Lord, 'I will return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.'" Beloved, when the Lord Jesus Christ returns the next time, no one will miss it. No one will be confused. And the planet as we know it will be radically changed, and all Israel will finally fulfill their destiny. According to Exodus 19, six, as a "kingdom of priests and a holy nation." And finally, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, the final Adam, will fulfill and reclaim the first Adam's role of dominion over the whole earth. Moreover, at that point, when he returns, He will be coronated in his temple. Zechariah describes the glory of this future ceremony, this coronation ceremony, in Zechariah six, beginning of verse 12. "'Behold a man whose name is Branch.'" By the way that is a messianic title from Zechariah's earlier vision, it's referring to the Messiah. "'Behold, a man whose name is Branch, for He will branch out from where He is;’” In other words, to redeem sinners, to reconcile them to God, "'and He will build the temple of the Lord. Yes, it is He who will build the temple of the Lord, and He will bear the honor and sit and rule on His throne. Thus he will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices,'" referring to both Priest and King, which typically were in constant conflict with one another, but he will be both.

Please understand, the current dispensation of the church where Jews and Gentiles are equally integrated into one body under the law of Christ is going to be very different from the dispensation of the Messianic kingdom. In this present age the church is the custodian of divine truth and serves as a spiritual temple, Ephesians 2:20 and following. Today, we present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice that is acceptable to God, according to Romans 12 and verse two. And today we have access, through Christ, into a heavenly temple, according to Hebrews four. Because of this, we can draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. But dear friends, this church age is going to end, we will be translated into heaven at the rapture. And then according to Romans 11, verse 26, "all Israel will be saved;" that is when Christ returns, "all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, 'THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB, THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.'"

At that point, the spiritual temple will be replaced by a physical, millennial temple that is described in great detail in Ezekiel chapter 40 through 48. You might say that the church age right now is an eschatological interregnum existing between Israel's failure under the old covenant and her restoration under the new covenant. In our current church age, we are governed indirectly by Christ, the head of the church, through the Spirit. But in the millennium, the earthly kingdom, the theocracy of Israel, will be governed directly by God through the Messiah, who's reigning physically upon the earth; none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. The millennium will include Gentiles, but it will be distinctively Jewish. It will function under the theocratic laws of the new covenant, which will include animal sacrifices, it will include a physical temple in which Christ will physically dwell. The sacrifices will include burnt offerings, grain offerings, peace offerings, sin offerings, guilt offerings, drink offerings. And bear in mind that the sacrifices will not be efficacious any more than the Old Testament sacrifices were; they merely pointed to Christ, they never saved anybody. Instead, they will be tangible memorials of Christ's efficacious, once for all, sacrifice on the cross. And I might add that they will also be essential for outward corporate sanctification, or ceremonial purification, even as they were in the Levitical Old Testament system. In fact, Ezekiel states that these offerings are according to Ezekiel 45:17, "to make atonement for the house of Israel." "Atonement," "kippur" in Hebrew, it means, "to purify, to cleanse from sin, or from the defilement of sin."

And it's hard for us to fathom how radically different corporate worship will be when the ineffable glory of the Shekinah of God will dwell physically in his temple in the midst of the people. In fact, Ezekiel tells us that the millennial city of Jerusalem and the temple will together encompass about a 2500 square mile area. So obviously, topographical changes will occur when the Lord returns. In fact, the dimensions of just the temple courts alone are bigger than the entire ancient city of Jerusalem within its walls. Can you imagine coming to worship, being able to somehow get a glimpse of the Shekinah glory of the Lord that we have loved and served for so long? I think about the term "ichabod"-- it means "no glory." That's going to change to "kabod,"which means "the glory." However, at that point, there will be unglorified human beings in varying states of witting, as well as unwitting, ritual defilement. And therefore, they could pollute the sanctuary and violate the ceremonial standards. Even having young children come to the temple to worship, and therefore, the purification sacrifices will be necessary in order to sustain that corporate sanctity. Again, they have nothing to do with salvation or even inward sanctification. Instead, they will ensure corporate sanctification or ceremonial purification, if you will, to protect the holiness of the divine presence in his theocratic kingdom. This will be how God will bless his people.

It's interesting, as well, to know that there will be feasts in the millennial kingdom recorded in Ezekial 45. It will include the New Year feast, It will include a Passover Feast, unleavened bread, Feast of Booths. And you will recall, Jesus promised to his disciples, remember at the last Passover, and by the way, this is recorded in each of the Synoptic Gospels. Luke 22, verse 18, Jesus said this, "'I say to you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine from now on until the kingdom of God comes.'" Obviously, this is a reference to the millennial observance. As we read in a Ezekial 45:21, "In the first month, on the 14th day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten." And folks to think, according to Second Timothy two and verse 12, that we will be there in glorified bodies reigning with Christ.

Well, may I challenge you, as you try to absorb so many of these great truths; that you maintain a proper worldview as you see the world kind of coming apart all around you, especially as you see all of the chaos and the wickedness as it relates to Israel. But know this as well, that far greater calamities than what they've experienced will come. Indeed, the great and terrible day of the Lord is coming. But also remember that God's plan is perfect, right? There is nothing that can thwart it, he will accomplish all that he has promised. It has said that there's about 2500 prophecies in the Bible, and about 2000 of them have been fulfilled to the letter: no errors, literally. So with that, we can have every reason to believe that what God has promised is going to come true.

And may I close by reminding you that death awaits each one of us, unless we know Christ and we're snatched away. But if you don't know Christ, death awaits you, and then judgment, for its appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgment. So I would plead with you that if you've never come to a place of genuine heart felt repentance and place your faith and the grace afforded to us through the shed blood of Christ, your only hope of salvation. I pray that you will do that today before it's too late. Devastating destruction can come upon us, even as it has upon the people in Israel and so many other places around the world down through history. I think especially today, with our borders open and who knows who or what lurks around the corner. So dear friends, please place your faith and trust in Christ. Relax in his sovereign grace. He will accomplish all that he is promised and he will take us home to glory. Amen? Amen. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for these eternal truths. May they bear much fruit in our lives to the praise of your glory. For it's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.

We come now to a time when we have an opportunity to look into the Word of God and hear the truths there. This is the third part in a little series that I'm doing on understanding Israel in Bible prophecy. And if you've been with us thus far, you know that the primary goal here is to give you a biblical, historical, and certainly a prophetic perspective of all that we see happening in the world today. I do not want you to be ignorant of these things. And if you are, I hope it's not because I haven't taught you, but it's rather because you haven't been listening. And certainly, we want to understand, from a truly Christian perspective, the rise of anti-semitism, as well as Israel's war with Iran, through her mercenary forces of Hamas, and Hezbollah, and others. We've all seen the unprecedented number of protesters that are mainly Arab Muslims, along with Marxist revolutionaries. I've been to those places, there in London. It was amazing. I think they said roughly 500,000 people marching in favor of the Palestinians and Hamas. By the way, there's about 500,000, or I should say, I take that back, about 4 million Muslims now living in the United Kingdom, and about the same here in the United States. And of course, we see a lot of the deranged, social justice, woke people; they're always on the hunt for the next victim group, they have to have an oppressed group, so that they can attack the oppressors to fulfill their cultural Marxist agenda. And this results in what a lot of secularists call "mass formation." I've written on this in chapter four of my book, "Warrior Preachers" if you want to go into detail. But there I quote from an author by the name of Matthias Desmet; I believe he is Belgium, and his book, The Psychology of Totalitarianism. And there he defines mass formation, which again, is what we see with all of these protests. He defines it as, quote, "a kind of group hypnosis that destroys individual's ethical self-awareness and robs them of their ability to think critically. This process is insidious in nature. Populations fall prey to it unsuspectingly. The willingness of the individuals to blindly sacrifice their personal interests as a part of this," he went on to say, "they will blindly sacrifice their personal interests in favor of the collective, radical intolerance of dissident voices." He also describes it as, "the curious susceptibility to absurd, pseudo-scientific indoctrination and propaganda; the blind following of narrow logic that transcends all ethical boundaries." End quote.

And certainly that is a good description. But it misses the theological description, which I call "mass depravity." As I have written, "Mass depravity is a manifestation of the wrath of divine abandonment, where God has lifted his restraining grace on a mass of depraved human beings who reject Him; allowing them to collectively voice their deceptions in the echo chamber of their rage, and ultimately experience the damning consequences of their iniquities." Frankly, God calls these people and many like them "fools." A fool is one that has no fear of God. And therefore the Scriptures tell us that they despise wisdom and instruction. And again, this is the wrath of divine abandonment as we read in Romans one, where God gives people finally over to a depraved mind because of the rejection of him. And as a result of that people will believe things that are demonstrably false. They will believe things that are idiotic, irrational, immoral, and frankly, insane. And sadly, we have a lot of these people ruling over us in our government. But I might also add that to all of these people, God offers forgiveness. And he offers grace when people come to the Lord Jesus Christ in repentant faith, and trust in Him as their only hope of salvation.

By way of quick review, we've looked at number one, God's choice of Israel. Secondly, Satan's hatred of Israel. Third, God's judgment of Israel. And now today, God's protection of Israel, and Lord willing, the next time we're together, I will deal with God's salvation and restoration of Israel. So this morning, I would like to address God's protection of Israel; past, present and future but especially future.

Think about this, despite the numerous pogroms down through history designed to eradicate the Jewish people, they are still here. The Marxist mobs of anti Semites who are overwhelmingly liberal democrats get their news, we know, predominantly from the leftist media organizations, as well as Instagram and primarily Tik Tok. And if you've been on Tik Tok very long, you will quickly see that you will lose brain cells if you stay there. People don't want to hear the facts. For example, people marching today do not realize the fact that Israel was amenable to a second Palestinian state when they were founded in 1948. But the Palestinians would have nothing to do with that. On numerous occasions, Israel offered the olive branch to the Palestinians; peace to the Palestinians, but they would always reject it. And when Israel withdrew from Gaza, I remember it well in 2005, what did the Palestinians do? They elected Hamas to be the ones to lead them. And Hamas had a very clear "anti-Israel" platform and "eliminate the Jews" platform. And the first thing Hamas did was get rid of the Palestinian Authority in a military coup and start firing rockets on Israel and committing acts of terror on Israel. And they've been doing that for 20 years. And I assure you that the people that are foaming at the mouth in these protests have no understanding of any of that; not to mention the other biblical, theological issues pertaining to God's choice of Israel, their disobedience, God's judgment upon them and Satan's hatred of them.

Most of them don't know anything about the Hamas charter. In Article 13, they say quote, "Peace initiatives and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic resistance movement. Those conferences are no more than a means to appoint the infidels as arbitrators in the lands of Islam. There is no solution for the Palestinian problem, except by Jihad initiatives. Proposals and international conferences are but a waste of time and exercise in futility." It also says in Article Seven, "The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight Jews and kill them. Then the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees and the rocks, and the trees will cry out, oh, Muslim, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him." And people were protesting all over the world to allow these sociopathic demonic monsters the freedom to carry out their goal. May I remind you again, and I know I said this last week, but I think it bears repeating. Israel is about the size of the state of New Jersey. 9000 Square miles and has a population of 9.7 3 million people. 75% of them are Jewish. They are surrounded by 22 Arab countries, encompassing 5 million square miles. And those lands are populated by 600 million people; all aligned with the entire Muslim world, consisting of over 1.8 billion people, making up about 24% of the world's population. And virtually all of these Arab Muslim countries are committed to the destruction of Israel and the genocide of Jewish people. And yet Israel is the oppressor? Israel is such a threat to civilization, that they must be exterminated? I mean, friends, no rational person could believe anything so ridiculous.

But I also must add, God loves what is perceived to be, insurmountable odds. Well, I've gone to great lengths to explain in my two previous discourses these things. Again, the satanic nature of anti semitism; God's judgment on Israel, his beloved enemy, whom he will continue to preserve and protect, and one day transform and restore, so that eventually, they will be able to do what they're not able to do now--they will be able to fulfill the purpose in which they were chosen for which they were chosen, as God declared through his servant, Jeremiah in Jeremiah 13:11, "That they might be for me a people for renown and praise and for glory." And although today most Jewish people reject Jesus as their Messiah, and remain under divine judgment, one day that will change. He has promised never to violate his covenant promises; never abandon his people. You read about this, for example, in the new covenant promises in Jeremiah 31. And the Apostle Paul has said, in Romans chapter 11, and verse one, "God has not rejected His people has He? May it never be!" And in verse 25, and following, he says, "that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in." He goes on to say, then "all Israel will be saved, just as it is written, THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS." But dear friends, until that deliverer comes, as he has promised, until he comes from Zion, to remove the ungodliness from Jacob, he must continue to protect and preserve his people from the onslaught of their enemies.

Again, by way of quick review, last week, we talked about Revelation six, you will recall there, John is standing in the throne room of heaven. He's looking upon the word the Lamb, who has received the scroll containing the pre kingdom judgments from the hand of his Father, as we read about in chapter five. And then he has given this dramatic visual presentation of the contents of each one of those seals. And in Revelation six, we see the breaking of the first seal, which reveals the summoning of the first horse and horsemen of the apocalypse; a reference to the antichrist that is to come; the one who will come and make a peace covenant with Israel, bring a false sense of peace to the world, Daniel 9:27, "He will make a firm covenant with the many"-- referring to Israel, "for one week." The context there, one week is referring to a week of years. This is also referred to as Daniel 70th week--the final seven years of the tribulation. And in that covenant, even Israel will be deceived by a false sense of security that is offered to them by this diabolical ruler. And during this time with this treaty, undoubtedly, they will be allowed to rebuild their temples. Something that they currently cannot do, because of the Muslims. So something dramatic must take place. And the Jewish people are waiting for that even now. Something dramatic must take place to get this highly distrusting nation of Israel to be seduced by this pseudo peace. And I made the case that the battle of Gog and Magog, in Ezekiel 38 and 39 could be the event to set into motion this first seal. That battle that describes a Russian/Arab alliance of predominantly Muslim nations. We talked about that at length. They will come from the north and be supernaturally defeated. And I believe that a good case could be made that this will take place before the actual tribulation begins and set it all into motion. Russia could very well fulfill the role of Gog. Certainly it has six of its former Soviet republics, right to the north of Israel. They are now independent Islamic nations, and they're all calling for Israel's annihilation. Right now, today. Russia has suffered, I read, this week, 122,000 casualties in Ukraine. And almost 200,000 have been injured. They have been humiliated. Their economy is collapsing, crime is skyrocketing. Some of my brothers in Siberia where I have been on several occasions to teach them aren't even able to write to me via email anymore because of the government control. Population is just decreasing. The people are disillusioned, and now they're getting arms from North Korea, from Iran, from China. And they are forming alliances with them along with Turkey, Pakistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Sudan and Ethiopia. But whoever makes up these alliances, or this alliance of nations, that God causes to come upon Israel, they will be destroyed.

Let me remind you of that by reading a passage out of Ezekiel 38. I want to begin with verse 14. "'Therefore prophesy, son of man, and say to Gog, 'Thus says the Lord God, "On that day when My people Israel are living securely, will you not know it? You will come from your place out of the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great assembly and a mighty army; and you will come upon come up against My people Israel like a cloud to cover the land. It shall come about in the last days that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I am sanctified through you before their eyes, O Gog." Thus says the Lord God, "Are you the one of whom I spoke in former days through My servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied in those days for many years that I would bring you against them? It will come about on that day when Gog comes against the Land of Israel," declares the Lord GOD, "that My fury will mount up in My anger. In My zeal, and in My blazing wrath, I declare that on that day, there will surely be a great earthquake in the land of Israe. The fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all the creeping things that creep on the earth, and all the men who are on the face of the earth will shake at My presence; the mountains also will be thrown down, the steep pathways will collapse, and every wall will fall to the ground. I will call for a sword against him on all My mountains," declares the Lord GOD. "Every man's sword will be against his brother. With pestilence and with blood, I will enter into the judgments with him; and I will rain on him and on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, a torrential rain with hailstones, fire and brimstone. I will Magnify myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the Lord.'" Likewise, in Ezekiel 39, some of which, all of which I just read a few minutes ago. Let me take you to verse six through verse eight. "'And I will send fire upon Magog and those who inhabit the coastlands in safety; and they will know that I am the Lord. My holy name I will make known in the midst of My people, Israel; and I will not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel. Behold, it is coming, and it shall be done,' declares the Lord GOD. 'That is the day of which I have spoken.'"

Certainly today the nations of the world mock the Lord God, the God of the Bible, the one true God, but that is going to radically change when this occurs. Obviously this will send a shock wave of fear throughout this God mocking world. And Israel will instantly become one of the most feared nations in the world. Sometime around this great battle, which will be either before, during or after, the church will be translated into heaven, adding even further chaos and confusion to the world.

And think what the rapture of the church would do. With the unprecedented carnage on the mountains of Israel, the bewildered Islamic world, and the sudden disappearance of millions of Christians around the world; the world will be instantly set into a tailspin of confusion. Economies will collapse, every government will be in a state of shock. Every leader that has nuclear power will have his finger on the trigger, prepared for further hostilities. And at that point, the world will be absolutely craving for peace. Confused, deceived--what a perfect storm for the first Seal Judgment of Revelation six to be unleashed upon the world. This would be the perfect time for the world to come together under a satanically inspired, charismatic leader, promising all that they ask. The prophet Daniel tells us in Daniel chapter seven, beginning in verse 23, that as the Antichrist arises, he will bring about a one world government. And by the way, isn't that what so many in the world are clamoring for today--a one world government, a one world economy. But according to Daniel's prophecy, this one world government will splinter into 10 governments. A new world alliance will come into being far more powerful than NATO or the even the UN. And this 10-nation confederacy will thrive under the leadership of the Antichrist until the middle of the tribulation.

Now, obviously, I'm leaving out enormous amounts of information. I'm giving you the highlights of eschatology from a biblical perspective. At first, the Antichrist will represent the nations and he will make concessions to Israel, given their astonishing defeat of the Russian Arab Alliance. And then he will unite the rest of the world, primarily the Europeans, in an alliance with Israel, a covenant of protection and commerce and peace. Shall we say the New World Order will finally come into being. But it will be nothing more than a ploy, in preparation for his fiendish, satanically inspired goal of Jewish genocide--as well as exalting himself as God.

Well, by this time, many of the secular Jews who are mostly atheists today, will believe in Yahweh, in some form or another, the God of their fathers. And many will even believe that the Messiah, the Lord Jesus, is doing this. But certainly, many will wrongly believe that the war of Gog and Magog will be the final battle for Jerusalem, as prophesied in Zechariah, chapters 12 through 14. In fact, if you look at Jewish eschatology, you will see that that is what they believe. For example, when respected rabbi, Rafael Eisenberg said this, "The miraculous defeat of Gog (Russia) and her satellites in Jerusalem will reveal that it is God who guides the universe punishing the wicked and upholding his promise to his servant Israel."

Now, to be sure, with the elimination of the Islamic political clout, the Orthodox Jews, as I say, could finally rebuild their third temple. Secular Jews will no longer resist it as they do now, because they're afraid of what the Muslims would do. They want peace at all costs. The nations of the world will even support this because they are now bowing to the wishes of this new global leader, the clear front runner of global leaders, namely the Antichrist. But remember this worldwide peace that the Antichrist is going to offer will be short lived according to the second seal that we read about in Revelation six, verses three through four. Violence will quickly arise and escalate into global conflicts--worldwide wars.

Now once again in the beginning of the Tribulation, many Jews will wrongly believe that the victory over Gog and Magog will be the beginning of the Messianic age, it is finally come. After all, the supernatural victory is consistent with the oral prophecies of the Jewish people. The oral Torah is called or the Talmud, which states quote, "Jews will not have to fight a war against the non-Jewish custodians of the Temple Mount in order to take possession of it from them." This is also consistent with the view of Orthodox Jews and the Temple Movement in general, as expressed by Gershon Solomon, the leader of Israel's temple, Mount Faithful. Let me read to you what he wrote in 1998. Quote, "The prophet Ezekiel prophesied that in the end times of the redemption of the people of Israel, a terrible war will break out of the land when Gog and Magog, with many other nations, come to the land of Israel and try to destroy the people and state of Israel (Ezekial 38 and 39)." He went on to ask "Why does the small David armed only with a small rock, again need to fight against giants? We only need to read Ezekiel and Zechariah carefully to gain understanding. The God of Israel will use this means to finally defeat all those many enemies of Israel, who have continually tried to destroy the state and people of Israel and push them into the Mediterranean." He went on to add, "The coming war will be the final war undertaken against Israel by her enemies. In it, God will terribly defeat them. After this war, the new godly era will start. The Third Temple will be the house of God, the only building on the Temple Mount. Moshiach ben David will be the king of Israel and all mankind. By the way, that is a reference to what they believe will be a future Jewish king that comes from the Davidic line, but it's not a reference to Jesus. He went on to say, " We can see how the black clouds are coming closer and closer to Jerusalem, and to the mountains of Israel. The march of Gog and Magog and all their allies has started." He says, "Finally, the time of judgment is close at hand, Israel will survive this war and become the nation which God and all the prophets dreamed about." Again, written in 1998.

So after the Gog and Magog defeat, and the rise of the Antichrist--again, this is a biblical perspective of these things, Israel will be able to build their third temple on the Temple Mount. I might also add that if you want to see the architectural plans for the third holy temple, you can go online and have a virtual reality tour of a mockup. It's put out by the Temple Institute in Jerusalem, and they believe that it could be put up in less than a year. I've been to the Temple Institute; I've seen many of the things that they've already prepared for the temple. But then in the midpoint of the Tribulation, we read from scripture that the Antichrist is going to overpower the temple. He's going to drive out the priests; he's going to stop the sacrifices, and he's going to seat himself in the Holy of Holies and demand that the world worship him. Like his forerunner, Antiochus Ephiphanes. We read about this in Daniel's prophecy in Daniel nine verse 27. "'And he,'" referring to the Antichrist, "'will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week, he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.'" I might also add that this is pictured as well in Revelation 13 verse one, as well as verse five, as "the beast coming up out of the sea." And he has given quote, "a mouth, speaking arrogant words and blasphemies and authority to act for 42 months was given to him." 42 months, let me pause. If you go to Revelation 11 and verse two, we also read that "they will tread underfoot the holy city for 42 months." That's the last half of the seven-year tribulation.

Back to Revelation 13, beginning in verse seven, "It was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world, in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain." Now, it's fair to ask the question, "What on earth will this guy do that is so heinous, that will be so abhorrent to God?" Well, as we read the prophetic literature, we get the answer. Once the Antichrist gains power over the temple precincts, he will erect a statue of himself. We read about this in Revelation 13, verses 14 and 15. And that is what is called "the abomination of desolation," which is the act of defiling the temple. And this will fulfill Daniel's prediction in Daniel 11:36. There we read that the antichrist quote, "'will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done.'" You get the idea that God is in charge of all this and allowing it to happen to accomplish His glorious purposes; and to put his glory on display, so that the world will know that he is the Lord the God of Israel. Paul speaks of this in Second Thessalonians two beginning in verse three. He is described as "the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship." Paul goes on to say, "he takes his seat in the temple of God displaying himself as being God."

You know, Satan has always wanted to be worshipped. And this is why he is determined to deceive people through false messiahs and false prophets. Second, Thessalonians two again, beginning in verse nine, he is described as, "the one who's coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved." I might add that the Greek grammar in that text indicates that this detestable thing--standing in the holy place, will be some kind of a permanent image probably of the Antichrist, that's displayed in the temple. Once again, dear friends, Jerusalem will remain under Gentile domination. As Paul says the times of the Gentiles, or the fullness of the Gentiles, in Romans 11, has not yet been terminated forever. But I might add that this blasphemous desecration will be the final period of Gentile domination over Jerusalem. And we know according to the prophetic literature that the last half of the Tribulation will be unimaginably catastrophic. It's called the time of Jacob's trouble, or Jacob’s distress, as we read about in Jeremiah 30 and verse seven, "Alas, for that day is great, there is none like it, and it is the time of Jacob's distress, but he will be saved from it."

In the last half of the Tribulation, we know that God will unleash, not only his seal judgments in the first part, but in the last half, his trumpet judgments, and then his bowl judgments. And then we read of unprecedented, unimaginable, worldwide catastrophic destruction and death. And all the while this is going on, the Jews are going to be persecuted by the forces of the Antichrist, as these forces try to gain control of the city. Again, Zechariah, 12:13 and 14. In that section, it describes the Antichrist, along with his allied nations, coming against the forces, the Jewish forces. And what's fascinating is God, in that time, will greatly strengthen them. Zechariah 12 beginning in verse five, "'Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, 'A strong support for us are the inhabitants of Jerusalem through the Lord of the hosts, their God.' In that day, I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot among pieces of wood, and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while the inhabitants of Jerusalem again, dwell on their own sites in Jerusalem. The Lord also will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be magnified above Judah. In that day the Lord will defend to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them. And in that day, I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.'"

We can also go to Micah's prophecy that shifts from the impending judgment of that day with the Babylonians and foresees the pre kingdom judgments; the near and the far fulfillment of prophecy, Micah four and verse 10, we read, "And now many nations have been assembled against you, who say, 'Let her be polluted and let our eyes gloat over Zion.'" Again, this is referring now, not to the battle of Gog and Magog, but the battle of Armageddon when the Antichrist comes against the Jewish people. "'Let her be polluted and let her eyes gloat over Zion' But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord, and they do not understand His purpose; for He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor. Arise and thresh, Daughter of Zion, for your horn I will make iron and your hoofs I will make bronze, that you may pulverize many peoples, that you may devote to the Lord their unjust gain and their wealth to the Lord of all the earth. Now muster yourself and troops, daughter of troops; they have laid siege against us; with a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.'" Zechariah 14 beginning in verse three, "Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. In that day," referring to the second coming now; the battle of Armageddon is going on; Christ and the redeemed saints we will be with Him; He will come down on that day it says, or "In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east." By the way, just so you understand the geography, this is directly across from the Temple Mount, which implies that this may be where a Jewish remnant will be rescued in the moment of their greatest peril. "His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will split." It will "split" the Hebrew term "baqa," it means "to divide." It was also used at another great divide--when God divided the Red Sea, and the exodus of Israel. Let me read you that Exodus 14:16. "As for you," talking to Moses, "lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide," there's the term--"and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land."

Beloved, even as God miraculously delivered his chosen people from the Egyptian charioteers--that were pursuing them under the command of Pharaoh, who was a type of the Antichrist--he will do it again when the armies of the Antichrist seek to destroy his chosen people. And they have no place to go. The Antichrist being the antitype of Pharaoh, the one foreshadowed by Pharaoh.

I hope you can see the amazing parallels here. God divided the Red Sea to allow his people safe passage in the Exodus, and then he destroyed Pharaoh's army pursuing them. And what we see is that at the end of the tribulation, that the second coming of Christ, all of the nations will be gathered against his remnant. But they too, will be trapped in the Kidron Valley, where they will be destroyed. But the Lord once again will provide a way of escape for his people.

Back to Zechariah 14, beginning of verse three, "Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when he fights on a day of battle. In that day, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east... in its middle, from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!" That will be us folks. When the Lord's feet touches the Mount of Olives--when he returns again in all of his glory--it will part like the Red Sea. And two things will be the result of that. It will provide an East/West escape route for his people through the eastern side of the city, across the Kidron Valley and through the Mount of Olives, going out into the Judean Desert. But it also will block their enemies from escaping to the north or the south. And they will be trapped in the valley of Jehoshaphat, which means "God will judge." And like the Egyptian charioteers, they will be utterly destroyed.

The Holy Spirit describes this through his servant Zechariah, Zechariah 14, beginning in verse 12, "Now this will be the plague with which the Lord will strike all the peoples who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongue will rot in their mouth. It will come about in that day that a great panic from the Lord will fall on them; and they will seize one another's hand, and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand of another. Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance." The prophet Joel describes this as well in Joel chapter three, beginning in verse 12, "Let the nations be aroused and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine presses is full. The vats overflow for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness. The Lord roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem and the heavens and the earth tremble. But the Lord is a refuge for His people and a stronghold to the sons of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy and strangers will pass through it no more." You can read the same account with other things that is added in Revelation 19, verses 11 and following.

You know, here I am reminded of the Lord's promise back in Matthew 23. His promise to the leaders of Jerusalem, that the temple is going to be left desolate and that they will not see him again until something happens. Until they say according to Matthew 23:39. "'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.'" And folks, when this happens, they are going to say that. And that's when they will see him again. In fact, when the Messiah King returns to deliver Israel in the hour of their apparent extermination, the Lord will not only deliver them physically, but he will deliver them spiritually. He speaks of this in Zechariah 12, beginning in verse 10. He says, "I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication."

I want to pause there. In the Hebrew, the words for grace and supplication share the same root, indicating that those who asked for grace will receive it. And in the power of regeneration, they are going to ask for grace because they're going to see Christ for who he is, and he will save them. And so he's going to "'pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced.'" Remember Isaiah 53 and verse five, the Messiah was pierced for the sins of His people, they're gonna look on him, they're gonna know who he is. "'And they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son. And they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn. In that day, there will be great morning in Jerusalem, like the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo." By the way that's reaching all the way back into Second Chronicles 35 when their beloved King--godly King Josiah was killed in battle. He goes on to say, "'The land will mourn, every family by itself; the family of the house of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; the family of the Shemeites by itself and their wives by themselves; all the families that remain, every family by itself and their wives by themselves.'" What he's saying is because of the miracle of regeneration, the whole of Israel will be utterly stricken with grief over their rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they will finally embrace him as the Messiah, the Savior of their sins. And at that time, the Lord Jesus Christ will enthrone himself in his millennial temple, Zechariah eight and verse three says, "'Thus says the Lord, 'I will return to Zion, and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.''"

In fact, what's really fascinating, in Isaiah chapter two and verse two, we read that, "The mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains, and will be raised above the hills; and all the nations will stream to it." You see, we know according to Zechariah 14 and verse 10, that the topography of the ground around Jerusalem--that whole area--is going to be radically altered, so that the temple will be elevated above everything else. It will be located according to Ezekiel 48:21, "in the middle of a broad plain." Remember, when the Lord returns again, he is going to renovate the earth, then at the end of the millennial reign, he will recreate the Earth, the heavens and the earth. We also read in Ezekiel 48, verses 10 and following, about the details of the holy city and the allotment for the priests and the Levites, around the sanctuary, where the workers of the holy city are going to dwell and so forth. And it's incredible to imagine that the glory of that day, for both Jews and Gentiles, will be see; a result of his saving grace. Zechariah 14, verse 16, "Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went up against Jerusalem, will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths." You realize what that's saying? That many of the enemies of Jerusalem will be spared, and they will be saved, and they too will worship the Lord. Folks, this will be the greatest of all awakenings in the history of the world. Revelation seven and verse nine, "After these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, 'Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'"

Some of these people today that are the enemies of Israel; perhaps some of these people that are in these protests will be among the redeemed one day. This will include we know of many, many of Israel's former enemies that we'll come to faith in Messiah. Isaiah 66:18 and 19 tells us this. There we read, "the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory. I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations." And here he's going to speak of some of those who were a part of the nations that came against Israel with the battle of Gog and Magog, "I will set a sign among them and will send survivors from them to the nations: Tarshish, Put, Lud, Meshech, Tubal and Javan, to the distant coastlands that have neither heard My fame nor seen My glory. And they will declare My glory among the nations." Oh dear friends the power of the gospel. So there we see God's protection of Israel.

I want to close by just reminding you that God has ordained in eternity past, a plan of redemption whereby he would ultimately bring glory to himself. And because he is the sovereign God over all his creation, we worship Him--because we are part of that redemptive process, just a small part. Our salvation is only incidental to this whole glorious plan of redemption. But it is part of it and we celebrate that. And we can relax in his sovereign purposes, despite the chaos that we see all around us. And we can rejoice knowing that he will fulfill all that he has promised, amen? Let's bow our heads together.

Father, thank you, for the great truths of your word. While there's so many things we don't understand, you have given us enough that we can get at least the big picture, even some of the great details. And ultimately what we see is that you are God and there is no other. And so we celebrate all that you are. Thank you for all that you have done, are doing and will do in each of our lives. And for those that do not know you, who have never truly come to repentant faith, I plead with you as your servant this day, that you will overwhelm them with such great conviction that they will have no rest until they repent and place their trust in Christ, the only hope of salvation. For it's in his name that I pray. Amen.

Last week, we began a short series; I'm not sure how long it's going to last, but I know it'll at least go through today and next Sunday, and maybe yet another Sunday or two, but I have entitled this little series "Israel in Bible Prophecy." And I decided to do this because I wanted to bring clarity from a biblical, theological, historical, and prophetic perspective to all of the chaos that's going on, not just in the Middle East, but around the world. By way of review, last week, we looked at the importance of understanding God's choice of Israel. Deuteronomy seven and verse six, we read, "For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord, your God has chosen you to be people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth." And we know According to Exodus chapter 19, and verse six, that God's purpose for Israel is to be, quote, "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." We also examined God's unconditional, unilateral, irreversible, covenant promises to Abraham, and to David as well as the New Covenant. All of those covenants are important to understand if you're going to see why Satan and so many people around the world who are obedient to him, perhaps even unwittingly, hate the Jewish people and hate what's happening in Israel. Because those covenants, the Abrahamic, Davidic, and new covenants, are all the basis of the establishment of the millennial kingdom that is yet to come.

We also, secondly, looked at Satan's hatred of Israel, that he is the father of lies, he is the god of this world. We are told, he is the ruler of this world, Jesus said, temporarily. So nonetheless, he is, and people tend to underestimate his power to deceive. And certainly he has deceived many. We see it with the Islamic jihadist, we see it with the Marxist protesters here in our country and around the world, a parade of the deceived and the ignorant. And we know that God predicted the intransigent antisemitism that we see being revealed around the world. He predicted this, when he cursed Satan in Genesis 3:15, and he said, and "I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel." And I won't get into it again, but unless you understand that passage right there, you will never understand what's going on in Israel.

Later we know, as we studied, God allowed Satan to begin to drive a wedge with the descendants of Abraham; a rivalry between Ishmael, from which came the Arabs and Isaac from which came the Jews. And that extends to this day. Moreover, we examined the reality that because salvation is from the Jews, as Jesus said, in John four in verse 22, the Jewish people have always and will always be one of Satan's primary targets. He must destroy God's covenant people. And he operates through deception, through violence, through intimidation, through godless political ideologies, like liberalism, whether it be political or theological liberalism; it's always a cancer that will destroy people. And he certainly does it through false religious systems, especially Islam. And we studied why Arab Islamic jihadists hate Jewish people; because they believe that God's covenant with Abraham was a promise between Abraham and Ishmael, not Abraham and Isaac. They believe it was Ishmael who was offered on Mount Moriah, not Isaac, and therefore, all of the blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant should go to them, not to the Jewish people. Therefore, the land of Palestine belongs to them, not to Israel. And of course, the Marxist cult of wokeism, promoted primarily again through liberalism, especially in the Democratic Party, is all committed to hating Jewish people hating Israelis, because they see them as the privileged white class. It's all part of finding some group that they can call the oppressor. Of course, there's no condemnation for the Palestinians and the Hamas people that are committed to Jewish genocide. And these people, of course, want to eradicate all white, Judeo Christian ethics and influence. They hate Western civilization. They hate America, they hate the Constitution, and on and on, it goes down with colonialism, which is really their code word for deconstruction of the West. And it's this kind of indoctrination that we see in our public schools and in our colleges and universities. And sadly, in many apostate and naive churches.

We also examined, thirdly, God's judgment on Israel. And that's a lot of what we're seeing here today. You will recall that God made it abundantly clear in Deuteronomy 28, that he would bless them for their obedience and curse them for their disobedience. And I want to expand on that, just very briefly. We know that in the last seven chapters of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 28, through 34, God has given us frankly, a prophetic summary of Israel's future. There we see the conditions of blessing for obedience and curses for disobedience. It speaks of the prediction of coming apostasy, the affliction God would bring upon Israel while still in the land of promise, because of her apostasy. It speaks of Israel being taken captive, it speaks of the enemies of Israel will possess her land for a time, that the land itself will remain desolate, that Israel will be scattered among the nations, that Israel would become few in number, that Israel would not be destroyed if she repents, that Israel will repent in her tribulation and worship God as He intended. And finally, that Israel will be gathered from the nations; brought back to her divinely given land, and eventually he will prosper them abundantly. And we have witnessed in our lifetime, the beginning of this regathering, when the Jewish people have arisen out of the ashes of the Holocaust, to finally have a nation; we saw that in 1948. And this is really a testimony of God's promise that was even reaffirmed to the psalmist. And we read about this in Psalm 105, beginning in verse seven, "He is the Lord our God; His judgments are in all the earth. He has remembered His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to 1000 generations, the covenant which He had made with Abraham and His oath to Isaac. Then He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute to Israel as an everlasting covenant, saying to you, 'I will give the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance.'" And God will ultimately fulfill this promise when Christ returns and establishes his Messianic kingdom. And it's absolutely astounding to see the most persecuted ethnic religious group on the planet not only survive, but actually thrive. It's amazing to me; a testimony of God's protection, despite their disobedience, despite Satan's hatred of them, and the world's hatred of them.

I'm reminded of the promise in Amos chapter nine beginning in verse 14, where God says, "'I will restore the captivity of my people Israel, and they will rebuild the ruins cities and live in them, they will also plant vineyards and drink their wine and make gardens and eat their fruit, I will also plant them on their land. And they will not again be routed out from their land which I have given them,' says the LORD your God." And of course, this is in fulfillment of the promise that God made to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob 4000 years ago; a promise that was even reaffirmed to Moses. And to be sure, the Arab Muslims cannot stand this. And they are going to do everything they can to prevent this. But ultimately, we know that God will not allow them, or any other people, to have that land. But rather he has promised that land to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Now, that brings us to today and my fourth point in our little outline. And sometime in the near future, I'll get to the fifth point. The fourth point is God's protection of Israel. And then eventually, I'm not sure if it'll be next Sunday or the next, but we're going to look at God's salvation and restoration of Israel. Now with respect to God's protection of Israel, there are a myriad of examples of miraculous ways that God has protected his people. And it's amazing when you think about it, that despite the numerous pogroms that we have seen down through history, designed to eradicate the Jewish people from the face of the earth, the Jewish people still exist. Now, why is that? I mean, think about it. Over 4000 years ago, Abraham purchased burial property in Hebron to bury his wife, Sarah. Hebron, by the way, is about 19 miles or so southwest of Jerusalem. Today, it's a Palestinian city in the West Bank. And despite all of the barbaric attempts to cleanse these people from the face of the earth, they still exist. You don't hear anything about the Amalekites. You don't hear anything about the Hittites, or the Jebusites, or the Canaanites. But the Israelites dominate the news, tiny little Israel, about the size of the state of New Jersey; 9000 square miles. They have a population of approximately 9.73 million. About 75% of them are Jewish. And to think they are surrounded by 22 Arab countries, encompassing 5 million square miles, populated by approximately 600 million people who are all entirely aligned with the entire Muslim world that consists of 1.8 billion people, about 24% of the Earth's population. And virtually all of these Arab Muslim countries are committed to the destruction of Israel. And yet, they are the oppressors.

Well, today, I wish to focus on an event yet future. Another event that God has promised, whereby he will protect and preserve and even deliver Israel. And it's a promise that may be developing right before our eyes, as we look at this chaos in Israel. Chaos that really centers around Iran and her allies and proxies. And in a few minutes, I will take you to some of those passages in Ezekiel 38, and 39. But before we do, I want to take you to the book of Revelation in just a moment. Let me give you some background here. I fear this will be the most disjointed, confusing sermon you have ever heard. But I'm going to try to piece this together for you, so you have a grasp of what the Word of God has to say.

According to Ezekiel 38 and 39, we know that an alliance of nations will one day descend upon Israel from the north under the leadership of quote "Gog and Magog," and they will be supernaturally defeated on the mountains of northern Israel. And my goal this morning is to try to answer who, what, where, and why, even when, and bring some clarity and comfort and hopefully conviction to each of you that Christ might be exalted. Now, that's kind of where we're going. But in order to get there, we need to take just a short detour to get some understanding of what God has said, in the book of Revelation, the "Apokalypsis lesou Christo," the revealing of Jesus Christ, the last book in the Bible. Now, I'm going to have to assume some knowledge, on your part, of biblical eschatology. And so I'm not going to be able to get into all of the details, but I'm going to hit the highlights, and hopefully you will be able to fill in the blanks in days to come.

I want to remind you that the first five chapters of the apocalypse, or of the book of Revelation, are all introductory and then in Revelation six, we see the Worthy Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, opening six seals of divine wrath. And all of these are proceeding from the throne of God. And this is going to set into motion a purging that will ultimately kill most of the Earth's population and virtually every living thing and frankly, this is the whole climate cult environmentalist cults worst nightmare. And his purpose for this is to punish those who refuse to worship him. Moreover, according to Daniel nine, and verse 24, the purpose is to quote, "finish the transgression;" the transgression of Israel in the final 70th week of judgment that God revealed to Daniel, and then establish his earthly kingdom. Daniel 9:24 says," to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place."

Now we know that those four seals, the first four seals, are all represented by colored horses being written by four riders; sometimes you've heard people talk about the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The first seal describes, and this is very important, a pseudo peace, a false peace that will lull the world, including Israel into a false sense of utopia; a false sense of security. The second seal reveals a worldwide war; the third seal, worldwide famine; the fourth seal, death through the sword, and famine and pestilence and wild beasts. The fifth seal speaks of martyrdom of the newly converted saints--tribulation saints. The sixth seal speaks of unprecedented earthquakes and cosmic disturbances. And then the seventh seal includes kind of a silent contemplation of the staggering judgment that has transpired thus far. And then that will unleash the seventh trumpet judgments, followed by the seven bowl judgments.

Now, the catastrophic consequences of just the first four seals are inconceivable. They will ultimately kill 1/4 of the population of the earth, according to Revelation six and verse eight. And yet, those are only "the beginning of birth pangs," Jesus said, in Matthew 24, verse eight, and by the end, most of the human race will be exterminated. And what we see is that even as labor pains increase in severity and frequency for a mother about to give birth, so too, the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments will increase in severity and frequency, until finally a glorious kingdom will be birthed when the Lord Jesus returns in all of his glory.

Now, please understand just kind of basic chronology as I understand it from Scripture. The church will be caught up in the rapture, First Thessalonians 4:17. The Lord has promised to protect his church, to "keep" his church according to Revelation 310, "from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth." And sometime after the Lord snatches away his church and now begins to deal exclusively, once again, with Israel primarily in Daniel's 70th week, these seal judgments will begin to occur, and the first three and a half years of the tribulation. And of course, after the rapture of the church, according to Daniel 9:27, a character comes and his name is the "prince to come"; referring to the Antichrist. And we know that he is going to make a covenant with Israel, which really will begin the 70th week of God's judgment upon them. And at that time, the Jews will finally be able to build their temple on Mount Zion; which the Jewish people have been preparing for a long time; which the Antichrist, we know, will later desecrate in the middle of the week, or in the middle of the tribulation; three and a half years in.

And of course, this is all consistent with Jesus' chronology that he gave some 65 years earlier on the Tuesday before his crucifixion, at what is called the Olivet Discourse. You read about it in Matthew 24, and 25, Mark 13, and Luke 21; sometimes called "the little apocalypse," because it really parallels the events and the chronology of his unveiling here in the book of Revelation.

Now, another important kind of footnote to get your mind in the right place, very briefly, you must understand the profound significance of a third temple that needs to be built. Hasn't been built yet, but it's going to be remember the first temple was desecrated and destroyed in 586 BC with Nebuchadnezzar. And we know that there is a great restoration that is promised according to Malachi three and verse one, as well as the details of that temple are described in Ezekiel 40 through 48. And then the second temple desecration occurred in 186 BC, through Antiochus the fourth, and then it was utterly destroyed by the Romans and AD 70. And now we know that on that place, and I've been in this particular place, Satan has erected the Islamic Dome of the Rock, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, right there on Mount Zion, in which exists the former resting place of the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy of Holies. And currently, that sacred temple mount is under the militant control of the Islamic authority. And so the Orthodox Jews are passionate about restoring their temple; somehow getting rid of that temple, without the whole world exploding, right, and building their temple. And we know that that temple has to be built in order for the Antichrist to desecrate that temple in the middle of the tribulation.

Now, mind you, the secular Jews at this point, they couldn't care less about building the temple, all they want is peace. And they know that once you start tinkering with that particular piece of real estate, the whole world is going to blow up. But a third temple, we know, will be built according to Revelation 11, verses one and two, and then it's going to be desecrated in the middle of Daniel 70th week, the middle of the tribulation, according to Daniel 9:27, and Second Thessalonians, two, four.

Then, after the Lord returns, he will build the final millennial temple that is described in Ezekiel chapters 40 through 48; all of this is significant now for understanding the first seal. And you'll see why in a moment. Now we go to Revelation, Revelation chapter six. Again, John is standing in the throne room of heaven; he's looking upon the Worthy Lamb who has received the scroll of doom from the hand of the Father. That's all in chapter five. And then he has given a dramatic visual presentation of the contents of each seal.

And we see this first seal, beginning to be described in verse one of revelation six, let me read this to you. "Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, 'Come.'" So he sees and he hears one of the magnificent angels around the throne summon the first horseman and his horse of judgment. And it's described as, quote, "a voice of thunder." And this is reminiscent, is it not, of the thunder that accompanied the theophany of God on Mount Sinai when God gave Moses the 10 commandments, as we read about in Exodus 20.

Verse two, "And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer." And we know that in Scripture, horses were used to symbolize conquest and power and majesty, and war. And certainly in Revelation they are associated with force, with power that brings great disaster upon the earth. And you will notice this is a white horse, which was a symbol of victory for the Romans and for the Persians; and also the symbol of righteousness and holiness in the book of Revelation. So what does this represent? Well, it's important, whenever we look at the prophetic literature, that we do so, especially as we look at symbolism, that we do so through the context of other prophetic passages. And we must interpret the symbolism here, of this white horse and rider, through the lens of many other prophetic passages that give us context as to what happens here in the initial phase of the tribulation, that we await; that the world awaits, I should say. Because again, I believe the church will not be in that particular season of God's wrath.

The beginning of the Tribulation will be characterized by a time of peace. The world's craving peace today, is it not? All over the world people don't know what to do. But according to Bible prophecy, the most diabolically wicked political leader in the history of the world will be the one who will come and offer that peace. And that person will be the Antichrist. And that world peace will center around tiny Israel. And it will happen, in Daniel 9:27, when quote, "he will make a firm covenant with the many," that is Israel, "for one week," that's weeks of years, in other words, seven years--that's why we call this Daniel 70th week; Israel is going to be deceived by a false sense of security provided by this ruler. And this peace will allow them to finally rebuild their temple; something they cannot do now because of the Muslims and their Dome of the Rock. And again, as I say, most Israelis really don't want it. All they want is peace, and they know that that will only bring further war.

According to Daniel 9:27, we read, "in the middle of the week he will put a stop to sacrifice is referring to the Antichrist, he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes a desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate." And this of course, is consistent with what Jesus said in Matthew 24, in verse 15, referring to "the abomination of desolation." And we know according to Revelation 13, verses 14 and 15, that the antichrist at that point will set up an image of himself in the temple and demand to be worshipped. In First Thessalonians five and verse three, Paul also warned about this peaceful deception he said, "While they are saying, 'Peace and safety!' then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape."

So given these facts, the first horse and horseman symbolizes a force of wickedness that will bring about a pseudo peace that's described in other passages as well. Now this person cannot be Christ; he is the one opening the seals. Moreover, this rider is given a "stephanos" crown, in the original language, a victor's wreath. And he carries a bow, whereas we see Christ is crowned with many diadems, that is royal crowns, in chapter 19. And he carries a sword. He doesn't carry a bow. And as we're gonna see, it's a bow without arrows. And he comes at the end of the tribulation, not at the beginning. So I would submit to you this is the White Horse of counterfeit righteousness, of feigned holiness; a person that the world is going to absolutely feign over. And I'm reminded of what the Apostle Paul said in Second Corinthians 11, begin in in first 14, this person will be like, quote, "Satan," who, "disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore, it's not surprising if his servants also disguised themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their deeds."

Now, I want you to notice as well, there's no indication that the rider is a specific person like the Antichrist, but rather he represents this impersonal force, this impetus--that of a counterfeit piece; even as the other riders, if you look into it, will represent war, and famine and death. And notice also this rider has a bow, but no arrows, perhaps symbolic of the capability to use force without the determination to do so. So here we see power, and the pretext of peace without malice. And we understand that better in the next phrase of verse two of Revelation six. We see also, "a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering, and to conquer." And this is not a reference to Christ, the eternal Sovereign King, he has no need for anyone to give him a crown. So this horse and rider, again, depicts this false peace that will be secured by the Antichrist, the one who will be given a winner's crown as he seduces the world.

And likewise here in this first seal, there is no hint of a military conquest that comes in the second seal. Yet we have one who goes out quote, "conquering and to conquer." So obviously, this must mean there is some kind of political maneuvering, not a conquering through military force. And this will probably be the force behind what we hear today called the New World Order. Paul describes the power of his deceptive capabilities in Second Thessalonians two, in verse eight, he's described as "the lawless one." So the Antichrist, the lawless one, also in verse nine, and following, "the one who's coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perished, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. And for this reason, God will send upon them a diluting influence so that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth but took pleasure in wickedness."

And we know that the Antichrist will also have the help of many false teachers, many false messiahs. Jesus spoke about this in Matthew 24. At the end of verse four "'See to it that no one mislead you. For many will come in My name, saying, 'I am the Christ,' and will mislead many.'" He will also have as his accomplices, an army of false religions, of ear tickling false shepherds who multiply like fruit flies, in the midst of a crisis, as we see today, like the false shepherds in the days of Jeremiah, who kept preaching "Peace, peace, but there is no peace," Jeremiah six and verse 14. Now that's all introductory to where I want to go.

What kind of events in the prophetic sequence contribute to this kind of mass gullibility? What would cause the world including Israel to be so profoundly duped? Well, I would like to offer you a possible scenario, I can't be dogmatic, you know, when it comes to eschatology, everybody's bucket has holes in it. I just think mine has fewer than the others. I know that sounds hideously arrogant, but you know, you have to have convictions, right? I would like to offer you a possible scenario that emerges from the prophetic literature and I believe that the Prophet Ezekiel gives us much insight into the possible sequence of events that could cause the world to clamor for peace, like never before. There has to be something that will transpire to get the highly distrusting nation, and rightfully so; the highly distrusting nation of Israel to be seduced by this pseudo peace, represented by the first seal at the beginning of Daniel's 70th week. And I believe that a possible explanation for all of this can be found in the events of Ezekiel 38 and 39 and the prophecy of Gog and Magog. Let me give you a thirty second overview of the book of Ezekiel, okay. I don't know, I think I may have this on the overhead.

In Chapters one through 24, there's a description of Israel's removal from their land. Chapters 25 to 32, depicts God's historical judgments on other nations. Chapter 33, there's a historical call to repentance, the fall of Jerusalem. And of course, all of that happened literally, which tells you that the rest of it will all happen literally. And then in chapters 34 through 39, you have prophecies concerning Israel's literal future return to the very same land from which they were driven and dispersed across the globe. In chapters 38 and 39, you have a graphic description of a future invasion of Israel and its aftermath that will occur just prior to Messiah has returned to establish his earthly millennial kingdom. And then chapters 40 through 48, you have a detailed description of the millennial temple and conditions in the kingdom with respect to the boundaries and division of the land and the priests and the tribes and on and on it goes.

Now I want you to think carefully with me. In Ezekiel 37, you have that magnificent chapter of the vision of the valley of the dry bones depicting a national resurrection of Israel and regathering back into the land, where eventually at His second coming, the Lord promises according to verse 24, "I will put My Spirit within you and you will come to life, and I will place you on your land. And in verse 24, we read that was verse 14 in Ezekiel 37, and then verse 24, we read, "My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd." And in verse 26, he promises that, that this will all fulfill the Abrahamic and Davidic and New Covenants together as he establishes his kingdom. And he says there, verse 26, "'I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever. My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. And the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their presence for forever." Now, obviously, that has not happened. But then in Ezekiel 38, he gives a detailed prophecy of a future invasion, before all of this happens, and then in chapter 39, he gives a description of him coming to the aid of Israel, destroying these enemies, and a description of the aftermath and ultimate restoration of Israel into their land during the millennial kingdom. And, of course, all of the detailed descriptions of the millennial temple.

But what's interesting, is sandwiched in between Israel's regathering and promised spiritual restoration in chapter 37 and the temple details in chapters 40 and 48. You have this invasion in chapters 38 and 39. And all of this tells us that this battle is somehow uniquely associated with the last days temple. But let me read you Ezekiel 38, verses two through six. "And the word of the Lord came to me saying, 'Son of man, set your face toward God of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him and say, 'Thus says the Lord God, "Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech and Tubal, I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out, and all your army horse, horses and horsemen, all of them splendidly attired, a great company with buckler and shield, all of them wielding swords; Persia, Ethiopia and Put with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer with all its troops; Beth-togarmah from the remote parts of the north with all its troops--many peoples with you."'" Now, let me stop there. Just real briefly, the meaning of Gog is uncertain. I would estimate that I've spent at least 12 to 15 hours over the years, studying everybody that's ever written on this topic. And I can assure you that nobody really knows what Gog means. And the best we can do is see it as the personified head of the forces of evil which are intent on destroying Israel that we know. And we also know that this comes from the land of Magog and against that's uncertain; most likely a name describing the region that compromises the alliance of nations; the complex of nations that he goes on to mention. But he or it is called the "prince of Rosh," at least in the New American Standard, I think a better translation like you would see in the ESV, or even the Legacy Standard is "the chief prince," because Rosh is really an adjective in the Old Testament meaning chief, and so it's translated like in the ESV, "the chief Prince of Meshech, and Tubal." And of course, we know that these were provinces in Asia Minor in an area associated with the Scythians, kind of in the southern region of Siberia, if you would look at it today. And those people reigned from Central Asia--from China to the northern Black Sea, which is the region now of Turkey, and six Muslim Soviet Socialist Republics: Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan. An estimated 25 million Muslims live in Russia, and most are living in the immediate proximity. And certainly, these particular republics are in the immediate proximity of Turkey, and Syria, and Lebanon and Iraq, and Iran, and Afghanistan. And we see from the text that God's allies include Meshech and Tubal, we know that they were territories in Turkey. Persia, he mentions, is Iran. Kush and Ethiopia is Sudan and that part of Northern Africa. Put, likewise Libya. Gomer can be identified historically with the Gimmerai of the Assyrians, or the Cimmerians of Greek literature, who originally came from the north of the Black Sea. Beth-togarmah is Turkey, and it may also include Azerbaijan and Armenia. So basically, the geographical area Ezekiel describes would include parts of Iran and Turkey and the southern provinces of Russia. Gog's allies, although they offer no conclusive evidence as to God's identity, and today, all of these nations hate the United States, ultimately, and they certainly hate Israel. And they want to destroy Israel. And of course, the most powerful motivation of all is the Shia Muslim commitment to their goal of not just a regional caliphate, but a worldwide caliphate. I mean, they would ultimately destroy every one of us if they could. And worse yet, mainstream Shiites believe that the return of the Messiah like figure they call the 12 Imam, and his coming was going to be hastened by some kind of an apocalyptic chaos and violence that's perpetrated upon Christians and Jews. And so they love to see all of this chaos because they think it's going to bring in their redeemer, their messiah figure.

But God says that he's going to put hooks into their jaws and bring this alliance down on Israel, according to verse four. According to verse 13, to "plunder, to carry away silver and gold to take away cattle and goods to capture great spoil." Now, when will this happen? Some say, well, it's going to happen during the tribulation. Others say it's the battle of Armageddon. Others say it's really mainly speaking of the end of the millennium. And others will say, as I do, that, I believe this will happen before the tribulation. Even though I can't be dogmatic, I think it's very possible. And I want you to look closely at this. We know that they're going to swoop down on Israel from the north, quote, "the mountains of Israel," 38 in verse eight and other passages, even in chapter 39. It's also going to be a region of, quote, "unwalled villages," according to 38 and verse 11, which is currently true of Northern Israel, I've been there. And this security seems to refer to military confidence rather than their trust in the Lord. And these invaders, according to 38 and verse six and verse 15, are going to come out of "the remote parts of the north." And according to chapter 39, verse four, we know that God will miraculously defeat them, quote, "on the mountains of Israel."

Why is he going to do this? Chapter 39, in verse seven, "'My holy name I will make known in the midst of My people, Israel; and I will not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.'" And what's the outcome of the war? Well 39 verse 22, says, "'And the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God from that day onward.'"

Now, obviously, this war must take place prior to the millennium, because during the millennium, Israel is not going to be surrounded by murderous enemies. And they will not even enter the kingdom, unless they already know the Lord and are worshipping Him. Moreover, and this is really fascinating, according to Isaiah 66, verses 19 and 20, some of the attackers Ezekial mentions are actually going to come to saving faith in Christ and come and worship the Lord. So I think that, and another a number of other reasons, that would rule out the millennium. So will it take place during the tribulation or at Armageddon? Well, I think not. Let me tell you why. At Armageddon, according to Zechariah 12, verses two and three, it says, quote, "all the nations of the earth will be gathered" against Jerusalem. And they will be allied with the Antichrist to destroy Jerusalem while the people are in a state of imminent peril. In Joel three, verse two, "I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat." Jehoshaphat means "Yahweh judges." "Then I will enter into judgment with them on behalf of my people and my inheritance Israel." But with the battle of Gog and Magog in Ezekial 38, it's not all the nations, it's a specific alliance of nations that meet their fate on the mountains of Israel.

Moreover, at Armageddon, we read that the Antichrist will assemble his army in the northern part of Israel, round mountain Megiddo, according to Revelation 16, verses 14 and 16. But the actual battle is going to be in Jerusalem, Zechariah 12, 13, 14. But in the battle of Gog and Magog, there's no mention of the Antichrist, at least any anything that I can see; and the alliance of nations are going to be destroyed on the mountains of Israel, Ezekial 39 and verse four. And Armageddon occurring at the very end of the tribulation, it will occur at the very end of the tribulation, when the world including much of Israel, is going to be utterly destroyed by the seal trumpet in bowl judgments. It's devastating. In Revelation six, verse 16, we read that the people will say to the mountains into the rocks, "'Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of the wrath has come and who is able to stand?'" But in the battle of Gog and Magog, we see something very different. The context according to Ezekiel 38, and verse 11, is Israel living quote, "securely." "Betach,” securely; safely, free from anxiety and fear--a term which by the way can refer to peace through military might. And we also see that God will cause their enemies to come upon them and take spoil. Well, my goodness, if that's happening at the end of the end of the Armageddon, they're certainly not going to be living in peace and security. And there won't be any spoil to take.

Now, we know when Christ returns at Armageddon, amazing things are gonna happen to the topography of the earth. In Zechariah 14 beginning in verse three we read, "The Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. In that day, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south." And in verse 10, we read, "All the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin's gate, as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king's wine presses. People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will dwell in security." Now that describes radical changes to the earth's topography; there is a renovation of the earth that occurs when Jesus returns, returning the earth to a form of Edenic splendor. In fact, John MacArthur says quote, "All the land into a plain," what we just read, "the term plain pictures the Jordan Valley, extending from Mount Hermon, which is an elevation of 9100 feet to the Gulf of Akabah. Here the entire land from Geba, six miles to the north, to Rimmon, in the south, would be leveled to become like the well-watered and fertile lowlands of the Jordan Valley, causing Jerusalem to be exalted above, like a solitaire diamond on a ring. Jerusalem having been rebuilt according to these dimensions will be exalted in both place and purpose; the prominent royal city of Jesus Christ, Ezekiel 40 through 48."

Now, how can you reconcile this kind of supernatural glorious renovation and cleansing of the Earth with the cleanup after the battle of Gog and Magog? Because it says in Ezekiel 39, nine through 16, it will take Israel "seven months," verse 12, to bury the corpses. And the destruction of the weapons will take according to verse nine, "seven years." You see, if this battle were to occur during the tribulation, the Jews would be having to do this during the horrific sealed trumpet and bowl judgment, where they're experiencing unprecedented persecution and judgment and death. We know according to Revelation 12, six, many of them will flee into the wilderness. And we know according to Zechariah 12, verses seven through eight, chapter 13, verse one, chapter 14, verse two, that others are going to remain in Jerusalem. So if this is a battle of Armageddon, this means that in other words, that the battle of Gog and Magog happens at the battle of Armageddon. This means that exposed corpses and military equipment will litter the land that the Lord has just renovated. I cannot fathom that. It's going to happen seven years into the millennium? That makes no sense to me. So that's why I believe that this battle will take place prior to the tribulation. And this will give Israel time to bury the corpses and dispose of the weaponry that will take seven years. In fact, as I look at it, in Ezekiel 38 and 39, there is nothing in those texts that would rule out the conditions of the State of Israel prior to the Hamas attack on October 7.

Is it possible that that attack signals the beginning stages of the battle of Gog and Magog? Maybe not the final one, but certainly we see, I think, the stage being set for all that Ezekial has promised, certainly that shocked Israel. They thought they were secure because of their military might. And it has certainly triggered a second front in the north with Hezbollah, and it's galvanized the entire Islamic nations of the world against Israel. Yay, I would submit to you is galvanizing most of the world against Israel, including the alliance of nations described in Ezekiel 38 verses five and six. I mean, we all watched the Muslim mob storm the airport, in Dagestan. Did you see that in search of the Jews wanting to kill them when they came in on the plane? That Republic of Dagestan is on the southernmost tip of Russia. And it shares border with Azerbaijan and Georgia, northwest of Tehran, and east of Turkey.

Israel's devastating ground operations in Gaza has outraged the world, along with millions of Marxists in the US. We see this with all of the protests. And think about this, we see now Biden losing support from the radical left. Let me present some scenarios to you. And here, we're just we're just thinking out loud, okay? Can't be dogmatic with any of this. What if the US decided to withdraw support from Israel? What if the rapture were to suddenly take place? I mean, Israel would be absolutely vulnerable. Either one of those scenarios, would be an opportunity for the enemy to come down upon them. Could this be the way God fulfills his stated promise in Ezekiel 38 verse four, when he says, "I will turn you about put hooks into your jaws, and I will bring you out and all your army." The idea to destroy Israel.

Now, imagine the geopolitical implications of such a victory. All of these nations come down upon Israel, and God supernaturally destroys them. And we'll get into that, possibly next week to see what he's going to do. But I mean, he destroys them, not Israel. Suddenly, the Islamic world would lose all of its clout, and Israel would become the most feared nation on the planet. The world's economy would collapse. You add to that the rapture of the church, and the United States would become a toothless tiger. And that would create a global crisis, a leadership vacuum that would need to be filled. Israel would become a force to be reckoned with, requiring a peace treaty. This could pave the way; I believe for the first seal of Revelation six; the horse and the rider that depicts the force of false peace that will be secured by the Antichrist. Moreover, at that point, guess what? The Orthodox Jews would finally be able to rebuild the third temple. And the secular Jews would no longer resist it, for fear of Islamic reprisals because they are basically neutered. And there has to be a third temple in order for it to be defiled. By the way, that temple will ultimately be destroyed and the fourth temple, the final temple, is the one of Ezekiel 40 through 48.

Well, I'll expand upon this more the next time, we're out of time. But at least, maybe we can begin to see that what we're seeing today, possibly, could be the beginning of all of this. Certainly, it's going to include many of the nations and the satanic ideologies that are driving all of the wickedness in the world today. And we don't know exactly when, but we know that it will ultimately happen, because God has promised it and he cannot lie. And to that extent, dear friends, I would encourage you to rejoice in the Lord. Don't be afraid of all this stuff. I mean, the worst that could happen is we die and be with him. Right? Right. And so we can rejoice in this. And I, I'm just thrilled when I look at all of the prophecies that God has fulfilled absolutely literally. And even though we don't know, again, everybody's buckets has holes in them, right? And my bucket's got holes in it. Like I say, I just don't think it has as many as some of the others but, but the point is, I know that ultimately, my God reigns, your God reigns, Christ is coming again, and he's going to establish His Kingdom just as he's promised. And my friend, if you don't know Christ, as your Savior, if you have never trusted in him as the only hope of your eternal salvation, please, I plead with you, do that today before it's too late. Let's pray together.

Father, thank You for the glories of your grace, the promises of your word. And I pray that even as we've reflected upon some of the possibilities, and certainly many of the truths of your word, that we will once again be encouraged in who you are, and that we will contemplate even more deeply and celebrate more joyfully, the wonders of your grace; the perfections of your character, that we might serve you and love you. That many might see Christ in us and be saved. To this end we pray for the glory of Christ. Amen.

It is always an immense privilege to be able to stand before you, and minister the word of God to you. And I would invite you to take your Bibles and turn to Deuteronomy 29, where we just were. But I must say I have many passages that we will be going to. This is not going to be a typical exposition. In fact, I'm not sure exactly where I'm going with all of these things, but I have much to share with you with respect to what's going on in the world today. In fact, I'm moving away temporarily from our study of the gospel of Mark, to address the issue of Israel in Bible prophecy.

We are all stunned, at least the civilized world is stunned, with what has happened in Israel. I've been in many of those areas; I've never been to Gaza, but I've been to many of those areas. And the savagery that took place there is nothing short of satanic. And we're also stunned to see the massive protests here in the United States; people that are somehow sympathetic with things that they don't understand frankly, and some of them do understand. And many are asking the question, "Why such violent hatred of Jewish people?" "Why such antisemitism, pretty much worldwide?" "Why are the Jews and the Islamic Arabs in a perpetual state of war?" Is it because Israel is oppressing the Palestinians, as many will argue; that somehow they are an oppressive people group? And therefore, the solution to all of this is a political solution. Because ultimately, this is a land dispute. My goal over the next few weeks is to present a biblical, theological, prophetic explanation of what is happening. And I will say from the outset, that the things that I have to say that emerge from the Word of God will be utterly absurd to people who do not know Christ, and do not have a grasp of scripture. But for those of us who, by his grace, know and love him, the Spirit of God will use his word to illuminate our hearts, and bring comfort, and discernment and hope, and strengthen our faith.

Why such hatred of Jewish people? Why Hamas and Hezbollah? Why the violent protests? Well, God answers this very clearly in his word. And I'm going to present this to you very succinctly and then I'm going to spend several weeks elaborating on what I'm about to say. The reason for all of this can be summarized under two simple headings. The hatred of Jewish people and Hamas and all of these things, is number one, the result of Satan's hatred of God's chosen people. Secondly, it's because of God's judgment on his chosen people. Which I might add, will ultimately result in their spiritual salvation and national restoration.

When Christ returns and establishes His kingdom what we see happening in Israel today, dear friends, is nothing more than a manifestation of the ancient battle between the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light; between Satan and God. Satan is doing everything he can to thwart the purposes of God. And Israel is right at the heart of that, as we will see, Christian people. But also, what we see here is the fulfillment of God's promises to judge his people for their disobedience. God made it an abundantly clear, for example, in Deuteronomy 28, that he would bless them if they would obey his law, but also he would curse them if they did not. So frankly, he predicted the bewilderment that many people have today with antisemitism. In fact, as we read just a minute ago in Deuteronomy 29, beginning in verse 24, he predicted this, he said, "All of the nations will say, 'Why has the Lord done thus to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?'" Here's the answer, "Then men will say, 'Because they forsook the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. They went and served other gods and worshipped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not allotted to them. Therefore the anger of the LORD burned against the land, to bring upon it every curse, which is written in this book; and the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.'" And I will elaborate much more on this in times to come. But what we see today is God allowing Satan, and his demonic and human servants, to persecute His chosen people, that he might eventually bring them to saving faith in Christ

May I remind you of Jesus' profound statement to the Samaritan woman recorded in John 4:22. And this helps under helps us understand the reason for Satan's hatred. Jesus said to her, "'You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews.'" Dear friends, the implication of that last phrase is absolutely staggering and it is at the heart of what we see happening in Israel and around the world today. You see, because salvation is from the Jews, God's chosen people, they have always been and will remain, Satan's primary target. Satan and his minions are conducting to this very day, a campaign of deception and violence to prevent God's plan of redemption, by eliminating the very people from which the Savior arose once and will return. God predicted this intransigent Semitism, antisemitism that has dominated history, when he cursed Satan in the Garden of Eden, after Satan tempted Adam and Eve, you will recall in Genesis 3:15. And this is foundational to understanding all that has happened and all that is happening there. In Genesis 3:15, God said, "'And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed, he shall bruise you on the head and you shall bruise him on the heel.'" Friends, I would submit to you that you cannot understand the mystery, the problem of antisemitism and anti-Christianity unless you understand that passage of scripture and it's far-reaching implications recorded in Scripture. What we are watching today is the result of this ancient battle of two opposing spiritual kingdoms. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan, combined with God's judgment upon his chosen people for their disobedience. And even to the to this day, most of them remain his beloved enemy.

But I will add this, we also know that God will one day save and restore Israel, when the Messiah the Lord Jesus Christ returns and judges the nations and establishes his kingdom. In fact, in Deuteronomy, where we were earlier, beginning, in verse three of chapter 30, we read this, "Then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers."

We even read in Jeremiah chapter 30, in verse 24, "The fierce anger of the LORD will not turn back until He has performed and until He has accomplished the intent of His heart. In the latter days, you will understand this." In Jeremiah 32, beginning of verse 37, we also read "'Behold, I will gather them out of all of the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety. They shall be My people, and I will be their God.'" Thus saith the Lord.

Well, I have an outline that I made up that I hope to follow, at least at some level, that may give you some categories to hang some of these great truths upon. And unless you're a bit OCD, I would encourage you not to even take notes, because I'm going to be going fast and furious. And all of this is going to be transcribed, and you will have them available to you, okay? But my outline is simply this. Number one, we're going to look at God's choice of Israel. Number two, we're going to look at Satan's hatred of Israel. Number three, God's judgment of Israel; and that's probably as far as we'll get today. And then, fourthly, we're going to look at God's protection of Israel, and finally, God's salvation, and restoration of Israel. And what you will see is there's much overlap in all of these categories.

So first of all, in order to understand what's going on, we need to start from the beginning. We need to understand, number one: God's choice of Israel. Let me give you the big picture overview. We know that God created the heavens and the earth, everything that is in the universe; that he allowed sin to enter into his perfect universe. And as a result of that, he cursed all that he had created with the intent of ultimately bringing blessing and restoration; to bring glory unto himself to an elect group of people. And when God made that curse, he also cursed Satan in the garden. And I read that a moment ago in Genesis 3:15. He predicted a great struggle between Satan's seed, referring to unbelievers, and Eve's offspring, referring to Christ, and all who are in him. And there we read that Satan would bruise Christ's heel, meaning that he would cause him to suffer, but Christ would bruise him on the head, meaning he would ultimately and utterly destroy him. And that happened at the cross. And the ultimate fruition of that will occur, yet future. The cancer of sin, we know from the biblical record and from history, continued to metastasize.

So God judged the entire Earth with a global flood. And after the days of Noah, God chose the descendants of Abraham to be his treasured possession. Deuteronomy seven beginning in verse six, God said, "'For you are a holy people to the LORD.'" In other words, you're separated unto me. "'You are a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you, nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.'" Let me pause, and also in Deuteronomy nine and verse six, he adds, "'it is not because of your righteousness, that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stubborn people.'" Back to Deuteronomy seven and verse eight and following. Here's why he set his love upon them. "Because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers,'" referring to the Abrahamic covenant. "'The LORD brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His loving kindnesses to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.'"

Now, very briefly, we know that in Genesis chapter 12, God introduced a covenant, a promise to Abraham. And then he actually made that in Genesis 15, beginning in verse 18. And then he reaffirmed it later on in Genesis chapter 17. And then we also know that he renewed it with Isaac in chapter 26, and also with Jacob in chapter 28. And this covenant contains essentially four elements; number one, that he would give him a seed-- referring to Christ that would come from his loins. And this was reaffirmed again in Second Samuel seven, that secondly, that he would give Abraham's descendants a land, a specific territory, that would be set apart by God for His people; a place where he would ultimately dwell with them in a holy and an intimate union. And we can see this reaffirmed in Leviticus 26, for example, as well as Deuteronomy 27 and 28. And thirdly, he promised that from Abraham would come a great nation, where Abraham's godly reputation, and his legacy would be displayed materially, spiritually and socially; that the glory of God's grace would be put on display. And then, fourthly, he promised divine blessing and protection upon them. And this is all reaffirmed in the new covenant blessings found in Jeremiah 31. In fact, the writer of Hebrews describes the certainty of God's promise to Abraham and his descendants in chapter six, beginning in verse 13. Here's what the writer says, "For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He had not one greater by whom to swear, He swore by Himself saying, 'SURELY I WILL BLESS AND MULTIPLY YOU.'" And then later in verse 17, we read when God desired to show more convincingly, "to the heirs of the promise, the unchangeable character of His purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath."

Now, God's promise to Abraham included blessings to his descendants that would come through his sons, Ishmael, and Isaac. And it is here, where Satan began to drive a great wedge in that family, in those people. And he did this by implementing a nefarious plan to thwart the purposes of God. So we move from God's choice of Israel; Secondly, to Satan's hatred of Israel. What we see in the biblical record is that here Satan caused a rivalry between Ishmael, whom most will say was the father of the Arabs, and Isaac, through whom came the Jews. And it's important for you to understand that God promised to make Ishmael a great nation, with many progenies and the father of 12 rulers. But God also said in Genesis chapter 16, and verse 12, that, "'He will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand will be against him, and he will live to the east of all his brothers.'"

Later, in 2005 BC, Isaac's barren wife, conceived and gave birth to twin boys, by the name of Jacob and Esau. Esau being the father of the Edomites, the fierce enemies of Israel. And in Genesis 25, verse 23, we read that, "The LORD said to her, 'Two nations are in your womb; and two peoples will be separated from your body; and one people shall be stronger than the other; and the older shall serve the younger.'" Dear friends, we're seeing this played out today in Israel. Indeed, only Isaac's descendants would be the inheritors of the racial and the national promises made to Abraham. You read more about this, for example, in Romans chapter nine. And in Genesis 32 and verse 28, we read how God changed Jacob's name to "Israel." And through Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, came the 12 tribes of Israel.

Well Satan's attempt to destroy God's chosen people continued, and obviously I'm leaving out lots of history, I'm giving you the highlights. But we see this when the line of Abraham was almost eliminated by the plot against Jacob's son, Joseph, when God raised him up to be a great ruler in Egypt. And we know that God intervened. We know that he preserved many people, including his own family. We also see that Joseph is a type of Christ revealed in Scripture. And Joseph's own words reveal the glory of God's intervention and all of that. In Genesis chapter 45, verse eight, he said, "'Now therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.'"

Now we know that the Israelites in Egypt began to prosper greatly. The 12 tribes that came through the loins of Abraham and through Isaac, and finally Jacob, ultimately became a threat to Pharaoh. So he began to afflict them with bitter labor. But as we read in Scripture, the Israelites actually thrived and prospered, despite Satan's attempt to destroy them.

And in that day, God raised up Moses to deliver his people, Israel, from the Egyptians, and bring them into, according to Exodus 3:8, "'a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittites and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.'" It's also interesting, in Genesis 15, verse 13, Abraham was told by God, that his descendants would be aliens, that would be mistreated in a foreign land for 400 years using a figure rounded to hundreds. And as promised, According to Exodus 12:41, quote, "at the end of 430 years, to the very day, all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt." And we know that through the ordinates of that first Passover, that pointed to Christ's saving work, God miraculously delivered his chosen people from the Egyptians. And that happened we know in 1446 BC.

And as they wandered in the wilderness, making their way, ultimately to their promised land, we see how God made that family into a nation. And he gave that nation his law through his servant Moses, to demonstrate his righteous standard, and to help them understand their need for a Savior, that would one day come. He promised to bless them for their obedience, to curse them for their disobedience as we have read. And again, this is vividly and solidly described in Deuteronomy 28. And so we know that he brings them finally into the promised land. And it's interesting in Deuteronomy seven, beginning in verse one, we read that God commanded them to, quote, "utterly destroy" the people of Canaan, when they entered the land. Which meant they were to kill every man, every woman and every child. They were to do this as an act of divine retribution for their extreme wickedness, and also to protect Israel, not only from their violence, but to protect them from the corruption of their idolatry and immorality that would ultimately cause them to sin and bring judgment upon Israel. And sadly, they violated God's commands in many different ways. And they succumb to Satan's schemes. They began to intermarry with those people, they began to worship their idols. And they suffered greatly at the hands of their enemies, as God allowed that to happen as part of his judgment upon them.

And this moves us now to the third point in our little outline, and that's God's judgment upon Israel. Again, this is promised in Deuteronomy 28, as a consequence of their disobedience; and there's many examples of how his judgment was manifested. Let me give you a few more. We know that Satan almost eliminated the descendants of Abraham, the Israelites, in the potential genocide of the Jews that we read about in Esther chapter three and chapter four. He attempted to destroy the Messianic line itself, in the time of Joash. You read about that in Second Chronicles, 22, and 23. And what's interesting is always, even in the midst of all of those horrible judgments that were occurring, he would always remind them of his faithfulness to his covenant promises. And as God's plan unfolded in history, around 1000 BC, he made another promise to one of Abraham's descendants, to a man named David. The promise of an eternal kingdom, whereby David's throne would ultimately belong to a descendant of David, to a greater son of David, namely the Lord Jesus Christ. But we know that God's judgment continued as God allowed Satan to persecute his people.

In 722 the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians. In 605 BC, Judah fell to the Babylonians. And during that time, God raised up a prophet by the name of Daniel. In the prophecies of Daniel chapter seven, which parallel Daniel chapter two, I might add. In that prophecy, Daniel sees four great beasts, according to Daniel seven, verse three. They're coming, "up from the sea, different from one another." And there he describes the empires of Babylon, of Medo-Persia, of Greece and of Rome, and also a future revived Roman Empire that would be ruled by the most hideous of all rulers that we know to be the Antichrist, that is coming. And there we read of a successive number of Gentile empires that would dominate Jerusalem and God's covenant people until the Messiah would come and establish his kingdom. And we see Satan's role in all of this.

You will also recall in Daniel chapter 10, as well as chapter 12, where Daniel speaks of the Archangel Michael, the great prince, who stands guard over the sons of Israel, Daniel 12, verse one. Remember how, according to chapter 10, and verse 13, that he fought against a demon called the Prince of Persia, whom Satan had dispatched to thwart the purposes of God by opposing Gabriel in heavenly warfare. You may remember that from our study of Daniel.

But once again, because of his great love, and his great faithfulness to his covenant promises, God gave Abraham's descendants, a fourth promise, a new covenant of redemption, that we read about in Jeremiah, chapter 31. A covenant whereby through Israel, God's very Son would purchase their redemption, and the redemption of all who had placed their faith in him; that he would restore them to their land. And this of course, was and is an eternal and unconditional covenant, based upon God's very character. That all who know him and love him would participate in the spiritual blessings of salvation. Promises to be fulfilled and individuals, and to Israel as a nation, when they are reestablished into their land in the millennial kingdom.

Moving ahead in history, we continue to see this battle take place between Satan and Yahweh. Remember when the infant Messiah was born, the Lord Jesus Christ, in Matthew two we read how Satan tried to kill him. He tempted Christ, to get him to abandon his mission in Matthew chapter four, and he incited the Jewish leaders and their followers to crucify the Messiah. He even went so far as to make sure that there were people that were guarding his tomb where he wouldn't rise again as he promised. Since the time of Christ, Satan has tried to exterminate God's chosen people. He has tried to thwart God's kingdom purposes; and God allows it, consistent with his promise to judge them for their disobedience.

In AD 70, the Romans came in and massacred them. And during the next six centuries, conflict grew between Jews and Gentiles. They were scattered all over the globe in the Diaspora. By the fourth century AD, we see how even the church was suddenly getting sucked into this antisemitism. We see it through the influence of Augustine, where the Christian community had become so thoroughly Gentilized, that they began to adopt, frankly, an antisemitic view. But yet they realized that the Old Testament said something different, and they couldn't accept the idea of a future national restoration of Israel, despite how clearly it says differently in the Old Testament. So they embraced the Grecianized hermeneutic of Plato and of Origin in order to expunge God's covenant people from God's plan for mankind; to get rid of them completely. And they created the hermeneutical device of allegorizing Scripture. And from that came, replacement theology, also known as supercessionism, or amillennialism, frankly, Roman Catholic eschatology.

And by the seventh century AD, we know that Satan dispatched a demon to give a series of visions to a man by the name of Muhammad, this demon's name was Gabriel, Muhammad said. And he recorded what the visions were. They are now found in the Islamic scriptures known as the Koran, the book of Islam. Islam means "surrender, or submission," "surrender to the will of Allah." And Islam would then grow to be one of the most violent haters of all people, but especially the Jews of any religion that has ever existed; more on that later.

Dave Harrell  

By AD 1096, you have the Crusades, and they attempted genocide of the Jews. In fact, if you read your history, you will see that the medieval church's vicious degradation of the Jews is one of the most heart wrenching periods in world history. The English Magna Carta of 1215 legalized persecution of the Jews. By 1492, when Columbus discovered America, prior to their expulsion by Ferdinand and Isabella, who were patrons of Columbus, the Jews in Spain endured horrible, horrible, hideous torture, even being burned alive during the Roman Catholic Spanish Inquisition. History records how at least 300,000 of them had to either convert to Roman Catholicism, or flee Spain or be killed. And we know that 1000s of them fled to Portugal, to Greece, to Turkey, to the Netherlands and so forth.

Between the years of 1346 and 1353, the Jews were blamed for the Black Death. Remember that? The bubonic plague that caused the deaths of they say anywhere from 78 to 200 million people. And many of the reformers were even vicious anti Semites like Martin Luther of the 15th century, who accused the Jews of poisoning wells and ritual murder. You ought to read his diatribes in his work entitled "The Jews and Their Lies." But by the 19th century, the volcano of antisemitism was erupting in Poland, and in Russia, resulting in many pogroms, that is by the way, "p" "o" "g" "r" "o" "m" "s." In Russian it means it means "massacre." Basically, the Russian Tsar Alexander the First used the infamous protocols of the "Learned Elders of Zion," to distract the Russian people from the political problems that he had caused, that was occurring in Russia. And according to the Shoah Resource Center of Yad Vashem; "shoah" by the way in Hebrew means "Holocaust." And this is referring to the world Holocaust Remembrance center in Jerusalem; I've been there on several occasions, if you've never been there, I hope you can go, you will never be the same when you see what the Nazis did to the Jews. But in the Shoah Resource Center, they speak about the protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion. And folks, this is just one example of many, of how Satan uses his lies to deceive millions. They say quote, "It was a forged document that claims to reveal a Jewish plot to take over the world. The protocols were based on a satire of the French regime by Maurice Joly, that had been published in Belgium in 1864. The adaptation was first distributed in Russia. Eventually, the protocols were used by the Nazis," as quote, "proof of the Jews wickedness and greed. Groups still publish the protocols today with the intention of hurting the Jews and denying the Holocaust." They went on to say, "the protocol state that the Jews will use weapons to achieve control over the world. It claims that the Jews brought about the French Revolution, liberalism, socialism, communism, and anarchy, in order to weaken European society." That Jews, "also control the price of gold and have the power to evoke economic crises, rule the media, create religious and tribal feuds and destroy cities if the need arises. Once they gain world power, they would demand total obedience to a Jewish king." Finally, they say, "the Freemasons would act as their collaborators in these conspiracies."

So again, you see Satan at the very core of these things. You see God allowing these things to happen, as he promised, as a judgment on their disobedience. And of course, what I just read led to Hitler's, quote, "final solution" of the Holocaust, where 6 million Jews were murdered; an evil that is without parallel, an evil that Satan orchestrated to destroy all Jews and Jewish civilization in Europe.

Now, I have just given you a mere sampling of biblical, theological, historical truths. And of course, after hearing that, you can see that the reason why there is a battle in Israel is because Israel is oppressing Hamas. I mean, folks, if that's what you think, I don't know what else I can say. I mean, that is a level of stupidity and naivety that begs language. And yet, that's what you're hearing by so many; that Israel is oppressing the Arab Muslim Palestinians, because they are occupying their land. And of course, the answer is a two-state solution. You just give them their land, give them what they want, and everybody's gonna get along fine. Staggering stupidity: people that live in a fool's paradise.

You know, Jesus said of Satan in John 8:44, that he is the "father of lies." And folks is a great example of that. He is the "ruler of this world," Jesus said in John 12:31. In Second Corinthians four, four, he describes him as "the god of this world," who "blinds the minds of the unbelieving, so that they won't see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." And this is the blinding that we are seeing happening today in our world, in our country. And this is the blinding that's being perpetuated in our elementary schools, junior high schools, high schools and universities...and in the halls of Congress.

You see Satan causes people to believe things that appeal to their fleshly lusts, to their depraved nature; things that are idiotic; things that are irrational and inconceivably evil. All you have to look at this whole LGBTQ transgender insanity. And you can see that we've got military leaders today that are more concerned about personal pronouns, and soldiers more concerned about makeup kits than protecting our country. Absolute insanity. Beloved, what I have just said to you, what I'm just touching on here, are the great truths of history, and theology, and the Bible, that needs to be taught to our Ivy League students. And when they understand these things, they'll put down their banners and they'll stop foaming at the mouth with all of this hate that they do not understand. Please understand, the brainwashed world of Islamic Jihad and the Marxist revolutionaries of Black Lives Matter and Antifa, and university professors; all of this is a result of the father of lies. And that's why they are elated with what Hamas has done. I mean, folks, this is as predictable as a Hallmark movie. All right? Bear in mind liberal, woke, Marxists align themselves with radical jihadist because they all hate Jews. But they do so for different reasons.

Maybe I can explain this briefly. The woke social justice Marxist see them as privileged, white, that are oppressing brown people. And you know, when they look at the worldwide success of Jewish people in every field, and the enormous wealth that the Jewish people have worldwide, that causes them to see them as the oppressor group; the white privileged class. And therefore they must be scorned and censored and eliminated.

And then of course, there's the jealousy factor because of their towering intellect. They are a brilliant, a very highly successful people. You realize that they make up only 0.2% of the 8 billion people that inhabit this globe. And yet, from 1901 to 2023, 22% of all Nobel prizes have been awarded to Jews. My friend, David Larsen, who spoke here a number of years ago; he's now with the Lord, he's written, by the way, a book called "Jews, Gentiles and the Church." It's one of the best books I've ever read, you simply must have that, you must read it, you must learn it. But he said this, quote, "Jews are twice as likely to go to college than Gentiles, reflecting the religious obligation of study, and are five times more likely than Gentiles to be admitted to an Ivy League school." Let me pause for a second, he wrote this in 1995, so some of these figures may be a little bit different now. But he went on to say, "Jews are overrepresented in the field of science by 231%, in psychiatry by 47%, in law by 265%, and dentistry by 299%. And in mathematics by 283%. The very terms of their apartness have fostered scholarship and achievement in order to survive, but these have made them susceptible to jealous resentment, and the other prices," of quote, "otherness. Thus, some people have spoken of the Jews as the pariahs of privilege." And my how much greater that is today than it was in 1995.

Additionally, I might add that the appeal of Islam, among many in the black community, is rooted in their shared hatred of white Christianity. But with respect to the Arab Islamic jihadist, they also hate them because they believe God's covenant with Abraham was a promise between Abraham and Ishmael, not Abraham, and Isaac. In fact, the Islamic Eid al-Adha feast commemorates Abraham's offering of Ishmael. They believe it was Ishmael who was to be offered on Mount Moriah, not Isaac. And thus the blessings of the land and all of the promises that God gave to Abraham's descendants through Isaac, really is supposed to be theirs through Ishmael.

They also believe Moses was referring to Muhammad in Deuteronomy 18:15, where we read, "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him." So you must also understand that the Arab Islamic jihadist also hate Israel because they believe that Jewish sovereignty in the Middle East contradicts the teachings of the Qur’an. Jewish presence in that region is perceived to be a wicked reality that undermines the validity of Islam. Because what it does in their minds is it elevates Yahweh over Allah, the supreme insult. You see, Muhammad hated both Jews and Christians because they refused to accept him as the only prophet. We read about this, for example, in the Qur’an in 586, "you will surely find that the most hostile to the believers are the Jews and the idolaters, while those who have the greatest affection to them are the ones who say 'we are Christians.'" Historically, we know that after Muhammad's death, and who supposedly ascended to heaven from on his horse, from the site known as the Dome of the Rock there in Jerusalem, at his death, the Muslims became a world power, and that spread from northern Spain to India. And during that time, their hatred of Jews and Christians increased, and much of that hatred was justified, in their mind, by the words of the Qur’an in chapter nine, in verse 29. It says, "fight against those who do not believe in God, or in the last day who do not forbid what God and his Prophet have forbidden or practiced the true religion."

Again, David Larsen says, quote, "The influence of the PLO among Arabs living in Israel and the occupied territory, seems to be receding and the influence of the Islamic movement, or Hamas, seems to be growing." Again, this is 1995, okay? "The radicalization of Islam in Israel bodes no good. A recent international conference to support the Islamic Revolution in Palestine held in Tehran included 400 delegates from 60 Islamic countries." The conference called for quote, "the elimination of the Zionist existence and total opposition to any peace process involving Israel." He went on to add, "escalation of the activities of Hezbollah, the Shiite extremist organization, demonstrates the implacable and irrational nature of this hatred for everything Jewish. The history of Islamic terrorism has involved the use of every vicious means and tactic conceivable."

I might also add that both the woke Marxists in our country, and the Islamic jihadist, despise Western civilization. The social justice Marxists like BLM and Antifa, etc. and all of the, you know, the hysterical feminazis that you see spewing out all of their vengeance with all of the protests and so forth and all of the diversity, equity and inclusion people, they all hate Western civilization, and they want to eradicate everything that is white, everything that smacks of Judeo Christian ethics and influence. Down with colonization, which by the way, is their code word for capitalism. The destruction of the West, that's what drives so many of these people. And the Islamic jihadist, which are really nothing more than religious Nazis agree with them, but they have a little different twist with all of the colonization resentment, because you must understand that these people are tribalists. They're from tribalism, not nationalism, they do not want a Jeffersonian democracy. They do not think and act in the best interest of a nation, but only in terms of their tribe. So again, these are some of the symptoms of what's really at the core of all of these problems, at its most fundamental level. I would submit to you that antisemitism is the result of those two things: number one, Satan's hatred of God's chosen people, and his attempt to thwart the kingdom purposes of God; as I have demonstrated. Satan is the temporary god of this world; he is bent on destroying God's covenantal people. And only then can he thwart the covenant promises of a messianic kingdom and retain his own coveted status. So that's what drives him and Satan's hatred of the Jewish people hatred of Israel, is because they were to be, according to Exodus 19, six, "a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." And when Christ returns that will be fully realized. When according to Zechariah's prophecy and chapter eight and verse three, the Lord says, "'I will return to Zion, and I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, then Jerusalem will be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of the LORD of hosts will be called the Holy Mountain.'"

Folks, Satan is doing everything he can to prevent that. And that's why the Temple Mount is the most disputed piece of real estate on the planet. But also, this antisemitism is a result, as I say, of Israel's disobedience, God made that so clear in Deuteronomy 28. In fact, I would add that the last seven chapters of Deuteronomy, chapters 28, to 34, really provide a prophetic summary of God's dealing with Israel. It describes her afflictions; it describes God's judgments against them. It describes their salvation, their regathering, her restoration. And frankly, we have witnessed the beginning of this regathering to Israel in our lifetime. Do you realize what a miracle it is for Israel to have its own state, its own land, its own country, after the Holocaust? That which was established by the UN in 1948. Something that Hitler's "final solution" could not prevent. I'm reminded of Amos's prophecy and chapter three, verse two where the Lord says to Israel, "'You only have I chosen among all of the families of the earth.'" "Chosen" by the way is also the word "known." It carries the idea of an intimate, loving relationship. God predetermined that he would know Israel as the intimate object of his love, making them his chosen people. People whom he would never permanently cast away.

But today, God's hand of judgment is on his beloved enemy Israel, even though he continues to protect them. They have been temporarily put aside as we read in Romans 11, verse 25, "a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in." Then in verse 26, we go on to read, "all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, 'THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB, THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.'"

Well, in conclusion this morning, I know some of you are asking, Okay, so, all right, a lot of history, I see some of this, but prophetically what's going to happen next? Well, a little preview of where we will ultimately be going; we know biblically that God's focus will once again return to Israel after the snatching away of the church in the rapture. And then God will pour out his final judgment on Israel as he promised and Daniel 9:27, Daniel's 70th week--judgment; we're waiting. The 69 weeks has already happened, we're waiting for one more week of years to occur. And that's a distinctly Jewish context pertaining to God's covenants with Israel. It will be the time when according to Jeremiah 30, and verse seven, when Israel enters quote, "the time of Jacob's trouble." And we see the details of that delineated in Revelation chapter six through chapter 19; a period of unprecedented oppression for Israel, but also, the context describes her future and final salvation and restoration, when the Messiah returns in power and great glory to establish His kingdom. And then the focus will remain upon Israel during the millennial reign of Christ when all God's remaining covenant promises will be fulfilled to them literally, including the promises of earthly blessings, and an earthly messianic kingdom that will last for 1000 years. And that millennial kingdom will be the consummating bridge between human history and the eternal state.

In the meantime, Satan is going to continue to do all he can to thwart the purposes of God. But both Jews and Gentiles can take comfort in what God has promised. Zechariah chapter 12, beginning in verse eight, "'In that day the LORD will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them. And in that day, I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son. And they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a firstborn."

And finally, I know some of you are saying, "well, what about this Hamas war? Where does all that fit in?" I don't have time to get into it, by any means today, I will next week. But I will simply say that I believe that what we are seeing right now is God establishing, orchestrating, what he promised in Ezekiel 38 and 39. In Ezekiel chapter 38, and 39, we read about a Russian Arab alliance of nations that will descend upon the northern mountains of Israel to try to destroy them, the great battle of Gog and Magog. We know that they will be supernaturally defeated on the mountains of Israel. I believe that that battle is going to occur before the tribulation. I believe that what we're seeing now is God, beginning to set the stage for when that will happen. Don't know when it will happen, but I can tell you this, it is going to happen. And when it does happen, Israel will know that Yahweh is indeed the Lord, the God of Israel. And it will set into motion the final pre kingdom judgments that will lead up to the second coming of our Savior and King.

And I also believe that before that happens, the church is going to be snatched away. So if you do not know and love Christ, I would plead with you as a minister of the gospel, do business with God today before it's too late. And for those of you who know and love Christ, let's celebrate the glory of his person, his faithfulness, and to know that we as Gentiles, have been grafted into the root of the Abrahamic Covenantal blessings. And so our hope is also in Christ, amen? Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the glorious truths of your word, for the power of your Spirit. Speak to every heart that cry Christ will be exalted, that your name will be praised. We commit it all to you, in Jesus name and for his sake. Amen..

We come to the 25th and final exposition of the book of Daniel. So if you'll take your Bibles and turn there, I'm glad no one applauded or said, Amen. Daniel chapter 12. The book, as you will recall now, is inspired by God and was written to encourage the exiled Jews of that day by revealing his sovereign plan to them, a plan that included what he is going to do throughout redemptive history, especially over the many years with respect to Gentile domination. Here we have learned of the successive stages of Gentile domination through the centuries, leading to the most vile and wicked ruler of all, the Antichrist, who will be praised by the vast majority of the world's population; people that are naive, people that are depraved, like those that make up the Neo pagan world of liberalism in our country and around the world today. But we've also seen how the greatest conqueror of all the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the Messiah, will defeat all those who stand against him; all those who stand against his covenant people Israel. We've seen how his righteous judgment against them will one day come to fruition. And he will according to Zechariah 12 and verse 10, "'pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced; and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only son. And they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.'" And over the course of this study, we have been immersed in grand truths with respect to the holiness of God, the majesty, the transcendence of God, the sovereignty of God, His faithfulness, and His love towards all of the redeemed. And what a comfort to know that our God is the unassailable sovereign over all of His creation. That his kingdom purposes cannot be thwarted by man or by devil. And as we have seen, a day of divine retribution is coming. A day of judgment is coming upon this earth. Now, while such a claim may cause liberals to hyperventilate on their yoga mats, and choke on their Starbucks, nevertheless, it is the truth. And we must proclaim that truth to them, that they might know the one true and living God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, before we examine these final verses in Daniel, I wish to answer a criticism that occasionally comes my way from listeners outside the church. They are probably listening today. And that criticism is basically why do you interpret Bible prophecy literally, rather than figuratively, rather than spiritually. And indeed, I believe the prophetic Scriptures, and like all scripture, should be interpreted in a literal, in a normal, natural way, in a sense that is consistent with the original intent of the author, the Old Testament authors. Of course, taking into consideration figures of speech and symbols. Moreover, I believe that the New Testament continues the narrative of the Old Testament prophets. It does not redefine them or reinterpret them. And so as a result, real practically speaking, I believe that Israel is Israel and not the church. I do not believe Israel has replaced the church. I believe, for example, that Daniel's prophecies of Israel's judgment, and future restoration will occur both spiritually and physically. Jesus will actually reign on the earth in an intermediate Kingdom between the Second Coming in the final concentrations of all things in the eternal state. And this is a position known as pre millennialism, as most of you know. Now other very godly people, friends of mine, believe differently. They use a spiritual hermeneutics-- hermeneutics is the science and art of biblical interpretation--so they believe that the New Testament transforms or transcends the Old Testament, a storyline rather than continues it. This requires a spiritual interpretation. And so in varying ways, they will look for hidden meanings embedded in some of the Old Testament passages. And they look to New Testament revelation to help shape and inform them. They believe Jesus and the New Testament authors therefore reinterpret or redefine, or spiritualize, the kingdom message of the Old Testament. And as a result, they believe that Israel has been replaced permanently by the church, and the promised blessings to Israel are merely spiritual, and ultimately, they are to be interpreted in a spiritual way, not a literal way. And they understand, for example, Revelation to be a description of the current reign of Christ in this present age, a position known as amillennialism. And so they would believe that we are living in the kingdom now spiritually. Now, this is not a test of orthodoxy. Not at all. But I do want to defend just for a moment, why I interpret and we interpret as a church, the scriptures the way we do.

And in order to do that, I want you to turn for just a few minutes to Second Peter chapter one. We're going to look at verses 16 through 21, just for a moment, the context here, Peter is preparing for his crucifixion. He knew he was about to die a horrible death, as Jesus has promised. And we read about that in verse 14 of Second Peter one. But what's fascinating is what is foremost on his mind as he faces his imminent death is the absolute importance of fighting against false teachers, who he calls in chapter three and verse 16, "the untaught and unstable," who distort the scriptures "to their own destruction." And chapter two and verse one, he says, "there will be also false teachers among you." In other words, within the church, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies. In other words, they will smuggle them in; the original language helps us understand. They will smuggle them in under the guise of something else. And we see this for example, in the Neo pagan, Neo Marxist, woke social justice, social gospel movement that has invaded the church. So in chapter one of Second Peter, he, like the Apostle Paul, argues for the absolute supremacy of Scripture that has originated from God Himself, and therefore must never be added to, detracted from or in any way redefined by fallen man. He is passionate about a proper understanding of Scripture, which will lead to sanctification. If you don't know and understand the scriptures, you will not be able to apply them to your life by the power of the Spirit and grow into conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. It's just not going to happen. So he is passionate about this.

So in Second Peter one, beginning of verse two, he says, "Grace and peace be multiplied to you and the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him, who called us by His own glory and excellence. For by these He is granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them that you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now for this very reason, also, applying all diligence in your faith, supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence knowledge." In other words, moral excellence and knowledge will promote sanctification. He goes on to say, "and in your knowledge, self-control and in your self-control perseverance and in your perseverance godliness, and in your godliness brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours, and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, for he who lacks these qualities, is blind or short sighted," In other words, like the false teachers, "having forgotten his purification from his former sins. Therefore rather than be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you, for as long as you practice these things you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you." So what he's saying is the key to salvation and sanctification is a high view of Scripture, and a total surrender to all that God has said, something the false teachers refuse to do, as he will go on to say. So in light of that, in chapter one and verse 16, he says this, "For we do not follow cleverly devised tails, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty," referring to what they saw on the Mount of Transfiguration. "For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to him by the majestic glory, 'This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased"--and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven, when we were with Him on the holy mountain." And then he says this, "So," or it could be translated, "and, we have the prophetic word, made more sure." Prophetic word refers to the declarations of the mind and the will of God in Scripture, "we have the prophetic word made more sure," which means more certain, more reliable, more reliable, more certain, more sure than what? The answer is our own perceptions, our own experience, what we saw with our own eyes, what we heard with our own ears. In other words, what he's saying is friends, Scripture is more reliable than anything you know, or anything you think you know, anything that you have ever experienced. And we all know that when we relay something that we've experienced, we always leave something out that we forgot, or we may distort something or whatever. Not scripture. It is absolutely pure. Scripture is breathed out by God. And so the omniscient one who cannot lie, is the one who speaks. And his infinite perfections in his character, his very honor is at stake in His Word. And that's why he goes on to say, "to which you do well to pay attention." "Pay attention" literally means to be consumed, to be controlled by as to a lamp shining in a dark place. If you've ever been in a pitch black cave, you know what it's like. You follow the light if you see one, and obviously the unregenerate they grow up in the darkness of their own depravity and in the world. And only a fixed focus on the Word of God on Scripture will give them the light to see Christ and to make their way to glory by faith in Him. So we are to pay attention to this light "until," he says "the day dawns," referring to the eschatological day of Christ, we read about that same phrase in Zechariah, 12, 8 through 14. "And the morning star arises in your hearts." In other words, we keep watching that light until the Lord returns in all of his glory and judgment. "And the morning star arises in our hearts," referring to the complete and perfect revelation of Christ when we are finally in his presence, and we see Him as He is; when we are made like him. So what Peter was saying is, Scripture is more sure, it's more certain, more reliable than anything you have ever experienced. Anything you have ever thought, anything you have ever conceived, anything you have ever imagined.

Back to Second Peter 1:20. He says, "But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's interpretation." Fascinating term "interpretation," it means to release or unloose or to unravel something. And here he is for referring to private unraveling. This doesn't speak so much of how we interpret Scripture, but the source of Scripture, the origin of Scripture. In other words, no part of God's revelation originated from or finds its source in human experience, or human wisdom, human cogitation, human ingenuity, whatever. Therefore, there is nothing subjective or secretive about scripture that requires my input or your input in order to make it relevant, to make it somehow understandable or authoritative or sufficient, so that God can somehow, with our help, accomplish his purposes through Scripture. No, it stands on its own. Its source is divine. All "scripture is breathed out by God," Second Timothy 3:16. It's not tainted by fallible human wisdom. It's not tainted by human ideas or experience. By the way, that same term "interpretation" is used in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, in Genesis 40, where it describes how Joseph received direct revelation from God in the form of a dream. And he was very careful not to in any way, taint what God said, with any of his own interpretations when he communicated it to others. And Peter goes on in verse 20. And he says, "For no prophecy was ever made." In other words, it never comes from, it never finds its origin, by an act of human will, human authorship. But men moved by, literally carried along, by the Holy Spirit spoke from God. So clearly, Peter wants us to know the source, the origin of Scripture, it is from God, it is not from man, therefore, and this is the passion of my heart, do not trifle with the truth. Do not tamper with the text. God said it, I believe it and I bow before it. That's it. You don't need me to say, well, I know that's what God said. But that's not what he meant. Let me tell you what he meant. Now, beloved, what you do is you move from interpretation to Revelation, and I am not inspired, neither of you. So that's why I'm very careful to stay with the text. Notice "men were moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God." The term "move," "phero" in the original language. It's the same Greek verb that is translated "made" in verses 21 Verse 18, and verse 17. In other words, the word of God is the word of God. It's not the word of man. He not only inspired men to write it by the superintending work and guidance of the Holy Spirit, he's the one that made it. This is his word. This is why the Bible is authoritative. "Men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God."

Now I also find it interesting in verse 21, he says, "men spoke." In the miracle of inspiration, the Holy Spirit caused these men to speak like I'm speaking to you right now. Well, what do we do when we speak? Well, we use normal language to communicate what we are saying to other people, so they can understand us. There's no hidden meaning. There's no deeper meaning, there is no secret Bible codes, there is no secret symbolism that we need to discover. There is no, as I hear from time to time, fuller sense that must be discovered or redefined, or reinterpreted or spiritualized. Now, of course, there are rules of interpretation. There are rules of hermeneutics. Even when we speak, we understand that I mean, we have to look at the context, we have to look at vocabulary, metaphors, symbols, figures of speech, we all understand that. But we obey the normal rules of grammar, the syntax, the authorial intent, and all of those things. And so, it's for this reason, that I reject the allegorical, spiritualized method of interpretation, especially with respect to Bible prophecy. The Jews didn't understand it that way. They weren't looking for some secret hidden meaning they just knew this was what was promised to them.

And by the way, it's for this reason, if I can add something else, I want to say this kindly. I don't give two hoots for your word of knowledge, or your special prophecy, or your ecstatic gibberish or something that God told you when you had a quiver in your liver. Or somehow, you heard from somewhere, maybe your imagination or it could be a demon. I don't care anything about that. The canon of Scripture is closed. Jude three makes that very clear. It's for this reason, we contend earnestly in the Greek for the once for all delivered for the faith. The scriptures was handed down to the saints and that's what it says, "we contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all delivered to the saints," and then when it comes to Bible prophecy, I have no confidence in those obscure secret kind of allegorical spiritualized interpretations. And while I respect those that differ, that is just not my position, I want to be very careful with that. In Revelation 21:18, we read, "I testify to everyone who hears the words is actually 22:18. "I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part, from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book." All I want to know is what God has said. And all I have to say to you, is what God has said. This is why Peter said in verse 19, "we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention." And so this is why we use a literal, grammatical, historical hermeneutic when interpreting scripture. God moved, men spoke, and we can understand it; the normal meaning of language. And so when we look at any passage of Scripture, we look at it in a straightforward reading, and interpretation, like in the book of Daniel.

By the way, this is why Jesus said in Matthew 24:15, that we are to "understand" he says, the book of Daniel. Well enough of all of that I'm sure my critics are perfectly satisfied now. And we can rejoice and share heaven together. All right, now let's look at these final verses in Daniel 12.

You will recall now the first three verses of Daniel 12, reveals to us three precursors of the establishment of Christ's earthly millennial kingdom, you will recall that Israel is going to experience a time of unparalleled tribulation, then there will be supernatural deliverance, and finally, the kingdom citizens will be raised from the dead. And now the angelic messenger that is speaking to Daniel turns his attention to Daniel, in verse four, where we pick it up this morning. He says this, "'But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time, many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase. Then I, Daniel looked and behold, two others were standing, one on this bank of the river and the other on that bank of the river. And one said to the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river, 'How long will it be, until the end of these wonders?' I heard the man dressed in linen, who was above the waters of the river as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever, that it would be for a time, times, and half a time. And as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed. As for me, I heard, but could not understand; so I said, 'My Lord, what will be the outcome of these events?' He said, 'Go your way, Daniel, for these words are concealed, and sealed up until the end time. Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly, and none of the wicked will understand but those who have insight will understand. From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished, and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1290 days. How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1335 days! But as for you, go your way to the end; then you will enter into the rest, and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age.'"

Now, here, beloved, I believe we have a chronology of the Great Tribulation. Let's look at it more closely in verse four. "'But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words,'" It literally means I want you to preserve these words, I want you to protect them; they are prophetic, divine inspired revelation. Do this, he says, "until the end of time.'" "Seal up the book," he says, close up--that's what it means. Secure all of this material until the end of time, which is a reference to the tribulation period. That's the way it's used in chapter 11, verse 35, as well as verse 45. And then he says something fascinating. He says, "'Many will go back and forth and knowledge will increase.'" The concept of going back and forth is the idea that they're going to run about trying to find answers to explain all of the chaos and judgment that's coming upon the world during the trial time of Tribulation. And he says, as they do so, "knowledge will increase." In other words, they are going to read Daniel, what you have preserved to the end and their knowledge concerning what God has promised will become clear to them.

Verse five, "Then I, Daniel, looked and behold, two others were standing, one on this bank of the river and the other on that bank of the river." It's referring to two other angels. This is similar to the vision described in chapter eight, verses 13 through 16. And evidently, these two angels, who are lesser in status to the grand angel that's dressed in linen who was above the waters of the river, as we will read. Evidently, these two angels were talking about God's plan, as it relates to the affairs of men. And so they asked this question. "And one said to the man dressed in linen," one of these angels said to the more glorious Angel, "who was above the waters of the river, 'How long will it be until the end of these wonders?'" In the context here, "How long will it be till the end of Daniel's 70th week, the end of the tribulation?"

I want to pause for a moment because I'm always fascinated with angels, especially their curiosity. First, Peter 1:12, we read, "It was revealed to them," "it" referring to the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow in verse 11, "it was revealed to them," referring to the Old Testament prophets, "that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preach the gospel to you, by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven." These things, catch this now, "into which angels long to look." I mean think of all the righteous men and women of the Old Testament who long to understand those things that were revealed, even those things that they had written. But now we have seen these things, we have heard these things, we understand who Christ is. Now, think about this, even the angels who are not recipients of redemption, even the angels long to look at what God has done, what he is doing, what he is going to do, through Christ Jesus, our Lord. And again, you think about it, I mean, they're, they're all around us, watching us. I can't wait to get to heaven. In fact, I can't wait to meet my guardian angels, and then apologize to them for what I put them through. But they're longing to look at these things, even the Old Testament prophets, even Daniel, as we see here, in this text. He didn't understand it all that he wanted to know more. But think how much more we know now, and how much more is yet to be revealed in glory one day.

And we get a flavor of this in Daniel 12 six, he says, "'How long will it be until the end of these wonders?'" In verse seven, "I heard the man dressed in linen who was above the waters of the river," which by the way is to suggest his supernatural authority and power, "as he raised his right hand and his left toward heaven and swore by Him who lives forever." And here we get a sense of the profound solemnity of the oath that he is taking here; that oath he is about to utter. And notice the phrase, he "swore by Him who lives forever." I love that phrase, "the one who lives forever." And who is this? Well, it's the Triune God. First Timothy six, Paul says in verse 15, "He who is the blessed and only sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone possesses immortality, and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen, or can see, to Him be honor and eternal dominion, amen." And to think someday we shall see Him as He is, and he will see us. We see a similar scene, by the way, in Revelation 10, beginning in verse five, "Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land, lifted up his right hand to heaven, and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven, and the things in it, and the earth and the things in it, and the sea and the things in it, that there will be delay no longer," he says.

So, again, back to the question, how long will it be until the end of these things? And the angelic messenger swears "by Him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times and a half a time." Again, as we've studied, this is a reference to the last three and a half years of the tribulation of Daniel's 70th week. And then he adds this "and as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed." So God is going to allow the Antichrist to shatter his covenant people, those whom he chose to be holy, but who refuse to believe in their Messiah. And finally, at the end of the three and a half years of unprecedented persecution, what he calls here, "the end of these wonders," finally, the power of Jewish deception will be shattered, and their unbelief will be broken. Finally, in their state of brokenness and humiliation, they will believe, and they will be saved. You may recall how 17 years earlier; God revealed the same truth to Daniel. It's recorded in Daniel seven, and verse 25. There we read, "He will speak out," referring to the Antichrist, "against the Most High, and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times and a half a time." And then he goes on in verse 26 and he says, "But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever. Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven, will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him." My How I long for that day. And in that day, Israel will finally function according to its intended purpose that we read in Scripture, as a chosen nation. So many passages speak to this. I think of Isaiah 41, beginning in verse eight, "'But you Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, Descendant of Abraham My friend, you whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from its remotest parts and said to you, 'You are My servant, I have chosen you, and not rejected you.'" My what a promise. Exodus 19, verse six, "You shall be to Me, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." At this time, dear friends, Israel will finally enjoy world supremacy in the coming Kingdom, where it will fulfill its grand purpose of being a blessing to all of the nations of the world, as asserted in the original covenant that we read in Genesis 12 and verse three, where God says, "In you, all the families of the earth will be blessed."

Now, some will ask and appropriately so, what about the church age? What about us, the church, where we live right now? Well, this, this needs to be seen; the church age needs to be seen as an ongoing fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy that is going to culminate in the Messianic kingdom. We are not some disconnected parentheses, no, no, not at all. The church shares in the promises of Israel, but not in her unique identity as a chosen nation. There is a distinction here, you will recall in Romans 11, beginning in verse 16, Paul described Israel as the natural branches from a cultivated olive tree, some of which have been broken off for the present time due to quote, "a hardening of heart." And Paul also reminds the Gentile church that we are the wild olive branches. We are the ones that have been grafted into, quote, "the rich root," referring to the rich root of Abrahamic covenantal blessings and privileges that God promised to him. So indeed, the church shares these promises with Israel but never takes her place as a nation. And despite their rebellion, God has not abandoned his chosen people. Paul understood this. You will recall, in Romans nine he speaks of Israel's election. In Romans 10, he speaks of Israel's defection. And finally, in Romans 11, he speaks of Israel's salvation, when the Messiah returns. And what an amazing story it all is, right? This is his story, the story of Christ. With Israel being a magnificent object lesson of how God deals with all mankind. He saves some, he judges others, all to reveal His glory through the Lord Jesus Christ, who is both Lamb and Lion.

So again, back to the question in Daniel 12, six, "'How long will it be until the end of these wonders?'" Answer, "'For a time, times and a half the time. And as soon as they finish shattering the power of the holy people, all these events will be completed.'" Folks, it's important to remember that God revealed these events to Moses. We read about this in Leviticus 26, as well as Deuteronomy 28 and 38, or 30. And repeatedly, he speaks about it in Isaiah, for example, in chapter four of Isaiah, beginning in verse three, "It will come about that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be Jerusalem will be called holy--everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning." Another one in chapter six of Isaiah beginning in verse 11. "Then I said, 'Lord, how long?' And He answered, 'Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant, houses are without people and the land is utterly desolate, the Lord has removed men far away, and the forsaken places are many in the midst of the land. Yet,'" and here's the promise, "'there will be a 10th portion in it,'" there's always going to be a remnant. "'And it will again be subject to burning, like a terabinth or an oak who stump remains when it is felled. The holy seed is that stump.'" Likewise, Isaiah chapter 26, beginning in verse 20, we read, "Come, my people, enter into your rooms and close your doors behind you; hide for a little while until indignation runs its course. For behold, the Lord is about to come out from His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; and the earth will reveal her bloodshed and will no longer cover her slain."

We read the same types of promises in Jeremiah 30. We read about them in Zechariah 11, Zechariah 13, Zechariah 14, in Jesus' Olivet Discourse, and in Matthew 24, and 25, and Luke 21. And this will continue, as Jesus declared in Matthew 23:39, until Israel finally cries out, "'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'" Only then will they enter into their millennial rest, according to Isaiah 40 verse two, "having received of the Lord's hand, double for all her sins." Oh, dear friends, what a picture of of God's judgment on sin and disobedience, as well as his blessings on faith and obedience.

And here I'm reminded of the promises found in Isaiah 59 and 60. In Isaiah 59, you might recall after describing the multiplied transgressions of Israel and his judgment upon them, that passage closes with a message, a certain message of redemption and restoration. We read of it in here in Isaiah 59, verse 20. Here's the promise, "'A Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,' declares the Lord. 'As for Me, this is My covenant with them,' says the Lord: My Spirit, which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring's offspring,' says the Lord, 'from now and forever.'" And I would submit to you that that has not happened yet, but it will.

Then the dominating theme in the next chapter, Isaiah 60, is the restoration as well as the world supremacy of the nation of Israel. Beginning in verse one, "'Arise, shine; for your light has come, the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising.'" Verses four through nine goes on to describe their return to their promised land after the worldwide dispersion and how the nations that once oppressed them will come and pay homage to them as God's chosen people, and how God will will contribute to their prosperity and the adornment of the sanctuary of their God; the days of apostasy are over. The days of idolatry and destruction and exile are over.

Now back to Daniel 12, verse eight. "As for me," Daniel said, "I heard but I could not understand; so I said, 'My Lord, what will be the outcome of these events?'" "Outcome" in Hebrew can be translated the final end. In other words, what will be the nature of these events that characterize this outcome? Obviously, he's thinking, you know, when will my people finally be delivered from all of this? And I'm sure he's going back to what he saw in Daniel seven, with respect to the little horn, the Antichrist, "from the time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time," chapter 12 and verse one. What's going to happen to my people during this time, and here's what the angel said to him. I've had professors say this to me before I remember. "'Go your way, Daniel.'" In other words, stop. That's enough. Literally, in the Hebrew, "go, Daniel." What it means is in the conversation, you're just trying to satisfy your own curiosity, be content with what I've given you here. "For these words, are concealed and sealed up until the end of time." So to be sure, all those who will experience these things during that day, will find comfort in what God has revealed.

I also find it interesting that 600 years later, do you realize, God answered Daniel's inquiry through the apostle John, on the Isle of Patmos, and the Apokalypsis lesou Christos," the revealing of Jesus Christ, the book of Revelation. He gives us many, many more details, not all, but many more details. By the way, there's a great lesson to be learned here, I believe. And that is this, God simply doesn't give us all of the details. He doesn't tell us everything. And you know, for good reason, we wouldn't understand it if he did. And we may not like it if he did. He didn't want to put up with all of that. He gives us however, all we need to know. And in that we need to be content. And this is true, not only with Bible prophecy, but with all the great doctrines of Scripture. I mean, I can't explain how in creation, He speaks things into existence. But I'd love to know how that works. Wouldn't you? He just doesn't tell me. I don't understand the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of the Incarnation, I don't understand the doctrine of Providence--what a miracle that is. I don't understand why you save some and not all. I can't harmonize man's responsibility in salvation, and God's unconditional sovereign election. In fact, in Romans nine, he says, Hey, don't even ask that question. I mean, you're, you're like a pot, and you don't want to ask the potter why you made me that way. You know, you're just, frankly, a dumb pot. So let's don't even go there. And by the way, folks, as soon as you try to untie these Gordian knots that we see in Scripture, the ones that God has tied, you cease to be biblical. And you start making stuff up. As soon as you try to explain the unexplainable mysteries of God, as soon as you try to penetrate the unpalatable, you deify yourself. And you put yourself into a position where now I am going to explain what God has done. And then you end up twisting the scriptures to support your premises. And you play the fool like all false teachers. It's kind of like asking a kindergartener to explain the nature of black holes and wormholes in the universe. You know, what they say, may sound brilliant, but in the end, their insight is on par with that of a dung beetle trying to explain quantum theory, you know. And by the way, their contribution to theology is about as noble. And that's what false teachers tend to do. By the way, I didn't mean to insult dung beetles, but I think you get the point. Deuteronomy 29:29, "The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law."

Now, the angel doesn't get into specifics pertaining to the outcome of these events as Daniel inquired, but he does say this, notice verse 10, "Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly." So he's referring here to the Lord's chastening work on Israel. In fact, the same three words are used in Daniel 11:35 when he described his judgment upon Israel, by the Gentiles, following the rule of Antiochus Epiphanes. So again, verse 10, "Many will be purged, purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly." Then he says this, "and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight will understand." And of course, spiritual blindness is one of the chief characteristics of the unregenerate. They simply cannot see the light of the glory of Christ. Jesus said in John 9:39, speaking to the Pharisees, "'For judgment, I came into this world so that those who do not see may see, and," he has this, "that those who see may become blind.'" which is an ironic way of him saying, "Those who think they walk in the light, but in fact walk in the darkness, will be those that I will further harden." Because of their rebellion, he judicially hardens the hearts of those who hear the truth and reject the truth. It's for this reason, in Second Timothy four, four, Paul tells Timothy and all of us that, that the unregenerate "will turn away their ears from the truth and turn aside under myths." And the grammar there suggests that they will do this without an awareness of their desertion, and then they will become consumed by the lies that they embrace. By the way, how else can you explain the stuff that we see in our world today? Just absolutely amazing. I mean, now we got drag queens in so called churches, leading children in Bible studies. I've heard of sermons where they're trying to explain to the congregation how we need to be careful not to misgender some, you know, male buttercup who thinks he's a female. Or some controlling feminazis who thinks she's a man. You know, I mean, it's just beyond our ability to comprehend. These people need Christ dear friends, and only he can give them the light of truth. It's for this reason that Paul says in First Corinthians 2:14, "a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them because he is spiritually appraised." Scripture is not their spiritual authority, they are. As well as the culture in which they live, which denies and distorts the truth.

So back to the text as we wrap it up this morning, when the Antichrist seizes control, and these catastrophic judgments come upon the world in the tribulation, especially upon Israel, verse 10, says, "Many will be purged and purified and refined, but the wicked will act wickedly, and none of the wicked will understand but those who have insight will understand." In other words, the elect of God, by His grace, will turn to the truths of Scripture, they will be saved. They will turn to Daniel's prophecies; they will be able to embrace the truths that God has revealed. According to Zechariah 13, in verse eight, we know that 1/3 of the Jews will survive. That means two thirds will be killed. He says there, Zechariah 13 eight, "and I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name and I will answer them and I will say, 'They are My people.' And they will say, 'The Lord is my God.'" So I'm sure Daniel is comforted now with his this information, that those who have insight will understand that His people will be able to understand what God has said; they will be able to read these prophecies that he must now conceal. And then the angel adds this in verse 11, "From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished, and the abomination of desolation is set up." Now we know that that's when the Antichrist establishes himself to be God and defiles the restored Jewish temple. You read about it in Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15. When that happens, he says there will be 1290 days. Now, what's interesting here is in other places, we know that the Great Tribulation is three and a half years, 1260 days. Time, times, two and a half of time--Daniel 7:25, for example, Revelation 11, three and 12:6, it is 1260 days. So what's the deal here? Is this a misprint? Why does it say 1290 days in this passage? Now, some expositors suggest that we need to take this symbolically that these numbers have no specific meaning. As I argued earlier in this exposition, I don't interpret Scripture that way. It would make no sense to me why in several passages, would it be 1260 and then here in verse 11, 1290. And as we're going to say, in verse 12, 1335. There's something going on here. All these numbers are too unique and too close to being the same length to justify a symbolic meaning. Moreover, in Daniel eight and verse 14, 2300 days are mentioned, and that was proven to be absolutely precise, according to history. So why the additional 30 days? Well, we can't say for sure, God doesn't tell us. But I think it is reasonable to say that given the unimaginable destruction, and carnage upon the earth that will exist when Christ returns and as a result of his return, this is probably a time period needed to do one of two things, maybe both. First of all, it may be a reference to a 30-day period, for cleansing or purifying the temple of God as did Judas Maccabeus and his army did after defeating Antiochus Epiphanes in 164 BCE after they defiled the temple. You read about that in first Maccabees four verses 36 through 51. We also know for example, in Second Chronicles 30, beginning of verse two, we read about something similar when King Hezekiah postponed the celebration of the Passover for one month, quote, "because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient numbers, nor had the people been gathered to Jerusalem. Thus, this thing was right in the sight of the king, and all the assembly." It might also require another 30 days needed to complete the judgment of Christ; to determine who will be permitted to enter the kingdom and who will be not permitted. We read about that in Matthew 25:31, and so forth. Both of these are possibilities, we can't say for sure. But then he says this in verse 12, "How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1335 days!

Now let's look at this closely just for a moment, "keeps waiting," it could be translated, one who keeps waiting earnestly, that’s the idea in the original language. And the term "attains to" comes from a root word that means to touch and hear; the imperfect form of this means "he will touch." In other words, he will gain with effort. So a paraphrase of what its saying here is this, how blessed it is he who keeps waiting earnestly, is finally able to touch the 1335th day. Huh? Why 1335? I mean, come on, that's 45 days longer than the 1290, 75 days longer than the 1260-day duration of Daniel, the end of Daniel's 70th week. So what's going on here? Well, once again, God doesn't tell us but I think it's safe to assume that this will be another 45 days that is necessary for God to establish the governmental aspects of Christ's reign, his rule and a time to place all of the kingdom citizens, all of us in our proper realm, and how we're going to function, place us in the regions of our inheritance and so forth. And we get a hint of this in verse 13, "But as for you, go your way to the end;" "Go your way to the end," technically, here, the imperfect word "go," "go" parallels the same term in verse nine, where he is told "go your way, Daniel," in this conversation and so forth. And so here he says, "then you will enter into rest and rise again for your allotted portion at the end of the age." And so I believe it's referring to that same type of thing; after the tribulation days are complete, Daniel, along with the Old Testament saints are going to be resurrected, they're going to be given their allotted portion in the millennial kingdom. You will recall in Colossians one and verse 12, Paul says "Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light." The term "inheritance," "kleros" in the original language speaks of an allotment, especially according to the terms of a will. You realize the father has a will and a portion of it has your name on it; has my name on it, the saints in Light. And in that text Paul reaches back in the Old Testament by alluding to the specific land allotments that were given to the Israelites when they entered the land of Canaan. Read about it in Numbers 26 and 33. So inheritance can literally be translated portion of the lot. And the text says the father has qualified, literally it means authorized us, according to His grace, to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light. Which "saints in Light" is a synonym for the kingdom of God and heaven. And in this glorious kingdom, beloved, each believer will be given a specific portion of the total divine inheritance. That is what is willed to us. This will include specific privileges and possessions, spiritual blessings beyond our ability to comprehend. Colossians 3:24, We read "Know that from the Lord you will receive the reward of your inheritance." My I can't wait. Ephesians 1:11, "Because of our Father's great mercy, we have obtained an inheritance." Hebrews 9:15, "Those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance." And I especially rejoice in what Peter said that we "have hope to obtain an inheritance," First Peter one four, which denotes property, denotes possession. Oh, dear Christian, may we all dare to be a Daniel in these difficult days knowing what God has promised, what is coming? And without question, Daniel would echo the testimony of the apostle Paul, and say, "I am not ashamed. For I know whom I have believed in, I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day," Second Timothy 1:12. And with the apostle John, we can all say, "Come, Lord Jesus." Let's pray together.

Father, truly your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light into our path. And as we contemplate the glories of your grace, and the power of your sovereign election, and all that you have planned not only for Israel, but for the church, for all of us who have been grafted into the rich root of Abrahamic blessing, Lord, how we celebrate these things. And may we all live lives that are pleasing to you that manifest the glory of Christ, that others might see him through us. We thank you, we rejoice in these great truths. And we pray that indeed, you will come quickly. Amen.

It is always such a great joy to be able to minister the word of God to you. And I would invite you to take your Bibles and turn once again to Daniel chapter 12. We are making our way through this book. We'll look at a couple more verses here this morning. Under the heading "Israel's Final Deliverance." Given the brutality of war that we are witnessing today, it should be of no surprise to any of us that there is one coming as God has prophesied through his word, called the Antichrist who will oppress and persecute people like never before. And his primary focus will be on Israel, as we have studied thus far, when last week we looked at Daniel chapter 12, and verse one. Furthermore, given the moral freefall in our country, it should be of no surprise that God is even currently judging America in the wrath of his abandonment, America has become a land of sodomites and drag queens and entitlement snowflakes, climate change wackos. I mean, it just goes on and on, doesn't it? It's just hard to believe that people are caught up in these things worse yet, even the evangelical churches got caught up in this whole woke cult running around telling people that they need to repent of their whiteness of repent of how their ancestors abused a certain group of people and aligning themselves with the Neo-pagan Marxist ideologies of critical race theory and all of these things. Of course, this is typical, by the way of liberalism, this is nothing new. Man's problem, for them, is not his inherent depravity, his sinfulness. No, no, no, no, that's not the problem. The real problem is societal oppression and political corruption. So the gospel needs to be all about social justice, rather than God's justice, reconciling sinful man to a holy God. And as we have been examining, God chose Israel, to be an example of how he pursues both individuals to be reconciled unto himself and how he judges and blesses nations as national entities. And through the nation of Israel, we know biblically that He will restore fallen humanity and bring salvation and being bring restoration to all of the nations eventually, in his millennial kingdom. When Jesus returns, we know that he will rule the nations from Israel. And through that rule, and through those people, and all of the redeemed, He will bless all of the nations as a microcosm of how God deals with individuals, and nations. He judged Israel because of her rebellion against Him. This is, by way of reminder, of what we have studied thus far. We know biblically that he deliberately determined 490 years to accomplish his purposes in delivering his people, Israel. Daniel 9:24 reveals to us the nine, I'm sorry, the six objectives to be accomplished in this regard. And this is really at the heart of the gospel, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, referring to Christ's sacrifice, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place. You see, God's kingdom plan is ultimately all about bringing glory to himself, and that can only be accomplished through the death, the sacrificial death, of the Lord Jesus Christ. So the gospel is all about reconciling sinful man to a holy God, not resolving social inequities, and ethnic injustices. That is not the gospel. For this reason, we as a church, I reject this whole evangelical wokeness movement and refuse to fellowship with those that embrace that. That is a distortion of the biblical, the true gospel. That is a gospel that will not save, it will only produce further division and damn people to an eternal hell. And Satan knows it very well. I'm reminded of Galatians one, verse eight, or Paul said, "But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he used to be accursed! For am I now seeking the favor of men or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond servant of Christ." Now, to be sure, any student of Scripture will very quickly recognize that it is man's innate sinfulness, not what's happening in society, that is the real problem. Just ask the people in Ukraine. Moreover, when we examine Bible prophecy, the whole fool's paradise of liberalism quickly dissipates, its exposed for what it is. Because what we see biblically, in prophecy, is that the whole world is moving inexorably towards a day of divine judgment, a day of retribution. And God has a kingdom program, that he has ordained in eternity past and he is implementing precisely and perfectly, a kingdom program that cannot and will not be thwarted. And in that I find great relief and joy. Indeed, his kingdom, under the rule of the Messiah King, the Lord Jesus Christ, will eventually resolve all of the ills of society, of this fallen world. And as we examine Daniel's prophecy, we see that the progression of the Gentile nations that have oppressed Israel will one day be defeated forever. God's kingdom will be established, and that involves both spiritual as well as material elements. He has sovereignly chosen his covenant people Israel to be the vehicle to accomplish his plans. Both national Israel and her land are frankly, microcosms of what he will do with all people groups. As God blesses Israel, He will bless all of the nations of the world; His kingdom, will affect every aspect of life on Earth. When we re-examine these things, biblically, we see that his kingdom will affect people socially, geographically, agriculturally, even the animal kingdom and on and on it goes. The second Adam must accomplish what the first Adam did not do. And that is to rule and subdue the earth for the glory of God, that must be accomplished, and it will. But all of God's blessings are linked to Israel's acceptance of the Messiah, as well as the nations of the world. And then once the kingdom age is complete, the eternal state begins when Jesus hands his successful mediatorial Kingdom reign to God the Father, as we read in First Corinthians 15.

Now, what I have just rehearsed for you is obviously a radically different worldview for most in our culture, nevertheless, because it flows out of Scripture, it is true. Now, you will recall that the closing verses of Daniel 11 describe Antichrist's military and political career. And then in chapter 12, we discover three important precursors to the establishment of Christ's earthly millennial kingdom. And I think these three precursors will give us a bit of a framework to understand what is revealed here in the rest of Daniel. Let me give those three precursors to you as just a little outline. Here we will see that Israel will first experience a type of unparalleled tribulation. Secondly, Israel will experience a supernatural deliverance and then finally, kingdom citizens will be raised from the dead.

Now last week, we looked at the first part of this: Israel will experience unparalleled tribulation. Notice Daniel 12 one, "Now at that time, Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time." And as we studied last week, this intense suffering at the hands of the Gentiles will occur during Daniel's 70th week of judgment or the time of the Great Tribulation. Jeremiah 30, verse seven, speaks of this, as do many other passages. There we read, "Alas, for that day is great, there is none like it; and it is the time of Jacob's distress, but he will be saved from it." And as we examined last week, this includes Michael's victory over Satan, that will occur 12 0 days, or three and a half years, before the Messiah's Second Coming, according to Revelation 12, verses six and verses 14. And that brings us to where we are today.

The second precursor to the kingdom will be Israel will experience a supernatural deliverance. Notice at the end of verse one, "And at that time, your people, everyone who is found written in the book," which, as you know, is God's record of the righteous redeemed, all of those, "will be rescued." Don't you know this would have brought great comfort to Daniel, because remember, he's praying for his people. He's trying to understand when are they going to be rescued from Babylon. And of course, God is answering this way beyond that discreet period of time. All the Gentile nations that would dominate Israel, beginning with Babylon, and then Persia, then Greece, then Rome, and eventually the 10-nation confederacy of the Antichrist, the revived Roman Empire, all of those will eventually come to an end.

Now, I want to spend a little bit of time talking about how Christ will rescue his people, quote, "at that time." And, of course, all of this centers around the gospel. So let me take you to a few other passages of scripture for a few minutes this morning. The first way he will rescue his people is through the two witnesses whom Antichrist kills, and who will be resurrected, and will visibly ascend to heaven. We learn about this in Revelation 11, if you will turn there Revelation 11, beginning in verse three. "And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1260 days;" that's the last part of the Tribulation, "clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands that stand before the Lord of the earth." By the way, just a quick note here that the two olive trees and two lamp stands were symbolic of the oil of the Holy Spirit's power that would perpetually fuel the lamps of divine truth pertaining to saving grace. We saw them in the tabernacle, in the temple. That's what it's referring to here. He goes on to say, "And if anyone wants to harm them, fire flows out of their mouth and devours their enemies." Boy, sometimes I wish I had that power, don't you. "So if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this way. These have the power to shut up the sky so that rain will not fall during the days of their prophesying; and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood and to strike the earth with every plague, as often as they desire. When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss," referring to the Antichrist, "will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city, which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt." That's referring to Jerusalem, it's so wicked it's being symbolized by Sodom and Egypt, "where also their Lord was crucified. Those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three days and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and celebrate; and they will send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth." In other words, this will be a time where the unregenerate, those that hate Christ will rejoice that two of his good witnesses have finally been defeated, who wants to hear all of that stuff about the gospel. But it doesn't end there. "But after the three and a half days, the breath of life from God came into them. And they stood on their feet; and great fear fell upon those who were watching them." That has to be one of the greatest understatements in all of the Bible. "And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, 'Come up here.' Then they went up into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies watched them. And in that hour, there was a great earthquake, and a 10th of the city fell; 7000 people were killed in the earthquake, and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past; behold, the third one was coming quickly."

So many will see this, and indeed, they will be rescued; they will come to faith in Christ. Well, not only will God use his two witnesses to rescue his people, but secondly, his 144,000 sealed disciples. Revelation seven, verse four, we read, "And I heard the number of those who were sealed, 144,000 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel." This will be the greatest missionary force in the history of the world that will be unleashed by God himself during the last half of the tribulation. Revelation 14 and verse three describes them as those "who had been purchased from the earth." Verse four, they're morally pure servants that "follow the Lamb wherever He goes." Verse five says, "And no lie was found in their mouth; they are blameless." So these will be preserved from the impending plagues, from the four winds as we read in this prophecy, that will fall upon the unbelieving world. They will be preserved, they will be sealed so that they can be instruments of God's saving grace and serve him in his elective purposes for Israel, and for all who would come to faith in Christ. In other words, they too will preach the gospel, and many will be rescued. The bulk of the nation will be nourished according to Revelation 12, six for 1260 days. And you will recall that will happen while the pursuing armies are swallowed up by the Earth, in verses 15 and 16.

And of course, finally, the most glorious of all aspects of God's rescue will occur when Christ returns as the Messiah King. I read a little bit of this earlier in our scripture reading. Look at Revelation 19, just beginning in verse 11. "And I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges in wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him, which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed and fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it, He may strike down the nations and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty and on His robe, and on His thigh He has a name written, 'KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.'" Beloved, that is my Jesus. I hope it's yours.

Zechariah 14 also describes Israel's rescue in magnificent detail. There we read beginning in verse one, "Behold, a day is coming for the Lord when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered and women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. In that day, His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will be moved toward the north and the other half toward the south. You will flee by the valley of My mountains for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, then the Lord, my God will come and all the holy ones with Him!"

As a footnote, in Matthew 25, verses 31 through 40, Jesus describes how the few believers that survive the great tribulation will be honored. Those that were beheaded because of their faith in Christ will be resurrected from the dead to reign with Him. Revelation 20 verse four speaks of this as well. "Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who have been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus, and because of the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand; and they came to life and reigned with Christ for 1000 years."

And this beloved leads us to the third precursor of the establishment of Christ's earthly millennial kingdom. And that is, kingdom citizens will be raised from the dead. Oh, how I love to reflect upon this magnificent truth, because I have loved ones that have gone on, and they're going to be raised from the dead. And when I die and you die, we're going to be raised from the dead. Notice what it says, back to Daniel 12 and verse two, "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life." And of course, that will include those beheaded for the witness of Jesus during the Tribulation, "but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt."

Let me remind you of some of the great truths that are revealed in Scripture with respect to death and resurrection. At death, we know biblically that the soul vacates the body. In fact, for believers we read in First Corinthians five, "To be absent from the body is to be," what? "present with the Lord." We await that time, Paul tells us in Philippians 3:21, "when Christ will transform our lowly body." And as I age it gets lowelier and lowelier, "and conform it to his glorious body." And in Acts, chapter 24, verse 15, we read that there will be "a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust." There's no such thing as a mere mortal do realized that? Everyone will live forever. But you will live either as the just, one that has been justified by faith in Christ; you will live in glory with Christ, or you will live as the unjust and you will be raised to everlasting judgment and torment because you ignored the gospel, you laughed at it, you scoffed at it, you preferred your sin. You thought that your works were good enough to get you in Heaven, you bought all of the great lies that Satan has perpetrated upon the world. But for the just, oh, this resurrection is our promised hope. And it has been the promised hope of the redeemed down through redemptive history. A hope that is based upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ. You see, his resurrection guarantees our resurrection. Jesus said, "'Because I live, you shall live also,'" in John 14. Because of Jesus death, think of it dear friends, that tyrant of all tyrants will hold no fear on those who have been saved by His grace. We have been released from the grip of death. Yes, we will die, "but for me to live is Christ," Paul said, "and to die is gain." "Oh death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting?" First Corinthians 15.

Now, may I remind you, or maybe for some of you, teach you what the chronological order of resurrection really is? We see this described especially in First Corinthians 15. So if you'll go there for a moment, we'll look briefly at a few of these passages. In verse 20, of First Corinthians 15, we read, "But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep," referring to the righteous dead, whose spirits have gone on to be with the Lord but await their bodily remains being...awaiting recomposition and resurrection and so forth. So notice this, Christ's resurrection is the "first fruits." In other words, the first installment of the harvest of the elect to those who are asleep. They are to be considered the full harvest. And this is so exciting, please understand, Christ's resurrection didn't occur somehow in isolation. If it had, it would have no impact on the rest of the harvest. No, you see, he was, as we read here, "the first fruit" of the rest of the harvest that already existed. Think about that. You see you can't have a first fruit, if there is no other fruit, if there is no existing crop. And that existing crop was and is the elect of God that has existed in eternity past to this very day and for eternity. So although their souls are in heaven, enjoying the unfathomable riches of being in eternal glory, their bodies which were fatigued, and perhaps disabled and all used up, the bodies are in the grave, the soul is with the Lord. Or perhaps their bodies are scattered all over the earth, we don't know. But one day, the DNA of that decomposed body will be recomposed, and they will wake, they will rise in unimaginable power and in unimaginable glory and they will be united with their glorified soul. That Prince of preachers the 19th century in London, Charles Spurgeon, stated this in his own inimitable way and when he commented, quote, "The righteous are put into the graves, all weary and worn. But such they will not rise. They go there with the furrowed brow, the hollow cheek, the wrinkled skin. They should wake up in beauty and glory. The old man totters fither, leaning on his staff, the palsy comes there trembling all the way. The halt, the lame, the withered, the blind journey in doleful pilgrimage to the common dormitory. But they shall not rise decrepit, deformed, or diseased. But they shall rise strong, vigorous, active, glorious, immortal, the shriveled seeds so destitute of form and comeliness shall rise from the dust of beauteous flower. A green blade, all fresh and young shall spring up, where before there was the dried, decayed grain." I had a friend tell me the other day that his kid said, what they're going to say at his funeral is, "well the nut is gone, but the shell remains." And there's some measure of truth to that. But in Scripture, we see death in the symbolism of sowing, do we not? First Corinthians 15, verse 42, "So also is the resurrection of the dead," Paul tells us, "It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body."

Oh dear Christians, the implication of the resurrection of Jesus Christ exceeds the importance and the power and the potential of all other events in history. Think about it. It is rivaled only by the actual creation of the universe. You see, within the resurrection body of the Lord Jesus Christ, existed the supernatural power source of eternal life and God's everlasting kingdom. Dormant within the resurrection body of Christ that appeared to Mary, is the seed of resurrection glory for all whom the Father had given him. Think about that. The infinite power source of the universe and God’s everlasting kingdom was and is, within him. If you are united to Christ, in saving faith, if you truly love him and submit to him, think about this now, you are like a nuclear warhead waiting to explode in unimaginable power and glory. And what a precious comfort this is to every child of God. And is for this reason Paul said in Second Corinthians four beginning in verse 16, "Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." So the power contained in the resurrection body of Jesus is infinitely power, for it houses the omnipotent power of our Creator God. And one day we will behold his body, we will see him as he is. And what's amazing is he will look like us in many ways. From his glorified body, will emanate the effulgence of his celestial glory, his majesty. The resplendent light of his glory will blaze from him more brilliant than the light of the sun. And to think Christ is "the first fruits." That means the rest of the fruits are going to have some resemblance to the first fruits, right? That's not very complicated. In other words, he has a precise sample of a coming harvest, which means our resurrection bodies will, in many ways, be like his. Minus the incommunicable attributes that are his alone.

Now, back to First Corinthians 15, notice the resurrection of those who belong to Christ in verse 22. At the end, he says, "In Christ, all will be made alive." Verse 23, "But each in his own order." Then he says, "Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming." And Paul goes on to describe the rest of the harvest of which Christ was the first fruit. And he says, "each one in his order." The term "tagma" in Greek, it was a military term used to describe the arrangement of troops. And so we see even in the resurrection of all people, God has an order; he is an orderly God, he is purposeful in all that he does. So here we learn of the order of the resurrection harvest, which comes in three stages at Christ's coming. Again, notice that Christ the first fruits, and after that those who are Christ's at his coming. Now, the first stage of resurrection is for those who have come to saving faith from Pentecost, to the time of the rapture, and they will be joined with living saints at the rapture, First Corinthians 15:23, "those who are Christ's at His coming." This will include the resurrection of all of the church saints, both dead and alive at the rapture. According to First Thessalonians four beginning of verse 16, this will be when "the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words."

The second stage of the resurrection harvest is for those who come to faith during the tribulation. You see, most of the people will be martyred, but it will also include all of the Old Testament saints as well. They will all be raised to reign with him during the millennium, Revelation 20, beginning of verse four, "And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus, because of the word of God and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead, and on their hand and they came to life and reigned with Christ for 1000 years." So back to Daniel 12 two. This is what it's speaking of here, "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground, will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others,” referring to the rest of the unsaved, "to disgrace and everlasting contempt." You can read about this as well in Isaiah 26 and Romans two verses five through eight, where it explicitly states that there will be a resurrection of the righteous as well as of the wicked.

The third stage which Paul calls, quote, "The end." In first Corinthians 15:23, refers to those who die during the millennial kingdom, they will probably, we don't know for sure they will probably be instantly transformed at death into their eternal bodies and spirits. And so this only leaves those who are the ungodly, those who have rejected Christ. And that occurs, they will be raised at the end of the millennial kingdom, at the Great White Throne Judgment of God, Revelation 20. And they will then be sent to Hell. Acts 24:15, "there will be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust." And John describes a, quote, "resurrection of life and the resurrection of judgment,” in John 5:29. But oh, dear Christian, once again, the implications of the resurrection for all who belong to him, are utterly inconceivable. And I feel so sorry for those that do not know Christ, because to the natural man or woman, the things of the Spirit are foolishness, and they cannot understand them. So they hear all of this and they think, I can't believe that anybody would believe this stuff. Well, obviously, they can't, not because of a lack of intellect, but because they're spiritually dead. And until they come to faith in Christ, none of these things will make any sense and none of this will be their hope, or their joy. But all the resurrection implications for us are absolutely astounding. Romans eight verse 23, "we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly," catch this now, "for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved." You see, our redemption includes more than just our soul and our spirit. Our redemption also includes our bodies. And this will occur when Jesus returns and raises our bodies from the dead. Glorification is the stage, one of the stages, the final stage, in the whole process of redemption, when he fashions for those that he has redeemed and those that is he has inhabited, into a glorified body and reunite that with their soul. It's astounding. Again, think about this. The seed of our DNA will one day blossom forth in the eternal perfection of divine holiness, divine glory, the majesty of Christ. Why? Because we are united to him. Christ is the first fruits of this resurrection harvest and his resurrection guarantees ours. Likewise, we will be given a glorified body like his; you might say he was the prototype.

Again, back to First Corinthians 15, verse 49. And "just as we have borne the image of the earthly." We shall also bear the image of the heavenly. John says in First John three two, "when He appears, we shall be like Him." Paul stated in Philippians 3:21 that Jesus will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body. So this is referring to a supernatural metamorphosis and instantaneous re-creation. Well this makes all of the suffering of life just kind of pale into insignificance doesn't it? Don't you long for that day? Paul said in First Corinthians 15:19, "If for this life only, we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied." Aren't you thankful that we have a hope beyond this life?

Beloved, never forget the fact that as believers we are forever united with Christ in every aspect of His work of redemption, which includes his resurrection. We have died, we have been buried and we are resurrected with him. Paul said, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ that lives in me." You have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Amazing theological concepts. And while we await for our glorified bodies, our true essence as glorified saints is concealed in this world. We can't even see it ourselves. Other people look at us, we look just as ugly as everybody else, right? But because our life is hidden with Christ in God--I know this is corny, but it's kind of like Superman, you know, he just looked like Clark Kent until he got in the phone booth or whatever it was, and all of a sudden, there he is. I told you it was corny, but I think it gets the point across, doesn't it? I mean, that's who we really are. Peter says that we have been born anew to a living hope, how? Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. First Peter, one three. Jesus resurrection, you see, is explicitly connected with our regeneration, our new birth, that supernatural instantaneous impartation of spiritual life to the spiritually dead, that spiritual resurrection that happened within our nature within our soul. And you see, when Jesus rose from the dead, he had a new quality of life, he had a resurrection life, in a human body and human spirit, they were perfectly united for fellowship and obedience to God forever. And in Christ's resurrection, you see, he earned for us a new life just like his. And when we are born again, we receive all of the new resurrection life in our spirit. At that moment of the new birth, we are made alive with new resurrection power, waiting for that to happen in one day, our resurrected bodies will follow suit. Hallelujah. This resurrection power of Christ is the supernatural power of God, dear friends, that is at work within us right now. Right now. Paul prayed for the Ephesians that they would know, quote, "what is the immeasurable greatness of His power in us who believe, according to the working of his great might, which he accomplished in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead and made Him sit at His right hand in the heavenly places." You see this resurrection power includes everything we need to live a life that is honoring to Christ; a life that can have victory over remaining sin in our life. In fact, Romans 6:14 says that sin will no longer have dominion over you. It includes our power for ministry, to work for the sake of the kingdom.

Now back to Daniel 12. As we wrap this up here this morning, this third precursor of the kingdom, you first have Israel's rescue, followed by the resurrection, which will then lead to the kingdom and blessings in God's kingdom. Verse three, "Those who have insight will shine brightly, like the brightness in the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever." He speaks of "those who have insight," it can be translated those who are wise, or those who have spiritual discernment. It's the same expression by the way that was used in chapter 11, verse 33, and verse 35, where it referred to those who lived in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes who were willing to die for their convictions, and who were willing to make it a priority to help others become wise, with respect to knowing who God was, and being obedient to Him, even as they battled the lies of Antiochus Epiphanes. So they will have insight. "Insight", it carries the idea of having the ability to see something with mental clarity, to see something for what it is, to have spiritual discernment. That's what it means. And in this context, it refers to spiritually discerning Christians during the time of the tribulation, who will, as he says here "lead the many to righteousness." And oh, dear friends, this is what we need today, isn't it? This is what we need in the church today. Most evangelical Christians today have the theological acumen of a second grader and the spiritual discernment of a transgendered seventh grader. They just don't understand what Scripture says. They don't know what it says. And when they hear it, they mock it. Think of all the Christians who support these political leaders that hold the things that are an absolute abomination to God. Think about that. Our kids are being exposed and poisoned by the urban culture. All of the vulgar music and Hollywood idols and sports figures that hate God and our kids are expected to embrace the Neo paganism and Marxist ideologies of critical race theory and Black Lives Matter and all of the other garbage that is out there today. Instead of celebrating and rejoicing in the blood bought unity found in the multiethnic household of God. That's what our kids need to understand. Oh, how we need believers within sight, those with spiritual discernment willing to help others.

So again, notice here in closing, "Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever." We know that when Jesus returns, he will remove the ungodly and only his redeemed will enter the kingdom. As Jesus said in Matthew 13:43, "Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father." My, what motivating truths for evangelism and discipleship. Let me ask you, dear friends, are you a witness for Christ in your sphere of influence? Are you actively engaged in presenting the gospel? Persuading others to see the horror of their sin and the glory of the cross? Is that how people would describe you? Or are you a chameleon Christian that is able to change your color depending upon the situation you're in. So that nobody will know that you stand for something that they might be opposed to. Because after all, you don't want to get canceled. Oh, dear friend, if that is you, please repent of that. Please repent of that.

Well, we'll stop here this morning. Three important precursors to the establishment of the Kingdom. Though the days in which we live are getting darker and darker, know this, that the darkest hour is just before the dawn, right? Judgment is coming. But so too, is our Messiah King. And one day he has promised that the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea. Even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly. Let's pray.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word, may they bear much fruit in our lives, to the praise of your glory. And I pray if there be one here today that knows nothing of what it is to truly see their sin to acknowledge it, to long for forgiveness, Lord, we know that they're not going to see that unless you do a mighty work within them. And so we would plead with you by the power of your spirit; to so overwhelmed them with conviction that they will literally run to the cross and plead for the mercy that you will so quickly give. We thank you. We give you praise for all things in Jesus name. Amen.

Oh my what a wonderful time of singing we've just had. Isn't it great to be able to give expression to the doxologies of our heart because of God's grace, that which he has wrought within us by the power of his Spirit through the gospel? Will you take your Bibles and turn to Daniel chapter 12s , as we continue to make our way through this amazing book. This morning, we are going to be looking at verse one. But I'm going to also take you into Revelation Chapter 12, for much of our time, because they are linked together. This is the first part of a series entitled Israel's final deliverance. And may I remind you as we open up the Word of God that the Lord fixes his gaze and lavishes his blessing in a very special way upon those who are aware of the profound impact their sin has had on themselves, and certainly in violation of God's law. Those who know that they are unable to stand in the presence of his holiness on their own. Therefore those who have an all-consuming heartfelt desire to worship the Lord their God, he looks especially at those people, we're reminded of this in Isaiah 66 and verse two, he says, "'But to this one I will look.'" In other words, this is the one that gets my attention. "'To him who is humble,'" a term that literally means willing to take the lowliest position before God. "'To him who is humble and contrite of spirit.'" "Contrite" in the original means to be lame, to be disabled. And also "'who trembles at My word.'" "Trembles" carries the idea of being stricken to the absolute core of your being because of your sin, and because the glory of His Word. So I trust this is the state of your heart and your mind this morning, as we come before the word of God. Anything less is a mockery of God. And it is certain proof that you are not right with Him.

Now today, we return to Daniel's prophecy. We're going to see much of where the world is heading. And I want to remind you that this is Daniel's fourth, and his final vision; a magnificent, prophetic panorama that is first introduced in chapter 10. And chapter 12 is really a continuation of the angelic response to Daniel's prayer of confession and of intercession on behalf of His people Israel; that they might be delivered from Babylonian captivity and restored to their land. And as you will recall, God sent an angel--l we believe it was probably Gabriel, to answer his prayers. But his answer encompassed far more than just delivery from Babylon, but rather, it moves to a magnificent plan to deliver his people from their sin, a remedy that can only be accomplished through the death of Christ and will ultimately come to fruition when he returns.

Moreover, his answer looked beyond the present the current Gentile oppressors of Babylon, to a final day when they will be delivered from all earthly oppressors, and enjoy the triumph that will be accomplished when Christ returns in power, and in great glory. So again, here in Daniel 12, we have a continuation of Gabriel's response that began all the way back in chapter 10, about verse 20. And goes through, actually verse four of chapter 12, where we're at and then as we will see, in coming weeks in verses six through eight, Daniel has some questions. Gabriel responds again in verse seven, and then beginning in verse nine through the end, he continues his response.

Now, again, bear in mind that the theme of the previous chapter, chapter 11, is the focus of the rule of the Antichrist. But now in chapter 12, the attention shifts to those who are going to be ruled by the Antichrist, which will include the whole world. But ultimately the focus is upon Israel, those who must endure his rule during the Great Tribulation, the pre kingdom judgments, as I like to call them. Daniel 70th week, all of those terms are synonymous. So let's examine the word of the Lord through his angelic messenger, recorded by his prophet Daniel. Daniel 12, verse one. "'Now at that time, Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise. And there will be a time of distress, such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time, your people, everyone who's found written in the book will be rescued.'" Now let's look closely at what the Spirit of God has revealed to us here. Notice the phrase "now at that time," again, a reference to the Great Tribulation, under the rule of the Antichrist, the subject of the previous chapter, the one who, according to Daniel 11:46, will "pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain." In other words, between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea, there on Mount Zion. "Yet he will come to his end and no one will help him." Now, may I remind you that Jesus also elaborated upon this future day in Matthew 24, in his Olivet Discourse, beginning in verse 21, he says, "'For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.'"

Now back to verse one of Daniel 12. "'Now at that time, Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people, will arise.'" Alright, let's think about who is Michael? Well, you may recall earlier in chapter 10, Michael was the angel that God dispatched to assist the angel Gabriel, who was, according to verse 13, battling the prince of the kingdom of Persia, a powerful demon, perhaps even Satan himself, "'who was withstanding me for 21 days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me.'" The term Michael, the name Michael means who is like God, and we know biblically that he is one of the most powerful, perhaps the most powerful of all of the angels. He is the one that leads and protects the people of Israel, according to chapter 10 and verse 21. In Jude nine, we read how that Michael is the "archaggelos," the Ark Angel, which means the chief angel or first angel, so we have a little sense of who he is.

Again, "'Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people will arise.'" Now, prophetically, this includes the final victory of Michael over Satan. That will occur 1260 days or three and a half years, according to Revelation 12, verse six and verse 14, right before the Messiah returns, as we will see in a moment. Look again at the end of verse one there, “'And there will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was the nation until that time.'" Again, the intense suffering at the hands of the Gentiles will occur during this, this time of tribulation, Daniel's 70th week. In fact, Jeremiah spoke of this in Jeremiah 30. In verse seven, he said, "'Alas! for that day is great, there is none like it, and it is the time of Jacob's distress. But he will be saved from it,'" referring to Israel.

So again, Daniel 12 one at the end, it says" there will be a time of distress, such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time, your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued.'" So here we see that the Messiah King, the Lord Jesus Christ, will rescue Israel. We know later on in verse two, he is going to resurrect the dead. And also in verse three, he is going to reward the righteous. Now what about this book of life? What is that all about? Well, that is God's record of the righteous redeemed his record of the elect. We read about that, for example, in in Psalm 69, verse 68, those who have been elected by his grace, those who have been justified in his sight. Jesus said in Luke 10 and verse 20, "'rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven.'" Aren't you thankful that we serve a sovereign God that has accomplished our redemption, and is made certain that it will stand throughout eternity? If it were left up to us, it would never happen. These are those according to Acts 13:48, who were quote, "appointed to eternal life and who will believe." At the the Great White Throne Judgment, we read in Revelation 20 and verse 12, John says, "And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds."

So given this, let's look at this first verse of Daniel 12, as a whole. "'Now, at that time, Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the sons of your people will arise. There will be a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who was found written in the book will be rescued.'" Now, this is obviously a season of unparalleled suffering for Israel, that is being described here. And it was also described in Daniel's first vision, you may recall, in Daniel chapter seven, beginning in verse 21, we read, "'I kept looking, and that horn was waging war with the saints in overpowering them until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One. And the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom.'" That horn, by the way, referring to the Antichrist, verse 25, of Daniel seven, he goes on, and says, "'He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time.'" In other words, three and a half years, the last three and a half years of the tribulation. This is also described in Daniel's third vision, Daniel 9:27, "'And he,'" referring to the Antichrist, '"will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week,'" in other words, in the middle of the seven years, '"he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering, and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate.'" Beloved, I believe that it is during this time of unparallel suffering for Israel, during the Tribulation, that Michael, the great prince who stands guard over the people of Israel, will arise.

Now, let's back up for a moment and look at the big picture, because I get a lot of questions along this line. And this may help to give you a sense of where these things probably fit in a little summary here of events, as I understand them from Scripture, the next event on the prophetic timetable, the prophetic calendar, is probably the rapture of the church, the snatching away of the church. He will remove the church and once again focus on Israel. And it also could be a time when the battle of Gog and Magog takes place Ezekiel 38 and 39. With the rapture maybe occurring sometime thereafter, we're not sure. But eventually the Antichrist will sign a peace agreement with Israel to be their protector and to be their ally and so forth. But it will be a phony piece, but that signing of that covenant will be the trigger of Daniel's 70th week. The trigger of the tribulation, and that will set into motion the seal and then the trumpet. And finally, the bowl judgments that are described in Revelation six through 19. And in the middle of that tribulation, the Antichrist is going to desecrate the temple. He's going to set him up, set himself up to be God. He's going to demand to be worshipped at that point, the Jews will know they have been taken, and the persecution will begin to mount upon them. And many new Christians at this point now, many Jews are going to come to saving faith in Christ. Revelation seven, we know that God will raise up at that time, he will raise up and seal 144,000, Jewish evangelists, 12,000 Jewish men from each tribe. In Revelation 11, God is also going to raise up what is called two witnesses, two prophets, to preach a message of judgment to the world that is enduring these amazing events. And they are going to do that, according to Scripture, 1260 days or 42 months, or three and a half years. During that time, many will be saved. In Revelation 13, God is also going to dispatch three angels, who according to the text says, will fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth. So you can imagine what is going to happen during that day. And with so many coming to faith in Christ, and giving their full allegiance to him, the Antichrist is going to be apoplectic, he will be infuriated with all that is going on and seek to destroy the remnant of Israel and all Christians. In fact, we know that only a third will survive. We read about this, for example, in Zechariah, 13, beginning in verse eight, "It will come about and all the land that declares the Lord, that two parts in it will be cut off and perish, but the third will be left in it. And I will bring the third part through the fire, refine them as silver is refined and test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, and I will answer them; I will say 'They are my people.' And they will say, 'The Lord is my God.'" At the end of all of that, then you have the battle of Armageddon. And you have the King of kings and Lord of lords descending in power and great glory to judge the nations, win that battle and so forth, and establish His glorious kingdom.

Now, let's back up. Where does Daniel 12 one fit into all of this? Well, Revelation chapter 12, if you'd like to turn there, Revelation, chapter 12, verses six through 17, helps us understand the chronology here. And basically, the answer is Michael is going to arise sometime around the midpoint of the Tribulation, when he casts Satan, the dragon out of heaven. This is a fascinating promise, a fascinating passage of scripture. Let me set this up a little bit--after suffering his defeat at the hands of Michael as we're going to see, Satan is going to vent his spleen against Israel, knowing his time is short, he is going to want to eradicate the pernicious and perfidious Jewish people once and for all, removing any possibility of them or anyone else inheriting the Messianic Kingdom with the coming of Christ. Satan's ultimate doom, however, will follow the events of the end of the seventh trumpet and bowl judgments that are described in Revelation 15 through 18. So let's take a little excursus here, let's go into Revelation Chapter 12, for a moment. Again, background is everything. So let me give you a little bit of background and we're just jumping right into the middle here of Revelation. So I want you to know where you're at, in this text, Revelation 12 through 14 those chapters is basically as a parenthetical section in the book that provides a chronicle of Satan's career. And it actually recapitulates what had been said earlier in Revelation chapter six through 11. So we have a little parenthesis here that chronicles Satan's career. And the first six verses of chapter 12 provide a sweeping overview of Satan's ancient rebellion and war with God as well as his covenant people Israel, and they are symbolized, by the way, as the woman. That's a reference to Israel and her son, reference to the Son of God the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, the scene in Revelation 12 describes Israel during this last first half of the Tribulation, notice verse six, "Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so that there she would be nourished for 1260 days." So here we see that during the Tribulation, Satan will increase his efforts of Jewish genocide through the reign of the Antichrist, and thereby try to prevent anyone from populating the millennial kingdom. But God arises again as the defender of his people, to hide them and to nourish them for 1260 days, or in other words, three and a half years. Again, Jeremiah 30, verse seven, this is the time of Jacob's trouble or Jacob's distress, and God's going to protect them in some undisclosed place there in the wilderness. And frankly, it's reminiscent, is it no,t of the 40 year wandering in the wilderness where God provided for his people? We know prophetically that many of the Jews are going to remain in Jerusalem, they're going to remain close to the temple, they're going to try to survive, many will be saved through the testimony of the two witnesses, and so forth, yet many are going to be slaughtered.

And then next, in verses seven through 12, John records this amazing battle in heaven. And probably like most men, I love battles, especially when my guys win. Right? I love it. So this is a battle in heaven, where Michael is used to permanently expel Satan from the presence of God; he's going to cast him to the earth. And soon thereafter, we know he's going to be cast into the, into the abyss, the Lake of Fire, which will be his eternal dungeon. I also want to add a little footnote here. All of this is future, though grammatically, you will notice that it is presented in the past tense. This is a literary device that is commonly used to describe a future event in such a way as to indicate that it is already an accomplished fact. It's to emphasize the certainty of an event. grammarians call it a proleptic aorist. Indeed, much of John's vision here is proleptic, where future events are so certain, they can be described in the past tense, as if they have already occurred, the very important concept that you need to understand in order to have the proper hermeneutic to interpret Bible prophecy.

Now let's notice closely this war in heaven, verse seven of Revelation 12. "And there was a war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging with the dragon." Now, you know that throughout history, Satan has waged war against God and his holy angels. We know that beyond the veil of our senses, is a war that's going on--a vast spiritual war. Untold conflicts happening all the time, even at this very moment. I am always aware that when I come into this pulpit, and we meet here, in this place, that there are angelic beings that are unseen that are protecting us. Remember, again, as well, Satan has a highly organized army of demons that he commands. Ephesians 6:12 speaks of this, including those that are in charge of nations, in charge of empires, like the prince of the kingdom of Persia in Daniel 10. In fact, without question, we could say that most of our political leaders here in the United States are Satan's puppets; highly influenced by demons and all of the false teaching and false philosophies that have been building up down through the centuries. So this is not the first time Michael and his forces have encountered this enemy. Now, I wondered in my own mind, many, many years ago, I wonder how they fight you know, what does that look like? You know, do they have these Star Wars sabers? I mean, you know, what do they do? Well, guess what? The Bible doesn't tell us. You know, it just doesn't say. Scripture is silent regarding how they wage war. So the actual tactics and the kinds of casualties, all of that remains a mystery to us. But here we see God dispatching Michael once again, and along with undoubtedly, a celestial army that he leads to wage war with the dragon. And this is what we believe is going on here in Daniel 12 one. Now grammatically, if we look at Revelation 12, seven, the phrase "Michael and his angels waging with the dragon," that reveals to us grammatically in the original language that it is Satan, that is the instigator of this conflict. In fact, the phrase could be translated, "Michael and his angels had to fight the dragon." Now, we want to ask the question, What triggered this attack? It's a good question for any student of the Bible. Well, we can't be sure. But when we put all of the things together, it might be, I mean, we know that it's happening in the middle of the week after Israel has fled into the wilderness for the final three and a half years, according to Revelation 12, six. But the trigger may well be a combination of these supernatural victories that are occurring at the hands of the two witnesses on earth that God has dispatched, along with the sealed 144,000 that are that are protected and proclaiming the gospel, many people coming to saving faith in Christ. Also the three angels of chapter 14, verses six through 11, are flying in mid heaven, making various warnings to those on the earth during that tribulation period. And so all these things combined could be what energizes Satan's attack, because he does have a diabolical plan to destroy God's people and prevent the establishment of the millennial kingdom. He has done this throughout redemptive history in various ways.

But notice, again, in verse seven, at the end, it says, "The dragon and his angels waged war, and they were not strong enough, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven." So here, beloved, we see how the cleansing of heaven is now complete, right? They're no longer in heaven. But they're really remains a purification on Earth, so now they're on Earth. And we begin to understand in verse nine, what happens with respect to Daniel's defeat. Notice verse nine, "And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him." "Thrown down," he says it three times. I want you to notice as well here, the Lord describes the enemy of our souls, this wicked fiend in five ways he's called the great dragon, underscoring the vicious cruelty of this monster. He's also called the serpent of old, identifying him as the serpent in the garden that tempted Eve and brought sin into the world. He's also called the devil, the slanderer, or the maligner, the one who roams the earth collecting evidence to accuse saints before God's holy bar of justice, as Scripture reveals to us. He's also called Satan, transliteration of the Hebrew word Satan, referring to our superhuman adversary, and he's also described as the one who deceives or misleads the whole world. Indeed, he is a genius in seducing people to believe that which is false. And then when he causes them to fall, he accuses them before God. Can there be anything more evil than that? What a, what an exceedingly dangerous and vile creature.

Notice again in verse nine, the Lord uses the phrase "thrown down." It literally means to cast down or to forcibly remove or expel. In this context, it carries the idea of being manhandled. Are you familiar with that? He's manhandled here. This is a supernatural body slam. That's what's going on here. I love it. When he’s slammed from Heaven down to earth. I mean, that's a that's a big slam. Right? This underscores the humiliating ignominious defeat, and the method of his expulsion. He's going to be overwhelmed by a vastly superior force and physically hurled from heaven to earth. You know, I was thinking about this. I've been thrown out of places before. I know what that's like, maybe you have been to, but I've never had anybody pick me up and throw me. Especially that far, right? I mean, it's an amazing thought that that's what's going to happen and I confess I, I find great satisfaction when I contemplate this theme. You know, I can imagine Michael saying, come on, make my day. So here we learn of the dragon's inevitable defeat.

But notice the reaction. Oh, how I love this verse 10. "Then I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, 'Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before our God, day and night.'" So here the glorified saints in heaven erupt in song. And undoubtedly, this will be us dear friends. A glimpse of our future. The accuser of the brethren has been thrown down. And obviously his relentless and slanderous accusations fell on deaf ears. Because we have a great mediator at God's bar of justice. Because we have a faithful high priest. Because we have been declared righteous; Romans five verse two, "having been justified by faith," we have what? We have "peace with God." Despite all of the accusations, despite all of our sin, we have peace with God because we have been declared righteous on the basis of the imputed righteousness of Christ. That's justification. "Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exalt in hope of the glory of God." And beloved, this heavenly celebration erupts because faith has become sight.

Now, let me give you an overview, once again, a possible progression of events. As we look at Scripture, from a literal grammatical perspective, probably soon after the rapture of the church. A Russian-Arab coalition will launch a massive attack against Israel. That could happen before, but we can't say for sure, that is the battle of Gog and Magog in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Israel being a key ally of NATO, and the United States will be under attack. And that group of European nations will probably be this Revived Roman Empire that the Antichrist will lead; an alliance of nations that will most likely feel threatened as well, from this north/south coalition of Russia, and the Arab nations coming against Israel. And although God is going to destroy this coalition, utterly defeat them on the mountains of Israel, which by the way, you should keep in mind as you watch the Russian army coming into, into Ukraine, know that eventually that army is going to be destroyed, which by the way is heartbreaking. I've got a number of dear friends in Russia, a lot of believers, a lot of them were out of the KGB, were saved from that and were saved from the Russian military and they're pastors. Lord willing, I don't know, we may see some of them at the shepherd's conference; we usually do every year. But believe me, many of the men fighting for Russia don't want to be there. It is a wicked, barbaric army. But anyway, they will be defeated on the mountains of Israel. The entire world at that point will be amazed. The Islamic world will be stunned and they will be forced to admit what they have denied for centuries. And that is that the God of Israel is the one true God; there is no other and Allah is a figment of their imagination of satanic deception.

At that point, according to Ezekiel 39 and verse nine, it will give them seven years to burn the weaponry, seven months to bury the dead in order to cleanse the land. Then all of the nations of the world will suddenly view Israel in a way that they never have before, a power to be reckoned with. And after describing the supernatural defeat of the Russian-Arab Alliance, we know that God spoke through the prophet of Ezekiel, and says this, in Ezekiel 38:23, "'I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations, and they will know that I am the Lord.'" Right now, that is an absolute joke to the majority of the people in the world. Verse seven of chapter 39 of Ezekiel, "'My holy name I will make known in the midst of My people, Israel, and I will not let My holy name be profaned anymore, and the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.'" Indeed, many will know, not all will bow. In fact, people in hell will blaspheme him forever, knowing full well who he is.

So after this defeat, the Arab-Muslim world will be powerless to prevent Israel from destroying their sacred Dome of the Rock, there in Jerusalem building their own temple. Israel's newfound power, combined with the political and economic upheavals in the world, would be the perfect storm for the Antichrist, for a world ruler to come to the forefront and provide peace, for everyone. Satan's aid, the Antichrist, representing a European confederacy--which is rapidly by the way, becoming a Muslim confederacy, I hope you understand that in Europe--he will see the need to ally himself with Israel. He will negotiate a covenant of peace with her. I think about this day and it's fascinating. Israel typically comes to a peace table with everyone discriminating against her. But for the first time in modern history, she will actually come away with an international blessing, so to speak, something that they have never, never seen. But the signing of this covenant will be the trigger that will set into motion the, the time of Daniel's 70th week and the first half of the Tribulation. Israel will experience peace. The world will experience some peace. But it will be a false peace; a calm before the storm. And during that time, God will begin to set into motion wrath that will be poured out upon the nation's-- the seal and then eventually the trumpet, and finally, the bowl judgments of Revelation six through 19, resulting in millions of casualties both of unrepentant Jews and Gentiles. And many people that will come to saving faith in Christ. But by the middle of the tribulation, we believe it is there, where Satan will be cast out of heaven. This again is where Michael comes on the scene. Enraged by his humiliating defeat, and knowing whose time is short, to prevent the establishment of the Kingdom, upon the earth that he now rules, he will begin again to vent his fury against the 144,000, the indestructible two witnesses, and all of this will cause Satan to influence the Antichrist to invade Jerusalem. Daniel spoke of this, again back in Daniel 11, beginning of verse 44, "He will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many. He will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain." This is as Daniel prophesied again in Daniel 9:27. This is consistent with what the Lord Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24:15, and the apostle Paul, in Second Thessalonians two four. The Antichrist is going to invade the Temple Mount, put an end to all of their worship, and he is going to seat himself in the Holy of Holies, displaying himself as being God. The Scripture says, that is "the abomination of desolation." The temple in the land at that point, will be ritually defiled and many Jews will flee into the wilderness where God will protect them, where God will nourish them. And all of this will set into motion when Satan is thrown down out of heaven to earth.

Now let's go back to Revelation 12 verse 13. Notice the dragons pursuit of the woman. "And when the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman referring to Israel, who gave birth to the male child." "Persecuted" here, in the original language literally means to chase, or to hunt, to pursue with the intent, to do violence. And here Satan is depicted as this dragon monster, chasing a woman, Israel who gave birth to the male child, the Lord Jesus. And this is consistent with other Old Testament prophecies, especially Daniel's prophecy, of which the Lord referred to in his Olivet Discourse regarding this time, remember what Jesus said in Matthew 24, beginning in verse 15. "'Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken up through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, (let the reader understand), then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.'" This, by the way, is the region to the east of Jerusalem, the wilderness mountain regions. Daniel 11:41, again speaks of this, "But these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon." Goes on to say "'Whoever is on the housetop must not go down to get the things out that are in his house. Whoever is in the field must not run back to get his cloak. But woe to those who are pregnant. And to those who are nursing babies in those days! But pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath.'" You must understand that travel on Shabbat, on the Sabbath day, is a violation of the law and legalistic Jews would be furious and would try to impede travel. Jesus goes on to say in Matthew 24:15, as I've read earlier, "'For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would be saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.'" The scene, we know, is one of a surprise attack. Israel is not going to expect her ally, the Antichrist, and all that he commands, to suddenly come against them. After all, they've been promised peace and safety. And unlike any other city in the world, Jerusalem has already been besieged 27 times. And unless they're besieged again prior to this time, that will make 28. And this will be the final season of judgment upon the stubborn and stiff-necked people. And during the siege of Israel, of I should say of Jerusalem, we read that the Lord of hosts will strengthen Jewish soldiers Zechariah 12, verses five through nine, Micah 4:11 through chapter five and verse one. And according to Zechariah 14 and verse two, the Antichrist will be able to only recapture half of the city. That will probably be the eastern half of the city since later when the Lord returns according to Zechariah 14 four, the Mount of Olives will split into each side of the mountain moving north and south. And this will allow an East/West escape route for his remnant. They will cross the Kidron Valley directly through the Mount of Olives; an amazing thought, allowing them to join many others in the Judean wilderness who had been protected there since the mid tribulation flight.

I want you to notice the word "split," which translates the Hebrew word, "baqa." It's the same verb used in another magnificent split that allowed God's covenant people to flee to safety from another army pursuing them. When God "split" the Red Sea. In Exodus 14, we read it in verse 16, as well as 21. So some future day the Jews will read these texts I believe, and they will immediately understand the connection. It's interesting you think back to Egypt; Pharaoh was a type of the Antichrist, the Antichrist being the antitype. And even as God blocked the pursuit of Pharaoh's Egyptian charioteers at the Red Sea, once again, he's going to block the armies of the Antichrist in this great split. In fact, his armies will be prevented from fleeing north and south leaving them utterly vulnerable. In the Kidron Valley, which is also known as the Valley of Jehoshaphat, "Jehoshaphat," meaning "God will judge" and there they will be utterly destroyed.

So here in verse 13, we see Satan pursuing Israel through the Antichrist. Verse 14, "But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half the time, from the presence of the serpent." In other words, the last three and a half years of the tribulation. Notice the woman's flight here, Israel's flight, he uses the phrase, "the two wings of the great eagle." Now that was a familiar concept to the Jewish people. It would have been a familiar concept to John, it certainly has nothing to do with an airplane as some people want to assert. In fact, the Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv is 30 miles west of Jerusalem. That's going to be where the forces of the Antichrist are going to be kept; it has nothing to do with that. This phrase is in keeping with other terms and concepts of Israel's former deliverance from Egypt. Exodus 19, verse four, we read "You yourselves, have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagle's wings, and brought you to Myself." So once again, the Lord is going to miraculously deliver his people in ways that we are not told. And the imagery here also of wings, is emblematic of speed, and of great strength. We read this in other Old Testament passages. But it's ultimately a picture of divine protection. In fact, Moses' great song of deliverance speaks of this describing what happened to the Egyptian charioteers. Deuteronomy 32, verse nine, "'For the Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of a wilderness; He encircled him, He cared for him. He guarded him as the pupil of His eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest, that hovers over its young, He spread His wings and caught them, He carried them on His pinions.'" Again, Revelation 12:14 doesn't tell us how he does all of this, but it clearly will be through some miraculous intervention. And he will somehow recapitulate something similar to what he did in the splitting of the Red Sea. And this may well be another example of Daniel 12 one, when Michael, the great prince who stands over the people of Israel will arise, God will dispatch a division of his angelic forces, under the leadership of Michael.

But notice verse 14, again, "the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman so that she could fly into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent." So many of the Israeli remnant will be supernaturally transported into some region of the wilderness mountain area east of Jerusalem. And there, the Lord will once again care for his covenant people, nourishing them, feeding them perhaps manna, once again, as he did 3400 years earlier, in their desert wandering; assuming that this will happen in the near future, which we do not know.

And finally, the dragon redirects his animosity here in verse 15. "And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he might cause her to be swept away with the flood." This symbolizes this invading force that will just sweep upon the vulnerable. But notice the Lord's glorious protection, verse 16, "But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth." Now, we can't be sure, but when we look at the context and the symbolism of the Earth, swallowing up this approaching hoard, it seems to indicate that God is going to use a massive earthquake to accomplish this eradication of the enemy, just as he used the waters of the Red Sea to destroy the Egyptian charioteers. In fact, in Exodus 15:12, Moses said, "'You stretched out your right hand, the earth swallowed them.'"

So here we learn that Satan's forces, under the rule of the Antichrist, are going to meet a similar fate. And because he is once again prevented from carrying out his nefarious scheme, he redirects his animosity towards another group, verse 17. "So the dragon was enraged with the woman and went off to make war with the rest of her children, who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus." Here we see that who he goes after now are believers out of Israel. The rest of the children, literally the seed. This will include Jews who will remain under siege in Jerusalem, but also the 144,000 Jewish evangelists that continue to fearlessly preach the gospel, as well as all believers who, I love this "keep the commandments of God, and hold to the testimony of Jesus." By the way, grammatically, the two phrases "the commandments of God" and "the testimony of Jesus," are both what we call "subjective." Meaning they can be translated "the commandments which God gave," and "the testimony which Jesus bore, the truth that he taught." So this is more than just a testimony about Jesus dear friends. What is being described here are the divine truths that were revealed and taught in the New Testament. So Satan will go after those who preach and teach the New Testament. And this will include what I'm teaching today, from the "Apokalypsis lesou Christos," the revealing of Jesus Christ, the book of Revelation, that reveals Satan's defeat and Messiah's triumph. If you think this is politically incorrect, now, just think what it will be like in those days. And I believe with all my heart that there will be people in those days, who will turn and hear what I have said today and other preachers have said today, or who've taught on these things, and will understand more clearly what the Word of God has revealed, and what a comfort that will be to them.

Dear friends, I hope as you read these things and study these things, your heart will be filled with praise and adoration for our sovereign God. Isn't it great, especially given all of the insanity that's all around us, isn't it great to know that we serve a holy and a sovereign God that has redeemed us by the blood of the Lamb and His promise to deliver us, ultimately, from all of these things, and that one day, one day, people will bow before my Savior and my king? And they will do that, either in terror or in triumph. And I pray that it will be triumph for each of you. If you don't know Christ, dear friends, you need to get serious about the tragedy of your own sin and come to God in saving faith and ask him to save you. And for the rest of us, let's just pray that Jesus will come soon. Right? Amen.

Father, thank you for these eternal truths. While there are many things we don't fully understand, and, and we can't be dogmatic about a lot of things, nevertheless, we have your word. And then when we look at the normal meaning of language, we can begin to piece together some sense of what you're up to, and what will happen. But Lord, it's not all of the details that matters. It's the big picture that matters and the big picture is that you are the Holy God Of Israel, The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and that we as Gentiles have been grafted into the root of Abrahamic blessing, that covenantal blessing, in such a way as to make us part of the family of the redeemed the church. Lord, we celebrate all of this. And we thank you that we can find such comfort from your Word, especially in these dark and chaotic days, knowing that you have a plan and you are working it perfectly, to the praise of your glory, as well as for our eternal good. So we thank you and we give you praise in Jesus name. Amen.

We return this morning to our study of Daniel. So if you will take your Bible and turn there to Daniel chapter 11, the amazing book in the Bible, and even this chapter, which is filled with some 135 prophecies that have already been fulfilled literally, which naturally leads us to believe the rest will as well. And this morning, we're going to look at the last verses of this chapter, verses 36 through 45. Now to prepare your hearts, let me just remind you, folks, even as invasive briars grow naturally upon the face of the earth, the insidious thorns and weeds of sin grow naturally in our hearts. And the flowers and fruits of righteousness, therefore, need to be cultivated, they need to be nurtured if we are to enjoy them. And the divine gardener gives us all of the resources, we need to do just that. And he uses primarily his Word and his Spirit. So I trust you're willing to allow the Word to do its work in your heart today, and nourish you with its living water. And how sad to see fruitless trees withering in a church, or people that claim to be Christians bearing bad fruit, which is a certain indication that they were never planted by God. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew seven, "'A good tree cannot produce bad fruit. Nor can a bad tree produce good fruit, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then you will know them by their fruits.'" Fruits, referring to the fruits of genuine repentance that manifests Christ-like obedience and holy living. So with this, we focus our attention on the Word of God, which is also likened to mother's milk, right? Remember what Peter said, we are to be like "newborn babies and long for the pure milk of the word," First, Peter two two. Why, why should we do that? "So that by it you may grow and respect to salvation, if you have tasted of the kindness of the Lord," if you have truly been born again. And if you haven't, then you're going to be terribly bored here today, you will have no appetite for the Word of God. And unless you repent, you will perish in your sins. So will you humble yourself, and trust in Christ and those of us who know and love him, let's open up our hearts to his words.

So we returned to Daniel 11. Remember, this is where Daniel once again presents the Antichrist in this fourth and final revelation, prophetic revelation, which he has also done in the three preceding revelations that he received. And may I remind you that what we are examining here has nothing to do with Antiochus Epiphanes, he was the type that pointed to the antitype, who is the antichrist that is to come. And you may recall our little outline that we began several weeks ago when I was with you the last time. We first of all looked at the final willful king, the Antichrist in verse 36. And then secondly, the final world religion, verses 37 through nine and then today we will look at the final military conquests of the Antichrist. Let me give you a little review, in terms of the final willful king in verse 36. Remember, there we read, "Then the king," the Antichrist, "will do as he pleases and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done." And of course, in chapter 12, verse one, we have some helpful insights into when this will occur, namely, a time it says "of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time; and at that time your people, everyone who is found written in the book, will be rescued." So this is pointing to the time of the Great Tribulation, the prekingdom judgments before Christ returns. And as we see there in verse one of chapter 12, the rule of the Antichrist will encompass the most severe persecution in the history of Israel, and ultimately the world. Again, verse 36, "and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done." And what is it that was decreed? Well, Daniel 9:24, we read "70 weeks" literally 70 sevens, or 70 times 70 years; 490 years "have been decreed," which means they have been decided, they have been determined "for your people and your holy city." So God has deliberately set aside 490 years in redemptive history to accomplish his purposes in delivering his covenant people Israel, their capital, city, Jerusalem, all of which is consistent with Daniel's prayer. Obviously, these things did not happen at His first coming.

And this brings us to the second division of that prophecy, which is in verse 25, where God's angelic messenger gives us the historical context. He says in verse 25, "So you are to know and discern from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and 62 weeks; it will be built again with plaza and moat, even in times of distress." Remember, there are two divisions there. Let me remind you of them so that you get the context of all that's happening here. The first division is seven weeks or seven times 7;49 years. And then the second division 62 weeks; 62 sevens is 434 years. And that means that something special occurred 49 years after the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. And what is it that occurred at that time? Well, that was the period of Ezra and Nehemiah, when they combined their efforts to establish a working capital city of Judah, it took almost a whole generation. And then the 62 weeks or the 434 years later, Messiah the Prince comes on the scene. And we know that that happened in the triumphal entry on nine of Nissan in AD 30. So 49 plus 434 equals 483. 483 years have been completed. But the final seven years have not. The starting point or the terminus a quo of this 490 years of Gentile domination and judgment upon Israel was 445 BC, when Artexerxes gave the decree to Nehemiah to return and rebuild the city. We read about that in Nehemiah chapter two. Now remember, there is an extensive time gap here between the first 69 weeks, in other words, the first 483 years and the final 70th week. And that's not at all uncommon in Bible prophecy. It's also important to remember that ultimately over the course of these 490 years of judgment, Daniel 9:24 reveals six objectives that God will accomplish during that time. First of all, he says to "finish the transgression." In other words, the violation of his law they revolted against his authority. And specifically, this refers to Israel's unrelenting and unrestrained rebellions against God. And then secondly, "to make an end of sin," which is a more general term of just dealing with all of the wrongs, to seal it up so it will be concealed to judge it with finality. And then thirdly, "to make atonement for iniquity." "Kaphar" in Hebrew, it carries the idea of a covering by means of an expiatory sacrifice. "To make a covering" is what it means, in other words, to provide a moral or a legal repayment for a fault or injury. And that's what happened when Christ went to the cross on our behalf. And also he says, "to bring in everlasting righteousness," also "to seal up vision and prophecy," which literally means to hide from view and demonstrate that its functions are over. In other words, visions, revelation, they're over. Prophecy, the message of the prophets, it's over. And finally "to anoint the most holy place," to anoint means to officially inaugurate into public ministry the most holy place, literally the Holy of Holies, the millennial temple.

And then in Daniel 9:27, he goes on to describe what will happen during that final week of years, that 70th week that we are anticipating. "And he," referring to the Antichrist, "will make a firm covenant with the many for one week." So in other words, a great deceiver will lure Israel into a protective agreement called "a firm covenant." "But in the middle of the week, he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until the destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate." So in the middle of the week, in other words, three and a half years in, this satanically, empowered and possessed antichrist will seize the temple. He will betray the Jews, demand to be worshipped, even as his four runner, Antiochus Epiphanes. This is the one pictured in Revelation 13 verses one and verse five, "the beast coming up out of the sea," given quote, "a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies and authority to act for 42 months was given to him," referring to the last half of the seven years of Daniel's 70th week.

Now back again to Daniel 11:36, the end of the verse it says, "he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done." And of course, what was decreed, was the 490 years of judgment upon Israel, leading up to the return of the Messiah in the establishment of his long-awaited kingdom. So this vile blasphemous ruler will prosper until that time, as long as a sovereign God has decreed. I hope you find that as comforting as I do. To know that ultimately, he is the one in control. And then secondly, by way of review, very briefly, the final world religion beginning in verse 37, which is ultimately going to be the worship of the Antichrist, says "he will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all. But instead, he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him with gold, silver, and costly stones and treasures. He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god, he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him, he will cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out land for a price." I will not go over all that we learned the last time, but if you want to know the details of that, you can go back and listen.

This brings us to our text today. The final point, referring to the final military conquests, and this is truly, truly fascinating. Let me read the text beginning of verse 40. "At the end time, the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships." Now, to understand this, what we need to do is remember the designations of the south and the north in earlier passages, and of course, that referred to the Ptolemaic and the Seleucid rulers respectively. So it's fair to assume that these regions in the future will bear some similarity. You will recall that the South went to Ptolemy, General Ptolemy. And so the Ptolemaic power of Egypt is probably in view here. Ptolemy was one of the generals of Alexander the Great. And I might add that today, Egypt's military power is ranked number 12 out of 140 nations in the world. So it is a very formidable power. It is the most powerful country in the League of Arab States, a regional organization, which consists of 22 Arab nations in the Middle East. Which, by the way, includes Syria and Lebanon, that we see in the news all the time, and also includes nation states in Northern Africa, on the Horn of Africa. So I think it's fair to see Egypt as representative of the Arab nations that will, according to this prophecy, collide with the Antichrist. This quote, "king who will do as he pleases," according to 11:36, the one "who will do as he pleases and exalt and magnify himself above every god," which by the way, would include Allah. And "will speak monstrous things against the God of gods." So he will one day mock the god of Islam, the god of Judaism and the God of Christianity. You can imagine how people will react to that. Notice also in verse 40, the king of the South will apparently form a coalition against the expansionist campaign of the Antichrist, with it says, the king of the North, who "will storm against him with chariots, horsemen, many ships." That, by the way, is just representative of have their counterparts in modern warfare, which would have been unheard of in Daniel's day.

Now, what about the king of the North? Well, in earlier passages, we know that this referred to Syria, especially as it related to Antiochus Epiphanes, who ruled the Seleucid Empire at that time. And remember, Syria and Babylon originally went to general Seleucus. However, Syria today doesn't even remotely qualify as some kind of military powerhouse comparable to the ancient Seleucid dynasty. And it is certainly not a realistic threat that could come against the revived Roman Empire, ruled by the Antichrist. So given all of this, and given other passages of Scripture, I think the most reasonable designation of this future king of the North is Russia. Moscow being directly north of Jerusalem. Now, while I cannot be certain, I will also argue at some level that this prophecy pertains to the battles associated with Ezekiel chapter 38, and 39, the prophecy of Gog and Magog and the future invasion of Israel, that I think may well occur prior to the tribulation. Now, some of these things that I'm going to say are going to be speculative on my part. Some of my argumentation has holes in the bucket. But I think my bucket has less holes than some of the other buckets. And I'm not going to explain all of the buckets, I'm just going to show you my bucket, okay? And we're not starting a new denomination, I can't be dogmatic on these things. But I think I will give you an exegetically defensible, tentative hypothesis of what this battle may be all about. No one can be dogmatic about any of this, including the timing. By the way, the Lord knows this and he's deliberately vague about many of these things. You know, if we knew exactly who and when these things were going to happen, you know, that we would all react in ways that would make fools out of ourselves. And so what's important is not who and when these things take place, but the certainty that they will take place, and that God is in charge, and he will judge as he has promised.

Now, concerning Ezekiel 38, and 39, and I read chapter 39, few minutes ago, there are reasonable arguments that those battles are referring, or that that battle refers to the time the Battle of Armageddon in Revelation 16. Others say that it will happen at the end of the millennium. And you can read about that, for example, in Revelation 20, verses seven through nine, but we can't be certain. And I believe that there are just too many disparities in the description of these events to justify those positions. And again, as I say, all positions have holes in the bucket, as does mine. But let me give you why I think this may happen before the tribulation. One of the main reasons is that this will provide the necessary time for Israel to bury the dead and burn the weapons according to Ezekiel 39, nine. Something they would not have time to do, or the ability to do, during the future prekingdom judgments of the tribulation that are going to be horrific. And I believe you will agree that the world stage is set for these things to happen; we're seeing this right before our eyes today. I mean, think about it. It's not at all difficult to imagine a 10 member, NATO Confederacy, European Confederacy, a revived Roman Empire being led by some maniacal fiend that would be a threat to Russia and to the Arab nations. Remember, while Israel is not a member of NATO today, it is one of his staunchest allies in the Middle East. Russia's fear of NATO is what's driving Putin's military buildup on the border of Ukraine right now as we speak. So it's not at all difficult to imagine a coalition of southern and northern forces coming against the forces of a NATO Alliance ruled by some megalomaniac. And right now, we know that Russia and China and Iran and North Korea are testing the resolve of a pathetically weak and incompetent president and administration. And an ultra woke administration, even an ultra woke military, that are more concerned about LGBTQ inclusion and critical race theory than keeping us safe.

Now, hold your finger on Daniel nine, I mean, Daniel 11, for just a moment, I want to take you to Ezekiel for just a few minutes. Think carefully with me. Let me give you a little, little context here. In Ezekiel, chapter 37 you have the vision of the valley of the dry bones depicting a national resurrection of Israel regathering back into the land, where eventually at His second coming, the Lord promises in verse 14, "I will put my Spirit within you and you will come to life and I will place you on your land." Verse 24, "My servant David will be king over them and they will have one shepherd;" my servant David, referring to the Messiah, David's descendant, it could not be the David of the Bible, he's been dead by now 400 years. In verse 26, he promises to ultimately fulfil the Abrahamic and Davidic and new covenants. As together, he will establish his millennial kingdom. In verse 26, we read, "'I will set My sanctuary in their midst forever, My dwelling place also will be with them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. And the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel, when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.'" Obviously, this hasn't happened, but it will. So that's Ezekiel 37. Go to Ezekiel 38. He gives the detailed prophecy of a future invasion before all this happens. And I believe that this may well be what is being described here in Daniel 11:40, but I can't be dogmatic. And then in Ezekiel 39 that we read a little bit ago, we are given a description of Gods coming to the aid of Israel, destroying all of her enemies, and a description of the aftermath and ultimate restoration into their land during the millennium. Then in chapters 40 through 48. You have a detailed description of the millennial temple and so forth. So sandwiched in between, catch this now, sandwiched in between Israel's regathering and promised spiritual resurrection in chapter 37, and the millennial temple in chapters 40 through 48 is this invasion that will occur that’s detailed in chapters 38 and 39, telling us that this battle is somehow linked to the last day's temple. I will not take you to Ezekiel 38-- let me just review a few things. In verses two through six there's a prophecy of Maygog ruled by God the prince of Rosh, which is reference to the ancient land of the Scythians easily identified as the former Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. And GOG, there we read, allies with his allies, including Meshech and Tubal, which are territories of Turkey. And Persia, which is Iran. Kush and Ethiopia, which is Sudan. Put, which is Libya. Gomer, Germany. Beth-togarmah which is Turkey, and may also include Azerbaijan and Armenia. And all of these nations today have various military and economic alliances with Russia, who has historically supplied them with arms. And of these nations today are Islamic nations. Including six of the former Soviet republics to the north of Israel. And we all know that these people have a violent hatred of the nation of Israel. Furthermore, it is no secret that all of these nations want to defeat the United States, Israel's greatest ally and protector.

And Ezekial specifically tells us that one day they are going to form this Confederacy and invade Israel. You might say, well, what's the big deal with Israel? Why would they want to invade Israel? Well, first of all, let me just give you a few thoughts here. First of all, Satan is ultimately the god of Islam. And he has always been opposed to God's covenant people, the Jews. He wants to prevent the Messiah from returning and so forth. Secondly, the Muslims and other non Muslim Arabs have been, and continue to be, utterly humiliated by Israel stunning military victories over them. It makes Allah look pretty weak and pathetic. It even calls into question his existence. They also believe that the land of Israel belongs to them because they are the descendants of Abraham through Ishmael. But thirdly, the Muslims in the Arab world are insanely jealous of how Israel is one of the most prosperous nations in the world. Despite its tiny size, it's considered the Silicon Valley of the Middle East. And militarily, it is considered to have one of the most powerful militaries in the world. I checked; right now it has the third most powerful air force in the world, United States, number one, Russia, number two; Israel, number three. It's fascinating. There are 1.3 billion Muslims in the world and only about 15 million Jews. In fact, there are more people in the state of Florida than there are Jews in the whole world. Jews constitute 2.5% or 2.5 tenths of 1% of the world's population, all right? Yet the Muslims insist that the Jews are trying to dominate and take over the world. But a fourth reason why they would want to come upon Israel and I think the most powerful motivation for the Islamic world is that, and even the non Muslim countries, is their ambition for global dominance. They believe that they are to follow the steps of Mohammed and conquer the world for Allah. He alone is to be the authority. And everyone that does not obey him is to be put to death. They must obey his law. And the primary tool for this religious expansionism is jihad, a holy war, that purges and converts by the edge of the sword. Worse yet, we know that mainstream Shiite Muslims believe in the return of a messiah-like figure called the 12th Imam. And his coming can be hastened through apocalyptic chaos and violence perpetrated upon Christians and Jews. So when you have this kind of a mindset, you can begin to see why they would want to come down upon Israel.

Now Russia's motivation is very different. Russia is also a very proud nation right now. She is a wounded bear that looks upon Israel with envy. Her motivation is not theological, but political. And they need the help of the Muslim world to defeat the United States and NATO and Israel. Again, we're all kind of a part of the same group, therefore, they must align themselves with the Muslims and Arabs of the world. And this also would allow them to have access to the vast oil reserves their Arab allies currently have. But it would also help them if they had Israel, to tap into the magnificent resources in the land of Israel; natural resources crucial for their survival and prosperity, including water and chemicals in the Dead Sea, and also gain access to Israel's cutting edge technology and their advances, their military advances, and their vast arsenal of nuclear weapons. No doubt these factors pertaining to the Arab Islamic world and Russia, help explain Ezekial's prophecy where God says that He will, quote, "put hooks into their jaws," chapter 38 verse four, and bring them down upon Israel. Verse 13, "to plunder, to carry away silver and gold, and to take away cattle and goods to capture great spoil." I might add that right now a preemptive airstrike by Israel on Iran's nuclear program could set all of this into motion very, very quickly. So Ezekial's prophecy describes this alliance of nations that will swoop down on Israel from the North. Chapter 38 and verse eight, and several other passages, says you're going to sweep down to the "mountains of Israel," also a region of "unwalled villages," chapter 38, verse 11. Which is currently true of Northern Israel, I've been there on multiple occasions. And these invaders will according to chapter 38, verse six and verse 15, come out of the "remote parts of the North." But according to 39 Chapter, verse four, God will defeat them on the "mountains of Israel." And I believe it's possible for these things to occur before the tribulation actually begins with all of the elements describing Israel in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39, already in place.

I might add another note. And I've talked with some of the Jewish people in Jerusalem about this. Orthodox Jews in the current temple movement, in Israel, interpret as equal in this very way. They are convinced that the war of Gog and Magog will be the next great war that Israel will fight. And it will ultimately be fought over control of Jerusalem, and the Temple Mount, primarily. But all of the rest of the resources of Israel as well. And ultimately think this, they think, that this will be the final battle described in Zechariah 12 through 14. But I might add, just parenthetically, before Israel receives the restoration temple, promised in Ezekiel 37, it must go through the final purging of Daniel's 70th week. Now, let's just speculate here for a moment. Imagine the clout Israel wouldn't suddenly have if all of these things actually happen. If these armies are destroyed, on the mountains of Israel, the whole world would stand in absolute amazement at what was obviously supernatural. And when you read how God destroys them with earthquakes, and pestilences, and then fighting amongst themselves, you see that obviously God did this. No nation would dare to go against them. And Israel at that point, as the text says, at least the vast majority of them, will know that it was YAWEH that did this. Imagine how the seven month burial of the dead and the seven year burning of the weapons of the defeated armies would be a witness to all of the nations. This burning could begin three and a half years before the Antichrist signs the covenant with the Jews, which by the way, will technically trigger the tribulation, the Daniel's 70th week. And they would then burn into the middle of the tribulation, that time when the Antichrist would then take over and want to be called God. Imagine how even the secular Jews in Israel today, who really couldn't care less right now about the building of the temple and all of those things, and infuriating the Muslim world, imagine how they would be, they would suddenly realize, "let's join in with Orthodox Jews because God did this." And with most of the Muslim world defeated and in shock, there would be no one to stop Israel. Israel would become an oasis in the world, an oasis of peace in the world that will gradually begin to disintegrate into wars and famines and natural disasters that are described in the seal judgments in Revelation six. And then add to all of this suddenly the church being snatched away. The Rapture of the Church, sometime around this great battle, either before or during or after, the church is going to be translated into heaven. Imagine the further chaos and confusion that would occur in the world. And think what this would do.

With the unprecedented carnage on the mountains of Israel. With a bewildered and defeated Islamic world, with a Russia that is utterly neutered. And then with the sudden disappearance of millions of Christians, the world would be sent into a tailspin of confusion. The world's economy would immediately fail. Every government would be in a state of shock. Every leader with nuclear capability would have his finger on the trigger, prepared for further hostilities in the world, would be craving, craving, for security, for peace. What a perfect storm for the first seal of judgment in Revelation six to be unleashed upon the world, and what's that first seal? What is the first thing that's going to happen?

Let me read it to you, Revelation six, beginning in verse one. "Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with the voice of thunder, 'Come.' I looked, and behold, a white horse and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer." This first seal describes the pseudo peace that will lull the world, including Israel, into a false sense of security, and a vision of utopia; the calm before the storm, that will be offered to them by the Antichrist. This would be the perfect time for this world leader to come onto the scene and for people to follow Him. To do all that he asks, wanting all that he will promise. I mean, we've seen people do that. I remember, in the days of Barack Obama. I mean people just thought that, my, this is, you know, this is the kingdom, you know. Daniel 7:23, through 24 describes this time when it it will be at the age of a one world government, it will eventually splinter into 10 governments, a new world. Alliances will occur. At that time, it would be probably far more powerful than NATO and the UN combined. And this 10 nation confederacy will then thrive under the leadership of the Antichrist, until the middle of the tribulation.

At first, the Antichrist, we know according to prophecy, will represent the nations. He will make concessions to Israel. I mean, after all, look what God has done for them, this astonishing defeat of the Russian Arab Alliance and then he will unite the rest of the world, primarily the Europeans and an alliance with Israel. Give them a covenant of protection, a covenant of commerce and peace. And oh, here's the new world order. But it will be nothing more than a ploy, and preparation for his fiendish, satanically inspired plan; his goal of Jewish genocide in establishing himself as God. Daniel 9:27.

So back to verse 40. "At the end time, the king of the south will collide with him and the King of the North will storm against him, with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships. And he," referring to the Antichrist, who is the subject of this passage, "will enter countries, overflow them and pass through." The original language carries the idea of an overflowing river, like a flooding river. He will pass through this defeated North/South alliance in that realm in Israel. And again, remember today Israel is one of the key allies of NATO, the United States and an alliance of nations that will most likely be part of that Roman Revived Roman Empire ruled by the Antichrist. And although God will do the destruction of this North/South coalition that will come against Israel, that attack would have been considered, or probably will be considered an affront to the Antichrist who will claim the victory.

Verse 41, "He will also enter the Beautiful Land," referring to the land of Israel, that land that he will ultimately want for himself, "and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon. By the way, the counterparts of these ancient lands in the southeast of Palestine today is Jordan.

Verse 42, "Then he will stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape." So Egypt and her Arab allies will be easy targets because they basically have no more military. They're defeated on the mountains of northern Israel. So he will head south to occupy these countries. Verse 43, "But he will gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver, and over all the precious things of Egypt; and Libyans and Ethiopians will follow at his heels." That's a reference to the idea of them readily and eagerly capitulating to all of his demands, and his authority and becoming part of his vast and growing empire. "But rumors from the East and from the North will disturb him, and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many." This is likely a reference to a new alliance that will come out of the North and may even include some of the Jews. We don't know, but probably out of the East. This is a reference to the Chinese who will see his growing domination in the world as a threat to their power. So this satanically empowered Antichrist it says "will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many." Remember Satan is the one that is empowering him and he will not be defeated until the Lord defeats him.

Verse 45, "He will pitch his tents and his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain." The ancients would have understood this. Whenever a conquering general would come into a land he would put up his main tent in the middle of a place and then his attendants would have their tents around them and it would be a way of symbolizing his utter domination of that region. And that's what is going to happen one day. He will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion, which could be translated, he shall plant the tents of his palace, between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain. The Holy Mountain is Mount Zion, where the temple will be erected, and the seas would be the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea. So in other words, they're in the region of Jerusalem.

So verse 46, again, "He will pitch his tents and his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain," Mount Zion, where the new newly erected temple will stand. But notice this last phrase, "yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him." Indeed, dear friends, this satanically empowered, counterfeit ruler, a counterfeit of the Lord Jesus, along with his religious helper, the false prophet, and all of his forces are going to be defeated in the Battle of Armageddon. We know that Revelation 19, that will happen in the valley of Jehoshaphat. Let me read to you what Joel has to say in his prophecy. Chapter Three, beginning of verse two, he says, "I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat." Jehoshaphat, by the way, means "Yahweh judges." Yahweh judges. "I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Then I will enter into judgment with them there on behalf of My people, and My inheritance, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; and they have divided up My land." Drop down to verse 12, "Let the nations be aroused and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat. For there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full. The vats overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness. The Lord roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth tremble. But the Lord is a refuge for his people, and a stronghold to the sons of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, My Holy Mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will pass through it no more."

Dear friends, we don't know the time of these things. But we do know the results. Our God reigns, he rules. And he is coming to judge the nations of the world and all those who reject his command to repent and believe and place their faith in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I hope and I pray that you are among the ranks of the redeemed. Because if you're not, one day you will meet the Lord Jesus Christ in the fullness of his wrath. Most today, scoff and mock at God's prophetic word, but a day is coming when all of the scoffing and all of the mocking will cease. The day is coming when according to Philippians, two beginning of verse 10, "at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth." He goes on to say that "every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Oh, how I pray, that that will be your experience one day. Let's pray together.

Father, thank You for the eternal truths of your word. While we cannot understand in any way, the fullness of all that you have said, what we can grasp is that you are a sovereign God, a holy God that will indeed judge sin. And we thank you that despite the horrors of your judgment, and the unrelenting terror, of an eternal hell, we thank you that you have given us grace in the Gospel. That you have provided a way for us to be delivered from the wrath to come through faith in Christ. And I plead with you that there will be a great outpouring of your spirit among sinners today. Let it begin here at Calvary Bible Church and in our community. But Lord may have spread throughout the world that many might be saved to the praise of your glory. For its in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.

We returned this morning to our study of the book of Daniel. And it is not only the passion of my heart, but my most solemn responsibility to make sure that I teach this so that you understand it. This is the Word of God to us. And it is very important that we know what he has to say. So if you will turn to Daniel chapter 11, we will be looking at several of the verses between verses 36 and 45, under the heading "The Willful King, the Antichrist." And as you will see, this will just be part one. Now, today, we move beyond the 135 fulfilled prophecies in Daniel 11, verses two through 35. We're moving beyond that, to events that have never been fulfilled historically; descriptions where there is no specific correspondence in history. So this morning, we examine this, and we will see that it has great relevance even for us today, because it is pointing to things beyond where we live now. But where we are headed? Many asked me, Pastor, where do you think all of this chaos in the world is headed? All of the insanity and ungodliness in our country? Where is all of this going? The false narrative of critical race theory and the militant aggression of the woke cult that has now invaded evangelicalism, the LGBTQ mafia, and the transgender insanity? Where is all of this going? The COVID fear mongering and the experimental vaccine mandate, and the passports that now, I don't know how many 1000s of truckers and people are in Canada, I noticed that, in my old stomping grounds over in British Columbia, there's a huge group of people, even there in Victoria, where is all of this going? Of course, it's moving towards a social credit score, I hope you realize that. That's ultimately what the elites want, just like China, so that they can control us. We've got runaway inflation, open borders, the slaughter of the unborn, totalitarian politicians that are not only incompetent and immoral, but in many ways they're delusional. And half of the country votes for these people. Where is all of this going? Well, according to Scripture, the short answer is God is allowing Satan to prepare the world for the rule of the Antichrist, where there will be a one world government a one world ruler, a one world economy, and a one world religion. The dream of every social warrior, social justice warrior--globalism, a socialistic utopia, but by the way, one that cannot coexist with biblical Christianity. False Christianity, yes, that'll be part of it, but not biblical Christianity. As I stated in my book, "Why America hates Biblical Christianity," the vast majority of Americans in both political parties live for this world. Christians live for heaven. Their priority is the pursuit of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Ours is the glory of God. They live for this life only, we live for eternity. They set their affections on the things of the earth, we set our affections on the things above. They lay up treasures on earth, we lay up treasures in heaven. They consider this world their home, we consider ourselves strangers in it. They obsess over preserving the planet, we believe God will destroy it and recreate it. They obey the ever changing morality of a sin cursed culture, we obey the never changing laws of an infinitely Holy God. They believe man can achieve utopia on Earth, we believe God alone can bring in everlasting righteousness, peace and prosperity. Can there be any greater disparities and worldviews than these few examples? I think not. Dear friends, our hope is in Christ, the King of kings and the Lord of lords who will one day rule over a new heaven and a new earth. The one who is coming for us. One day the curse will be lifted and sin, Satan and death, that was defeated at the cross, will be removed forever. And everyone who has been washed in the blood of the Lamb will see his face and we will reign with him forever. That is the hope of the believer. These eschatological promises shape everything we do, at least they should. And if they don't for you, there's something terribly wrong with your faith. Something terribly wrong with your understanding of Scripture. We live in light of eternity, not for this life only; the certainties of our salvation, and heavenly destinies cause us to say with the Apostle John, "Come, Lord Jesus." Now, remember, the book of Daniel is to the Old Testament, what the book of the Revelation is, to the New Testament. In fact, Daniel is the key to interpreting the Olivet Discourse that Jesus gave us, for example, in Matthew 24. Remember, there he said, in verse 15, "'When you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.'" Later on in verse 21, "'For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved, but for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.'" There are obvious parallels between Daniel's prophecies and many New Testament prophecies. When John says in First John two 18, "You heard that the Antichrist is coming?" Indeed, they had heard that but the ultimate and final antichrist, the man of lawlessness, will one day be allowed to reign just before Christ returns. Paul speaks of this in Second Thessalonians two beginning of verse three, he says, "Let no one in any way deceive you for it will not come," referring to the day of the Lord, the final period of divine judgment, "unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God displaying himself as being God." This is referring to the abomination of desolation recorded in Daniel nine. Paul goes on to say, "Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things, and you know what he restrains him now so that in his time he will be revealed? For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work. Only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth, and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming." And there Paul is merely rehearsing what Daniel says that no human agency will destroy the AntiChrist, but the Lord Jesus Christ will bring it into his life "by the appearance of His coming." Paul went on to say, "that is the one who's coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason, God will send upon them a diluting influence, so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness."

So throughout Scripture we see Daniel's influence. In fact, Daniel's prophecies provide the foundation for the chronological structure, and much of the symbolism of Revelation chapter six through nine. Through Daniel's prophecy, we see God revealing the successive stages of Gentile domination throughout the ages. And that will continue until Messiah returns in power and great glory as King of kings and Lord of lords. When he judges the nations, when he defeats them, when he establishes His glorious Millennial Kingdom is universal reign upon this earth, that day, in which he will fulfill all of the physical as well as spiritual covenant promises to a regenerated Israel, that day, in which we too shall reign with Him. Now, it's important for me to remind you from time to time of the big picture of Daniel, sometimes, especially when you're in Bible prophecy, it can feel like you're an aborigine and you have never seen a car and some guys up there telling you all about a transmission. All right? So we need to come back and say, "let me tell you what a car is." In Chapters one through seven, the inspired Prophet reveals God's sovereign rule over history over all of the nations and those who lead them. In fact, in Daniel chapter two, and Daniel seven, he reveals how God will unexpectedly and astonishingly establish his kingdom, after the utter ruin of four literal, successive Gentile Empires, that being Babel in middle Persia, Greece, and Rome, and then a revived Roman Empire, at the end of the age ruled by the Antichrist. And just as those four ancient kingdoms were literal kingdoms, so too the revived Roman kingdom will be real; a real geographical and political kingdom, as well as the Messiah messianic kingdom that will come and destroy it and replace it. Then in chapters eight through 12, God reveals His sovereign rule over Israel's future. And that, of course, is where we've been over the last several months. There, he unveils his kingdom promises both during and after Gentile domination in the world, what is called the times of the Gentiles. And I also want to remind you that the last seven chapters of Deuteronomy, chapters 28, through 34, provide, as David Larson says, quote, "The Matrix out of which the great prophecies of the Old Testament regarding Israel emerge." In other words, if you want to get a blueprint of what God sees overall, for his covenant people, this would be it. I have given you a handout on this before I'll not repeat all of it. But suffice it to say that in chapters 26, and 28 of Deuteronomy, we see the conditions of blessing that would follow obedience. And then chapter 31 speaks of the coming apostasy. Again, in chapter 28, we read about the affliction that God will bring upon Israel while still in the land because of her apostasy. In chapter 28, we read about how Israel will be taken captive. In chapters 27 and 32, we read how the enemies of Israel will possess her land for a time. Also, in Deuteronomy 28 and 29, we read how the land itself will remain desolate. Deuteronomy 28 and 32 we read how Israel will be scattered among the nations and then in chapter 28, though punished, Israel will not be destroyed if she repents. And also in chapter 28, as well as chapter 30, we read how Israel will repent one day in her tribulation. And finally in chapter 30, verses three through 10, we read how Israel will be gathered from the nations and brought back to her divinely given land. And we see all of this unveiled in Bible prophecy. Much of it has been fulfilled literally to date. But the rest will follow. And we must also remember that the Spirit of God inspired Daniel to write this magnificent book to encourage God's people, his kinsmen, those that were in exile in Babylonian exile, to encourage them throughout their weary sojourn even beyond the days of Babylon. And here we also witnessed the miracle of divine providence that's orchestrating all of the events of world history to accomplish his ultimate purposes. And that is to exalt our Savior and King and to redeem all whom the Father has given him. According to Revelation seven beginning in verse nine, this will include, "a great multitude which no one could count from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice saying, 'Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.'"

Now, a few technical things, but this is very important, otherwise, I wouldn't waste your time with them. All right? So bear with me. Before we examine the text, you must understand that there is a stark contrast between the prophecies pertaining to Antiochus Epiphanes in verses 21 through 35 and that of the king who according to verse 36, will do as he pleases, and who will exalt and magnify himself above every god. You see, neither Antiochus Epiphanes, or even Herod the Great, ever sought to exalt and magnify himself above every god. In fact, despite the 135 stunning and precise prophetic fulfillments concerning the Persian and Grecian empires, revealed in chapter 11, two through 35, the events and the descriptions that are being revealed in verses 36 through 45, have no specific correspondence to history, despite many tortured attempts to prove otherwise. And we see two phrases in verse 35 that really serve as markers of this transition from that which has been fulfilled, to that which is yet future and unfulfilled.

Notice verse 35. We read, "Some of those who have insight will fall, in order to refine, purge and make them pure, until the end time." In other words, the persecution of the saints will continue until Christ returns and that's referred to as the end time. Now, to be sure, this would include the era of Antiochus Epiphanes, but his tyrannical rule of horror could not be called the end time. There was no climactic end time or an age of his of persecution against Israel, that ceased with the death of Antiochus Epiphanes. It's just simply not there. His reign merely prefigured such a time, the age detailed in Daniel 70th week, the time of the tribulation, the great judgments, the pre kingdom judgments. The next phrase in verse 35, only strengthens this transition when the Prophet states "because it is still to come at the appointed time," referring to the events pertaining to the person and the work of the Antichrist that's going to be described now in verses 36 through 45. The coming willful king, of whom, now catch this, Antiocus Epiphanes was merely a type. He just foreshadowed the Antichrist. And as we will see, these descriptions will parallel other descriptions of the Antichrist given elsewhere in Scripture.

Moreover, to say as some do that verses 36 through 45, is a further historic and prophetic account, fulfilled in Antiochus Epiphanes makes this whole section of scripture beg for relevance. Here's what I mean. Why would the policies of this person be introduced for the first time and reviewed in detail? If this were a reference to Antiochus? Whose person and policies and detailed life history have already been given, that would be a non sequitur. As far as the Jews were concerned, no further treatment of Antiochus is necessary because he's dead and gone. Furthermore, Antiochus was never introduced in the preceding verses as, quote, "The king," the form that we see in verse 36, using the definite article, "the king." Not even his predecessors were ever referred to as "the king." They were always designated as a mighty king, or the king of the south, the king of the north. Antiochus, who was only called a king one time, and that was jointly with Ptolemy, in verse 27. But as we will see, beloved, in verse 36, using the definite article, "the king" is a reference to what Daniel has been discussing in the past and previous revelations. You will recall in Daniel seven, verse eight, "he" referring to the Antichrist, is called the "little horn that starts out small" Do you remember that? And he gradually appears among the other horns, but by verses 24 and following he overpowers the other 10 horns. Let me read that to you, Daniel seven, beginning in verse 24. "As for the 10 horns out of this kingdom, 10 kings will arise." Again now, this is yet future. "And another will arise after them and he will be different from the previous ones, and will subdue three kings. He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times and a half a time. But the court will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever." Now that's certainly no reference to Antiochus Epiphanes. In Daniel 8:23, the Antichrist is called a king, "insolate and skilled in intrigue." In Daniel 9:26, he's called "the prince that shall come." You see, all of these passages are revealed to us in the context of the coming tribulation, Daniel's 70th week.

And finally, I must add, that it is only fitting that Daniel would speak here of the Antichrist in his fourth and final revelation, since he has already set him forth in the three preceding ones. So what we are about to examine, I would humbly argue against brothers that I love who would say differently, that this has nothing to do with Antiochus Epiphanes, but everything to do with the antitype, of which Antiochus Epiphanes was merely the type. This is speaking of the coming Antichrist. This is speaking of a time of distress. Chapter 12, here in verse one speaks of this "time of distress." In other words, he's going to rule during a time of history where we have the most severe persecution of Israel, which corresponds to what Jesus said in Matthew 24:21. And also what Jeremiah the prophet prophesied, in Jeremiah chapter 30, beginning in verse seven, we read "'Alas! For that day is great, there is none like it, and it is the time of Jacob's distress. But he will be saved from it. It shall come about on that day,' declares the LORD of hosts, 'that I will break his yoke from off their neck, and will tear off their bonds and strangers will no longer make them their slaves, but they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. Fear not, O Jacob My servant, declares the Lord, 'and do not be dismayed, O Israel; for behold, I will save you from afar, and your offspring from the land of their captivity, and Jacob will return and will be quiet and at ease. And no one will make him afraid for I am with you,' declares the Lord, 'to save you, for I will destroy completely all the nations where I've scattered you. Only I will not destroy you completely, but I will chase you justly. And will bone by no means leave you on punished.'"

So with that introduction, let's read the text here in Daniel 11, beginning in verse 36. "Then the king," referring to the Antichrist, "will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods and he will prosper until the indignation is finished. For that which is decreed will be done. He will show no regard for the gods of his father's or for the desire of women, nor will he show regard for any other god for he will magnify himself above them all. But instead, he will honor a god of fortresses, a god whom his fathers did not know; he will honor him with gold, silver, costly stones and treasures. He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god, he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him, and will cause them to rule over the many and will parcel out land for a price. At the end time, the king of the South will collide with him, the king of the North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen, and with many ships, and he will enter countries overflow them and pass through. He will also enter the Beautiful Land and many countries will fall; but these will be rescued out of his hand, Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon. Then he will stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape. But he will gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the precious things of Egypt; and Libyans and Ethiopians will follow at his heels. But rumors from the East and from the North will disturb him and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many. He will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him."

Now I've given you a little outline here, very simple. We're going to look first of all at the final willful king, the Antichrist in verse 36, and then secondly, we'll look at the final world religion, that's verses 37 through 39. And then the next time when I am with you, we will look at the final military conquests in verses 40 through 45. Let's look closely at what the Spirit of God has for us in his word, under the heading the final willful king, the Antichrist. Verse 36, "Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods." Now, as I said earlier, in chapter 12, verse one, we are given some helpful context for when this will occur, namely, "a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until that time and at that time your people, everyone who is found in the book, will be rescued." So this fits in the context now of the Great Tribulation, Daniel 70th week, the pre kingdom judgments. And it will be at that time, once again, verse 36, that this "king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods." Now, I would add that no world ruler has ever done this in the context of Roman power over the Israelis in the land of Israel, including the Hellenistic Antiochus Epiphanes who worshipped the pantheon of Grecian gods and demanded that the Jews do the same thing. But this does fit the descriptions that we find elsewhere in scripture of the Antichrist.

Daniel spoke of this and Daniel 7:25, "He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One." Daniel 8:24, "'His power will be mighty, but not by his own power, and he will destroy to an extraordinary degree and prosper and perform his will. He will destroy mighty men and the holy people.'" Paul speaks of this and Second Thessalonians two, four, as "the man of lawlessness who will be revealed the son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself above every so called God or object of worship, so that he takes the seed in the temple of God displaying himself as being God." And again, as I mentioned before, Matthew 24 The Antichrist will desecrate the temple, Jesus tells us, committing the "abomination of desolation" deifying himself, he will be the greatest enemy of Israel in all of history. And this act of apostasy will be the most blasphemous act in the history of the world. We could go to the book of Revelation in chapter 13. Looking at verses six through eight, there, we learned how God has ordained 42 months, a 42 month season of blasphemy against himself. And this will include the Antichrist blaspheming him against three things There we read, "And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, first of all, to blaspheme His name," and of course, the name of God expresses the consummate perfections, the sum of all of his attributes. He will blaspheme his name. Secondly, and his temple. The temple is where God exists and transcendent glory, the glories of heaven from which Satan by now has been expelled. And then also against those "who dwell in heaven." This is a reference to the saints and the holy angels, whom Satan hates. The text goes on to say, "It was also given to him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him." Now we see further evidence of this megalomaniac, who will do as he pleases in Revelation 17, beginning of verse 12, and "The 10 horns which you saw are 10 kings, who have not yet received the kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast," that's him the Antichrist, "for one hour." One hour is a figure of speech denoting a very brief period of time, one that is shorter than the reign of the beast himself. In that context, we read how there will be 10 subordinate rulers of 10 lesser kingdoms that will join a confederacy with the Antichrist and become a part of his empire. We read about this again back in Daniel chapter seven, verse seven, as well as verse 24. Back to Revelation 17, verse 13, "These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast." So they will be united in their allegiance with the beast as together they oppose the Lamb of God, and all who belong to him.

So again, back to verse 36. I know you're thinking, we'll never get out of verse 36, we will. "Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god, and will speak monstrous," it could be translated astonishing things, "against the God of gods." Now, I would submit to you that this isn't a stretch at all for us. I mean, we see politicians blaspheming God, constantly, routinely. They're constantly passing laws that are an insult to the one true God and imagine what it will be like when all power is consolidated in one man. Imagine what that will be like. The text goes on to say, "and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done." Interesting term, indignation. Daniel uses the same phrase, "the indignation" in chapter eight, verse 19. When speaking of the tribulation period, There we read, "Behold, I am coming to let you know what will occur at the final period of the indignation for it pertains to the appointed time of the end." Again, referring to the final seven years before Christ returns, Daniel's 70th week. You read about it in Daniel nine, verse 27. So again, verse 36 at the end, "he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done." Well, what was decreed? What's he talking about here? Well go back to Daniel nine in verse 24. There we read of the "70 weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city." Literally 70 sevens, 7 heptads, units of 7. 70 times seven, 490 years have been decreed. The text is telling us that God deliberately decreed or determined these 490 years to be cut off from all of the rest of history to accomplish his purposes, with Israel, his people Israel and their capital city Jerusalem, which was consistent with what Daniel was praying for to understand.

Obviously, by the way, this didn't happen at his first coming, but it will happen in his Second Coming. Notice in Daniel 9:24, there are six objectives to be accomplished in this decree. First of all, to finish the transgression, referring to the violation of God's law, they revolted against God's authority, especially their unrelenting and unrestrained rebellion against God. He is going to finish that, he's going to deal with that. Secondly, to make an end of sin, which is a more general term of all wrongs, to seal it up, that it might be concealed. In other words, to judge it with finality. Thirdly, to make atonement for iniquity, "kaphar" in Hebrew, to cover by means of an expiatory sacrifice. It's the idea of making a covering. It's the idea of atonement to provide a moral or legal repayment for a fault or an injury. And also it it was decreed, number four, to bring in everlasting righteousness. Number five to seal up vision and prophecy. This speaks of hiding from view and demonstrating that these functions are over. Vision being revelation prophecy, being the message of the prophets. And then six, to anoint the most holy place. In other words, to officially inaugurate into public ministry, the Most Holy Place. Literally, the holy of holies in the millennial temple. All of these things have been decreed. Daniel 9:27 goes on to describe what's going to happen during this final week of years. "And he will make a firm covenant," "He" being the Antichrist, "with the many for one week." In other words, this great deceiver is going to lower Israel into a protective agreement called a covenant. "But in the middle of the week, he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering, and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate." So in other words, in the middle of the week, after three and a half years, this satanically possessed antichrist will seize the temple, he will betray the Jews and he will demand to be worshipped like his forerunner, Antiochus Epiphanes. And this is the one pictured as well in Revelation 13 verse one, and verse five, as the "beast that comes up out of the sea...given a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies and authority to act for 42 months was given to him," referring to the last half of the seven years.

Back again to Daniel 11:36, "he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done." Yes, what was decreed the 490 years before the Messiah would finally do all of these things and establish his long awaited and promised millennial kingdom. So this vile, blasphemous ruler will prosper. But only as long as a sovereign God allows him to prosper.

So we've seen the final, willful king, the Antichrist in verse 36. What about the final world religion? And this just touches on it, there are other passages, especially in Revelation that reveal more of this, but we see this in verses 37 through 39. Notice verse 37, "He will show no regard," actually, for three things, first of all, "no regard for the gods of his fathers." Now, the King James Version is misleading. Here it says, "The God of his fathers," capital G. And so many people will read that and say, well, this means the Antichrist must be a Jew. Because the God of his fathers would be the Messiah, he's going to reject the Messiah. But the word translated God is Elohim, not Yahweh. And this is a name for God in general, applying to all gods and had the writer, I believe, intended to refer to the one true God of Israel, he would have used the term Yahweh not Elohim. So the proper translation is he "He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers", which would include the full pantheon of pagan deities worshipped by the Romans and all peoples, since we know the Antichrist is going to come out of this revived kind of European Roman Empire. But it would also include having no regard for the one true god worshipped by the saints. So the point is simply this, when the end comes, this theme will not only be the Antichrist, the pseudo Christ, but he will be an utterly godless person rejecting any and all gods of his ancestors. But the verse goes on to say "he will show no regard for the desire of women." Now, what does this mean? Perhaps it means he will be a homosexual, perhaps a misogynist of some sort, or perhaps he is prefigured by Antiochus Epiphanes. Maybe he will just who by the way, was a notorious womanizer. It may mean that he will just not share the normal graces of a woman, that he will not have any tenderness some people say, or graciousness or kindness. Another view says since the Messiah is often said to be the natural desire of Jewish women who longed to be the mother of the Messiah. Some will say that he disregards the one beloved by women referring to the Lord Jesus Christ. John Walvoord, says this, quote, "pious Jewish women in premessianic times had one great desire, they wanted to be mothers, with a view to him, who is the promise seed of the woman." He's referring there to the promised seed and in the protevangelium of Genesis 3:15. He went on to say "his birth was beloved by these godly mothers of Israel, this king then hates God and hates his blessings, Son, the Lord Jesus Christ."

So I'm giving you various views, we can't say with certainty. All right, and I know what you're going to say. So I'm just going to handle it right now. Rather than have you line up at the end of the service, which one do I think it is? Well, I believe that he's probably referring to the Antichrist as a homosexual. Since homosexuality is an assault against the image and the glory of God revealed in creation; homosexuality defies God's moral order and it is an inversion of God's physical order. And as a result, we know from Romans one, that those who live in that world are eventually given over to a reprobate, depraved mind, that is utterly worthless and irrational. So I would think that that would probably fit. But I don't know, you don't know, we don't know.

Verse 37, again, he will show no regard for the gods of his father's, or for the desire of women. And then thirdly, nor will he show regard for any other god; for he will magnify himself above them all." So not only will he reject all other gods, he will claim deity for himself. As I said earlier, Second Thessalonians two verse four, Paul describes him as the one "who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called God or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God." And then in Daniel 11:38, we go on and we see what is revealed to us. But instead, he will honor a god of fortresses." "mauzzim;" fortresses means a strong place, namely, in this context, his unprecedented satanically empowered military might and power. "A god," he goes on to say "whom his fathers did not know." Now, mind you, ancient Rome believed their military conquests were done in accordance to their pantheon of gods and they even deified their emperor, but not so the coming Antichrist. He rejects all gods, save himself and his confidence, his faith, you might say, the object of his worship will be his military power. And here that is personified in the phrase the "god of fortresses." Now we all know that military readiness and military conquests are very expensive. And so the text goes on to say "he will honor him," referring to his god of fortresses, military might and power, "with gold, silver, costly stones and treasures," literally everything that is valuable. Young asserts, quote "For religion, he will substitute war, and war he will support with all that he has."

Verse 39, "He will take action against the strongest of fortresses with the help of a foreign god." In other words, his overwhelming, seemingly invincible, military power, this is the foreign god. "And he will give great honor to those who acknowledge him and will cause them to rule over the many, and will parcel out land for a price." In other words, he is going to reward those he conquers with honor and land and positions of authority as long as they obey him and serve him and worship him; those who pay homage to their king. Beloved, can you see a counterfeit here? The more the obedience, the more the reward. And so as Satan's pawn he will know how to appeal to the sinful heart of men who will sell their soul for the fleeting pleasures of this life. We see it all the time. They will be men who fear man rather than God. Beloved, this will be the final world religion, the worship of the Antichrist. John MacArthur said something interesting along this line, quote, "Through all the ages, there has been a Cain for every Abel there has been a Jambres for every Moses, there has been a Babylon for every Jerusalem, and a Herod for every John the Baptist and a Judas for every Peter. And ultimately, there will be another and final antichrist, for the true Christ."

O Child of God, this is where the world is heading. And aren't you thankful that we have been saved by his grace and that our God reigns. But he will use the wicked to accomplish his purposes, to bring glory to himself and to fulfill all of his covenant promises. Well, this is a good stopping point. Let me let me encourage you for a moment as your pastor, you know, although we see the world heading in these directions and moving inexorably towards a day of judgment and although we resent and we fear the despots that rule over us--may I remind you that these are mere men, right? These are mere men. We worship Almighty God right? Scripture describes them as those who pursue vanity, they chase the wind, they're spiritually dead, at enmity with God, enemies of God, they're mere worms, clay, dying grass, fading flowers. And you're going to be afraid of them?

All of our lives in Scripture are likened to a vapor, to a bubble, to a shadow and we're going to be afraid of them? Really. Jeremiah Burroughs was a 17th century Puritan clergyman who endured great persecution at the hands of the apostate church of England and the king, along with many other clergyman who refuse to obey the superstitions, and the unbiblical ceremonies of the Church of England. And yet he reasoned from scripture, about their fragile state, the fragile state of the wicked that persecuted him. These people in power, he compared them in Scripture, I should say scripture compares them and he saw this as dross dust, a rotten root, straw trodden down from the dung hill. The froth and foam of the sea and threads in the fires. He said, quote, "The greater men are in their power, the sooner they perish." And he went on to add, "Wicked men are going to their destruction as a thing rolling by the wind." Just think of it dear friends, the wicked that are in power over us today blaspheme God, in the midst of all of their pleasures. And yet, one day very soon, they will be in hell, where they will blaspheme God forever in their pain. Don't be afraid of them. Pity them, pray for them. Give them the gospel. Be of good cheer for your God, not man. What did Jesus say? Do not fear those who will kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Therefore, like Paul, we need to be able to say I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. And in his excellent book, "The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment," that I would encourage you all to read, Jeremiah Burroughs defined Christian contentment this way, "Christian contentment is that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God's wise and fatherly disposal in every condition." End quote, and I might add, including the wickedness that's being forced upon us in our day. So may we all joyfully submit to Christ's tutelage during these difficult days, and rejoice in every circumstance, knowing that God is in it, and he is accomplishing great things for our good and for His glory. Let's pray together.

Father, we thank you for the magnificent truths of your word. And pray that by the power of your Spirit, we will be able to not only understand them, but apply them in such a way as to bear much fruit for your glory. And for those that may be within the sound of my voice, that need to be in a right relationship with you through faith in Christ, they know nothing of what it mean for Christ and enjoy the fullness of His presence in their life. Lord, I pray that you will so overwhelm them with conviction today. That they will be absolutely stunned, horrified at the reality of their sin and what it deserves. And therefore be amazed at the grace that can be theirs if they bet placed their faith in the giver of grace, our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus, Lord, we plead with you to accomplish this great work. And we do this in Jesus name. Amen.

Will you take your Bibles and turn to the book of Daniel, We return again to Daniel chapter 11. We're going to be looking at verses 21 through basically 35 this morning.

I might say to preface our time together, as you know, last week you weren't here because of the snowstorm. I was here. Actually, I was here on Saturday, and it was recorded. And so I was pretending like I was speaking to you trying to look in the silly little camera. But I was joining in with, I guess, about 5000, plus pastors all around the United States, who were preaching on sexual morality, joining together with our brothers in Canada, to protest the law that they have implemented, that forbids you from basically proclaiming the truths of scripture regarding homosexuality and transgenderism, and all of those types of things. And I just want to say, folks, never underestimate the privilege we have to come together and hear the truth. Because this time, I believe is short. Nancy and I were reading from John 15, this morning, where, you know, Jesus reminds us that the world is going to hate you because it hated me and because you're not of this world. And certainly we see that, in fact, my friend John MacArthur, who also spoke on this issue, had his sermon removed from YouTube, perhaps you heard, because he violated their hate speech policy. And it's because of primarily the following statement. John said, quote, simply stated, "There is no such thing as transgender. You are either xx x or x, y. That's it. God made man male and female, that is determined genetically that is physiology, that is science, that is reality. This notion that you are something other than your biology is a cultural construct, intended as an assault on God." Indeed, amen. That is the truth. But people don't want to hear the truth, do they? And unfortunately, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. And sadly, we live in a world that is basically ruled by fools. They need the gospel, they need Christ, because to the natural man, the things of the Spirit are foolishness, we are told, and they cannot understand them. And so the only way they are going to understand the truth is to be saved by the truth. And it is our responsibility to do all we can to present the truth and to preach the truth, which we will continue to do this morning by looking into Daniel.

So we return to Daniel's fourth and final vision, revealed in chapters 11 and 12, where probably the angel Gabriel, the angelic messenger, comes to Daniel and proceeds to give him predictive revelation pertaining to Israel's future, especially as it relates to Gentile dominance over Israel and the return of the Messiah King, the Lord Jesus Christ. And in Daniel 11, verses two through 35. We have approximately 135 detailed prophecies that were fulfilled accurately and literally, which I believe gives evidence that prophecy yet unfilled, will also be fulfilled in the same literal manner. I've given you an outline, I think maybe you even have it in your hands today. Last week, we looked at the kings of Persia, the kings of Greece, the kings of the south and north, referring to Egypt and Syria. And now we come to verse 21. And we will look at Antiochus IV Epiphanes. And as I put in my notes for you, his intense persecution of the Jews fueled the Maccabean revolt, resulting in heavy Jewish casualties and the temple defiled and this became the precursor to the final Gentile ruler, the Antichrist.

An so Antiochus IV Epiphanes typifies the coming Antichrist, as we will see this morning. Now by way of quick review, because I realize this is a bit complicated. Most of us, most of you are probably not up on your ancient history in the Near East, and especially what it has to say in this passage in Daniel 11. So if we go back to verse 17, we read that he referring to Antiochus, will "set his face to come with the power of his whole kingdom, bringing with him a proposal of peace, which he will put into effect; he will also give him the daughter of women to ruin it." And this speaks of Antiochus now, who was the father of Antiochus that we're looking at today, but he wanted to gain control over Egypt, but not through military invasion. And he was planning on attacking Rome. And the last thing he needed was for the Egyptians to cause him any trouble. So he sends his daughter Cleopatra I to marry Ptolemy V. This happened in 197 BC. This was part of a peace treaty that he did with the Egyptians, but he also wanted her to spy on them, and help him promote Syrian interest in the Ptolemaic family.

Verse 17, again, "But she will not take a stand for him, or to be on his side." And indeed, this is what happened. She did not go along with his plan, and she actually simulated in with the Egyptian family and assisted them. In fact, she even helped the Egyptians assist the Romans, when Antiochus fought against them. Verse 18, "Then he will turn his face to the coastlands and capture many." And this happened--Antiochus launched a very successful campaign along the Aegean region, the country surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, especially the islands that were their portions of Asia Minor and Greece. Again, verse 18, "But a commander will put a stop to his scorn against him' moreover, he will repay him for his scorn." And we know historically, this is exactly what happened. The commander was a Roman general Lucius Cornelius Scipio. And he was commissioned by Rome to stop Antiochus, which he did. So in 188 BC, in utter humiliation, Antiochus was forced into a peace treaty with Rome, and he had to relinquish all of his holdings in Asia Minor to the Romans. Verse 19, "So he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall and be found no more." This is what happened. He returns to his own land, having lost all that he gained even though he still ruled over Syria and Palestine and the Mesopotamian region, Babylonia, Iran, which is was Medo-Persia. But as prophesied, he stumbled and fell and was found no more and he was killed. We know while seeking to rob the Temple of Bel in Elam, Persia.

Verse 20, "Then in his place, one will arise who will send an oppressor," referring to one who forces others to pay taxes, "through the Jewel of his kingdom," referring to Palestine, "yet within a few days, he will be shattered, though not in anger nor in battle." This is a reference to Seleucus IV Philopater, who ruled from 187 to 176 BC. He was the son and the successor of Antiochus the Great and because his father had drained all of the Treasury and in all of his warring to try to conquer other places and because they owed Rome 1000 talents, he, annually, had to get money. So, he sent a guy named Heliodorus to seize the funds of the temple treasury in Jerusalem. And as we read the last time, we were together, according to Second Maccabees three this attempt was thwarted by an appearance at the temple of a divine apparition. So Heliodorus returned home empty handed and later he assassinated Seleucus IV Philopater as prophesied consistent with the end of verse 20. Yet within a few days he, referring to Seleucus IV Philopater, will be slaughtered, though not in anger nor in battle. So after just a short 11-year reign Seleucus died mysteriously, they believe through poisoning. And then we come to verse 21, where we're going to start today.

"In his place," in other words in the place of Seleucus IV Philopater, "a despicable person will arise, on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue." And this brings us to the fourth point in our little outline, Antiochus IV Epiphanes Now, mind you, these things are occurring some 300 years after Daniel has them revealed to him through the angelic messenger.

Dave Harrell

Now, a little history here, following the death of, Seleucus IV, his brother, Antiochus IV, seized the throne illegally from the son of his murdered brother, Demetrius Soter, who was held hostage by Rome. And so the new king adopted the name Antiochus IV Epiphanes, and he's going to rule just from 175 to 164 BC. By the way, "Epiphanes" means glorious. He liked that name. I'm Antiochus IV, the glorious one. By the way, the Jews hated that name so much that they nicknamed him Antiochus Epimanes-- "Epimanes" meant "madman." Now he was previously alluded to as the "little horn" in Daniel eight, nine through 14 and 23 through 25, as we will see. So indeed, as prophesied, "a despicable person will arise on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come in a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue." An interesting term in the original language-- "intrigue" can literally be translated "slippery places." In this context, it refers to slippery actions, he was a slippery character, a person who is cunning and deceptive and evasive and untrustworthy, who equivocates with words and deals. Remember, we had a president who was nicknamed Slick Willy, this is the concept, this is who this guy was. And history reveals how he would do this with intrigue. He flattered Eumenes, King of Pergamum, along with other key leaders in Syria, promising them prominent positions if they helped him gain the throne. And Rome even fell for his flattery and all of his promises. And they backed him for a while. They wanted him to help them maintain peace in the east. This is the age-old political strategy of quid pro quo, right? You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours. This is the grease that basically makes the machinery of power run smoothly and wickedly.

I might add. It's important to remember that God has always been true to his promise in judging wicked nations, and don't you see this constantly, all through all of these prophecies and even to this day? And I might add that throughout the Old Testament, one of the things that we see is that that he destroys these wicked nations because they practice idolatry and immorality, especially homosexuality and bestiality and all manner of abominations. And we see this, again, happening throughout the history of all these things that we're reading. But one of the key components, one of the key methods of God's destruction in these nations is the removal of qualified men from leadership. By the way, he does the same thing today in the church. He removes qualified leaders. In Isaiah three he described for example, his judgment on Judah and Jerusalem. Verse four, he says, "and I will make mere lads, their princes. And capricious children will rule over them, and the people will be oppressed each one by another, and each one by his neighbor. The youth will storm against the elder and the inferior against the honorable." In other words, the young who are typically ruled by their emotions rather than by integrity, rather than by truth, will be the ones in charge. Verse 11, of Isaiah three, "Woe to the wicked, it will go badly with him for what he deserves will be done to him. O my people. Their are oppressors are children and women rule over them. O my people, those who guide you lead you astray and confuse the direction of your paths." This is exactly what we see when we examine the fall of these ancient empires. And I might add, this is exactly what we see in the United States of America today. Exactly. Immoral, ungodly, undiscerning, incompetent leaders that are ill suited to be in authority over anyone. And the results are always catastrophic, because that's exactly God's intention. This is one of the ways that he judges the wicked. And it's not an exaggeration to say that many of our leaders today are not only intellectually challenged, challenged to the point of just being downright stupid, but they are delusional. They believe things that have no basis in reality. The whole transgender thing is one example of that. So dear friends when you see and you feel this incredulity in your heart, these, these babbling fools in leadership over us, know that this is an evidence of God's judgment upon those who mock him, who mock his word. Those who literally criminalize those things that he deems holy, those that legalize those things that he deems an abomination.

So Antiochus Epiphanes was just another pagan fool ruled by his depraved heart, evil to the core with no regard whatsoever for the one true God that would eternally damn him, as well as damn all those who follow Him. And this will also be the fate of those who follow the satanic deceivers who rule our country. So indeed, a despicable or a slippery person arose and seize the kingdom by intrigue. But the angel also made another prediction in verse 22, "The overflowing forces will be flooded away before him and shattered." That phrase, "overflowing forces will be flooded away before him," could literally be translated "arms of the overflow shall be overflowed." And this is what happened. The invading forces that sought to conquer Syria, were themselves conquered. This was true historically, especially with respect to the Egyptians described later on in verse 25.

Dave Harrell

Now, let me give you a little background here. Antiochus' father, Antiochus the Great promised to give Coele-Syria, "coele" in Greek meant meant hollow. And Coele-Syria was basically the Beqaa Valley that was kind of a hollow area, you might say, in between Mount Lebanon and what was called Anti-Lebanon. Those mountains in that region. Well anyway, his father had promised to give Coele-Syria, as well as Palestine the Land of Israel today, to Egypt as a dowry with his daughter Cleopatra, upon her marriage to Ptolemy Epiphanes. So when Antiochus Epiphanes comes to the throne, comes to power and takes his father's place, he is going to pretend like he is going to go along with his promise, but in his heart, he's thinking, no, no, no, I want all that for myself. And so, in order to keep peace between the two empires, he decides he'll go along with this. But surprise, surprise, in 170 BC, five years after he ascends the throne, he leads a military campaign down through Coele-Syria, down through Palestine, and comes up against Egypt, as we'll see in verse 25. He's determined to claim all of these areas for himself, and later since Ptolemy VI Philometor of Egypt, when he sees that Antiochus is going to do this, and he's not going to make good on the promised land, he decides he's going to attack him. So that's a little bit of the history here. And when Antiochus Epiphanes catches wind of this coming invasion in 170 BC, he goes out to meet him and utterly defeats them on the southeast sea coast of the Mediterranean halfway between Gaza and the Nile delta.

Dave Harrell

So, verse 22, fulfilled precisely, "The overflowing forces will be flooded away before him and shattered and also the prince of the covenant." I believe here that the prince of the covenant is probably referring to Ptolemy VI Philometor because he agreed to be an ally with Antiochus if the Syrians would help him gain the throne to Egypt, which had been taken away from him by his younger brother Ptolemy VII Euergetes, whose nickname was Physcon. In Greek, it means fatty, or fat. So it literally means potbelly. Okay. So this is his fat little brother. All right, that might be easier than saying Ptolemy VII Euergetes, all right? So I'm gonna call him fatso here's that we kind of keep all this in mind. So Ptolemy VI Philometor is fatso's older brother, all right? You with me? It's his older brother. Their mother was Cleopatra. All right? And she is also the sister now of Antiochus Epiphanes. So both Ptolemy VI Philometor and Ptolemy VII Euergetes, or fatso, are his nephews. Alright, so you got one big happy family here. We got one big happy family; quality leaders are there brimming with integrity. We've had families like this lead us in our country as well. Now remember earlier, and 169 BC, Ptolemy VI Philometor had launched an attack against Antiochus Epiphanes' forces, as I mentioned a minute ago to regain those territories of Palestine lost to the Syrians. But he was defeated. Not only was he defeated, but he was captured by his uncle and held hostage. And that's when the people of Alexandria and Egypt put fatso on the throne. Okay, so this is what you got going on here.

Dave Harrell

Verse 23, "After an alliance is made with him," referring to Ptolemy VI Philometor, who I believe is the "prince of the covenant," he will practice deception. So here's what happened. Good ol uncle Antiochus professed friendship with his hostage nephew to gain assistance against the new ruler of Egypt, which would have been Ptolemy's chubby little brother, Ptolemy VII. And he's basically saying, Look, you help me against your brother, I will help you. I'll see to it that you get your throne.

Verse 23, again, "and he will go up and gain power with a small force of people." And indeed, at this stage in Antiochus' reign, his nation of Syria was small in comparison to what he had before; he had to give so much back to Rome, with their rise to power. So as predicted, as the angel has said here, he "practiced deception," and he went up against Egypt and gained power. Verse 24, he did this, "In a time of tranquility," it could be translated "without warning." "In a time of tranquility, he will enter the richest parts of the realm." And this is what he did, he seized the finest products of the most fertile and prosperous areas of his domain. These areas included, of course, Egypt and Judea and other provinces, where Syrian forces were successful. 24, in the middle of the verse, it reads, "and he will accomplish what his fathers never did, nor his ancestors, he will distribute plunder booty and possessions among them and he will devise his schemes against strongholds, but only for a time." And this is what he did. He was kind of a Robin Hood type of a guy. He would rob from various areas and give to other areas to make them all unite behind him. And by doing this, he also kept some of the areas that he ruled over a bit weak, he didn't want them to rise and have too much power, otherwise he would have to deal with them. But as the text says, he would only do this quote "for a time," which means for as long as God will allow it, which wasn't long because again, he only ruled 12 years. He died in 164 BC.

Verse 25, "He will stir up his strength and courage against the king of the South with a large army; so the king of the South will mobilize an extremely large an mighty army for war; but he will not stand, for schemes will be devised against him." This is what happened. Antiochus amassed a great army to invade Egypt. In fact, in first Maccabees 1:17, we read that Antiochus, quote, "entered Egypt with an overwhelming multitude with chariots, elephants and cavalry." So indeed, the king of the south now mobilized an extremely large army. And although Antiochus' army was smaller, and even though they marched all the way from Syria, all the way down to the borders of Egypt, nevertheless, they defeated Ptolemy Philometor. And how did they do this? Verse 25. It says that "he will not stand, for schemes will be devised against him." Interesting schemes devised against him. Verse 26 clarifies this, "Those who eat his choice food will destroy him, and his army will overflow but many will fall down slain." And this is what happened. Historically, the king had treacherous advisors at court, trusted counselors who convinced him to attack knowing that he probably would not be successful. In fact, the Hebrew literally reads, quote, "his army shall be overflowing in size, but still, many of its numbers shall fall in death." And this is what happened, as I say, Ptolemy attacked, he was defeated and he was taken captive by Antiochus.

Verse 27, "As for both kings, their hearts will be intent on evil, and they will speak lies to each other at the same table; but it will not succeed for the end is still to come at the appointed time." You see Antiochus, as well as Ptolemy, were both very selfish. And both kings were in, you might say a chess match, to try to manipulate the other one to their own advantage. And both are making promises they had no intention on keeping. And they did this it says "at the same table." In other words, at the table where there should be the table of hospitality, where there should be honesty and integrity, that should have been the highest priority, but it wasn't. So they both dealt treacherously with one another, both speaking lies in place of the truth in order to gain ground.

Verse 27, goes on to say, "But it will not succeed, for the end, or literally it can be translated "the goal," the goal "is still to come at the appointed time." In other words, God's predetermined appointed time to accomplish his goals during the end of the age. And although Antiochus pitted brother against brother in the end, it's interesting, none of them are able to control all of Egypt. It is important to note that when Antiochus went into Egypt, he was able to conquer the region of Memphis, kind of in the center of Egypt, upon which he did put Ptolemy Philometor on the throne, thinking that eventually he would dethrone him, but he needed his help there for a time. So that did happen, but his younger brother, his chubby younger brother was able to repel Antiochus, and he was able to maintain rule over the region of Alexandria. So Ptolemy Philometor's little brother still ruled Alexandria.

However, here dear friends, the plot thickens, as they say, shortly after Antiochus returned from Syria, the Ptolemy brothers decided that they would come together and form an alliance to rule jointly. And Ptolemy accomplished this by marrying their common sister, who now is Cleopatra II named after her mother, and she became queen. Eventually, by the way, she would marry the other brother, but that's a story for another time, okay, lots of incest that went on during those days. Then verse 28, "he," referring to Antiochus, "will return to his land with much plunder." Again, the word of God is always accurate. That's precisely what happened. We read in the histories, found in first Maccabees 1:19, "Thus they got the strong cities in the land of Egypt, and he took the spoils thereof." But in Daniel's prophecy, in verse 28, it goes on to say, "but his ,heart will be set against the holy covenant the holy covenant referring to all things religious in Judaism, the whole system of the Mosaic Law and so forth, "and he will take action," the text says, "and then return to his own land." So fueled by wounded pride, he decided to vent his anger on the Jews that he despised. And so, on his way back north to Syria, he stops in Palestine, he plunders the temple, destroys some of the religious personnel and he puts a stop to the ceremonial and sacrificial systems of Judaism. Now, by the way, Satan is already helping to accomplish all of this, under the authority of God's sovereignty. One historian tells us that "the occasion of the action," referring to Antiochus now coming into Jerusalem, "involve the Jewish reaction against the high priests, Menalaus, who has catered to the favor of Antiochus in the past days. Antiochus now sought to assist Menalaus and put down a minor revolt." So you've got an apostate here, that's the high priest, the Jews are rebelling against him, but he's with Antiochus. So Antiochus comes up, Menalaus says, hey, I need a little help here, I've got some problems with these guys. And so they decide to put them down. So this was all the excuse, that Antiochus needed to unleash his fury upon God's covenant people. We read about this historical event in first Maccabees, chapter one, beginning in verse 20. "And after that entire cause had smitten Egypt, he returned again in the 140 and third year, and went up against Israel in Jerusalem with a great multitude, and entered proudly into the sanctuary, and took away the golden altar and the candlestick of light, and all the vessels thereof, and the table of the shobread and the pouring vessels and the vials, and the sensors of gold, and the veil and the crown and the golden ornaments that were before the temple, all which he pulled off. He took also the silver and the gold and the precious vessels. Also, he took the hidden treasures, which he found, and when he had taken all away, he went into his own land, having made a great massacre, and spoken very proudly. Therefore, there was a great mourning in Israel in every place where they were, so that the princes and elders mourned the virgins and young men were made feeble, and the beauty of women was changed. Every bridegroom took up lamentation. And she that sat in the marriage chamber was in heaviness. The land also was moved from the inhabitants thereof, and all the house of Jacob was covered with confusion."

Now, let's go back to Daniel 11, in verse 29. "At the appointed time" referring to God's appointed time, "he will return and come into the South." Another amazing prophecy and that's what Antiochus did. Two years after his moderately successful campaign in Egypt, he decides to go back, because he learns about this coalition between his two nephews and their sister. And so he decides to go back down there with his armies to punish them and gain the land. But Daniel 11:29 says, "this last time, it will not turn out the way it did before." Remember, his first conquest into Egypt was moderately successful. But the prophecy here is that the next one will not be and here's why. For ships of Kittim will come against him." Kittim is a reference to to the Cyprians, the islands and coastal regions off the Northeast Mediterranean Sea area. And this included the regions west of Palestine, all of the the northern coast of the Mediterranean. And this is where the Romans had come with their ships. And what Antiochus didn't realize is the Romans had formed an alliance with the Egyptians and their ships were harbored off of these coasts. So what happens historically is Antiochus is going to come down now, he thinks he's going to take over Egypt, but the Romans, now working with the Egyptians, sent an emissary out to meet him. His name was Popillius Laenas and he was sent from the Roman Senate, and he had a letter that basically told Antiochus to go home and leave Egypt alone. Well Antiochus didn't like that. And history records how he paused and he was furious. Here, he's got his armies come all the way down here and now, here's the Romans. And he wasn't wanting to give an answer, so the emissary of Rome takes a stick, and he draws a circle in the sand around Antiochus and says that you must give me an answer before you step out of the circle. And basically, he knew that he didn't have a choice. So in utter humiliation, he had to agree and go back home.

Verse 30, "Therefore, he will be disheartened and will return and become enraged at the holy covenant" again, Judaism and its religious system. This you might say, the Jews, you might say, we're the most available dog to kick, right? He's got to go through that region again, and he's just furious. So "he will be disheartened will return to become enraged at the holy covenant and take action; so he will come back and show regard for those whose forsake the holy covenant." Again, now remember, this guy is Satan's man. Satan hates the Jewish people. He hates the God of Israel, our God; he hates all that God has promised with respect to the return of the King of kings. And so he's going to do all he can to thwart the purposes of God. And this has been true down through history. So what happened? Well, on his return trip home, he stops in Palestine, Vents his fury on the Jews and he was especially mad because there was a rumor going around that he had been killed. But he wanted to let them know that I am not dead. So he came to Jerusalem. And as the text says, "He will come back and show regard for those who forsake the holy covenant." So what does he do? He finds some of the Jewish apostates who were willing to side with him and help him eradicate every vestige of Judaism and all of the observances of the mosaic ceremonies and so forth. And of course, the leader of that group was that same apostate high priest, Menalaus, who fully cooperated with Antiochus.

If I can pause for a moment. Dear friends, the greatest threat to the church today, has been and always will be, apostates within the church, apostates within the church. I fear professing woke believers far more than I fear godless pagans. You know, Paul tells us in Acts 20, speaking to the elders there in Ephesus that "savage wolves will come in among you not sparing the flock. And from among your own selves, men will arise speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them, therefore be on the alert." This is why we are told for example, in Second Corinthians six to come out and be separate. We have no fellowship with these kinds of people. This is why judgment is to begin with the household of God, as we read in first Peter 4:17. And there is a purging dear friends, it's going on in the church today. A purging. And the fires of persecution are always purifying fires for the church. For God chastens those that he loves. And this was the same type of dynamic that went on when Antiochus now comes to Jerusalem.

Back to verse 31, "Forces from him will arise." "Forces" could also be translated "arms." Arms "will arise, desecrate the sanctuary fortress, and do away with the regular sacrifice." Now bear in mind Antiochus wanted to force Grecian customs on the Jews. Remember, he had spent a great deal of time in Athens before becoming king of Syria. So he fully embraced all of the mythological gods and goddesses. And so what does he do? He does away with the regular sacrifice. In other words, he outlaws all of the mosaic ceremonies, and then it says "and they will set up the abomination of desolation." The prophecy was true, Antiochus sets up a statue of the Olympian Zeus. They believe even with the features of Antiochus--sets that up in the Holy of Holies.

Verse 32, the prophecy says "By smooth words, he will turn to godlessness, those who act wickedly toward the covenant." In other words, he's going to use flattery as he has before; he's slick, he's going to make promises he knows he could never keep, but you're going to promise them wealth and power, if you will join me. So "by smooth words he will turn to godlessness, those who act wickedly toward the covenant, but the people who know their God will display strength and take action." Folks, there will always be a remnant of the faithful who will stand firm. Come what may. And that's what you had back then. In fact, in first Maccabees one, verse 61, we read, "How be it many in Israel were fully resolved and confirmed in themselves not to eat any unclean thing. Wherefore they chose rather to die, that they might not be defied with meats, and that they might not profane the holy covenant." And indeed, many of them did die. It's estimated that some 80,000 were killed or enslaved at this time.

Let me take just a few minutes here and give you the history of what the ancients describe with respect to what happened then first Maccabees one beginning in verse 29. "And after two years fully expired the kings in his chief collector of tribute into the cities of Judah, who came unto Jerusalem with a great multitude, and spake peaceably words unto them, but all was deceit. For when they had given him credence, he fell suddenly upon the city and smote it very sore, and destroyed much people of Israel. And when he had taken the spoils of the city, he set it on fire and pulled down the houses and walls thereof on every side, but the women and children took the captive and possess the cattle. Then builded they the city of David with a great strong wall and with mighty towers and made it a stronghold for them. And they put therein a sinful nation, wicked men and fortified themselves therein. They started also with armor and victuals. And when they had gathered together the spoils of Jerusalem, they laid them up there and so they became a sore snare. For it was a place to lie and weighed against the sanctuary, and an evil adversary to Israel. Thus, they shed innocent blood on every side of the sanctuary and defiled it, insomuch that the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled because of them. Whereupon the city was made and habitation of strangers and became strange to those that were born in her and her own children left her. Her sanctuary was laid waste like a wilderness, her feast were turned into mourning, her Sabbath into reproach her honor into contempt. As had been her glory, so was her dishonor increased, and Her Excellency was turned into mourning. Moreover, King Antiochus wrote to his whole kingdom, that all should be one people, and everyone should leave his laws. So all the heathen agreed according to the commandment of the king, yay, many also the Israelites consented to his religion, and sacrificed on the idols and profaned the Sabbath. For the king had sent letters by messengers unto Jerusalem in the cities of Judah, that they should follow the strange laws of the land, and forbid burnt offerings and sacrifice and drink offerings in the temple, and that they should profane the Sabbaths and festival days and pollute the sanctuary and holy people, set up altars and groves, and chapels of idols, and sacrifice swine’s flesh and unclean beasts, that they should also leave their children uncircumcised, and make their souls abominable, with all manner of uncleanness and profanation. To the end, they might forget the law and change all the ordinances. And whosoever would not do according to the commandment of the king, he said, he should die. In the self-same manner, wrote he to his whole kingdom and appointed overseers over all the people commanding the cities of Judah to sacrifice city by city. Then many of the people were gathered unto them, to wit, everyone that first took the law and so they committed evil to the land, and drove the Israelites into secret places, even wheresoever they could flee for Sucher. Now, the 15th day of the month, Kiselev live in the 100 and 40th and fifth year, they set up the abomination of desolation upon the altar, and builded idols throughout the cities of Judah on every side, and burnt incense at the doors of their houses and in the streets. And when they had wrent in pieces, the books of the law which they found; they burnt them with fire. And whosoever was found with any of the book of the testament, or if any committed to the law, the king's commandments was that they should put him to death. Thus did they by their authority unto the Israelites every month to as many as were found in the cities. Now the five and 20th day of the month, they did sacrifice upon the idol altar, which was upon the altar of God. At which time according to the commandment, they put to death, certain women that had caused their children to be circumcised, and they hanged the infants about their necks and rifled their houses and slew them that had circumcised them. How be it, many in Israel were fully resolved and confirmed in themselves not to eat any unclean thing. Wherefore they would rather die, that they might not be defiled with meat that they might not profane the holy covenant. So then they died in there was a very great wrath upon Israel." So there you have the history. Beloved, this demonstrates Satan's absolute contempt for the Most High God, and his covenant people, and all of the promises that God has given to all of his people down through the ages. And again, bear in mind that this guy is merely the type of the coming antitype, the Antichrist. So what I've just read is a harbinger of that which is to come, which will be far worse.

Back to our text, and Daniel 11:33. "Those who have insight among the people will give understanding to the many." In other words, during this time, there will be godly people with discernment, who will instruct the naive and instruct the ignorant. Yet it goes on to say "they will fall by sword and by flame, by captivity and by plunder for many days, that when they fall, they will be granted a little help and many of them will join them in hypocrisy." This is a reference to the Maccabees, you may remember that Mattathias Maccabeus, who had five sons refused to offer sacrifice to the Greek gods. And so he killed the king's representative, rather than to do this. And he along with his sons fled to the mountains, and they began to gather their own army and they enlisted others to join the revolt. And they were successful for a time but at the end, they were defeated. It says, "and many will join them in hypocrisy." It can be translated, "joined them by intrigue." And that's what happened. Out of fear of reprisal from some of the Jewish rebels, a lot of the Jewish people decided to join the uprising, but there were others that joined just to sabotage the efforts, because they were, they were still loyal to Antiochus and feared him. You may recall when we studied Daniel eight, that vision there, I give a lot of exposition on this whole period, because it speaks of this as well. In fact, in Daniel eight, verse 12, we read "on account of transgression the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice, and it will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper. Then I heard a holy one speaking and another holy one and said to that particular one who was speaking, 'How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply, while the transgression causes horror, so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled?' And he said to me, 'For 2300 evenings and mornings, then the holy place will be properly restored.'" Now while we can't be dogmatic about the precise dates, we can go to first Maccabees four beginning in verse 52, through 59. There we read that "The Holy Place was properly restored on the 25th day of the ninth month of the year, 164 BC." And if you work backwards, 2300 days from that date, you come to the fall of 170 BC, which again, is absolutely astounding. And this is why so many historians say there's no way that this could be prophetic. This has to be some forgery written by some phony guy in the second century, who is basically recording history and saying it was prophecy. In chapter eight and verse 25, it says, "And through his shrewdness, he will cause deceit to succeed by his influence; and he will magnify himself in his heart, and he will destroy many while they are at ease. He will even oppose the Prince of princess, but he will be broken without human agency." That is he will be destroyed without human intervention. And that's exactly what happened.

Let me give you the history. Again, according to the second book of Maccabees, he was horrifically injured in the following manner which eventually led to his death. We read, "But they all sing, Lord, the God of Israel struck him with an incurable and invisible blow. As soon as he stopped speaking, he was seized with a pain in his bowels, for which there was no relief, and with sharp internal tortures. And that very justly, for he had tortured the bowels of others with many and strange inflictions. Yet he did not in any way stop his insolence, but was even more filled with arrogance, breathing fire in his rage against the Jews, and giving orders to drive even faster. And so it came about that he fell out of his chariot as it was rushing along, and the fall was so hard as to torture every limb of his body, as he who only a little while before, had thought in his superhuman arrogance, that he could command the waves of the sea, and it imagined that he could weigh the high mountains in a balance, was brought down to earth and carried in a litter, making the power of God manifest to all. So the ungodly man's body swarmed with worms. And while he was living in anguish and pain, his flesh rotted away. And because of the stench, the whole army felt revulsion at his decay."

Later on, on his deathbed, he learned that the armies of Israel had gone into the land of Judah and that he had been routed. And again, according to first Maccabee six, beginning in verse 18, "When the king heard this news, he was astonished and very much shaken, sick with grief because his designs had failed. He took to his bed, there he remained many days assailed by waves of grief where he thought he was going to die. So he called in all his friends and said to them, 'Sleep has departed from my eyes and my heart sinks with anxiety. I said to myself into what tribulation have I come, and into what floods of sorrow am I now, and I was kindly and beloved in my rule. But I now recall the evils I did in Jerusalem when I carried away all the vessels of silver and gold that were in it, and for no cause gave orders that the inhabitants of Judah be destroyed. I know that this is why these evils have overtaken me. And now I am dying in bitter grief in a foreign land.'" And according to what is called the "Scroll of Antiochus," we read that he drowned himself in the sea. Dear friends, in all of this, God was at work. And as we close this morning, we see in verse 35, that he was refining, he was cleansing, he was purifying his people through the fires of suffering. There we read, "Some of those who have insight will fall in order to refine, purge and make them pure until the end time; because it is still to come at the appointed time." And indeed, the persecution of Israel will continue until Christ returns, referred to here as the end time, a time of Daniel's 70th week, the time of the Great Tribulation, the pre kingdom judgments prior to our Lord's return. And this phrase, "until the end time," really serves as a transition to the events that are, as it says, still to come at the appointed time. And these are events pertaining to the person and the work of the Antichrist that's described in verses 36 through 45. The coming willful king of whom Antiochus Epiphanes was merely a type. Verse 36 describes him, "Then the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done."

Although American forces were warned about the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, they ignored the warning. And you know what happened? And dear friends, even with what you have heard today, you are being warned that a Day of Judgment is coming, Jesus is coming again. And when you see him, he will either be your Savior and Lord, or your judge and your executioner. And right now there is an ark of safety available to you in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I plead with you to come to Christ in repentant faith. Enter into that ark before the deluge of judgment encompasses this earth. For those of us who know and love Christ, let's celebrate the fact that our Savior and our King reigns supreme; that he has ordained the end from the beginning and that he is coming again in power and great glory. Amen? Amen.

Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the truths of your word that are so profound. But Lord, they are meaningless to those who are dead in their sins. So I pray that you will breathe life into those that are lost and dying, that they might be raised from the dead spiritually speaking, that they might repent and come to faith in Christ. And for those of us who know and love Christ, who are debtors to his grace, I pray that what we've heard this morning will just encourage our hearts knowing that yes, difficult times are coming. But we serve the King of kings and eventually, all of this will be over as promised. We thank you, we give you praise, in Jesus name and for his sake. Amen.

Will you take your Bibles and turn to Daniel chapter 11. As we continue to make our way through this amazing Old Testament book, we're going to be looking at verses two through 35. Quite a large chunk, lots of ancient Near East history--I have given you a handout with the outline that will help you perhaps navigate that a little bit. There's lots of hard to pronounce names and lots of things you probably maybe have never even been aware of. And so I thought, rather than you burning up ink and trying to frantically write all these things, I'd give you at least a general outline. So I hope you will have that. But here in these verses, there are 135, approximately, detailed prophecies that were fulfilled, absolutely astounding. Dear Christian, never underestimate the treasure that we have in the Word of God.

Now, let me give you a little background, you will recall in Chapter 10, we had an introduction here, an introduction to Daniel's fourth and final vision that's going to be revealed now in chapters 11 and 12. And there we witnessed not only the preincarnate glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and thus his sovereign rule over his created universe, but also God's plan for the ages, especially with respect to his covenant people Israel. Chapter 10 provides great insight into Yahweh's permissive will to allow Satan to rule this world temporarily, the systems of this world. We saw examples of how he ruled nations back then. And certainly he continues to do the same thing today, as he, in many ways, rules our nation, which explains the moral freefall, and just the mass deceptions that we are experiencing from our government, from the media, from educators, from churches, from culture in general.

Now, beginning in chapter 11, through chapter 12, the angelic messenger sent to Daniel, who we believe is probably Gabriel, proceeds with predictive revelation pertaining to Israel's future, especially as it relates to the Gentiles dominance over Israel until the return of the Messiah. And I might say that the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 was a mild preview of what is going to happen in the future with Israel and in the world, in what's called Daniel's 70th week; the pre kingdom judgments just before Christ returns. In fact, Jesus spoke of this in Luke 21 and verse, verse 24, where he said, "they will fall by the edge of the sword and will be led captive unto all the nations; and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." And certainly that happened in AD 70. And it will continue to happen, especially, as I say, during Daniel's 70th week, and from the era of Israel's captivity and 586 BC to Babylon, until her restoration in the Messianic Kingdom that you can read about, for example, in Revelation 20, the first six verses--God has allowed Gentiles to dominate and to threaten Jerusalem, and Israel. And all through the book of Daniel, we have seen how this has played out. We've seen how this has been fulfilled already, historically, and are waiting to be fulfilled prophetically.

And here in Daniel 11, God has revealed to us some astounding, detailed prophecies. In fact, this is one of the most astounding passages in all of Scripture. It is so historically accurate, that the third century AD pagan philosopher, Porphyry, considered it forgery. He argued that some other author wrote these events that occurred some time previously, a guy that wrote it sometime in the second century, and many liberal scholars believe that to this day that this is so historically accurate, that there is no way that this could have been predicted. So some clown wrote it in the second century and just recorded history and pretended like it was prophecy. By the way, that attack was refuted by one of the early church fathers. Jerome, who lived in the fourth century. He defended Daniel's authorship in a commentary based upon the original Hebrew text.

So I must say that in a world that is filled with lies, don't you get tired of it? I mean you will see one thing on television, you can see it with your own eyes, and you hear somebody telling you that that's not what you see. I just get so tired of it. But isn't it great to be able to come together and to look at truth? The truth of the Word of God. And these prophecies demonstrate that indeed, God is omniscient about the future, because he is sovereign over the future. It is his future. And with respect to Christ, it is history, his story. Furthermore, the book of Daniel demonstrates the divine inspiration of Scripture. This is an unequaled treasure that we have in our hands.

Now, before we embark upon this journey here in Daniel 11, this morning, and look at these prophecies, let's take a moment and ask, I think, a very appropriate question. Why would God reveal these things to Daniel? I mean why such detailed precision regarding the Gentile domination of the covenant people? Daniel would never live to see these things. He's receiving these prophecies at about 85 years old, right? So why give all of this to him? Many of those who read his prophecies would never live to see them come to fulfillment either. What possible benefit could that have been to him? To them? Or to us today? Well, I would submit to you that there are six reasons. And when I thought these through and wrote them down, I realized that this is a whole sermon in and of itself, but I'm just going to give you the points and move on. All right, six reasons.

First of all, these prophecies were given to demonstrate number one, the sovereignty of God, that indeed, God is in charge of his creation. He has ordained the end from the beginning. Secondly, to demonstrate the veracity or the truthfulness of Scripture, there is no other religious book ever in the history of the world that contains prophecies, especially fulfilled prophecies. Thirdly, to demonstrate the horrors of sin, because, dear friends, if you do not see the horror of sin, you will never see the glory of the cross and you will never seek forgiveness. And also to demonstrate the rule of Satan in the affairs of men, and how he is constantly doing everything he can with his minions, to thwart the purposes of God. Number five, to demonstrate God's faithfulness to his covenant promises; even as I have just read recently, just a few minutes ago, in Romans 11, God is faithful to his covenant promises with respect to Israel, with respect to even we Gentiles, who are the wild olive branches grafted in to the root of Abrahamic blessing. And then, finally, and this is the real censure, isn't it, to anticipate the glory of Christ's avenging justice. To anticipate the glory of Christ's avenging justice. The Father has given him all authority to execute judgment. Someday every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. And it's great to know where the story is moving.

So let's look closely at Daniel's prophetic vision. And please understand while the details are accurate, they are also selective. And this is true of all Bible prophecy. In other words, it's not going to include every king, every battle, everything that happened. And I might also add, what I address will be a selective as well. There's literally hundreds of other events and stories that could be included in this discussion. Not all of the rulers, not all of the events of this era were discussed or recorded. However, I will also add that later on, there will be great detail given to Antiochus Epiphanes more than any other ruler. And the reason for that is the specific impact his wickedness had on Israel and the similarities of his actions with the coming Antichrist who he typifies. So you have an outline and again, I've added notes, due to the complexity of ancient Near East history. It's funny, as I was thinking this through again, this week, some of the ancient ways of remembering these things, when I was in seminary, began to come back to me just a little bit. You know how you come up with silly little sentences and things to remember people's names and everything. And some, I was laughing about that, some of it was coming back, but not enough for me to remember all of it. So I have to write it down as well. I'm not going to read all of these-- let me give you the four main points. We're going to look at, first of all, the kings of Persia in verse two, and then the kings of Greece in verses three and four. And then the prophecy will move to the kings of the south and the north, the south being a reference to Egypt, the North to Syria, that will be in verses five through 20. And then, fourthly, look at Antiochus, the fourth, Epiphanes in verses 21 through 36. And actually, we won't get to that today we'll look at the first three, primarily.

So let's look at the kings of Persia. Remember now, Daniel has asked, Gabriel has come, God has sent him. He wants to know what's going to happen. He's burdened for his people. And here's what the angelic messenger tells him beginning in verse two of Daniel 11. "'And now I will tell you the truth, behold, three more kings are going to arise in Persia. Then a fourth will gain far more riches than all of them; as soon as he becomes strong through his riches, he will arouse the whole empire against the realm of Greece." Now, since the fourth king mentioned is obviously Xerxes, the other three had to have been his predecessors who would have been Cambyses, Pseudo-Smerdis, Darius and then of course, Xerxes. And that reign of Xerxes would have included--some of you are familiar with the 300 Spartans that held off the Persians in the Battle of Thermopylae in 480 BC--hat's kind of when all of that happened. So he's telling him here, here's what's going to happen. Now, there were other kings who ruled in Persia, but these three kings ruled immediately prior to Xerxes, who indeed, attacked Greece and set up a counter attack by Alexander the Great, as we will see.

Now, let me give you a little background. Xerxes father, Darius Hystaspes, tried to conquer Greece in 490 BC, but he was soundly defeated. So when Xerxes comes to the throne, he wants revenge. He doesn't like his father being humiliated. And as stated in verse two, Xerxes was fabulously wealthy, he had conquered Lydia, all of Babylonia and Egypt and like his predecessors, he taxed the people heavily to gain his power, his influence, and to fulfill all of his pressures, which politicians love to do at our expense. So nothing has ever changed, right? In fact, his 180-day feast, described in Esther chapter one attests to his wealth. And that, by the way, was done at the culmination of a four-year period of preparation to go in and conquer Greece. He had many 1000s of troops. It is believed that he had amassed the largest army in the history of the ancient world. So Xerxes and his massive army, as well as navy, set out to avenge his father's humiliating defeat at the hands of the Greeks.

And this moves us to point two: the kings of Greece beginning of verse three. Look what the messenger tells Daniel, "'And the mighty king will arise, and he will rule with great authority and do as he pleases.'" This is a reference to Alexander the Great. Let tell you what happened in the story. Xerxes attacks Greece, and he was not only defeated, but the Greeks seized his entire Persian kingdom, a region far greater than the Persians ever ruled. In fact, with around 40,000 men, Alexander the Great, annihilated the Persians. He took all of Asia Minor, he took all of Northern Syria. He took the island fortress of Tyre down to Egypt, Mesopotamia, all the way over to what is modern Afghanistan, to the very borders of India. You may recall, his final victory was with King Porus and his war elephants in the Battle of Jhelum, in 326 BC. So Alexander the Great beats Xerxes, and he carves out a vast kingdom for himself of about 1.5 million square miles. And he did this in 10 years. By the way, I detail a lot of the brilliant strategies and weaponry of Alexander the Great and his forces in my exposition of Daniel two if you want to go back and look at that.

Verse four, "But as soon as he has arisen, his kingdom will be broken up and parceled out toward the four points of the compass, though not to his own descendants, nor according to his authority which he wielded, for his sovereignty will be uprooted and given to others be besides them." And this is exactly what happened. Alexander the Great died at the young age of 32. And his vast kingdom, as the prophecy says, was broken up and parceled out to four of his generals. Macedon and Greece went to Cassander. Thrace and Asia Minor went to Lysimachus. Syria and Babylon went to Seleucus and Judah and Egypt went to Ptolemy.

Gabriel continues now in his predictive revelation, point number three: the kings of the south, referring to Egypt, and north, referring to Syria. Notice verse five, "'Then the king of the South will grow strong." This is a reference now to Ptolemy the first Sotar of Judah and Egypt, he reigned from 304 to 283 BCE. "'The king of the south will grow strong, along with one of his princes.'" And this historically refers to Seleucus I of Nicator, "'who gain ascendancy over him and obtain dominion; his dominion will be a great dominion indeed.'" So in other words, Seleucus would become stronger than Ptolemy with respect to the extent of his dominion. And that's exactly what happened, as prophesied. Seleucus I Nicator, ruled over Syria and Babylonia in 321 BC until another general Antigonus Babylon and forced him to flee. But later Antigonus was defeated at Gaza in 312 BC, allowing Seleucus to regain his territory, plus the entire region of Midia, thus fulfilling verse five. Astounding.

Verse six, "'After some years, they will form an alliance, and the daughter of the king of the south will come to the king of the North to carry out a peaceful arrangement.'" And history affirms that this did happen. Egypt and Syria did make an alliance with one another in 250 BCE, some 50 years after both Ptolemy, and Seleucus proclaimed themselves to be king. Let me give you a little background here. It's really interesting. Ptolemy and Seleucus both died soon thereafter. And the son of Ptolemy, whose name was Ptolemy II Philadelphus, assumed the throne in Egypt. And the grandson of Seleucus whose name was Antiochus II Theos assumed the throne in Syria. By the way, aren't you glad you've got these notes so you don't have to write all this down?

Now, the plot thickens, as they say. In order to form an alliance, as the prophecy says must happen. Ptolemy II Philadelphus of the South sent his daughter Berenice to marry Antiochus II Theos. Who, by the way, was forced to divorce his wife Laodice. It was a forced marriage with Berenice. And he had to divorce his wife Laodice. Look at verse six again, "'But she will not retain her position of power, nor will he remain with his power, but she will be given up along with those who brought her in, and the one who sired her as well as he who supported her in those times.'" It's exactly what happened. History tells us that two years after the forced marriage between Antiochus and Berenice, her father, Berenice's father, Ptolemy II died. At that point, Antiochus decided he's going to take back his previous wife, Laodice. All right? Having been forced to divorce her. But Laodice wasn't too happy with what he had done so she had him poisoned. I hate that when that happens, right? Moreover, she developed a plot to kill her rival, Berenice, and all her attendants and her one infant son, by Antiochus, upon their arrival. Exactly what verse six tells us. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned right? Or as we would say, down here, mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. And so this is what happened.

Verse seven, "'But one of the descendants of her line will arise in his place, and he will come against their army and enter the fortress of the king of the North, and he will deal with them and display great strength. Also their gods with their metal images and their precious vessels of silver and gold, he will take into captivity to Egypt.'" This is what happened. Berenice's brother, Ptolemy III Euergetes reigned from 246 to 221 BC, defeated Seleucus II Callinicus, and returned to Egypt with all of the spoil. And according to Jerome, the ancient church father, Ptolemy confiscated quote, "40,000 talents of silver," now let me stop there. A talent is 75 pounds, take 40,000 time, 75 pounds, you get 3 million pounds of silver. Get an idea? That's 1500 tons, according to my calculations. I mean, that's over a trillion dollars. I mean, that's the type of stuff our government would love to get a hold of, right? Jerome said that, "Ptolemy confiscated 40,000 talents of silver, and 2500 precious vessels and images of the gods among them, those which candidacies had taken to Persia when he conquered Egypt." By the way, this would have required massive caravans, several years just to move all of this.

Back to verse eight at the end, "'and he on his part, will refrain from attacking the king of the north for some years.'" And indeed, from 241 to 223 BC, the two nations remained at peace with one another. So everything that was prophesied in verses seven and eight, were fulfilled precisely. By the way, what we're talking about here happened 300 years after Daniel died.

Verse nine, "'Then the latter will enter the realm of the king of the South, but will return to his own land.'" And indeed, Seleucus Callinicus, succeeded in regaining his position in Syria. After Ptolemy's victory over his realm, but in 240 BC, he unsuccessfully attacked Ptolemy and Egypt and as the text says, "returned to his own land" in defeat.

Verse 10, "'His sons will mobilize and assemble a multitude of great forces; and one of them will keep on coming and overflow and pass through, that he may again wage war up to his very fortress.'" It's interesting verse 10 here, "his sons," The younger son was Seleucus III Seronis and the older son was Antiochus III the Great. I love it when they put the great on there, you know, Jake Hutchison the Great, you know, whatever. That's what these guys used to do back then. And the younger was killed on a campaign in Asia Minor and just like the prophet prophesied Antiochus the Great became the king at the young age of 18.

Verse 10 again, "'His sons will mobilize and assemble a multitude of great forces; and one of them will keep on coming and overflow and pass through that he may again wage war up to his very fortress.'" And as predicted, Antiochus III, the Great, recaptured territory in Phoenicia from Ptolemy IV Philopater. And his forces, like the prophet says, "overflowed and passed through" all of the Egyptian territory that included the land of Palestine. But it goes on. Verse 11, "'The king of the South,'" who is Ptolemy okay? "will be enraged and go forth and fight with the king of the North,'" who is Antiochus, "'Then the latter will raise a great multitude.'" All right, and according to Polybius, who was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period, he lived to, like 200 BC, up to about 100 BC or so. Polybius says this, quote "Ptolemy had amassed 70,000 infantry, 5000 cavalry and 73 elephants." Quite an army. And he says, "Antiochus had," quote "a multitude consisting of 62,000 infantry, 6000 cavalry, and 102 elephants." But Antiochus, we know, was given into Ptolemy's hand, exactly as it says at the end of verse 11, "'But that multitude will be given into the hand of the former.'" Amazing, isn't it? You can see why the liberals say there's just no way that anybody could predict this type of detail of history.

Verse 12, "'When the multitude is carried away, his heart will be lifted up, and he will cause 10s of 1000s to fall, and yet he will not prevail.'" So Ptolemy IV defeated Antiochus forces at the Battle of Raphia in 217 BC. And according to Polybius, the historian, Antiochus lost nearly 10,000 footmen and another 4000 were captured. But notice the end of verse 12. "'Yet he,' Ptolemy IV, "will not prevail.'"

Verse 13, "'For the king of the North will,’” again Antiochus the Great, "'will again raise a greater multitude than the former, and after an interval of some years, he will press on with a great army and much equipment.'" We know that's exactly what happened in 203 BC. Ptolemy Philopater and his wife died in Egypt, and their four-year-old son ascended the throne. His name was Ptolemy V Epiphanes. Well, this was the perfect opportunity for Antiochus the Great to launch a second invasion into the coastal region of Syria, which he did. And as prophesied, he had, quote, "a great army and much equipment." And he had acquired this from his other campaigns that he had been doing in the intervening years in the eastern regions of his domain as far as the Caspian Sea, even to the border of India. So now with an even greater army, and even more equipment than before he launches his attack.

Verse 14, "'Now in those times, many will rise up against the king of the South,'" referring to Ptolemy. And he says, "'The violent ones among your people,'" speaking to Daniel now, I mean, the violent ones among the Jews "'will also lift themselves up in order to fulfill the vision, but they will fall down.'" And we know historically that some of the pro Seleucid Jews who were tired of being subjugated by Egypt by the Ptolemies, join forces with Antiochus, to fight against Egypt. Plus, they were tired of being in this No Man's Land in Israel. That's where all these battles are fought, right? They're tired of everybody from the north and the south, they come along, and where did they fight? Right there in their land. They were tired of all that. So they decided to throw in with Antiochus. But it says in verse 14, "they will fall," down literally, in the Hebrew, but they shall stumble, probably a reference to the Jews who were not able to rid themselves of these warring kingdoms, or free themselves from their tyranny, because all of this just continued to go on. And interestingly enough, in many ways, it's still happening today.

Verse 15, "'Then the king of the North,'" who was Antiochus, "'will come, cast up a siege ramp will capture a well-fortified city; and the forces of the South will not stand their ground, not even their choicest troops.'" Now bear in mind, siege warfare was common in those days, you can go to the Near East today, in Israel, for example, and you can see remnants of siege warfare, the enemy would come in, they would build rather large wall around the whole perimeter of the city, while everybody's watching, in a way to communicate to the people that there is no escape. And they would do this with rocks. And then they would find the best place to begin to build a mound, little by little to go up until they could finally breach the walls. And this might take a couple of years. But when you have 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of troops, like little ants, they keep doing that until finally they conquer the city. That's what happened. Now, he speaks here of capturing this "well-fortified city and the forces of the South will not stand their ground, not even their choicest troops.'" And this is interesting. This is a reference to three prominent Egyptian generals, Eropus, Menocles, and Damoxenus,who were sent by Egypt to relieve Sidon and hopefully free them from this siege that was about to destroy them. But it says "'for they will be no strength to make a stand.'" And as predicted Antiochus soundly defeated Ptolemy V at the Battle of Panium near Mount Hermon and captured the city of Sidon.

So now with Syria in his control, this put an end to the Ptolemaic rule in Palestine. Verse 16, "'But he who comes against him will do as he pleases.'" Again, Antiochus was able to do anything he wanted to impose his will upon the Egyptians and their territories, including Palestine. And it says, "'and no one will be able to withstand him, he will also stay for a time in the Beautiful Land,'" referring to the promised land, the land of of Israel, "'with destruction in his hand.'" And indeed in 198, BC, Antiochus ruled over the promised land. But notice what the angelic messenger goes on to predict.

Verse 17, "'He,'" Antiochus, "'will set his face to come with the power of his whole kingdom, bringing with him a proposal of peace which he will put into effect, he will also give him the daughter of women to ruin it.'" You see Antiochus, we know historically, wanted to control all of Egypt, but not through a military invasion, and through military force. And now that he had all the control of Palestine and other eastern territories, he was in a great position to negotiate from a position of strength with Egypt. Furthermore, Antiochus, we know, was planning at that time on attacking Rome. And the last thing he needed is to have the Egyptians rise up and cause trouble. So he's got to do something to kind of calm things down and make sure that his rule was being affected there. So he sent his daughter, Cleopatra I, to marry Ptolemy V in 197 BC, as part of this peace treaty with Egypt. Now there was a bit of a problem here in 197 BC, Ptolemy was only 10 years old. So the marriage did not take place until 193 BC. I mean, let's wait till he's 14 right? And then then you can get married. However, Antiochus had another motive for sending his daughter and that was to get her in the family so that she could spy and help promote Syrian interests in the Ptolemaic family. But notice verse 17, there at the end, "'but she will not take a stand for him or be on his side.'" Indeed, she did not go along with the plan, she actually assimilated very well into the family even assisted them. In fact, Egypt even ended up assisting the Romans when Antiochus fought against them.

Verse 18, "'Then he will turn his face to the coastlands and capture many.'" And we know that happened, Antiochus launched a successful campaign in the Aegean region, which would have been the countries on the Mediterranean Sea, including the islands there. He conquered all of them, a substantial portion of Asia Minor, and Greece. "'But a commander will put a stop to his scorn against him.'" Moreover, "'he will repay him for his scorn.'" And this commander was the Roman General Lucius Cornelius Scipio. He was commissioned by Rome to stop Antiochus, which he did. Antiochus had bragged about how he was going to conquer all of Greece. But in 191 BC, he was driven from his stronghold in Thermopylae, and the next year, he was defeated at Magnesia and Lydia of Asia Minor. And finally in 188 BC, in utter humiliation, he was forced into a peace treaty with Rome. And he had to relinquish all of his territory in Asia Minor and give it to the Romans.

Verse 19, "'So he will turn his face toward the fortresses of his own land, but he will stumble and fall and be found no more.'" That's exactly what happened. He returned to his own land having lost all that he had gained. However, his own land included all of Syria, all of Palestine, all of Mesopotamia, all of Babylon, all of what is around the middle Persian realm, and we know that he was killed while seeking to rob the Temple of Bel in Elam, Persia. So much for Antiochus III the Great.

Verse 20, "'Then in his place one will arise who will send an oppressor.'" The Hebrew concept of that word oppressor, refers to one who forces others to do something, especially pay taxes. "'Than in his place one will arise who will send an oppressor through the Jewel of his kingdom,'" referring to Palestine, "'yet within a few days, he will be shattered, though not in anger nor in battle.'" Now, this is a reference to Seleucus IV Philopater, son and successor of Antiochus the Great. Here's what went on then, because his father had drained all of the treasury to do all of these wars and because he owed Rome annual payment of 1000 talents, he had to get money from somewhere. So he sends a guy named Heliodorus, to seize the funds of the temple in Jerusalem. That's a great place to go get money. And according to Second Maccabees three, Maccabees or non-canonical Jewish writings detailing Jewish history. According to the Second Maccabees three, this attempt was thwarted by the appearance at the temple of a divine apparition. Let me read you some of that old ancient history to give you a sense of what happened according to the historians. "When he had arrived at Jerusalem and had been kindly welcomed by the high priest of the city, he told about the disclosure that had been made and stated why he had come, and he inquired whether this really was the situation. The high priest explained that there were some deposits belonging to widows and orphans, and also some money of Heranicus, a son of Tobias, a man of very prominent position, and that it totaled in all 400 talents of silver and 200 of gold. To such an extent the pious Simon had misrepresented the facts. And he said that it was utterly impossible that wrong should be done to those people who had trusted in the holiness of the place, and in the sanctity and inviolability of the temple that is honored throughout the whole world. But Heliodorus, because of the orders he had from the king said that this money must in any case be confiscated for the king's treasury. So he set a day and went in to direct the inspection of these funds. There was no little distress throughout the whole city. The priests prostrated themselves before the altar in their priestly vestments and called toward heaven upon him who had given the law about deposits, that he should keep them safe for those who had deposited them. To see the appearance of the high priest was to be wounded at heart for his face and the change in his color, disclosed the anguish of his soul, for terror and bodily trembling had come over the man which plainly showed to those who looked at him, the pain lodged in his heart. People also hurried out of their houses in crowds to make a general supplication because the Holy Place was about to be brought into dishonor. Women girded with sackcloth, under their breasts thronged the streets, some of the young men who were kept indoors ran together to the gates and some to the walls, while others peered out of windows, and holding up their hands to heaven, they all made supplication. There was something pitiable in the prostration of the whole populace and the anxiety of the high priest in his great anguish. While they were calling upon the Almighty Lord, that he would keep what he what had been entrusted safe and secure, for those who had entrusted it, Heliodorus went on with what had been decided. But when he arrived at the Treasury with his bodyguard, then and there, the sovereign of spirits, and of all authority, caused so great a manifestation that all who had been so bold as to accompany him, were astounded by the power of God and became faint with terror. For there appeared to them a magnificently caparisoned horse." Caparisoned is an old word, it means equipped, it means decked out with rich ornamentation and decoration and that type of thing. "With a rider of frightening mean, and it rushed furiously at Heliodorus and struck him with its fernet hooves. Its rider was seen to have armor and weapons of gold. Two young men also appeared to him remarkably strong, glorious, beautiful and splendidly dressed, who stood on either side of him and flogged him continuously, inflicting many blows on him. When he suddenly fell to the ground and deep darkness came over him, his men took him up, put him on a stretcher, and carried him away. This man who had just entered the aforesaid treasury, with a great retinue, and all his bodyguard was now unable to help himself, they recognize clearly the sovereign power of God." End quote. Now, it's all that true? We're not sure, this is what the historians tell us. But something happened and we know that Heliodorus returned home empty handed, and later on, we know that he assassinated Seleucus Philopater, as prophesied.

Notice verse 20. "Yet within a few days, he,'" Seleucus Philopater, "'will be shattered, though not in anger nor in battle.'" So after a short 11 year reign, Seleucus died mysteriously, apparently through poisoning. Another historian tells us that his son, Demetrius Sotar, had been taken hostage to Rome, when Heliodorus, his Prime Minister, evidently sought the throne for himself and committed this act.

But notice verse 21, "In his place,'" referring to Seleucus Philopater, "'a despicable person will arise, on whom the honor of kingship has not been conferred, but he will come at a time of tranquility and seize the kingdom by intrigue.'" And folks, this leads us to our fourth point in the little outline that referring to Antiochus IV Epiphanes.

Let me just introduce this briefly in closing this morning. Following the death of Seleucus IV, his brother, Antiochus IV seizes the throne illegally, from the son of his murdered brother, this Demetrius Soter, who was still held hostage by the Romans and the new king adopted the name Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 175 BC. Epiphanes means glorious. He had to have his own name. Though he was a relatively obscure monarch in the ancient Near East, who, by the way, only ruled for nine years in the days and the decline of the Syrian power and the rise of Rome in the West. He was certainly Satan's emissary. Commissioned to inflict enormous casualties on God's covenant people. And his bitter persecution of the Jews ended up fueling the Maccabean Revolt resulting in heavy Jewish casualties, resulting in the defilement of the temple and the altar. And he therefore typifies the coming Antichrist whose diabolical reign and ruin are described later on in verses 36 and following. In fact, folks and Daniel 11:31, as well as 12:11, Daniel mentions the, quote, "abomination of desolation." Persecution of Israel committed by Antiochus Epiphanes. And we'll get into that the next time we get together on this. But likewise, Jesus referred to this important event. First spoken of in Daniel, Jesus speaks of this in his Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, beginning in verse 15, we read, "'Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let the reader understand, that those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains.'" Later on in verses 21 through 22, he warns of this coming period, as "Great Tribulation upon Israel upon the world." This is what's coming. It is a time of tribulation without parallel in human history. He went on there to say, "'For then, there will be great tribulation, such has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved, but for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.'" Hope you understand Jesus expects a literal fulfillment of this prophecy, consistent with the literal fulfillment of Daniel's prophecies, concerning the abomination of desolation committed by Antiochus Epiphanes.

I might add that I believe with all my heart, Jesus expects a literal fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecies. So because of the unique parallels, beginning in verse 21, the rise of Antiochus IV Epiphanes occupies a lot of space in this chapter. In fact, it is a major section in this entire prophetic revelation which we will examine in our next exposition of this passage.

Well, friends, I hope you are awestruck by the accuracy of God's word. I hope that if nothing else, you will be further committed to study the Word, to see its absolute power, that a sovereign God has given this to us. Again, 135 detailed prophetic statements that were fulfilled literally. And why would he give all of this to Daniel, and ultimately to us? To demonstrate the sovereignty of God, the veracity of Scripture, the horrors of sin, the rule of Satan; to demonstrate God's faithfulness to his covenant promises and to help us anticipate the glory of Christ's avenging justice. So given all this, dear friends, may I ask you, what is your attitude towards God? Towards his word, towards his Son, our Savior and King, the Lord Jesus Christ? What is your attitude? Is he the sovereign creator? Sustainer, Redeemer concentrator of all things? Or is he just a myth? Is he some smiley face Santa Claus that is kind of stingy, but you can learn how to manipulate him so he will hand out the goodies? Is that who he is? Friends, I hope you can see from the Word of God that he is indeed our Creator, our sovereign God. And that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible, authoritative, all sufficient Word of the living God. It is not a book of myths. I hope it's your spiritual authority because if it's not, what is? Is it culture, is it your own ideas? Is it the foolishness of man or the wisdom of God? Well, I hope it's the latter and not the former. Because someday, all of us will see him face to face. And as I say, you will either see him in terror or in triumph. Remember that. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for your Word that speaks so powerfully to all of us who have been given the ears to hear. And we know, as always, that your Word will either harden or soften hearts. Lord, I beg you that it will be the latter and not the former. You've told us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding. And certainly we've been given much of that here today. I pray that you will help us to grab hold of the great truths that you have given us with respect to your sovereignty, your holiness, and to your ultimate plan of redemption. That we might live consistently with these truths, and that others might see Christ in us, the hope of glory. For it's in his name that I pray. Amen.

This morning, we returned once again to our verse by verse study of the book of Daniel. So if you will take your Bibles turn to Daniel chapter 10. And I've entitled my discourse to you this morning, "A Glorious Preparation for Revelation." This is another astounding text that is often overlooked. But it is a text that has much practical application and instruction for our everyday lives. Because as we will see, Satan's efforts to thwart the purposes of God and to destroy his people, continues to exist to this day, as it did in the days of Daniel. And what we know biblically, as we will see from the prophecies, forthcoming from chapters 11, and 12, These things will worsen prior to the Lord's return as demons prepare the world for the rule of the Antichrist, by influencing wicked people, we see this already with the wickedness in the whole liberal, progressive movement, global elitist, and so forth. And in this chapter, we are going to gain great insights into the role of demons, and how they influence rulers and nations, and how world events are often shaped because of the things that they are up to. And we will also understand their unique commission to destroy the people of God and thwart God's sovereign purposes and plans. Just to get you thinking, I want you to understand, dear friends, that Satan is alive and well and he has a demonic horde that is actively and aggressively at work today. It is no coincidence that an unqualified career politician in a state of cognitive decline, with virtually no accomplishments and 40 years of politics, was elected President of these United States. It is no coincidence that this President and his top military advisors would humiliate United States of America in the withdrawal from Afghanistan. It's no coincidence that there is over 100 cargo tanker sitting off the coast of California, waiting to be unloaded. It is no coincidence that we have a supply chain crisis. It is no coincidence that the economic policies of the Democratic Party are not only destroying the economy in the United States, but also weakening the dollar all around the world. It's no coincidence that there is no end to the new COVID variants requiring unconstitutional experimental vaccine mandates, unending boosters, vaccine passports, destructive lock downs. And now they're coming after our children who are at virtually no risk. It's no coincidence that globalists continue to use fear to condition the masses to obey the government authorities. It is not happenstance that they are now pushing for embedded biometrics so that they can somehow have a digital vaccine passport. It's not just random reality that progressive corporate and tech billionaires censor those who reject their political ideologies. It is not just happenstance that progressive politicians have shut down the oil pipelines in our country, that they push this global warming hoax that they burden businesses with ridiculous environmental restrictions that sabotage our economy. And it's not just random reality that our government promotes subsidized unemployment. All of these things are going someplace. It's not coincidence that liberal politicians and religious phonies continue to promote the woke, critical race theory, LGBTQ insanity. Not only promote it, but try to impose those values on everyone. It's not coincidence that hundreds of 1000s of illegal aliens are flooding our porous borders and being released into our population without proper vetting. It's not just coincidence that the godless political left now rule our country through activist judges, through unelected bureaucrats, through public school teachers and academia and mainstream media and social media, and Hollywood. These things aren't just happening. They are all part of Satan's plan as he continues to rule this world temporarily. It's not coincidence that the two institutions that God has ordained and promised to bless--the two institutions of which Christ is to be the head--marriage and the church, are both under attack in our country. It's not by accident that we see an escalation of military conflicts around the world, especially the resurgence of anti semitism. It's not just by accident that Russia is now aligning itself with Turkey and Iran is being aided by Russia and by China. It's not just a coincidence that the European Union and NATO are beefing up their military might. It's not just something random, some happenstance that there is an increased demand for a central bank, digital currency. Beloved, all of these things are a result of Satan's plan and demonic activity. And through his minions, Satan is paving the way for global governance under the rule of the Antichrist, absolute totalitarianism, as we see in the prophetic Scriptures, a one world ruler, a one world economy, and a one world government. And what we are witnessing today is not only the systematic destruction of life as we know it in America, but hear this, we are witnessing God's sovereign plan being enacted, even through the use of his ape, Satan and his minions, and in that we can find comfort, can we not? What you're about to hear today, and over the next few weeks is a detailed explanation of the truths God has revealed to us through His Word. And sadly, many of these things most professing Christians know nothing about.

Well, let me give you a little background here of where we're going in the last three chapters of the book of Daniel, beginning here in Daniel 10. God is revealing prophetic truths concerning the future world events, beginning with the reign of Cyrus in 536 BC, all the way through the future reign of the Lord Jesus Christ, when he establishes his kingdom. So as there's this vast, historical, prophetic panorama that is being unfolded, this covers the same period here in chapter 10 and following that was set forth in Chapter Eight of Daniel, the reign of the Medo-Persian Empire, and later the Grecian empires. But what we're going to see is much more detail regarding the rule of Alexander the Great as well as the pre kingdom judgments, also known as the Great Tribulation.

Now, you will recall in Daniel nine, because it's been a number of weeks over the Christmas vacation, we moved away from Daniel and now we're back in it, but you will remember in Daniel nine, especially verses 24 and 27, that God revealed some amazing truths to Daniel. The background there--Daniel had offered heartfelt confession of sin, he was praying for his Israeli kinsmen, and he offered intercession on their behalf that they might be delivered from Babylonian captivity restored to their land and so forth. And God sent his angel Gabriel to answer his prayers. But in his answer, we see that what Daniel prayed for was not enough. That God's answer encompassed a far greater deliverance than merely the deliverance from the Babylonian captivity, he disclosed his plan to deliver his people from their sin, a remedy that could only be accomplished by Christ's death on the cross, at the end of his first coming, but his answer also looked beyond their Gentile oppressors in Babylon, to a final day, when they will be forever delivered from all earthly oppressors. And that will be accomplished by the triumph of Christ at His Second Coming. All of this will require 490 years, that is 70 weeks, as is revealed in that text, 70 weeks of years, literally seven sevens. And that was divided into two seasons of deliverance, the first requiring 69 weeks of years, or 483 years leading up to the death of Christ. And then, after an indefinite period of time, the final week, often called Daniel's 70th week, would ensue, culminating in the second coming of the Messiah, who will defeat the enemies of the Antichrist bent on exterminating all of ethnic Israel, and all who refuse to worship him. The details of that victory are given to us in chapter seven. And this brings us now to where we're at today. This is Daniel's fourth and final vision. And as I say, it is a magnificent prophetic panorama that is first introduced in chapter 10, through the first verse of chapter 11. That's what we will look at here today. And then we're going to see beginning in 11, to 35, there's the prediction concerning the immediate future from Daniel's perspective regarding Darius all the way to Antiochus. And then in verses 36 through verse four of chapter 12, you will see another division where he leaps into the far future, giving us great insights into what's going to happen just prior to our Lord's Second Coming. And then in chapter 12, verses five through 13, he gives a final message, and revelation to Daniel. So let's examine now, this introduction of Daniel's final vision recorded for us in chapter 10.

Again, I've been titled this "A Glorious Preparation for Revelation." We're going to look at it under three headings very simple, Daniel's mournful prayer to understand Israel's future. And then secondly, Daniel's terrifying vision of the glory of Christ. And then thirdly, Daniel's angelic strengthening, necessary to proceed. Now he begins in verse one by giving us the setting. In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia, a message was revealed to Daniel, who was named Belteshazzar." You will recall this was the name that was assigned to Daniel when he first arrived as a young teenage boy in Babylon. So this now is about 536 BC. This is given to Daniel when he's about 84 or 85 years old. And this is about two years after Gabriel's appearance to Daniel in chapter nine, and also about two years after the Jews were allowed to return back to Judea, to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. Daniel was praying and he goes on to say, "And the message was true and one of great conflict." In other words, the message that he is about to receive, the message that we now have, under the inspiration of this prophet, speaks of great conflicts between nations in the future. And then he says, "But he understood the message and had an understanding of the vision."

So first, let's look under the heading of Daniel's mournful prayer to understand Israel's future and see what the Spirit of God has for us. Verse two, "In those days, I Daniel, had been mourning for three entire weeks. Have you ever mourned for something for three entire weeks." Have you ever had that level of burden, he was burdened for his people. He saw the troubles they had encountered when they returned back to Judea. It's been about two years now. The physical difficulties, the enemies in the land, their spiritual difficulties. He knew the horrors as well of the divine judgment that awaited them in years to come. He could look back and recall the 400 years of oppressive bondage in Egypt, despite the promises God made in his covenant to Abram in Genesis 15. He was burdened for these things. He was very aware of the captivity and banishment in its several stages, with the invasions of Nebuchadnezzar in the past. But, dear friends, the predictive revelations he had received made him aware that the sufferings of his people were just beginning. He wanted to understand these things. The subjugation under the Romans, the eventual destruction of Jerusalem, was absolutely unimaginable. And persecution has continued down through history, to this very day. But the revived Roman Empire under the rule of the Antichrist, in Daniel's 70th week, would be the worst of all, oh, dear friends the ravages of sin. Do you mourn over it in your life and in the lives of others in the lives of the people of the world? Jesus said, “Blessed are those who mourn for they will” be what? Comforted. Seldom do we really come to grips with sins, deadly consequences, especially in our culture of ease. In fact, most professing Christians have never really suffered for their faith. Because most professing Christians are just professing Christians. They're Christian in name only, they're chameleons. They have a dead faith that cannot save. They're pretend Christians so they blend in with the culture, so they're not going to be persecuted. But of course, friendship with the world is enmity with God, and God will judge all who rebel against Him. But Daniel now is mourning over the future of his people. He's longing for understanding, to be sure he loved the Lord and he loved his people. He was truly a godly man, something that is rare in his day, and in our day, in fact, later, the angel described him in verse 11, as "a man of high esteem," verse 12, a man who set his "heart on understanding," humbling himself before his God. And we see the depth of his passion in verse three, "I did not eat any tasty food, nor did meat or wine into my mouth." Of course, being in the king's court, he had the advantage of all of these luxuries, but he limited himself to a meager diet, so that he could focus on what was really at hand. And plus, he was distressed over all of this, so he had very little appetite. He said, "nor did I use any ointment at all until the entire three weeks were completed." You see, it was customary for them in those days to anoint exposed flesh with oil to protect it from the sun's rays. But all of that also was a symbol of joy, which would be discontinued in times of mourning. And these acts of self-denial were not intended to somehow really get God's attention; that's not why he was doing this. But rather, the intention was to help him concentrate on the matters at hand and to help him maintain the proper priority of his heart. And sadly, self-discipline and self-denial are foreign virtues in our culture, of self-indulgence and gluttony and sloth, all you have to do is go to Walmart and you will see that.

Dave Harrell

Verse four, "On the 24th day of the first month, while I was by the bank of the great river, that is, the Tigris." Let me pause there for a moment. This is important. This would have been the month of Nissan. So he prayed through the Passover season that was celebrated on the 14th of that month immediately followed by the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which lasted for seven days. So this was a fitting time for his petition to the Lord, because it was the time that commemorated Israel's original exodus from the bondage of Egypt, going into the promised land. But now he's witnessing another exodus, his people going back to their land after the Babylonian captivity, and he wants to understand more what's going to happen to them.

So we moved from Daniel's mournful prayer to understand Israel's future to secondly, Daniel's terrifying vision of the glory of Christ. Verse five, "I lifted my eyes and looked and behold, there was a certain man dressed in linen." All through Scripture, dear friends, linen is white. And white linen is a symbol of purity, it was worn by the priests, and I can't help but think of Isaiah one and verse 18, "Though your sins be as scarlet, they will be as white as snow. Though they are red, like crimson, they will be like wool." In fact, the Saints in glory are described in Revelation three, five as being "clothed in white garments. He goes on to describe what he sees. This being had a waist, that was "girded with a belt of pure gold of Uphaz." We don't know where that is, it's an unidentified place in Scripture. So he sees this heavenly being appearing as a human. But obviously, it has all the trappings of deity. It is indescribable, terrifying glory. Imagine what it would be like to be on the bank of a river, and to look out across the river and all of a sudden you see this elevated in front of you. It produced paralyzing fear. I believe, dear friends that this was a theophany, a visible manifestation of the pre–Incarnate Christ, the Lord of Glory who reigned supreme over all of his creation, in the purity of his holiness. And the reason why I, and many other conservative scholars would believe this, is because Daniels description has undeniable parallels with other descriptions of the glorified Christ in Ezekiel and Revelation. In fact, John the Apostle had the same reaction when he saw the glorified Christ in Revelation 1:17. It says, "I fell at his feet like a dead man." It goes on to say in Revelation one beginning in verse 13, "In the middle of the lampstand I saw one like a Son of Man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet and girded across his chest with a golden sash. His head and his hair were white, like white wool, like snow, and his eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. In his right hand, he held seven stars and out of his mouth came a sharp two edged sword and his face was like the sun shining in its strength." We can go to Ezekiel chapter one and see a very similar description and a similar reaction.

Now notice the similarities back to Daniel 10, beginning in verse six. His body that he says, also "was like beryl." Beryl was, I should say is, a magnificent gem having a yellow and gold luster to it, kind of quartz like in structure. He goes on to say, "his face had the appearance of lightning, his eyes were like flaming torches." Imagine looking into the face, the glowing face of deity, and seeing the penetrating eyes of divine omniscience, looking back at you. Absolutely terrifying. This is what he sees. "His arms and feet were like the gleam of polished bronze and the sound of his words, like the sound of a tumult." We're not sure what he said, but his voice sounded like a thunderous crowd of people speaking in unison. Verse seven, "Now I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, while the men who were with me did not see the vision; nevertheless, a great dread fell on them and they ran away to hide themselves." They couldn't see what was going on, but they knew Daniel, and they saw what was going on with his face, the color of his skin, and they could tell something supernatural was occurring. And they rent ran and hid themselves.

So verse eight, "I was left alone and saw this great vision; yet no strength was left in me, for my natural color turned to a deathly pallor, and I retained no strength." Beloved, this is always the reaction in Scripture, when someone is given a glimpse of the glory of God, it is one of sheer terror, and overwhelming sense of utter unworthiness and helplessness. At that moment, all sense of self sufficiency and self-aggrandizement evaporates like a fog when the Son comes out, and beams its rays upon it. Verse nine, "But I heard the sound of his words; and as soon as I heard the sound of his words, I fell into a deep sleep on my face, with my face to the ground." He was in a state of shock, he just passed out. It was just overwhelming. Now, I think it's fair to ask the question, why would the Lord appear in this way, and terrify his humble servant to the point of death? Well, Scripture doesn't necessarily say, but when we look at this context, and we look at other passages of Scripture, I think it's fair to assume that what God wanted to do is to remind Daniel of his ineffable glory and his sovereign might. Behold, Daniel, look at me, the one to whom you were praying. I want you to see the preexistent, self-existent, uncreated Creator of the universe. I want you to look upon the one who is omnipotent, the great I Am that is omnipresent, that is omniscient, that is sovereign over all of his creation. I am the invincible ruler of the universe, be comforted with that, be strengthened by that. I am the one according to Isaiah 46:10, "declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times, things which have not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish my good pleasure.'" O, dear Christian, when the storms of life, toss your little boat to and fro and you feel like you're going to be drowned in the depths of the sea. You must look up and behold the glory of God and be comforted by his great strength and care. Be confident in his purposes in your life come what may. If you're drowning in sorrow, perhaps here today, if you're collapsing under the weight of some great burden, if you're confused about the direction of your life, dear friends, please hear me. You need a soul destroying, I should say sin destroying, soul invigorating, so captivating vision of the glory of God. This is what Daniel needed. And it was something I'm sure he never forgot. You say Well, yes, pastor, but but how I how can we see such a vision? We cannot see what he saw. Well, that's true. In fact, the apostle Paul tells us that for now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face someday we will see Him face to face. Now I know in part he says, but then I will know fully just as I have also been fully known. But we can, dear friends, see the glory of Christ in the gospel. We can through the eyes of faith see him revealed on every page of Scripture. We can see him in his true church. Indeed, he abides in each one of us, Christ in you the hope of what? The hope of glory.

The apostle Paul made it clear in his epistles, that all that God is and all that God does speaks of his intrinsic glory, especially his invasion to the material universe through the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, which the apostle John described in these words, "and the Word became flesh," John 1:14, "and dwelt among us. And we saw his glory; glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." Sadly, we live in an evangelical culture today that has little concern, to see the glory of Christ. His word is not that big of a deal, his person is not that big of a deal. People really don't want to know him intimately. They don't care to commune with him to nourish their souls upon his word. They just live for themselves. And certainly, this is true of the unregenerate. In fact, those without Christ, and if that is you, you're probably sitting here right now and you're absolutely bored stiff. And the reason for that is you are alienated from God, and you are darkened in your understanding, and you are without Christ, and therefore you are without hope. And I would challenge you to do business with God this day, repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. But many professing Christians leave their first love, right? And as a result, they have no zeal for the glory of God or a passion to live in such a way that others will see the glory of Christ in them. They are just caught up in the world. And they don't see the Lord's glory, because frankly, they care nothing for it. The Titans game on Sunday is much more important. So their lives are powerless. And they serve what David Wells calls "a weightless God."

Let me give you a little background here because it's very important. The Old Testament Hebrew term for glory is "kavod." And it comes from a root word that means heavy or weighty. It carried the idea of the heaviness of something and was therefore used even as a measure of worth or a measure of value. For example, we might say that something is worth its weight in gold. So you see the value there. Therefore, the term is often used in a figurative sense in Scripture, to suggest the remarkable worthiness or intrinsic value of a person and when applied to the Lord Jesus Christ, as Daniel sees him, as he beholds him, he is absolutely astonished by the weight of his glory, which produces an ever increasing zeal for his glory. Beloved, bear in mind, because we are united to Christ, he dwells within us, and we not only reflect His glory, but it actually radiates from within us. But many today in evangelicalism know nothing of any of this. They know nothing of the glory of God, in his holiness, for example, which is the all-encompassing attribute of his infinite perfection, and purity and power. But oh, dear friends, to see the effulgence of the celestial majesty of God, the resplendent light of his glory glowing off of him. I long for that day, I hope you do as well. Even though I can't see it, as Daniel did, I can see it in my mind's eye and through the eyes of faith, through his word, I can see it clearly. But oh, how much more clearly, when we see him face to face. Child of God it is our zeal for God's glory that unleashes the power of the Holy Spirit of God within us, causing our lives to redound to the glory of God and our souls to be flooded with the inexpressible joy of his presence and his power. This is what God wanted to reinforce in Daniel. But sadly, as I say, many serve what David Wells calls "a weightless God." Here's what he said, "It is one of the defining marks of our time that God is now weightless." In other words, this is the opposite of "kavod." "I do not mean by this, that he is ethereal, but rather that he has become unimportant. He rests upon the world so in consequentially as not to be noticeable. He has lost his saliency for human life. Those who assure the pollster of their belief in God's existence may nonetheless consider him less interesting than television. His commands less authoritative than their appetites for affluence, and influence his judgment, no more awe inspiring than the evening news and his truth less compelling than the advertisers sweet fog of flattery and lies that," he says, "is weightlessness."

Contrast this dear friend to the Lord's command given to us in Psalm 96, beginning in verse two, "Sing to the Lord, bless His name, proclaim good tidings of His salvation from day to day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples, for great is the Lord and greatly to be praised; He is to be feared above all gods." Oh, dear Christian, the pre incarnate glory of Christ, mind you, dwells within you, in some mysterious way that we cannot fathom. Remember that he has redeemed us that he might inhabit us, and one day glorify us in ways similar to his glory. And let this be the driving force of your life. Let this animate your heart to perpetual praise and confidence in his sovereign plan. Much of which is delineated in His Word. This is why I believe he appeared to Daniel has such an amazing, unforgettable way. I mean stop and think about it. If you saw for just one second what Daniel saw, what would happen? I'll tell you what would happen. Every priority in your life would suddenly be different, right? Everything would change, and your confidence in his plan and purposes would be unshakable.

Now, back to the text. We've seen Daniel's mournful prayer to understand Israel's future in his terrifying vision of the glory of Christ. And now thirdly, we're going to see Daniel's angelic strengthening, necessary to proceed. Verse 10, "Then behold, a hand touched me." Now this is probably the hand of Gabriel. As we will see, Gabriel had done this before, for example, in Daniel nine. And he says he "set me trembling on my hands and knees." So get the scene now, Daniel is at the riverbank here he has seen this. He's now raised up from his face in the ground, but he still tottering to and fro on his hands and knees, he can hardly even remain in that posture. Verse 11, "He said to me, 'O Daniel, man of high esteem, understand the words that I am about to tell you and stand upright, for I have now been sent to you.' And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up, trembling. Then he said to me, 'Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.'" Oh, dear Christian, what a powerful reminder that God hears and he answers prayer. But remember, he hears and answers the prayers of those who fear Him, who humble themselves before him, who seek understanding. And what a testimony to see how God dispatches his angels, to do his bidding to minister to us. Remember Hebrews 1:14, they are "ministering spirits," the writer tells us "sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation."

Now, what follows is evidence of how demonic forces are exceedingly active in thwarting the purposes and plans of God, exerting their influence on the rulers of nations. Verse 13, "'But the prince of the kingdom of Persia,'" This is now a reference to some powerful demon, perhaps, even Satan himself, "'The prince of the kingdom of Persia, was withstanding me for 21 days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia.'" This is really fascinating. Michael, whose name means "who is like God" is one of the most powerful of the holy angels. He is the one who leads and protects Israel as we see, for example, later on in verse 21. In fact, in Jude nine, he's called Michael, the archangel, "archaggelos" in the original language, meaning the first angel. He is the one that goes on to say, who disputed with the devil, and argued about the body of Moses. That's another story for another time. And the phrase here in this text, "for I had been left there" is really interesting. In Hebrew, it helps us see in the passive voice, it's referring to being left over or remaining in a position of preeminence. As if to say he was the only one left on the field of battle. That's the idea. And so the point here is with the help of Michael, Daniel's visitor, who I believe is probably Gabriel, gained the victory, and was thus left beside the kings of Persia. In other words, he replaced Satan's demonic envoy and now assume the position of influence with the Persian ruler. Notice "kings" is plural. So the godly influence extended now to Persian kings for actually a period of two centuries, until Alexander the Great would come along and conquer them, and become the new ruler of the world. And these angelic battles, dear friends, have continued down through the millennia of redemptive history. Now, bear in mind, this conflict even continued even after the message was given to Daniel. So because Daniel was receiving the message isn't the reason for the conflict. Rather, it was probably, we can't say for sure, but probably related to Cyrus's decree to allow the Jews to return to Judea and rebuild the temple. Oh my, from Satan's perspective, that's one of the worst things that could ever happen. Because if Jerusalem is intact, and the people are in the land and the temple is rebuilt, what might happen? The Messiah might return, can't have that. This, dear friends, is why the Temple Mount in Jerusalem remains to this day the most disputed piece of real estate in all of the world. It is the epicenter of the battle between Satan and God. So God used his holy angels here, Michael and Gabriel to influence the Persian monarch to release the Jews against the will of Satan and the battle ensues, a battle that continued even with the demonic forces over Alexander the Great and his Grecian empire that would follow.

Verse 20, will speak of that. God's people would be under their jurisdiction, following the Persian dominance. And as I say, this warfare continues to rage to this very day, as the holy angels may battle Satan's minions that endeavor to rule this world system. And you know, Satan is the ingenious and diabolical general of a demonic army that's waging this invisible war against God and all who belong to Him; Ephesians six speaks of this in particular. He is according to Second Corinthians four four, "The god of this world; who has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." But he is also an enemy that God will one day defeat. We read about that in Revelation 12, for example. You know, Hitler was one of Satan's great stooges. In Mein Kampf, he posited the lie that there was a Jewish conspiracy to gain world leadership. Do you realize that it's still going around to this day? Staggering. This became the heart of the Nazi propaganda that led to World War Two. And as a result, 85 million people were killed in a span of about five years. 55 million of them innocent civilians. Joe Biden and his administration are Satan stooges today, as have been other administrations that we've had. Their policies are not only destroying America, but they are absolutely antithetical to the will of God in Scripture. Their obsession with the brutal dismemberment of unborn and unwanted babies is just one example of this. They scoff, they censor Christians. And frankly, those who support these rulers are deceived, and they are damned because they do not know God. I can't imagine a person calling themselves a Christian voting for these people. It's incomprehensible. Like the godless Pharisees, of whom Jesus said, "'You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe.'" Jesus went on to say "'He who is of God hears the words of God. For this reason, you do not hear them because you are not of God.'" For generations, the American people have been lied to by demonically empowered, elected politicians. Teachers in our public schools that tell them that there is no God. There is no creator, that all the magnificent things in this world, all of the living systems, in this physical universe, are really the exalt of some big explosion 13 to 15 billion years ago. We continue to be lied to by psychologists and philosophers who tell people that they are basically good. And if given the proper environment, their true nature will show. And oh boy their true natures do show. All you have to do is look at what happens in these so-called protests. Look what happens in the crime of so many of these cities. They tell people that man is basically deprived, not depraved. Oh, you can't say that. So they scoff at man's need for the saving, transforming power of the gospel. We've been lied to by college and university, professionals, professors, by progressive liberals who fanned the flames of identity politics. With the unbiblical concepts of critical race theory and intersectionality, the found the national tenets of the Black Lives Matter movement and so forth. We've been lied to by generations of false religions, false teachers, even within the ranks of evangelicalism to the point where so many evangelical churches today are populated by people that do not know Christ. They do not understand the gospel. They want nothing to do with the truth. And even many people who do know Christ are so superficial. They have no biblical discernment. And when you look at their lives, it's hard to distinguish them from the lives of the unregenerate today. We can't trust the media. We can't trust politicians. We can't trust the FBI, the DOJ, on and on it goes right. Why? Because "the whole world lies in the power of the evil one," First John 5:19. Ephesians six, Paul says in verse 12, "For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." Who knows to what extent UFOs are tied to all of that? I don't know and I don't care. But we see this so clearly in our text this morning.

Back to the text, verse 14, Gabriel says, "'Now I have come to give you an understanding of what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to the day's yet future.'" In other words, what I'm about to tell you is the future far beyond what you've been praying about with respect to Israel.

Verse 15, "When he had spoken to me according to these words, I turned my face toward the ground and became speechless. And behold, one who resembled a human being was touching my lips; then I opened my mouth and spoke and said to him, who was standing before me, 'O my Lord, as a result of the vision anguish has come upon me, and I have retained no strength. For how can such a servant of my lord talk with such as my lord? As for me, there remains just now no strength in me, nor has any breath been left in me.'" In other words, he's saying here that I can't even hardly breathe, I'm so terrified. "Then this one with human appearance touched me again and strengthened me. He said, 'O man of high esteem, do not be afraid. Peace be with you; take courage and be courageous!' Now, as soon as he spoke to me, I received strength and said, 'May my lord, speak for you have strengthened me.' Then he said, 'Do you understand why I came to you?'" In other words, he's reminding him here that, that I've come to answer more than just what you were asking about pertaining to the immediate future of your people, but to show you also the spiritual warfare that is occurring in the world today. He goes on to say, "'But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come.'" So this Prince of Greece now is going to be another emissary of Satan, to influence Alexander the Great and his people, and on and on, it goes down through history. So he obviously wanted Daniel, and all of us to be fully aware of the kind of spiritual warfare that's going on behind the veil of human awareness. And dear friends, were it not for God's omnipotence, which includes his use of the holy angels to accomplish his purposes, and fighting back the angelic, the demonic forces of this world, were it not for all of that, the people of this world would kill every single Christian and burn every single Bible.

Verse 21, "'However, I will tell you what is inscribed in the writing of truth.'" In other words, what I'm about to tell you is reliable, it's infallible, it's inspired. It's come from directly from God himself. Then he says something interesting, "'Yet there is no one who stands firmly with me against these forces except Michael your prince.'" In other words, Michael and I have this covered. We have this covered.

Then verse one of chapter 11 really goes with this, "In the first year of Darius the Mede, I arose to be an encouragement and a protection for him." In other words, two years earlier, Gabriel says, I went to assist Michael in a time of need. So relax, we've got this covered. By the way, that would have evidently been the time when the Jews returned to Judah under Sheshbazzar in Ezra one. And there was that return we know from Ezra, was fraught with all kinds of demonic resistance. And probably resistance may be coming from Darius and Cyrus, requiring both Michael and Gabriel to somehow intervene to gain the victory.

So, beloved, this is the introduction to what is to come in chapter 11, and chapter 12, a glorious preparation for revelation. And may I challenge you in closing this morning--dear friend, if you do not know Christ, today is the day that you need to place your faith in him because he is coming again. And for those of us who know him, oh, dear Christian, may we all get serious about our walk with Christ, about living lies for the glory of Christ and not for ourselves? I think of what Paul said in Philippians, three, beginning of verse seven, "Whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ." More than that, he says, "I count all things to be loss." And here's why. "In view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them, but rubbish, so that I may gain Christ." No, this dear friends, God's plans cannot be thwarted by man or by demon. His kingdom will come and his will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And let us all rejoice with great confidence in those realities and live consistently with them. Amen.

Father, thank You for the truths of your word that speaks so directly to our hearts. I pray that because of them even this day, you will save sinners and you will edify and encourage saints that we may live for your glory until you come again to take us unto yourself. We thank you, we give you praise. In Jesus name. Amen.

Will you take your Bibles and turn to Daniel chapter nine. Once again, we are going to be looking at verses 24 through 27. As we continue to make our way through this amazing book, this will actually be part two of what I've entitled 70 sevens. Before we look at the text. I'd like to remind you of a few things that will, I think, help us set our mind where it needs to be, given what we have before us in this passage of Scripture. We understand from scripture that Satan is the father of lies, he was a murderer from the beginning, there is no truth in him. Paul tells us that he is, "the god of this world that blinds the minds of the unbelievers that they might not see the light of the glory of Christ." We know from First John five and verse 19, that "the whole world lies in the lap of the evil one." Temporarily, he is the god of this world. And his primary purpose is to thwart the purposes of God, and to do that at every level, in every way he possibly can. And he does this primarily through deceptions, false ideologies, false philosophies, using false teachers, using political movements that are rooted in false presuppositions. And we see this all the time in our culture today. In fact, we see this most blatantly, in political and theological liberalism, twin evils that destroy nations, and deceive people, damn men souls. We live in an age of mass delusion. Millions are ruled by impressions and beliefs that are contradicted by reason and rationality. We look at things like critical race theory. And millions of people actually believe that that is based in facts rather than leftist propaganda. Millions of people believe that there's nothing nefarious going on with all of this vaccine and vaccine mandates and all of these types of things. Millions of people believe that biological males can be females if they want to be, and vice versa. Millions believe there are more than two genders. In fact, there can be well over 100 according to some. They believe that you can choose to be whatever you want. I was reading just this last week, maybe you saw it in the news, the governor of New York has now made it illegal to misgender a transgender or transsexual person who identifies with the opposite sex. In other words, Misgender means to use the wrong pronoun that that person wants you to use. Millions believe that a 17-year-old boy is a white supremacist and vigilante when he was protecting himself from the physical attacks of three white males, criminals, that that who were trying to kill him, and all of this is on video. But that doesn't matter. Facts don't matter to people that are delusional. Dyjuan Tatro, senior adviser to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said this in regard to this written house trial that we've seen unfold this week. Quote, "The American legal system is rooted in racism and functions to uphold white supremacy." That's like saying two plus two is five. Folks, this is the work of Satan in the heart and the mind of people that have no fear of God. What the Bible calls fools, and those people will despise wisdom and instruction and as a result, we know biblically that God punishes those who reject him by giving them over to a depraved mind, literally a worthless mind. And they become delusional. We read about this, for example, in Romans one beginning of verse 28, "And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice, there, gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving and merciful. And although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them." This is what happens according to what Paul said in Second Timothy four and verse four, I believe it is, "when people turn away their ears from the truth, they will turn aside unto myths." In other words, whenever there is the deliberate rejection of truth, that will result in the delusional acceptance of lies. And that's where we're at in the world today in our culture today. That, by the way, is a form of divine judgment. But Jesus promises that those who believe in Him, according to John 8:31, "'If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine, and you will know the truth. You will know the truth and the truth will make you free.'" Therefore, as we come together today, I think of what Paul said in Second Corinthians 10, verse five, we are "destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." So dear friends in an age where virtually everything we hear from our corrupt political leaders and corrupt health care experts, knowing that most everything is a distortion of the truth, and when most everything we hear or read from the news media is merely parroting their propaganda, it is truly a blessing--and I hope you understand where I'm coming from with this--It is truly a blessing to open up the truths of the Word of God and immerse ourselves in them. What would we do without His Word? We would walk in darkness. But his word is a lamp into our feet and a light into our path. Jesus said in John 17:17, praying to the Father, "'Sanctify them in the truth, thy word is truth.'" And Paul tells us in First Timothy 3:15, that the "church of the living God is to be the pillar and the support of the truth." And of course, the greatest of all truth is that of the Lord Jesus Christ, who said, "'I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the Father, but through Me.'T that's the truth of the gospel. We have much to be thankful for here in the United States of America. But dear friends, the greatest object of our praise has to be God's mercy and grace that he has given us through the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the power of his Word.

Let me remind you of the context here in Daniel. Because once again, we have an opportunity to immerse ourselves in some truth okay? After a heartfelt confession of sin for his Israeli countrymen, and praying as well for himself, he interceded on their behalf that God would somehow deliver them from exile from Babylonian captivity, restore them to their land. So God sends his angel Gabriel to answer his prayers. But his answer encompasses a far greater deliverance beyond that of the Babylonian captivity. He discloses his plan to deliver them from a far greater enemy, and that is the enemy of their sin itself. A remedy that can only be accomplished through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross at His first coming, and so his answer is going to include that. But it's also going to include something more than just deliverance from their Gentile oppressors there in Babylon. But he's going to also speak to a final day when they will be delivered forever, from Gentile oppressors, all earthly oppressors. And that will occur at the triumph of the Lord Jesus Christ, when he returns as King of kings and Lord of lords. And as we've already learned, all of this is going to basically require 490 years, 70 weeks, literally 70 sevens, divided into two seasons of deliverance, the first season requires 69 weeks, or in other words, 483 years that will lead up to the death of Christ. And then after an indefinite indefinite period of time, there will be the final 70th week, and that will culminate in the second coming of Christ, the Messiah, who will defeat the the armies of the Antichrist, who is bent on exterminating all of ethnic Israel and all who worship Him. So that's the context here.

So let's return to the text. Let me read it to you, beginning of verse 24, of Daniel 9. "'Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and 62 weeks; it will be built again with plaza and mote, even in times of distress. Then after the 62 weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing and the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood; even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined. And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week. But in the middle of the week, he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate.'"

So in verse 24, remember, he begins with 70 weeks, literally 70 sevens, 70 heptads, in other words, units of seven. So in other words, 490 years have been decreed. Remember that is from a Hebrew root that means to cut out, or to divide, to cut off, to determine. This has been determined for your people and your holy city. So God has deliberately determined a 490 year period of time, he's cut this out from the rest of history to accomplish his purposes in delivering his covenant people Israel from their sins, and deliver them once again, to their capital city, Jerusalem, and so forth. This is all consistent with Daniel's prayer. And I might add, as we're going to see, these things did not happen at Christ's first coming as some want us to believe. And then he lists six magnificent objectives that will be accomplished during this period of time. He goes on in verse 24, to say, "to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most holy place." And you will recall last week we went into this in detail. So here God reveals the future--future realities way beyond that which occurred within Antiochus Epiphanes, far beyond the events surrounding the life and ministry of Christ, far beyond anything that has ever happened in history. 490 years of judgment must occur in order for these six glorious objectives pertaining to your people, Israel, and your holy city, Jerusalem could be realized, verse 19. All of which looks to the Messianic Kingdom of Christ here on Earth. So this brings us to our text this morning, to the second division of the prophecy where God's Messenger, the angel, Gabriel, reveals the historical context in which these six objectives will be accomplished.

So let's look at the text closely, beginning in verse 25. "'So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and 62 weeks; it will be built again with plaza and moat, even in times of distress.'" Now notice the two divisions of time here. First, you have seven weeks, in other words, seven sevens or 49 years. And then after that, another 62 weeks, or 62 sevens, which equals 434 years. This means that something special occurred 49 years after the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem. And then as we will see, 62 weeks later, or 434 years later, Messiah the Prince comes on the scene. Now the question is, what is the starting point? The "terminus a quo?" When did this begin? This first 69 weeks, this 483-year period, that will also include a final seven years or a 70th week? Now there are various calculations to give us the answer to this. And I will not bore you with all the technical aspects of those calculations, but I will give you what I believe is the most compelling of all, and there's only minor variations in them.

The first division of seven weeks, or 49 years began in 445 BC, when Artaxerxes gave the decree to Nehemiah to rebuild the city of Jerusalem, Nehemiah two. And we know that he completed his work around the 15th year of the Persian ruler, Darius Ochus, that would have been around 409/408 BC, according to historians like Prudeo as well as Josephus. But we have to admit that history is sketchy on all this. Furthermore, the full 49 years of that first division probably included that work of Ezra and Nehemiah combined, as they were trying to establish a working capital city of Judah. We know for example, if we studied Nehemiah, that the debris in Jerusalem was so great that it was impassable in places. And so it took almost a whole generation just to clean out the city before they could rebuild it. Nehemiah's work included the construction, as the prophecy said, of "the plaza and moat." Plaza could be translated wide place or street and moat is the fortification ditch filled with water and so forth. It's also clear from Nehemiah's account as you will recall that all of this work was done "in times of distress," as the prophecy says. And that also includes the great difficulties that Ezra had, during that time, in which he tried to restore the spiritual foundation of the people in order for Jerusalem, and the people of Israel, to function as they should. That's the first division of 49 weeks.

The second division of 62 weeks, or 434 years, until Messiah the Prince can also be calculated by using the same terminus a quo or the starting point of 445 BC. And the terminus ad quim, if you want to use the Latin or the ending point would be AD 32, the date of the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem. So what you have is 49 plus 434. That equals 483. The exact number of years according to the biblical chronology. Now there was a man by the name of Sir Robert Anderson, who was a good theologian, but he was also a great investigator. In fact, in the 19th century he was the chief investigator for Scotland Yard. This man did a masterful job of mathematical calculations where he demonstrates most compellingly, that between the dates of March 14 445 BC--that's Nissan the 20th year of Artaxerxes, as we read in Nehemiah two one--between that date and April 6 AD 32, which was the date of the triumphal entry, there are exactly 173,880 days, or 483 prophetic years of 360 days, which fulfills the prophecy to the very day. As Leon Woods states, "The idea of considering prophetic years, that's lunar years of 30 days to the month, rather than solar, in this context, finds support in that the scriptures elsewhere, in prophetic passages speak of 42 months as equaling 1260 days." Like we read in Revelation 11 two, verse three as well, Revelation 12, six and 13 five. So this is based on the calculation that they would use 360 days in the year.

So back to verse 25, "'So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem,'" 445 BC, '"until Messiah the Prince,'" 32 AD, '"there will be seven weeks.'" In other words, 49 years, which was that period of restoration for Nehemiah, and Ezra, '"And 62 weeks,'" or in other words, 62, sevens, another 434 years, you add the 49 and the 434. Together, you get 483 years, forgive me for having to be so technical. But if you want to know the truth, you have to study it. All right? And I don't think you need your calculators for this. But it is fascinating to see the precision in the Word of God.

Now we come to verse 26. '"Then after the 62 weeks.'" In other words, there's been the seven weeks, and now you've got 62 more weeks. '"After the 62 weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing.'" This is a reference to Christ's crucifixion. "Cut off,” “karath" in Hebrew means to put an end to, or to destroy, or to kill-- Genesis 9:11, Deuteronomy 20:20, Jeremiah 11:19. And sometimes in the Old Testament, it is a term that's even used to describe an execution. We read, for example, in Psalm 37, nine "evildoers will be." here it is "cut off." Proverbs 2:22, "The wicked will be cut off from the land." So, "After the 62 weeks that Messiah will be cut off," and he goes on to say, "have nothing." "Ayin" in Hebrew, it means nothingness, no one, nothing he deserved was awarded to him. I mean, think about it, Israel rejected him, his disciples abandoned him, his father forsook him as he bore the wrath that we deserve in his body on the cross. Indeed, in his humiliation, he had nothing, not even a grave. And so all of this came to pass.

So once again, verse 26, "'After the 62 weeks, the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing.'" Obviously this has happened. We know that Jesus entered into Jerusalem on Monday, the 10th of Nissan--that's April. The precise day by the way, when, according to Mosaic Law, sacrificial lambs for the Passover were to be selected. You read about this in Exodus 12. And he was cut off, he was crucified then, on Friday, the 14th. Bottom line, dear friends, Christ's death occurred shortly after the endpoint of the 69 sevens, that 483 years as Daniel prophesied, the 69 weeks were then fulfilled in total.

But notice what else he reveals in verse 26. "'And the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. And its end will come with a flood.'" Then he adds this "'even to the end there will be war; desolations are determined.'" Well, we know that this is exactly what happened. 43 years later, after Christ, "the people of the prince who is to come will destroy the city and the sanctuary." That's a clear reference to the Roman invasion and AD 70. We know historically that General Titus Vespasian, along with 50,000 elite Roman troops came to Jerusalem, and they ended up leveling Jerusalem, the city, including the temple. And by the way, the temple was destroyed on the very anniversary of the destruction of the First Temple in 586 BCE. My what a coincidence. Immediately 500 Jewish leaders were executed. And according to Josephus, there was about 2.7 million persons that occupied the city at that time. Many pilgrims had come for the Passover, and the Romans massacred 1.1 million Jews, about 100,000 were taken into slavery. People were scattered all over the world.

So as prophesied, "its end will come with a flood even to the end, there will be war desolations are determined." A more literal rendering in the Hebrew is "and the end of it will be in the overflowing, and unto the end, there will be war, a strict determination of desolations," or the "determined amount of desolations." So this seems to indicate not only what happened in AD 70, but also indicate that there this will be the ongoing experience of Israel until the end of the times of the Gentiles. The end, which we see in verse 27, is decreed. And of course, this is reality that's corroborated by many other prophecies. Now, bear in mind, all of this occurred before the final 70th week is revealed in verse 27.

So let's look at verse 27. "And he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week but in the middle of the week, he will put us stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate." So verse 27, "and he," who is this? This is a very important question. A very controversial passage of scripture. Who is this referring to? The Messiah, or the prince who is to come? Our amillennial brethren would argue for the former, the premillennial position would argue for the latter, the latter is my position, the position of this church. And this is a key understanding Bible prophecy. I do not believe it could possibly be a reference to the Messiah in the previous verse, although there are many who will argue that that's what it's referring to, because they deny the future fulfillment of this text and see this last unit of Daniel's prophecy following immediately after the 69th week, and ultimately finding its fulfillment in the ministry of Christ. I do not agree with that position. And I want you to understand why. Primarily, it's because there's nothing in the context of Daniel's 70th week that corresponds to anything in Christ's earthly ministry, despite the most labored forms of interpretation. More specifically, let me give you a few thoughts so that we have this on the record. Rather than me just telling you what I think, I want you to know why I think what I think-- why we teach what we teach--why we believe what we believe.

First of all, the 70th week is depicted as a period of time that is distinct, it is separate from the first 69 weeks, and those first 69 weeks are clearly treated as one unit or one period of time. Secondly, the text goes on to describe how this person makes a quote, "a firm covenant" with the people. Well, that's something that Christ never did in his earthly ministry. The only way you can come up with that is come up with some fanciful, spiritual interpretation. Thirdly, even if he had made some kind of a covenant, it makes no sense to mention that here after the statements concerning his death and the destruction of Jerusalem. And fourth, in what way did Christ put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering? Now, some will say, well, that's a reference to his death on the cross. But I would humbly argue that that just doesn't fit the context of this prophecy. And how would these ancient people possibly make even a remote connection to something like that. Moreover, the sacrifices did not cease until AD 70, some 40 years later. That was stopped by the Romans, not by Christ. Fifthly, Hebrew grammar, and this is very important for an exegesis, Hebrew grammar requires that the subject of the verb be linked to the last eligible antecedent. Namely, in this case, verse 26, "the prince who is to come" who "will destroy the city and the sanctuary," that is the Roman prince, not going all the way back to 25, "Messiah the Prince." And it's also obvious here that something further needs to be said about this destructive prince who is to come. And then sixthly, in Matthew 24:15, in Jesus' Olivet Discourse, he refers to quote, "the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet." And when he speaks of that, he describes that as a future event beyond his earthly life and ministry. So the pronoun here in verse 27, and "he will make a firm covenant" refers to the "prince who is to come" in verse 26, not the Messiah. However, go a little bit further, because the events described at the end of verse 26, and those described in verse 27, and other parallel passages, as we will see, I do not believe that this refers to the Roman ruler of AD 70, but rather to another ruler of a Roman Empire, a future Roman Empire, that Daniel has already described, in his previous visions, represented by the figures of quote, "the fourth beast," and the 10-horned beast of chapter two, and the little horn in chapter seven. Who is this? The Antichrist, ruling a revived Roman Empire. So this means that there must be an extensive time gap between the 69th week and the 70th week, which is not at all unusual in Bible prophecy.

I might also add in Daniel 7:24, Antichrist is described as the one who will rule a massive kingdom that basically comprises the old Roman Empire, but it will be one of a western confederacy of a united Europe that Daniel describes as a 10-nation empire.

So one more unit of seven needs to take place. And in this text, in Daniel 9:27, that Jesus refers to as the prophetic template that we are to use to determine the chronological sequence of the birth pains, the beginning of birth pains. Remember in Matthew 24, and Mark 13, all of these things point to something yet future. And I might also add, as we will see in a moment, all of this correlates with Revelation six.

So again, back to the text, bear with me here, "and he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week." In other words, there is going to be a great deceiver that will lure Israel into a protective agreement called a firm covenant. "But in the middle of the week, he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering, and on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate." Again, referring to a future Antichrist during Daniel's 70th week, a time also known as the Great Tribulation.

If we go to Revelation chapter six, we see the description of the seal judgments. The first one in verse two and this will be the first Seal Judgment that will come upon the earth is an era of unparalleled world peace. Isn't that what everybody wants today? World peace? Oh, yes, but it will be a great hoax. It will be a calm before the storm. There we read about "a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went off went out conquering and to conquer." He had a bow, no arrows just a bow, implying a diplomatic rather than a military victory, a peace sealed by a covenant, not by a war. And a crown was given to him he went out conquering and to conquer. The certainly fits the Antichrist, the one who will conquer the world in a bloodless triumph one day. So the first seal with its white horse and rider symbolizes a force of counterfeit righteousness that will come upon the earth that will bring the world into a pseudo peace, a deceptive world peace, a false peace, whose architect will be the Antichrist. He will seduce the world as a great political leader, with his political savvy and his personal charisma. And he will put forth a compelling plan to the world that will bring everybody together. It will be the greatest kumbaya in the history of mankind. He will form a strategic alliance with European nations and with Israel, and even Israel will be seduced by his sham, and finally he will rebuild the third temple. But three and a half years later, in the middle of the week, they will learn of his charade, when he desecrates the temple as we read here in verse 27. So "he will make a firm covenant with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week," in other words, three and a half years in "he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering." Now I might add, dear friends, that this obviously means that a new temple has been built by this time. And I would encourage you to go online, and you can see the architectural plans for the third holy temple. All of that is in place today. Go to the Temple Institute. I've been there in the Old City in Jerusalem. I've seen many of these things with my own eyes, but they have everything all set up ready to go. They said they could build it within a year. You can go online and see a virtual reality tour of a mockup of their temple. But we read here that the Antichrist is going to demand that they stop their worship and worship Him. Now I know it's hard for us to fathom a political leader that wants to be worshipped, right? Ha. But this is what is prophesied.

So back to verse 27, "'And on the wing of abominations will come one who makes desolate, even one until a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is poured out on the one who makes desolate.'" So in the middle of the week, three and a half years, this satanically possessed antichrist will seize the temple, he will betray the Jews, demand that they worship him, just like his forerunner, Antiochus Epiphanes, and he will do this for 42 months, according to Revelation 13 and verse five. The last half of the seven years, this is part of the pre- kingdom judgments just before Christ returns. This is the one pictured in Revelation 13 in verse one and five as the beast that comes up out of the sea. Let me read this to you. He "was given a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for 42 months was given to him." We dropped down to verse seven, "It was given to him to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. And all who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world, in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain." Now, what will he do that is so abhorrent to God? Well, the answer can be found as well in Second Thessalonians two beginning in verse three. He is described as "the son of destruction who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship." And then Paul goes on to say, "he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself and as being God." Of course, this has always been Satan's modus operandi. This is always how he has functioned. He has always wanted to be the one to be worshipped. This is why he is so determined to deceive people, even to this day, through false Messiahs and false prophets. Again, he is the father of lies. Second Thessalonians two in verse nine, we read more about him about the Antichrist, he is "the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved." Grammatically, this passage of Scripture in the original language indicates that this detestable thing, standing in the holy place will be some kind of permanent image probably of the Antichrist that's going to be displayed in the temple. This, dear friends, is the abomination of desolation that Jesus referred to in Matthew 24:15, where he quotes the passage that we're looking at right here in Daniel 9:27. This is what Paul was referring to, in Second Thessalonians two, three, as, quote, "the apostasy," which is associated with "the man of lawlessness" that must come first, just prior to the final day of the Lord. So God makes it abundantly clear to his people through Daniel, that a complete destruction, one that is decreed, is going to be poured out on the one who makes desolate and indeed, we know according to Second Thessalonians, two, eight, "the Lord will slay" this lawless one, "with the breath of His mouth by the appearance of His coming." Oh, I love those passages. They're so exciting. I love it when the bad guy gets it, right? Then he, along with the False Prophet, we read and other passages will be "thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone," Revelation 19:20. And this will bring to completion the prophecies of Daniel's 70th week.

Dr. David Larsen, in his excellent book, "Jews, Gentiles, and the Church," said this, "The stage for the beast and his religious cohort, the False Prophet, is the tribulation period, quote, 'the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world,' Revelation three one, or the time of quote, 'messianic woes,' as the Jews have spoken of them. In this timeframe, certain gigantic collectivism will arise to form the driving wedge of Satan's massive effort to frustrate God's purpose. Problems on earth seem insurmountable. No human leadership seems competent to address the complexity of the issues. A demographic explosion with moral social, economic, ecological and political ramifications baffles the think tanks of the world. Humankind's vaunted self-sufficiency evaporates in the face of insoluble questions. The church notwithstanding her frequent impotence and perennial failure is now gone, and the salt and light she has afforded are missing. Hom sapiens are adrift, rudderless." Larson goes on to say, "Nature abhors a vacuum, the old adage has it. The scriptures depict a brilliant charismatic personality, a demagogue of the first order, striding dramatically onto the stage of human history. It is George Orwell's '1984' and Aldous Huxley's 'Brave New World.' So desperate is the human race for solutions and answers that freedom easily becomes a casualty in the panic for security." As the late Paul Henri Spaak, prominent Belgian diplomat and astute European strategist, put it so boldly, quote, "We do not want another committee, we have too many already. What we want is a man of sufficient stature to hold the allegiance of all the people and to lift us out of the economic morass into which we are sinking. Send us such a man, be he god or devil and we will receive him." End quote.

Now, there is much speculation about who this man will be, where he will come from. But I would argue that it's all speculation. However, we do know much about his character, as well as his diabolical plans. I'll get into it just a little bit here in closing this morning. According to Daniel's description of the Antichrist, we learn that he will have no normal desire for or interest in women, Daniel 11:37, which will probably mean that he will be homosexual, or at least will be heterosexual, be celibate. And because of this, combined with his unprecedented religious ecumenical power, and setting himself up to be the object of worship, some believe that he will be the Roman Catholic Pope. We don't know, it's speculation; it’s possible. But what is fascinating to me is that the biblical descriptions of the person and the work of the Antichrist are precisely how the Muslims describe their redeemer in the Quran. And the Sunnah, sometimes called the Hadith, which is the words and the practices spoken by Muhammad, their oral traditions. And for them, the Christian Jesus is the Antichrist. The Satanic counterfeit. Yes, Muslims believe in Jesus, dear friends, but it's not the Jesus of the Bible. The Muslim Jesus plays a crucial role in their eschatology.

Let me review this for you briefly. They teach that Jesus was not the second person of the triune godhead, not the Son of God, but merely a man and a man that did not die. They teach rather that he went to heaven like Elijah. And this is very important for their theology. This means that in no way did he provide an atonement for sin. He did not die and be buried and raised from the dead. And they believe that he is in heaven right now alongside Allah, waiting for Allah to send him back. Why? If you read what they write, it's to correct all of the Christians and the Jews who have misunderstood who he is. And he will get married when he comes back, he'll have children, he'll die and he will be buried next to Muhammad. That's what they teach. Islamic eschatology is very revealing. There's three great signs in the form of man at the end of history, let me give them to you. First of all, they believe in the "Mahdi." He is the redeemer of Islam. He's also called the 12th Imam. He's coming to slaughter all those who refuse to worship Allah, and to establish an everlasting world dominating kingdom of Islam. This will be, for them, the final caliphate. He will have an army, he will carry black flags and on the black flags in Arabic is the word punishment and you've seen these black flags that Iran has and ISIL and all of that stuff. Today, they use this flag of jihad. And they claim that the Mahdi's ascendancy to power will be preceded by an army from the east. They'll be carrying black flags and banners of war. And the Hadith indicates that these black flags will come from the area of Corizon and they will signify that the appearance of the Mahdi is nigh. Corizon is in today's Iran. Surprise, surprise. And some scholars have said that this hadith means that when the flag, black flags appear from Central Asia, in the direction of Corizon, then the appearance of the Mahdi is imminent. If you study their eschatology, they say that he will make a peace agreement with Israel and the West for seven years. His reign will last for seven years, he will come riding a white horse, as it says in Revelation six one through two, according to their sources and he will be loved by the people who will massacre the Jews. He will establish his rule on the Temple Mount. He will discover hidden scriptures and Torah to show that they were wrong. You have to say is this the Antichrist? Well, all of the details in Scripture certainly point to this. The biblical Antichrist may well be the Islamic Mahdi, can't say for sure. They also believe that Jesus is going to return as a prophet. But by the way, the Mahdi is greater than Jesus. He returns as a radical Muslim, he arrives at Minaret near Damascus. He's going to come to help prove, help the Madhi prove that Christians and Jews were wrong. He will worship and serve the Mahdi. He will establish a real law, he will quote "shatter crosses," meaning destroy Christianity, he's going to refute all the truths of the gospel, deny that Jesus was the Son of God and died for sinners, rose again and so forth. And he will kill the Islamic Antichrist, who, from our perspective is the true Jesus that we worship, and then he will die and be buried with Muhammad. So dear friends, all that the Muslim Jesus is and does parallels the person and the work of the false prophet in Revelation 13, as well as chapter 16 and 19, "the beast coming out of the earth." By the way, bear in mind, dear friends that Satan is the master counterfeiter. He offers you things that looks like the real thing, looks like the truth, but it's not. And in Scripture, we see how he counterfeits the triune Godhead. Satan is the father, the Antichrist is the Son, and the False Prophet is the Holy Spirit.

A third thing that you need to understand about Islamic eschatology is that the true Jesus, the Son of God, our Savior and Lord, they call the Dajjal. Dajjal, the Great Deceiver, their antichrist. They say that he is blind in one eye, he returns on a mule, that he's an infidel, a false miracle worker. And he claims to be Jesus the Son of God. He will attempt to stop the Mahdi and Islamic Jesus who will slaughter him. I know some might say, Do you mean that the United States could someday be under the authority of the black flag of Islam? I can't say. But certainly it's a tenable hypothesis. Given everything that we see, even now, our current administration is sympathetic to Islam. I mean, we just gave Afghanistan, we just surrendered Afghanistan to these people.

It's inconceivable, yet this has happened. Europe is gradually being taken over by them. And I believe we're next given the delusional policies of the left here in America. Just before the pre kingdom judgments of the Tribulation, I believe that the true church is going to be snatched away according to First Thessalonians 4:16 16th through 18th, First Corinthians 15:51, through 52, and Israel will once again become the focus of God's attention. And when the snatching away, the rapture of the church happens, the United States will be utterly devastated. Imagine the sudden departure of Christians all over the world. God has warned us that just before Christ returns, Israel will be surrounded according to Zechariah 12 three, by all of the nations of the earth, "all of the nations of the earth will be gathered against Jerusalem." All includes the United States. Dear Christian, I would just encourage you to wake up and look and see how the world is being prepared for the Antichrist. We see this in Daniel's prophecies, we see it all through Scripture. He will be the most deceptive, demonic power and violent dictator in the world that beyond anything that we've ever seen; we see this all through Scripture.

And then there will be his false prophet, who will be his great religious enforcer and chief supporter. The Bible prophecies tell us that there will be a one world government, a one world religion, a one world economy. The stage is set for all of that right now. Had we talked about these things even 50 years ago, it would be hard for anyone to comprehend how these things could come to pass.

Well, in summary, I believe that the next thing to happen on the prophetic calendar is the snatching away of the church and the rapture. The Antichrist will appear on the scene to somehow bring the world into an understanding of what has happened. He will offer a peace plan to the world protection of Israel. Then after three and a half years, he is going to betray them, demand to be worship. And the abomination that brings desolation will occur, resulting in unprecedented desolation throughout the last half of the Tribulation, where Satan tries to destroy Israel through the Antichrist and his vast armies a time. Jeremiah 30, verse four and following calls, "the times of Jacob's trouble." Then Jesus will return as promised, in power and great glory as the King of kings, the Messiah of Israel. He will crush Satan, Israel will repent, be reconciled to Jehovah, be finally restored to their land, he will establish his millennial kingdom on earth, all at the end of Daniel's 70th week. And again, I would argue that God is not finished with Israel, even to this day, they are his beloved enemy. Isaiah 62, beginning of verse 11, says, "Behold, the Lord has proclaimed to the end of the earth, 'Say to the daughter of Zion, Lo, your salvation comes. Behold, His reward is with Him, and His recompense before Him. And they will call them, the holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, and you will be called, sought out, a city not forsaken.'" Today, the people of the world, especially our political leaders, have absolutely no understanding why the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is the most disputed piece of real estate in all of the world. And there is a reason for that. According to Scripture, a Jewish Temple is going to be built there next to Islam's Dome of the Rock. And that temple is the epicenter of two opposing kingdoms, kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. And we see this all through Bible prophecy, including what we've just studied here in Daniel nine. O, dear friends, what an unfathomable blessing it is to be a part of the Kingdom of God, amen? And to know that God is sovereign over all things, he is working his plan, and he's given us somewhat of a template to let us see where things are going. I mean, we can't be precise with a lot of these things, but what we can be precise about is Jesus is coming again, he is going to make the crooked straight, he is going to take us unto himself, and we are going to enjoy him forever. And during this Thanksgiving season, I pray that you will contemplate these things, this time when his kingdom will come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And I pray that all of you are ready to see Jesus. Because dear friend, one day every knee is going to bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord. We're promised that and you will see him one day. And when you do, you will see him either in terror or in triumph. You will see him either as your judge and executioner or your Savior and Lord. I just pray that all of you who love Him and long for his return will express your gratitude. Not just this Thanksgiving season, but every day of your life, because that will be the theme of our song throughout eternity. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for your Word. And even though there are always things within it, especially in the context of eschatology that we can't be certain of, but certainly, we can be certain that you are in control. You have a plan to ultimately bring glory to yourself and to think that we are somehow part of that plan, what an amazing truth. And so we give you thanks, we give you praise. And for those that may not know you as Savior and Lord, even though they may have some religious ideas and do some religious things, Lord, I pray that if they're not truly born again, will you be merciful to them? Bring conviction to their heart and save them by your grace? And may we be instruments of your righteousness to that end. We thank you. We give you praise. Even so, Lord Jesus come quickly. Amen.

Will you take your Bibles and turn to the book of Daniel in the Old Testament? If you have not been with us, we go verse by verse through whatever book is before us. And we come now to Daniel chapter nine. We're going to be looking at verses 20 through 24 today, under the heading "Seventy sevens," Seventy sevens, and you will understand that more as we get into the text. I was thinking this week that there's probably never been a more sobering era in human history to study Bible prophecy than in the days in which we live right now. We live in an age of idolatry and sexual deviancy, fear, insanity, government corruption, and authoritarianism. We continue to witness the power of fear as these corrupt pharmaceutical companies with their own regulators, with the fox guarding the hen house, as you might say, continue to push their experimental vaccines on people; now even on our children, to protect us from a virus that has just a fraction of a fraction of a percent of killing you. The deception and the corruption, even within the CDC, the NIH, the FDA, is routinely censored. I've been looking into this a lot, here of late, because so many of you are asking me about this. And certainly I'm not here to give you the pros and cons of the vaccine. But I can tell you that much of the adverse reactions to this vaccine are being censored. Only onset treatment is being censored. We see big pharma has collaborative efforts with world governments big tech, with media; national and international public health organizations all working together to control the money, control the power, controlling economies, that control governments around the world, even our own children, our families, our careers, all under the guise of promoting and preserving health. And out of all of this, we see authoritarianism rising in the United States of America. like never before. Neo Marxist democrats will tell us we know best, so we will tell you what to do, what to think, how to teach your children. And so we experienced today censorship, lock downs, mandates, job loss, slander of those who dare say anything contrary to the agenda, the officials of the CDC and WHO. All of this is commonplace. Perhaps you just heard on the news, and I read the letter from the CDC, that after a formal demand, the CDC now concedes, it has no proof of a single instance of a naturally immune individual spreading the virus. And yet the deceptions go on, the pressure goes on. Folks, totalitarian regimes have always used fear to control people. One of the first things to go will be free speech. That's what we're seeing like never before.

Another reason why I believe this is prime time to study Bible prophecy is because of the rise of apostate Christianity. I would argue that the vast majority of evangelicalism today is thoroughly apostate, consistent with what Jesus said in Matthew seven and many other passages. Luke 18 verse eight, Jesus said, When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?'" The idea being that, not much. Remember when judgment came before was no oh, there were how many faithful ones? Eight. And Jesus tells us that when he comes again it will be like in the days of Noah. His return will be marked by persecution, apostasy and unbelief even among those who named the name of Christ. Today we look around in the so-called evangelical church, and we see sodomites, lesbians, transgender deceivers filling pulpits. Apostasy in the form of this wake, woke cult is overtaking the ranks of evangelicalism at an alarming rate. Class warfare, heretics preach their Marxist oppressor/oppressed ideology under the banner of redemptive social justice. I hear this stuff and I just shake my head. That somehow the redemptive work of Christ, to reconcile sinners unto himself is equal to the redemptive work of social redeemers of leftists, to reconcile sinful white people, to oppressed minorities. And then to have the audacity to claim that their definitions of justice and righteousness and the Gospel, bear the same weight of authority as that which is in the Word of God. Folks is not only ludicrous, it's blasphemous. And I just wonder, how much longer will God tolerate this escalation of evil, before the nostrils of God begin to flare and he rises from his throne, and he says, This is it. And he sets into motion the great day of his wrath, a day that is repeated throughout the Old Testament and even into the new. The Old Testament prophets called it the day of the Lord. Folks, this is coming. The Lord Jesus Christ warned of this as well in his Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, where he described the unparallel sufferings that will come upon the earth just prior to his returns, also described in the book of Revelation as the time when, quote, "the wrath of the Lamb, will be poured out upon," quote, "the inhabitants of the earth." And that will happen through a succession of dreadful cataclysms known as the seal and the trumpet, and the bowl judgments. And I might add that by comparison, the horrors associated with the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, pale in comparison. The Holocaust pales in comparison to what is coming upon this earth. These final judgments will culminate in the greatest of all eschatological conflicts known as the Battle of Armageddon. You read about it in Revelation 16. This is also known as, quote "the day of vengeance." according to Deuteronomy 32, verse 14 and Isaiah 63 and verse four.

I want to read you a passage of Scripture before we get to Daniel, actually, I want to read several to help you get the context here. In Isaiah 13, the Lord speaks through his prophet, and he looks beyond in this prophecy; beyond the immediate conquest of the Medo-Persians against Babel into a greater and final destruction of Babel, and that will occur by the Messiah when he returns. In Isaiah 13 beginning of verse six, we read this, "Wail for the day of the Lord is near! It will come as destruction from the Almighty. Therefore, all hands will fall limp, and every man's heart will melt. They will be terrified, pains and anguish will take hold of them; they will writhe like a woman in labor, they will look at one another in astonishment, their faces of flame. Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, cruel with fury and burning anger, to make the land a desolation; and He will exterminate its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven in their constellations will not flash forth their light; the sun will be dark when it rises, and the moon will not shed its light. Thus, I will punish the world for its evil and the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud and abase the haughtiness of the ruthless. I will make mortal man scarcer than pure gold and mankind than the gold of Ophir. Therefore, I will make the heavens tremble and the earth will be shaking in its place at the fury of the LORD of hosts, in the day of His burning anger."

Beloved, the world in which we live is marching inexorably towards this Day of Judgment. Jesus' ominous words in Matthew 24:15 and verse 21. And following, describe this period, known as the Great Tribulation and when you read about it, it just sends shivers up your spine. There Jesus says, "'Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, (let the reader understand) then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains....For then there will be a great tribulation, such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will. Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.'" Jesus tells us that this will catch people unawares. They've ignored the warnings. He goes on to say in verse 36, "But of that day, and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be.'" They were preoccupied with all of the commonplace, mundane matters of life, life as usual--don't pay any attention to what that Bible says, or those crazy preachers tell you.

By the way, Jesus also gave some good news in that prophesy, Matthew 24, beginning in verse 29. First he says, "'But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.'" And then here's the good news, "The sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other.'" Since the church will have been translated to heaven in the rapture, the elect refers to Jews and Gentiles that are saved during the time of the tribulation. That's the way the term is used throughout the Olivet Discourse. And dear friends this will put an end to the times of the Gentiles that we've been looking at in the book of Daniel. The book of Daniel confirms these prophetic realities. My dear and departed friend Dr. David Larsen offers an excellent summary of this as we read in Daniel, he says this, "The times of the Gentiles, culminate in judgment as portrayed by the prophet Daniel's metallic colossus in Daniel two. The structured Gentile world power persist to the end of the age and ultimate ruination when struck by the rock cut out of a mountain but not made by human hands, a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces, Daniel 2:45. The metals, while decreasing in value, increase in shear strength, until we come to the mixed iron and clay and the feet and the 10 toes, corresponding to the great image of the four beasts of Daniel seven. Out of the last of which creatures come 10 horns, Daniel seven, seven and following." He goes on to say, "Among these 10 horns arises a little horn of a particularly devious sword, who wages war against the saints, Jews who are saved in the tribulation period, and indeed inflicts great duress upon them," quote, "until the Ancient of days came and pronounced judgment in favor of the saints of the Most High and the time came when they possessed the kingdom. This time of suffering for the saints, the Jewish messianic woes is the trauma preparatory to the establishment of the Messianic kingdom." And he adds, "The little horn should be seen as the Antichrist."

Well with this now, we return to Daniel nine. And in the first 19 verses, you will recall that Daniel offers a heartfelt confession of sin, both his as well as his Israeli kinsmen. And he also intercedes on their behalf, pleading for not only forgiveness, but also restoration for a regathering of Israel to her land. A restoration that would also be spiritual--that the glory of God might be put on display in them before the world. He understood from his study of the Word of God, especially as he was looking at what Jeremiah said, that God was going to impose 70 years of judgment upon Israel because of their idolatry, and for their deliberate neglect of his sabbatical years. We see these warnings in Leviticus 26. And Daniel, of course, as you might remember, was wondering, hmm, how and when this captivity, when is this exile going to end. But as we are going to see, God's answer encompasses a far greater deliverance than what he was talking about; deliverance from their captivity. His plan included the deliverance from a more formidable enemy, the enemy of sin, the culprit that caused all of the problems to begin with. A remedy that could only be accomplished by Christ's death on the cross at his first coming. Moreover, God is going to look beyond their Gentile oppressors in Babylon, and the others, to a final day when they will be forever delivered from all earthly oppressors. And all of this will be accomplished by the Lord Jesus Christ, at his second coming.

Well all of this is going to require 490 years, 70 weeks of years, or 70, sevens, and we're going to see that these are divided into two seasons of deliverance. I'm giving you a little summary of what we're going to study at great length. The first season will require 69 weeks of years. In other words, 483 years, and that will lead up to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then after an indefinite period of time, that final 70th week would ensue a time yet future, culminating in the second coming of the Messiah King with his armies from heaven, who will destroy the Antichrist, who is bent on exterminating all of ethnic Israel, and all Christians who lived during that time, even Gentiles, all who refuse to worship him. Daniel gives the details of this in Daniel seven.

And so let's look at God's answer now, to Daniel's prayer beginning in verse 20, of Daniel nine. "Now, while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin, and the sin of my people Israel and presenting my supplication before the Lord, my God, in behalf of the holy mountain of my god." Let's pause here, I want you to look at this. "The mountain of my God," in other words, on the basis of the city of Jerusalem, and the restoration of your temple where your people worship. That's what he's looking at here. And I might add, this is an important distinction. He's not praying for the church. He's not praying for the body of Christ or for all of the elect down through redemptive history. This present, church economy or the stewardship of God's grace was hidden to Daniel, it was hidden to the Old Testament prophets, we read about this in Ephesians three, two through 10, Romans 16:25, through 26. The focus of his prayer to God, and the answers that God gives him, has to do with the restoration of quote "your desolate sanctuary," as we saw in verse 17, and verse 18. "Oh my God," he says, "incline Your ear and hear! Open your eyes and see our desolations of the city which is called by Your name." So God's answer will address his dealings with Israel on the bases of his covenant promises to them that he will indeed fulfill all that He has promised to them. That's what Daniel, that's what all of them were looking for. This is one of many reasons why I believe the church will not go through the tribulation. That's another whole study. The church will not be a part of Daniel's 70th week there, God is focusing on his promises to Israel. There's many other exegetical reasons why I would argue that, but throughout scripture, and especially here and Daniel nine, we see, God's plan for Israel is distinct from his plan for the church. The church will later on become the temporary custodians of God's truth. And I might add that I do not believe that the church has permanently replaced Israel in God's plan of redemption. Many people teach that and believe, some of my very best friends believe that. I do not see that in Scripture. This is certainly not a test of orthodoxy but it's an important distinction. If you're going to understand what we believe here at Calvary Bible Church with respect to premillennialism, this is an important distinction.

And I might add, it's worthy of a bit of a digression here, if you will bear with me, I do not believe that ethnic, national, territorial Israel are all permanently absorbed into the universal Christian Church, thereby permanently eliminating their national identity. This is often known as Augustinian or Roman Catholic eschatology. Sometimes it's called supercessionism, amillennialism, replacement theology and so forth. I do not believe that all of the promises given to Israel in the Old Testament were forfeited by their unbelief. I don't see that in Scripture. I don't believe that all of those promises are now given to the church in some spiritual sense, as God's chosen people to be his witness, his witnesses Israel failed miserably. Indeed they did. But is there a level of sin that surpasses grace? I think not. Psalm 130 and verse three, "If thou Lord, oh Lord should mark iniquities, Who could stand"? However, as we look at Scripture, because they quote, "rejected the chief cornerstone," Matthew 21:42, Jesus said in verse 43, "'Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and be given to a nation producing the fruit of it.'" Now, the supercessionism will argue that here, Jesus permanently rejects the nation of Israel, and the nation to whom the kingdom would be given is now the church. I think that is highly unlikely for several reasons. Just briefly, if we look at this text, we see that Jesus is addressing the chief priests and the Pharisees. He's addressing these wicked, hypocritical leaders of Israel that were determined to kill him. He was not addressing Israel as a nation as a whole. In fact, three verses later in verse 45, Matthew tells us that the religious leaders quote, "understood that he Jesus was speaking about them". Although Jesus antipathy towards the Jewish leaders continued to increase throughout his earthly ministry, he never shows any contempt for the multitudes. In fact, on the previous day, we see how he wept over Jerusalem, and they constantly acclaimed him as the messianic Son of David. Furthermore, other passages in Matthew's gospel reaffirms the idea that Jesus fully anticipated Israel's future restoration. In chapter 19, verse 28, he offers much needed reassurance to the disciples and He says, "'Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon 12 thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.'" "You who have followed me in the regeneration," "palingenesia" in the original language, it literally means rebirth, regeneration. It's referring to the Messianic age, clearly a reference to the earthly kingdom described in Revelation 20 verses one through five. It'll be when he says the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne and you also shall sit upon 12 thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. I might add that Peter also understood Jesus words. In Matthew 19:28. He understood that he was referring to a messianic kingdom, he wasn't referring to the church. Later, when Peter called the men of Israel to repentance and Acts three, in verses 20 through 21, he spoke of, quote, "The Christ appointed for you "whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient time." You see, none of the prophets had spoken about the church, none of them had spoken about the inclusion of both believing Jews and Gentiles in a new spiritual community, the body of Christ, that was a mystery not disclosed in the Old Testament. Romans 16, verse 25, we read that it's a "mystery which has been kept secret for long ages past." We see the same thing in Ephesians, three, two through six.

So back to Matthew 21:43, "'Therefore, I say to you,'" referring to the wicked leaders of Israel, "'the kingdom of God will be taken away from you, and given to a nation.'" An "ethnos," a new nation spiritually, but also the same nation historically; a restored future Israel, we read about it in Romans 11:11, through 15. A nation that will experience a new birth. Isaiah 66, five through 13. A nation producing the fruit of it and so forth. Another passage affirming the restoration of Israel, and why I see a distinction between Israel and the church, and I believe that's what Daniel is seeing and what God is speaking about, in Daniel nine--in Acts chapter one and verse three, we learn that Jesus met with his disciples for a period of 40 days after His resurrection. 40 days. And what was the main topic that Jesus spoke about? He was speaking it says of the things concerning the kingdom of God. Then in verses six through seven, Luke records Jesus final interchange with his apostles before his ascension, when he once again affirmed the idea of restoration of national Israel. There we read, "When they had come together, they were asking Him saying, 'Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to to Israel?' And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times are epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.'" Now, I would humbly submit to you that if God was finished with his covenant people, Israel, and the church had therefore permanently replaced her as a new spiritual Israel, this would have been a perfect place for Jesus to have made that abundantly clear. If that were true, why wouldn't he have corrected them? Why wouldn't he have said, no, no, no, no, wait a minute. I've been with you for 40 days speaking to you concerning the kingdom of God. Don't you understand that ethnic, national, and territorial Israel is now absorbed into the universal Christian church, thereby eliminating their national identity? Don't you understand that the physical Messianic Kingdom once promised, Israel has now been changed to a spiritual kingdom, and you're living in it right now? Don't you guys get that? Well, obviously, he didn't say that because I don't believe any of that's true.

Romans 11 and verse one, Paul said "God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!" The apostles understood this. And like Paul, they long to see the spiritual salvation and the physical restoration of their nation Israel. So it was appropriate for them to ask, "Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" We can go to the book of Romans in Romans chapter nine. The focus is on Israel's election, he assures them that God has not forgotten, he has not rejected his chosen people. Quite the contrary. In chapter 10, the focus is on Israel's defection. There, the apostle Paul explains why Jews rejected their Messiah and remain in ignorance and unbelief. Why salvation is now extended to the Gentiles, all of which is part of God's plan, even for Israel. And then in chapter 11, the focus is on Israel's salvation. God made it very clear that the specific promises that He had made, to his chosen nation, would come to fruition. Now some of those were conditional dependent upon their obedience, but his greatest promises were unconditional based upon God's character. And to this day, because of their unbelief, God is disciplining them as a nation. They have been temporarily put aside, as Paul says in verse 25, "until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in," and then in verse 26, eventually he says, "all Israel will be saved just as it is written, THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins." So I'm convinced that Israel was God's unique focus of redemption in one dispensation in the Old Testament, while the church, consisting of both Jews and Gentiles, has been his focus since their rejection of Jesus. However, I believe Scripture teaches that God will eventually focus once again, on Israel during the millennial reign of Christ on earth when all of the covenant promises that he has made to Israel will be fulfilled literally, including the the earthly blessings and the earthly Messianic kingdom. Prophetic literature is filled with the pivotal role Israel plays during that time. So I believe that the church shares in the promises of Israel, but not in their unique identity. (Audio not able to be transcribed)....And in that he says, quote, "The prophecies concerning Israel are the key to all the rest, true principles of interpretation in regard to them will aid us in disentangling and illustrating all prophecy together. False principles, as to them will most thoroughly perplexed and overcloud the whole word of God," end quote. And speaking on Ezekiel 37 that we read earlier in our scripture reading--in 1864, at the Metropolitan tabernacle, Charles Spurgeon was soliciting funding for the British Society for the Propagation of the gospel amongst the Jews. And Spurgeon declared this, quote, "The meaning of our text," referring to Ezekiel 37, the dry bones that come to life and so forth, "The meaning of our text as opened up by the context is most evidently, if words mean anything, first, there shall be a political restoration of the Jews to their own land, and to their own nationality. And then secondly, there is in the text, and in the context of most plain declaration, that there shall be a spiritual restoration, a conversion, in fact of the tribes of Israel." He went on to say, "Her sons, though they can never forget the sacred dust of Palestine yet die at a hopeless distance from her consecrated shores. But it shall not be so forever. They shall again walk upon her mountains, shall once more sit under her vines and rejoice under her fig trees. And they are also to be reunited. They shall not be two, nor 10, nor 12, but one, one Israel praising one god, serving one king, and that one king, the son of David, the descended Messiah. They are to have a national prosperity which will make them famous. They, so glorious shall they be that Egypt and Tyre and Greece and Rome shall all forget their glory and the greater splendor of the throne of David." And then Spurgeon said this, "If there be meaning and words, this must be the meaning of this chapter. I wish never to learn the art of tearing God's meaning out of his own words, if there'll be anything clear and plain, the literal sense and meaning of this passage; a meaning not to be spirited or spiritualized away, must be evident that both the two and the 10 tribes of Israel are to be restored to their own land, and that a king is to rule over them."

Now, after a long and weighty digression that I felt was important for me to get out, back to Daniel nine, verse 21, "While I was speaking in prayer, then the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision previously, came to me in my extreme weariness about the time of the evening offering." That's a reference to the meal and drink offering would have been between three and 4pm. I find it intriguing here, he speaks with his extreme weariness, any of us who have labored long hours and prayer; for that which is burdening our hearts, we know that it is difficult, even physically. But isn't it interesting, it had been 70 years since Daniel had offered the sacrifices in Jerusalem. Now the temple is destroyed, but notice he continues to worship the Lord, as if he was right there in the temple as if nothing had ever changed. Would that we all be so faithful in honoring the Lord. Verse 22, "He gave me instruction and talked with me and said, 'Oh, Daniel, I have now come forth to give you insight with understanding. At the beginning of your supplications the command was issued, and I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed." It could be translated, "counted precious." So God hears his prayer, dispatches Gabriel to answer it. And then Gabriel says, "so give heed to the message and gain understanding of the vision."

And here he begins, "70 weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city." Now 70 weeks, literally 70 sevens, or 70 heptad units of seven. So 70 times 70, 490 years have been decreed. The term "decreed" comes from a Hebrew word, "chathak," it means "to divide, to determine, to to cut off, to decide something to determine something." So the 70 weeks has been divided, has been cut off, "for your people and your holy city." And so in other words, God has deliberately determined that these 490 years would be cut off from all the rest of history to accomplish his purposes in delivering the people of Israel and their capital city, Jerusalem. And that's all consistent with Daniel's prayer. Which by the way, did not happen. All of those things did not happen when Jesus came the first time.

Now I want to focus on the six magnificent objectives that are to be accomplished in this regard. Notice what he says, again, "70 weeks had been decreed for your people in your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place." So here, beloved, God reveals the future events I might add, that are far beyond that which occurred with Antiochus Epiphanes, far beyond the events surrounding the first coming of Christ, far beyond anything that has ever happened in history. So in other words, 490 years of judgment must occur before the six glorious objectives can be realized. All of which look to the Messianic Kingdom on earth, all consistent with Old Testament prophecy, even New Testament prophecy.

For example, in Acts three, verse 19, we read, "Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time." Again, go to Romans 11, beginning in verse 12. Paul says, "Now if their transgression is riches for the world, and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be!" Referring to the unbelieving Jewish people. Verse 15, "For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be, but life from the dead?" And in verse 25, "For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery--so that you will not be wise in your own estimation--that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved just as it is written, THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. This is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins. From the standpoint of the gospel, their enemies for your sake," you Gentiles, "but from the standpoint of God's choice, they are beloved, for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable."

So again, six magnificent objectives are to be accomplished during this 490 years. The first three are all negative realities that must be a eradicated. Namely, man's global rebellion against the Most High God. So the goal first here is to deal with sin and Satan, both of which are defeated at the cross. The first three are to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity. Now, it's important that we look at these closely because if you're like most people, you come to a passage like this, you read through it, have no real idea what it said, but you kind of move on to something else that will kind of speak to your heart-- when you're missing out on a whole lot. So let's don't do that.

Notice what the Spirit of God says, through Gabriel. First of all, "to finish" where it could be translated and "restrain the transgression." Transgression here is a term used to describe the violation of God's law, those that revolt against God's authority, specifically, Israel's unrelenting and unrestrained rebellion against God. If we were to go to Ezekiel, Chapter 20, beginning in verse 34, you will see how the prophet describes the elimination of all the apostates from the land of Israel during the Millennium. And Jesus described the same thing is going to happen among the Gentile nations in his Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and Matthew 25. In fact, during Christ's earthly reign, Isaiah 11 and verse 10, tells us that "the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." Can you imagine that? Sin will not be completely eliminated because unregenerate children will be born to those who enter into the millennial reign of Christ. And many of those unregenerate children will continue to reject Christ. So there will be occasional situations of rebellion, requiring the Lord to rule over them with a rod of iron as we're told. But that's going to be the exception, not the rule. Christ himself during that time is going to restrain sin during his reign, but it will be utterly non existent in the eternal state. You must bear in mind that the millennial reign of Christ is the consummating bridge between human history and the eternal state where sin will be eradicated completely.

He then uses, Gabriel now uses, nuances of terms and repetition in these parallel clauses he says, not only to "finish the transgression," but also "to make an end of sin." This is something else that's got to happen during this 490 year period, to make an end of sin. Here the term for sin is a more general term for all wrongs. And it carries the idea here when he says to make an end of, it's to seal it up, that it might be concealed, to even the idea of judging it with finality. And again, these are nuances. They're almost synonyms of all that God is going to do with respect to sin. Hebrews nine in verse 26, we read, "But now once at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." So all of that was set into motion at the cross.

But then there's this magnificent climax, he says also, "to make atonement for iniquity." Atonement, a Hebrew term "kaphar," it means to cover by means of an expiatory sacrifice, or literally to make a covering. To provide a moral repayment for a fault or an injury. In fact, if we look at Scripture, we see progressive revelation, and how the death of Christ was foreshadowed by many Old Testament types and symbols. Remember the coats of skin that God made for Adam and Eve in the garden? That was a picture of a coming Redeemer. The animal offering of Abel in Genesis four, the offering of Isaac by Abraham in Genesis 22. It goes on with the Old Testament sacrificial system that we read about, especially in Leviticus 17, the brazen serpent, erected by Moses in Numbers 21. The Passover lamb in Exodus 12. All of these things point towards an atonement. Atonement, by the way always involves two things satisfaction and substitution, satisfaction of the offended holiness of God accomplished only by an acceptable substitution. An innocent life must be given for the guilty, one who has offended the holiness of God. And this is why Jesus had to taste death for everyone, right? This is how salvation is made possible. This is the only way God can forgive sin and still remain holy. And what this accomplished, the way is paid for the second, three positive objectives in this 490 years. And that is, number one, to bring in everlasting righteousness.

I'm reminded of Isaiah's prophecy to Judah in Isaiah five, verse seven, he says, he speaks of Israel as the vineyard of the Lord of hosts, "The vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah His delightful plant." So given the idea here is, given all that God has done for them, he's expecting them to do better than what they've done. And he goes on to say, Thus He looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed for righteousness, but behold, a cry of distress." In Hebrew, it's a play on words. He looked for justice, which is "mispat", but behold, bloodshed "mispah." I looked for "mispat" and I got "mispah". And the same thing he goes on to say, I look for righteousness, which is "sedaqa', I look for "sedaqa," and I got "seaqa" So where's the righteousness going to come from? It has to come from the one who would make atonement for sin, the only one who can bring in everlasting righteousness. Only the Lord Himself can do this. It's fascinating. The removal of sin that he accomplished on the cross will be appropriated by Israel as a nation when Christ returns. It's an amazing thought. Many passages that speak to this, I'll give you but one, Jeremiah 23, beginning of verse five, "And behold, the days are coming." I love it when the prophets say that, "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days, Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. And this is His name by which He will be called the Lord, our righteousness."

Well not only is he going to bring in everlasting righteousness, we read that there'll be a time when he will "seal up vision and prophecy." Seal up, the term that carries the idea of hiding from view and demonstrating that its functions are over. What would that would be, well vision, to seal up vision, the functions of the vision, what's vision? Revelation, not only revelation, but prophecy, the message of the prophets. My dear professor, Dr. Whitcomb said this, quote, "Similarly, in the post apostolic phase of church history, we have no further need of such ministries, possessing as we do the completed revelation of God and Holy Scripture." He's referring here to vision that is special revelation, and prophecies and so forth. He went on to say, "during the first half of the 70th week of Daniel, two witnesses will prophesy to Israel."

I need to backup, we have no further need of such ministries, possessing as we do the completed revelation of God and Holy Scripture. You know, we've got the closed canon here. We don't need somebody to come along and say, God told me this, God told me that; we don't need that. Don't pay any attention to that. But he says, "During the first half of the 70th, week of Daniel two witnesses will prophesy to Israel in order to launch the 144,000, and others into global witness for Christ after the rapture of the church, you read about that in Revelation 11." But he says, "All such prophetic ministries will end forever at our Lord's return to Earth.

So it's during this time, it's going to bring in everlasting righteousness, seal up vision and prophecy, and then finally, "to anoint the most holy place." The term anoint means to officially inaugurate something into public ministry. And what is the most holy place it could be translated literally, the Holy of Holies. This underscores the profound importance of the millennial temple that is described in Joel three in verse 18, Isaiah 60 verse seven, Jeremiah 33 verses 20 through 22, Ezekiel 37:26 through 28. And then Ezekiel chapter 40, all the way to chapter 48. Prior to this, during the Great Tribulation, the Antichrist we know will desecrate a newly constructed temple. We read about that and our Lord's Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24. Also in Second Thessalonians two verse four, Revelation 13:15. But when the Messiah returns, that will be done away with and a magnificent new temple will be built, And Ezekiel tells us this, "and the glory," remember the glory of the Lord, the Shekinah, that left, all right? And didn't return until Jesus returned and it was veiled in his body. Now it says, "The glory of the Lord will come into the house by the way of the gate, facing toward the east," Ezekiel 43 and verse four. So the Lord will come into His temple. And of course, during the eternal state, there will be no temple, because the Lord himself will be the temple.

So these six objectives, Gabriel tells Daniel will be accomplished in these 77s, 490 years that God has carved out of history to accomplish his purposes in delivering the people of Israel, their capital city, Jerusalem, consistent with all of his covenant promises. 490 years before Messiah would finally established the long awaited kingdom, for which Daniel prayed. Now, the next verse tells him when the clock is going to start ticking. And we'll look at that beginning the next time. Oh, dear friends, what a glorious future awaits the redeemed. Amen? And what a glorious God to not only make this possible, but to make it certain. I get so excited when I think about it. All of this stuff we deal with is one day going to be over. And the Lord is going to reign, every knee will bow every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord, let's pray together.

Father, thank You for these eternal truths. We pray as always that by the power of your Spirit, you will ignite our hearts and prays to the one who gave Himself for us our Redeemer and our coming King. And Lord, for those that may not know you, that may have some religion, but they have really never been broken over their sin. They've never cried out to you for the mercy that you will give. As a result of repentant faith, I pray that you will break their hearts, give them no sleep upon their pillow until they do business with you. We commit this to you by your grace, and for your glory. Amen.

It is my great joy and privilege to be able to minister the word of God to you this morning. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Daniel chapter nine, we continue to make our way verse by verse through this great Old Testament prophetic book. And we are looking at part two of Daniel's prayer of confession and intercession, as we just read a few minutes ago. In Jesus prayer in John 17, he said, "'This is eternal life, that we may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.'" And dear friends, that is the purpose of what every faithful pastor will do on a Sunday morning. We are here to open up the Word of God so that you might know who God really is, and to know His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, You will recall that it was for this reason that Paul said, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord. And so we are here to learn more about these things, especially as we look at the prayer life of this choice servant of God, that lived many years ago, a man that we will one day see and be able to fellowship with, for eternity, an amazing thought is not? Dr. Martyn Lloyd Jones said, "It is in prayer that we come as near as we ever shall, in this world, to the ultimate purpose for which God has created and redeemed us. That is, that we might know Him and glorify Him." Dear friends, disciplined, fervent, persistent prayer will be the very air that a Christian breathes if indeed, they truly love the lover of their soul. It will be a part of who you are. The truest passions of a man's heart can be heard most clearly in his or her prayers. For it is there that the Spirit's secret work is most evident, and his power is most manifested. In fact, Spurgeon said, "Prayer is the cylinder nerve that moves the muscle of omnipotence." He also said, "It is the highest activity of which the human soul is capable." So as we come to the word this morning, we do so with these things in mind as we examin Daniel's prayer of confession and intercession.

May I remind you that Daniel nine is divided into two parts, the first 19 verses speak to the issue of his prayer. And then the final verses speak, regarding God's answer to his prayer. And we've been examining this chapter under four headings. We've looked so far at the impetus of his prayer and the focus of his prayer. And now this morning, we will conclude the study on the humility of his prayer and the burden of his prayer. Let me give you a bit of a review here regarding the impetus of his prayer. In the first two verses there we read, "In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans. In the first year of his reign, I Daniel observed in the books, the number of the years, which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, the prophet, for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely 70 years." So here, once again, we see that the impetus for Daniel's prayer was his study of the Word of God as it was revealed to the prophet Jeremiah concerning the 70 years of judgment that God had imposed upon his nation Israel, because of their idolatry, and especially because of their neglect of his appointed sabbatical years. And there's warnings about this, for example, in Leviticus 26. And Daniel was also familiar with the last seven chapters of Deuteronomy. That's Deuteronomy 28 through 34 that provide as David Larson says, quote, "The matrix out of which the great prophecies of the Old Testament regarding Israel emerge." I wanted that for an overhead last week, and we weren't able to get that. So now you have it in your bulletin. So you can study that later. So you see it once again, that these are the types of things that Daniel would have understood as a student of the word. So he knew what God had said, but he didn't really know when the clock had started to tick when the judgment would be over and so forth. But to be sure, the word of God animated within his heart, a desire to come before God, and to cry out to him for understanding. And certainly the study of the Word will always be the the spirit generated wind in our sails, that move us along, in worship and praise in our life. Shallow study, I might add, will produce shallow praying, and all of that will produce a shallow Christian life that will forfeit blessing. So the emphasis of his prayer was, when is the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely the seventy sevens, when is that going to occur?

Secondly, by way of review the focus of his prayer, verse three, we see, "I gave my attention to the Lord to seek Him by prayer, and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth and ashes." Again, the because of the deep burden for his countrymen, his rebellious countrymen, and because he longed for the glory of God to be manifest in the world, he jettisoned all of the distractions in his life, that he might focus his attention solely on the Lord. Adonai, here, the Lord, master the Lord God. And He alone is the ruler of heaven and earth, all authority is his. He is the object of faith and worship. And so he looked intently to God, nothing else got in his way.

And that brings us now number three to the humility of his prayer. And we will begin here, especially in verse five, and we are going to see that his humility has manifested primarily in his sensitivity to sin, and hatred of sin, not only in his countrymen, but also in his own heart. Again, verse four, "I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, 'Alas, oh Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant and loving kindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly, and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances.'" Here beloved, we witness one of the most common effects of in-depth study of Scripture. Notice what he says, "I prayed to the Lord," be translated Yawei, which is the sacred and personal name that God derived from what is called the tetragrammaton, meaning the four letters, the four Hebrew, consonants translated in English as Yahweh, Y H. W. H. You will recall that when Moses came before God at the burning bush, and inquired of God, concerning his name in Exodus three, God responded to him and said, "'I am who I am. Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I am' has sent you.'" And in this we see the great theological truths concerning the great I Am. He is saying that I am the self-existent eternal one that always has existed and always will exist. So this name speaks to his self-existence, his preexistence, the one who has no beginning and no end. That's who Daniel is praying to. He is the one that is eternal and unchanging in his nature. He is the infinitely Holy covenant making and covenant keeping God of Israel who was gracious to all upon whom he has set his love. And apart from this understanding of the one true God, dear friend, your prayers will be superficial, at best, and self-serving at worst. So this is where we must begin.

I might add to this is, it's important for you to understand. So I'm going to dwell on this for a moment. This person in the name of God, Yahweh is used 6800 times in the Old Testament. But in the book of Daniel, it is only used in this chapter and it's done so seven times. We see this as well in the New Testament with reference to Jesus, the Son of God. You will recall, for example, in John one and verse one, we read, "In the beginning was the Word," and the word "was" is the imperfect tense of the verb, "to be" from which we get "I am." The point is, in the beginning, the great I AM, the Lord Jesus Christ, was already in existence, because there was never a time in which he did not exist. And repeatedly in the New Testament, especially in John's gospel, we read about the "I am." Jesus repeatedly uses this as his title. He said, "I am the bread of life." "I am the light of the world." "I am the door of the sheep." "I am the good shepherd." "I am the resurrection and the life" "I am the true and the living way." "I am the true vine." You will recall as well, when Judas and the officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees along with their troops when they came to arrest Jesus, Jesus said to them, "'Whom do you seek?' They answered him, 'Jesus the Nazarene.' And he said to them, 'I am he.' When he said to them, "I am he,' they drew back and fell to the ground." John 18. I might add that in the original language, the word "he" is not there. He simply said, "I am." He is the great I Am, Jesus was claiming for himself, the name of God, that is rooted in Exodus 3:14, "I am."

Now back to Daniel, although he did not know how Yahweh would one day reveal himself as the incarnate Christ, he knew who God was, he understood this and he worshipped him in spirit and in truth. So indeed, he says, verse four, "I prayed to the Lord, my God," to the great I AM, and once you notice that, he says, "my God," it's not some impersonal force, but rather he speaking of a personal Savior, a personal master in his life, the one he worshipped and loved and served. He goes on to say, "and confessed, and said, 'Alas, oh Lord, the great and awesome God.' The term "awesome" here could be translated, "the one who is to be feared." You are "'the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant and loving kindnesses for those who love Him and keep His commandments.'" Now, once you notice the startling contrast here. Here we read of a great and an awesome God beyond our ability to even comprehend, and yet he is also the one who "keeps his covenant and loving kindnesses for those who love Him and keep His commandments." The ineffable tetragrammaton, meaning the too wondrous to utter from the lips, four letters, YWHY, this is the one the one who is exalted in the heavens, beyond our ability to fathom, is also the one who condescends to our lowly estate, in all of our sin, to save us from our sin, and to reconcile us unto himself. Daniel sees the essence of this, in his prayer. Reminds me of the great hymn that we've sung many times that written by Isaac Watts. "Alas, and did my Savior bleed and did my sovereign die. Would he devote that sacred head for sinners such as I? Was it for crimes that I had done, he groaned upon the tree, amazing pity, grace unknown, and love beyond decree."

So dear friends, these astounding truths pertaining to the character of God, the perfections, of who he is, are concentrated here in Daniel's prayer. And in light of this, we might pause for a moment and say, how should we live? Given all that God is. Well, there are many answers to that, but certainly in Romans 12 and verse one, Paul says, "Therefore," in other words, in light of all that God is and all that he has done, that he's spoken of, in the previous 11 chapters, "Therefore, I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living in the holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship."

So back to Daniel's prayer in verse four, "I prayed to the Lord my God, and confessed and said,' Alas, o Lord, the great and awesome God who keeps His covenant and loving kindnesses for those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly, and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances." Dear christian, there's much instruction here. One that will be the truest expression of humble worship. May I pause for a moment and give you a few things to think about? First of all, when it comes to the kind of prayer that is really effective, that honors God, it is going to flow out of a heart, number one, that is consumed with God's glory. This is what we see with Daniel. Daniel is overwhelmed with the character of God, the infinite perfections of God, as he has revealed himself in Scripture. This was what silenced Job you will recall, after he demanded an audience with God to plead his case, thinking that perhaps God lacked information. Or even worse yet, maybe he was being unfair. And you will recall what God did. He intimidated Job with his glory for a number of chapters. And finally, God changed his perspective. He didn't change his circumstances, but he changed his perspective. Job said in Job 45 or 42, verse five, "I have heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes sees you. Therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes." Dear Christian I might add that like never before in my life, I believe that today is the day when the church needs to have a zeal for the glory of God. And I fear that is missing. We need to have a zeal that can only come from a soul captivating, a soul exhilarating, a sin destroying vision of the majesty of God. "Soli deo Gloria" was the bedrock affirmation of the Reformation. We see this in the eternal purpose of God's plan of redemption to bring glory to himself. And of course, this includes two basic things, he's going to restore the kingdom and he's going to redeem the people. He's going to transform us in such a way as that our life will redound to his glory. But this all begins when we are consumed with his glory. And this only, this only occurs when we have a decisive commitment to personal righteousness and holiness, anchored in the bedrock of divine revelation where we learn who God is.

But once you're consumed with God's glory, as Daniel was, the next thing that happens is confession of sin. Confession of sin, there we can say, with Isaiah, remember when he saw the Lord, high and lofty lifted up, he said, "Woe is me, for I am undone." We can say with the Apostle Paul in Romans 7, "O, wretched men that I am, who will free me from the body of this death," referring to the sin that remained is in his unredeemed humaneness. Oh Child of God, please hear me. If you're not first amazed at the character of God, at the holiness of God, in contrast to your sin, you will never be amazed by God's grace. And you should not sing that hymn. When we see him for who he really is, we will be reduced to nothing. And all that will be left is for us to cry out to him for mercy. And as we experience that mercy, as we confess our sin, we experience that mercy, and we celebrate his grace. This is what we read in Hebrews 10 verse 19, "Therefore brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water."

So when we're consumed With God's glory, it will produce within us a desire to confess our sin. First John one nine, you're all familiar with it, "If we confess our sin," confess in Greek is a compound word "homologeo." "Homo" means the "same," "logeo" means "to say." When we confess, we are saying the same things about our sin, as God does. We're agreeing with God. And when we come before him, and we agree with God about who we really are, what we really do, etcetera, what does he do? "He is faithful, and he is righteous, to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

And this will produce number three: confidence in God's precious promises. This is what we see with Daniel. Daniel was convinced because of the promises of God, because he was the covenant making and the covenant keeping God that he would forgive those who come to him in brokenness of sin. Again, for the Lord is "the great and awesome God," verse four, "who keeps His covenant and loving kindnesses," which can be translated, "his steadfast love," "for those who love Him and keep His commandments." Dear friends, he knows our weaknesses. He knows our frailty, our inability to be perfectly obedient. And so what does he do in his great love for sinners? He extends his steadfast love, his loving kindness. The Hebrew term "hesed," is the one that is used. The term connotes not only his willingness to forgive, but his loyalty in keeping his covenant promises. Daniel understood these things. He understood that God keeps His promises even though his people don't. Isaiah 66 two, the prophet says, "But to this one, I will look," God is speaking through the prophet here. "But to this one I will look," this is what gets God's attention, "To him who is humble and contrite of spirit and who trembles at My word." Beloved, I hope that is the attitude of your heart.

So when we're consumed with God's glory, we confess our sin when we have confidence in his promises. And finally, it produces a commitment to serve Him, come what may, that he might be glorified. And that's going to be the theme later on in the prayer here in verses 16 through 19. You will recall, Isaiah's confession, and his subsequent forgiveness, caused him to hear the voice of the Lord. When he said Whom shall I send? Who will go for us? And what did he say? Here am I send me? Well, this is the passion of "all who love Him and keep His commandments," verse four. So I might add, that if you have no desire to obey the Lord, no desire to serve him, on the basis of the Word of God, you do not love him. Don't kid yourself. Verse five, again, he says, "we have sinned." He's including himself here. How often we're prone to see the speck in your brother's eye, but we don't see the log on our own. But he says, "we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly, and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances." Boy he covers the full spectrum of sin here. And the shocking nature of their sin is even amplified further in verse six. "Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land." In other words, it's bad enough to disregard your written word, but beyond that, they rejected the words of the prophets that God had sent to them, to call them to repentance, to warn them of impending judgment.

We read in the Old Testament that even in the days of revival during the reign of Hezekiah, when the king's messengers went to the land, and called all of the people to Passover in Jerusalem, according to Second Chronicles 13, verse 10, it says, "Many of the people laughed them to scorn and mocked them." Boy, if that isn't an indictment of our culture today. And by the way, they laughed them to scorn and mocked them, knowing that the Assyrians had already been successful in conquering some of the cities. I mean, folks sin is insanity. You know, it's insanity. We see this in our country today. It is disintegrating before our very eyes freedoms being stripped away. You've got gross immorality dominating our culture; our economy is suffering. We are hopelessly in debt. Our borders are overrun with illegal aliens. Marxists totalitarians continue to force us to adhere to their demands. We have demented fools, basically, that are ruling over us. I use "fool" in the biblical sense. The fool is a person that has no fear of God. Our enemies no longer fear us. But despite all of these things going on, when we come along and warn people and offer them the gospel, what do they do? They laugh us to scorn. And they mock us. Boy, nothing has changed in 2500 years, right? Nothing is changed.

Look again at the contrast presented in verses seven through nine. "Righteousness belongs to You, O Lord, but to us open shame, as it is this day--to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and all Israel, those who are who are nearby and those who are far away in all the countries to which You have driven them because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You." I want you to also notice that he brings no indictment here against the Lord, as if he were wrong in his judgment. I'm reminded of Isaiah 30 and verse 18, where we read, "Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore he waits on high to have compassion on you, for the Lord is a God of justice. How blessed are those who long for him?" As we look at verses eight through 10, we see more of these contrasts with respect to their stubbornness, their contumacy, their intransigence, versus the compassionate mercy of the Lord, verse eight; "Open shame belongs to us, O Lord, to our kings, our princes and fathers." Fathers used here metaphorically to describe the leaders of Israel. Why? "because we have sinned against you." But then he goes on to say in verse nine with the contrast, "To the Lord our God, belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in His teachings, which He set before us through His servants the prophets."

You see, friends, like all of us, the people were blind to the horrible power of their sin nature. They were so deceived, they couldn't see the deceitfulness of their own heart, and were it not for God's grace and his word and the power of the Spirit, that's where we would be as well. Verse 11, "Indeed, all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside, not obeying Your voice; so the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the law of Moses, the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him." By the way, this is a specific reference to the covenant curses recorded in Leviticus 26, and Deuteronomy 28, and so forth. And then Daniel goes on to specify the evils that God is going to pour out upon his people Israel, because of the rebellion. In verse 12 we read, "Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us, and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity for under the whole heaven, there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem. As it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. Therefore," verse 14, "the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us; for the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all his deeds, which he has done, but we have not obeyed his voice."

I want to give you some Old Testament background, which requires us to hear some of the passages of Scripture that many times we overlook. I want to take you back some 900 years prior to what Daniel was talking about when God revealed through Moses what he would do to the people if they failed to obey him. And of course, now Daniel sees that come to fruition. There are curses that are promised in Deuteronomy 28. First of all, beginning in verse 49. Let me give you a sample of this. "The Lord will bring a nation against you from afar, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down, a nation whose language you shall not understand, a nation of fierce countenance who will have no respect for the old nor show favor to the young. Moreover, it shall eat the offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed, who also leaves you no grain, new wine or oil, nor the increase of your herd or the young of your flock until they have caused you to perish. It shall besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land, and it shall besiege you and all your towns throughout your land which the Lord your God has given to you. Then you shall eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and your daughters in the Lord your God has given you during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you." In other words, the enemy will starve you until you will resort to cannibalism, which is exactly what happened. If you've ever studied siege warfare, it's an amazing thing. I've been to places in Israel where you can see the remnants of the siege warfare like at Lachish with Sennacherib and the Assyrians, the great fortified city of Lachish. Also at Masada. What they would do first of all, is the hoard would come in, and they would take months and they would build a stone fence around the entire city. For all of you to see, to say to you, there is no escape. There is no escape. And they post their military people all around. And then they find the best way, the closest way to build a ramp up to the walls. They also find other places where they can build other ramps and other towers. And they little by little over time, began to build around so that they can breach the walls. And all along they are starving the people. As people died within the city of Jerusalem, during the Babylonian siege, their corpses were more than they could bury so they would throw them over the walls. The stench of putrefaction was so great it would, just imagine how it would choke you. Of course, anyone that handles corpses knows that it's easy to contract all manner of diseases. And that's what happened after two and a half years of siege. Imagine that, two and a half years, as the Babylonians surrounded Jerusalem, starvation set in. And that caused the people to begin to eat their young and those that would die. God warned them about this some 900 years prior Leviticus 26:29, "You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters you will eat." I want you to obey me and I'll bless you, if you disobey me, I will bring my wrath down upon you. Ezekial warned of this, in Ezekial 5:10, "Therefore fathers will eat their sons among you and sons will eat their fathers. For I will execute judgments on you and scatter all your remnant to every wind." Likewise, Jeremiah 19, verse nine, "I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters. And they will eat one another's flesh in the siege and in the distress with which their enemies and those who seek their life will distress them." But they ignored all of the warnings of the prophets. We're militarily invincible, we can handle it. After all God is on our side. Lamentations 2, after it had happened. Jeremiah laments, "See O Lord and look with whom you have dealt. Thus, should women eat offspring, the little ones who were born healthy." Chapter four verse 10, "the hands of compassionate women boiled their own children that became food for them because of the destruction of the daughter of my people. The Lord has accomplished his wrath. He has poured out his fierce anger and he has kindled a fire in Zion, which has consumed its foundations."

Back to the warnings, the curses in Deuteronomy 28 verse 54, "The man who is refined and very delicate among you shall be hostile toward his brother and toward the wife he cherishes and toward the rest of his children who remain, so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, since he has nothing else left during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you, and all your towns. The refined and delicate women among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground of delicateness and refinement, shall be hostile toward the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter, and toward her afterbirth, which issues from between her legs, and toward her children whom she bears; for she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the distress by which your enemy will oppress you in your towns." Beginning in verse 58, of Deuteronomy 28, "If you are not careful to observe all the words of this law, which are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the Lord your God, then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, even severe and lasting plagues and miserable and chronic sicknesses. He will bring back on you all of the diseases of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you. Also every sickness and every plague which, not written in the book of this law, the Lord will bring on you until you are destroyed. Then you shall be left few in number, whereas you are as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not obey the Lord your God. It shall come about that as the Lord delighted over you to prosper you and multiply you, so the Lord will delight over you to make you perish and destroy you; and you will be torn from the land where you are entering to possess it. Moreover, the Lord will scatter you among all the peoples from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth. And there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone which you are your father's have not known. Among those nations you shall find no rest and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes and despair of soul. So your life shall hang and doubt before you and you will be in dread night and day, and you shall have no assurance of your life. In the morning, you shall say, 'Would that it were evening!' And at evening you shall say, 'Would that it were morning!' because of the dread of your heart which you dread and for the side of your eyes, which you will see. The Lord will bring you back to Egypt and ships by the way, which I spoke to you, 'You will never see it again!' And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer." Let me read you some ancient history from Josephus, regarding what Daniel saw on the siege of Jerusalem, and why he was passionate about praying to the Lord, that the desolations of Jerusalem would come to an end for his for the glory of the Lord. Here's what Josephus the ancient Jewish historian said, "Now the king of Babylon was very intent and earnest upon the siege of Jerusalem, and he erected towers upon great banks of Earth, and from them, repelled those that stood upon the walls. He also made a great number of such banks, round about the whole city, the height of which was equal to those walls. However, those that were within bore the siege with courage and alacrity, for they were not discouraged either by the famine or by the pestilential distemper, but were of cheerful minds in the prosecution of the war. Although those miseries within oppressed them also. And they did not suffer themselves to be terrified either by the contrivances of the enemy, or by their engines of war, but contrive still different engines to oppose all the other with all till indeed, there seemed to be an entire struggle between the Babylonians and the people of Jerusalem, who had the greater sagacity and skill. The former party, supposing they should be, there by too hard for the other, for the destruction of the city. The latter placing their hopes of deliverance and nothing else but in persevering in such inventions, in opposition to the other as might demonstrate the enemy's engines were useless to them. And the seeds they endured for 18 months until they were destroyed by the famine, and by the darts which the enemy threw at them from the towers." He goes on to say, "Now the city was taken on the ninth day of the fourth month in the 11th year of the reign of Zedekiah. And when the city was taken about midnight, and the enemy's generals were entered into the two ample, and when Zedekiah was sensible of it, he took his wives and his children and his captains and friends and with them fled out of the city through the fortified ditch and through the desert, and when certain of the deserted had informed the Babylonians of this at break of day, they made haste to pursue after Zedekiah and overtook him not far from Jericho, and encompassed him about with those friends and captains of Zedekiah, who had fled out of the city with him. When they saw their enemies near them, they left him and dispersed themselves, some one way, some another, and everyone resolved to save himself. So the enemy took Zedekiah alive when he was deserted by all, but a few with his children and his wives and brought him to the king. Then, Nebuchadnezzar began to call him a wicked wretch, a covenant breaker, and one that had forgotten his former words when he promised to keep the country for him." Josephus went on to say, "And when he had used these words, Zedekiah, he commanded his sons and his friends to be slain while Zedekiah on the rest of the captain's looked on, after which he pulled out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him and carried him to Babylon. And these things happened to him as Jeremiah and Ezekiel had foretold." He went on to say, "And now it was that the king of Babylon sent Nebuzaradan, the general of his army to Jerusalem, to pillage the temple, who had it also in command to burn it in the royal palace and to lay the city even with the ground and to transplant the people into Babylon. Accordingly, he came to Jerusalem in the 11th year of King Zedekiah and pillaged the temple and carried out the vessels of God both gold and silver, and particularly, that large labor which Solomon dedicated as also the pillars of brass and their chapters, with the golden tablets and the candlesticks. And when they had carried these off, he set fire to the temple in the fifth month, the first day of the month in the 11th year of the reign of Zedekiah. And in the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar. He also burnt the palace and overthrew the city." Then we read, "The general of the Babylonian king now overthrew the city to the very foundations, removed all the people and took for prisoners the high priests Araya, and Zephaniah, the priests that was next to him and the rulers that guarded the temple, who were three in number. And the eunuch who was over the armed men, and seven friends of Zedekiah and his scribe, and 60 other rulers, all whom, together with the vessels, they had pillaged. He carried to the king of Babylon, to Riblah city of Syria. So, the king commanded the heads of the high priests of the rulers to be cut off there. But he himself led all the captains and Zedekiah to Babylon. He also led Josedech, the high priest away, bound."

That gives you a flavor of what happened, dear friends. You understand now the passion of Daniel's heart. People were warned, but they ignored the one that loved them enough to call them unto himself. Verse 12, back to Daniel nine. "Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring us great calamity; for under the whole heaven, there has not been done anything, like what was done to Jerusalem." So we see the humility of his prayer, most prominently in his confession. And finally, we see the burden of his prayer. And here, he petitions the Lord for forgiveness for restoration.

Notice verse 15. "And now, o Lord our God, who have brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself, as it is this day--we have sinned, we have been wicked." Now mind you, here he is reminiscing about the God of glory that delivered his people out of the bondage of Egypt, to put his glory on display. Later on in the New Testament, he delivers both Jew and the Gentile from the penalty in the bondage of sin, through his death and his resurrection, and in Christ. As we've seen in other passages in Daniel, one day, there will be a future millennial reign upon the earth and there he will once again manifest his glory to the people as he re gathers Israel. And has he restores them to their land. As we read in Jeremiah 16, and many other Old Testament passages, verse 16, then of Daniel's prayer, he says, "O Lord, in accordance with all Your righteous acts, let now Your anger and wrath turn away from Your city Jerusalem, Your holy mountain; for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us. So now, our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant, and to his supplications. And for Your sake, O Lord, let Your face shine on your desolate sanctuary."

And then finally, we come to an eloquent crescendo of his prayer, in verses 18 and 19, where he says, "O my God, incline Your ear!" It literally it could be translated, stretch out your ear, it's like hold your ear with a cup of your hand and listen carefully to my plea. "O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations in the city which is called by Your name; for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. O, Lord hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name." He uses five verbs here: forgive, listen, take action, do not delay. Once again, dear friends, you see a passion for God's glory, to deliver his people who are called by his name and thus to bring honor to himself.

Oh dear friends in closing, I hope you don't miss the great truths herein. Not only are these great historical facts that we can look back to, but they also demonstrate some great theological truths, not the least of which is this; God means what He says. God means what He says. All sin is going to be punished. And thankfully, he has made a way for someone other than ourselves, to pay for our sins, and that is His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He paid in full the penalty of the sins of all who would place their trust in Him as their only hope of salvation. But hear this. If you reject his call to repentance, to come to faith in Christ, your sin will be paid for not by Christ, but by you yourself. And you will pay for that, in the torments of an eternal hell. Because God means what He says. Dear Christian, I hope you will give heed to the instructions that we gleaned from Daniel's prayer. There's such a pattern here. And here we see the truest expression of humble worship. I pray that when you come before the Lord your God, you will, as we discussed be, first of all, just absolutely consumed with his glory, understanding who he is, as he has revealed himself in Scripture. And if you begin there, what will automatically happen is you will confess your sin. Because whenever we stand in the presence of his holiness, we are laid bare. In that confession, will by the power of the Spirit of God, cause us to have confidence in the precious promises of God that are inherent in the Gospel promises available to all who are broken over their sin, and cry out for mercy. And that will lead finally to a commitment to serve him, come what may, that he might be glorified. And that we might experience the fullness of joy that he longs for us to experience. So let's bear these things in mind. And I would ask you to read this prayer again, in your study this week, with these things in mind, and let the Spirit of God teach you even further. Let's pray together.

Father, thank You for these eternal truths that speaks so directly to our hearts. Despite the fact that these things happened millennia ago, Lord, nevertheless, you are an unchanging God, you are a holy and a sovereign God. And yet you are a forgiving, long suffering God who longs to reconcile sinners unto yourself. May we all be reminded of these great truths. And because of this, be animated to further worship and praise and service to you. So we commit the preaching of your word, to the power of your Spirit to do what you will, for your glory. In Christ's name I pray. Amen.

Solely on the basis of God's grace, I have been given the responsibility of opening up the Word of God to you, to help you to understand it and to apply it to your lives. And so, with this in mind, I ask that you take your Bibles and turn to Daniel, chapter nine. If you haven't been with us, we go verse by verse through whatever book of the Bible we are studying. And we now come to Daniel's prayer of confession, and intercession here in Daniel nine. This will be part one of a little series on this because it'll take a little while to get through this. In fact, today I will be addressing basically the first three verses. But let me read Daniel's prayer through verse 19. Daniel nine beginning in verse one. "In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus, of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans. In the first year of his reign, I Daniel observed in the books, the number of the years, which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah the prophet, for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely 70 years. So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed and said, 'Alas, oh Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned, committed iniquity, acted wickedly, and rebelled, even turning aside from Your commandments and ordinances. Moreover, we have not listened to Your servants, the prophets, who spoke in Your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers and all the people of the land. Righteousness belongs to you, oh, Lord, but to us, open shame, as it is this day, to the men of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem and all Israel, those who are nearby and those who are far away and all the countries to which You have driven them, because of their unfaithful deeds which they have committed against You. Open shame belongs to us, oh Lord, to our kings, our princes and our fathers, because we have sinned against You. To the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against Him; nor have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God to walk in His teachings, which He set before us through His servants, the prophets. Indeed, all Israel has transgressed Your law and turned aside not obeying Your voice. So the curse has been poured out on us, along with the oath which is written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, for we have sinned against Him. Thus He has confirmed His words which He had spoken against us, and against our rulers who ruled us, to bring on us great calamity for under the whole heaven, there has not been done anything like what was done to Jerusalem. As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come on us; yet we have not sought the favor of the Lord our God by turning from our iniquity and giving attention to Your truth. Therefore, the Lord has kept the calamity in store and brought it on us. For the Lord our God is righteous with respect to all His deeds, which He has done, but we have not obeyed His voice. And now, oh Lord, our God, who have brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and have made a name for Yourself as it is this day, we have sinned, we have been wicked. Oh, Lord, in accordance with all your righteous acts, let now Your anger and Your wrath turn away from Your city, Jerusalem, Your holy mountain, for because of our sins and the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and Your people have become a reproach to all those around us. So now our God, listen to the prayer of Your servant, and to his supplications and for Your sake, O Lord, let your face shine on Your desolate sanctuary. O my God, incline Your ear and hear! Open Your eyes and see our desolations and the city which is called by Your name, for we are not presenting our supplications before You on account of any merits of our own, but on account of Your great compassion. O Lord hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my god, do not delay because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.'"

What a magnificent model for prayer that we have here before us. Here we have an 82-year-old servant of God pouring out his heart before the Lord. The same model by the way we can see in an Ezra's prayer in Ezra nine. We can see it as well in Nehemiah's prayer in Nehemiah nine. And certainly, it's a pattern that we would all do well to emulate as we will discover. But I might add that the comprehensive structure of Daniel's prophecies for both Gentiles and Israel has earned it the well-deserved title of the revelation of the Old Testament. Daniel nine is perhaps the key to understanding God's redemptive purposes down through history. That's why it is so important for us to understand it very well, especially as it relates to God's chosen people, Israel and the coming of their Messiah, and our Messiah, to the earth to reign.

Now, by way of introduction, Daniel nine can be divided into two parts. The first 19 verses consist of Daniel's prayer. And the final verses consist of God's response. And today, I will briefly introduce God's response, but primarily focus on Daniel's prayer. And I might add that you cannot properly understand God's response apart from understanding Daniel's prayer. They go hand in hand; not only the contents and nature of his prayer, but also, I might add the heart attitude of this choice servant of God. And here, beloved, we will see that it's not merely a man's words that makes his prayer effective, it is the attitude of his heart. And here we will learn much of that as we study a man whose godly character shines most brightly in his prayer of confession and intercession.

So let's embark upon this amazing journey through Daniel nine. I'd like to do so under four headings. First of all, we will look at the impetus of his prayer. Secondly, the focus of his prayer. Thirdly, the humility of his prayer and finally, the burden of his prayer. And we'll just look at the first two this morning. So the impetus of his prayer, notice verse one. And this basically gives us the context, gives us the setting. Daniel writes, "In the first year of Darius, the son of Ahasuerus of Median descent, who was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans," that is the Babylonians. So, what we are reading here occurred after Darius the Mead, who was a subordinate of King Cyrus, was tricked into throwing Daniel in the lion's den. All right. So this occurs after that, and I have to stop and pause for a moment. Imagine all that Daniel, I mean, he's about 82 years old. Now imagine all that he has been through thus far in his life, to be exiled to Babylon, as a teenager, to receive divine revelation during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar concerning the great image of chapter two, concerning the high tree of chapter four. And then the vision of the four great beasts during the reign of Belshazzar. Imagine going through all of that. And then 14 years later, he sees the handwriting on the wall and explains that to the king, followed immediately by the invasion of the Medo-Persians. Then the subterfuge of his jealous colleagues that eventually land did him in a lion's den, on and on it goes, it's amazing. And yet through it all, he remained faithful, and God blessed him. And God blesses us because of him, as he is doing here today. Think of all the ways that God protected him, and used him, and how through the miraculous agencies of divine providence, Daniel, accomplished everything that God had ordained for him, and for the world; in the world to be accomplished in the secret counsels of his will.

So, we move on, "In the first year," verse two, "of his reign, I, Daniel, observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord," or of Yahweh, "to Jeremiah, the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely 70 sevens." So, he observes the word of Yahweh, which is the personal covenantal name of God. In verse four, he describes him as the one who keeps his covenant and loving kindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments." And so Daniel had the utmost confidence in Israel's covenant relationship with YAWEH. So this is where he goes. And he's inquiring about the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely 70 years. And here in beloved is the impetus of his prayer. This is what is driving him to his knees. This is the great burden of his heart. He has studied the Word of God that God has given to his servant Jeremiah, concerning the 70-year judgment that God imposed upon his nation, Israel, because of their idolatry, and because of their neglect of his appointed sabbatical years. And he gave this warning, God gave this warning back in Leviticus, chapter 26, verse 14, he says, "If you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments," and he goes on to list things that he's going to do, which include beginning in verse 31, "I will lay waste your cities as well, and will make your sanctuaries desolate and I will not smell your soothing aromas. I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it will be appalled over it. You however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you as your land becomes desolate, and your cities become waste, then the land will enjoy it Sabbath's all the days of the desolation, while you and your enemies' land, then the land will rest and enjoy its Sabbath. All the days of its desolation, it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your Sabbath while you were living on it." So the covenant people violated the commandments concerning many things, but especially the land Sabbath, and this became the basis of God's punishment upon them, the 70 year judgments that they are now experiencing a Babylonian captivity.

By the way, I hope you get the idea that God is serious about his commands. He means what He says. Now, Daniel would have also been very familiar with the last seven chapters of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 28, through 34. And in those last seven chapters, we have as David Larson says, "The Matrix out of which the great prophecies of the Old Testament regarding Israel emerge." Let me take you there for a moment. I believe there is an overhead to this end. But in Deuteronomy 26, verse three through verse 13, and Deuteronomy 28, verses one through 14, we read about the conditions of blessing to follow obedience. Evidently, you don't have an overhead. I'm sorry, that was supposed to be... I'll tell you what, I will get this to you. Okay. So I won't read all of these verses. I'll just give you the flow, alright? So if you look at these chapters, you will see first the conditions of blessing to follow obedience. Then the coming apostasy. He warned of the affliction that God would bring upon Israel while still in the land because of her apostasy. We read about how Israel will be taken captive, the enemies of Israel will possess her land for a time, the land itself will remain desolate. Israel will be scattered among the nations, though punished, Israel will not be destroyed. If she repents, Israel will repent in her tribulation. And finally, in chapter 30, verses three through 10, Israel will be gathered from the nations and brought back to her divinely given land. Daniel would have been aware of all of these things because he was a great student of the word. He knew what God said. But what he didn't know is when and how these events would occur.

So back to verse two, he says, "I observed in the books the number of the years which was revealed as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, the prophet, for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely 70 years.' Now, we know that the prophet Jeremiah predicted this, in 605 BC, 67 years prior to Daniel's prayer. Jeremiah's prophecies were first uttered in Jerusalem when Daniel was just a young teenager. We read about them in Jeremiah 25, beginning in verse 11. There, the Spirit of God speaks through His servant and says, "'This whole land will be a desolation and a horror and these nations will serve the king of Babylon 70 years, then it will be when 70 years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,' declares the LORD, 'for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans and I will make it an everlasting desolation.'" It's interesting to note that according to Jeremiah 26, Jeremiah's words were so abhorrent to King Jehoiakim, king of Judah, at that time, that he had them cut in little pieces, in stages, almost like a ceremony, and had them thrown in the fire. Sinful people only hear what they want to hear, right? It's always been that way. People that have no fear of God, they care nothing about what God has to say. This is precisely what we see in our country today with politicians that criminalize biblical morality, and they legalize immorality give free reign to public schools and educators to indoctrinate their children in the disgusting sexual deviancies of the LGBTQ lifestyle and the racist Neo Marxist ideologies of critical race theory. And it goes on and on and on.

So God's covenant people Israel heard the word but they ignored what God said. They despised the prophets. They rejected them despite their warnings, and they embraced the wicked culture around them. Oh, how people hate the truth when it does not fit their agenda. It's always been that way, always will be. It's for this reason that Paul says that they will "turn away their ears from the truth and they will turn aside unto myths." And the myths just go on and on even in our culture today. I mean, what moron would believe that there are more than two biological genders. Jesus said this is why eternal judgment comes upon man. Although the light of Christ has come into the world, Jesus said that "men love the darkness rather than the light, because their deeds are evil." So this is what happened back in Jeremiah's day, and Daniel's day. Let me give you a little of the history from the Word of God with respect to the fall of Jerusalem.

In Second Chronicles 36, beginning in verse 16. We read "they continually mocked the messengers of God," boy, doesn't that sound familiar today? "They continually mocked the messengers of God, despised His words and scoffed at His prophets until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, until there was no remedy. Therefore, he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary." Literally he took young men into the sanctuary of the temple and butchered them there. Goes on to say, "he had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or infirm; He gave them," God gave them, "all into his hand. All the articles of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king and of his officers, he brought them all to Babylon. Then they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its fortified buildings with fire and destroyed all its valuable articles. Those who had escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon; and they were servants to him and to his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia," catch this, "to fulfill the word of the Lord, by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept sabbath until 70 years were complete." Ah, but God warned them. He warned them, for example, through Jeremiah the prophet, but they would not listen. In fact, King Zedekiah also resented Jeremiah's prophecies, resented the warnings about impending judgment. And it was King Zedekiah that had Jeremiah lowered by a rope into a waterless system until he sank into the mire. We read about that in Jeremiah 38. He would have perished had God not rescued him. Dear friends, please hear me, whether you like it or not, whatever the Lord God says, he will surely do. And when he commands you to repent, and place your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, he means what he says. And if you reject that, you will perish in your sins and spend eternity in hell. God means what he says and we see this all through redemptive history, all through Scripture.

The Great 19th century Jewish historian and scholar Alfred Edersheim, who by the way, was a Jewish convert to Christianity, gives us some historical details of the final Babylonian takeover because it did happen in stages. Edersheim says this, "Then the king and all the regular army sought safety and flight during the darkness of the night, Jeremiah 39 four, as the Chaldeans held the northern part of the city they fled southwards between the two walls, through the Tyropoeon, then out of the fountain gate and through the king's garden. They made haste to gain the Jordan, but their flight could not remain unobserved, they were pursued and overtaken in the plains of Jericho. The soldiers dispersed in various directions, but the king himself and his household were taken captives, and carried to the headquarters at Riblah, where Nebuchadnezzar himself was at the time. Here, King Zedekiah was formally arraigned and sentence given against him. His daughters were set free, but his sons were slain before him. It was the last sight the king saw. His eyes were then put out, he was bound hands and feet with double fetters of brass, and so carried to Babylon. There he died in ward, Jeremiah 52:11." How tragic. Let's put this in perspective. What if China comes and takes us over? Slays your children in front of you, kills perhaps your wife, your husband, your loved ones, and then takes you to be a slave to China. That's what we're talking about here friends. Fascinating story, however, regarding Jeremiah's unfailing commitment to the Lord his God trusting in all that he promised, he was so certain that God would restore Israel both spiritually and physically; restoring them to their land that we read that while he was in prison, the Lord had him purchase a piece of property, Jeremiah 32 and verse eight. It says "a field that is in Anathoth," which is in the country of Benjamin, and he purchased that for 17 shekels of silver. It's a fascinating story. Let me read you just a little of it because it encourages all of us to see one who was so faithful in trusting in what God says he will do. Jeremiah 32, beginning in verse 11. Jeremiah says, "Then I took the deeds of purchase, both the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions and the open copy; and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch, the son of Neriah, the son of Mahseiah, in the sight of Hanamel my uncle's son and in the sight of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, before all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard." By the way, what we see here in this context is they were all imprisoned here. All right, so all of this happened in that context. Then we read, "And I commanded Baruch in their presence, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, "Take these deeds, the seal deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may last a long time." For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, "Houses and fields and vineyards will again, be bought in this land."" What amazing confidence. Truths that God had revealed to him. Jeremiah then prayed for understanding. He was wanting to understand more, why would you have any purchased this land. And then we read more in that chapter of God's assurance of Israel's future restoration. Jeremiah 32, verse 37, and following, he says this, "'Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, and My wrath and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place, and make them dwell and safety. They shall be My people, and I will be their God. And I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always for their own good and for the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me. I will rejoice over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them in this land, with all My heart and with all My soul. For thus says the Lord, 'Just as I brought all this great disaster on this people, so I am going to bring on them all the good that I am promising them.'" Then he says this, "'Fields will be bought in this land of which you say, "It is the desolation, without man or beast, it is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.'" And then he goes on to add, "'Men will buy fields for money, sign and seal deeds, and call in witnesses in the land of Benjamin, in the environs of Jerusalem, in the cities of Judah, in the cities of the hill country, in the cities of the lowland and in the cities of the Negev, for I will restore their fortune,' declares the Lord.'" Of course, none of this has happened yet. Neither spiritually, nor physically, nor can it happen, until God does a work of grace in the heart of his people and they come to faith in the living Christ that they have rejected, only then will they return to their ancient land, which is consistent with the terms of the new covenant that we read in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 37. That's when all of the land promises will be fulfilled.

So with this knowledge, Jeremiah could now anticipate that one day, think about this, one day in his resurrected body, God would allow him to redeem the land that he had purchased while in prison. It's an amazing thought, oh, what glorious anticipation? What an encouragement to that beleaguered imprisoned prophet and all that were around him. Ezekiel speaks of this as well in Ezekial 36 beginning in verse 35, "'They will say, '"his desolate land has become like the Garden of Eden; and the waste, desolate and ruined cities are fortified and inhabited." Then the nations that are left around about you will know that I the Lord have rebuilt the ruined places and planted that which was desolate; I, the LORD have spoken, and we'll do it.'"

Now, back to Daniel nine, and the impetus of his prayer. While praying about these issues, after studying these ancient scrolls of Jeremiah, again, he's reminded in verse two, "Of the years which was revealed, as the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, the prophet for the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely 70 years." So this makes perfect sense, he's 80 plus years old, and he's thinking you know what, this time period should be pretty much over. What's fascinating is he did not question the literal fulfillment of this prophecy or a literal interpretation of the words, the numbers of 70, the time period of years. But rather, he was wondering when did the clock start ticking so we can determine when it will stop ticking. That's the burden of his heart. He had certainly read what Jeremiah wrote to his fellow exiles in Jeremiah 29, beginning of verse 10, "For thus says the Lord, 'When 70 years had been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to Me and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart, I will be found by you declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you in to exile.'" By the way, this text is sadly used out of context, very often as a warning, and an encouragement to America. As if God is addressing America here. Beloved, I hope you understand that is ridiculous. America is not a theocracy. God's plans for America is the same plan that he has for every other pagan nation. It is a plan of judgment. One day, this great country will disappear and it will be replaced forever by the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. So please don't be, I know some of you probably have that up on your wall or on facebook, please take it down or at least explain the context there. Okay?

So Daniel is longing for this calamity to end, his longing for a restoration to begin, and we can now see in history, that the first 69 weeks of years were completed at Christ's first coming as promised in Daniel 9:26. We'll study that more when we get there, though Daniel didn't understand that meaning. And now in this 21st century era of redemptive history, and because of the New Testament record, we can understand something more that we will discover once we get there. And that is that there exists an extended period of time, prior to the final 70 years, that final seven-year period, a seven year period that will culminate in Christ's glorious return and the establishment of his kingdom. That's a period known as the Great Tribulation. There is no seven-year period in history that has clearly fulfilled the last unit of seven in Daniel's prophecy. The culmination of Daniel's prophecy is the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we await. And when he returns, the 70th seven of Israel to judgment will be fulfilled. And the times of the Gentiles will be over, all of which are pictured in Daniel's prophecies of the four great world empires that we have been studying. But Daniel didn't understand this. And he's praying that the 70-year judgment had run its course. After all, Daniel's vision recorded in Daniel nine occurred in 538 BC, about 67 years after the Babylonians captured Jerusalem and Daniel had been taken into captivity 605 BC. I might add a footnote here, through the angel Gabriel we are going to see in verses 24 and 27 that God will graciously give him a very detailed and very stunning answer to his prayer. The "terminus a quo," or the earliest possible date of the starting point for all of this would have been 605 BC. Which also takes into consideration the desolations of Jerusalem, which would have been the destruction of all the territory that occurred around Jerusalem that predated her actual fall. And the "terminus ad quem," or in other words, the close of the period, as we will see is 539 BC, when the Jews returned to the land. And when they returned to the land, I might also add, that God providentially prevented them from actually rebuilding the temple until the actual 70 years after the destruction of the previous a temple had elapsed. So I'm just giving you kind of an overview here, God is very precise with these things. More details coming when we get to verses 24 and following.

So Daniel knew that these promises were going to be fulfilled literally. But what is also true is that Daniel knew, now catch this, that God uses human agency to accomplish his sovereign purposes. He uses the faithful, humble prayers of his saints, to accomplish what he has ordained. Thus, Daniel prays. Moreover, Daniel knew that effective prayer requires utmost humility and confession and faith and obedience on the part of the supplicant. James 5:16, tells us that "the effective prayer," that the fervent passionate prayer, "of a righteous man can accomplish much." Those who know themselves to be both sinners, as well as righteous because of Christ. Those people when they humbly come before God, and their lives are centered upon the word of God, when they pray, it moves the heart of God to accomplish what he has already ordained. Daniel is a prime example of this.

So we've now understood the impetus of his prayer, when the completion of the desolations of Jerusalem, namely the 77 years would occur when they'd be over. And now we move secondly to the focus of his prayer in verse three, he says, "So I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer, and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes." As I alluded to earlier in my discussion of the prophetic matrix of Israel's history that we see in Deuteronomy 28, through 24, Daniel understood that the final curse would result in her exile. But he also knew that according to Deuteronomy 30, verses one through five, God is going to restore them, if they will repent. And so he's going to pray to that end. And it is with this spirit with this heart attitude, of genuine repentance, not just for his people, but for himself, he comes before the throne of grace, verse three, "So I gave my attention to the Lord;" gave my attention could be translated, "so I set my face, I turned my face," it's like God, I'm looking for you. To address you face to face, he's probably looking heavenward. And because of his deep burden for his rebellious countrymen, and because he accurately assesses even his own depravity, what he does here is, he removes all of the distractions in his life that might divert his attention, so he could focus exclusively on the Lord, give his undivided attention on he says, "the Lord God," Lord here is Adonai; Lord, master. He alone is the ruler of heaven and earth. So he approaches him, he is the object of Daniel's faith, the object of his worship, I trust, the same can be said for you. When you approach the Lord your God, do you see him not only as the covenant making, the covenant keeping God, but do you also see him as the Lord and Master, the ruler of heaven and earth. Too often we come into the presence of God as if we're multitasking, distracted with other things. As if we're talking with him while looking at our cell phone. You've seen people do that in restaurants. They'll come in and usually before they sit down, they pull out their phone and they start looking at their cell phones. You'll have four people sitting at a booth and not one of them are looking at each other. Folks, by the way, that is rude. That is rude. Often, that's how we pray. We're so distracted with other things. We're self-centered rather than God centered. And when we do that, we show a lack of respect for the Lord our God and no real burden. Beloved, get serious about your prayer life. When you come into the presence of the Lord, make it an event, not an afterthought. See it as a priority worthy of your utmost attention, not some intrusion on your time. See him as the thrice Holy God of Isaiah six, who is surrounded by the seraphim, seated upon his throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of his robe, filling the temple and on and on, see him that way. And when you see him as he really is, believe me, you will not be distracted by anything else. That's the attitude that we need to have, when we pray. Don't see him as some smiley face deity that's lucky to have you on his team, only deserving of some occasional and hurried interaction. It's perhaps no better gauge of a man's spiritual maturity than his secret devotion to God and prayer. You show me a man or a woman who is lacks in prayer and I will show you a man or a woman who is a spiritual infant. A person who fails to grasp the majesty and the holiness of God that deserves our utmost worship, in prayer. The incarnate Son of God was our supreme example, wasn't he? Mark 1:35. We read that in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went away to a secluded place and was praying there. Pre-dawn, private worship was the habit of our Savior, is it yours? Daniel prayed three times a day. What about you? And I'm not saying that there needs to be some prescription here. But the point is, is this a priority in your life? It certainly was for Daniel. And may I remind you is that God is honored by our trust in his infinite resources. Do you realize that? He is honored when we come before him and we cry out to him for understanding and for help. He delights in meeting our needs. Just like a heavenly Father, or our earthly father would do, so too our Heavenly Father.

In his sermon, "The Most High: a Prayer Hearing God," Jonathan Edwards preached on this issue in the context of quote, "A fast appointed on the account of epidemical sickness at the eastward of Boston." They had a great pandemic there. And his text was, "O Thou that hears prayer, Psalm 65, two," here's a small part of what he said, and I believe you have this in your bulletin. "Why is God so ready to hear the prayers of men? To this I answer, because he is a God of infinite grace and mercy. It is indeed a very wonderful thing that so great a God should be so ready to hear our prayers. That we are so despicable and unworthy. That he should give free access at all times to everyone, should allow us to be important without esteeming it and in decent boldness, and should be so rich and mercy to them that call upon Him. That worms of the dust should have such power with God by prayer, that he should do such great things in answer to their prayers and should show himself as it were overcome by them. This is a very wonderful when we consider the distance between God and us, and how we have provoked him by our sins and how unworthy we are of the least gracious notice. It cannot be from any need that God stands in of us, for our goodness extends not to him, neither can it be from anything in us to incline the heart of God to us. It cannot be from any worthiness in our prayers, which are in themselves polluted things. But it is because God delights in mercy and condescension. He is herein infinitely distinguished from all other gods. He is the great fountain of all good from whom goodness flows as light from the sun." Beloved, please understand, the blessings that we receive from his beneficence are only secondary to the glory that he receives in giving. You must bear that in mind. No wonder Paul says we're to rejoice always, that we are to pray what? Without ceasing, It needs to be the attitude of our heart. "Pray without ceasing and everything giving thanks for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Dear Christian, I challenge you here. If you have no real desire to spend intimate time alone with the Lord your God, then he is not the source of your greatest satisfaction and joy and you are pursuing other lovers. As I have written elsewhere, concerning pastors and church leaders, "While a lack of self-discipline contributes to this laxity, it is primarily a consequence of loving other things more than God. Some idol has taken the place of God and distracted you from this essential discipline and privilege. Frankly, no ministry will be effective. No marriage will be fulfilling. No family will ever be blessed apart from the pleadings of private prayer. To be sure prayer will never be the early dawn priority of the sluggard who likes to sleep in, nor will it be the priority of the Sunday morning pastor or church leader who pretends to be serving Christ for a few hours on Sunday, but the rest of the week lives for himself. But it will be the priority of the battle-weary soldier of the cross in desperate need of strength. That warrior who begs for more discernment, for more endurance, humility, love, patience and fruit, who pleas for more light and the word and boldness in battle. Because that soldier knows that apart from Christ, he can do nothing." Dear friends, this was the heart of Daniel. This needs to be our heart.

So verse three, "I gave my attention to the Lord God to seek Him by prayer," prayer being intercession, "and supplication," which refers to just entreaty for mercy. He looked intently to the Lord his God to express his own heart, confession, and to plead for more answers. And of course, we know that prayer is the great work of the Spirit of God in the heart of the redeemed. It is the Spirit of God that that animates our hearts, to pray to seek after the only one who can meet our needs. This is as we read earlier, in Zechariah 12:10, "The Spirit of grace and supplication." The apostle Paul described this in Romans eight beginning in verse 26. He says, "The Spirit helps our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. and He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints, according to the will of God." So Daniel, gives his attention, his undivided attention, on the Lord, his God, seeking Him, it says, "By prayer, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes." And certainly, these things reveal the attitude of his heart, attitude of utmost reverence and humility. I want you to understand, he didn't fast to somehow impress God. He didn't fast to somehow gain God's attention. He fasted primarily for two reasons. First of all, he was so deeply burdened, he had no appetite. When you're deeply burdened, you lose your appetite, right? But secondly, more importantly, he didn't want to be distracted by anything that would take his time away from coming before the Lord his God, and having to make meals and be a part of all of that would do that. Beloved, when you do business with God, when you come boldly before the throne of grace, make that the undisturbed priority of your life.

He also wore sackcloth, which was a coarse, dark colored garment, sometimes they just wore it around their waist. Sometimes they wore it over their whole body. It was made out of goat's hair, typically worn in times of mourning. Certainly this would manifest what was going on in his heart. He also spoke of ashes, which was typically sprinkled on a person's head; sometimes they would sit in ashes or both. And that symbolized deep penitence, a sign of, of distress. A sign of repentance for sin committed. And so here we have it, with great humility and faith, Daniel comes before the Lord his God to understand these things. Burdened to see when there would be relief. And as we will see, his prayer is one of both personal and national confession.

Friends, I trust you share Daniel's burden for the return of Christ. Trust that you long for repentance in your own heart and in the lives of those around you that you long for purity of life. And I trust that you will make prayer more of a priority in your life. Make that a lifestyle, the lifestyle of disciplined, fervent, private, persistent prayer and watch what God will do. We will continue to see what Daniel prayed for and how God answered him, Lord willing, the next time we're together. Let's pray.

Father, thank You for these eternal truths. I pray that you will cause them to find lodging in each of our hearts. That you will germinate them by the power of your Spirit, that they might grow forth a great plant that will manifest the fruit of the glory of Christ, in our lives in your church, that many will come to saving faith in our precious Savior. For it's in his name that I pray. Amen.

So once again, we come to Daniel, in our study of that amazing book. And we are in Daniel chapter eight, as we have just read a few minutes ago, a few remarks to prepare our hearts for the word this morning. As I think about it, having lived in a country that has been largely sympathetic to Christianity, it's hard for us to realize the seething and growing hatred people have towards those who love and worship Christ. Our world today can be likened to the wickedness that was upon the face of the earth during the days of Noah, that resulted in God's judgment through the worldwide flood. You may recall that in Genesis six, five, we read "That the Lord saw the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Certainly, that is an apt description of much of what we see, in our world today, even in our country. The militant unbelief in our country validated by the gross immorality, and the sheer insanity of our culture is certain proof that Satan is alive and well. And that he has launched a full-scale attack on the kingdom of God. The Bible, the Gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ, and His true church, all of these things are mocked and ridiculed. And it's just a matter of time that they will be outlawed. After all, what fellowship does light have with darkness. Jesus said, "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own, but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world because of this, the world hates you." But I fear today we underestimate the level of hatred. In fact, just try sharing the gospel with people and see the reaction. And if you're going to be honest with the gospel, you have to begin with the bad news that all that we are, and all that we do is fundamentally offensive to a holy God. That you are born with a sin nature, and you will perish in your sins, unless you place your faith in the living Christ, who paid the penalty for them. Try telling that to people and watch the reaction. Were it not for the freedoms embedded in the Constitution and frankly, more importantly, the mercy of a sovereign God, I fear that we would all be put to death. This has been what has happened over the course of many years of history. And today, we see government officials that do everything they can to legislate what God loathes and criminalize that which God loves. And of course, this has happened down through the millennia of time, and Satan will continue to do everything he can to thwart the purposes of God. But ultimately, I might add to no avail, because in the end, because our God reigns, the kingdom will come.

Now, what we have here in Daniel eight, is an illustration of Satan's wrath being poured out upon God's covenant people Israel in that day, especially under the past rule of Antiochus Epiphanes, which, as you will see, I believe foreshadows an even greater persecution in the future, for Israel and for all who love Christ, under the rule of antichrist. Israel's only hope, the hope of all Gentiles, is ultimately in Christ alone. And we can be thankful that in him we are more than conquerors; "hupernika," we are super conquerors in Christ. He alone is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Now, this is a bit technical, I want to try to make it as simple as possible. Let me tell you what, in summary, what the chapter says; give you an overview, we'll look at it a little bit more in detail and then summarize it.

This vision paints in very broad strokes, the future history of the Medo-Persian and the Grecian Empire. The second and third empires, in Daniel's history of quote "the times of the Gentiles." But with much greater detail, he describes the exceedingly wicked ruler and Antiochus Epiphanes who served as one of the kings of the Syrian division of Alexander's great empire after Alexander the Great died. And however, the prophecy, I believe, goes beyond the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes and foreshadows a future leader that will persecute Israel even more greatly referring to the Antichrist, the final world leader. Now once more as we look at this vision, we see that the Spirit of God uses animals to symbolize these kingdoms. You will recall in chapter two; a bear was used to symbolize the Medo-Persian Empire and the leopard to symbolize Greece. Now in Chapter eight you have a two horned ram symbolizing Medo-Persia, and a one horned male goat symbolizing Greece. However, the one horn on the male goat, as we're going to see, is suddenly broken off and replaced by four conspicuous horns, which symbolizes the four kingdoms of the Diadochi it was called, which means successors, the four rival generals that emerged after Alexander died. And these generals fought for control of his kingdom. And in this vision, we're also going to see that a little horn appears and grows from among those other four horns. A horn that grows to be exceedingly great and that symbolizes Antiochus Epiphanes, the eighth king of the Syrian dynasty of the Seleucid Empire, who came out of one of the four kingdoms of Alexander's successors. He is like the little horn of the fourth kingdom, which was Rome in Daniel seven, he's like him, the one that brought such great persecution upon Israel. However, the one horned male goat that we're going to see here, in Daniel eight is not Rome, nor is the little horn in chapter eight, a reference to the antichrist that will defeat be defeated an the Messiah’s kingdom will come and replace that as we see in Daniel seven. You got to be careful, just because something is similar, doesn't mean that it's identical. A mistake that many Bible expositors I fear make. So bottom line, unlike Daniel's vision recorded in Daniel seven that summarizes the times of the Gentiles in the coming of the messianic kingdom that will replace the Gentile kingdoms when Christ returns, the vision here in chapter eight finds its primary fulfillment in the Medo-Persian and Grecian empires. However, when the angel Gabriel interprets the vision to Daniel, his explanation seems to go beyond Antiochus, to a future world ruler, of which he is merely the type of a greater antitype, the greater antitype being the ultimate King that will oppose Israel in the last days, namely the Antichrist. So as we look at the text, first of all, the first verses here we see the historical setting.

Notice verse one, "In the third year of the reign of Belshazzar the king a vision appeared to me, Daniel, subsequent to the one which appeared to me previously. I looked in the vision and while I was looking, I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam; and I looked in the vision, and I myself was beside the Ulai Canal." Or it could be translated "river." Interesting enough, the Hebrew word "ram" springs from the same root as Elam. You're going to see some of the significance here in a moment. Now bear in mind, this is the second vision God gave to Daniel. At this point Daniel was the same age as I am today, 69 years old. I'm sure he didn't look as young as I do, but that was his age. This occurred in 551 BC, 12 years before Belshazzar's feast, you will recall in Daniel five, where he saw the handwriting on the wall, handwriting pertaining to God's judgment upon him and the Babylonian Empire. Now Susa was a city about 230 miles east of Babylon, and about 120 miles north of the Persian Gulf, that several years later became the one of the Royal cities of the middle Persian Empire. This was the place by the way, where the famous code of Hammurabi was found. The Babylonian law code that dates all the way back to 1772 BCE, that was the Babylonian law written by King Hammurabi of Babylon. By the way, it's still on display in the Louvre Museum in Paris. And I might also add that later on, this was the same Palace region where Esther served as queen. And later it was also the place where Nehemiah was the cup bearer of Artaxerxes the First. So that's a little bit of the background.

So that's the setting now to the vision, verse three, "Then I lifted my eyes and looked, and behold, a ram, which had two horns was standing in front of the canal. Now the two horns were long, but one was longer than the other, with the longer wind coming up last, I saw the ram, budding westward, northward and southward and no other beasts could stand before him, nor was there anyone to rescue from his power, but he did as he pleased and magnified himself." Now, first of all, you're going to see that I'm going to go back and forth between what these verses say and Gabriel's interpretation of them in verses 15 through 27. So we have an interpretation here of what we just read in verse 20, "The ram which you saw with the two horns, represents the kings of Media and Persia." So this speaks of the dual monarchy of Medo-Persia, symbolized by the silver arms; the two arms of the image in Daniel 2:32. And the two sided bear that we read about in Daniel seven. Under Cyrus we know that Persia eventually became the dominant of the two empires, and they superseded the Median side of this dual monarchy. And it's also interesting to note that the Persian rulers bore the head of a ram a jeweled ram's head whenever they stood in front of their army, according to the fourth century historian Arminius or Salinas. Likewise, Kyle says, quote, "In the Bundehesh," which was a Persian religious book, "In the Bundehesh, the guardian spirit of the Persian kingdom appears under the form of a ram with clean feet and sharp pointed horns. And the Persian King when he stood at the head of the army bore instead of the diadem, the head of a ram." Now m,ind you the Spirit of God is revealing this to Daniel long before it happened. And here a ram symbolizes as we see, the Medo-Persian Empire, and later on the Grecian Empire is going to be symbolized by a male goat. My friend, Dr. Walvoord, said this, "Not only are both the ram and the goat mentioned in the Old Testament as symbols of power, but different lands were assigned to the signs of the zodiac, according to astronomical geography, geography. In this view Persia is thought of as under the zodiacal sign of Aries, the ram. And Greece as sharing with Syria, the principal territory of the Seleucid monarchy, the zodiacal sign of Capricorn, the goat. The word Capricorn is derived from the Latin capri, a goat, and cornu, a horn." End quote. Can't you see the hand of Satan through all of these things? Now notice in verse three "The two horns were long but one was longer than the other with a longer one coming up last." And then he says, "I saw the ram butting westward, northward and southward and no other beasts could stand before him nor was there anyone to rescue from his power. But he did as he pleased and magnified himself. Now folks this is amazing prophecy, absolutely astounding to predict what we know historically happened. The primary military conquests of Cyrus and his successors advanced in three different directions westward to Babylonia to Syria to the Asia Minor, northward to Armenia and all the way up into the Caspian Sea region, and then southward into Egypt and Ethiopia. This is exactly what God predicted.

Now, as Daniel just describes this, he says in verse four, no other beasts were basically able to stand against the Medo-Persian horns. So obviously, there's some other unnamed animals that he's seeing here, symbolic of their powers. And we know that historically, this ram was without equal in that day. History reveals how Cyrus marched virtually unopposed across northern Mesopotamia, to Asia Minor, and there he conquered, everything, including the wealthly Croesus, you remember that story. And then he headed on to Babylon without hardly any effort. We read about this, by the way, in Isaiah chapter 45, the first four verses, and here you see how God even uses the wicked to accomplish his purposes. There we read, "Thus says the Lord to Cyrus His anointed, who might have taken by the right hand, to subdue nations before him, and to loose the loins of kings, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut: I will go before you and make the rough places smooth, they will shatter the doors of bronze, and cut through their iron bars, I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden wealth of secret places, so that you may know that it is I, the Lord the God of Israel, who calls you by your name. For the sake of Jacob My servant, and Israel, My chosen one, I have called you by your name, I have given you a title of honor, Though you have not known Me."

So verse four, "no other beasts could stand before him, nor was there anyone to rescue from his power, but he did as he pleased and magnified himself." So what we see is that a sovereign God orchestrates all of these things. And by divine design, the Medo-Persian Empire became the undisputed, dominant Gentile empire of its day. Until Alexander the Great came along. That's what he sees next in verse five. "While I was observing behold, a male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground; and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. He came up to the rim that had the two horns which I had seen standing in front of the canal and rushed at him in his mighty wrath." Now, if we look at the interpretation in verse 21, we see what Gabriel describes. "The shaggy goat, he says, represents the kingdom of Greece, and the large horn that is between his eyes is the first king." And we know this to be Alexander the Great. Once again, astounding accuracy of what would happen some 300 years after Daniel's vision. Beloved, only a sovereign omnipotent, omniscient God could accomplish this. Indeed as Daniel records in verse five, "a male goat," by the way, a male goat is greater in strength and in agility than a ram sheep. The "male goat was coming from the west over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground." And we know historically that Alexander began his conquest in the west and he moved to the east with uncanny speed. And this is even symbolized by the phrase over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground. You will recall in chapter seven in verse six, he was represented by the four wings of a leopard, indicating that speed once again. Verse five, "and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes." Now, normally, a male goat is going to have two horns. But this one is unique; here he has one very large, very conspicuous, or it could even be translated prominent horn, and to be sure this is Alexander the Great, who was a military genius, educated, by the way, by Aristotle. He was born in 356. He was the son of Philip of Macedon, who was a great warrior and a statesman, who ruled Macedon for three decades. You may recall he lost his right eye in a battle due to an arrow. But eventually he was assassinated, resulting in his son Alexander, succeeding him as king in 336 BC; Alexander was 20 years old. Alexander knew that his father hated the Persians. In fact, all of the Greeks hated them since the days of Cyrus. He also knew that his father was preparing to invade them so fueled with seething hatred for an oppressive enemy. He set out to accomplish his father's wishes a year and a half after he had taken the throne. And he began his conquest in 334 BC.

Verse six, "He came up to the ram that had two horns, which I had seen standing in front of the canal and rushed at him in his mighty wrath." Could be translated his powerful fury or his infuriating strength, he was empowered by the feelings of intense anger. The Greeks hated these people. And so it was time for revenge. So they attacked them. Verse seven, "I saw him come beside the ram, and he was enraged at him, and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns and the Ram had no strength to withstand him. So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was none to rescue the ram from his power. Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly." Indeed, we know historically with around 40,000 men, he annihilated the Persians taking all of Asia Minor, even northern Syria. He conquered the island fortress of Tyre, went on to Egypt and Mesopotamia, all the way to modern Afghanistan, all the way to the borders of India. Maybe you've seen on some of the old movies, the great victory that he had over King Porus with the war elephants. The Battle of Jhelum in 326 BCE, and he carved out an empire of 1.5 million square miles. And he did that in 10 years. That's astounding. So indeed, the male goat magnified himself exceedingly.

Well, as we all know, pride comes before a fall. In verse eight, we see "But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken." We know that history records how he claimed to be a god, and he provoked many of his Macedonian leaders to rebel. In doing so, they were frustrated with him because he merged some of the Persians with the Greek elements of his army, he married some of the Persian women and so forth. Historians Green and Renault say this quote, "His mind full of new projects, Alexander built a fleet to explore the coasts of Arabia and Africa. He sailed up the Tigris to Opus, the ancient Assyrian city where Cyrus the Persian had defeated the Babylonians in 539. They went on to say that Alexander entered Babylon for the last time in the spring of 323, worn out by wounds, hardship, and overdrinking. He fell ill of a fever. Soon he could neither move nor speak. He was propped up and each officer and soldier filed past, He acknowledged each man with his eyes or a slight movement of his head. Within two days Alexander died, and he was not yet 33 years old." So the large horn was broken.

Verse eight, the and it says, "And in its place there came up for conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven." We find the interpretation in verse 22, "the broken horn and the four horns that arose in its place represent four kingdoms, which will arise from his nation, although not with his power." And indeed, these four generals did not have the same intellect, the same power as Alexander. You must remember that Alexander's empire, though it was vast, it was not united politically, governmentally, as an empire. So soon after his death, the generals began to fight amongst each other over who's going to be in charge and over what area. And we know that four dominant generals emerged Antigones of Babylon and North Syria, Ptolemy, the first solder of Egypt, Cassander of Macedonias and Lysimacus of Thrace and Bithynia. I might also add that you see the same divisions described in Daniel 11 and verse four.

But notice a fascinating development here in verse nine. "Out of one of them came forth a rather small horn which grew exceedingly great toward the south, toward the east, and toward the Beautiful Land," referring to the land of Palestine, the land of Israel. Now a little historical background here, General Antigones lost Babylon and Syria to Seleucus the First of Nicator, the first of the kings of the north, listed in chapter 11 of Daniel. And then a little over 100 years later, and the Seleucid dynasty came forth a small horn, as Daniel says, by the name of Antiochus, the Fourth Epiphanes. He was the eighth king of this dynasty. He ruled from 175 to 164 BC. He is described in Daniel 11:21 as the quote, "despicable person." How would you like to have that title, the despicable person? I think I've been called that as well. One of the most vicious persecutors of Israel, but it's it's interesting, by the way, Epiphanes, translated means the "illustrious one." And because the Jews hated him so much, they called him Epimanes, which means madman.

Verse 10, "It grew up to the host of heaven and caused some of the hosts and some of the stars to fall to the earth and it trampled them down." Now we know that stars can at times refer to angels in Scripture, but in other places, it is used to describe spiritual leaders. We see this in Daniel 12 and verse three. And we see now the interpretation that Daniel gives. And here in this interpretation, you're going to begin to see the elements of a dual prophecy, describing not only the events and the person of Antiochus Epiphanes, but also the future antichrist. Verse 23, "'The later period of the rule when the transgressors have run their course, a king will arise insolent and skilled in intrigue. His power will be mighty, but not by his own power, and he will destroy to an extraordinary degree and prosper and perform his will; He will destroy mighty men and the holy people.'" Indeed, we know in verse 10, he will trample them down. So let's go back to verse 11. It is the small horn now that emerges and grew large it says "it even magnified itself to be equal with the Commander of the host," mostly likely a reference to God himself, and "it removed the regular sacrifice from Him." "Regular sacrifice" can be translated, "the continual ceremonial sacrifices," the observances of the Jews in the temple. So he "removed the regular sacrifice from him, and the place of His sanctuary was thrown down."

Now, I want to take you for a moment to Second Maccabees, where we can get some historical details about what happened during this time. First and Second Maccabees, written in the first century by unknown Jewish historians, part of the apocryphal books, they're not canonical books; they're not inspired, but we get a lot of history from them. So here's what we read. "Two years later, the king," referring to Antiochus, "sent the mission commander, the chief collector to the cities of Judah, and he came to Jerusalem with a strong force. He spoke to them deceitfully in peaceful terms, and they believed him. Then he attacked the city suddenly, in a great onslaught and destroyed many of the people in Israel. He plundered the city and set fire to it. Demolished its houses and its surrounding walls. And they took captive the women and children and seized the animals. Then the king wrote to his whole kingdom that all should be one people and abandon their particular customs. All the Gentiles conform to the command of the king and many Israelites delighted in his religion. They sacrificed to idols and profane to the Sabbath." He goes on to say, "The king sent letters by messenger to Jerusalem and to the cities of Judah, ordering them to follow customs foreign to their land, to prohibit burnt offering sacrifices and libations in the sanctuary; to profane the Sabbath and feast days; to desecrate the sanctuary and the sacred ministers; to build pagan altars and temples and shrines; to sacrifice swine and unclean animals; to leave their sons uncircumcised, and to defile themselves with every kind of impurity and abomination, so that they might forget the law and change all its ordinances. Whoever refused to act according to the command of the king, was put to death." We go on to read, "Many of the people, those who abandoned the law, joined them and committed evil in the land." We read how they, "drove Israel into hiding wherever places of refuge could be found. And then on the 15th, day of the month, Kislev in the year 145, the king erected the desolating abomination, upon the altar of burnt offerings. And in the surrounding cities of Judah, they built pagan altars. They also burned incense at the doors of houses, and in the streets, any scrolls of the law that they found were tore up and burned, whoever was found with a scroll of the covenant, and whoever observed the law was condemned to death by royal decree." So they use their power against Israel against those who were caught each month in the cities. On the 25th day of each month, they sacrificed on the pagan altar that was over the altar of burnt offerings. In keeping with the decree, they put to death, women who had their children circumcised, and they hung their babies from their necks, their families also, and those who had circumcised them were killed. Circumcision, of course, being a sign of the Mosaic Covenant. So Daniel sees the terrible future for his people Israel. Verse 12, " And on account of transgression, the host will be given over to the horn along with the regular sacrifice and it will fling truth to the ground and perform its will and prosper." By the way, we must bear in mind that Satan knows that true worship is dependent upon the written law, dependent upon the Scriptures, the truth of the Word of God. So he will, as he has always done, do everything he can to eliminate first, the credibility of the word. And then secondly, the word itself.

Verse 13, "Then I heard a holy one speaking and another holy one said to that particular one who was speaking, 'How long will the vision about the regular sacrifice apply while the transgression causes horror so as to allow both the holy place and the host to be trampled?' He said to me, 'For 2300 evenings and mornings, then the holy place will be properly restored.'" Now we know that according to the creation count in Genesis one, that the formula "evening and morning" refers to a literal day. And while we can't be dogmatic about the precise dates that are mentioned here, according to First Maccabees four verses 52 through 59, we see how the Holy Place was properly restored on the 25th day of the ninth month of 164 BC. And if we work backward 2300 days from that day, we come to the fall of 170 BC. We get a sense of this in First Maccabees one beginning in verse 10. Let me read this to you. "They're sprang from these a sinful off shoot. Antiochus Epiphanes son of King Antiochus. Once a hostage at Rome, he became king in the 137th year of the kingdom of the Greeks. In those days there appeared in Israel transgressions of the law, who seduced many saying, 'Let us go and make a covenant with the Gentiles all around us since we are separated from them, many evils have come upon us.' So the proposal was agreeable. Some from among the people promptly went to the king and he authorized them to introduce the ordinances of the Gentiles. Thereupon, they built a gymnasium in Jerusalem according to the Gentile custom. They disguised their circumcision and abandoned the holy covenant. They allied themselves with the Gentiles and sold themselves to wrongdoing. When his kingdom seemed secure, Antiochus undertook to become king of the land of Egypt, and to rule over both kingdoms. He invaded Egypt with a strong force with chariots, elephants in calvary, and with a large fleet to make war on Ptolemy king of Egypt. Ptolemy was frightened that his presence and fled and many were wounded and fell dead. The fortified cities in the land of Egypt were captured and Antiochus plundered the land of Egypt. After Antiochus defeated Egypt, in the 143rd year, he returned and went up against Israel and Jerusalem with a strong force. He insolently entered the sanctuary, and took away the golden altar, the lamp stand for the light with all its utensils, the offering table, the cups and bowls, the golden sensors and the curtain, the cornices and the golden ornament on the facade of the temple. He stripped it all off, and he took away the silver and gold and the precious vessels. He also took all the hidden treasures he could find." Dr. Whitcomb said, quote, "We can see from this portion of the remarkably accurate historical document of First Maccabees that the beginning of the 2300 days of trampling of, quote, 'the host,' here in Daniel 8:13, as well as the holy place, could very easily have occurred in the fall of 170 BC. It was when the apostate Jews, quote, 'abandoned the holy covenant.' End quote, and received official authorization from Antiochus to, quote, 'observe the ordinances of the Gentiles,' end quote. It was then that this six year and four month period of horror began just as God prophesied."

We see some of the interpretation back in verse 25. Gabriel says, "'And through his shrewdness, he will cause deceit to succeed by his influence.'" Once again, bear in mind, the dual prophecy of not only Antiochus Epiphanes, then, but the Antichrist yet future. "'Through his shrewdness, he will cause deceit to succeed by his influence; he will magnify himself in his heart and he will destroy many while they are at ease. He will even oppose the Prince of princes, but he will be broken without human agency.'" That is, he will be destroyed without human intervention. And we know that Antiochus Epiphanes died of a foul disease. We also know that he learned, on his deathbed while he was sick, that his armies had gone into the land of Judah, and had been routed by the Maccabean revolt. You remember Judas Maccabeus. And according to First Maccabee six, beginning in verse eight, we read this "When the king heard this news, he was astonished and very much shaken. Sick with grief because his designs had failed, he took to his bed, there he remained many days assailed by waves of grief, for he thought he was going to die. So he called in all his friends and said to them, quote, 'Sleep has departed from my eyes and my heart sinks from anxiety, I said to myself, into what tribulation have I come, and in what floods of sorrow am I now? Yet I was kindly and beloved in my rule, but I now recall the evils I did in Jerusalem. When I carried away all the vessels of silver and gold that were in it, for no cause gave orders that the inhabitants of Judah be destroyed. I know that this is why these evils have overtaken me. And now I am dying in bitter grief in a foreign land.'" How sad the dying words of a wicked man who is now enduring the torments of solitary confinement, in an eternal hell.

So Gabriel closes his interpretation to Daniel, verse 26, "'The vision of the evenings in the mornings which has been told is true; but keep the vision secret," in other words, keep it sealed up, "for it pertains to many days in the future.' Then I, Daniel was exhausted and sick for days.'" The idea here is that when he begins to see the horrors that await his beloved Israel, it just took a toll on him emotionally. "'I was exhausted and sick for days. Then I got up again and carried on the king's business. But I was astounded at the vision, and there was none to explain it.'"

Now, as we wrap this up this morning, we need to back up, want you to notice the full context of the interpretation beginning in verse 15. And here, we will have a better understanding of what Daniel's vision says, I believe, about the future of the Antichrist. Verse 15, "'When I Daniel had seen the vision, I sought to understand it, and behold, standing before me was one who looked like a man. And I heard the voice of a man between the banks of Ulai, and he called out and said, 'Gabriel, give this man an understanding of the vision.'" This was probably the voice of God; God calling Gabriel. Gabriel, by the way, is a term that means "Mighty One of God." I might also add that Gabriel was the one that announced to Zacharias and to Elizabeth that they were going to have a son whose name was John the Baptist. It was Gabriel as well that announced the birth of Christ, to Mary. And so this is who we have here, verse 17, "So he came near to me where I was standing." In other words, it would appear that, that he's seeing all this and he sees this angelic person that looks like a man, and he starts coming towards him. I'm trying to, you know, get a vision of this in my own mind what that might be like, the whole thing is just so overwhelming. "So he came here to where I was standing and when he came, I was frightened and fell on my face; but he said to me, 'Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the time of the end.' Now, while he was talking with me, I sank into a deep sleep." literally, he fainted. I think I would do its just, this is just overwhelming. You just can't handle it. "I sank into a deep sleep with my face to the ground, but he touched me and made me stand upright." So apparently, he sees the angel from a distance, comes towards him, scares him to death. He's overpowered by the manifestation of perfected holiness, which by the way, is always the response that you see of people in Scripture. Dear friends, anyone who has a cavalier attitude, when they say, oh, yeah, I talked with an angel or I talked with God, any person that talks that way, is a liar. Because this is the response that would happen.

Now notice the phrase at the end of verse 17, "'Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the time of the end.'" Also, in verse 19, we see the phrase used again, "'Behold, I'm going to let you know what will occur at the final period of the indignation for it pertains to the appointed time of the end." Now, what did these phrases mean? Do they only refer to the last days of the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes? I think not. I cannot see how his six years of persecuting Israel could be considered, quote, "the final period of the indignation pertaining to the appointed time of the end." I mean, what ended at that time at some level of persecution of Israel for just a moment, but I mean, he died 100 years before his kingdom came to an end. And when he died, Israel's persecution and suffering continued at the hands of Gentile domination. And there was certainly no outpouring of blessing upon Israel after the Seleucid Empire. So that just doesn't make sense to me that it's just referring to that time. Moreover, their suffering only increased because what followed the Seleucid reign? Rome. The iron legions of Rome. So surely Gabriel's reference to quote, "the final period of the indignation," (break in audio, not able to be transcribed)...That is exceedingly more significant than the final historical events at the close of Antiochus' reign. And most premillennial scholars agree that Gabriel's interpretation encompasses more than just those events, but sees this pointing to the wicked rule of one who is foreshadowed by Antiochus Epiphanes, namely the wicked rule of the Antichrist, the one whose future character and conduct can be seen in the details of verses 23 through 25 that describes not only Antiochus Epiphanes, but also the Antichrist.

The fourth century AD, Latin scholar and Bible translator, and theologian by the name of Jerome reported that the Jews of his day saw more than Antiochus in this prophecy, Jerome said, quote, "This is also our understanding concerning the Antichrist who shadow has thus been projected before." End quote. So I believe it is reasonable, let me put it that way, to assume that the appointed time of the end, for example, in verse 19, refers to the final God ordained defeat of the Gentile domination over Israel. When, as Jesus said in Luke 21:24, "the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled." In other words, when Christ returns at the end of God's judgment of Daniel 70th week, the tribulation period, only then will the reign of the Antichrist and Gentile domination be over forever. Only then, will messianic blessing replace God's continuing indignation against Israel through Gentile oppression. Only then will Israel be able to experience the spiritual and the physical blessings that God promised them in the Abrahamic covenant. So when Gabriel tells Daniel in verse 17, "Son of man, understand that the vision pertains to the time of the end." And when he says in verse 19, "Behold, I am going to let you know what will occur at the final period of the indignation for it pertains to the appointed time of the end," it is reasonable to believe that this is pointing to the culmination of God's 70th week of judgment. We read about it, for example, in Daniel nine verse 24. "Seventy weeks had been decreed for your people in your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place." So, in my humble opinion, the oppression of antichrist is only a partial fulfillment of the prophetic vision. Whereas the final rule of the Antichrist, which I might add, was presented in Nebuchadnezzar's dream in Daniel's first vision. That final rule fulfills every aspect of this vision, especially as it relates to those phrases. Verse 17, the vision pertains to the time of the end. And the final period of the indignation for it pertains to the appointed time of the end.

Dr. David Larsen, who you, some of you that were here years ago, may recall when he came to speak to us, puts this in perspective in his excellent book, "Jews and Gentiles in the Church." He says this, "At the halfway point in the seven years of tribulation, the smoldering and latent anti semitism of the world ruler bursts into a flame of fury, and a frenetic rage, according to Daniel 9:27, he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple, he will set up an abomination that causes desolation." Let me pause for a second, where have we heard that before? Dr. Larsen went on to say, "Something happens among the Jews in Israel in response to the testimony of the two witnesses of Revelation 11 and the great hatred that Antiochus Epiphanes had for the Jews. In the second century BC, there is a fore glimpse of the Antichrist's vicious aggression toward the Jews in the tribulation period. The world ruler will then turn his evil genius to the final solution to do what Hitler and all the anti Semites of history have been unsuccessful in doing. The little land of Israel and Jerusalem, become the objects of universal scorn and hostility." End quote.

But thankfully, dear friends, we know that because of God's faithfulness, because of his covenant promises, because of his infinite grace, he will indeed save all that he has promised to save, including a remnant of Israel, of ethnic Israel. We read about this, for example, in Romans 11, beginning in verse 25. Paul says "a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, 'THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. This is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.'" Oh, dear Christian, I pray that these great prophetic truths will animate your heart to a more dedicated sense of worship and service, knowing that the Lord is going to come again. May he find each of us faithful at our post, and I hope that you will be overwhelmed as I am when I study these things, that once again, we serve a sovereign God who has ordained to the end from the beginning. He is an omnipotent, omniscient God, that in his providence, in the miracle of his divine providence, can orchestrate all of the events of history of everyone's life, to somehow accomplish all that he has promised. And then to think that we're a part of that by his grace. Folks, if that doesn't get you excited; I'm not a real emotional person, but believe me in my heart, this just, this thrills me. This is overwhelming to think; what God has promised, what he is doing, what he will do, and to think that he has saved us. That he is our Savior, our Redeemer, and our King. And so I pray that this will motivate you. May I challenge you to live in light of his glorious return and warn others that need to come to him and repentant faith. Make your life a life that manifests the love of Christ, that others will see him in you? Amen? Amen.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for these eternal truths that are so overwhelming. Thank you for the promises that are ours in Christ. Thank you for your saving grace, and certainly for the power of your word, that your Spirit uses to sanctify us and conform us evermore into the likeness of your beloved Son, our Savior, the Lord Jesus. And Lord, for those that do not know you as Savior, that know nothing of the intimate joy of communion (break in audio, not able to be transcribed).

As always, I am humbled and I assume you are as well, to be able to open up the Word of God and submit ourselves to what the Spirit of God has for us this morning. So will you take your bibles and turn once again to Daniel chapter seven, we will be looking at these verses in this amazing book. And we are (audio is not able to be transcribed). This is the fourth and final part of this little series emerging from Daniel seven. Now, before we look at the text, may I just say that our study of bible prophecy is a great encouragement to every believer. And certainly, it was intended to be so in the ancient days of Israel, while those dear people were under exile. And so when we come to the prophetic word, we find our hearts just being animated with joy, because we can see that God has a plan. And he is working it precisely the way he intended. The coming Messiah was the main focus of the Old Testament beginning in Genesis three, following Adam's fall when God promised that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent's head. You will recall in Genesis 3:15, and then all the way through to the last book of the Old Testament (break in audio; not able to be transcribed).

And more than 100 of those promises were literally filled (break in audio; not able to be transcribed) reason that the remaining two thirds will also be literally fulfilled. So how encouraging it is for us to look into the prophetic word and see what God has in store, especially during these days in our culture and around the world today. In fact, Christians today are witnessing biblical values being replaced by laws that impose a godless, immoral, oppressiveness toward conservative values in general, Basically, a war in the country, an ideological war, a civil war that's raging out of control. I was thinking my, here we are in the United States of America, a place that was once that great bastion of freedom and protector of the world and we're just watching it crumble under the weight of out-of-control spending and crippling debt and open borders, incoherent foreign policies. We're watching our country being led by corrupt and incompetent, frankly, totalitarian politicians. We've got a president that's clearly in a state of cognitive decline. We see the rise of, of Neo Marxism all around the country. We're being swept away by a tsunami of immorality, as we drowned, frankly, in the sewage of the LGBTQ w x, y, z, sexual deviancy and the the woke culture that even many evangelical churches are embracing. We are seeing escalating violence because police are afraid to do what they need to do. We're seeing the COVID pandemic with the massive impact that it has had on human life and on the economy. And then the growing threat of totalitarian world powers. It's frightening to read what China and what Russia are creating with respect to their military powers and their plans and so forth. I mean, folks, we all know that our children are being raised in a radically different America than it even was 20 years ago. And I shudder to think what their life is going to be like. We're looking at a godless, immoral idolatry country. And it can be infuriating. It can be disheartening and it's easy for us to start wringing our hands and losing hope as if all is lost, but folks once again God is in control. Yeah, things are probably going to get a whole lot worse, but in the end, Jesus is coming; our hope is in the Lord. It's not in America. It's not in our military powers. It's certainly not in our politicians. We fix our hope completely, as Peter said, "on the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ." And in our text this morning, we are given hope, a certain hope, a blessed hope of a coming King, our Redeemer, our Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, let me once again, because I know this can be complicated. Let me review a little bit of where we've come thus far in Daniel chapter seven and give you the context. Remember that in the first eight verses of Daniel seven, the Spirit of God gives his servant Daniel, basically a panoramic view of world history, including the rise and fall of four Gentile Empires symbolized by four great beasts that rose up from the sea; empires that would dominate, certainly Jerusalem and God's covenant people. And the fourth beast as we've studied, the Roman Empire, was very different. It had 10 horns on the head of a great monster, of reference we know, to 10 actual kingdoms that will exist simultaneously during Daniel's 70th week of judgment or the future tribulation period, just prior to Christ's return. And as we've studied that has to refer to a revived Roman Empire, yet future, in the New Testament era. And also we saw there that an 11th horn appeared, a little horn that comes up after the others, which is revealed to be the Antichrist. And then later, if you jump over to verse 15, through verse 28, we see that an angelic interpreter gives Daniel a big picture, general interpretation of all that he saw, and he explained how that those beasts represent human kings and their kingdoms, and he also reveals their kingdoms will not last. But they will ultimately be replaced by God's kingdom and ruled by the saints of the highest one. That's us, folks. How exciting. But in between verse 18, and the angelic interpretation that you see in verse 15, and following, there is an abrupt cutaway scene, if you will, in the narrative. Immediately after that terrifying description of that fourth beast, with its blasphemous, little horn, the Antichrist uttering great boasts, Daniel was suddenly transported into the presence of God. And as if to confirm to him that, hey, I'm in control, I will judge and I will establish my kingdom. And in that section, that we began to look at last week, there are two dominant themes that emerge. Number one, God is the omniscient judge. That's what we studied last time. And then today, we're going to see that Christ is the coming King, in verses 13 and 14. So by way of eschatological or end times context, with the pre kingdom, tribulation judgments upon the nations of the world now complete, the Messiah King, the Lord Jesus Christ, has been presented now before God the Father, the Ancient of Days, to receive the father's gift of the worldwide kingdom that is to come.

So in verse 13, we read this, "'I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a Son of Man was coming."'" Now, the phrase "clouds of heaven" depicts the majesty and the power and the authority of his glorious person. And repeatedly in Scripture, we see that the clouds of heaven are used to depict the revelation of deity. And when it says, "one like a Son of Man was coming," this is in contrast to the beastly character of the other kingdoms. So Christ is being referred to here; he is human-like, he's not beast like, he's like a Son of Man, though God very God, he will come and manifest all the perfections of unfallen humanity and he will reign in human form.

In Matthew 26, you may recall when Jesus was under oath in the high priest court, he prophesied regarding his eschatological coming his "parousia" and he made reference to this very passage there in Matthew 26 beginning in verse 63, we read this, "And the high priest said to Him, 'I adjure You by the living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God.' Jesus said to him, 'You have said it yourself; nevertheless, I tell you, hereafter, you will see the Son of Man, sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.'" Beloved, this is what was revealed to Daniel; this is what is being revealed to us. This is the one we await. This is the one that the world will witness one day. Luke also records the same details in Acts one verses nine through 11, in the context of Jesus' ascension back into glory, and his promised return. There we read, "And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky, while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, 'Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you've watched Him go into heaven.'"

So back to Daniel, Daniel sees the Messiah coming and in verse 13, he goes on to say, "'And he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him.'" Here we witness the sovereign bestow of the eternal kingdom of the self-existent, preexisting, uncreated Creator of heaven and earth, the Lord Jesus Christ. As we read, for example, in John one, the first three verses, astoundingly now, Jesus Christ, will be installed as God's mediatorial kingdom on a renovated earth. He will be given regal authority and he will exercise it by divine grant. I'm reminded of Psalm chapter two and verse six, where God says, "'I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain.'" This is what we're seeing here. Beloved, he is the redeemer King. He is the one that has purchased our redemption by his very blood, He is the one that has made us Kingdom citizens. He is the one according to Hebrews two, where "Through death, He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is the devil, and might free those who through fear of death, were subject to slavery all of their lives." This is the Jesus that we worship.

Back to verse 14, "'And to Him was given," three things, "dominion, glory and a kingdom.'" Dominion is a reference to his ruling authority, glory is obviously a reference to the majesty of his regal authority, and a kingdom speaks of an organized form of his government. Now think about this, unlike the previous four empires that were described, even in Daniel two, as well as in Daniel seven, empires that were ruled by fallen men and destined to fail, Christ's supernatural kingdom, that is coming, will never fail. We read this, where he goes on to say, "'That all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him.'" Can you imagine that day? No more Congress, no more Senate. No more all of that stuff. No more CNN. "All the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him." Folks, I can't tell you how motivating that is to me. I hope it is to you as well. His dominion is an everlasting dominion. It's not waiting for the next voting cycle. It's an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. Dr. Alva J. McClain, the founder and first president of my alma mater, Grace Theological Seminary, wrote this in his book "The Greatness of the Kingdom," which by the way, it is one of the greatest books that I have ever read, I would encourage you to read it, "The Greatness of the Kingdom." Here's what Dr. McClain said, "All the functions of government are centered in the glorious person of this mediatorial king. The prophet Isaiah paints a vivid picture of the political situation in the days of the established kingdom; "Then the eyes of men shall see the King and His beauty, ruling upon the earth as a judge, law giver and King" (reference is out of Isaiah 33). A remarkable forecast of the conventional divisions of modern government; judicial, legislative and executive." He goes on to say, "The chief problem in the operation of government has always been to keep these necessary functions in a state of proper balance, and at the same time to provide some center of unification. This problem has never been wholly solved. Human government therefore always swings between the two opposite poles of regimentation and fragmentation. The former leading to a sacrifice of liberty in the interest of strength, the latter to a sacrifice of strength, in the interest of liberty. And the head of the state tends to become either a dictator or a mere symbol." Sound familiar? But McLain goes on to say, "When God's own glorious king takes over the kingdoms of Earth, it will be safe at last to concentrate all the functions of the state in one Person, capital 'P'. This does not mean that he will do everything, but rather that he will be the directing head and final authority. Thus providing a unifying center, both infinitely wise and good for all of the activities of government, something which no state on earth has ever enjoyed. Under his beneficent rule, it will no longer be necessary to sacrifice political unity and strength in the interest of political liberty." And then he quotes John 8:36. "If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed."

So, folks, this is what we have to look forward to, in the second coming of Christ when he establishes his earthly kingdom, and his rule for 1000 years that will eventually merge into the eternal state. The millennial reign of Christ will be the glorious prelude, you might say, of the everlasting kingdom of Jesus Christ. And although good Christians may disagree on certain aspects of eschatology, we must as John Calvin said, quote, "Hunger after Christ, till the dawning of that great day when our Lord will fully manifest the glory of His Kingdom, the whole family of the faithful will then keep this in view that day." End quote.

Now, I want to put what we've learned in Daniel seven, in perspective, as it relates to biblical history, frankly, world history. You know, history has many themes, typically dependent upon the perspective of the historian, and those themes will often focus on the unique background of a specific culture, as we all know, and this has been stated in many ways; whoever wins the war gets to write the history. And many times that history isn't accurate. Typically, the historical narrative will include convenient revisions necessary to promote the agenda of a particular political group, or particular culture, like most Muslims, for example, deny the Holocaust. Many people believe that the Civil War was all about slavery, and that had very little to do with any of it. It had to do with tariffs and states rights and big central government and so forth. But what is missing from virtually every historical record, all of the history books regarding world history, is the big picture that God has revealed to us in His Word. And I want to give you a little flavor of that. This is a history that begins with in the beginning; God created the heavens and the earth. And it ends with the Lord Jesus Christ saying, "Yes, I am coming quickly." To which the apostle John says, "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus, the grace of the Lord Jesus be with all men."

Now, what I'm about to do in reviewing some of this requires me to go rather quickly. I'm giving you some technical things, and I would encourage you to not take notes because you will get lost. Instead, just listen, get a flavor of this and then if you want to take notes, go back and listen to it online, I think that would probably be helpful. If you want to take notes, that's fine. But I'm just saying that you might get lost because I'm not going to wait for you to write these things down, or I'll never get through this, okay? I want you all to maintain the big picture of God's plan of redemption in history. And in order to do that, think of it this way, there are two dominant themes in Scripture. Number one, we see that God has a plan to redeem his people. And this is pictured as a sacrificial lamb as a Savior, a suffering servant, and so forth. But not only is his intention to redeem the people, but also to restore the kingdom. And there we see emphasis on the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Messiah King. And all through Scripture, you're going to see those two themes being articulated. We see for example, a picture of a promise lamb, in Genesis after the original sin. You will recall when God killed an innocent animal, a substitute had to die, to cover sin, a shadow of a coming Redeemer that would one day make atonement for sin. And we see this Lamb pictured in the deliverance of the Jewish people in Egypt. And the sacrificial system, we see it pictured as well in all the prophecies throughout the Old Testament. And then eventually, when we come to the Gospels, we see Jesus coming in utter obscurity and in humiliation. But at the end of the New Testament, we see him coming in the book of Revelation in exultation. When he arrives in the gospel, he has a lamb that opens not his mouth. The one who died to save sinners. And then all through the New Testament, we learn about his plan of redemption, about the signs that will point to his return as King of kings and how we are to live for His glory, and so forth. And again, in the gospels, you see him in his humiliation as the sacrificial lamb, and then the "Apokalypsis lesou Christos," the revelation of Jesus Christ. You see him in his exultation, the Lion of Judah, the King of Israel, who will return and establish his glorious kingdom. Folks, that's the big picture.

Now, let me take you a little bit deeper into some of the details that I hope will be helpful. If we examine the detailed genealogical record in Genesis, we learn that 1656 years after he created Adam, because of extreme wickedness, God destroyed the whole planet, in a flood. All except eight people who, according to Scripture, found favor in the eyes of the Lord, referring to Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives. Adam saw the world into its ninth generation, and Adam died, literally one generation before the flood. 500 years after the flood, we see that God sent his uninfluenced elective love on a particular ethnic group of people, the Jewish people, later became Israel. And we know according to scripture that he made a unilateral, unconditional, irreversible covenant with Abraham that would further demonstrate his sovereign plan to redeem the people and restore the kingdom; those two themes. That covenant is found, for example, in Genesis 12, and it contains four primary elements. We see that out of Abraham would come number one, a seed, referring to Christ, the Messiah, who would be both Redeemer and King, both the lamb and the lion. But in that covenant, it also included the promises of a land, a specific territory that would be set apart by God as a place for his people, a place where he would one day dwell with them in holy and intimate communion. And also the promise of a nation whereby Abraham's magnificent reputation and legacy would be displayed materially and, and spiritually and socially, and the glory of God's grace would ultimately be put on display. And then also finally, in that covenant, there was a promise of divine blessing, as well as protection. God would curse those who curse them and bless them who bless them. And the great promises that are in the Abrahamic Covenant are reiterated over and over and over again in the Old Testament and in the New Testament.

Then if you jump ahead some 600 years later, God made another covenant with the sons of Abraham, one given to Moses. And that covenant was temporal in nature, one that was bilateral and conditional. And that was the Mosaic Covenant. On Mount Sinai, God gave his law to his chosen people, Israel, to demonstrate that they were sinners, that the sinfulness of sin was rampant even in their heart. To demonstrate to them their utter inability to save themselves and their desperate need for a Savior, and eventually, a king. Moses became therefore, the first mediatorial ruler of a theocratic kingdom in history. And he was authorized to stand before Israel according to Exodus four 16, quote, "instead of God." In fact, Moses is presented in Scripture as a type of Christ, who alone, Christ alone, will be the one who is the perfect embodiment of God's mediatorial ruler in the Messianic kingdom. But this historical kingdom was broadened at Mount Sinai now to include the people of Israel. Exodus 19 Six, God says, "You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." At Sinai, God commissioned Israel to be the ones to mediate blessing to the whole world, to be a witness nation, to be the custodians of divine truth. And during that time, God inspired Moses to frame a civil government to exist upon the earth, that would ultimately illustrate the kingdom of God. And the theocracy of Israel became the greatest model of government in the history of the world. A sample of a future kingdom problem promised to Abraham, where God himself will reign as Messiah, Messiah of Israel.

And then over the course of history we see many other mediatorial rulers being set in place. These were leaders and judges of Israel. We see them from Joshua to Samuel; men chosen directly by God, invested with regal functions empowered by the Holy Spirit. And then God established a monarchial form of government whereby he mediated his rule through various kings, all of which were sinful, but which pointed to the need for a righteous king that would one day defeat Satan, sin and death. All of this is pointing to the one who would redeem the people and restore the Kingdom. The only remedy for this problem, of course, was the promised Messiah, the Savior king. And for this reason, about 1000 years after God made his covenant with Abraham, and about 500 years after he gave his law to Moses, God made another promise to one of his mediatorial rulers, whose name was David. The covenant that God made to David, the Davidic Covenant as it is called, is found in Second Samuel seven. And it was basically a reaffirmation of the regal terms of the Abrahamic covenant, but also with the addition that the ultimate provision of those covenantal rights would be permanently attached to a historic dynasty of King David. In other words, King David's throne would ultimately belong to his descendant, the son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. And although its ultimate fulfillment would be interrupted for a season, it would eventually be fulfilled in a future kingdom, a restored Israel, where finally, the covenant nation would be all that it was intended to be, originally.

Repeatedly the Old Testament prophets spoke of this coming earthly kingdom and its Messiah King. And despite Israel's repeated unfaithfulness, God promises over and over again, how he will remain faithful to them. But eventually because of Israel sin, we know that God transferred world power to the Gentiles as recorded in Daniel two. And ultimately, the presence of God's blessing left them as recorded in Ezekiel 10 and 11. And because of Israel's long trend toward apostasy, God pronounced judgment upon them through the prophet Daniel and the 70 weeks of years, the 490 years we'll get to that in Daniel chapter nine, verses 24 through 27. And this judgment would would span from the Persian Artaxerxes' decree to rebuild the temple in 445 BC to the Messianic Kingdom. The first 69 weeks of that judgment, or 483, years were completed when the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, entered into Jerusalem on nine Nissan AD 30, and was cut off, as was predicted, in other words crucified, just as Daniel had prophesied. And this means as we've studied, and as we will continue to study, that there are seven years of judgment that remain, Daniel's 70th week, seven years of tribulation, the pre-kingdom judgments that will come upon the earth, where finally, the unholy trinity of Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet, will be defeated and the nations of the world will be judged and defeated; all those that hate Christ.

Now, because Israel rejected her Messiah, according to Ephesians, three, the mystery phase of the kingdom was ushered in as the church became the temporary replacement of Israel as the new custodians of truth. The body of Christ where Jews and Gentiles are described as, as heirs together sharers together, in the promises of the Lord Jesus Christ, in Jesus Christ. But I do not believe that Israel is ever absorbed into the church. I believe it remains distinct from the church as an ethnic people. And as a nation, I believe that Israel still has a prophetic future. And we can see this, can we not, in the miracle of the Israeli state today, rising up out of the ash heap of the Holocaust, they're now returning to their land, even in unbelief, as the prophets predicted, they're surviving against all odds. It's amazing. So the present church age, I believe, must be seen as an ongoing fulfilment of Old Testament prophecy that ultimately culminates in the Messianic Kingdom and not merely some disconnected parentheses. The church shares in the promises of Israel, but not in her unique identity as a chosen nation, as Paul described in Romans 11:16 through 24, as the natural branches from a cultivated olive tree, some of which have now been broken off at the present time due to a hardening of heart. And there Paul reminds us that the Gentile church is the wild olive branches that had been grafted into the rich root, he says. Which is the covenant privileges originally promised to Abraham. So we're partakers of all of that, all by God's grace and deed. The church you might say, shares in the promises with Israel, but never takes her place as a nation. Despite the rebellion, God has not abandoned his chosen people. Paul understood this, you will remember, in Romans nine, Romans 10 and Romans 11. In Romans nine Paul describes Israel's election, in Romans 10 he describes Israel's defection and in Romans 11 he describes Israel's salvation when their Messiah King returns. And what an amazing history folks, ultimately, this is his story, right? The one who is going to redeem the people and restore the kingdom. And Israel is just this magnificent object lesson in how God deals with all mankind, saving some, judging others, all to reveal his glory through Christ who is both Lamb and Lion. In Isaiah 59, after describing the multiplied transgressions of Israel and his judgment upon them, that text closes with a message of certain redemption and restoration that we read. And later on in Isaiah 60, but in Isaiah 59, verse 20, let me give you a sample of this, he speaks of, quote, "A redeemer will come to Zion, a redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression and Jacob declares the Lord. As for me, this is my covenant with them, says the Lord, my spirit which is upon you, and my words, which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring, says the Lord from now on and forever." My what a day that will be.

Then the dominating theme of Isaiah 60, that we read earlier in our scripture reading, is the restoration and the world supremacy of the nation of Israel. As we read in the first three verses of Isaiah 60, Arise, shine, for your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you, nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising." We go on and study that chapter, we see that in verses four through nine, how they returned to their promised land after worldwide dispersion, and how all the nations that want to oppress them will come and pay homage to them, as God's chosen people. They will contribute even to the prosperity and the adornment of the sanctuary of God, and the Lord Jesus Christ; days of apostasy and idolatry and destruction and exile will finally be over according to verse 18 of Isaiah 60. Israel will finally function according to its original and intended purpose as a chosen nation. As God said in Isaiah 41, beginning in verse eight, "But you Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham, My friend, you whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called from its remotest parts, and said to you, 'You are My servant, I have chosen you, and not rejected you.'" Again, Exodus 19 two, “You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation." Only God can bring that to fruition.

So Israel will finally enjoy world supremacy in the coming Kingdom, where it will fulfill its grand purpose of being a blessing to all of the nations as asserted in the original covenant in Genesis 12 and verse three, where we read, "And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed." Now, folks think of this, Daniel is seeing this picture, in his dream, and he's already had to deal with this with Nebuchadnezzar's dream earlier in Daniel two. But here in Daniel seven, Daniel is 67 years old, he's been in exile all of these years, what an encouragement to hear all of this, to see all of this. And what an encouragement it should be to us. You know, man has always dreamed of living in paradise, right? A place far different from the existence that we have now. You know, today we have diseases and death, violence, war, poverty, endless work, a myriad of other problems that remind us that we're really made for something very different, right? Don't we all feel that, especially as things get worse here in our country? I mean, everything culture has dreamed of in a utopian world. Every longing makes us frankly, easy prey to the next politician who's going to come along and say, vote for me, I will give it to you. I remember Obama, Obama's theme was hope and change. Well, that worked out great. And then Trump comes along make America great again.

That's not working out too good either, is it? But now we have Joe Biden, build back better. That's almost laughable, what's happening. But my point is all of these promises, they never come to fruition, right? I mean, think about this, all of the advances we have in technology, in healthcare, science, philosophy, education, and yet all of these things still plague us. All of the problems of the world, ah, but dear friends, our hope is in the Lord. And Scripture describes, shall we say, a divine utopia that is coming, where the Lord Jesus Christ will reign, one that is brought about by God, not by man. That's the point.

So we know according to Bible prophecy that after seven years of cataclysmic judgment upon the earth and the utter destruction and even reconfiguration of the Earth, what was lost in the garden will suddenly be regained for 1000 years. The millennial kingdom will be ruled by the Messiah, a world dominated by truth and holiness and righteousness and judgment. A world that, according to Scripture will be transformed spiritually and socially, morally, politically. I mean, even the geologic structure of the earth and its climate and the animal kingdom, religious life, all of these things are going to be radically altered and maintained by the rule of God Himself. It's going to be a day when the effects of sin on society and the environment will be reclaimed. When all of the social injustices will be reversed, Israel will finally be restored as the witness nation of Jehovah, which was her original purpose; again, to be a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation, proclaiming that there is one who will redeem the people and restore the kingdom. And finally, in Jerusalem, the covenant God of Israel will reign as the mediatorial King according to Zechariah eight three, "Thus saith the Lord, 'I am returned under Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.'" In a day when God Himself will erect a magnificent temple beyond anything that we could imagine. Zechariah 14 verse nine, "And the Lord will be," I love this, "king over all the earth; in that day, the Lord will be the only one and His name the only one."

If we go to the New Testament, we see this as well. The kingdom was promised there. We see it promised in stages, we learn, for example, in Luke's gospel that a new institution, the church, will temporarily replace Israel until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled. Luke 21:24, In answer to the disciple's question, in acts one six, when they asked, "Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" You will remember what he said. He replied that it was "not for them to know times or seasons, which the Father has fixed by his own authority," in verse seven. Though he does not answer their question, he used the terms "times and seasons," "chronos and kairos," which seems to indicate two different periods, not one. But then as he departs, the angel gives us a clue about his return and says, "He will come in the same way you saw Him go into heaven," verse 11. Obviously, this will be a time of when the restoration takes place. And God reveals these things through his servant Luke in his Gospel, as well as in the book of Acts; that the kingdom is going to come really in two stages. It is here both already, but also not yet. The kingdom was already there in a spiritual sense, and that God was rebuilding the house of David through his greater son in the raised and the reigning Jesus. In Christ's first advent, the Abrahamic and the Davidic and new covenants all receive an initial, shall we say, partial fulfillment, but obviously, much more was to come. That's what we are awaiting, in fact, in Luke one, remember Mary was promised that her son will be great, that the Lord will give him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. And after that, you can put, "not yet, not yet; we're waiting for that." In Luke one the Holy Spirit spoke through Zacharias and promised that the Lord God of Israel would, according to verse 72, "To show mercy toward our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to Abraham our father, to grant us that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies, might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all our days." And after that you can put, "not yet." In Acts two beginning in verse 30, through verse 36, Luke tells us that Jesus is currently right now, sits at the right hand of on the throne of the Father on the throne of David already, that's already happening. But he also adds that he will rule over the house of Israel and make his enemies a footstool for his feet, "not yet." We see this as well in Jesus' promise that he would not celebrate the Passover feast with his apostles again until all of the kingdom promises were fulfilled. In Luke 22 and in Matthew 26, beginning of verse 29, he says, "But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine, from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom." "Not yet." Moreover, the kingdom had not yet come to its fullness in the New Testament, because the apostles were not sitting, according to verse 30, of Matthew 26, "on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel," "not yet." So indeed, we see the already, but "not yet" promise of a messianic kingdom, in the New Testament, where it is referred to by different names. In Matthew 19, verse 28, Jesus called it the regeneration, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne. In Acts three and verse 19, Peter called it the "times of refreshing that will come from the presence of the Lord." And then in verse 21, he goes on to describe it as the "period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient time." And then in Ephesians, one and verse 10, Paul described it as "an administration," which can be translated dispensation, "suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens, and things upon the earth." And we know that at the end of the Messianic age, God will utterly destroy both heaven and earth and create a new heaven and earth that has never been, nor ever will be, polluted by sin. Oh child of God, this is the big picture of history, his story.

Often when I'm in the vault of study, I've got music playing. And it just so happened, that when I came to kind of the end of all of these thoughts, I was listening to our good friend Mo Pitney, Blake, I think you know, your brother. And he was singing Fernando Ortega's, "Give me Jesus." And I was thinking, my what a fitting way to just end my thoughts with you this morning. "You can have all this world. You can have all this world, you can have all this world. But give me Jesus, the one who redeems his people, and restores his kingdom."

Let's pray together. Father, we're always overwhelmed when we immerse ourselves in your word and see how you have revealed things to us that the world does not know, does not want to know to the natural man. The things of the Spirit are foolishness, he cannot understand them because he is spiritually appraised. And Lord, we know that were it not for your grace, we would not understand them either. Certainly, we would not embrace them as the magnificent truths of your sovereign plan to redeem your people and restore your kingdom. So we give you praise for your word, for the indwelling Spirit that causes us to understand it as you illumine our minds. But Lord, we praise you as well, for the Spirit who indwells us, that we might live these truths out in such a way as to bring great glory to the Lord Jesus Christ in great joy to our hearts. May that be the passion of every believer within the sound of my voice. And Father, as always, for those that do not know you as the living Christ, those who have never truly been born again and have really no desire for the things of the Spirit, I pray that you will convict them of their sin, that you will give them no rest upon their pillow until they cry out for your saving grace and experience the miracle of the new life of regeneration. So we commit this to you as always, Father, we thank you We give you praise in Jesus name, and for his sake. Amen.

What a joy it is to be able to open up the Word of God and to hear from him. So if you will take your Bibles and turn to Daniel chapter seven, Daniel chapter seven, I might say that I hope you have your Bible with you, I know many of you use your little devices, I would encourage you not to do that. No serious Bible student will ever just use a little device, you need your Bible, you need to make notes in it, you need to underline things. And after a while, you will see all of Scripture kind of as one piece, not a little screenshot. Moreover, you will learn where passages are based on where they reside on a page. Sometimes I can't remember the exact place, but I know it's up in the right-hand corner. You know how that is. So when I say, open your Bibles, I hope you will do that. Now. Now that I've offended some of you.

Nevertheless, let's look at Daniel seven. Okay. And this morning, we are going to look at verses nine through 12, under the heading The Great Panorama of World History, and this is the third part, we will have one more part, I believe, next Sunday. And then we will conclude Daniel seven. Now before we look at the text. As I was thinking about this, and all that is revealed here in this passage of Scripture, I think, my isn't it wonderful that we have the word of God and that we can come together and worship, you know, we should never take that for granted. I mean, think about it, we live in a culture that is shaped by satanic deception, and idolatry. This is where we live. It's like living in Sodom and Gomorrah. We have leaders that seek to legitimize the grossest forms of immorality through legislation. We live in a culture where our leaders will fight for the right to kill unwanted babies. We have people in leadership today that actually believe that boys can become girls can become boys, or both, or neither. Absolutely insane. And so isn't it a blessing to be able to step out of the kingdom of darkness, so to speak, and come here, and be able to worship the Lord our God and spirit and in truth, what a joy and so we come again, to the Word of God, where we have an opportunity to hear from him. And again, when you think about it, sometimes because of all of the difficulties, especially in our culture, these days, sometimes it's easy to feel a bit cut off from the presence of God. I mean, we see no burning bush, we have no parting of the Red Sea. We have no pillar of cloud by, by day and fire by night, we have no Shekinah glory, illuminating a tabernacle, or the temple. So it is easy for us to lose a sense of awe when we come into the presence of the Almighty. And you might say we need a Jacob's Ladder, that spans the great chasm between heaven and earth. Between the transcendent holiness of God and the mundane existence in this world that's filled with so much evil. And beloved, we have that ladder in the Word of God. So let's climb it today. Whenever we open up his word, we enter into the presence of the one who should make us tremble. We are suddenly stricken with a sense of awe with a holy delight, that begs language, and I might add, if this is not your experience, when we open up the Word, there is something terribly wrong with your heart, perhaps even the status of your soul. So as we open up the God breathed word this morning, let's do so with a sense of reverential awe and joy. For in so doing we are entering into the presence of God. This is the closest we can get this side of glory right?

So having said that, let's look at Daniel seven beginning in verse nine. Let me read the text this morning, that we will be looking at and then we will examine it closely. Daniel says, "I kept looking until thrones were set up in the Ancient of Days took His seat. His vesture was like white snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames. Its wheels were a burning fire. A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before Him; 1000s upon 1000s were attending Him and myriads upon myriad's were standing before Him; the court sat and the books were opened. Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words, which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away but an extension of life was granted them for an appointed period of time. I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a Son of Man was coming, and he came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And to him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away; and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed."

Now, by way of review, in the first eight verses of chapter seven, the Spirit of God speaks through His servant, Daniel, and he gives us a panoramic view of world history, including the rise and fall of four great Gentile Empires that were symbolized by four great beasts rising up out of the sea, empires that would dominate Jerusalem and God's covenant people down through the millennia. The fourth beast is also symbolized by ten horns on the head of a great monster. And you will recall that an 11th horn appears a little horn comes up after them, which is revealed to be the Antichrist. And then later, as we examined last week, in verses 15 through 28, an angelic interpreter helps Daniel understand the big picture, a general interpretation of what Daniel saw. And he set the stage for more actors and for more drama and he explains how those beasts represent human kings and kingdoms that will come. He also reveals their kingdoms will not last, but they will one day be replaced by God's kingdom and ruled by the saints of the highest one. But in between verse eight, and the interpretation beginning in verse 15, there is an abrupt cutaway scene that we will be looking at today. You know how sometimes you will be watching some movie, and then all of a sudden, they'll cut away to something that is relevant to it, but it's very different. And it helps explain, and that's what we have here. So immediately after the terrifying description of the fourth beast with its blasphemous, little horn, uttering great boasts referring to the Antichrist rule over a future revived Roman Empire, Daniel is suddenly transported, if you will, into the very presence of God. It's as if God is saying, Look, Daniel, don't worry. I've got it all under control. This is all part of my plan. And as we look at this passage this morning, I believe there are two dominant themes that will help us understand better what the Spirit of God would have us know. First of all, we're going to see that God is the omniscient judge. And secondly, Christ is the coming King. We will examine the first one this morning. And I might also add, for all of us as twice born saints, this should cause us to just break forth in praise, right? And glad adoration; I mean, aren't you glad that we don't live in a random universe? Aren't you glad that the signs that are popping up all over everywhere that say, enjoy life now there is no afterlife. Have you seen those? They're popping up all over; Aren't you glad that's a lie? Aren't you glad Jesus said in John 6:47, "'Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has ever lasting life.'" Now, aren't you glad that our God reigns in absolute authority over all of his creation? He is the one Isaiah tells us in chapter 46 and verse 10, who declares "the end from the beginning, and from ancient times, things which have not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure.'" So let's look closely at what God revealed to Daniel, pertaining to events yet future. And I want to emphasize this I say “yet future because there are some who believe that the fourth empire really reflects the Grecian empire of Alexander the Great, some believe, perhaps, even the Roman, the historical Roman Empire. But I would agree with other conservative Bible expositors that there are at least three factors, in verses nine through 14, that cannot be explained by what occurred during the duration of those two empires. First, Daniel's vision is one of, of God, the Father standing upon a throne to pronounce final judgment to the nations, which includes their utter and their permanent disillusion. And also, it includes being replaced by the everlasting kingdom of God, ruled by the Son of Man. And I would submit to you that nothing close to any of this has ever happened. Secondly, in verses 11, and 12, the little horn representing the ruler, the last rule, or I should say, of the times of the Gentiles, is destroyed, along with his empire. And there exists no reasonable explanation of this during the historical Greek and Roman Empires. And thirdly, the fifth Kingdom is established by the Son of man who comes with the clouds of heaven, he is presented before God the Father, beginning his everlasting kingdom. And again, no satisfactory interpretation can account for any of this in the ancient Greek and Roman Empires. Therefore, the only reasonable conclusion is that these things belong to a future consummation.

So with that little introduction, notice first, how Daniel and all of us, are reminded that God is the sovereign ruler, he is the one that is the judge. Notice in verse nine, he says, "'I kept looking until thrones were set up.'" In other words, he seeing here a courtroom is set up for the proper dispensing of justice upon the Antichrist and his kingdom, in the fourth kingdom. Now, I might add, this is a bit technical, but I want to make sure you understand these things. This is not a reference to the Great White Throne Judgment that takes place at the end of the millennial reign of Christ that you read about in Revelation 20, verses 11 through 15. But rather, this is either a special judgment or a special judgment relating to the little horn, the Antichrist, and the beast, the kingdom. Or it's the sheep and goat judgments that we read about in Matthew 25, which is going to take place at the end of the tribulation, it could be one in the same we're not really sure. But that will occur just before Christ establishes his millennial reign. Now, when Jesus returns to earth, in power, and in great glory, he will judge the inhabitants that are living on the earth, all of the nations, as we've read, will gather before him. And the purpose of that judgment is to determine who will inherit the kingdom and who will not. That's what we read about in Matthew 25, a little bit ago. That's the sheep and goat judgment, but the purpose of the Great White Throne Judgment is very different. It's to see who will be sent into the lake of fire. That's Revelation Chapter 20 and verse 15. Moreover, the subjects of the sheep and goat judgment are both believers and non-believers who are alive when Jesus returns. Thus the labels, sheep, and goats read about that in Matthew 25:32. But the subjects of the Great White Throne Judgment are only nonbelievers. It involves, for example, the resurrection of the last. Let me read you the passage in Revelation 20 began beginning in verse 13, "And the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and Hades gave up the dead, which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds, Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." So the sheep and goat judgment occurs at the end of the tribulation, and is therefore associated with the second coming of Christ, it's to determine who will enter into the millennial kingdom. Whereas the Great White Throne Judgment occurs at the end of the millennium after the 1000 year reign of Christ with his saints, according to Revelation 20, verses four through seven. And all of that is associated with the transition into the eternal state. So a little bit of theology there; little eschatology to help you keep things in perspective.

Now back to what Daniel sees here, in this courtroom that's being set up for what I believe is either a special judgment on the Antichrist and the final kingdom, or maybe the sheep and goat judgment may be one in the same we can't be sure. But think about this. What a magnificent contrast from verses seven and eight, where the blasphemous scoffing of the little horn, depicting the vile nature of the Antichrist, who's going to rule in that final revived Roman Empire just before Christ returns. I mean, what a contrast. We see here, all of a sudden, he's seeing God the Father sitting upon his throne. And you know, when you think about these blasphemous, scoffing things, I mean, we see that today all the time, every time I turn on the news, and I hear our leaders in Washington, I hear the same type of stuff. It's frightening, and I also am reminded of what God sees and his attitude towards it. You will recall in Psalm chapter two, beginning of verse two, "The kings of the earth," he says, "take their stand, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, 'Let us tear their fetters apart, and cast away their cords from us!'" I love this next sentence, "He who sits in the heavens laughs, Tthe Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury, saying, but as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain." And that beloved, is my king, and your king, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Back to verse nine, notice these thrones "were set up." And you wonder, okay, "Thrones," there plural here, who else will be present at this tribunal? Well, we can see from scripture that it will be the saints of God, including, and especially the tribulation saints who were executed for their faith in Christ, and their refusal to wear the mark of the beast and worship him. We see the same identical symbolism in Revelation 20 and verse four. There we read, "Then I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus, and because of the word of God and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead, and on their hand, and they came to life and reigned with Christ for 1000 years." Now back again to verse nine. He says, "'I kept looking until thrones were set up and the Ancient of Days took His seat.'" If you've ever been in a courtroom, you know what it's like. The judge comes in, everybody stands and he comes in, he sits down, and that means it's time to begin the proceedings. I believe this to be God the Father, not the Son. The Son is introduced later on in verse 13, as the Son of Man who is seen approaching the Ancient of Days and who is presented before him. Then he says, "His vesture was like white snow and the hair of His head like pure wool.'" You can tell Daniel is trying to describe the indescribable. This emphasizes his purity, his omniscience, is truthfulness. We see the same symbolism, for example, in Isaiah chapter one and verse 18. There we read that familiar passage, "Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be," what? "as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool." And in David's contrition, you will remember how he prayed in Psalm 51 and verse seven, he said, "Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow." We see the same symbols of God's purity and his omniscience and his truthfulness in rendering judgment in Revelation three and Revelation four and Revelation 19. In fact, this whole scene corresponds with what John saw and recorded in Revelation chapter four, and five. He goes on, and he says, "His throne was ablaze with flames, its wheels were a burning fire. I'm not sure what this really means. But somehow, you get this feel that it's like a chariot throne that that can move according to his command. But flames and fire, we know, are often associated with holiness and the terrifying judgment of God. We see this throughout Scripture. You will recall when Moses warned the covenant people of the dangerous consequences of their idolatry. He said this in Deuteronomy four in verse 24, "For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." Not surprisingly, Daniel's description of the throne of God parallels what is Ezekial saw. In Ezekial one in verse four, we read, "As I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with flashing fire forth continually and a bright light around it and it's in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire." Again, you can tell Ezekiel is just trying to wrap words around that which is utterly ineffable, Oh, child of God, don't miss this. God is not to be trifled with. He is infinitely holy, and he will judge sin on the basis of his character.

The Psalmist tells us in Psalm 97, and beginning in verse two, "Clouds and thick darkness around Him, righteousness and justice, are the foundation of His throne. Fire goes before Him and burns up His adversaries round about." I must add, like God the Father, Christ as the Son of Man is equally glorious, and terrifying in his judgment. We read, for example, in Revelation one beginning in verse 14, where John describes the Lord Jesus in similar terms. There we read "His head and His hair were white, like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters." Beloved, once again, this is the mighty sovereign that I serve, that you serve. This is the Lord our God. We cannot even imagine what the judgment will be like upon the nations who refuse to honor him. God has promised a day of vengeance, dear friends; his holiness demands it. His pure character demands that his justice must and will prevail. And we know that even prior to that judgment, at the end of the tribulation, the wrath of God is going to be so fierce that it will cause people to want to die. We read about this in Revelation six, beginning in verse 15. And as I read this, think about your friends and your loved ones that reject Christ. Think about all of the arrogant people, even in our country, who mock the Lord Jesus Christ and mock his word, and who think we are idiots for believing that he's actually going to return. Here's what we read in Revelation six beginning in verse 15, And this is in the context of the pre kingdom judgments that will be poured out upon the earth, just prior to our Lord's return, "Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves, and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, 'Fall on us, and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath is come and who is able to stand?'" Matthew 25, that we read earlier, verses 34, as well as 41. Jesus says, "'Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed to have My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'" And in verse 41, he says, "'Then he will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.'"

Now Daniel continues in verse 10, to describe the throne of God. There he says, "A river of fire was flowing, and coming out from before Him." So again, this is a further depiction of the glory and judgment of God upon his adversaries. It's like it's flowing out from him. "1000s," he says, "upon 1000s were attending Him and myriads upon myriads were standing before Him." In other words, innumerable saints and angels are surrounding him, worshipping Him, ready to do his bidding. This is a scene that underscores just the majesty and the power and the purity of the righteous judgment that he is about to administer. This is reminiscent of that day when the law was mediated to Moses on Mount Sinai; recorded in Deuteronomy 33 and verse two, there we read, "The Lord came from Sinai, and dawned on them from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran, and he came from the midst of 10,000 holy ones; at His right hand, there was flashing lightning for them." You know, it's impossible to even guess how many angels there are. One of my grandkids, I forget which one, asked me, "Papa, how many, how many angels are there?" We don't know, just a whole bunch of them. Look up in the stars, t's kind of like that, you can't even begin to count them. Indeed, their number is vast beyond measure. We know that holy angels are elect angels, who do not need redemption from a fallen state, unlike Satan, and the demons who sinned, there is no salvation for them. These are, these are magnificent creatures that we can't even imagine. They are not bound by physical space. They can be invisible or visible, they are without gender, they cannot reproduce after their own kind. And when they appear, they always appear as a man, never as a woman. These are ageless, immortal beings that are messengers of God, messengers of God's truth. They serve him perfectly, as well as ministering to us; they are our ministering spirits. And I would submit to you that they're all around us right in here. They can't see us, I mean, we can't see them, but they can see us. It's amazing. And this is what Daniel sees, surrounding the throne of God, "1000s upon 1000s were attending Him and myriads upon myriads were standing before Him."

And then the drama continues. Its almost as though you can hear a pin drop. It says, "The court sat, and the books were opened." Literally, the original says "the judgment sat." So in other words, the court is now in session, and it is ready to render justice.

Now, it was customary for the ancient Persians to record in a book all of the acts of a person worthy a future reward. You can read about that, for example, even in the Bible, in Esther chapter six verses one and two. So this would have been a familiar concept for Daniel and for the Jewish people that were in exile, that he was encouraging. And repeatedly in scripture we learn that God keeps a record of human actions. Deuteronomy 32:34, Psalm 56 eight, Isaiah 65 six, the passage we're in here, Malachi three and verse 16. In fact, in Matthew 12, verses 36 and 37, you will recall how Jesus condemned the Pharisees, saying that "every careless word that men shall speak, they shall render account for it in the Day of Judgment." You see, folks, God is omniscient. There is nothing that he does not know, nothing that he ever forgets. So he has a precise record of all the evil deeds. You know, I mean, it's still inconceivable, but it's probably more conceivable to us than it would have been to my grandparents and great grandparents, because they didn't have computers that can keep track of everything these days, right? We see this in Isaiah chapter 65, beginning of verse six, "'Behold, it is written before Me," God says, In other words, their guilt is recorded before me. "I will not keep silent, but I will repay; I will even repay into their bosom, both their and their own iniquities in the iniquities of their fathers together,' says the Lord." We see another similar description of books being opened in the context of the Great White Throne Judgment in Revelation 20 and verse 12. That final and that short-lived reunion of the damned. There we read, "And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds." Malachi offers another example. The context here in Molokai chapter three, is to encourage the true and righteous remnant of Israel, those that loved and served God but knew that judgment was coming upon Israel, God wanted to encourage them by telling them how he remembered them. And in Malachi three, beginning in verse 16, we read, "Those who feared the Lord spoke to one another, and the Lord gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him, for those who fear the Lord, and who esteem His name." Then we read, "'They shall be Mine,' says the Lord of hosts, 'on the day that I prepare My own possession, and I will spare them as a man spares his own son, who serves him.'" This book of remembrance may well be synonymous with the book of life in which the names of God's children are recorded. We can read about that in Exodus 32, verses 32 and 34, as well as Daniel chapter 12 and verse one. Jesus said in Luke 10, in verse 20, "Rejoice that your names are recorded in heaven." We read about the book of life as well in Revelation 13, in verse eight, where it speaks of "the book of life of the Lamb, who has been slain." Even tells us when those names were recorded, you will recall, they were recorded, it says, "from the foundation of the world," absolutely astounding. God chose us according to his elective purposes, before creation. Before creation. The death of Christ sealed our redemption forever. Once again, I'm convinced that all that Daniel sees here, demands a fulfillment that is yet future and there's just no reasonable explanation that can point to anything in history that can be attributed to what God reveals to Daniel. And again, what a what a powerful encouragement, I hope you share this. This is such an empowering, powerful encouragement to me, knowing that God is working a plan. And one day he's going to right all the wrongs. He's going to make the crooked straight, as Isaiah records. What a motivator to serve Christ and to wait for his return. Notice what Daniel sees next in verse 11, "Then I kept looking," and here's why, "because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking." Obviously, this is speaking of the arrogant blasphemies of the Antichrist. And this catches his attention. That's what he's saying here. It's almost as if he's saying, and this is my own paraphrase here, "Lord, how long are you going to put up with this pompous clown. I mean, I just keep hearing this guy making all this noise." When I think about this, I am reminded of times, when my children, when they were little, as well as now, my grandchildren, I've still got a couple of little ones, when they're out with me at a place like Walmart or whatever. And there's some spoiled, rotten brat, that is just pitching a fit, cussing out his parents or whatever. And what do my kids do? They're looking at me like, are you going to...Is anybody... You know, how long are you going to put up with this? As if you know, I can do anything about it. That's kind of the same thing that's going on here. Daniel's just wondering, again, "I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words which the horn was speaking."

I want to pause here for a moment. You know, many of us look at what's going on in our country today and we say the same thing. When we see our political leaders and hear what they say, we say to ourselves, "Lord, how long are you going to tolerate this? This is beyond insanity." I mean, you would expect people to think this way if they were drooling lunatics, but these people are supposedly sane. And they're saying these things and doing these things. How long before you meet out your judgment upon these emissaries of Satan, who mock you? We all grow impatient, do we not? And increasingly frustrated. We can all join with the Psalmist who lamented in Psalm 13, beginning in verse one, when he said, "How long O, Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul? Having sorrow in my heart all the day long? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?" Psalm 13, one and two. But dear friends, we must remember that God's ways are not our ways. And God's timing is always perfect. We tend to measure time in terms of days and months and years. And he measures time, in terms of millennia. For a day is like 1000 years to the Lord. Remember what Peter says in Second Peter three, beginning of verse seven, "But by His word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men." In other words, judgment is coming. But he goes on to say, "But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like 1000 years and 1000 years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but," here it is, "is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance." So dear friends, be patient. I have to tell myself that, Lord, hurry up and teach me patience, right? Trust in God's promises. As the psalmist said in Psalm 30, verse five, "weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning."

A beautiful picture hangs on our wall in our living room, some of you have probably seen it. It's a picture of this magnificent eagle flying in the mountains through the trees. And there's a verse attached to that. The great text out of Isaiah 40, beginning in verse 29, where we read, "He gives strength to the weary, and to him who lacks might He increases power. Though youths grow weary and tired, and vigorous young men stumble badly, yet those who," what? "wait for the Lord; Those who wait for the Lord will gain new strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run and not get tired they will walk and not become weary."

Now, back Daniel's dream, verse 11, "Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words, which the horn was speaking, I kept looking until," you've heard me say it before; I love the word "until." I love...that means something's about to happen that needs to happen. "I kept looking until the beast was slain, and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire." Don't you know if you could have seen Daniel's response like, finally, finally. Think of all the stories that we've read and all of the movies that we've seen, where the villain just wins every battle. It's like, don't we ever get any justice here, and they just keep bringing you to a point where you're about to scream, and then all of a sudden, there's justice. That's what we have here. Justice will prevail.

Now, practically speaking, the books that were opened, prove the guilt of the beast. And speaking here of this restored form of the Roman Empire that the Antichrist will use, yet will rule yet future, the sentence of death is therefore justified. I also find it interesting here; of course, the beast, that meaning the kingdom as well as the little horn, the Antichrist, all of that is going to be destroyed together. And as I think about it, there will be no mausoleum to house the physical remains of this coming and final world dictator. Notice the ignominious end of this vile tyrant. It says "its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire." Dear friends, the lowest bowels of hell, await those who try to be like God. And in his description of the fall of the king of Babylon, Isaiah tells us in Isaiah 14 what happens, and this is also a picture we believe of Lucifer, the fall of Lucifer, where we saw the same kind of arrogance in the judgment to follow. Isaiah 14 beginning in verse 14, "'I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. Nevertheless, you will be thrust down to Sheol, to the recesses of the pit. Those who see you will gaze at you, they will ponder over you, saying, 'Is this the man who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms, who made the world like a wilderness and overthrew its cities, who did not allow his prisoners to go home? All the kings of the nations lie in glory, each in his own tomb. But you have been cast out of your tomb like a rejected branch clothed with the slain who are pierced with a sword, who go down to the stones of the pit, like a trampled corpse.'" There is nothing more ignominious, nothing more monarch than having his body trampled underfoot. Now bear in mind here, the slaying of the beasts that Daniel sees, this destruction of a revived Roman Empire, will be achieved as a result of the Ancient of Days judgment when the Messiah King returns. And we know from other passages of Scripture when, that when the Lord returns, He will destroy the Antichrist's vast army that will be assembled in the valley of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat, by the way, means "Yahweh judges." That will be the battle of Armageddon, read about it in various passages. Zachariah 14, one through four, Joel three. Let me read you a little bit of this beginning in verse 12, of Joel three. "Let the nations be aroused and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all of the surrounding nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, tread, for the wine press is full, the vast overflow, for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! But the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision The sun and moon grow dark and the stars lose their brightness. The Lord roars from Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem and the heavens in the earth tremble, but the Lord is a refuge for his people, and a stronghold to the sons of Israel. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, and strangers will pass through it no more."

So Daniel has been given here a, a front row seat to all that's going to happen with this arrogant, blasphemous little horn and his kingdom. The beast that was slain and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire. Let me take you to Revelation chapter 19, which describes what's going to happen with the Antichrist, his capture, as well as the false prophet that will work with him. Beginning in verse 20, of Revelation 19, we read this, "And the Beast was seized," meaning captured alive, "and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast, and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone."

Now, finally, having witnessed the judgment of the beast and the little horn, he then focuses his attention to the rest of the beast, as it says here, referring to the lion, which represented Babylon and the bear, Medo-Persia, and the leopard that represented the Grecian Empire. So in verse 12, we read, "As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away, but an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time." Now, to understand this, you must remember that whenever one of the three previous kingdoms were conquered, the people and their culture, were all absorbed into that new kingdom. And even to this day, we see elements of those vast ancient empires in all of the nations of the world. And this continuation will exist, even in the final empire that revived Roman Empire under the rule of the Antichrist. Thus, as Daniel says here, "an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time." But listen carefully, unlike the previous three beasts, the fourth beast, that final kingdom will come to a sudden, in a violent and a permanent end. As Leon Woods rightfully states, quote, "This contrast for the fourth is understandable. For the rule succeeding it will be the millennial reign of Christ, which will not absorb Rome's people and culture, with all their deficient, degenerate features. That will be a new, unique rule perfect, righteous, and equitable in every way." End quote. And these dear friends will be the subject of verses 13 and 14 that we will examine the next time.

Now, may I challenge you in closing? Oh, dear Christian, live in light of eternity. Jesus is coming. If you don't believe that, again, there is something terribly deficient with your faith. Give yourself completely to Christ, in worship and in service. Don't forfeit the blessings that he longs to lavish upon you, because of your faith and your obedience. Be bold and uncompromising in your gospel witness, in your testimony for Christ. So that when, not if, but when Christ returns in all of his glory, he will find you and me faithful at our post. Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain for the Lord, amen?

Let's pray together. Father, thank you for revealing to us these things that strengthen, confirm, our faith in all that you have promised. Thank you that someday you will indeed be glorified in all of the earth. And Lord thank you that by your grace you have saved us. And Father, if there be one here today that knows nothing of what it really means to be united to Christ in saving faith, I pray that you will remove from them all of the phony excuses and all of the false religious pretenses that would somehow make them believe that they are yours, when in fact they're not. I pray, Lord, that you will overwhelm them with the guilt of their sin and the glory of the cross; that this will be the day that they will repent. They will come to you in saving faith, crying out for a mercy they do not deserve, a grace that they cannot merit, that today will be the day that they will experience the miracle of the new birth. We commit that to you. We plead this for the glory of Christ. For its in his name I pray. Amen.

Will you take your Bibles this morning and turn to Daniel chapter seven, we are going to look at verses 15 through 28 today under the heading, "The Great Panorama of World history." This is the second part in a little series that flows from this text. And I might just share my heart with you for a moment, whenever I lock myself in the vault of study during the week, and certainly when I come before you, I'm just, frankly, overwhelmed with the privilege that I have and that we all have to look into the Word of God to realize that he has spoken to us. Whenever I humble myself before the word under the banner of sola scriptura, whenever I just allow the text to speak to myself to my heart, I just find myself lost in wonder. We don't ever want to take for granted the fact that we have the truth. In a world of lies, we've got the truth. And I'm not only amazed at God's sovereignty, in other words, he has absolute authority, and rule over all things; when I look into scripture, especially when I look at the prophetic word, but I'm also amazed at his condescension, that he would voluntarily descend from his glorious holy throne, in order to communicate to a worm like me, and you. It's an amazing thought. Again, that our ineffably glorious and holy God would reveal Himself to us is staggering to me, and what a privilege that we have, as twice born saints, to have his inspired word, a word that reveals his character, a word that reveals his judgment for sin and disobedience, the word that reveals the blessings that we have for faith and obedience. And all of the things that goes with the revelation of who Christ is, the one who voluntarily bore our sin in his body on the cross, the revelation of the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm so weary of all that we hear in our country. It's just depressing, you know. So it's so good to be able to look and see the truths about the kingdom. You know, that's, that's coming. And that's what we do here. And to be sure, as Peter says, “we are aliens and strangers in this world.” Don't you feel like an alien and a stranger here? We are citizens of another kingdom. We don't belong here. And moreover, God has revealed things to us; think about this, that the rest of the world does not know. And I don't say that to be haughty. They just don't know. And they don't want to know. And this certainly includes the detailed outline of the series of events that will precede and portend the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in all of his glory, as we have been studying here in Daniel's prophecies.

Now, before we look at the text, I know that eschatology, the study of the end times, Bible prophecy, and so forth, can be confusing to a lot of people. So I want to give you the big picture. And I was trying to think of an analogy, and one that came to my mind is that of a jigsaw puzzle. My father, before he died, liked to work jigsaw puzzles, and there was one it was like, 1000 pieces. And he spent months on that. And you know, it'd be really hard to put that jigsaw puzzle together if you didn't have the picture of what it's going to look like on the box, right? If he just had the pieces of the puzzle. And so sometimes we need to back up with Bible prophecy. And we need to see the big picture. And sometimes we just need one of those puzzles like our children have, that's just got like 15 pieces, you know, and we can kind of put that together and then we can begin to build from there. So I'm gonna give you a little bit of Bible prophecy that on the corner of the box, it says two to four years, okay? Doesn't mean two to four years to put it together. It means you know, two to four years old could do this. So scripture, as we look at it, real simply, suggest that the next event on the prophetic timetable, and by the way, I'm speaking now as a pre-millenarian, as someone that takes the word very, very literally taking into consideration the symbolic meanings and so forth. The next event on the prophetic timetable is the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, that will occur in two stages. The first stage is the rapture of the church. When he comes for his saints. Underline the word "for" he comes for his saints, and they are caught up to meet him in the air, as First Thessalonians 4:14 through 17 tells us. And then the second stage is his physical return to Earth when he comes with his saints, not for his saints, but with his saints, as we read, for example, in Jude 14; he comes to execute judgment against his enemies and so forth. And in between those two stages, we have seven years of tribulation. And that tribulation period is sometimes, or can be called, and is often called, interchangeably with the idea of Daniel's 70th week. So when you hear me talk about Daniel's 70th week, it's the same as the tribulation. Daniel 9:24, through 27 describes this there, and we will get to that eventually. But that describes 70 weeks of years or 490 years of judgment that God has committed to Israel, and 69 of those weeks or 483 of those years have been fulfilled precisely, again, as you will see. And when the Antichrist arises on the scene, he will rule during that time; he has not yet appeared because the rapture of the church has not yet transpired. And so Daniel 70th, week is also the tribulation period and with the church removed, during that time, God will once again focus his attention on national Israel. And during that tribulation period, the Antichrist will rise to power. And he will rule over a revived Roman Empire until the Messiah returns and defeats all of his enemies.

And again, now the rapture of the church, which is the snatching away, or the removal of the church, will mark the beginning of a very painful process for unbelieving national ethnic Israel. But that will be a time eventually, when they will be grafted back into the olive tree of God's covenantal blessing that was originally theirs, as we read about in Romans 11:24. But if you look at the next verse in Romans 11, you will see it will also be a time indicating the end of the Gentile rule, the fullness of the Gentiles has come, Paul says, and that period of time will lead up to the national redemption of Israel, that is spoken of in verse 26, of Romans 11, when, quote, "all Israel will be saved, as it is written, 'The deliverer will come out of Zion, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.'" There's many passages that speak about what will happen during that period of time, that period of judgment during the tribulation. Jeremiah 30, in verse seven is a key text in understanding this, There we read, "Alas! for that day is great, there is none like it; and it is the time of Jacob's distress, but he will be saved from it.'" referring to Israel. And clearly, the pre kingdom judgments upon the earth during Daniel's 70th week pertain to ethnic and national Israel, not to the church. I believe there's a distinction between the two, I do not believe that the church has permanently replaced Israel. In fact, nowhere is the church mentioned in any of the Bible's descriptions of the tribulation, it has been removed. However, you also need to understand that many Jews and many Gentiles will come to saving faith during the time of the tribulation, after the rapture during the Tribulation. And they will be persecuted severely for their faith. And I might also add that what we're witnessing in our world, yea even in our country today, is a precursor to that final period of unprecedented hatred and persecution towards those who follow Christ. All of that is satanically empowered and we see satanically empowered Neo-Marxist liberals in our country. They hate everything that is holy.

Now, with that little background as we return to the prophecies of Daniel seven, which let me remind you, parallel that of Daniel two remember? We have learned that there will be a succession of four Gentile Empires that will dominate Jerusalem and God's covenant people until the Messiah returns and establishes his earthly kingdom. However, remember now, there is a vast time gap that exists between the close of the fourth kingdom of Rome and its powerful future reemergence under the rule of the Antichrist, who was called in Daniel seven, eight, "the little horn" or "the little king." And remember, as we look back there, in Daniel seven, we see that he came up among 10 others. In Daniel seven, eight we read, this is a horn that "possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth, uttering great boasts." And it is here that we're going to focus our attention yet again this morning in verses 15 through 28.

Now, I am deliberately skipping verses nine through 14, we're going to come back to that. There, Daniel records his vision of heaven when God makes his final judgment on the earth. And he utterly and permanently destroys the little horn, and the Antichrist and his vast empire, that time when the Son of Man returns and establishes his kingdom. Again, none of those things have transpired during the historical Greek and Roman age, as some might claim, but await a future and glorious consummation. So with that background, there's a few of the big pieces alright? So let's come now and let's look again, at what the Spirit of God reveals to Daniel.

A little bit of background again here with Daniel; Daniel sees these four great beasts in verse three, they're coming up from the sea, they're different from one another. And he sees these amazing descriptions of each one of them. We examined that last week. But then notice in verse seven, "'After this,'" he says, "'I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying, and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet; and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had 10 horns. While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it; and behold, this horn possessed eyes, like the eyes of a man and a mouth, uttering great boasts.'" Alright, so Daniel sees all of this, he's overwhelmed by it. And naturally, he would like to have some further understanding of what all of this meant. And here's what was going through his mind beginning in verse 15. "'As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me. And the visions in my mind kept alarming me.'" Now, as one might expect, if you put yourself in that position, you would want to know more; what in the world is going on here. And I might also add, like every single believer who has an insatiable appetite for the truth of the Word of God, God is going to feed you. And that's exactly what we see happening here; verse 16, "'I approached one of those who were standing by,'" referring to one of the angels, "'and began asking him the exact meaning of all this. So he told me it made known to me the interpretation of these things.'" So beginning of verse 17, we have the angelic interpretation, notice what he says, "'These great beasts, which are four in number, are four kings who will arise from the earth. But the saints of the highest one will receive the kingdom and possess the kingdom forever for all ages to come.'" So here, this angelic interpreter gives a big picture, kind of a general interpretation to set the stage for more of the actors and more of the drama that's going to come about.

And we see here that, first of all, that these beasts represent human kings and their kingdoms and secondly, we see that their kingdoms are not going to last. I'm so glad that that's the case that they will not last, they will be replaced by God's kingdom and ruled by his saints. Now, it's also important to note that this is the first time in the vision that we are introduced to the saints of the Highest One, which I believe suggests they have had no part to play in the panorama of world history until this final stage, when they are said to, quote, "receive the kingdom," which is the same kingdom, given to the Son of Man in verse 14, the eternal King of that final realm. Other Scriptures reveal that the citizens of this kingdom are indeed the saints of the Highest One, those who have been made holy by faith in Christ. But this will also include Jews and Gentiles who will come to faith in Christ during the time of the tribulation; but they are going to suffer greatly under the rule of the Antichrist. In fact, Zechariah speaks a bit about this in chapter 13, beginning in verse eight, There we read, "'It will come about in all the land,' declares the Lord, 'that two parts in it will be cut off and perish; but the third will be left in it. And I will bring the third part through the fire refined them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested, they will call on My name, and I will answer them, I will say 'They are My people.' And they will say, 'the Lord is my God.'" Indeed, the Lord will one day perform a greater deliverance even than that of Exodus. Jeremiah speaks of this in Jeremiah 16, beginning of verse 14, "'Therefore, behold, days are coming,' declares the Lord, 'when it will no longer be said, 'As the Lord lives, who brought up the sons of Israel, out of the land of Egypt.' but 'As the Lord lives who brought up the sons of Israel, from the land of the north, and from all the countries where He had banished them,' For I will restore them to their land, which I gave to their fathers.'" And we're beginning to see some of that occur even today.

So again, back to verse 18, "'the saints of the Highest One will receive the kingdom, and possess the kingdom forever, for all ages to come.'" This word "possess," in the original language carries the idea of ownership, the idea of authority. Satan, and his demonic and human agents will no longer rule the earth, as he does today, as they do today. Satan is going to be bound, he is going to be sealed up in the abyss during the millennial reign of Christ. We read about that in Revelation 20, beginning in verse one. There, John says, "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for 1000 years. And he threw him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him. So that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the 1000 years were completed." So again, the saints of the highest one will receive, they're going to possess the kingdom forever. That's us, folks, we can celebrate that we can rejoice in that. I mean, this is our inheritance. It's an amazing thought.

I was thinking about what Paul said in Colossians 1:12. If you want to look there for a moment, there, he says, we’re to give "thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light." Paul is saying that in that context, that because of the finished work of Christ, and all that he has done for us, God has qualified, the term could be authorized, it could be translated, "authorized" or "empowered us" to be partakers of "the inheritance of the saints in the Light." It literally can be translated for the portion of the lot. It's a fascinating thought. This reaches back to the individual partitioning of Israel's inheritance in the Promised Land of Canaan. You can read about it in Numbers 26 and Joshua 14. So what he's saying is that each one of us, as believers, will receive our own individual portion of the total divine inheritance. There are other passages that speak to this but I think of Romans 8:17, "If children," Paul tells us, we are "heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ." An amazing thought, what an astounding promise.

So indeed, as the angel revealed to Daniel, the saints are going to receive and possess the coming Kingdom. We're going to reign with him. Second Timothy two verse 11, "It is a trustworthy statement," Paul says, "For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him; if we endure, we will also reign with Him." Revelation 5:10 says the same thing, "And thou has made them to be a kingdom, and priests to our God and they will reign upon the earth." Verse 20, or chapter 20, and verse four of Revelation, "And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus, and because of the word of God and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand and they came to life," and here we go, "reigned with Christ for 1000 years." Now, obviously, this is all in stark contrast to the four kingdoms of Daniel's prophetic dream. You don't have any saints reigning there. That's the time of the Gentiles. Can you even imagine what it will be like? When according to Zechariah 14 and verse nine, "The LORD will be king over all the earth." All right? You turn on the television, you don't see Joe Biden, you know, you see the Lord. "When the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day, the Lord will be the only one and His name the only one." Can you imagine what it will be like when according to Habakkuk, two and verse 14, "The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." Can you imagine that day? No more corrupt, greedy, self-serving lying politicians; the Lord will be ruling.

So Daniel learns now how the saints of the Highest One are going to receive and possess this eternal kingdom that was given to the Son of Man. But notice what else troubled his mind in verse 19, "Then I desired to know the exact meaning of the fourth beast, which was different from all the others exceedingly dreadful, with its teeth of iron and its claws of bronze." The claws of bronze, by the way, is a new detail here, in the whole scene of this, "and which devoured," he says, "crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet." And he wants to know, "the meaning of the 10 horns that were on its head, and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell, namely, that horn which had eyes and a mouth uttering great boasts and which was larger in appearance." The original there carries the idea that it was, it was greater, it was sturdier, and it became even more imposing. It was larger in appearance than its associates. And then it says in verse 21, "'I kept looking and that horn was waging war with the saints and overpowering them.'" Well, we know that this is again, a reference to the Antichrist, he is the beast, for example, in Revelation 13, let me take you there for a moment. Revelation 13, beginning in verse five. "And there was given to him a mouth speaking arrogant words and blasphemies, and authority to act for 42 months was given to him." I want you to notice, this was given to him here, the Lord reminds us that He is the sovereign God who is even ordained this. So God ordains, this 42 month season of blasphemy against himself, he is going to use this ultimately, for his purpose. And this will include blasphemy against three things, back to Revelation 13, six, "And he opened his mouth and blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name." God's name encompasses the consummate sum of all of his infinite perfections. Not only his name, but it says "and His tabernacle." In other words, where God resides, and in transcendent glory in heaven, the place from which Satan was expelled, so he's blaspheming, that, and also "those who dwell in heaven," referring to the saints and the holy angels, whom Satan hates. And then we see his murderous campaign in verse seven of Revelation 13, "And it was given to him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him." Verse eight, and "All who dwell on the earth," which by the way, in the book of Revelation is a phrase used to describe unbelievers, and "All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world and the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain." In the New Testament, the phrase "the foundation of the world" is a synonym for before time began, or eternity past. So remember now two thirds of the Jews during this time will be killed by the Antichrist during the Tribulation as we read in Zechariah 13, eight through nine. And then according to Zechariah, 14, one through five, Jerusalem is even going to succumb to his forces. Beginning in verse one of Zechariah 14, "Behold, a day is coming for the Lord, when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle." By the way, don't we see the precursor of all that right now? "I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle and the city will be captured, the houses plundered the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city."

But dear friends, that is not the end, and the hour of Israel's greatest peril, a deliverer is going to come as promised. And that's what we see in the very next verse, verse three of Zechariah 14, "Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as when He fights on a day of battle. In that day, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south." He promised to return physically, didn't he? And he's going to return the same place from which he left, verse five, You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of My mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord, my God will come, and all the holy ones with Him! There is the glory of the Second Coming. In the rapture, he comes for His saints, in the second part of his Second Coming, that second stage, he comes with his saints.

Now back to Daniel 11. This is what the angel reveals to Daniel in his interpretation of verse 21. The horns waging war with the saints, he's overpowering them. And then verse 22, "Until," I love that word "until," that's a great study in and of itself in the New Testament, until.... horrible things are happening... until then there's victory. "Until" verse 22, "the Ancient of Days came and judgment was passed in favor of the saints of the Highest One, and the time arrived when the saints took possession of the kingdom." When I was a boy, I used to watch a program. And the guy would say, "I love it when a plan comes together." You remember that? I love it when this plan comes together, and it will. Now you might say, Well, what's going to happen to the little horn? What's going to happen to the Antichrist? Ah, I'm so glad you asked. Turn to Revelation 19, for a moment, beginning in verse 19. Here, John is seeing the theater of operations. Verse 19, of Revelation 19, we read, "And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies," referring to the Antichrist and his allies, "assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse and against His army." Now, as a footnote, the Lord may already be in Jerusalem by this time with the army of the saints and his angelic forces somehow hovering in the skies. We don't know for sure. This might help explain why some of the Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem will suddenly give glory to the God of heaven, according to Revelation 11:13. But we do know that the Antichrist and his allies will amass their forces in this region to "make war against Him who sat upon the horse and against His army." When you think about it, amassing such a vast force will take weeks, and I believe the satanically empowered antichrist will deliberately assemble all of his troops, and we'll be awaiting the warrior king’s arrival, knowing that the three and a half years of his promise coming is about to elapse. In fact, Daniel 11:45 We read, "He," referring to the Antichrist, "will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him." And that's a description of the geography there between the Mediterranean Sea and Jerusalem. Now, we're not told anything about the specifics of his attack, but we know the outcome is going to be instant. It is going to be devastating and the next scene is a cause for great rejoicing Revelation 19 verse 20, "And the beast was seized," carries the idea there of being captured alive, he "was seized, and with him the false prophet, who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast, and those who worshipped his image." And the false prophet is the one who promoted the false worship. And he's going to be treated the same as the beast. It goes on to say these "two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone." I've never had this happen to me, and I hope it don't ever have it happened to me, but as a man, I can't think of anything more humiliating than being picked up and thrown. And that's what's going to happen to be "thrown alive" even worse yet, "into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone." To be thrown alive by your arch enemy is a mortification that begs language.

But dear friends, this is the horrific fate of the Antichrist and given the fact that they will be thrown alive into the lake of fire indicates that then either instantly, probably instantly, they're going to be equipped with some kind of body suited for the torments of hell. And then notice again, the ultimate fate of these vile creatures in verse 20, of Revelation 19. "These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone." Now, brimstone is a sulfuric chemical that can become explosively hot. You can see remnants of it, in fact, you can go on YouTube, and you can see evidence of this and the ancient realm of Sodom and Gomorrah, where little balls, little white balls of brimstone, the only place that they exist on the planet, they're little pellets made up of 99%, pure sulfur, and they are embedded in the ashes. You can see Sodom and Gomorrah and some of the other cities that were destroyed in that way. And you can see people taking a lighter and you light that, and it'll just be a blue hot flame that will burn. Well, this will be the final abode, dear friends, for Satan, for his demonic forces, for the Antichrist, for all unbelievers; horrific. Revelation 14:11 describes the suffering of hell as a place where quote, "the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest, day and night." Unimaginable.

Now, back to the angelic interpretation of Daniel's dream, look at verse 23, "'Thus he said: the fourth beast will be a fourth kingdom on the earth,' referring to the Antichrist kingdom, 'which will be different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth and tread it down and crush it.'" Now remember, this fourth kingdom includes not only the ancient Roman Empire, but there's been a big time gap here now, and we believe that there will be a future revived Roman Empire, as we have already studied some. We see this referenced in Revelation chapter 13, as well as 17. And this is affirmed even in the next verse 24. "'As for the 10 horns,'" the interpreter says, "'out of this kingdom, 10 kings will arise and another will arise after them.'" So the Antichrist is going to arise after the first 10. Verse eight, you will recall tells us that he is going to come up from among them. But this the sudden rise, due to the power of his charismatic personality and political promises, is going to be even more understood during that time because of his conquests. And this is what's going to make him different from his contemporaries. Notice the end of verse 24, "'and he will be different from the previous ones and will subdue three kings.'" Now, if we go back to verse eight, we read three of the first horns were pulled up by the roots before it. So again, we see a reference here that the antichrist is going to uproot or displace three of his predecessors during that time; he's going to take over their kingdoms for himself. I might add that nothing like this has ever happened, in the ancient, the early Roman Empire, so I believe that this must refer to a revived Roman Empire. Moreover, that the Antichrist's rule future Empire will initially be divided into 10 administrative districts ruled by 10 kings, is further underscored in Revelation 17 and verse 12, There we read, "Then 10 horns, which you saw are 10 kings, who have not yet received the kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast." I might add that this restoration idea is is further underscored by the events that are described in the remaining three visions of Daniel especially in Daniel 8:23 and Daniel nine, verses 26 and 27.

The interpreter then continues in verse 25, he says, "He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One." "Wear down" means exactly what it sounds; it carries the idea of just being oppressed by unjust authority. Boy, we're feeling evidence of that even now. But it'll be exponentially worse during that time. You know, in general terms, Moses predicted the sufferings of Israelite believers during this time of tribulation, in Deuteronomy six, and I should say, 28, I think is Deuteronomy 28. And Leviticus 26. And Isaiah even prophesied a future period of great purging, in chapter four, verses three and four. As did Jeremiah. He described it as "the times of Jacob's distress, “Jeremiah 30, in verse seven. We see the same thing in Ezekiel 20 and Zechariah 12, Malachi three.

Dr. Whitcomb said, quote, "So devastating will be that final phase of the day of man that two thirds of the nation of Israel will die, quote, 'and I will bring the third part through the fire,' Zechariah 13 Nine. Israel's Messiah," he went on to say, "assured her that," quote, "then there will be a great tribulation such has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall, Matthew 24:21. In fact, unless those days are," quote, "cut, short, none will survive at all. But as Jesus said, in Matthew 24:22, for the sake of the elect, those days shall be cut short."

Now, according to other prophecies, this will actually begin when the Antichrist deceives the world with presumably, some resurrection from the dead, we read about this in Revelation 13. If we were to look at the context there, he will have broken his covenant with Israel that's described in Daniel 9:27. And according to Revelation 13, the False Prophet has helped to create this image of the Antichrist, this large image in the Jerusalem temple, to be worshipped by all mankind. And certainly that's always been Satan's desire. And so his quote, "speaking out against the Most High, and his wearing down of the saints," is going to happen in the last half of Daniel's 70th week, the last half of the tribulation, and it will continue for 42 months, we're told. During that time, the Antichrist is going to be given authority, quote, "to make war with the saints and to overcome them," Revelation 13 seven.

Now, by this time in the tribulation, many of the Jewish believers will have fled into the wilderness to somehow seek protection. You read about this in Revelation 12. And Jesus warned and told them, advised them to do this. You can read about that in Matthew 24, verses 15 through 20. However, we also know that there's going to be a magnificent missionary core of redeemed Jews consisting of 12,000 men from each of the 12 tribes called the 144,000. And they will be protected from death by God and Jesus speaks of this in Revelation 24:14. They will carry this gospel of the kingdom to the whole world for a witness to all nations, and then the end shall come. In other words, they will finally do what he intended for them to do in the beginning.

So again, verse 25, "He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend," not succeed, "intend to make alterations in times and in law." This is probably a reference to the Antichrist attempt to change God's sovereignly allotted time to reign, to allow him to reign with such blasphemy and terror before his promised demise. I recall how Hitler promised that the right would reign for 1000 years, it didn't quite happen. But this is the same type of thinking. Furthermore, we read the Antichrist is going to attempt to alter God's righteous law, he will try to do that in every form. And of course, that's not a surprise. I mean, he's being inspired and empowered by Satan, who is the father of lies. Second Thessalonians two and verse three, Paul calls him the man, the Antichrist, the "man of lawlessness." And, you know, again, we see elements of this growing rapidly, I can't tell you how many people I've talked with, that have said, I just can't believe how quickly things are going down the tubes here in the country. It's absolutely astounding. In fact, if you look at the platform of the Democratic Party, it basically reads as a diatribe against everything that God deems holy. It's for this reason that no discerning Christian could ever support these people. In Isaiah five and verse 20, you will recall, ancient Judah was being judged for a number of things, but one of them is recorded there. "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight!"

And we learn more of how the Antichrist is going to try to change the times in the laws. Daniel 11, beginning in verse 36, "Then the King will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods, and he will prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be done." And then it says, "He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers, or for the desire of women," probably meaning he will be a homosexual, "nor will he show regard for any other god, for he will magnify himself above them all." In other words, he is going to be the quintessential megalomaniac of all times. This is who is coming.

Back to Daniel seven at the end of verse 25, "And they will be given into his hand referring to the saints for a time, times, and half the time." This signifies the final period, the final three and a half years in Daniel's prophetic 70th week, the last three years of the tribulation. Now, as a note here, with the church removed, the conditions at the beginning of the Tribulation will be very much like what we saw at Christ's first coming. To quote, Dr. Charles Feinberg, who by the way was a great Jewish scholar, studying to be a rabbi that came to saving faith in Christ, taught at Talbot Seminary. He was one of John MacArthur's teachers, and many others; A great and godly man who's now gone home with the Lord. But here's what he says, quote, "Israel will be back in the land, the sacrificial system will be in force. Because of the rebuilt temple. The nation will be reconstituted as a homogeneous national entity with its leaders who will be able to negotiate contracts with foreign powers, specifically the Roman Prince," referring to the Antichrist, "and the Sabbath, (and by implication, all the religious calendar which was interrupted by the crucifixion of Christ, and the scattering of Israel worldwide), will be in force again, according to Matthew 24:16, through 21." So the point here is, all of the saints will be given into his hand for this period of time when he calls times, times and a half a time. The church has been removed now, Daniel 70th week, the Tribulation, will begin.

And I might remind you that as we look at the prophetic calendar through the lens of Scripture, we see that at the beginning, the first half of the tribulation, the Antichrist begins to rise to power. The pre kingdom judgments that are described in Revelation six through 18, will begin and they will increase in frequency and in severity, like a woman in travail with a child. Persecution will begin early on against believers, both Jews and Gentiles, but they are going to gain momentum in terms of severity and frequency, again, like labor pains. And then according to Daniel 9:27, in the middle of the week, the abomination of desolation will occur. And that's when the Antichrist will break his original covenant with Israel, which again, decided that they needed to resume their ancient sacrificial system in their temple and so forth. And this desolation, this ruin, is what the Jews, when this happens, the Jews will realize that the Antichrist is turned against them. It will ruin, it will desecrate all that is holy in their temple, the presence of God they believe is there, and so forth.

And at the middle point of the tribulation, midway through the Tribulation, that's when all hell begins to break loose on the earth; a horrific period of tribulation and hardship like the world has never known. Jesus spoke about it, again in Matthew 24, and verse 21, and so forth. But God is going to use all of this to save a remnant of his people. I might also add that the church, the pure Bride of Christ, during that time, is going to be replaced by the great whore, the great harlot, which will be a false apostate, ecclesiastical monstrosity, the type of thing that we even see growing today, this demand in the world for us all to just coexist. That's what's going to happen under the leadership of the Antichrist, but he will ultimately be the one that sets himself up to be God, and that great harlot will ultimately require the world to worship the beast. Now, this will continue, it says, "For a time, times and a half the time." Again, the second half of Daniel's 70th week, it's measured in several ways in Scripture. It's also described as 42 months in Revelation 11 two and chapter 13, in verse five. It's also described as 1260 days in Revelation 11, three and 12 six, and also "times and times and half the time" in the text that we're in now, as well as Revelation 12:14. So the saints then are given into his hands during that period of persecution. But notice this, verse 26, "But the court will sit for judgment." This is the same expression that is used in verse 10 that we will examine the next time when the Ancient of Days will pronounce judgment on the little horn on the Antichrist. "The court will sit for judgment and his dominion will be taken away annihilated and destroyed forever." In other words, no other ruler from that point on, will assume power. It's an amazing thought.

And that final hour just before the Lord returns when Jerusalem, which would be the last stronghold of the saints, when the Jerusalem is on the brink of collapse, Zechariah tells us that the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, Zechariah 14 one through three. And I love verse 27, "Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven, will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One." That's us, folks. Then it says, "His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him." Beloved, think about this, throughout the course of human history, obviously throughout the course of our lives, we have never known anything but corrupt tyrannical leaders. I mean you look at Washington today, and they're as crooked as a barrel of snakes. We've never known anything like what's being described here. But one day, all of that is going to come to an end. Verse 28, "At this point, the revelation ended. As for me," that’s Daniel, "my thoughts were greatly alarming me and my face grew pale, but I kept the matter to myself." You know, we have a great advantage over Daniel, in that we not only have the complete canon of Scripture to help us understand these things, but also we can look back and see what he was looking forward to and couldn't see, the only thing he couldn't see is the same thing we cannot see. And that's the final revived Roman Empire and the Antichrist. And so to that extent, we ought to also be, as he was, greatly alarmed, greatly alarmed at the judgments that are to come upon the earth.

You know, I think about that all the time. I see people going about their lives, going about their business, they're having their families, they're having fun, they're going to the Titans game, they're doing all these things that you know, a lot of them are legitimate, but they have no idea what God is up to. And unless they repent and place their faith in Christ, they will perish in their sins. They will be destroyed forever. Dear friends, I pray that we will all have an increased burden for the lost because of this; that we will be salt and light in this decaying and very dark world, as we await the imminent return of our Savior and our King. Great, great truths, what we have to look forward to.

Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for your Word that speaks to our hearts. While we never can understand fully all of the things that you have revealed to us, we can certainly see that again, you are a sovereign God working your perfect plan, to bring glory to yourself. And to think that somehow, we are a part of all of that, it's absolutely astounding. So I pray that these great truths will humble us and will ignite us with an ardent zeal for evangelism that many will hear the good news of the gospel from our lips and from our lives, certainly from this church. We thank You, Lord, and we pray that you will come quickly in Jesus name. Amen.

This morning I would like to begin, what will be at least a two part, maybe a three part, maybe a four part, I'm not sure, series coming out of Daniel chapter seven. I've entitled the series "The Great Panorama of World History." So if you will take your Bibles and turn to Daniel seven. In a few minutes, we will look closely at the first eight verses. You know, though our country is rotting from the head down, and that we find ourselves struggling under the corruption of all that we see in the world, especially the militant unbelief, that is fomenting more and more hatred towards Christianity, isn't it wonderful to know that our God reigns? And this is what we will see here. As we begin this study of Daniel seven, if you haven't been with us, we've been going verse by verse. We've been going through Daniel, verse by verse and now we're coming here to Daniel chapter seven. And I need to help you understand a bit of the context in the first six chapters of Daniel. Primarily, what we have is a lot of history. It's historic in nature with very little predictive prophecy. But now we're coming to the second half of Daniel, where we look predominantly at predictive prophecy, rather than history. So there will be very little history here. And once again in chapter seven, as you may recall, from our previous studies, we have what's called a "chiastic pattern" being used to create emphasis and repetition, clarification. It's from the Greek word "chi," which is their x. And in a caustic pattern, you will remember that elements one and four of the pattern, and that you will find in one or more verses or chapters, will parallel in thought with elements two and three and another part of that verse or another part of the chapter. So structurally, what we see is Daniel seven, parallels Daniel chapter two. And I want you to understand that and thus, Daniel seven completes that "chiastic" arrangement. For example, in chapter two, you have four Gentile empires symbolized by different parts of a colossal human image and in chapter seven, you have the same Gentile empire symbolized by four great beasts rising up out of the sea. And chapter two, we read of a 10-fold division of a fourth kingdom symbolized by 10 toes on the feet of an image, whereas in chapter seven, they are symbolized as ten horns on the head of a great monster. In chapter two, the 10-fold subdivisions of the fourth kingdom of Gentile domination will be smashed by the stone, which is Christ, and we see something similar in chapter seven. There, we learn that an 11th horn is also going to appear a little horn that comes up after them and grows to be larger than all of them. And that is a revelation of the final Antichrist. And what we see as well in Daniel seven is the rise and fall at the hands of the great stone, which is Christ. That will be the primary emphasis in Daniel seven. Moreover, in both visions, in chapter two and chapter seven, we see differences in perspective. The magnificent beauty of the human image in chapter two depicts, quote, "human achievement in government, culture, art and science," according to Whitcomb. He went on to say, "but in the seventh chapter, we see that same fourfold empire of man from God's perspective, and how does it appear as wild and ravenous beasts that is how a holy God views the sinful and satanic maneuverings of nations upon the earth. Men's achievements apart from and in opposition to him are not spectacular from heaven's perspective. In fact, they are far worse than the activities of wild carnivorous animals for no animal ever sins or, for that matter is ever cruel. What they do is done by genetically programmed instinct patterns that were warped from God's curse upon Adam and his progeny. There is no hell for the animal kingdom. But men are wicked and cruel in the sight of God, and are under his judgment," That Whitcomb says, is the emphasis of chapter seven. Now please remember, both chapters, as well as the entirety of the book of Daniel, are meant to encourage the exiled Jews, his Jewish kinsmen, and frankly, all of the redeemed by explaining the succession of four Gentile empires that will dominate Jerusalem that will dominate God's covenant people, yea dominate the world, until the Messiah returns and establishes His kingdom. In fact, Leon Wood says, quote, "When God's people were taken captive to Babylonia, it seemed from the human perspective that God was through with them." And certainly, I would add, that's what the Jewish people thought. We see it in Scripture, for example, in Jeremiah 33, beginning in verse 24, we read this, "Have you not observed what this people have spoken, saying, 'The two families which the Lord chose, He has rejected them'? Thus they despise My people, no longer are they as a nation in their sight. Thus says the Lord, 'If My covenant for day and night stand not, and the fixed patterns of heaven and earth I have not established, then I would reject the descendants of Jacob and David, My servant, not taking from his descendants rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But I will restore their fortunes and will have mercy on them.'" What a magnificent promise of future restoration and blessing. Wood goes on to say "God was not through with them. However, and he desired that they know he was not. An effective way to do this was to reveal the historical future which God had in mind for them. They not only would return from this captivity, but would in due time see their Messiah, come to deliver them from spiritual bondage to sin, and later from physical bondage to a powerful earthly empire, this latter deliverance to be followed by a grand kingdom period on their own," end quote.

So once again, the Spirit of God speaks through His servant Daniel, and in so doing, he provides a magnificent panoramic view of world history, including the future events that culminate in the inauguration of the future and final kingdom and eternal kingdom of God. And we know that the prophecies herein, parallel other, not only Old Testament, but New Testament prophecies. For example, descriptions of a future abomination, committed by one who makes desolate. That's prophesied in Daniel 9:27, as well as chapter 12 and verse 11, are also predicted by Christ Himself, in Matthew 24 and verse 15. Also, the final stage of Daniel's fourth empire, prophesied in Daniel chapter seven, and eight, and nine and 11, where a beast is seen rising up out of the sea, parallels Revelation, chapter 13, is a description of the coming out of antichrist that will emerge from Satan's world system. And we will look closely at many of these parallel passages as we continue to make our way through Daniel's prophecies.

I might also add that as we approach the sacred text this morning, it's important for you to realize that there is a time gap that exists between the close of the fourth kingdom of Rome and its powerful future emergence under the rule of the Antichrist, and we now anticipate this. And I might also add that this is not coincidental. What man calls coincidence God calls providence. It was no twist of fate, that Christ at his first appearing occurred during an ancient period of Roman domination. And dear friends, it will be no twist of fate, that he will come again during a second period of Roman domination, the final stage of what Jesus called in Luke 21:24, "the times of the Gentiles." So these and many other astounding truths await the diligent student of Bible prophecy, especially here in Daniel. No wonder so many conservative scholars agree that Daniel could be called the revelation of the Old Testament, of which the Lord promised in Revelation one, three, "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near."

You know, it's sad, many Christians have very little understanding of the prophetic literature in Scripture, and frankly, many are indifferent towards it. They're more interested in who the Titans are playing than the second coming of Christ. But this was certainly not true of Daniel, when he received the special revelation of God, to give to his people, it deeply impacted him. And that's why as we read earlier, in Daniel seven, in verse 15, we read, "'As for me, Daniel, my spirit was distressed within me, and the visions in my mind kept alarming me.'" Then he says, "'I approached one of those who were standing by,'" referring to one of the angelic beings, "'and began asking him the exact meaning of all this. So he told me and made known to me the interpretation of these things.'" And then we go on to read how the inspired angel gave him the interpretation of the intervening verses. In verse 28, he says, "'At this point, the revelation ended. As for me, Daniel, my thoughts were greatly alarming me, and my face grew pale, but I kept the matter to myself.'" Oh, child of God, please hear me, a day is coming when God is going to judge this world, and Christ is going to return in power and great glory. And he will establish his millennial reign upon a renovated earth. And today, the world mocks at all of this, they mock Christians, they consider all of this to be the ravings of some lunatic fringe, but a day is coming for them. And I say this with great regret, when according to Revelation six and verse 16, they will cry out to the mountains into the rocks, 'Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who is able to stand?'" So I trust that your heart is prepared to hear these things. And that you will be animated to further praise, knowing what God is up to, and that you're a part of this. And what a joy to know that our God will prevail, that He will reign supreme upon the earth. To know that one day at the name of Jesus according to Philippians 2:10, "Every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth And that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

All right, so hang on, here we go. Let me give you the context here of Daniel seven. Daniel seven is a flashback to the reign of Belshazzar. He reigned around 553 BC. Nebuchadnezzar by this time has been dead for about nine years, Daniel would have been 67 years old when he received this vision, this dream. And so this also, therefore took place for years prior to the miraculous handwriting on the palace wall on the night of Belshazzar's death, and the fall of Babylon that's described in chapter five. So the events of chapter seven occur chronologically between Daniel four and Daniel five.

Now let's examine what God has revealed to us. Verse one, "In the first year of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, Daniel saw a dream and visions in his mind as he lay on his bed; then he wrote the dream down and related the following summary of it. Daniel said, 'I was looking in my vision by night and behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the great sea.'" Stirring up could be translated, bursting forth upon. Now we know that the word wind is used about 90 times in the Old Testament, and 30 times in the New Testament and over half of the time, it is used to describe the sovereign power the unassailable rule of God. And of course, that's the dominating theme of Daniel. And the sea typically represents the mass of a fallen humanity, or the nations of the world. So the symbolism here seems to indicate the sovereign power of God, striving against sinful humanity, probably through the use of angelic forces, coming at them from the four winds of heaven, in other words from every direction, stirring up a storm of strife, and trouble and turmoil in order to ultimately accomplish God's purposes. And of course, we see these winds gaining strength in our day and the destruction of our own nation. Frankly, we should fear the godless rulers over us more than we fear COVID or anything else. COVID is a great distraction to the real enemy.

But notice what Daniel sees next in verse three, "'And four great beasts were coming up from the sea, different from one another.'" We know from verse 17, there's an indication there that these four great beasts are four kings, who will arise from the earth. So verse four, "'The first was like a lion, and had the wings of an eagle. I kept looking until its wings were plucked, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a man; the human mind also was given to it.'" And of course, we know this is a reference to Nebuchadnezzar, who Jeremiah described as, quote, a "lion from the thickets of the Jordan," Jeremiah 49, verse 19, as well as chapter 50 and verse 44. You see, every year the Jordan River would flood in the spring, it would, it would flood all of the thickets and that would cause the lions to leave the valley of the river and go into the villages and destroy many people. And so that is how Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians were described here. Moreover, because of the great speed in which deadly competitors, armies, could operate, and conquer their enemies, Ezekiel describes him as having the wings of an eagle; Ezekial 17 three as well as verse seven. But as Daniel witnessed in his dream here, this eagle's wings were plucked. I don't know if you've ever seen a bird with all of its feathers plucked, but it's a pretty humiliating, kind of a ghastly sight. And that's what we have here. There's a prophecy that the proud feathers, of that majestic king of all the birds, would be removed. And we know that God humbled Nebuchadnezzar, during the seven years of his insanity. And his beastly character was tamed, ultimately, by God who transformed the nature of the beast, you might say, into that of a human, and eventually he surrendered to the will of the Most High God.

But then Daniel goes on and he sees something else in verse five, "'And behold, another beast, a second one resembling a bear.'" Now, it's interesting here, unlike the first beast, here, the empire alone is symbolized not its ruler. And we know biblically that the bear symbolizes the Medo-Persian empire that was mentioned repeatedly in chapter six. And then it says something interesting here, "'It was raised up on one side;'" it's a very curious description. And as I studied the original language and studied different commentaries, frankly, I never found anything that really satisfied my conclusion as to what this means. And frankly, what I'm going to tell you, I'm not real sure about, but I can give you what some think. Some believe this is a reference to the Persian dominance. At first we know that the Medes the Midian influence, dominated the empire under the reign of Cyrus and his son Cambyses, but, but 50 years later, the Persians gained the dominance under the rule of Xerxes. And during that time, the Persians basically absorbed all of the Medes into its empire. And we also know in Daniel's second vision, recorded in chapter eight, the Medo-Persian empire is symbolized in verse three by two horns of a ram, and then the second horn comes up last and grows higher than the first. So you know, when it says "this bear was raised up on one side," some think it may have something to do with that. I'm not sure. But I do know this, having experienced grizzlies in the wild, I'll tell you a very brief story. I was in the middle of Alaska on a hunting trip, I had been bow hunting caribou, I'd killed my caribou and I had another older gentleman with me that had never been in the bush before. And I had a frightening experience with probably the same grizzly that I'm about to tell you about the day before. So he wanted to go with me. He had a rifle. I had my 300 Magnum with me as well. We go up, we're taking pictures, I'm taking pictures of an eagle, I say, "Adrian, put this in my backpack." So he puts it in my backpack, and all of a sudden he goes, "Dave." And I turned around, and here was this grizzly. And he ran up to us and stopped about 15 feet away. And so I just stood there with my gun, not knowing what he was going to do. But I will never forget what he did. He raised up on one side. What he did is he raised up on one side like this with his paw like this. And he started grunting, going back and forth looking at me. And then he would stop and just stare. And then he would put his paw down and he would move a little bit. I knew what he was trying to do because I could see his nose. He was trying to get wind, he moves over about five or six feet, gets up on one side again, and starts at grunting and going back and forth looking at me and then he would stop and his nose would go up. He did that about five or six times until he got at about a complete semicircle around me. And all of a sudden, he made this loud noise and spun around and took off like a scalded dog in the opposite direction. I'll never forget he threw gravel all over us, he took off so fast. What happened is he got wind of us. Okay? By the way, the one thing that's predictable about a grizzly bear is that they're completely unpredictable. Thank God for guardian angels, and 300 magnums, right? But my point is, I know from firsthand experience, that when a grizzly wants to intimidate you, and is in a position to strike, he's going to raise up on one side. And that is a very intimidating position. And that very well may be the meaning of what the Spirit of God is saying here, that this second bear resembling a bear, or the second beast that resembles a bear was raised up on one side. Notice also, we read that "'three ribs were in its mouth between its teeth; and thus they said to it, 'Arise, devour much meat.'" And this probably represents the three great conquests of the Medo-Persians that we know historically, where they conquered Media, in Asia Minor in 546. Then they conquered Babylon in 539 BC and then Egypt in 525 BC. And we know that this powerful bear of the Medo-Persian Empire absolutely dominated the world for over 200 years until Alexander the Great came on the scene. And we see him here in verse six. "'And after this, I kept looking and behold another one like a leopard, which had on its back four wings of a bird; the beast also had four heads, and dominion was given to it.'" In other words, it was granted to him by the providence of God that he could rule. Now frequently in the Old Testament, we see leopards used to symbolize that which is swift, that which is ferocious, that which is cunning. For example, in Jeremiah five six and Hosea 13 and verse seven, it speaks of how they will lie in wait for their prey, and anyone who encounters them will be torn to pieces. And that is certainly an apt description of the Grecian army under Alexander the Great. You will recall that they were the ones that invented the Greek phalanx, a single rectangular mass of military formation, interlocking shields, with spears and spikes. The spikes were the long ones were called "sarissas." Had long spears, they were about 13 to 20 feet long. They had a sharp iron head shaped like a leaf and a bronze plate and that they would anchor that into ground to stop chargers and so on. They were basically an unstoppable force. These spears could penetrate the armor of the enemies. And it's interesting as well in verse four, Nebuchadnezzar is described as having the wings of an eagle, an eagle has two wings, right? But Alexander has four wings, doubling Nebuchadnezzar's speed and his agility, and thus his ability to invade and conquer. And we know that history proves this. He conquered Asia Minor, the entire middle Persian Empire, including Syria and Palestine, and all of Egypt, and all of the eastern territories, all the way up to the borders of India. He did this in 10 years, and he died at age 33. It was said that his army of around 40,000 could move at such speed and agility that they were able to defeat much larger armies like the Persians; vastly outnumbered them some three to five times more.

But notice also what Daniel sees, "this beast also had four heads." Now, that these four heads are mentioned, after the four wings, indicates that something happens that occurred after these rapid conquests. And no doubt this points to the four major sectors of Alexander's vast Grecian empire that were ruled by his four generals after his death. Babylon in in North Syria was ruled by Antigonus. Egypt was ruled by Ptolemy, the first Soter, and then Macedonia was ruled by Cassander, Thrace and Bithynia by Lysimachus. It's important to note that these four heads, conformed to the four horns of the male goat, that we will read about in chapter eight.

But then notice what else God reveals to Daniel in verse seven, "'After this, I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, the fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong; and it had large iron teeth. It devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet.'" And of course, this is a reference to the Roman Empire with its Roman legions. This is the most dreadful and terrifying and the strongest of all of the preceding empires. Daniel somehow sees its ferocious teeth as it growls violently at anyone that would dare stand in its way. And unlike Alexander, who seldom crushed the people that he conquered, the Roman Empire, this beast was very, very different. As it says "they devoured and crushed and trampled down the remainder with its feet." They were absolutely ruthless. When you read the history, they were brutal in their subjugation, they would torture people and, and kill hundreds of 1000s, then they would take them into slavery and sell them as slaves. But notice also in verse seven, it says, "'and it was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.'" Now, as I said earlier, this parallels Daniel chapter two. And there we even read the same substance it was of iron and the 10, toes of the feet, and so forth. We'll address that more in a moment. But historically, we know that in 241 BC, Rome began by occupying Sicily, and then it moved in the second century BC to conquer Spain. When we've been in Spain, we saw lots of remnants of a Roman rule there, then on to Carthage, at the Battle of Zama in North Africa in 202 BC. It gradually turned the Mediterranean Sea into its own private lake, frankly, it conquered everything all around it. And after subjugating the lands of North Italy, it moved eastward to conquer Macedonia and Greece and Asia Minor. And then the Roman General Pompeii conquered the remnants of the Seleucid Empire, which was Syria, and then it went on to subjugate Jerusalem in 63 BC. And so little by little they continued this massive expansion; decade after a decade gaining control eventually of southern Britain and France and Belgium and Switzerland and Germany west of the Rhine River. Dr. Wolvoord says, quote, "The Roman Empire continued to gradually grow for more than four centuries reaching its height in AD 117, in contrast to the sudden rise of the preceding empires. It likewise declined slowly beginning In the third century. The decline became obvious in the fifth century AD when the Romans leaving Britain in AD 407 and suffering a sack of Rome in 410 by the Visigoths. It was not until AD 1453 that the last Roman or Byzantine ruler was killed in battle. And that was when the Sultan Mehmet conquered Constantinople." Now, I want you to understand that Rome's influence in our world today and in our country can still be seen, especially in Europe and in the United States. Not just physically but socially and religiously, legally. Our art and architecture, science, technology, farming, literature, on and on it goes. We know that Latin for example, is the basis of French, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese and Romanian and Catalan languages. And many of our English words have Latin roots. Latin words continue to influence our western justice system. Our court proceedings mimic the proceedings of ancient Rome, the curved roofs that we see and large scale arches that are used to support our enormous buildings and bridges came from Rome. The amphitheaters and sports stadiums with tiered seating came from the Roman Colosseum. And religiously, after the early persecution of Christianity by the Roman government in 65, to about 300 AD, the Roman Emperor Constantine came along and he established himself as the head of the church. Instead of Christ, he was the head of the church, and around 313, he made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. And of course, that gave birth to the apostate religious system that we see today, known as Roman Catholicism. The first actual Pope in Rome was probably Leo the First in 440 ad. And we know that Constantine embraced his version of Christianity, he granted its special status. He formalized and centralized its doctrinal discussions, and he imposed those decisions on quote, "an official church." And they believe, for example, that the church then permanently replaced Israel; that God was finished with the Jews. Augustine was around that time he rejected Chiliasm, which is Millenarianism, or the idea that Christ would reign upon the earth for 1000 years. There was a strong hatred of Jews in that day. Monasticism and asceticism scandalized the notion of any kind of physical delights in an earthly kingdom. And so they believe that all of that was gone. You have Origen who implemented spiritualizing the text of Scripture; Augustine came along, did the same type of thing. So you have an allegorizing method, or hermeneutics, of interpreting scripture. And this produced what's called supersessionism, replacement theology, sometimes called amillennialism, as well. And this basically became the doctrinal eschatology of the Roman Catholic Church. They basically believe that the kingdom is the Roman Catholic Church. And so all of that came out of that. But bottom line, what I want you to see is that Roman Catholicism came out of that beast, and we still have remnants of it today. And that ushered in the darkest period of history. In all of history, rightfully called the Dark Ages, between about 500 and 1500 AD. There Satan rules supreme through his popes and bishops and priests, and throughout Europe; biblical Christianity became illegal. My point is, to this day, Europe and the United States bear the marks of this ancient fourth beast, dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong.

Now, with all of this in mind, we can better appreciate some of the new elements that God reveals to Daniel in this dream, new aspects of predictive prophecy, the likes of which we've never seen; the end of verse seven, so this fourth beast, he says, "'was different from all the beasts that were before it and it had 10 horns.'" Now, what we will see as we look at other Bible prophecies and consider them all together, is that this is a reference to 10 actual kingdoms that will one day exist simultaneously during Daniel's 70th week of judgment, during the time of the tribulation, the future tribulation, the pre-kingdom judgments upon the earth, just prior to the Lord's return what many, rightfully I think call, a revive Roman Empire yet future. Leon Wood says, quote, "As this will be a time when 10 contemporary kings will rule, among whom another will arise, uprooting three in the process and they move on to become the head of all." Let me stop there for a moment. We see this elsewhere in Scripture. Let me give you an example. In Revelation chapter 17, and verse 11. There is a reference to this beast, the antichrist that will appear with 10 horns in verse 12, symbolizing 10 kings who had not yet received power in John's day in the first century AD. In Revelation 17, we read this beginning in verse 12, "The 10 horns which you saw are 10 kings who have not yet received the kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one purpose and they give their power and authority to the beast." Now, Revelation was written in the last decade of the first century between about AD 94 and 96. Near the end of Emperor Domitian, which was from AD 81 through 96. And obviously, none of what John describes here in Revelation 17 had happened in his day, therefore, it has to happen later on, and we've never seen anything like it either. He goes on to say, in Revelation 17:14. To tell us when this revive Roman Empire will appear with the beast, the Antichrist, he says there, "These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with him are the called and chosen and faithful." This of course is a reference to the battle of Armageddon just prior to the Lord's return.

So let's go back to Daniel's prophecy. We can safely conclude that the 10 horns of verse seven, have not yet appeared in the panorama of world history. But notice what else the Spirit of God reveals to Daniel in verse eight. It says, "'While I was contemplating the horns, behold, another horn, a little one came up among them.'" Again, horn is frequently used in Scripture, as a symbol of power, especially powerful rulers. For example, in Psalm 132, beginning in verse 17, in the context, there's it speaking of Christ, the Lord Jesus establishing his earthly kingdom being installed by God on the throne of David in the city of God. And there we read there, "I will cause the horn of David to spring forth; I have prepared a lamp for Mine anointed. His enemies I will close with shame, but upon himself, his crown will shine." So back to verse eight, we also see a little horn. Now the language here, in the grammar, indicates it starts small, but it gradually gains strength and size. It's like there's an seemingly insignificant ruler that begins to emerge. But by verses 24 and following, he overpowers them. There we read, "As for the 10 horns, out of this kingdom 10 kings will arise, and another will arise after them, and he will be different from the previous ones, and will subdue three kings. He will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law, and they will be given into his hand for a time, times and a half of time. But the court will sit for judgment and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed forever." On subsequent expositions, I'll explain more of that, but I might add that this also refutes the argument that this little horn is a reference to the ruler of the Greek Empire, Antiochus Epiphanes, that we read about in chapter eight. You see, this cannot be Antiochus Epiphanes, emerges from the third empire that was symbolized by the four wing, the leopard of chapter seven, that clearly responds to the four horned goat of chapter eight. And so the little horn mentioned in Daniel seven eight emerges not from that third horn but from the fourth beast, which is Rome. So again, "'While I was contemplating the horns,'" verse eight, "behold, another horn, a little one came up among them, and three of the first horns were pulled out by the roots before it.'" Now later on in verse 20, of Daniel seven, the interpreting angel amplifies this prophecy. There we read "The meaning of the 10 horns that were on its head and the other horn which came up, and before which three of them fell.'" So in other words, someday, we don't have any idea what this is actually going to look like other than one day, the Antichrist is going to, to rise in power and prominence, and he's going to destroy three of the future kings. Verse 24, says "he will subdue three kings." Now we'll go back to verse 20, of Daniel seven. And who is this diabolical ruler to come? Well, namely, that horn, which had eyes and a mouth, uttering great boasts, and which was larger in appearance than its associates. So that's some of the interpretation.

Go back to verse eight of Daniel seven. Again, we read that, "this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth, uttering great boasts." So what do we have here? Well, we have a future revived Roman Empire, out of which another king is going to emerge, described as the beast, of for example, Revelation 17, as we've looked at, but also Revelation 13. So I want you to turn there and see the parallels in Revelation 13, with Daniel seven. Revelation 13, beginning in verse one. "And he," which is a reference to Satan, who's called the dragon in the previous chapter in chapter 12, verse nine and 17, and Satan "stood on the sand of the seashore." Again, this is symbolic of the nations of the world, over which now, Satan is standing as the self appointed ruler. And then we read this, and "I saw a beast." In Greek, "therion," it could be translated a monster, something that is ferocious and a violent creature. "I saw a beast coming up out of the sea," the same imagery. Once again, the metaphor of the sea is used to describe in the Old Testament, that realm of wickedness, the sphere of Satan, the source of satanic sea monsters, if you will. In fact, the ancients considered the sea to be the quote, "reservoir of evil." They likened it to the abyss. In fact, in Revelation 11, seven, and 17, the beast is seen coming up out of the abyss, that prison that incarcerates the most vile demons where Satan will be incarcerated during the final days of the millennial kingdom. So John sees this this monstrous man arising from this wretched penitentiary. The diabolical and desecrating nature of this future demon possessed man can be seen all in the epithets used to describe him in Scripture. For example, Daniel calls him not only the little horn, but the insolent King, the prince who has to come, the one who makes desolate, the despicable person, the strong-willed King. Zechariah calls him the worthless shepherd. Paul called him in Second Thessalonians two and verse three, "the man of lawlessness, the son of destruction." And in verse eight, "the lawless one." And again in where we are in Revelation, he's called the beast. So this man will be a charismatic demagogue, brilliant, persuasive, yet deceptive and deadly and cruel.

And next in Revelation 13, we see the likeness that he has to the one that empowers him, and in verse one, it says, "having 10 horns and seven heads." We have almost the identical description of Satan in chapter 12 and verse three, where we read "the great red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns, and on his heads were seven diadems." As indicated earlier, horns is emblematic of strength and power. And in this symbolism, we see the beast, Antichrist, is going to rule over these 10 nations, these 10 kings. Again, Daniel seven in verse 16, we that we've that we're looking at the number 10 is emblematic of the political and military power of the Antichrist and in Daniel 7:23 we read that he will one day rule the whole world. And he there he is pictured as the fourth beast; there will be a fourth kingdom on the earth. And so this is again a description from Daniel that links the fourth kingdom of Daniel's vision, to the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar saw in Daniel chapter two, the kingdom of Rome with "legs of iron, yet his feet partly of iron and partly of clay." And remember, this will be the one that quote, "a stone will cut out without hands," picturing Christ and it's going to strike it on the feet of clay and crush it, as we read in verses 33 and 34. So the Lord tells us through John's vision that this beast has 10 horns, again, symbolic of a coming revived Roman Empire and seven heads, representative, I believe, of the seven successive world empires that we read about in Revelation 17, which would have been Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and then the final kingdom of the antichrist. These all make up once again, the times of the Gentiles. And notice on his tin horns were 10 diadems; "diadema" in the original language, a crown that marked the regal status of a subordinate king. And this is symbolic of the regal authority associated with these 10 rulers and their empires, all of which will be subordinate to the beast to the Antichrist.

And finally, we see that on his heads were blasphemous names. These names will demonstrate their allegiance to the beast, whom they will deify, rather than God himself. And this was practiced, by the way, in the days of ancient Rome, where emperors used various divine titles and put it on them, and obviously, such an inscription is blasphemous. And in verse two, we read, “And the beast which I saw was like a leopard and his feet were like those of a bear and his mouth like the mouth of a lion." Well, obviously, you can see that the imagery here is rooted in Daniel seven, where Daniel portrayed the four beasts, the lion, the bear, the leopard, and then the fourth beast, which is a composite of the first three described as that dreadful and terrifying and extremely strong beast. By the way, I find it interesting here, that John lists these animals in reverse, because he is looking back into history, whereas Daniel was looking into the future. So these three animals, the leopard and the bear, and the lion symbolizes the ferocious, vicious power of these three successive worlds empires of Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece. But the fourth beast, representing the Roman Empire is emblematic of that future final kingdom of the antichrist that will incorporate all of the cruelty and all of the power of the first three. This empire will be unparalleled in human history.

You know, as we watch our presidential elections, and I've been able to see several of them over the course of my life now, it's amazing how people can completely utterly abandon all logic, all history and all common sense and end up worshipping a man. And it's fascinating that when people are desperate, when they're afraid, when they're unsure about the future, they will turn to man rather than to God. And that's what we will see here. And you know, every dictator in the history of the world has preyed upon people in such a way. They will, if there aren't any fears, they will create fears to somehow subjugate them. Adolf Hitler seized upon a depressed economy and the fears of the German people and he guaranteed quote, "peace with honor, peace for our time," and the people bought it. And the rest is history.

Well, dear friends, the rule of the Antichrist is going to exceed the deceptions and wickedness of Hitler 1000-fold and for good reason. Notice in verse two of Daniel 13, or of Revelation 13, "And the dragon gave him his power and his throne and great authority." You know, it's hard to imagine what this world will be like when the church is removed at the rapture. But think of the utter freefall of morality when the Holy Spirit quote "steps aside" as he will, according to Second Thessalonians two seven, "when he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way," literally steps aside, which we know he will do in the midpoint of the tribulation. This will allow Satan's dictator to come onto the scene to rule without restraint for 42 months, according to Daniel 7:25 and Revelation 13 five.

Well as we close, back to Daniel, chapter seven, verse eight, we read that, "this horn possessed eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth uttering great boasts." You know, he may be alive today, we don't know. But he's coming. You know, there's an old adage that says, nature abhors a vacuum. And indeed, whenever a vacuum is created, it is immediately filled with something, you know, whether it's water or air or some other form of matter. But our country, yea, our world, is experiencing a leadership vacuum, a vacuum of righteous leadership that's essential to our survival. The world needs a leader and, in their minds, they need a political hero. In fact, one prominent Belgian diplomat and astute European strategist by the name of Paul-Henri Spaak, put it this way, quote, "We do not want another committee, we have too many already. What we want is a man of sufficient stature, to hold the allegiance of all people and to lift us out of the economic morass into which we are sinking. Send us such a man, be he God or devil, and we will receive him." Well, dear friend, Satan is going to supply this leader. And he is the beast of Daniel seven. That horn that "will possess eyes like the eyes of a man and a mouth, uttering great boasts." But friends, let me encourage you, make no mistake, God is still in control. All of this is part of his plan. And we know that at the end of the seven-year period of Judgment, the LORD Jesus Christ is going to return and he is going to destroy all of those who oppose him. And he will put an end to the times of the Gentiles. My how I look forward to that day. And in the parallel account, that we read in Daniel two verse 44. We can be encouraged, there we read “'In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands. And then it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king, what will take place in the future; so the dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy.'" Oh, dear Christian, fear not. The Lord is on his throne, our King is coming. And a day is coming when the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

Let's pray together. Father, we thank you so much for these prophecies that not only encourage the hearts of the exiled Jews so many years ago but have encouraged the hearts of the redeemed down through the centuries. To know that you are the sovereign ruler of heaven and earth and that in unassailable power, you accomplish all that you have ordained in eternity past. Lord again, we thank you that we are part of this whole kingdom plan. We are the undeserved recipients of your favor. We are debtors to your grace. So we thank you. We give you praise, and we pray, Lord Jesus, that you will come quickly. And finally, Lord, I pray that if anyone is within the sound of my voice that really knows nothing of what it means to be reconciled to a holy God through faith in Christ, they know nothing of what it means to have the intimate fellowship and joy that's available to those who have been born again, I pray that you will bring conviction to their heart and that today they will confess their sin, and that they will confess that Jesus is indeed Lord, they will ask him to save them by his grace. So we thank you. We give you praise, and we commit these things to you, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

This morning we are in Daniel chapter six. And I've entitled my discourse, "Daniel in the Lion's Den." A story I'm sure you're all very familiar with. I remember those pictures in my Bible story books when I was a little boy. And then the Sunday school classroom, pictures of Daniel. And for some reason, there are always three lions. But I am going to dispute that fact in a little bit, as you will see, but you're familiar with this story, a marvelous example of exemplary faith and of godliness in Daniel, but it's also a vivid illustration of vanity among political leaders, a picture of jealousy among political subordinates, also a picture of just the vicious hatred the ungodly have toward the righteous, something that we experience in our culture. And we will also see some of the common strategies that the enemy uses to defeat us. You will see remarkable similarities between the political machinations and legal maneuverings of the wicked in ancient Medo-Persia, and that empire, with what we see here in the ungodly politicians in the United States and other nations. We will also see how they enact laws that they know godly people will not obey and criminalize those things that God honors, so that we can be destroyed. But more importantly, what we're going to see is the character, and the conduct of godliness and the blessings that God will lavish upon those who are committed to him, and serve him and trust him with all of their heart.

Well, let me give you an overall summary and then we're going to look at the text this morning. What we have here are political colleagues and subordinates of Daniel, who served as one of the three chief officers under Darius, the Mede. And we're going to see how these men grew increasingly jealous of Daniel, who was clearly the favorite of the king. But worse yet, Daniel was a godly man, a righteous man. And ungodly people hate that kind of person. So these guys end up hatching a plot to get rid of Daniel and they appeal to the king's vanity. They tricked him into signing a law that they knew Daniel would not obey. And when that proved to be the case, the king was forced to sentence Daniel to a gruesome death in a lion's den, although he tried many ways to prevent it. And then what we're gonna see, as you know, God delivered Daniel, to the king's delight. And then knowing that he had been tricked, the king sentenced Daniel's accusers to be thrown into the den along with their families. Now, some technical things, if I don't deal with this, I know some of you are going to ask me so let's just settle it right now. Okay. Who was Darius? Or Darius? Sometimes it's pronounced, there's much debate concerning his identity. The "Darius," the title, is really a title rather than a proper name, and it can it means holder of the scepter. Now, some like my former professor in seminary, Dr. John Whitcomb, will argue compellingly that this was Gubaru, a subordinate of Cyrus the Great, who according to chapter nine, verse one was made king over the kingdom of the Chaldeans, "was made king" is in the passive voice. So there's the assumption that Cyrus made Gubaru the king; Cyrus appointed him as governor over Babel and immediately after its fall. In fact, Dr. Whitcomb says quote, "from 535 to 525 BCE, the name Gubaru appears frequently in cuneiform texts as the," quote "governor of Babylon and the region beyond the river," end quote. Exercising almost kingly powers in this vast domain covering all of Babylonia, Syria, Palestine, and the entire Fertile Crescent during the prolonged absence of his administrative superior, Cyrus the Great. And also if you look in into the Nabonidus Chronicle, Gubaru we see, installed sub-governors it says in Babel. So that's one argument. Another side says, quite compellingly, that Darius the Mede is another name of Cyrus the Persian. This is based upon, at least in part, a translation of a verse we're gonna see here in chapter six verse 28, where the Aramaic permits it to read, "Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius even the reign of Cyrus the Persian." So, which is it? I don't have a clue. Nobody does. And you know what, it really doesn't matter. The point is, this was the king during this time.

So like all nations and empires, the great Babylonian Empire has been conquered. And it has disappeared and it has been replaced by the Medo-Persian Empire. Many wonder how much longer the United States will last? Well, we don't know. That is in God's hands. Remember, in Daniel 2:21, we read "He removes kings and establishes kings." And concerning the nations of the world, Paul told the Athenians in Acts 17:26, that God has "determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation." So we can trust God with that, even with our own country. Nebuchadnezzar learned this the hard way. Remember, it caused him to confess in Daniel four 17, that "the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom he wishes and sets over it the lowliest of men." And certainly we're watching the systematic destruction of our country, because of the leadership and the kind of people that put these people in power. But despite the confidence that many people have, over the great power of the United States, both economically and militarily, we must know that eventually this country will wither. And it will die like all great nations and all people have throughout the centuries. And we can be comforted knowing that although godless empires have always tried to thwart the purposes of God in various ways, we know that in the end, what they do has zero effect on the kingdom purposes of God. And we can be comforted in that. In fact, in Isaiah chapter 40, verse 15, we read "Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on the scales. Behold, He lifts up the islands like fine dust," went on to say, "All the nations are as nothing before Him. They are regarded by Him as less than nothing and meaningless."

So again, the Babylonian Empire has been defeated and been destroyed. Medo-Persian Empire has taken over, and Darius the Mede begins now to organize his rule that takes us to the text. Notice verse one. "It seemed good to Darius to appoint 120 satraps," that means kingdom protectors, "to appoint 120 satraps over the kingdom, that they would be in charge of the whole kingdom, and over them three commissioners, (of whom Daniel was one), that the satraps might be accountable to them, and that the king might not suffer loss." Then we read a verse three, "Then this Daniel began distinguishing himself among the commissioners and satraps because he possessed an extraordinary spirit." That means, by the way, something more than he was just a really nice guy. In the original it carries the idea of one who demonstrated exceptional abilities. So much so that, "the king plan to appoint him over the entire kingdom." So Daniel, it says "began distinguishing." The grammar here is a participle indicating continued action. So there's this ongoing and obvious pattern, that in his life that demonstrates his superior wisdom, and abilities. Now, what we're going to see here is what we've all seen throughout the days of our lives. And that is wherever God blesses, Satan curses. Right? And the only thing that Satan despises more than godliness is the public promotion of a godly man in government. And that's what we're going to see here.

But by the way, that's why you see so little godly people in government in positions of power, godliness is quickly canceled in our ungodly culture. And remember, as John says, In First John 5:19, that "the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." And so what the enemy does is he places people in power that are going to promote his agenda. So what we have here is the king is very impressed with Daniel, who, by the way, by this time is somewhere close to 90 years old. Let's just round it and say he's 90 years old. And he makes Daniel now second in command. By the way, I find that to be encouraging as I age, I mean, who says you're washed up when you're 90, right? I mean, look at this guy, It's amazing.

So, Daniel was put into this position, and my what a long road it has been for him. I mean, think he started out as a as a young man who refused to eat the king's food and therefore worship the idols of the Babylonians. And now look where he is. I'm reminded of Second Corinthians 16 Nine, that reads "The eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the world, that He may strongly support those whose heart are completely His." But oh, pity the gifted, godly man who ascends to some coveted position of power and prestige. That kind of promotion will surely unleash the green eyed monster of jealousy among colleagues and political foes, not to mention the rage of the unregenerate world. So notice verse four. "Then the commissioners and satraps began trying to find a ground of accusation against Daniel, in regard to government affairs; but they could find no ground of accusation or evidence of corruption in as much as he was faithful, and no negligence or corruption was to be found in him." My would that we all have such an exemplary life, and testimony. You might want to ask yourself, how would other people describe me? How would they determine for themselves whether or not I am truly a man that is following God? Or am I just a man like most that follows the culture and so forth? Verse five, "Then these men said, 'We will not find any ground of accusation against this Daniel unless we find it against him with regard to the law of his God.'" So in other words, let's find a way to make his devotion to his God illegal, right. Sound familiar? Let's find something he believes in and outlaw that. We see this all the time, don't we? Cultures legalize unrighteousness and criminalize righteousness. They pack the Supreme Court with people that are going to legislate from the bench to push their agenda and so forth. By the way, this is at the heart of the whole woke cult that is growing so rapidly in America. Let's celebrate and let's legislate what God hates and condemn and criminalize those things that he loves. Let's make sure we defend everyone's right to liberty so that they can do whatever they want; without opposition, which by the way, includes killing their unborn baby Let's even celebrate the gross immorality and the deviancy and the insanity of the LGBTQ community and condemn everyone who opposes that. I know, let's also fabricate some demonstrably false claims about white supremacy, and systemic racism and demand social justice. And that way we can foment resentment between ethnic groups, and gender, and ultimately turn people against anyone that disagrees; then we can break down society, and we can remake it the way we want. Which by the way, is way more than equal opportunity is equal outcome, the equal distribution of wealth and political power, and so forth, basically, Marxist socialism. And then, when people don't obey the rules of social justice, which by the way, has nothing to do with the justice of God, when they don't obey that, then they can be treated as criminals. And of course, this dear friends is the legacy of socialism, communism, which can never coexist with biblical Christianity. I hope you understand that. However, it thrives in woke Christianity, which is not Christianity at all.

So these jealous conspirators hatch a plot to criminalize Daniels devotion to Yahweh so that they can get rid of him. And I'm reminded of John 3:19, that some "men love darkness rather than Light." Why? Because their "deeds are evil," and Daniel's life was a shining light of righteousness. Ungodly people hate that. Now, to be sure, these wicked characters knew about Daniel's devotion to Yahweh and his very public prayer life. which reminds me many times I will hear Christians say, especially Christian politicians say, you know, my faith is a private matter. But not if you're a Christian; our faith is not to be a private matter. Ours is a public profession of faith in the living Christ. We're not ashamed of the gospel are we? Christ Himself has commissioned us to make disciples of all the nations. How are you going to do that f you hide in a closet, so to speak. I was thinking of this, this morning, in fact. Matthew 5:16, and you don't have this verse on the on the screen here. But there the Lord said, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven." That's how we need to live. That's how Daniel lived. And we read in Luke 12, beginning in verse eight, Jesus says, "'And I say to you, everyone who confesses Me before men, the Son of Man will confess Him also before the angels of God, but he who denies Me before men, will be denied before the angels of God.'"

So everyone knew who Daniel worshipped, who he proclaimed, his life was a living testimony. And again, I trust that your life is the same. I hope that if I were to ask your friends, what do you think about so and so? Well, I, you know, I'm not real sure. I think they go to church somewhere. I hope they would say, oh, you know, that person is a devoted worshipper of Jesus Christ. So that's what we have with Daniel. And by the way, I find it interesting that in the first year of Darius, his reign, which was around 538 or 537 BC, he issued a decree to allow all of the Jewish exiles to go back to Jerusalem after their 70 years of captivity. And that occurred prior to the scenario that we are reading here. So without a doubt, Daniel would have had much to do with that since he was second in command, right? You can imagine that Daniel's character and his conduct had a profound influence on the king and everybody around him. He was God's man. God empowered him to accomplish his purposes. And I might add that this is his desire for your life as well. Every single one of us, who have truly come to saving faith in Christ are now inhabited by the living God. We have been gifted to put his glory on display, we're all part of this magnificent spiritual organism, the body of Christ. Why? So that our life will redound to His glory. So that's what we have here with Daniel.

Go to verse six. "Then these commissioners and satraps came by agreement to the king." Obviously, they've been collaborating together, they've been scheming, "and spoke to him as follows: 'King Darius, live forever! All the commissioners of the kingdom,'" which by the way, was probably a bit of an exaggeration, but it sounds good. "'All the commissioners of the kingdom, the prefects and the satraps the high officials and the governors have consulted together that the king should establish a statute and enforce an injunction that anyone who makes a petition to any god or man besides you, O king, for 30 days, shall be cast into the lion's den.'" Which of course, was one of the most cruel and terrifying forms of punishment, a powerful deterrent against anyone who would dare rebel against the king. Now, we must understand that throughout history, ancient monarchs were looked upon as a manifestation of deity. So such a tribute to his glory would not have been considered foreign to them. This was fairly common. And of course, such flattery certainly appeal to the king's vanity, which is a weakness that we all must guard against. And they probably figured, you know, 30 days is long enough for us to catch him in the act so that we can tell on him to the king. Verse eight, Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document so that it may not be changed according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which may not be revoked.'" So, in other words, we just love you so much king, we just worship you, are just the greatest. By the way, there's a whole lot more that would have been said than what we have here in the text, but can't you imagine, you're just the greatest, and they're just laying it on here, you know? Okay. So this is what they're asking him to do.

Now, this idea of "laws of Medes and Persians that can't be revoked," you see, this was very different than when Nebuchadnezzar ruled Babylon. You see, with Nebuchadnezzar, his every desire was law. And if he changed his mind, that was the new law, but it didn't work that way with the Medes and the Persians. Whatever the king said, was bound by the unchangeable nature of his decrees. In fact we get a sample of this and Esther chapter one and verse 19, where we read how the laws of the Medes and the Persians "cannot be repealed." And in chapter eight and verse eight, "a decree which is written in the name of the king and sealed with the king signet ring, may not be revoked." But you also must understand it was thought that for a king to decree something, and then later on change his mind, indicated that he made a mistake. Oh, well, we can't have that. Because the king is infallible, he's like a god. And to admit that he made a mistake would undermine his credibility and his authority. I have to laugh how often do you hear a president say, you know, folks, I am really sorry, I blew it, man, was that a mistake, please forgive me. You know, you're never gonna hear that. Instead, they're gonna double down on some some stupid decision and brag about how great it was and and how successful they are. And then if there's any problem with it, they're gonna blame it on somebody else and, and then quickly shift the public's attention along with a complicit media so that they're not looking at it anymore. And then they just move on. We've seen that, I've seen this my whole life. So have you. This has always been and will always be the modus operandi of arrogant, corruptive and deceptive little buffoons that are often put in authority over us.

So in a moment of weakness, the king lets his ego get the best of him. Verse nine, "Therefore, King Darius signed the document, that is, the injunction." Now, the trap has been set. Verse ten, "Now when Daniel knew that the document was signed, he entered his house (now in his roof chamber, he had windows open towards Jerusalem);" and he closed the window so no one could see him pray. Oh, no, that's not what it says, does it? No. "And he continued kneeling on his knees three times a day, praying and giving thanks before his God, as he had been doing previously." Man, what a testimony, I just love, I can't wait to meet Daniel someday, I can't wait to meet him. I mean, here's a guy that feared God, not man. He obeyed God, not man. He trusted in God to do whatever God deemed best with his life. Oh, dear friends, would we be the same way? Then Daniel didn't change his habit of worshipping the one true God simply because some, frankly, puny, little, depraved creature that God has made and put in authority said that I want you to disobey your God. No, I'm not going to do that. By the way, remember this the next time a group of politicians enact some law that requires you to bow the knee to Baal. Folks, when that happens, when they ask us to disobey God, we need to blow them off like a telemarketer at dinnertime. See them as little Lilliputians from Lilliput. You guys remember that? Okay, Jonathan Swift, the great novel Gulliver's Travels.

So, Daniel, hears the threat, all right? And he knows what these characters are up to. He knows their character, he knows what's going on. And he, I'm sure, he also knows their somewhere out there in the shadow, they're watching right now. But he shows no fear. He's going to continue to pray, as he always has. He's not going to embrace the world. He is not going to capitulate to the culture, his life is going to confront it. I might add a few minutes ago, we read from Psalm 55. You remember when David's heart was in anguish, and he was afraid, and the tears of death fell upon him because of his enemies? What did he say? He said this "As for me, I shall call upon God, and the Lord will save me evening and morning and at noon," three times a day. "I will complain and murmur, and he will hear my voice. He will redeem my soul in peace from the battle which is against me, for they are many who strive with me." Well, this was Daniel's pattern, as well. Three times a day in good times as well as now in bad times. And I trust that you all have a habit of prayer; doesn't necessarily have to be three times a day. But hopefully you will pray without ceasing, as the Scripture says. You will pray at all times, that there's a sense in which you're in constant communion with your God...(audio is not translatable).....

In other words, they came, they came purposely to witness the rebellion. That's the idea here, "and found Daniel making petition and supplication before his God." Gotcha. "Then they approach," verse 12, "and spoke before the king about the king's injunction, 'Did you not sign an injunction that any man who makes a petition to any god or man besides you, O king, for thirty days, is to be cast into the lion's den?' The king replied, 'The statement is true, according to the law of the Medes and Persians.'" Now, let me pause here. It doesn't say this... (audio is not translatable)....but it began to weep a little bit. Oh, dear friend, our colleague pays no attention to you. Can't you hear it? Oh, King he keeps making his petition three times a day. We can't believe it, it's Daniel.

Verse 14, "Then, as soon as the king heard the statement, he was deeply distressed and set his mind on delivering Daniel; and even until sunset he kept exerting himself to rescue him. You see what was going on here, is the king suddenly realized that he had been hoodwinked by these jealous colleagues of Daniel. Now it has sprung; he could see how his pride had gotten the best of him. And he's probably gathered all of his counsel, his legal counsel around said, guys, okay, we got to do something here. What can we do? Can we find a loophole in the law, somehow, some way to deliver this great man? Well, so we see that he keeps exerting himself to rescue him in verse 14. And then these devious plotters come again to press the matter in verse 15, "Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, 'Recognize, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or statute, which the king established may be changed.'" And again, I'm sure they put on a real show, feigning sorrow. Verse 16, "'Then the king gave orders, and Daniel was brought in and cast into the lion's den." in the aramaic (audio is not translatable)....

Archeologists have discovered a number of these pits in various places. And Carl F. Kyle, the famous 19th century Old Testament scholar, describes one he says, quote, "It consisted of a large square cavern under the earth, having a partition wall in the middle of it, which is furnished with a door which the keeper can open and close from above. By throwing in the food, he entices the lions from one chamber into the other, and then having shut the door, they enter the vacant space for the purpose of cleaning it. The Cavern is open above; its mouth being surrounded by a wall of a yard and a half high, over which one can look into the den." So it would have been something like this. Go back to verse 16, Daniel was brought in, cast into the lion's den, and then we read that, "The King spoke and said to Daniel, 'Your God, whom you constantly serve, will Himself deliver you.'" The language here, in the whole context, suggests that he probably said this, as Daniel was entering the den. They typically had a side, as well as a top opening with metal grates allowing on the side for people to view the horror. And also, for ventilation, Daniel probably went in through the side opening. But my what a testimony right? For the king to say, "Your God, whom you constantly serve." I love that. Folks, I don't care how much people hate you for the cause of Christ, that must be our testimony, that this is the God that we constantly serve. And he says, "He will deliver you." This is what he's hoping.

So verse 17, "A stone was brought and laid over the mouth of the den; and the king sealed it with his own signet ring, and with the signet rings of his nobles, so that nothing would be changed in regard to Daniel." So this stone would have been the type of thing like even on Jesus tomb or round stone that would have been rolled, to kind of help with the gate with all that's on the side of the den. And it is sealed with the king's signet ring as well as the rest of the nobles. Now, I said that I doubt if there were three lions let me chase that rabbit for a moment. Because I've always thought about things like this as a little boy, I was wondering how many lions were in there, they say three, but it doesn't say that in the Bible. I don't know. I've always been curious about things like that. But you know, given the large number of people that were later thrown into the den, we could safely safely estimate that it was a whole lot more than three. Probably a couple of dozen or more. I mean later in verse 24, we read that Daniels quote, "malicious accusers, their children and wives were all thrown into the den, and they had not reached the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones." Now, even if the only men accused consisted of a dozen or so of the ringleaders out of the 120 along with their families, just the group that would have lived in Babylon, it would suggest that there had to have been more than three lions so to speak. It would suggest that as well, that these lions and we know from other historical records, that many times they would be practically starved in order to be ready for the people to be thrown into the pit. Now I have seen lions in the wild in Africa. They are fearsome beasts, they can be between three and 500 pounds. A lion can consume 20 to 30 pounds of meat in a single day. And 20 children. And let's say that each of them offer about 20 pounds of meat. That's 800 pounds. If one lion were to eat 20 pounds, that's 40 lions. So I don't know how many were there. But let me just say, this is a horrifying thing. There had to have been a number of lions in there. You know, that's the type of odds that God likes, right?

So Daniel enters the den and the gate is sealed, verse 18, "Then the king went off to his palace and spent the night fasting, and no entertainment was brought before him; and his sleep fled from him." He is greatly distressed over all of this, he has no appetite. He wants no diversion (audio is not translatable).....

",,,,and went in haste to see the lion's den. When he had come near the den to Daniel, he cried out with a troubled voice. The king spoke and said to Daniel, "Daniel, servant of the living God,'" I have to have to smile their "servant of the living God;" I'm sure in the back of his mind...(audio is not translatable)... "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God, whom you constantly serve, been able to deliver you from the lions?' Then Daniel spoke to the king, 'O king, live forever!'" I'm not sure I would have said that in my flesh. If I did, I'd probably be thinking, wait till I get my hands on you. "'Oh, king, live forever! My God sent His angel and shut the lion's mouths and they have not harmed me, inasmuch as I was found innocent before Him; and also toward you. O king, I have committed no crime.'" Don't you wonder what his colleagues that put him in this situation, what they were thinking when they, I don't know, if they were there to see this? They certainly heard about it later. Can't you imagine what would have gone through their mind? I mean, this adds new meaning to the deer in the headlight look, you know? I mean, they knew they were dead meat. I guess there is a pun there. And I also have to think, my, these guardian angels, so to speak. Obviously, this angel was visible to Daniel. Text doesn't say this, but don't you know that as he goes in there, and the lions then are released into his chamber from the little sliding door that they have, don't you know that somehow the angel appeared to him doesn't say what he looked like. But I could just imagine the angel saying, "Daniel, come here, don't worry, puts his arm around him. You'll be alright. God's at work here." And then lions come in and just kind of lay down or something. We don't know. But my goodness. When God delivers, he delivers gloriously.

Now, did Daniel see the pre-icarnate Christ? Was that who this was? The text doesn't say, might have been. That might have been who was with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, we don't know. But Scripture does have much to say about angels. Psalm 34 seven, "The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him and rescues them." Psalm 91 verse 11, "He will give His angels charge concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will bear you up in their hands that you do not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread upon the lion and cobra, the young lion and the serpent you will trample down." (audio is not translatable).... those who will inherit salvation. I've often thought over the course of my life, my goodness, I have absolutely given the angels a run for their money in protecting me, and you could say the same thing. Who knows?

Now back to the king. I can't imagine what would have gone through his mind. Daniel's not hurt. He's innocent. He had to have known that what he was witnessing was a miracle. And he had to have known that that miracle was caused by the true living God that Daniel worshipped, Yahweh. And he had to have also known that he had been tricked into doing this whole thing. And so I would imagine he was a bit steamed, verse 23, "Then the king was very pleased and gave orders for Daniel to be taken up out of the den. So Daniel was taken up out of the den and no injury whatever was found on him, because he had trusted in his God." So again, he probably went in through the side entrance, they had opened the door, all of the lions had come in. Now, Daniel is standing there, and the lions are still in that area, he can't go out the way he came in, because all of that has been sealed. And the lions are there, so what do they do, they probably drop a rope or something down and they they pull him up out of the top. Now, I want to pause here for a moment, dear friends. Please understand, that though we can trust in the Lord our God with all of our heart, that doesn't mean that he's always going to deliver us the way we want. Sometimes he allows the lions to devour us. Sometimes the flames consume us. Sometimes the cancer is not healed, right? Think of all of the martyrs who testify to these truths. But what we can be assured of is that his grace will always be sufficient, regardless of what we endure, he will always be there and if we die, we will pass immediately through the veil of death into glory, and receive..(audio is not translatable). And Daniel understood this, he trusted God come what may. And here we see God miraculously delivering his servant from Satan's attempt to destroy...(audio is not translatable) God judges the wicked, even at times on Earth, which is nothing compared to eternity.

Verse 24, "Then the king gave orders, and they brought those men who had maliciously accused Daniel, and they cast them, their children and their wives into the lions' den, and they had not reached the bottom of the den before the lions overpowered them and crushed all their bones." So they were dropped down from the top since the lions would have already been in that section. Obviously, the angels restraint had been lifted. And these terrifying beasts were now being used to judge the wicked. I can only imagine in my mind the terror in the hearts of those people, those men and their wives and their children. I have heard lions up close. I've heard them roar, and it is deafening. It is terrifying. Imagine being lined up and hearing all that's going on, until it was your turn. But oh dear friends, the judgment of God and hell is so exceedingly worse than that, we can't even begin to imagine it. Which makes us rejoice all the more in the grace of God through the gospel.

By the way, this was a common practice to kill the whole family and the children among Persian monarchs. In fact, the ancient Roman historian and soldier, Ammianus Marcellinus states, quote, "the laws among them," referring to the Persians, "are formidable, by which on account of the guilt of one, all the kindred perish."

So verse 25, "Then Darius the king wrote to all the peoples, nations and men of every language who were living in all the land: 'May your peace abound!'" And then I might add that in verses 26, through 27, it is really written in the original language in the form of a hymn, and Daniel probably helped him write this. But notice what it says, "'I make a decree that in all the dominion of my kingdom, men are to fear and tremble before the God of Daniel; for He is the Living God and enduring forever and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed and His dominion will be forever. He delivers and rescues and performs signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has also delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.' So, this Daniel enjoyed success in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian." Again, it could read, "even in the reign of Cyrus the Persian."

Oh dear friends what a magnificent demonstration of the faithfulness of God and the power of God. And oh dear Christian, we need to celebrate this, don't we? This is the God that we serve. This is the God that we love. And I know many of you are struggling in difficult circumstances today. Life can be very, very hard. But I'm reminded of Second Corinthians 1:5, "Though the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance," it says, we know that we can find relief knowing that Satan's rule is just temporary. All of the stuff that we endure is temporary, the Lord is coming. And there is going to be complete deliverance far beyond what Daniel experienced in the lion's den. And I would add that the tragedies and the atrocities of life should animate our hatred towards Satan, and toward sin. It should never stir up anger towards God and the inevitable sorrows of life. In the sin cursed world are really opportunities for us to long all the more for glory, when according to Revelation 21 four, "He will wipe away every tear from our eyes, there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying or pain, the first things have passed away." But until that glorious day, we must remember that God has never abandoned us in our sufferings, for indeed, in his permissive providence, he has ordained to allow them to accomplish his glorious purposes in us, and through us. And through life's storms, we can trust God, and we can experience the joy of who he is. That's the amazing thing about all of it. And we can remember that his goodness, and justice remains untarnished in everything that he does. We can never accuse God of being unjust or being unfair. In fact, Moses said in Deuteronomy 32, four, "The Rock! His work is perfect, for all His ways are just; a God of faithfulness and without injustice, righteous and upright is He. And it's for this reason that Peter encouraged the persecuted saints, in first Peter five, beginning of verse seven, he says, "Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time, Casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you." Folks, even in the hopelessness and helplessness of excruciating sorrow, and gratuitous evil, we can rest assured in his promises that He will never leave us nor forsake us. Moreover, as in the case of Daniel, whenever we look closely, at whatever trial we find ourselves in, we can always see his tender mercies, we can always see His goodness, we can always look and see his power being put on display. And then in the midst of the pain, as we see those things, we find comfort, do we not? We find comfort, we experience just the soul satisfying joy of his presence, consistent with those promises. Again, he will never leave us nor forsake us His grace will always be sufficient, as we read and Second Corinthians 12 nine and his throne is always accessible. Hebrews 4:16 "Therefore, let us what let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Oh, dear friends, truly as we read in Lamentations 3:22 "The Lord's loving kindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness." And in light of these great truths, we can affirm what James said in James one beginning in verse two, "Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing." Oh, we have so much to be thankful for do we not? Let's pray together.

Father, thank ou for this magnificent story that teaches us so much about your character, your love, your faithfulness, your power, your sovereign rule over all things. And we thank you that through the life of Daniel, we can see how you long to lavish your blessings upon those who are devoted to you truly, without compromise, Father, may we be that kind of people. And Lord, for those that know nothing of what it is to be united to you through faith in Christ, who know nothing of what it is to truly love the Lord with all their heart, to have an appetite for your word and, and long to spend time with you and enjoy the intimacy of fellowship that belongs to the redeemed Lord, for those that know nothing of that, once you bring conviction to their heart today, overwhelm them with the horror of their sin caused them to see the sword of your wrath dangling over them. But by the same token, help them to see their for the grace that is there as the forgiveness that is theirs. For all who will cry out to you and repentant faith. Thank you, Lord, that you save sinners. Thank you that you have saved us. Bless us encourage our hearts through what we've heard today. In Jesus name, Amen.

Will you take your Bibles and turn to Daniel chapter five as we continue to look into this amazing Old Testament book. I have been titled my discourse to you this morning, "Godless Defiance and Divine Judgment." And you will understand more of what that means as we look at this text to this morning. Living in a morally bankrupt society that could be likened to Sodom and Gomorrah and having to endure many of the political issues that are so anti-Christian can be both depressing as well as infuriating. I understand that, you understand that. However, despite the righteous indignation that believers might have, towards those who mock Christ, and those who hate all who belong to Him, we should all shudder when we consider what awaits them if they choose not to repent and place their faith in Christ. I want to remind you of this before we look at this text. Dear friends a day is coming, according to scripture, when unbelievers will stand in abject horror, before the Lord Jesus Christ seated upon his great white throne of judgment, they will stand before the divine bar of justice. A time is coming when they will appear as condemned prisoners in the indescribable emptiness between the end of the present universe in the creation of the new heaven and the new earth. A time is coming when they will look upon the one whom they have ignored and ridiculed and defied and rejected all their life. It will be a time, according to Scripture, when the unrighteous dead will hover in the unspeakable void of empty space and look upon the righteous, omniscient, omnipotent, sovereign creator of the universe, and there, they will appear with new resurrected bodies, suited for the eternal torments of hell. This is what Jesus referred to in John 5:29 as the "resurrection of condemnation." There they will be judged for their works, for every thought, for every word, for every action, everything will be measured against the righteousness of God. And they will be found wanting. And were it not for the righteousness of Christ, we would be with them, were it not for his grace, we would stand with them. Revelation Chapter 20. We're given a glimpse of the scene. There we read beginning in verse 11. "Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

Whenever I think about God's judgment upon the wicked, two things immediately well up within me. One is how thankful I am for his saving grace in my life. But secondly, just an overwhelming sense of burden for those that don't know Christ. We all need to bear this in mind as we endure some of the wickedness that's all around us, as we endure people that hate us. Yes, today, they have the power, so to speak. They live in Satan's world; he is the god of this world; God has allowed that temporarily. But as the old preacher said," There's payday someday. There is payday someday." The apostle Paul addresses this in Second Thessalonians, one beginning in verse six. He says, "For after all, it is only just for God to repay with affliction, those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted, and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God, and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, for our testimony to you was believed." The inspired apostle went on to describe the nature of his prayer for all of the persecuted saints. And this is what we need to hear. He says, "To this end, also, we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness in the work of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you and him, according to the grace of our God, and the Lord Jesus Christ." This, beloved, must be the decisive commitment of your heart, even in the midst of righteous indignation that you might have towards ungodly oppressors. And what we see today, in the text before us, is a prime example of God's judgment on those who defy him, what I would call godless defiance. And we see this all of the time, all you have to do is turn on the television. Listen to the news, you see it all the time. And as we examine this historical narrative this morning, we glean some very clear patterns that emerge from the text. Patterns regarding human depravity and how it is often manifested and how it progresses. So as we come to Daniel five, let me take you back to the context. This is ancient Babylon. And this is the story of Belshazzar, the ungodly grandson of Nebuchadnezzar that is now dead. Daniel was an old man, the prophet Daniel was an old man by now, about 81 years old. Now Belshazzar was a co-regent with his father Nabonidus, who was an absent king, who basically abandoned the capital city of Babylon for many years at a time. In fact, he maintained a separate royal residence at Tema in Northwest Arabia, which would be southeast of Edom. It's recorded that there was one period of 14 years when he never even visited the capital. The famous Nabonidus chronicle speaks of Belshazzar as quote "the Crown Prince, who was regarded as king," because he was left there in Babylon to control the military from at least 549 to 545 BCE, while his father, Nabonidus was establishing a new military and commercial fortress at Tema. You can also read in a text called a "Persian Verse Account of Nabonidus," the following, quote, "He freed his hand," referring to Nabonidus, freeing the hand of Belshazzar. "He entrusted the kingship to him, then he himself undertook a distant campaign." Also, the Babylonian Chronicles which were written in Babylonian cuneiform discovered in some of the excavations in the 19th century. There we know exactly when this story happened. From that ancient document it happened on the 16th day of the month, Tishri, Nabonidus' 17th year. That translates into Saturday, October 12 539 BC.

In fact, the cuneiform reads, quote, "The army of Cyrus entered Babylon without a battle." You'll understand that more him here in a minute. And the Greek historian and leader there in Greece many years ago during that time, Herodotus, notes that "Babylon failed during a time of festival, and celebration." So that's a little background here. So let's examine the text. And let's do so with a view towards understanding some of the key elements that occurs when people defy who God really is; when they have no fear of God. People that have no fear of God are called fools in the Bible. So let's look at a fool beginning in verse one.

"Belshazzar the king held a great feast for 1000 of his nobles, and he was drinking wine in the presence of the 1000." Now here we see a common characteristic of a defiant fool. That is a passion for drunken debauchery. These people love to party, they love to use alcohol and drugs to create a fool's paradise, so that they can deny the works and the Word of the living God. In fact, if you go to Isaiah five, you will see that this is one of the reasons why God judged ancient Judah. Now, I want you to understand how foolish this is what I just read about Belshazzar, having a great feast of 1000 nobles drinking wine in their presence. You see the context here is as follows: The Persians had already conquered all of the territory surrounding the city of Babylon. They had already defeated Nabonidus in battle, and he had fled for his life. And he left his son, Belshazzar, there in Babylon with the remaining forces to somehow fight the Persians from behind the walls. So now what you have, is this enormously powerful Persian military surrounding the city. Morale was extremely low. We know that the people were fed up with their leadership, you might say Belshazzar's approval ratings had slipped very, very low. If you took a poll of the people in Babylon, they would, the majority would say the Empire is going in the wrong direction. So that's what's going on here. So what should you do as a leader? Throw a party, throw a party, tell the press secretary to spin the situation. You know, let's boost the morale of the people beginning with the leaders. And it's time to exalt the king, fuel his pride, bolster his self-image and his own self-confidence. And like most petty dictators, kings, or even presidents that have ever existed, Belshazzar had an insatiable appetite for self-aggrandizement. So let's gather 1000 of the nobles, let's impress them with my cavalier attitude towards danger. Let's somehow help them understand that we can handle this. Our military is powerful, we can defeat this enemy. And moreover, as you're going to see, let's bring everybody together so that I can publicly defy the God of ancient Judah.

By the way, these large banquets were not at all uncommon. History records that Persian monarchs would feed as many as 15,000 guests at daily feasts. Imagine that. And we know that there were 10,000 guests at the marriage feast of Alexander the Great. So this is how they functioned in those days. But you need to also understand that this was an opportunity for Belshazzar to reaffirm their commitment and their faith in their Babylonian gods that they believed had protected them in the past. So bring on the food and the drink. And the women. Verse two says that he ordered his wives and his concubines to join them. You see, this was for the purpose of providing sexual pleasure. Inevitably these events would end up in a drunken orgy. So the spin machine now is set into full motion. It's time to enjoy some carefree hilarity. It's time for drunken debauchery. And we all know how quickly alcohol consumption can cloud a man's judgment, temporarily drown out your sorrows. Proverbs 20 verse one says "Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler, and whoever is intoxicated, intoxicated by it is not wise." So godless defiance will often manifest itself in a passion for drunken debauchery.

But there's a second characteristic that we see emerging from the text and that is a fearless disregard for God's judgment. I want you to see how this plays out beginning in verse two, "When Belshazzar tasted the wine," by the way, in the original the idea here is, is not only sensing its flavor, but also feeling its intoxicating effects beginning to take over. So, "when Belshazzar tasted the wine, he gave orders to bring the gold and silver vessels which Nebuchadnezzar his father had taken out of the temple which was in Jerusalem, so that the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines might drink from them." By the way, when it says "Nebuchadnezzar, his father," that term is also used to describe a grandfather, which Nebuchadnezzar was. So this was an act of, of unbridled pride, of defeat, of defiance, deliberate blasphemy, to somehow say, I am not intimidated with Yahweh, who I know judged my grandfather. But you know, at least his grandfather kept the sacred vessels according to chapter one and verse two, "in the treasure house of his God." No Babylonian king had ever done such a thing, taking the sacred vessels that they had taken from the temple in Jerusalem. And again, he's wanting to demonstrate his fearless disregard for the Judean God that had humbled his grandfather through his judgment. That's why later on in verse 23, Daniel is going to say to him, "but you Belshazzar, have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven; they have brought the vessels of His house before you and you and your nobles, your wives, and your concubines have been drinking wine from them, and you have praised the gods of silver and gold of bronze iron, wood and stone, which do not see here or understand. But the God in whose hand are your life-breath and all your ways you have not glorified." I'm reminded of Proverbs nine and verse 10, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." But fools have no fear of the Lord, the God of the Bible. In fact, in Psalm 14 one we read that, "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no God.' They are corrupt, they have done abominable things." Proverbs 26 and verse 10, "The great God who formed everything gives the fool his hire and the transgressor his wages." And that dear friends is about to happen. As the story unfolds, notice verse three. "Then they brought the gold vessels that had been taken out of the temple, the house of God, which was in Jerusalem; and the king and his nobles, his wives and his concubines drank from them. They drank the wine and praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone."

By the way, history records that the way they did their praise was through singing. So they are singing with instruments to their false gods. I'm reminded of Romans chapter one, beginning in verse 22, where the apostle Paul says, "Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and of four-footed and animals and crawling creatures. Therefore, God gave them over and the lusts of their hearts to impurity." Then he goes on, he gives them over as well to "degrading passions," that of homosexuality, and then finally to "a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper." And sadly, the things that he goes on to describe are basically those things that many of our politicians exalt and celebrate and force upon us. It says, they're "being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."

So now Belshazzar, who wants to tell everybody that he is not intimidated with the God of Judea, the one that had proved himself so powerful in the past with his grandfather, this king now, is about to be humbled. So imagine the scene. Try to go there in your imagination. The king is all liquored up along with the nobles, they're laughing it up. They're having a big party having a gay old time drinking and singing. I mean, folks, this is spring break in Babylon, you get the picture. It's spring break in Babylon. And imagine the beautiful golden and silver vessels falling to the floor in the midst of drunken revelry. An orgy of Satan loves to mock the one true God. Notice what happens next. "Suddenly, the fingers of a man's hand emerged." As I studied the original language here, it's really fascinating. When it says emerge, it's the idea of coming out. And so this hand is coming out of the wall, in what we would call a three dimensional materialization. So it looks like a huge hand coming out of the wall. And this hand "began writing opposite the lampstand on the plaster of the wall of the king's palace." So this was the perfect place for it to be illumined where everybody could see. And we read "and the king saw the back of the hand that did the writing." Boy, imagine the scene. How quickly all of that gaiety turned to sobriety, to terror. I'm sure at that point, you could have heard a pin drop. These people that had suppressed the truth in unrighteousness we're now experiencing the reality of the living God doing something to pry the lid off of their foolish denial. I'm sure no one in that room doubted his power at that moment, even though they weren't sure what was going on. But surely, these people were very familiar with the Judean Yawei the history of what he had done over the years, even from Egypt on, was astounding and terrifying. And now with the Medo-Persian siege warfare machine surrounding the city, they undoubtedly knew that whatever was said on that wall was a harbinger of something very bad. Something horrible, was about to happen.

Now, it's interesting that the German archaeologist, Koldewey, when he excavated Babylon, he says that the largest room he found in the palace complex was 55 feet wide by 169 feet long, and they had plastered walls. He also describes a niche in one of the long walls opposite the entrance, where it is suggested that the king would have been seated during times of feasting, so you get the scene. Notice verse six, "Then the king's face grew pale, and his thoughts alarmed him and his hip joints went slack and his knees began knocking together." This is symptomatic of sheer terror. When it says that his hip joints, which could be translated the joints of his loins when they went slack, it's an indication that there was a real possibility that he suddenly lost bladder and bowel control. Which is a common physiological reaction under circumstances of acute stress and extreme fear also, the term "loins" in Scripture is often used to describe the seat of our body of our strength. And so all of his bottomly strength suddenly vanished. Pride comes before destruction dear friends, mark it. And that's what we see happening here. And I find it most telling to see what he did next. One would think that suddenly he would know what's going on. Because he knew his own heart, he knows what he was trying to do. You would think that suddenly he would cry out to the Judean God, Yahweh, for mercy, for forgiveness for trying to desecrate his sacred vessel. You would think that he would suddenly humble himself and plead for undeserved mercy, that he would repent. But no, that's not what he did.

Notice in verse seven, "The king called allowed to bring in the conjurers, the Chaldeans and the diviners." Dear friends, not only do defiant fools, have a passion for defiant, debauchery, and a fearless disregard for God's judgment. But thirdly, and this is what we see here, they seek the wisdom of man rather than God in their hour of need. They seek the wisdom of man rather than God in the hour, their hour of need. I mean, I think, even with our own country, a country that is so incredibly divided, a country that is struggling with disease, a country that is weakened. Wouldn't it be wonderful to see our leaders humble themselves before the living God? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Wouldn't it be wonderful to have our president give an executive order to bring in all of the godly pastors that they could find, to seek counsel from them, and then to call for a day of public repentance? For the way they have mocked the living God for so long here in this country? Wouldn't it be amazing to declare not just a day of prayer, but a month of prayer to seek forgiveness and mercy? And then to commit together to resending all of the laws that make a mockery of who God is? Laws that have enacted and legislated things that God abhors. But no, they will not do that, they will seek the counsel of other depraved men who have no answers.

Worse yet, as we come back to Belshazzar, he's going to buy their loyalty and bribe them to tell them what he wants them. To tell them he wants to hear something. So notice what he does. In verse seven, "The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, 'Any man who can read this inscription and explain its interpretation to me shall be clothed with purple and have a necklace of gold around his neck and have authority as third ruler in the kingdom.' Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the inscription, or make known its interpretation to the king. Then King Belshazzar was greatly alarmed, his grace grew even paler, and his nobles were perplexed." According to one scholar, Hitzig, the grammar here in the original language indicates that the phrase "were perplexed" in this form, quote, "not only comprehends the idea of alarm, but also that of confusion and excited movement." Get the scene of a cage filled with rats, surrounded by cats. And you'll see the frenzy that's going on in this room. People pacing about wondering what is happening.

And then notice verse 10, "The queen entered the banquet hall because of the words of the kings and nobles." Now someone goes and tells the queen what's happening. Now who is this queen? Well, some evidence suggests that this was the queen mother, Belshazzar, his own mother, Nitocris, the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar and the wife of Nabonidus. Others would argue, and this is compelling as well, that this might have been the aged widow of Nebuchadnezzar Amytis, for whom he had built the Hanging Gardens, because she was so homesick for the hills of her beloved Media. But whoever it was, it's obvious that this woman was well acquainted with Daniel well acquainted with Yaweh. So much so that she may have been a genuine convert. So she's careful to describe Daniel here, by the way, and in ways that Nebuchadnezzar described him in chapter four, verses eight, verses nine and verses 18. This is what she says, "Then the queen spoke, 'O king, live forever! Do not let your thoughts alarm you or your face be pale. There is a man in your kingdom, in whom is a spirit of the holy gods.'"

Let me pause here. You will remember when we studied chapter four, this phrase "holy gods" came up, and it can be translated, and I think better translated, "the Holy God," because the plural gods can refer to a single deity in both Aramaic as well as in Hebrew. "'There is a man in your kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy God and in the days of your father,'" referring to his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, "'illumination, insight and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods were given in him. And King Nebuchadnezzar, your father the king, appointed him chief of the magician's, conjurers, Chaldeans and diviners. This was because an extraordinary spirit, knowledge and insight, interpretation of dreams, explanation of enigmas and solving of difficult problems were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar. Let Daniel now be summoned and he will declare the interpretation.'" Isn't it interesting? She did a real "no, no" here in the king's court. She used Daniel's Hebrew name. Moreover, her intimate knowledge of Daniel, as well as his God, and her willingness to speak so boldly to the king, are indications again, that she not only knew Daniel well, but may have been a convert to the Judean God, our God, the One True God.

Verse 13, "Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king spoke and said to Daniel, 'Are you that Daniel, who is one of the exiles from Judah, who my father, the king, brought from Judah? Now I have heard about you that a spirit of the gods is in you, and that illumination, insight and extraordinary wisdom have been found in you. Just now the wise men and the conjurers were brought in before me that they might read this inscription and make its interpretation known to me, but they could not declare the interpretation of the message.'" Now, mind you, what is inscribed on the wall is still there. Verse 16, "'But I personally have heard about you, that you are able to give interpretations and solve difficult problems. Now if you are able to read the inscription and make its interpretation known to me, you will be clothed with purple and wear a necklace of gold around your neck, and you will have authority as the third ruler in the kingdom.' Then Daniel answered and said before the king, 'Keep your gifts for yourself, or give your rewards to someone else; however, I will read the inscription to the king and make the interpretation known to him. Oh king, The Most High God, granted sovereignty, grandeur, glory and majesty to Nebuchadnezzar your father. Because of the grandeur which He bestowed on him, all the peoples, nations and men of every language feared and trembled before him; whomever he wished he killed and whomever he wished he spared alive, and whomever he wished he elevated and whomever he wished he humbled. But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit became so proud that he behaved arrogantly, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken away from him. He was also driven away from mankind and his heart was made like that of beasts, and his dwelling place was with the wild donkeys. He was given grass to eat like cattle and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he recognized that the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind, and that He sets over it whomever He wishes. Yet you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this, but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before you and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold and bronze iron, wood and stone which do not see hear or understand. But the God and whose hand are your life- breath and all your ways, you have not glorified. Then the hand was sent from Him, and this inscription was written out. Now, this is the inscription that was written out: 'MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN,' This is the interpretation of the message: Mene-- God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. TEKEL-- you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient. PERES-- your kingdom has been divided.'" In other words, it's about to be broken and given over to the Medes and Persians. Fascinating.

So, knowing Daniel served the Most High God, that he was deliberately trying to dishonor, that he was deliberately defying, and fearing that what Daniel said, just might be right, we read in verse 29, "Belshazzar gave orders and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a necklace of gold around his neck and issued a proclamation concerning him that he now had authority as the third ruler in the kingdom." How sad. There's not a hint of repentance. There is not a hint of a contrite heart pleading for undeserved mercy. Therefore, there's no saving grace. Friends, if you ever believe that it's somehow man, rather than God, that initiates salvation, You simply don't understand Scripture. God must do that. And for whatever reason here God has not done that.

Verse 30, that same night Belshazzar the Chaldean King was slain. So Darius the Mede received the kingdom at about the age of 62." Oh, how quickly and how violently God can humble the proud, the high and the mighty. What happened that night? Well, the Athenian born military leader, philosopher and historian Xenophon said that" Cyrus diverted the river Euphrates" so that quote, "the bed of the river, where it traverses the city became passable for men." And he also recorded that this happened while the Babylonians were feasting in a time of drunken revelry. He also stated that Gabrius was the commander under Cyrus led the men into the palace where they found the king, quote, "already risen with a dagger in his hand," and then we read that they overpowered him, along with his attendants and killed them. The Nabonidus chronicle says that Cyrus commander, Gabrius has entered, quote, "Babylon without a battle." How tragic. The great Babylonian Empire, how quickly it deteriorated because of incompetent, corrupt and morally bankrupt leadership. It reminds me of our country today, and all that we see happening in it. The rise and fall of empires, dear friends, is always superintended by a sovereign God, who orchestrates all of the events of history, to accomplish his purposes, to ultimately bring glory to himself. The magnificent Babylonian Empire, you will recall was depicted as the golden head of the image in Nebuchadnezzar's dream recorded in Daniel two. You remember that? It would be vanquished by another power depicted by the chest and arms of silver. And of course, that's what we're seeing here. The Medo-Persians came in and defeated them.

And according to that image, according to the prophecy, the Greeks and then the Romans would follow suit, consistent with that prophetic outline of the rise and the fall of four great empires, world empires, that will finally be replaced by a fifth Empire, the kingdom of heaven. Oh, dear Christian, please know, great empires will continue to rise, they will continue to rebel and they will continue to fall including the last Gentile empire of the Antichrist. And it will one day be defeated by the one that we worship here today, the King of kings and the Lord of lords, Jesus Christ. Who will return in power and great glory and establish His kingdom that will never end.

Daniel will go on to say in chapter seven beginning in verse 13, "I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a Son of Man was coming. And He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed."

Well, dear friends, I trust that you will examine your own heart and your own life, in light of this. Certainly if you're one here today, or within the sound of my voice, that defies the Living God, ignores him, just lives for yourself, then you will probably fit somehow into some of the things that we have seen in Belshazzar. You will at least have a penchant for defiant debauchery, love to party, so that you can ignore and deny the reality of your sin and your need for a Savior. You will also be one that has a fearless disregard of God's judgment because you have no fear of God, and therefore you are a fool. And you will seek the wisdom of man rather than the wisdom of God and you will do that even in your hour of need. And if this describes you, you must know that like Belshazzar, you have been weighed in the balance and you have been found wanting. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and our only hope is in Christ. But oh, dear friends, those of you who know and love Christ, those of us who are debtors to his grace, knowing the judgment that is coming upon the unregenerate, knowing according to Second Peter 3:10, the "day of the Lord will come like a thief...the heavens will disappear with a roar,,,the elements will be destroyed by fire and the earth and everything done and it will be laid bare." Dear friends, knowing all of this, we must honor Christ in our life. Come what may. Verse 11, of that same text. We are told, "Since everything will be destroyed in this way," what kind of people ought you to be? You are to "live a holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed it's coming, that the day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with his promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells." So then, difference, "since you are looking forward to this make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with him."

In closing, John MacArthur, summarizes this so well, all that we've seen from this text and what I'm trying to communicate to you. He says, quote, "True believers must realize that the state of our society is the result of the righteous judgment of God. God has not commissioned his people to reconstruct society. We are not called to expend our energy or his energies for moral reform. We are salt, a preservative for a decaying generation, Matthew 5:13. And we are lights, designed to shine in a way that enables people who see our good works to glorify our Heavenly Father, Matthew five, verses 14 through 16. In other words," he goes on to say "our primary task is to preach the truth of God's word, live in obedience to that truth, and to keep ourselves unstained by the world, James 1:27. Our influence on society must be the fruit of that kind of living, not the product of fleshly energy, or political clout." Dear friends, we serve a glorious, a good, a redeeming God. And we can trust him to do everything that he has promised to do. So let's live in light if his coming. Let's dedicate ourselves to living holy lives and lives that are deeply moved with compassion towards those who do not know the Savior. So they can look at us and see something different. And by God's grace, give us an opportunity to present to them the only truth that can save and sanctify and glorify. Let's pray together.

Father, we are so thankful for the gospel for all that you have done for us. But again, our hearts are broken for those that do not know you. And we know that apart from your regenerating grace, they will never know you. So we pray that you will move upon them continue to use us as salt and light that they might see the truth that they might believe and that they might be saved. So we thank you for the hope that is ours in Christ. Bless us, encourage us, especially in these dark days, and use us mightily for the sake of the kingdom and our coming King. For it’s in his name that I pray. Amen.

As we continue to make our way through the book of Daniel, we find ourselves this morning in Daniel chapter four. So will you take your Bibles and join with me? As we examine this amazing chapter, under the heading "God's Humbling Grace." We know from scripture that God is opposed to the proud but he gives grace to the humble. And to be sure, apart from God's grace, true humility is absolutely impossible. As sinful beings we are so blinded by our pride that we cannot see it. We are told in Proverbs 16 and verse 18, that "pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before stumbling." And in Proverbs 18, verse 12, we read before destruction, the heart of man is haughty." And I'm sure you will all agree that at the root of marriages and families that have been destroyed, you will find pride. In fact, pride destroys communities, and even nations. Today, we are witnessing the systematic destruction of our great nation due to the unbridled pride of ungodly political leaders and those who put them in office. About 150 years ago, the great English pastor, Charles Spurgeon said this, "Almost every event has its prophetic prelude. It is an old and common saying that coming events cast their shadows before them. When destruction walks through the land, it casts its shadow. It is in the shape of pride. Pride is as surely the sign of destruction, as the change of mercury in the weather glass is the sign of rain. Everything hath its prelude. The prelude of destruction is pride. There is nothing into which the heart of man so easily falls as pride. And yet there is no vice which is more frequently, more emphatically, and more eloquently condemned in scripture. Against pride, prophets have lifted up their voices, evangelists have spoken and teachers have discoursed. Yea more, the everlasting God has mounted to the very heights of eloquence when he would condemn the man of pride. And the full gushing of the Eternal's mighty language has been most gloriously displayed in the condemnation of the pride of human nature."

Like all monarchs, including the political leaders that we have here in America and those around the world, Nebuchadnezzar was blind to the reality that all earthly sovereigns are completely subject to the ruler of heaven and earth. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, Jesus declared in Matthew 28, in verse 18, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven, and on earth." Indeed, Peter testified in Acts chapter 10, verse 42, that God "ordered us to preach to the people, and solemnly to testify that this is the One who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead." Dear friends, every man and every woman who has ever drawn breath or whoever will draw breath, will ultimately stand before the Lord Jesus Christ, in worship or in terror. He will either be their Savior and Lord, or their judge and executioner. We are reminded of this, for example, in Philippians, chapter two, beginning in verse nine, where we read that "God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Through the prophet Isaiah, God expresses his holy anger against the proud and what will ultimately come about as a consequence of their arrogance in Isaiah chapter 14, beginning in verse nine, he addressed Belshazzar, the final king of ancient Babylon, and by extension, all of the pompous godless rulers of the world that many of us are even forced to endure this day. And there we read hell "from beneath is excited about you, to meet you at your coming. It stirs up the dead for you, all the chief ones of the earth that has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations, they all shall speak and say to you, Have you also become as weak as we have, you become like us? Your Pomp is brought down to Sheol and the sound of your stringed instruments. The maggot is spread under you, and worms cover you."

Well, we can all be thankful, can we not? That God's grace is available to all of us who are proud. He has his ways of humbling even the most pompous. And that is what we will see in the text before us in Daniel chapter four. At the beginning of this chapter, Daniel, includes an introduction that was written by Nebuchadnezzar, where he exalts the one true God who had humbled him and restored him to his throne, as we will see, so I want to go through this, read it to you make some explanations, and then some applications. Beginning in verse one, "Nebuchadnezzar, the king to all the peoples, nations and men of every language that live in all the earth: 'May your peace abound! It has seemed good to me,'" or literally, it was beautiful before me, '"to declare the signs and wonders which the Most High God has done for me. How great are His signs and how mighty are His wonders! His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom and His dominion is from generation to generation.'" My, what a contrast to human kingdoms that rise and fall and often exchange rulers multiple times within a single generation. And next, the king tells of his dream, which by the way, must have occurred sometime around the end of his reign, some sometime between 605 and 562 BC, I might add just a little footnote, archeologists have discovered a fragmentary tablet which reads, quote, "in the 37th year, which began April 23, 568 BC, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon marched against Egypt to deliver a battle." And we know historically that he went to Egypt at this time, and he suppressed a revolt. And they returned home, celebrating yet another victory over a vanquished foe, which undoubtedly fanned the flames of his pride, all the more. Now back to verse four, "'I Nebuchadnezzar was at ease in my house, and flourishing in my palace,'" he says, In other words, all was at rest in his vast kingdom, and even in his mind, and then we read, "'I saw a dream, and it made me fearful.'" The original helps us understand that it was terrifying to him. '"And these fantasies as I lay on my bed, and the visions in my mind kept alarming me. So I gave orders to bring into my presence all the wise men of Babylon, that they might make known to me the interpretation of the dream. Then the magicians, the conjurers, the Chaldeans and the Diviners came in and I related the dream to them, but they could not make its interpretation known to me. But finally, Daniel came in before me, whose name is Belteshazzar, according to the name of my god, and in whom is a spirit of the holy gods; and I related the dream to him."

Now, it's interesting that Daniel came in last, we're not told why. But I would imagine that he wanted to give the other men an opportunity to prove their ineffectiveness. And so he comes in. And Nebuchadnezzar says, "In Him is a spirit of the holy gods." I think a better interpretation here is singular, the Holy God, the reason I say that, is the plural, gods can refer to a single deity in both Aramaic and in Hebrew. And I think given the context, and we will see this by the way, again, in verse nine and verse 18, I believe it's better to interpret this, "and in whom is a spirit of the Holy God," referring to Daniel's God. "And I related the dream to him saying, 'O Belteshazzar, chief of the magicians, since I know that a spirit of the Holy God is in you and no mystery baffles you, tell me the visions of my dream, which I have seen along with its interpretation. Now, these were the visions in my mind as I lay on my bed: I was looking, and behold, there was a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great. The tree grew large and became strong, and its height reached to the sky. And it was visible to the end of the whole earth. Its foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant. And in it was food for all the beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches, and all living creatures fed themselves from it. I was looking into visions in my mind as I lay on my bed, and behold, an angelic watcher, a holy one, descended from heaven. He shouted out and spoke as follows: Chop down the tree and cut off its branches, Strip off its foliage and scatter its fruit; Let the beasts flee from under it and the birds from its branches. Yet, leave the stump, with its roots in the ground. But with a band of iron and bronze around it, in the new grass of the field; and let him be drenched with the dew of heaven and let him share with the beasts in the grass of the earth. Let his mind be changed from that of a man and let it and let a beast's mind be given to him. And let seven periods of time pass over him.'" Fascinating, "let his mind be changed from that of a man to a beast." In other words, let him begin to reason and act like an animal. Many times, this is what we see in a, in a disorder called lycanthropy, where a person thinks they are an animal, typically a wolf. This is kind of at the heart of the old world, wolf myths and all of this type of thing. But here it could be boanthropy, where he thinks of himself as an ox. So this is the curse that God placed upon him for seven years. Verse 17, "'This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers and the decision is a command of the holy ones in order that the living may know that the Most High is a ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom he wishes and sets over it the lowliest of men. This is the dream which I, King Nebuchadnezzar, have seen. Now you, Belteshazzar, tell me its interpretation, inasmuch as none of the wisemen of my kingdom is able to make known to me the interpretation; but you are able for a spirit of the Holy God is in you.'" Verse 19, "Then Daniel whose name is Belteshazzar, was appalled for a while, as his thoughts alarmed him. The king responded and said, 'Belteshazzar, do not let the dream or its interpretation alarm you.' Belteshazzar replied, 'My lord, if only the dream applied to those who hate you, and its interpretation to your adversaries! The tree that you saw, which became large and grew strong, whose height reached to the sky, and was visible to all the earth and whose foliage was beautiful and its fruit abundant, and in which was food for all under which the beasts of the field dwelt in whose branches the birds of the sky lodged-- it is you, O king; for you have become great and grown strong, and your majesty has become great and reached to the sky and your dominion to the end of the earth. In that the king saw an angelic watcher, a holy one, descending from heaven and saying, 'Chop down the tree and destroy it; yet leave the stump with its roots in the ground, but with a band of iron and bronze around it in the new grass of the field, and let him be drenched with the dew of heaven, and let him share with the beasts of the field, until seven periods of time pass over him,' this is the interpretation, O king, and this is the decree of the Most High, which has come upon my lord the king: that you be driven away from mankind and your dwelling place, be with the beasts of the field. And you'll be given grass to eat like cattle and be drenched with the dew of heaven; and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes. And in that it was commanded to leave the stump with the roots of the tree, your kingdom will be assured to you after you recognize that it is Heaven that rules. Therefore, O king, may my advice, be pleasing to you: break away now from your sins by doing righteousness and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the poor, in case there may be a prolonging of your prosperity.'" In other words, Daniel takes a real risk here in offering his advice to the king. Kings of that day, certainly Nebuchadnezzar would be among them, were cruel to the people that worked for them. The many poor that built their vast walls and cities, injustices also existed among their judges, that was commonplace. So basically, Daniel is pleading with him to correct your sinful life, conduct yourself with righteousness and perhaps God would be merciful. Perhaps, your change of heart would mitigate the severity of his judgment upon you.

And then we read this in verse 28. "All this happened to Nebuchadnezzar, the king. Twelve months later, he was walking on the roof of the royal palace of Babylon." I want you to notice was walking is a participle. It indicates that he was pacing back and forth on the roof of his palace, admiring all of the glory of his kingdom. Verse 30, "The king reflected and said, 'Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence, by the might of my power, and for the glory of my majesty?' That betrayed his heart of pride.

Let me digress for a moment and give you a little glimpse into what his kingdom looked like. Much of the ruins of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon have been recovered by the German archaeologist Robert Conaway. He discovered much of it from 1899 to 1917. I've seen remnants of it in various museums around the world. And here's some of the remarkable characteristics of what was found, according to various sources of documentation. The city was protected by a system of great double walls. The outer line extending 10 miles around the double walls were each 25 feet thick, with 40 feet between and a total of 260 Towers 160 feet apart. Through the center of the city for two thirds of a mile, extended the great 70 feet wide stone paved procession street, having walls decorated with enameled brick showing 120 Lions and 575 dragons and bulls arranged in alternate rows. By the way, the dragons in the bowls were symbols of Marduk and Baal, their idols. The figure of each animal stood out against the uniform background tinted blue with powdered lapis lazuli. Lapis Lazuli is a a very beautiful deep blue, metaphoric rock that's used as a semi-precious stone.

The architecture and ornamentation were skillfully adapted to each other, the animals were carved to scale. And despite their multitude the arrangement was orderly and harmonious. At the northern end of the procession street was the famous Ishtar Gate 35 feet high, decorated with 557 animals in bright colors against a glazed blue background. The city was dominated by a seven story ziggurat, which is a step pyramid 288 feet high known as the Tower of Babel, and nearly 60 million fired bricks were used to construct this huge tower. And on the top of it stood "Etemenanki" which means house of the foundation of heaven and earth. It contained a solid gold statue of Marduk, which weighed 52,000 pounds. According to fifth century BC, Greek historian, Herodotus, you can take the price of gold per pound today, multiply it by 52,000. I tried doing that this last week on my little iPhone computer, it started smoking and so I just backed off but it's somewhere over a trillion dollars. That's a lot of gold. More than 50 temples existed within the city walls. At the north end of the city near the Ishtar Gate was Nebuchadnezzar's palace, his throne room was 171 by 56 feet, having a triple gateway and a richly decorated facade of glazed bricks. Yellow columns who superimposed ionic capitals were crowned by palmettes linked together or linked to each other by a garland of lotus buds. At the northeast angle of the palace are the remains of vaults, thought to be supports for the terrace quote, Hanging Gardens built by Nebuchadnezzar for Amytis, his Median wife, as a reminder of her homeland, it was built upon stone arches, and was equipped with a draw well and chain pump. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon were counted as one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. So that gives you a little idea of what existed in Babylon.

So all of this, of course, symbolizes to him, and to the ancient world, the majesty and the glory and the power of the king, which just fueled his pride. So you can see why he would say in verse 30, "'The king reflected and said, 'Is this not Babylon the Great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?'" And then we read this in verse 31, "'While the word was in the king's mouth, a voice came from heaven saying, 'King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared.'" I have to stop there for a moment, this is what the king is used to saying, "to you, it is declared," and now all of a sudden, he gets a voice from heaven saying, "to you, it is declared, sovereignty has been removed from you, and you will be driven away from mankind and your dwelling place will be with the beasts of the field, you will be given grass to eat like cattle and seven periods of time will pass over you, until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whomever He wishes.'" Then in verse 33, we read "Immediately," or it could also be translated that very hour, and I would imagine it was a little bit of time here for all of this to sink into his mind what he just heard, to reflect upon the reality that God had spoken to him, to come to grips with the horror that was about to befall him. So that very hour, "the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled."

Now if you think about it, undoubtedly it took a few days for the king's physicians and the other rulers to figure out what on earth has happened to this guy. And I'm sure Daniel filled them in. So they had to figure out, now what are we going to do with him? So it took some time to determine how to treat him, where to put him. They probably put him in a royal forest, so to speak. Someplace where he could be out of sight of other people, so that no one would know what was going on. He had to be held in the strictest of confidence all that was happening. Otherwise other people would take advantage. So he was driven the text says "away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle. And his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagle's feathers and his nails like bird's claws. Oh, dear friends, the power in the judgment of God. Think of it; how quickly the mighty fall before him.

Then seven years later, we read this in verse 34, "But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar raised my eyes toward heaven and my reason returned to me." Obviously, it is God who initiated his humble heavenward gaze that constituted, frankly, the initial phase of his return to rationality, to normal. And as that happened, notice what he says, "I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Jim who lives forever." He did not shake his fist in God's face. But rather, he humbly praised him. Three verbs used synonymously, to express the depths of his worship, and his personal dependency upon the Most High God, I blessed, praised and honored, the most high God.

Then he says, "For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation." My what a contrast with his own temporal kingdom, and all other kingdoms. The Kingdom of the Most High is everlasting, it endures from generation to generation, there is no changing of the guards in God's kingdom. Then he says in verse 35, "All of the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing," and obviously, he's including himself here, but he referring to the Most High God, "does according to His will, in the host of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth." In other words, he is the sovereign God that does whatever he pleases. "And no one," he says, "can ward off," or literally strike, "His hand." The idea of tapping a hand of a child as they reach for something, no, no. We can't do that with God. "No one can ward off His hand," no one can alter what he desires, and what he has ordained to come to pass. Whatever he chooses to do, he does. Then he adds this, "Or say to Him, 'What have you done?'" In other words, here we have a clear acknowledgement of the sovereignty of God, as well as the omnipotence of God, the one who can do anything he pleases, but also the righteousness of God that everything that he does is perfectly just including what he had done for seven years to the king.

Verse 36, he says at that time, "'My reason returned to me. And my majesty, and splendor were restored to me for the glory of my kingdom. And my counselors and my nobles began seeking me out.'" It's the idea here that they approached him to restore him to his former position as king. "'So I was reestablished in my sovereignty and surpassing greatness was added to me.'" Now in ways that were not told God, blessed Nebuchadnezzar, and his kingdom in ways that exceeded the previous glory and greatness. And I find it interesting that during that seven years of time, word didn't get out so that someone or some group would come along and take the kingdom during that time of vulnerability. Instead, his men and probably primarily, Daniel, continued the rule in the king's absence. And again, I would imagine even though the text doesn't say this, that Daniel gathered all of them around and say, Listen, this was the king's dream. Here's what God is going to do. Don't mess with this. He'll be back in seven years.

Verse 37, "'Now I Nebuchadnezzar, praise, exalt and Honor the king of heaven.'" Three active participles denoting continuous action. In other words, this became the modus operandi of his life, a man who praised and exalted and honored the King of heaven. And what a contrast to the temporary worship that characterizes Nebuchadnezzar. Especially with his previous reaction to the dream that he saw in Daniel two and the supernatural deliverance of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego from the fiery furnace. Obviously, he saw those things, and he was impressed for a while, and then he reverted right back to his idolatry. I believe that what we read here, along with other passages indicates that Nebuchadnezzar was truly converted. I believe we will see him in heaven someday. You know, I can think of no world ruler in my lifetime that could be characterized in such a way as a man who continually praises, exalts and honors the King of Heaven. In fact, there's a dearth of professing Christians that conduct themselves in such a way. I mean, how many people do you know that could be described as a man and a woman whose character and conduct is clearly motivated by a heart desire to give glory to God and all that they do? Very few people. By God's grace, there's many here amongst the saints at Calvary Bible Church and other churches I know, but as a whole, you don't see too many people who have a passionate desire to proclaim the excellencies of Christ, the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to give praise to the one true God of heaven, who has revealed himself in creation, and in Scripture, and in the person in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, how many people do you know, who have a consuming zeal and an exhilarating fervor to put God's glory on display in their life, in their family, and their business, who longs to see his kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. And again, I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to have a president like this. I mean, we're used to being ruled by those who do the complete opposite. People who celebrate and legislate that which God hates, and those things which condemn people to an eternal hell. And I want you to notice in the text, why Nebuchadnezzar worshipped the Most High. Why he was worthy of such adoring praise. He says, "For all His works," could be translated his course of conduct, the methods that he uses to accomplish his purposes, the ways by which he responds to situations, "all His works are true," or right or righteous. In other words, whatever he does corresponds with his righteous standards. That's why I worship him. That's why I praise him. That's why I exalt Him. "All His works are true." All his works are always an accurate reflection of his holiness. They are always consistent with the perfections of his character, his righteousness.

And then he says, "and His ways are just," meaning they're equitable. They're fair. They're absolutely fair. They conform again to his, his standard of righteousness. And then he adds this, "and he is able to humble those who walk in pride." My what an understatement after what he had just endured. He is able to humble those who walk in pride. A verse really hits me. I hope it does you as well. We all struggle with it, but my what a confession of this man, what a testimony of God's saving grace. His humbling grace, right?

You know, about 20 years later, an aged Daniel would explain to Belshazzar, who was Nebuchadnezzar son, that took his place; he would explain to him about his father, who experienced insanity because of his pride. And here's what we read, out of Daniel five beginning of verse 21. Daniel says to him, "'He was also driven away from mankind and his heart was made, like that of beasts and his dwelling place was with the wild donkeys. He was given grass to eat like cattle and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven, until he recognized that the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind and that H sets over it whomever He wishes. Yet you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this, but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of Heaven.'" Again, this seems to attest to Nebuchadnezzar's true conversion, unlike his son, who would perish in his sins.

John Walvoord concludes quote, "Nebuchadnezzar reaches a new spiritual perspicacity," a term that means discernment. "Prior to his experience of insanity, his confessions were those of a pagan whose polytheism permitted the addition of new gods. Now Nebuchadnezzar apparently worships the King of Heaven only. For this reason, his autobiography is truly remarkable and reflects the fruitfulness of Daniel's influence upon him and probably of Daniel's daily prayers for him. Certainly, God is no respecter of persons, and can save the high and mighty in this world, as well as the lowly." Dear friends, pride is a deadly sin. And one of the most deceitful of all sins. It's so easy for us to see it in others and not in ourselves. We must recognize that this is a weed that grows faster than all others in the garden of our spiritual life. It is the kind of weed that chokes out all of the desired virtues of Christ's likeness, that we long to see manifest themselves. Those virtues that rob us of true humility, and therefore we need to pray that God will be merciful to us and help us by his grace, to see our own pride, to uproot those hideous evils in the garden of our life. Proverbs 16 in verse five, "Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord." We know that it was pride, was it not, that condemned the devil? We know that is for this reason, we are warned to never put a novice in a position of leadership in the church. According to First Timothy three, six "less being puffed up with pride, he fall into the same condemnation of the devil." Pride is a characteristic of the world that that all believers must battle, we can all identify with that. John tells us "for all that is in the world,": First John 216, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father but of the world." And in Proverbs 26:12, we read "Do you see a man wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him."

As we look through Scripture, we see the people who are filled with pride, despise authority, they resent correction. They hardened their heart. It's a besetting sin, especially of the wealthy and the powerful. It leads to, it leads people to contempt and rejection of God's Word and those who administer it. It leads people to persecute the poor to stir up strife and contention, even in a church and it leads to self-deception. And ultimately, according to Scripture, the deadly fruit of pride that you will see in a person's life will ultimately be that of shame, debasement and destruction. And those guilty of it shall be a base, according to First Peter five that I've quoted before, "For God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble." And again, "pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall," Proverbs 16:18. You know, folks, pride is the opposite of Christ's likeness. That's what we've got to bear in mind. Christ's likeness is characterized by selflessness, by self-sacrificial love. By humility. I think of First Corinthians 13 one, we read that if we do not humble ourselves in love, we have "become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal." I mean, nobody can stand the obnoxious noise that those instruments make. I know they have their place, but you don't want to hear that long term right? It goes on in verse four, "Love is patient," but can I put it this way, pride is not. Pride is impatient. You want to measure your own life here. Love is patient, pride is impatient. Love is kind, not so with pride. Pride is critical, it is overbearing, it is rude. Love is not jealous we're told, oh pride is. Love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecoming. Not so with pride. Pride is ugly, it is inappropriate is indecent. It is unmannerly. Love does not seek its own. But pride demands its own; my way or the highway. Love is not easily provoked. But pride is a raw wound that will instantly retaliate in the most vicious of ways. Love does not take into account a wrong suffered. So with pride. Pride keeps a record of wrongs and it never forgets, because it wants to make you pay. Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth. Oh, not so with pride. Pride loves juicy gossip and spins the truth to its advantage to destroy other people and exalt itself. Love "bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." Not so with pride. Pride bears nothing, believes nothing, sees the worst in everything and tolerates nothing, unless it fits its agenda. And beloved, if you fail to see yourself somewhere in that list, there is only one reason. Its pride. And what an amazing thing that we as believers of all people, we have no reason to be proud, right? We are debtors to God's grace, we deserve no accolades of praise whatsoever our boast is in the Lord, not in us. And this is at the very heart of the gospel of grace, especially when we understand that in his infinite love, he chose us before time began, set his love upon us, drew us unto himself and saved us by his grace, not through any merit of our own. Boy, when you really get a hold of that every ounce of conceit is shattered forever. Our only glory is in the Lord. Paul said this in First Corinthians one verse 26, "For consider your calling, brethren." You believers here at Calvary Bible Church, "that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen the things that are not so that he may nullify the things that are so that no man may boast before God. But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that just as it is written, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord."

Well, dear friends, we know that pride is going to continue to abound in these last days. I don't have this text before you but I'm reminded of Second Timothy three and verse one, Paul says, "But realize this that in the last days, difficult times will come." Savage times, perilous times; the idea that they're going to mount up layer upon layer upon layer upon layer. And here's what we will see "For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power." And then he says, "Avoid such men as these." Folks we should not be surprised at the arrogance of fools who have no fear of God, but we should be deeply concerned about our own hearts. And that's what I would challenge you with here today. You know, God may not cause us to eat grass in the fields with the cattle for seven years, he might do something far worse, we don't know. But certainly it is his desire to humble us. Because in our sanctification, he wants us to become more like Jesus. And that means that every vestige of arrogance and self-conceit must be done away with. And because he loves us, he will see to it that that happens. He chastens those that he loves. He's constantly at work in us to conform us into the likeness of Christ. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 23:12, "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled. And he who humbles himself will be exalted."

"My worth is not in what I own, not in the strength of flesh and bone, but in the costly wounds of love, at the cross." Indeed, we boast in Christ who has saved us by his grace. Amen? Let's pray together. Father, we're so thankful for what you have done for us. My what a humbling reality. And as we read of what happened so many years ago, we see the implications of it even in our own lives, certainly in the world in which we live, and we thank you, that your all-sufficient grace is always available to those who will humble themselves in repented faith. So, Lord, we thank you, we give you praise. Continue to speak to our hearts, grow us into the likeness of Christ. And for those that do not know Christ, I pray that today will be the day that they will humble themselves before the Most High and cry out for saving grace. Father, hear the cry of our heart I pray. We thank you. We give you praise. In Jesus name. Amen.

Once again, we have the privilege of looking into the Word of the living God. And I would ask you to take your Bibles and turn to Daniel chapter three. Actually, we will probably look at a few verses before that, but that will get you in the vicinity. And I might also say that this will be a little bit unusual in that I have a lot of Scripture to give you today. So, you'll have to hang on for the ride, if you will. Before we look at the text closely. May I say that the disintegration and humiliation of America brought upon us by woke leftists and the staggering incompetence of our President and his administration makes me long, all the more, for a righteous king, and an everlasting kingdom. According to Daniel seven, and many other passages, that kingdom is coming. In verse 13, we read "I kept looking in the night visions and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a Son of Man was coming. And He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom and that all the peoples nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed." While sinful human beings who are part of Satan's kingdom of darkness will always rebel against the Most High God, until Christ returns, whether they like it or not, God's universal kingdom operates without interruption. That's exciting to know. And all his creation are ultimately subject to his rule. And today, we can rejoice knowing that as Paul says, "our citizenship is in heaven." Our citizenship is in heaven, Philippians 3:20, "from which also we eagerly wait for his Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." And today we experience and enjoy the spiritual aspects of God's invisible kingdom that exist within the hearts of those who have placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. But we also longingly await that future day when we are able to experience and enjoy the physical aspects of God's mediatorial kingdom, which will include a literal 1000 year reign of Christ upon the earth, consistent with Revelation 20, where he will rule as the last Adam, that final reign of Christ, often called the Messianic Kingdom, the millennial kingdom, when he will finally transform everything on this planet into conformity with the perfect will of God and His universal kingdom that exists right now. God has given us clear evidence of this progression in Bible prophecy, especially in Daniel two, as you will recall, and there we studied that prophetic outline of the rise and fall of four great world empires that will finally and permanently be replaced by a fifth Empire, the kingdom of heaven. And we can rejoice knowing that God has promised to bring that kingdom. And if we look in Daniel two beginning in verse 44, we read this, "In the days of those king," and by the way, the context here is the, the 10 toes of the iron kingdom that was described in the previous verses 41 through 42, referring to 10 future kings who will continue to control a territory of a revived Roman Empire under the rule of the Antichrist. That will happen during Daniel's 70th week of judgments as we will understand when we get to Daniel 9:24 through 27. But, "In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed. And that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the Great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation trustworthy."

Of course, you will recall the symbolism of the stone cut out of the mountain without hands clearly indicates divine origination. Clearly the kingdom of God will not only replace every vestige of all the preceding Gentile kingdoms that have dominated Israel and the world, but also that kingdom will utterly destroy them. Nothing like this has ever happened. There is no evidence in history that fulfills the promise of Revelation 19:15, where Christ is said to "strike down the nations and He will rule them with a rod of iron." Gentile domination in the world today is as strong as it has ever been. But dear friends, that stone cut out from the mountain without hands will one day accomplish exactly what God has promised. When Christ the King returns in power and great glory as the lion of the tribe of Judah. We read about this, when he comes to destroy that last Roman king, the Antichrist, Revelation 19:11. We read, “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war." He goes on to say beginning in verse 19, "And I saw the beast of the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast," referring to the Antichrist, "was seized and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worship his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh."

Beloved, as I watched all that was unfolding in Afghanistan this week. My heart longed to go to the word to hear the end of the story. Because what we're seeing is not the end of the story. Zechariah 14, beginning in verse four, "In that day, His feet," referring to Jesus, "will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the Lord, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him!" Indeed, according to Colossians, three, four, "When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also, as believers, we, "will be revealed with Him in glory." Paul said as much in Second Timothy two in verse 12, we shall "also reign with Him." Tribulation believers, along with the redeemed from both the Old Testament and New Testament eras will reign with Christ for 1000 years as they're promised in Revelation 20 and verse four. Beloved, this is the glory that awaits us. This is the glory we long for, its glory that will be our solely because of God's sovereign grace, and his undeterred plan to bring glory to himself.

Now with that introduction, let's go back to Daniel two for a moment, because we want to get a running start into Daniel three. So little segue here, you will remember the context; Daniel reveals both the dream and the interpretation to Nebuchadnezzar, verse 46, "Then Nebuchadnezzar fell on his face and did homage to Daniel and gave orders to present to him an offering and fragrant incense." This by by the way, it was a way of the Babylonians expressing worship to Daniel's God. Verse 47, "The king answered Daniel and said, 'Surely your God is a God of gods and a Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, since you have been able to reveal this mystery.' Then the king promoted Daniel and gave him many great gifts and he made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon."

Pretty amazing, isn't it? For a guy about 20 years old, pretty amazing. And it all began when he refused to eat the food and the drink of the king and thus embrace his idols. Truly, God is rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. Verse 49, "And Daniel made requests of the king and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego over the administration of the province of Babylon while Daniel was at the king's court." So he brings his friends in, they're obviously going to live somewhere else, Daniel gets to live in the palace.

Now, we come to Daniel three. You must understand that what takes place in Daniel three happened about 10 plus years later. In fact, the events of Daniel two occurred at the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar's reign in about 602 BC. And we know that the fourth chapter of Daniel occurred about the end, which would have been about 568 to 562 BC. And according to the Babylonian Chronicles, which were discovered in 1860, in the region of Nineveh, I have seen them they're displayed in the British Museum if you ever get there, but there's so many things you can see half the Bible is in the British Museum. But there you will read in the Babylonian Chronicles that there was a failed coup attempt against Nebuchadnezzar that occurred in December 595 through January 594 BC. Therefore, it is fair to say that the context of Daniel three is likely the king's response to that failed coup event, where he now summons all of his royal subjects to pledge their loyalty to him. And some scholars believe as well that this may have been written sometime after 585 BC, just after Nebuchadnezzar went back and destroyed Jerusalem. And he probably thought that Israel's God at that time had been severely disgraced if not defeated. In fact, we know, and here in chapter three and verse 15, he says, "what God is there who can deliver you out of my hands?" And so he was strutting his stuff by this time, okay? This is the context.

Now let's examine this historical narrative. It's amazing. Verse one, "Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold." Here, you must understand this was probably, as they would typically do, a wooden image overlaid with gold, and perhaps knowing that he was symbolized by the golden head and the dream that had been revealed to him, maybe he decided to expand that a little bit and make the whole image portray him. We're not sure. But the king makes an image of gold, "the height of which was 60 cubits, and it's with six cubits". So it's 90 feet high and nine feet wide, tall, skinny thing. "He set it up on the plain of Dura in the province of Babylon." That, by the way, is a valley plain, several miles southeast of Babylon. And to set that thing in the middle of this valley plain would have been a prime piece of real estate for everybody to be able to see this thing for miles and miles around. I might also add an interesting note, at least it's interesting to me. The Babylonians used a sexagesimal, rather than the decimal numbering system, with a sexagesimal system, the 60 is its base, where 60 is the smallest number that is divisible by every number from one to six. I find that interesting. By the way, we continue to use elements of that today, don't we? There's 60 minutes in an hour, right? There's 360 degrees in a circle. We speak of a dozen eggs or a half dozen. So we still have elements of that today. But I find it interesting that the number six, which is prominent in Scripture is designated as the number of man, Revelation 13:18, which is one number short of God's perfect number seven. In fact, in Revelation 13:18, we read, "Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast," referred to the Antichrist, "for the number is that of a man and his number is 666." The context there is during the tribulation, the Antichrist will be able to be identified somehow by this numbering system. And I find it fascinating that ancient Babylon which we know is a symbol of Satan's wicked world system and kingdom, embraces the number of man. Do with that what you wish, I don't want to start a new denomination based on that, but I just find it interesting.

So here Nebuchadnezzar erects this magnificent idol, to evoke an oath of loyalty and worship, exalting his power and his prestige. Verse two, "Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent word to assemble to the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the rulers of the provinces to come to the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. Then the satraps, the prefects and the governors, the counselors, the treasurers, the judges, the magistrates, and all the rulers of the provinces, were a symbol for the dedication of the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up; and they stood before the image that Nebuchadnezzar had set up. Then the herald loudly proclaimed, 'To you, the command is given, O peoples, nations and men of every language, that at the moment, you hear the sound of the horn, flute, the lyre, trigon, the psaltery, the bagpipe, and all kinds of music, you are all to fall down and worship, the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up." By the way, as a footnote, for those of you like me who have Scottish background, this is not a bagpipe, like we think of a bagpipe. So the Scots weren't there. Right? In the original language, this is really a term, it's really poorly translated here. It's really refers to a percussion instrument, a drum, a timpani. So, that's the scene. When you hear the music when you hear the instrument. Everybody's got a bow down. I was thinking about a passage in Psalm 137, three, where we read how the Babylonian soldiers were so cruel to the Israelites. When they captured them, they would make them sing songs of Yahweh that they sang in the temple. And in that passage we read, "For there our captors demanded of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, 'Sing us one of the songs of Zion.'" Now again, remember, ancient Babylon is a symbol of the final empire of the Antichrist and the enormous amalgam of apostate religion that will be led by the False Prophet. Revelation 17, five describes it as "a mystery, 'Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the abominations of the earth.'" And in Isaiah chapter 14, in verse 11, God promises even there the destruction of the final Babylon at the end of the Tribulation. And I was thinking about this with respect to the music. Isaiah 14:11, "'Your pomp and the music of your harps have been brought down to Sheol; maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you, and worms are your covering.'" So again, when you hear the music, you've got to bow, worship the image. Verse six, "But whoever does not fall down and worship shall immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire." This would have been a large brick kiln, there's many of them that they have found; very common. "Therefore," verse seven, "at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, bagpipe, and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations and men of every language fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up. For this reason, at that time, certain Chaldeans came forward and brought charges against the Jews." Surprise, surprise, right? Ah, cancel culture all the way back in those days, right? The Chaldeans were the original woke police attacking those that did not share their worldview. And they were also undoubtedly jealous of these Judeans who had been elevated to such levels of prestige. These guys that had achieved much more than they had, you know that's not fair. Plus, these guys aren't worshipping our Babylonian gods. You know, pride produces jealousy and resentment, right? We all know that. Let's be honest with ourselves. We've all been there. And whenever you see that in the Bible, especially jealousy, almost inevitably, the next word is, "and strife." Jealousy and strife. When at the core, this is at the core of our depraved nature.

By the way, this is at the heart of all this social justice insanity that you see. I mean, the real problem is not social injustice, it's human depravity. But nobody wants to address that. That's what drives division in the United States, James four beginning in verse one, "What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel." So the Chaldeans come forward with their charges, verse nine, "They responded and said to Nebuchadnezzar, the king: 'O king, live forever!'" You know, they're just dripping with worship; salivating, hoping that they can replace these guys, "'You, O king, have made a decree that every man who hears the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery, and bagpipe, and all kinds of music, is to fall down and worship the golden image. But whoever does not fall down and worship shall be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire. There are certain Jews, whom you have appointed over the administration of the province of Babylon, namely Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.'" It doesn't say it, but I'm sure they had some little pictures of them they had drawn. "'These men O king have disregarded you; they do not serve your gods or worship, the golden image which you have set up.'"

So what we have here, folks are essentially three charges against them. First of all, as we see they disregarded the king, which betrayed a lack of loyalty to him, which could basically be construed as treasonous. And secondly, they refuse to serve the Babylonian gods, who had favored the king and given him victory. And if you don't favor the gods, you might lose the next battle. And then finally, they refused to worship the golden image which represented the king himself. So their refusal to bow you must understand, was perceived as a threat to national security, but also an insult to the king. And I'm sure even though the text doesn't say this, I'm sure the king was very aware of the personal jealousies that were driving all of this, but he also knew that he could not tolerate insubordination at such high levels. And of course, the biggest issue for the king was wounded pride, wounded pride; that violent fuel of revenge, and retaliation. Look how it plays out in verse 13, "Then Nebuchadnezzar in rage and anger gave orders to bring Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; then these men were brought before the king. Nebuchadnezzar responded and said to them, 'Is it true Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods, or worship the golden image that I have set up? Now, if you're ready,' in other words, I want to give you another chance here, 'if you are ready, at the moment, you hear the sound of the horn, flute, lyre, trigon, psaltery and bagpipe and all kinds of music to fall down and worship the image that I have made, very well. But if you do not worship, you will immediately be cast into the midst of a furnace of blazing fire; and what god is there who can deliver you out of my hands?'" Oh, such astounding arrogance. Pride comes before a fall right? You can see it coming and how quickly he forgot the one true God of Israel that had given him the dream and the interpretation, all of which revealed the infinite superiority of Yahweh.

Verse 16, "Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to the king, 'O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter,'" meaning, we admit our guilt, we have nothing else to say in this matter. And then, folks, these faithful young men give one of the most succinct and profound responses in all of Scripture, expressing their confidence in the goodness and the sovereignty of God. Verse seven, "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire; and He will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.'" You know, what's fascinating friends is they had no guarantee that God was going to save them, but they had absolute confidence in his power to do so. You see, the issue was not whether or not he would, or he was able to do this, but rather, is this within the purview of his will. And for them, whatever God chose to do is perfect. Good with it. Good to go.

Verse 19, "Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with wrath, and his facial expression was altered toward Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego." I mean, you can just see, can't you in your mind's eye, this apoplectic grimace? This rage begins to distort his face. He's just foaming at the mouth here at this point. "He answered by giving orders to heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated." Which is really kind of crazy, you know, I mean, why not lower it a little bit and torture the guy some right? I mean, I don't know. Anyway, he's lost it here. "He commanded certain valiant warriors who were in his army to tie up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, in order to cast them into the furnace of blazing fire. Then these men were tied up in their trousers, their coats, their caps, and their other clothes and were cast into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire." Now, it doesn't say this, but it is reasonable to assume that a large crowd had gathered by now to watch the spectacle. There was great expectation to see this horror. Verse 22 "For this reason, because the king's command was urgent and the furnace had been made extremely hot, the flame of the fire slew those men who carried up Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. But these three men Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego fell into the midst of the furnace of blazing fire still tied up." You know I have to smile these are exactly the kind of odds that God loves, right? I mean, I mean, let's just make it so over the top ridiculously impossible so that I will get all the glory reminded of Jeremiah 32, beginning of verse 17. "Ah, Lord God, behold, you have made the heavens in the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm, nothing is too difficult for you." And later on in verse 27, God says, "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for me?" Verse 24, "Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astounded, and stood up in haste; he said to his high officials, 'Was it not three men we cast bound into the midst of the fire?' They replied to the king, 'Certainly, O king.' He said, 'Look! I see four men, loosed, and walking about in the midst of the fire, without harm and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods!" So he sees these guys walking around in there, they're unharmed, they're untied, and he sees a fourth supernatural being. Is this an angel? Is it is it the pre-incarnate Christ? We don't know, that would be speculation. But certainly, God is up to something, it is supernatural.

"Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the door of the furnace of the blazing fire; he responded and said, 'Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego come out, you servants of the Most High God and come here! I mean he's on a rescue mission now, right? He's on a rescue mission. "Then Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego came out of the midst of the fire." My what an astounding spectacle. Can you imagine what everybody's thinking and saying and doing? "The satraps, the prefects, the governors of the kings, high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them." My, so much for the schemes of evil man, right? And what a testimony of the power and the supremacy of God to deliver those who trust in him. My dear old professor, Dr. Whitcomb said this quote, "When our God delivers miraculously, he delivers completely. Not one Israelite perished in the Red Sea, not one Assyrian soldier survived to attack Jerusalem in the days of Hezekiah, not one of the 144,000 will perish in the day of Jacob's trouble. In countless cases, when our Lord Jesus Christ healed the sick and raised the dead, there was complete healing." Then he says this, "Spiritually speaking such examples are great, and reassuring to God's people." Indeed, they are.

Well, you would think maybe now these people are going to put their trust in Yahweh. Maybe some of them did, we don't know. But we see verse 28, "Nebuchadnezzar responded and said 'Blessed be the God of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who has sent His angel and delivered His servants who put their trust in Him, violating the Kings command, and yielded up their body so as not to serve or worship any god except their own God.'" By the way, this implies how the king was originally impressed by their unyielding faith, willing to die for their faith in their God rather than worship of the gods. And by the way, what a magnificent thing it is to behold those who share such unyielding faith. I've always marveled at the testimonies of martyrs. What an amazing thing.

And by the way, what happened here was a literal fulfillment of a promise God gave to Israel over a century earlier in Isaiah 43, beginning in verse two, here's what we read there, "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched, nor will the flame burn you for I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." O dear child of God, we would all do well to remember who our Lord truly is. What we see here in this true story is a contrast between the one true God and the false gods; the false idols of the Babylonians, idols that continue to manifest themselves today in a variety of other forms. And this is a sober reminder, isn't it, that Satan, the god of this world, is the driving force behind Gentile domination in the world, but it's also a reminder that Satan and his minions and all the peoples who follow him, are doomed for eternal judgment unless they repent, and trust in Christ. They will perish in judgment at the hands of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of the Bible, who has revealed himself in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The eventual downfall of the nations depicted in Nebuchadnezzar's dream in chapter two, dear friends, really foreshadows the final destruction of all Gentile domination. What we read in Scripture, as the end of the times of the Gentiles. Again, when the Lion of the tribe of Judah returns as King of kings and Lord of lords.

So Nebuchadnezzar now has another opportunity to encounter the God of Israel, preparing him for what is believed to be his ultimate conversion in chapter four. But to close it out in verse 29, we read this, "'Therefore I make a decree that any people nation or tongue that speaks anything offensive against the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego shall be torn limb from limb and their houses reduced to a rubbish heap, inasmuch as there is no other god who was able to deliver in this way.'" He obviously had no understanding of what it was to be seeker sensitive right? "Then the king caused Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to prosper in the province of Babylon."

Well, there you have that amazing story. But I wish to challenge you with some very practical and I believe timely truths that emerge from this passage and a few others as we wrap this up here this morning. As I said earlier, we are witnessing the disintegration and the humiliation of America. I just shake my head while woke liberals obsess over absurdities, like micro aggressions and toxic masculinity and systemic racism and LGBTQ pride and all of those things our country suffers under; the rule of fools unrestrained in their depravity. It's so heartbreaking to see this. The horrifying pandemonium and chaos of the evacuation in Kabul and the macabre scenes of carnage after the bombing, bloody corpses floating in an open sewage canal. I mean, don't think for one moment that God hasn't orchestrated all of that for the world to see. Here's where your depravity will take you, America. Images that we will never forget, images that are a testimony to the imbecilic, insane policies of progressive Democrats who are more concerned with critical race theory, and LGBTQ indoctrination and open borders, and socialist spending; more concerned with all of those things than upholding the Constitution and protecting the people, but certainly more important than worshipping the one true God. Our heart aches for those families who lost loved ones killed in that bomb. Our hearts ache for the 1000s that are going to be left behind. I can't bear to think about it. Women and girls that will basically become sex slaves, Christians that will be tortured and killed. The greatest military power in the history of the world now at the mercy of medieval sociopaths, misogynist pedophiles, driven by a satanic religion bent on dominating the world. I talked with a military officer yesterday. I was quick to go write down almost word for word what he said. We were talking about this. He was just shaking his head because he's been there. And he said, many of us are seriously concerned that the administration is somehow working with a foreign enemy. Because nobody can make this many stupid decisions that so directly impact the security of our nation. Folks, we have a national security crisis in Afghanistan. And by the way, I'm not suggesting that, you know, our administration is working with an, I don't know, I don't know what's going on. Certainly, human depravity is perfectly capable of doing all of this. All you have to do is read Romans one, when God gives people over to a worthless mind. I mean, that's probably all this is but we have a national security crisis in Afghanistan. We have a national security crisis at our southern border. I saw where 6900 migrants per day are crossing that border. We have a national security crisis, dear friends inside America, because we have a government that is absolutely bent on legalizing things that God calls an abomination. And criminalizing things that God raises up as a standard of righteousness. From redefining marriage and family and gender, to slaughtering babies in the womb. Our freedoms are being taken away. The goal of all of this, of course, is to ultimately destroy the institution of marriage and the family that God has ordained. Make our children wards of the state. We've been told for years by some of these people that it takes a village. No it doesn't. It takes a godly man and a godly woman, a godly father and a godly mother to raise a family. And when the family's gone, everything's gone. Satan knows that. We are witnessing a moral and a social freefall in America. I could go on about all of these blasphemous abominations, I don't want to do that.

The point dear friends is we are being forced to bow to a satanic image, not unlike what Nebuchadnezzar erected. An image of godless humanism. And the severity of the consequences of all of that are growing daily. As a number of you are aware, I've heard from a number of you who, your jobs are being threatened because you don't do what the culture demands you to do. So in closing, I want to prepare you for that day when you are asked to bow to whatever degree that might be. Just for a few moments, I want to close by looking at Second Thessalonians chapter one, a persecuted church. Paul gave thanks for this church, beginning in verse three, because their "faith is greatly enlarged and the love of each one of you toward one another, grows ever greater; therefore we ourselves speak proudly of you, among the churches of God for your perseverance," the original language, perseverance means the ability to hold up under severe testing, "for your perseverance and faith in the midst of all your persecutions and afflictions which you endure." Then in verse five, he says, "This is a plain indication of God's righteous judgment, so that you will be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which indeed you are suffering." In other words, their persecution, our persecution is always proof positive of God's righteous judgment upon those he loves. And why would he do that? Because the father chastens those that he loves, because he wants to perfect our faith, conform us into the likeness of Christ. And persecution is the refiner's fire that purifies the saints. We all know that suffering for our faith is often the most powerful and effective means that God uses to accomplish his purposes in our life. Verse six, "For after all, it is only just," meaning fitting or proper "for God to repay," literally to give back to recompense, "it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you." Jump down to verse eight, "dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus." This is referring to those who are willfully ignorant of who he really is, and also those who reject Him. Those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These are the ones that reject the promise and the offer of salvation. Like grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. Verse nine, then "these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction," the idea of eternal ruin, not by the way, annihilation, but eternal ruin. Revelation 14:11 describes the suffering of hell, as a place where quote, "the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night." In Isaiah, chapter 66, verse 24, God spoke through his prophet, and describes the horrifying and eternal state of all who rebelled against him and reject to the Lord Jesus Christ, that place will be one in which "their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched." So when Paul says here to the Thessalonians, "the penalty of eternal destruction," he speaks of eternal hopelessness, eternal misery. In fact, the term comes from ancient jurisprudence and carries the idea of, of paying the consequences for a wrong committed. Jude seven we read the guilty will suffer "the punishment of eternal fire." Jesus said in Matthew 25:41, "Then He also will say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.'" And I find it amazing that the gospel offers the promise of eternal comfort and good hope through grace according to chapter two and verse 16. But the rejection of God's invitation in the gospel will result in the punishment in a place of unquenchable fire. According to Jude 13, a fiery furnace a place of "black darkness, that has been reserved forever." Revelation 21, eight, a fiery lake of burning sulfur. And somebody asked me not too long ago, "Do you preach hell at your church?" My response was, of course, I preach the Bible. And it was amazing how this person who had been in church all their life, said, "Well, you know, I don't believe you know, God would never do that type of thing." How sad.

But also, this penalty of eternal destruction will include, as we read, being cast away from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. Folks, this is the idea of being shut out in the solitary confinement, confinement of an eternal hell to be excluded from the presence of the Lord, from which that judgment proceeded. And I'm sharing this with you because this will be the fate of all who persecute Christians. And we need to love them, and pity them enough to give them the gospel. Because I don't want this to happen to my worst enemy. And when will the separation occur? Well, at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Back to the text at the end of verse seven, "when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire." Drop down to verse 10, "when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day and to be marveled at among all who have believed--for our testimony to you was believed." So this will happen when the Lord Jesus will be revealed "apokalupsis" in the original language, "apo" means to take away and "kalupsis," this is a cover. So this is the unveiling or the taking away of, the uncovering, the laying bare of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. The apostle John saw this in his inspired vision on the Isle of Patmos in Revelation 19 verse 11, we read, "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war." Oh dear friends, what a stark contrast to Jesus first coming when the King of Kings rode up upon a lonely donkey, a beast of burden when he came to bear the burden of our sin in his body. But now he symbolized as the King of kings that was riding upon a magnificent mount, a steed of splendor, the kind ridden by conquering generals in Rome, in majestic, processionals, and triumph.

Notice more about the rider, "He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True." Dear friends, can there be a more perfect title of the king? Can there be a more fitting description of the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ? I think not. "Faithful" carries the idea of being totally trustworthy and dependable. In other words, all that he has decreed in eternity past will come to fruition. And he is "True," which carries the sense of real genuine, he is the very essence of truth. No deception, no spin. No Orwellian doublespeak like we're used to hearing every day. "'I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through Me,'" John 14 six. And then finally John says that he's coming "in righteousness He judges and wages war." You see, this is both the motive and the mission of the return. He's coming to judge and to conquer. Yes, today, we are increasingly asked to bow before the satanic image of godless humanism. Dear friends, expect it. We're going to see more of it. But fear God, not man, trust in God and do not bow because our King is coming. And that's what motivated the church at Thessalonica and countless others of the redeemed down through the years. And then remember as verse six says, and he will "repay with affliction those who afflict you." Verse seven and "to give relief." I love that word by the way, it means rest or refreshment, restoration. Boy I'm ready for some restoration, aren't you? For some refreshment? He is going to come, he's going to give relief to you who were afflicted, and to us as well.

Well, in closing, I want to do something that is quite different. In my studies, as I was looking at the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, I noticed that that they had inserted the apocryphal prayer of Azariah. Azariah was the Hebrew name of Abednego, as well as another ancient document called "The Song of the Three Youths," which was recorded in the Hebrew Bible. Now, mind you, the apocryphal books are not considered inspired. They're not part of the inspired canon, but I wanted to read you just one little section here that recounts what perhaps Abednego said, when he went to the furnace. If he didn't say it, it would be something very close to this. And I trust that this would be the attitude of our heart. This is entitled "The Prayer of Azariah in the Furnace." "They walked around in the midst of the flames singing hymns to God and blessing the Lord. Then Azariah stood still on the fire and prayed aloud, here's what he said, 'Blessed are You, O Lord, God of our ancestors, and worthy of praise, and glorious is your name forever. For you are just in all you have done, all your works are true and your ways right. And all your judgments are true. You have executed true judgments in all you have brought upon us and upon Jerusalem, the Holy City of our ancestors. By a true judgment you have brought all this upon us because of our sins. For we have sinned and broken your law and turning away from you in all matters, we have sinned grievously. We have not obeyed your commandments, we have not kept them or done what you have commanded us, for our own good. So all that you have brought upon us and all that you have done to us, you have done by a true judgment. You have handed us over to our enemies, lawless and hateful rebels, and to an unjust king, the most wicked in all the world. And now we cannot open our mouths. We, your servants who worship you, have become a shame and a reproach for your namesake. Do not give us up forever. And do not annul your covenant do not withdraw your mercy from us. For the sake of Abraham, your beloved and for the sake of your servant Isaac and Israel, your Holy One, to whom you promised to multiply their descendants like the stars of heaven and like the sand on the shore of the sea. For we, oh Lord, have become fewer than any other nation and abroad low this day in all the world because of our sins. In our day, we have no ruler or prophet or leader. No burnt offering or sacrifice or ablation or incense, no place to make an offering before you and defined mercy. Yet, with a contrite heart and a humble spirit, may we be accepted as though it were with burnt offerings of rams and bowls or with 10s of 1000s of fat lambs. Such may our sacrifice be in your sight today, and may we unreservedly follow you for no shame will come to those who trust in you. And now, with all our heart we follow you. We fear you and seek your presence. Do not put us to shame but deal with us in your patience, and then your abundant mercy. Deliver us in accordance with your marvelous works and bring glory to your name O Lord. Let all who do harm to your servants be put to shame. Let them be disgraced and deprived of all power and let their strength be broken. Let them know that you alone are the Lord God, glorious over the whole world."

Let's pray together. Father, may this be our testimony as well, as we reflect upon the glory of your name, as we reflect upon your goodness and your Grace. And as we long for you to come soon and to take back from the usurper that which is yours. How we long for that day when the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. But until then, may we be found faithful, unyielding, unwilling to bow to the false gods of our culture, may you find us faithful and may you bless us mightily for your sake. And Father, finally, for those that may be here today that know nothing of what it is to be reconciled to a holy God through faith in the only Savior, the Lord Jesus, I pray that today you will overwhelm them with the reality of their guilt so that they might cry out for your undeserved mercy that you will lavish upon them so rich and so free. Save them by your grace. May today be the day that they experience the miracle of regeneration. Father, thank you for our time today. Strengthen us encourage us. May we be salt and light for the glory of Christ. For it's in his name that I pray. Amen.

Will you take your Bibles and turn to the book of Daniel? We will continue our verse-by-verse study of this amazing book in the Old Testament. In a few minutes we will be looking at Daniel chapter two beginning in verse 25. In Psalm 29 two the Spirit of God speaks through the psalmist, and says, "Ascribe to the LORD the glory, due to His name." And of course, his name is the summary of all the glorious attributes of the essence of his holy character. And sadly, the humiliating defeat of our country in Afghanistan and the horror show that is being played out with this botched evacuation is a vivid illustration of what happens to a nation when it does not "Ascribe to the LORD the glory due to his name." To be sure, "pride goes before destruction," we read in Proverbs 16 and verse 18, "and a haughty spirit before stumbling." And this week, we have all witnessed what is perhaps the most chilling illustration of destruction in my lifetime, as the jihadist flag of the Taliban, now replaces Old Glory in Kabul, Afghanistan. My heart aches for the Gold Star families who have lost loved ones in that 20 Year War. And I offer my heartfelt sympathies to those of you, and I know, there are a number of our in our church, who have fought over there, people that we know who have been wounded and killed. I met with a gold star mom on Friday in Paris, Tennessee, at the dedication of a gold star Memorial Highway that will go from Paris Landing all the way into Paris. She lost her son in that war. It's heartbreaking to see what is happening. But frankly, we are a nation that has replaced the worship of the one true God who has revealed himself in creation in Scripture. And in the person in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ with a false god of secular humanism. We have embraced an anti-Christian woke culture that preaches hatred and racism and greed and victimization, in order to gain political power and money, fomenting division and strife that is ultimately leading us towards Marxist totalitarianism. We have defied creational realities by embracing gender fluidity, which is insanity. And we have denied God as the Creator of life, including the creator of two genders, male and female, both made in His image, for the purpose of bringing him glory through his church, and through the institution of marriage between one man and one woman. We have mocked all of that in our country. And while we fight over gender pronouns and transgender rights and critical race theory, our borders are being overrun with hundreds of 1000s of illegal aliens spreading COVID and crime and drugs. And for months, for months, we have listened to the self-righteous, churlish rhetoric of a president who is clearly in a state of cognitive decline, telling us how America is back. This is nothing more than Orwellian doublespeak, purposefully deceptive, confusing, self-centered speech. But while he and his woke administration insist on raising the Black Lives Matter flag and the gay pride banner over American embassies around the world. A medieval army of sociopathic, misogynistic, pedophiles, raise their flag over the American Embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan. It's heartbreaking. It's infuriating. It's evidence of the wrath of divine abandonment on the United States of America. Friends, our President and our elected leaders need our prayers, and we are commanded to pray for them. And I encourage you to do so; our enemies need our prayers. They need the saving, transforming power of the gospel. That's the only hope. Oh how quickly the mighty fall and how great is that fall. And this is the tragic legacy of liberalism. Wherever you see liberalism, whether it's theological liberalism, or political liberalism, it brings destruction. However, I would add that this is not a political battle that can be won by voting for the right person of the right party. Dear friends, this is a clash between two opposing kingdoms, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. And again, the gospel is the only thing that can change men's hearts. And only the Prince of Peace can reconcile sinful men to a holy God and sinful men to each other. But frankly, I would add that the greatest threat to our nation right now is not godless liberalism that drives the progressive wing of the Democratic Party and much of the Republican Party. The greatest threat to this nation is Christless Christianity. Pseudo-Christians that are filling churches, and evangelicalism. You know, during Jesus ministry, it's interesting, the brunt of his attacks was not on Rome, was not on Caesar, but on the institutionalized self-righteousness and hypocrisy of the Pharisees. And Satan has always used the twin themes of false religion and secular government to thwart the purposes of God. And nothing has changed to this day. Evangelical pragmatism has widened the gate of destruction filling churches with false believers. We now have so many churches with predators in the pulpit, entrepreneurs in the pulpit, preaching a worldly man centered gospel rather than a Holy Christ centered gospel. Pop culture hipster churches now dominate the evangelical landscape, spewing out meaningless platitudes and psychobabble. Nothing more than religious social clubs and community centers. They worship the next private revelation. Or they worship the next personality. Or they worship the next program or their music or their entertainment; anything and everything but Christ. We have an easy believeism gospel where all you have to do is pray a prayer, walk an aisle, check a box and you're in. And then we have the prosperity gospel that basically says Jesus died to make you happy. And if you learn how to manipulate him, you can pry from his stingy fingers, all of the goodies that you want. And then of course, we have now the social justice gospel, producing woke churches. And I would argue that this is unquestionably the most destructive heresy to come upon the church since its founding at Pentecost. Dear friends, this is liberalism and Neo Marxism rolled together on steroids. It has taken over much of evangelicalism.

Proverbs nine and verse 10, we read that, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." And in Proverbs one seven, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge." Then he says "fools despise wisdom and instruction." Today we're witnessing a government that is being ruled by fools, and worse yet, are witnessing an evangelical church that is being led by fools. And as a result, America has become a fool's paradise. And we're reaping what we have sown. Our once great country has become an enemy of the Most High God, and he has abandoned us to the consequences of our iniquities. As Romans one makes so clear, we've become a laughingstock around the world. Our enemies openly mock us, our allies are furious at us. In fact, God laughs at us, as I read in Psalm two a few minutes ago, how quickly the mighty fall and how great is that fall. But dear friends, please understand, great empires have always risen, and they have always fallen, and that will continue to happen until the Lord Jesus Christ returns. In fact, it will continue to happen even in the rise and the fall of the final gentile empire of the Antichrist. It will one day be defeated by the King of kings and Lord of lords who will return in power and great glory to establish His kingdom that will never end. Now there's the hope of the Gospel, amen? According to Daniel chapter seven, beginning in verse 13, we read this "'I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a Son of Man was coming. And He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed.'" Dear friends, this is what we see here in Daniel. In God's outline of world history that was given to King Nebuchadnezzar in a dream, a dream that was also given then to Daniel who interpreted that dream.

So, let me provide for you once again, the context of where we will go this morning, you will remember, remember that Nebuchadnezzar had this terrifying dream. And he demanded all of the wise men, all of the Chaldeans to come in, and not tell him just the interpretation of the dream but tell him what the dream was. So he knew they weren't trying to snooker him, because he obviously didn't trust him. And he said that if they couldn't do that he was going to have them torn from limb to limb, and their houses would be made into a rubbish heap. Pretty serious. And in verse 11, we read that "no one else who could declare it to the king, except gods," is what they told him, o one can do that; “whose dwelling places not with mortal flesh." And of course, that's exactly what God wanted them to say. So he could prove himself powerful through his servant Daniel. Well, the king became indignant and furious with his wise man and gave orders to have them all destroyed. They go and they speak to Daniel and his three companions. And he asked if he could speak with the king, so that he could have some time. King gave him the time, he went to prayer with his friends, and we know that God revealed to Daniel, the dream, and the interpretation of the dream. He praised God and then he called the king's commander, Arioch, and he says, "Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon." He said, "Take me into the king's presence, and I will declare the interpretation to the king."

Now we pick it up at verse 25, "Then Arioch hurriedly brought Daniel into the king's presence, and spoke to him as follows, "'I have found a man among the exiles from Judah, who can make the interpretation known to the king!'" Obviously, Arioch wanted to take credit and maybe even participate in the reward right? Verse 26, "The king said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, 'Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen and its interpretation?'" Now, what I want you to notice, dear friends is Daniel didn't immediately launch into the dream and the interpretation This is very important, but rather, he actually agreed with the Chaldeans and gave all the credit to God, unlike Arioch. Notice verse 27, “Daniel answered before the king and said, 'As for the mystery about which the king has inquired, neither wise men, conjurers, magicians nor diviners are able to declare it to the king. However, there is a God in heaven, who reveals mysteries.'"

By the way, this is most important because what he's ultimately saying here is, there is a God in heaven who can do this, unlike the worthless gods of the Babylonians, which was a direct blow to the magical powers of the Chaldeans. Daniel went on to say, "'and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will take place in the latter days. This was your dream and the visions in your mind while you were on your bed.'" Now, the term "latter days," is an important term. It is a term used 14 times in the Old Testament. And the New Testament alludes to the Old Testament concept in a number of passages. Each one needs to be interpreted contextually. But as Dr. Walvoord says, quote, "Taking both the Old and New Testament uses together, it is clear that the latter days for Israel began as early as the division of the land to the 12 tribes, Genesis 49 and verse one, and include the first and second Advents of Christ. The last days for the church culminate at the rapture and resurrection of the church, and are not related to the time of the end for Israel. Daniel does not deal with the age between the two Advents except for the times of the end, and the New Testament does not clearly use the term quote, "latter days" of the present church age." So as Walvoord went on to say in the context of what God is revealing in Daniel two, "The latter days include all the visions that Nebuchadnezzar received and stretches from 600 BCE to the second coming of Christ, to the earth." And beloved, what we will see here is a prophetic outline of the rise and fall of four great world empires that will finally be permanently replaced by a fifth Empire, the kingdom of heaven, for which we longingly await, and for which we are commanded to pray, right? "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."

So, the latter days encompasses the history of Gentile domination over Israel that will one day come to a sudden and a catastrophic end when Christ returns and establishes his millennial kingdom. And we read about this in verse 44, and 45, we just read this to you, we'll come again to it in a few minutes. But there we read, "'In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom, which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever. Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king, what will take place in the future; so the dream is true and its interpretation is trustworthy.'"

Now let's go back to verse 29. Daniel says, "'As for you, O king, while on your bed, your thoughts turned to what would take place in the future.'" Now, folks, this is absolutely staggering. Do you realize what he's saying here is that God revealed to Daniel what he was thinking about on his bed, before God even revealed the dream. It's an amazing thing. Nebuchadnezzar was basically thinking, I wonder what's going to happen after I'm done. After the Babylonian Empire, what's going to happen next?

Daniel goes on to say, "'and He,'" referring to God, "'who reveals mysteries has made known to you what will take place.'" Verse 30, "'But as for me, this mystery has not been revealed to me for any wisdom residing in me more than any other living man, but for the purpose of making the interpretation known to the king, and that you may understand the thoughts of your mind.'" So once again, Daniel's humility shines bright, as he underscores how God alone is responsible for all of this. God alone is responsible for getting you to even think about the future. God alone is responsible for giving you the revelation, and now giving you the interpretation through his servant. And what he is about to describe now, I might add, corresponds to the vision described in chapter seven, that God revealed to Daniel personally and we will see that later, when we get there.

Back to verse 31, "'You, O King, we're looking in behold, there was a single great statue; that statue, which was large and of extraordinary splendor, was standing in front of you, and its appearance was awesome.'" The word here is from a root word, meaning to fear. So what he saw was a colossal, vivid, bright image that evoked a sense of terrifying all within his heart. It was overwhelming. Verse 32, "'The head of that statue was made of fine gold, its breast and its arms of silver, its belly and its thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron, and partly of clay.'" In the original language, literally, baked clay, a piece of pottery, piece of ceramic, if you will. I want you to notice here there is a descending deterioration in the precious value of the metals from the head to the feet. Moreover, each metal is less weight, with the clay and the feet being the lightest of all. However, it's also fascinating to note that each material increases in hardness, from the head to the feet, with the noticeable exception of the clay in the feet, which is the weakest part of the image. Mixing hard brittle quote, "baked clay" or ceramic with durable iron, certainly presupposes a very weak foundation that is subject to collapse. And that's the point.

Now let's look closely at what Daniel goes on to say, verse 34, "'You continued looking,'" we have a participle here, depicting I should say that the king's constant gaze at the image; "'You continued looking until a stone was cut out without hands, and it struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.'" So here he describes a large stone cut out of a mountain, as we see in verse 45. That strikes the feet of the image, its weakest point, and it strikes it with such force that it not only crushes the feet, that Final Empire, but caused all of the other empires that are pictured in the image to disappear without a trace. Verse 35, "'Then the iron the clay, the bronze, the silver and the gold were crushed, all at the same time, became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that not a trace of them was found. But the stone that struck the statue became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.'" My what a stunning scene, right? This colossal image instantly destroyed by a stone hitting its vulnerable feet and then becoming a mountain that fills the whole earth. All those metals were rendered powerless and worthless, utterly insignificant in comparison with the stone that was cut out without hands that struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and crushed them.

Now, I find it interesting that Nebuchadnezzar here is absolutely speechless. I think I would be too. He never interjects a word. And he must have been dumbfounded to hear this 18-year-old Judean tell him exactly what he saw in his dream, and he obviously knew that a god far superior to anything that he could have ever imagined was involved in this whole scenario. Again, notice what Daniel says in verse 36, "'This was the dream; now, we will tell its interpretation before the king. You, O king, are the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, the strength and the glory; and wherever the sons of men dwell, or the beasts of the field or the birds of the sky, He has given them into your hand and has caused you to rule over them all. You are the head of gold.'" Obviously, the king is the personification and symbol of the Babylonian Empire. Now I can see in my mind's eye, mind you, this isn't in the text, but I think it's fair to say we could kind of sit back and look at Nebuchadnezzar at this point, we could kind of see him sit back, kind of stick his chest out and raise his head up and you see a grin begin to form on his face. His mouth is probably wide open with pride. Although it's also clear, from what Daniel says, that all of these things were given to him by the God of heaven, who was revealing this to Daniel. And what's really interesting is that God had previously prophesied the meteoric rise of Nebuchadnezzar some six years earlier, through the prophet Jeremiah, who warned the kings of Moab and Edom in Amman and Tyre and Sidon, in Jeremiah 27. Beginning in verse six, here's what he had said six years earlier. "'Now, I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.'" It's amazing. This happened before it ever happened; the prophecy happened before it actually happened with Nebuchadnezzar. So, "'I've given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, My servant, and I have given him also the wild animals of the field to serve him.'" Isn't it interesting that God even uses the ungodly to serve his purposes? We need to keep that in mind given the present crisis we are in. "'All the nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson, until the time of his own land comes; then many nations and great kings will make him their servant. It will be that the nation of the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and which, and which will not put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, I will punish that nation with the sword with famine and with pestilence,' declares the Lord, 'until I have destroyed it by his hand.'" In verse 14, "'So do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you saying, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon,' for they prophesy a lie to you, for I have not sent them' declares the Lord, 'but they prophesy falsely in My name in order that I may drive you out, and that you may perish you and the prophets who prophesy to you.'" So here we see that God even orchestrated false teachers, to lie to them and to get the people to believe that lie so that he might judge them. And in Jeremiah 37, in verse 10, God even warned the Jews at the beginning of Nebuchadnezzar siege of Jerusalem in 588 BC, saying, "'Even if you had defeated the entire army of Chaldeans who were fighting against you, and there were only wounded men left among them, each man in his tent, they would rise up and burn the city with fire.'" So indeed, God providentially appointed Nebuchadnezzar to be not only an irresistible force, but also a magnificent, brilliant, sovereign monarch that would conquer the whole known world at that time, including apostate Israel.

Back to verse 39, Daniel to Daniel goes on to say, "'After you there will arise another kingdom inferior to you.'" And we know that this is a reference to the kingdom of the Medes and the Persians depicted in the dream as the breast and arms of silver, which probably intends to portray the dual monarchy of the Medo Persian Empire. That such a king of kings would be replaced by, quote "another kingdom inferior to you," is a bit puzzling at first glance, is it not? Especially given the fact that the Medo Persian Empire was geographically much larger than the Babylonian Empire? Most conservative scholars believe the inferiority of the Second Empire pertain to its quality of government.

Let me explain this because I think this is accurate. Historically, we know that Nebuchadnezzar reigned for 43 years as an absolute dictatorial autocrat, and he was a brilliant, astounding king. He reigned over a totally unified kingdom and he was greatly feared and respected, and the people prospered. However, when he died in 562 BC, he was replaced by his son, Evil-Merodach . Then two usurpers of the throne, Neriglissar and Nabonidus. And finally his daughter's son, Belshazzar, who was that vile man, that total fool who saw the handwriting on the wall, as you will recall. Remember he was so morally rotten, that he was weighed in Gods balances and "found wanting," Daniel five, verse 27. Well, as a result of all of this, the great Babylonian Empire began to deteriorate because of incompetent, corrupt and morally bankrupt leadership. Which, by the way, is exactly what we're seeing happening here in our country. Now, Cyrus, the ruler of the Medo-Persian Empire, was indeed inferior to the great Nebuchadnezzar; he was not able to wield an autocratic scepter, like Nebuchadnezzar, because his authority was ultimately subject to the law of the Medes and the Persians. So even as silver is about 40 times or so, less valuable than gold, the monarchy or quality of the Medo-Persian Empire, was inferior to the Neo- Babylonian kingdom. In fact, the empire of Alexander the Great that came next, that conquered the Medo- Persian Empire also lacked that kind of central authority, that superior organization and unity that Babylon had, and that the Medo-Persian Empire possessed. And of course, this is exactly what Daniel sees in the progressive inferiority in the succeeding empires. Although we've also got to bear in mind, while there is, as you will see, a descending value in the metals, there is also a ascending strength, suggesting the increased military might, that will increase over the history of the times of the Gentiles. And we especially see this in the explosion of military might that came through the unimaginable military power of the world conflict that's going to come eventually, in Revelation 16, and 19, to which Daniel refers in Daniel 11:36 through 45. Again, we will look at that when we get there.

But I also wish to add that some classical writers, such as the ancient Greek poet Hediod, who lived for about, somewhere they think 750 to 650 BCE, as well as the Roman poet Ovid, who lived from 43 BC to 18 AD. These were some of the guys that viewed history progressing in the same ways as the descending values of the metals. I find that very interesting. Think about this, contrary to evolutionary theory, man did not begin with dust and ascend to gold. Just the opposite happened. And the times of the Gentiles began with gold, but it will end in worthless dust that will disappear in the wind. And as I thought about this, even as evil entered the world through the chief angel, who was at the same level of Michael the archangel, it will end in the eternal separation of divine oblivion. And even as sinners enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin, even as sinners live for themselves and ignore God, their corruption will gradually metastasize as a cancer, until finally, it will utterly eat them away and they will be ruined. What was once promised as pleasure, will end in the solitary confinement of an eternal hell, such as the progress of sin’s corruption, dear friends; both historically as well as personally. What did Solomon say, "Vanity, vanity," it's all vanity, "striving after the wind." That's what life is, unless you fear God and obey Him, live for His glory.

Back to Daniel, two 39. At the end, Daniel then describes the third kingdom, "a kingdom of bronze," he says, "which will rule over all the earth." Now as predicted, a third kingdom arose and conquered the Medo-Persian Empire. And it did rule over all the earth and this was the kingdom of Macedonia, of Greece, ruled by Alexander the Great beginning in 334 BC. His Grecian Empire not only conquered all of the regions of the dual silver kingdom of Medo-Persia, but even further east, all the way to the borders of India. And by the end of his conquests, history reveals that he had carved out an empire of 1.5 million square miles. Now, what might we glean from the fact that the inferior quality of this bronze kingdom was somehow able to conquer the Medo-Persian kingdom, symbolized by the superior silver? Clearly silver is a superior quality of metal than bronze. So in what way were the Greeks inferior, especially given the fact that Alexander's military was mighty? Its accomplishments were far superior than the Babylonians and the Medo-Persians put together. In fact, it is said that his army of around 40,000, sometimes it went up as much as 90, but most of the time is around 40,000, moved with such speed and agility, they were able to defeat armies like the Persians, that were about three to five times larger in size. They were powerful. They invented the Greek phalanx, which was a single rectangular mass of military that locked their shields and their spears together, they had pikes, they had what were called sarissas, that they invented, these were long spears or pikes that they would hold with with two hands and between 13 to 20 feet long and they had a sharp iron head shaped like a leaf, and then they had a bronze bud spike, which could be anchored in the ground to stop charges. You've seen that in some of the movies; they put the sticks down and the horses run into them and all of that type of thing, they invented that. The spike was sharpened well enough that it could pierce through the enemy shields. They also implemented smaller and lighter shields. They developed skirmish infantry's, archery units, light cavalry, heavy cavalry, siege engines. They were so well organized that they had various divisions that were dedicated to specific responsibilities, each working together with perfect efficiency at a moment's notice. They were virtually unstoppable. You may recall they even defeated the war elephants of King Porus in the Battle of Jhelum, in 326 BC. In fact, in Daniel chapter eight, I'm going to take you there for a moment, beginning in verse five. God revealed to Daniel even more about the mighty Alexander the Great that would come. And there he depicted him as a male goat.

We read in Daniel eight beginning in verse five, "While I was observing behold, a male goat was coming from the west, over the surface of the whole earth without touching the ground;" denoting the speed, "and the goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. He came up to the ram that had two horns," referring to Medo-Persian Empire, "which I had seen standing in front of the canal and rushed him in his mighty wrath. I saw him come beside the ram and he was enraged at him; and he struck the ram and shattered his two horns, and the ram had no strength to withstand him. So he hurled him to the ground and trampled on him, and there was none to rescue the ram from his power. Then the male goat magnified himself exceedingly. But as soon as he was mighty, the large horn was broken, and in its place there came up for conspicuous horns toward the four winds of heaven."

So, why is the Grecian Empire symbolized by an inferior metal than the Medo-Persian empire that it conquered? Well, I believe the answer can be explained in that it had an inferior quality of unity, and administration. The efficiency of Alexander's empire crumbled very quickly, great division began to emerge in his kingdom, and that was, that was its ruin. And as we will see more in detail in chapter eight. At Alexander's death at age 33, in 323 BC, four of his generals became kings over four sectors of the vast Grecian Empire, and that was their undoing. Now, notice again, back to verse 32. "The head of the statue was made to find gold," that's Babylon, "its breast and its arms of silver," Medo-Persia, then the third kingdom is described with "its belly and its thighs of bronze," and then a fourth kingdom with "its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay." That's fascinating, isn't it? This third Empire designated by the "belly and its thighs of bronze," verse 32, ends with the thighs from which the legs of iron emerge, indicating it would eventually encompass the territory of both the East and the West. And of course, this is a reference ultimately to Rome, as we will understand more in days to come. Verse 40, "Then there will be a fourth kingdom, as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces." And again, this is a reference to the Roman Empire that succeeded Greece historically. I might also add that the parallel symbolism of the animals in Daniel's vision in chapter seven underscores the designation and sequence of all these successive empires, the fourth beast in verse seven being a clear reference to the iron legions of Rome. Now, iron is clearly the least valuable metal in the descending quality of metals, pictured in the image, but it is also the strongest, "inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things," crushes and shatters all things, the original language carries the idea of, in these terms, of that which compresses something out of violence, out of its natural shape and shapes it into something else. In fact, I noticed "smashes" is a participle. And it means one which breaks by a hammer, and it denotes continued action. And that's what the Romans did. They just kept beating things down. One historian and scholar, Miller says this, "Rome ruled the nations with an iron hand and like a huge iron club shattered all who resisted its will. The Roman Empire dominated the world from the defeat of Carthage in 146 BCE to the division of the east and west empires in AD 395, approximately 500 years. The last Roman Emperor ruled in the west until 476. And the Eastern Division of the Empire continued until AD 1453."

Now Daniel goes on to tell the king in verse 41, "'In that you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay,'" in other words, brittle baked clay, and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom, but it will have in it the toughness of iron inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay.'" So here's a portrayal of vulnerability of weakness. And I agree with Wood and others who say, quote, "The weakness of Rome, which led to its fall, and which did come to existence, especially in its latter period,” was catch this, "a deterioration of moral fiber among the people. Idleness, luxurious living and dissipation of character found their way into, and intermixed, with the still firmly structured aspects of government." Reminds me of the United States doesn't it you? Here we are in an absolute moral freefall in our country, a country that is obsessed with culture, the culture of entitlement, critical race theory, materialism, drug abuse, and the overall insanity of liberal wokeism. That's clearly the potters clay that is dividing us and will ultimately destroy us.

Back to verse 42. Daniel says, "'As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong, and part of it will be brittle. And in that you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery.'" And in chapter seven, these 10 toes are also depicted as 10 horns. I don't want to confuse you a lot, but we're going to see that that he will speak of this again later on. And within the context of these eschatological events of Daniel seven, eight, as well as verses 24 through 27, as those things unfold, on the stage of world history, we will see that ultimately, this is going to include an 11th horn, portraying the final antichrist. Moreover, in that context, what we see is Daniel's vision flashes forward to the divine throne where judgment is going to be meted out on the fourth kingdom. We read about this in Revelation 20, beginning in verse 11, through verse 15. And because of this, I believe, as do many other conservative scholars, that it is safe to conclude that the 10 toes of the iron kingdom described here in Daniel 2:41, through 42, points to 10 future kings, who will control the territory of a revived Roman Empire, during what is called the 70th week of judgment upon Israel, that Daniel describes in Daniel nine, verses 24 through 27. And that future seven-year period of judgment will end with sins final judgment, and Christ's reign of righteousness, when Christ returns and establishes his millennial rule over the earth, which will become the consummating bridge between world history and the eternal state.

Back to verse 44, "'In the days of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom, which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.'" Obviously, dear friends, nothing close to this has ever happened. So obviously, this must be something future. And to be sure, the spiritual aspect of Christ's kingdom today has not obliterated Gentile domination in the world. So we look at something future here, verse 45, "'Inasmuch as you saw that a stone was cut out of the mountain without hands and that it crushed the iron, the bronze, the clay and the silver and the gold, the great God has made known to the king, what will take place in the future; so the dream is true, and its interpretation is trustworthy.'"

The symbolism of a stone cut out of the mountain without hands, clearly points to divine origination. This is something that God is going to do. Clearly this is the kingdom of God that will not only replace every vestige of all the preceding Gentile kingdoms, but this kingdom will destroy them all and replace them all forever. I can only imagine what must have gone through Nebuchadnezzar's mind when he heard all of this. I wish to close this morning with an excellent summary statement from an old friend, Dr. David Larsen, from his excellent book, "Jews, Gentiles and the Church; a New Perspective on History and Prophecy." I highly recommend that book to you. By the way, the Lord took David home this last March, he was a prolific author, Bible expository. He spoke here at Calvary Bible Church in the late 90s. And he served as a professor and chair of the practical theology department at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School from 1981 to 1996, up in Chicago. And here's what Dr. Larson said, quote, "God's call to Israel was to be a nation apart in order that she might bear effective witness to the nations. While even her dispersion and tragic history among the nations will be a real plus, in her ultimate testimony and witness, her restoration as a nation and her quote, 'resurrection from among the nations,' Ezekiel 37, one through 14, will become the fulcrum for her worldwide effectiveness at the end of the age. With her captivity, and only a remnant in the land, Israel was facing an extended period of time called by Jesus, 'the times of the Gentiles,' Luke 21:24, during which Jerusalem would be trampled on by the Gentiles. This prolonged period is the scope of the dream of the great image that God gave to the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel two and repeated to Daniel himself and the vision of the four beasts in Daniel seven. Through this extended period of many centuries, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, in an earlier continuing and later form, will dominate world history until Jesus Christ comes back to reign. The stone smiting the image of Daniel two 44 through 45 and the coming of the Son of Man is described in Daniel 7:13 through 14."

Well, as we continue to make our way through this amazing book, these things will begin to make more and more sense to you, you'll be able to put the pieces of the puzzle together. So bear with me, read it, study it, meditate on it. But may I leave you with this challenge, dear friends, seriously, let's pray for our nation. Let's pray for our leaders. Let's pray for our soldiers. Let's pray for our enemies. And may I also encourage you strongly to pray for the true Church, that we might remain faithful and not get sucked in to all of this craziness that is out there. I'm reminded of what Paul told the Corinthian believers, he said in Second Corinthians 11, three, "But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." Dear friends, Jesus is coming again. Jesus is coming again. We are a second coming church because we are a second coming people. And as I finished my meditations on this particular passage, as is often the case, the verse of a song came to mind. It comes from Charles Wesley's great hymn, "Rejoice, the Lord is King." The last verse came to my mind and let me just read this to you in closing. "Rejoice in glorious hope. For Christ the judge shall come and take his servants up to their eternal home. Lift up your heart. Lift up your voice, rejoice again, I say, rejoice." Let that be the theme of our heart this morning.

Let's pray together. Father, we are always overwhelmed when we read your word and see your sovereign hand in everything that you say, everything that you do. We thank you that we are not living in a random world. We thank you that we serve a sovereign a faithful and a good God. We thank you that our hope is anchored securely in the person in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who has secured our redemption forever. So Lord in all of this, we relax, we rejoice. But we also grieve for those who have no hope. And I would ask that you would help us to have an ardent zeal for evangelism, to spread the Good News of the Gospel everywhere we possibly can, and to live it out in such a way that others will see Christ in us, the hope of glory. And, Lord, if there be one here today that knows nothing of what it means to truly be born again, to truly have an intimate walk with the living God, because they have been united to him through faith in Christ, I would plead with you that you would break their heart this day. Help them to see their sin for what it is. To acknowledge it, to run to the foot of the cross and to plead for undeserved mercy, that will be granted so rich and so free. Lord, we commit this to you as always, I pray especially for our children and our young people, as they are bombarded with all of the lies of the enemy. I pray that you will protect them and use us as parents, as grandparents, as mentors, as Sunday school teachers, all of us who have influence in their lives, Lord use us to speak truth into their hearts, by the power of your spirit and through Your Word. So Father, we thank you for this time. We love you, we praise You and we long for your soon return. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

Well, good morning, or whatever time it is, when you're watching this, it's good to be with you via the internet. I am speaking to an empty auditorium, due to a catastrophe that we have had here at the church, due to a break-in. But I'm thankful that we have technology that allows us to continue to proclaim the Word of God. And that's what we want to do this morning. If you will take your Bibles and turn to Daniel chapter two, where we will continue our verse-by-verse exposition of this amazing book. And this morning's sermon is under the heading "Nebuchadnezzar's Dream, God's Outline of World History." And this will be part one of that particular topic. Before we look at it closely, I would like to help you think about some things that will help us really put what we're doing here today in perspective. Today, we are watching the systematic disintegration of our great country. We're watching a government, as well as false religions, do things that are destroying our country. And it's crucial, therefore, for we as Christians, to have a biblical worldview, especially as that might relate to the past, and the present, and the future. And what we have before us here in Daniel, chapter two, as well as subsequent chapters, is a magnificent gift from God, to provide for us an outline of world history, one that was revealed through a dream that God providentially induced to King Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, an event that took place over 2600 years ago. And this is a comprehensive chronology of not only what Jesus called the times of the Gentiles, for example, in Luke 21:24, but it's also a prophetic unveiling of Israel's history stretching from the days of Daniel, which would have been about 600 years before Christ, all the way to the second coming of the Messiah King when God establishes his messianic kingdom; when Christ will reign upon the earth for 1000 years, according to Bible prophecy. A time when we will, even as believers, reign with Him, a kingdom that will ultimately merge into the eternal state of the new heavens and the new earth according to Revelation 19 through chapter 22. That will be a great day when according to Revelation 11:15, "The kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever." This will be a time when according to Habakkuk, chapter two and verse 14, "The earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea." This will be a time as promised, when the Lord Jesus Christ will take his rightful place on the throne of David in a renovated Jerusalem; a time when Israel will no longer fear any of the nations of the earth or indeed, as God has promised through the prophet Isaiah, in Isaiah chapter 11, verse nine, "They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."

Now, as we look at our world today, we see woke Marxism as perhaps the greatest internal threat to the United States. And most experts will tell us that the greatest external threat is China. But as believers we can be comforted knowing that we are citizens of another kingdom, and we serve the Lord Jesus Christ, our King. So regardless of what happens here in the United States, we know that ultimately, the Lord is working his plan in us and through us. And even though we are alien people on this earth, even though we are a people that have received a word from another realm, and we worship a God that others do not know; even though we wait for that appointed time when he comes and delivers us from this place, despite all of those things, we know that right now we are a part of this mystical body, the church, the Body of Christ. And even churches like ours that meet together all over the world, the true Church, are nothing more than little outposts of a celestial kingdom that the world cannot comprehend. So, no matter what ill befall us here, in our country, or in the world, we know that there is nothing that Satan and his minions can do to defeat us. For indeed, Christ has promised to build his church. And he says that the gates of Hades will not overpower it. Moreover, though, Satan seeks our ruin, we can be excited to know "that greater is He that is within us than he that is in the world." So dear friends, as we come to the Word of God, we want to be encouraged. And we want to be awestruck by the sovereignty of God, who not only knows the end from the beginning, but has also ordained it for our good and for His glory.

Now, I want to give you some preliminary thoughts here, they're a bit technical, but they're very important for you to understand. The inspired writers of Scripture often used a variety of structural patterns in their writings, in order to provide different ways of adding beauty and vibrancy of various passages and even various books. And we see this for example, in the book of Daniel, it has what we call a chiastic pattern, the word chi comes from the Greek it would be our letter X. And when you think about it, if you look at an X at the top of the two lines, you could put number one and number two, and at the bottom number three, and number four. So in a chiastic pattern, what you see is elements one and four, and in some of the verses will be parallel in thought with elements two and three.

For example, in Matthew chapter seven, in verse six, we read, "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces. There you have a chiastic pattern. In the first line, the word "dogs" or the concept of dogs is linked to line four, "they will turn and tear you to pieces." Likewise, in the second line, "throw your pearls before swine" is paralleled by a reference to being "trampled under their feet" in line three. Now, this is what we see in the book of Daniel. Daniel chapters two and seven, parallel one another. And there he encourages his exiled Jewish kinsmen by explaining the succession of four Gentile Empires that will dominate Jerusalem and God's covenant people until the Messiah comes and establishes His kingdom. But then in Daniel chapters three and six, we see that they are also linked together. There he warns the Jews of what they must endure during the times of the Gentiles. And there he exhorts them to be faithful, come what may. But then also Daniel, chapters four and five parallel each other, and there he offers exhilarating hope, to the faithful Jewish remnant that one day, every Gentile nation will bow before their Messiah. So, bear this in mind as we approach chapter two, because it will be linked in a chiastic pattern with chapter seven. And together, they explain the succession of four Gentile Empires that will dominate the Jewish people until the Messiah King returns in power and great glory. So with that introduction, let's examine what the Spirit of God has revealed through His inspired writer Daniel, and also make some applications along the way.

So, notice in Daniel chapter two, verse one, "Now in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar," let me pause here. This is a reference to the second official year of his reign, which did not include his, what was called the ascension year, or the first year of his reign, according to the Babylonian method of dating the reigns of kings. So this would have been the second year of his official reign, but the third year of the prescribed training for Daniel and his three friends, so, Daniel two probably took place about three years after the events of Daniel one, verses one through 16.

So, again, "Now, in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; and his spirit was troubled," literally in the original language, his spirit smote itself, fascinating thought, "and his sleep left him." So he sees something that is very alarming, that awakens him from his sleep, and he's in a deep state of agitation. Verse two, "Then the king gave orders to call in the magicians, the conjurers, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king." Now, it's hard to know the unique distinctions of these classes of wise men. Because as we look at Daniel, we see that he uses a total of six different terms to describe the scholars and the priests and the sorcerers that advise the king. And certainly we know that all of their activities were demonic and strongly condemned in scripture. But we have a little hint as we look at some of the background, and some of the words that are used. The word "magicians" comes from a Hebrew, a Hebrew root meaning stylus, or graving tool. And so this would indicate that this would be a religious scribe who wrote with a stylus on clay tablets on the cuneiform. They would meticulously chronicle the movements of the stars to determine their future. You must understand that astrology and omens played a big role in their religion, especially in understanding what the gods were going to do in the future. And we see the same term used to describe the teaching priests of Egypt in Genesis 41 and verse eight. And certainly these magicians were in touch with the spirits and with the gods, at least the assumption was that that was the case. And they were also skilled with hepatoscopy, which is the art, the religious art of divination by inspecting the liver of animals. We read about this, for example, in Ezekiel 21 in verse 21. And then there also the conjurers, the Hebrew ashshaph. This may even refer to snake charmers, as the term is sometimes used, but also those who practice sorcery through enchantments. They were also necromancers. In other words, they communicated with the spirits of the dead.

And then he uses the term sorcerers. And these would be people we know that would cut herbs for charms and spells, and they would cast magical spells upon people by harnessing evil spirits to get them to do unnatural things in the world. And then he also uses the term Chaldeans. And what's interesting, in the book of Daniel, that term is used two different ways. First of all, it is used as an ethnic description of people who had migrated from or migrated into Babylonia. For example, Nebuchadnezzar himself and his father, his people, were Chaldeans. But it's also a reference to a class of priests and wise men that were skilled in astrology and sorcery. So, the Chaldeans, the term Chaldeans is a bit of a catch all term for these ancient wise men. Well, bottom line, these were the trusted counselors of Nebuchadnezzar, the man that he summoned to interpret his disturbing dream. And all these terms could basically be used interchangeably. They were all demon possessed, demon influenced, pagan idolaters, like most all of the people who give council to kings and queens and presidents even to this day. However, I want you to understand that although they were demonic, and although they were constantly participating in all of these cultish things, they were also brilliant. We know that Babylonian astronomers kept meticulous records of the movements of the stars and the planets and even comets because they wanted to know the will of the gods. And we know from history that in 500 BC, the Babylonian astronomer, Naburimanuu, used records dating back to 747 BC, to calculate the length of the year at 365 days, six hours, 15 minutes and 41 seconds, and he was only off, scientists tell us, by 26 minutes and 55 seconds. Another historian Martin Beek said this, quote, "A later Babylonian astronomer, Kidinnu, in 390 BC, made some measurements even more accurate than were known in the 19th century AD. He knew the difference between the sidereal year, that is the apparent period of revolution of the sun, from the time it occupies a certain position in relation to a fixed star until it returns to that position, and the tropical year, which is the time elapsing between two successive transits of the earth through the first point of Aries. From this, he discovered precession, which is the motion of the equinoxes on the ecliptic, in a westward direction, that is opposite to the sequence of the signs of the zodiac. Furthermore," Baek says, "he was able to predict solar and lunar eclipses accurately," end quote. So you get some idea of who these guys were. Yes, they were demonic in many ways, but they were also brilliant. And although Nebuchadnezzar's advisors were spiritually dead, they had great wisdom in other areas of sciences. And this, frankly, helps confirm the fact that the wisdom of the world and the supposed revelation from God apart from the one true God is not only worthless when it comes to spiritual matters, but it's also very deceptive. And many people today believe in the wisdom of man. They believe that man has the ability to solve all of the problems of the world. And only a fool could really say that, because as we look at the world today, despite all of the scientific discoveries, we see that it is as wicked today as it is ever been. It reminds me of what Paul said in First Corinthians one beginning in verse 18, "For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it is the power of God. For it is written, 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the cleverness of the clever I will set aside.'" He went on to say, "Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? As not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well-pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed, Jews ask for signs and Greek search for wisdom; But we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God."

So back to the story here. The king calls all these wise men together and Daniel in his companions, as we see, are not among them. That was probably because they were, they were still young, they were inexperienced. They were, they were Hebrews that had been exiled and they weren't part of the old guard of Babylonian wise men. And so the king said to them in verse three, "'I had a dream, and my spirit is anxious to understand the dream.' Then the Chaldeans spoke to the king in Aramaic." And this is significant, by the way, because from here on through chapter seven, Daniel writes in Aramaic rather than Hebrew and here's what the Chaldeans said, "'O king, live forever! Tell the dream to your servants, and we will declare the interpretation.'" Said differently, we will invent some cockamamie, ridiculous but impressive, dignified, sanctimonious sounding explanation. Now, what's interesting is there are extant, in other words, still existing manuals today that we can read. For example, there are what's called the Akkadian manuals that reveal various factors that these ancient wise men would use to properly diagnose a dream, if you will, and then render a proper interpretation. And depending upon the nature and the elements of the dream, they would apply certain rules for its interpretation. Frankly, this is not much different than a lot of the psychobabble of our day; that psychological jargon that you hear from time to time, kind of an esoteric language designed to impress the naive and the ignorant into believing a person has some deeper, more scientific grasp of the truth. This is especially prevalent in Freudian psychoanalytic theory and dream interpretation prevalent in the pseudo-scientific field of psychology.

Well, notice verse five, "The king replied to the Chaldeans, 'The command from me is firm; f you do not make known to me the dream and its interpretation, you will be torn limb from limb and your houses will be made a rubbish heap.'" A terrifying statement. And this was typical of ancient Middle East despots. They were notorious for this kind of cruelty, including the hideous execution of dismembering a human being while they were still alive. Verse six, he went on to say, "'But if you declare the dream, and its interpretation, you will receive from me gifts and a reward and great honor; therefore declare to me the dream and its interpretation.'" Now, I can only imagine in my mind, the horror on the faces of those wise men. And frankly, it's a bit comical. You see, Nebuchadnezzar is a fairly young man at this point. And he has inherited these old wise men from his father's reign. And it's obvious as we go on and read the text, that he did not trust them, he did not respect them. He doubted their supernatural abilities, just like most people scoff at the prosperity, hucksters of our day, that we see on television all the time. So it appears that he wanted to get rid of them, and perhaps bring in his own advisors. So what does he do? He gives them a task that he knows is impossible, unless they truly have a direct line from the gods. So he's probably wanting to prove them to be the demonic frauds that they really were. And I also have to laugh. Both the king and his advisors now we're servants of Satan, even though perhaps unwittingly so, but Satan doesn't really care who lives or who dies. And even today, just watch how quickly depraved politicians will turn on their own if they know that somehow by doing so they can advance their own agenda. The wicked always eat their own, and that's what we see going on here.

So again, the king wanted to make sure that they told him the dream, that they had some supernatural revelation. And he was suspect of the clever sounding claptrap that he was used to hearing from these guys. So he's saying, you tell me the dream, before you tell me the interpretation. And obviously, the wise men knew they were they were dead meat, as we would say, there's no way they could do this. Verse seven, "They answered a second time and said, 'Let the king tell the dream to his servants, and we will declare the interpretation.' The king replied, 'I know for certain that you are bargaining for time inasmuch as you have seen that the command for me is firm, that if you do not make the dream known to me, there is only one decree for you. For you have agreed together to speak lying and corrupt words before me until the situation has changed; therefore, tell me the dream that I may know that you can declare to me it's interpretations.' The Chaldeans answered the king and said, 'There is not a man on earth who could declare the matter for the king, inasmuch as no great king or ruler has ever asked anything like this of any magician, conjurer, or Chaldean. Moreover, the thing which the king demands is difficult, and there is no one else who could declare it to the king, except gods, whose dwelling place is not with mortal flesh.'" And of course, that's precisely what God wanted them to say. You see, this is a divine setup, if you will, so that God could prove himself supreme, prove himself powerful as the only one and true God.

Verse 12, "Because of this the king became indignant and very furious and gave orders to destroy all the wise men of Babylon. So, the decree went forth that the wise men should be slain; and they looked for Daniel and his friends to kill them." They probably went back to the dorm where they were living together, to find them and kill them along with all of the rest. So, what we have here is God exposing these frauds, as well as the phony gods they serve while at the same time preparing to exalt himself through his servant Daniel. Notice verse 14, "Then Daniel replied with discretion and discernment, to Arioch, the captain of the king's bodyguard who had gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon." I want you to notice "he replies with discretion and discernment." Not with fear, not with panic, not with anger. Verse 15, "He said to Arioch, the Kings commander, 'For what reason is the decree from the king so urgent?' Then Arioch, informed Daniel about the matter." Let's stop and think about this. How would you feel if a government agent came to you and said that you were under arrest for a crime that you had not committed, and that you are going to be subject to a barbaric act of cruelty through, dismemberment. Now, obviously, in our flesh, there's going to be panic, we're going to be overwhelmed, there's going to be disbelief, there's going to be a pleading for mercy. But for those ruled by the Spirit, there's going to be something else that prevails, something that comes deep from within that person's character. There will be a quiet calm, as we see here with Daniel. There will be a reply that's wise, there will be a sense of confident assurance, because that person, like Daniel, will know that God is up to something, and that I can trust him, no matter what comes my way, whether I'm allowed to live or die. And Daniel's response, dear friends, is the result of a young man who had a secret devotion to God, a young man that was committed to a life of faithful obedience to his Lord, a man who had experienced how God had blessed him, even in the past, even though he was still a young man, probably about the age of 18. Right? At this point. You see, his was not a blind faith, but a proven faith.

I'm reminded of what the psalmist said in Psalm 55, verse 22, "Cast your burden upon the Lord, and He will sustain you." No doubt Daniel remembered this, or certainly the concept. That text goes on to say "He will never allow the righteous to be shaken. But you O, God will bring them down to the pit of destruction; Men of bloodshed and deceit will not live out half their days, but I will trust in you." Oh, dear friend, please hear me. Now is the time to prepare for battle, not when the enemy attacks, not when the executioner comes, learn well what it is to wear the full armor of God, that you may stand firm in the hour of conflict and be able to withstand the schemes of the devil. Your response in the moment of crisis will reveal the preparation of your heart and the intimacy of your walk with Christ. And for this reason, you will recall Jesus commanded his disciples in the garden in Matthew 26:41, "'Keep watching and praying.'" In other words, be vigilant in the power of the Spirit, "'that you may not enter into temptation, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.'"

Well, Daniel understood these concepts even at the young age of 18. So he responds to this terrifying news with remarkable calm and wisdom and confidence. Notice verse 16, what happens next, "So Daniel went in and requested of the king that he would give him time, in order that he might declare the interpretation to the king." My goodness, talk about faith, Daniel had no idea what the king had dreamed, much less the interpretation. And at this point, Daniel had no idea that God would reveal any of these things to him, but he trusted him to do so, he knew he could do so. And so he stepped out in faith, goes before the king, and says, give me some time that I might declare the interpretation to the king. Verse 17, "Then Daniel went to his house and informed his friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, about the matter, so that they might request compassion from the God of heaven concerning this mystery, so that Daniel and his friends would not be destroyed with the rest of the wise men of Babylon." I find it interesting, the phrase here, "the God of heaven," literally, "the God of the heavens." This is such a stark contrast to the Babylonians who worshipped the heavenly luminaries, rather than the one who created them and sustains them.

Notice what Daniel and his three friends did now. They go to prayer, they go before the Lord their God in a time of need, would that we all be so inclined, when great difficulties come our way. They didn't panic, they prayed. They knew that God was up to something in their life, they didn't know what it was. And they also knew that they could do nothing apart from Him. And so they go before the Lord in prayer. I'm sure this was a a common practice of those young men. This wasn't something new. In fact, think of what they had to endure over the previous three years with all of this training from wicked people who hate the God that they love. Think of the pressure that they had to conform to, all of the pagan values and all of the pagan ways. It reminds me of many times when I've heard parents lament over what has happened to a child after they had gone away to a college and a university, and they come back brainwashed. It's like suddenly, they're in the cult of wokeism. And within a few months, they become a card-carrying Neo Marxist liberal who hates Christianity. Imagine having three years of this type of brainwashing, imagine what they must have gone through and how they must have felt. But here we see that these young men remained faithful to the Lord. How could they possibly do that? Dear friends, the key to staying faithful is to know the truth, to meditate upon the truth, and to stay faithful to the truth, to know who God is, and to stay faithful in worshiping and serving Him and communing with him. And you will never survive the great trials of life unless you maintain a disciplined personal and private pursuit of holiness. You simply must have a secret devotion to the lover of your soul, or you will never survive. And that's what we see going on here. And what an amazing scene. Can't you just picture these four young teenage men on their faces before God pleading for his mercy, in faith believing? And I'm sure Daniel and Hananiah and Mishael and Azariah had calluses on their knees from extended periods of prayer.

And I must pause for a moment and say how thrilled I am and the elders are and others in the church, to see so many young people, both men, young men and young women coming together in prayer and Bible study, young men and women, dedicated to personal piety and a devotion to Christ. It's thrilling to see them coming together the way the way they are, and what a harvest of blessing this is going to produce in their lives and in the life of their church.

Now, notice how God answered their prayer in verse 19. "Then the mystery was revealed to Daniel in a night vision." Folks, you've got to stop here and put yourself in that young man's body, and in his mind, and in his heart, to whatever degree you can. This is absolutely, utterly astounding. Not only does God speak to him, but he also gives him a supernatural, shall we say, power point presentation, in 3d and color. And I think, what must have gone through his mind? This is overwhelming. Notice what Daniel does, "Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven," verse 20, We read more of what he said and what he thought, “Daniel said, 'Let the name of God be blessed forever, and ever.'" So fascinating that he begins here, "Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever." Now, as we are going to see later, in his interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, the Messiah is going to one day return as Israel's conquering king and put an end to the Gentile domination that will ultimately reach its zenith during the reign of the Antichrist. And then at the Battle of Armageddon, he is going to be destroyed. And it's interesting, why God is going to do all of this. In Ezekiel 39, beginning in verse seven, God tells us There we read, "'My holy name, I will make known in the midst of My people, Israel; and I will not let My holy name be profaned anymore. And the nations will know that I am the Lord, the Holy One in Israel.'" No wonder Daniel would say, "Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever." He's just been reminded of what is going to happen.

We go back to Ezekiel 39, beginning in verse 25, we read this, "Therefore thus says the Lord God, 'Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name. They will forget their disgrace and all their treachery which they perpetrated against Me, when they live securely on their own land with no one to make them afraid. When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of the many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God, because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them again to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer, I will not hide my face from them any longer, for I will have poured out my Spirit on the house of Israel,' declares the Lord GOD." So indeed, Daniel begins his praise by saying, "Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever."

May I dwell upon this just a little bit more; think of the importance of the name of God and why we should therefore never use it in vain. Remember, when Moses asked God on the mountain, "'What shall I tell the people when they ask what is your name?'" In Exodus three, in verse 14," God said to Moses, 'I am who I am.' And He said, 'Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.'" In other words, he's saying, I am the self-existent, preexistent, eternal one, who always has been, always is and always will be. I am the self-existent, preexisting, uncreated Creator of the universe. You will recall in John 8:58, Jesus told the unbelieving Jews, "'Before Abraham was born, I am.'" And there again he refers to himself in the present continuous tense. Why? Because he has always and will always exist. So this is a title indicating his self-existence. There has never been a time when he did not exist. So beloved, inherent in the name of God, is the summation of all of his glorious attributes. Daniel understood that the thrice Holy God, the Sovereign Lord of Glory, is in full control of all of his creation, and deserves to be worshipped, deserves to be obeyed. For indeed he is the one, the great I AM, who is returning again someday, so that the nations will know that He is the Lord, the Holy One of Israel. I must ask you, does your life exalt the name of God? Or diminish it? Do people say of you, "my there goes a man or a woman whose life is dedicated to Christ, and truly brings glory to his name?" Or would they think my, I'm sure God is ashamed of that individual who claims to serve Him? Remember this, you're a Christian because of Christ's atoning work on the cross. "For our sins," Paul said, "God highly exalted Him," Philippians two, "and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, of those who are in, in heaven and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." I think about this, if Daniel could bless the name of God, with his limited understanding of all that he would do in his work of redemption, through His Son, our Savior, his Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, how much more should we do in bringing glory to him knowing all that he has done as we look back upon his atoning work.

So again, in verse 20, Daniel says, "'Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. It is he who changes the times and the epochs.'" In other words, he's saying, God is the one who controls all of the events of history, either actively or permissively. As Paul said, in Ephesians, 1:11, "He works all things after the counsel of His will." Daniel goes on to say "He removes kings, and establishes kings." And as God's vision reveals to him, he is ultimately the one who is in control of our elections. He knows who he wants in there, not just in our country, but all over the world because he has a plan to bring glory to himself.

Daniel also says, "'He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding,'" verse 22, "'It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with Him.'" Think of these dear friends, he alone is the one that can dispel the darkness, of those unsearchable and hidden things of God that we cannot see. And he does this through the power of his Spirit, as he has revealed himself in the word of God. Verse 23, "'To you, O God of my father's, I give thanks, and praise, for you have given me wisdom and power; even now You have made known to me what we requested of You, for You have made known to us the king's matter.'"

Beloved, please hear this. God is highly exalted and greatly pleased when his children praise Him. May this be the dominating trait of our conduct. May this be the theme of our song, the ultimate goal of all that we do and say. Back to verse 24, "Therefore, Daniel went in to Arioch, whom the king had appointed to destroy the wise men of Babylon; he went in and spoke to him as follows: 'Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon! Take me into the king's presence, and I will declare the interpretation to the king.'" Let's pause here for a moment. This is truly remarkable when you think about it because Daniel had the perfect opportunity to say, Arioch, here's what I would like you to tell the king, I can help him with the dream but he needs to destroy all of those phony advisors, needs to get rid of these characters. They know nothing, but I have the answers from the one true God. So we have this chance to destroy these, these corrupt religionists that had done such great damage to God's people, and brought such reproach upon God. But he doesn't do this. Why? The answer is because it wasn't God's time to judge them. As Daniel understood from the interpretation that God had given them concerning the dream, Dr. John Whitcomb said this quote, "Daniel was not a prophet in the Holy Land of Israel, where God's infinite standards of religious truth, established at Mount Sinai, were unique among all the nations of the earth. If Daniel were to accomplish the ideal mission of a prophet of God and Israel, then all Babylonians and subject peoples throughout the empire would be forced to comply with the law of Moses or perish. But this cannot happen. Until the dawn of the kingdom age when Christ rules the world with a quote, 'rod of iron,' Isaiah 11:4. Daniel was aware of this vastly important distinction. And therefore, as we must also during this age of the church, allowed God to determine the times and seasons of grace and judgment. The stone would fall in the latter days of the fourth kingdom, not the first, according to Daniel 2:44, and 45."

So Arioch, the king's executioner, here's Daniel's request, "'Do not destroy the wise men of Babylon! Take me into the king's presence, and I will declare the interpretation to the king. Then Arioch hurriedly brought Daniel into the king's presence and spoke to him as follows: 'I have found a man among the exiles from Judah, who can make the interpretation known to the king!' The king said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, 'Are you able to make known to me the dream which I have seen, and its interpretation?' Daniel answered before the king and said, 'As for the mystery about which the king has inquired, neither wise men, conjurers, magicians nor diviners are able to declare it to the king. However, there is a God in heaven, who reveals mysteries, and He has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar, what will take place in the latter years. This was your dream, and the visions in your mind while on your bed.'"

And this is where we will pick it up next week. But in closing, may I challenge you with just a few principles, that hopefully you will see and apply to your life. Number one, dear friends, the word of God is filled with priceless treasures, learn to search for them diligently. And when, by God's grace through His Spirit, you unearth them, all other claims of special revelation, apart from Scripture, will be rejected as worthless and deceptive counterfeits. Secondly, now is the time to prepare for battle, not when the enemy attacks, learn what it is to put on the full armor of God. Learn how to skillfully wield the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God so that you can effectively parry the blows of the enemy that is trying to tempt you, to destroy you and to destroy your family, and learn what it is to have a disciplined habit of prayer, where you commune with the lover of your soul. Thirdly, be a student of the attributes of God. Be a student of the attributes of God, here's why, because your knowledge of him is directly proportional to your faith in him. Ignorant Christians are frightened Christians, shallow Christians are weak Christians, easily defeated, easily deceived. And then finally, let your praises to Him vastly exceed your petitions of him. In other words, spend more time praising him for all he has done, is doing and will do than petitioning his help. And if this is your attitude, like Daniel, you will be able to say bless it be the name of God forever and ever for wisdom and might are his.

Let's pray together. Father, thank you for these glorious and eternal truths that reveal so much to us. It's absolutely overwhelming. We rejoice knowing that you are the sovereign ruler of all that you have created. And we praise you for the fact that you have, in your infinite love, condescended to our lowly estate and you have saved us by your grace. I pray that you will use each one of us as instruments of righteousness to bring glory to your name, that others might see Christ in us the hope of glory, that they too, might come to faith in the only one who can save and sanctify. Lord, thank you for this time we could have together we pray that great blessings will result from what we have learned and what we apply for. It's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.

I would invite you to take your Bibles and turn to the book of Daniel in the Old Testament, chapter one. This morning, we will continue our study by looking at verses three through 21. And before we look at the text, I would simply ask you to focus as much on Daniel's piety as you do his prophecy. Even at the age of 15, we see an unwavering love and devotion to God. Traits seldom seen in adults, much less in young teenagers. And frankly, it's with great sorrow that I at times, watch some of our own, some of our own young people grow up in the church, but as you watch them, you see that they have no real desire to honor God in their lives. They have no real love for God, no fear of God, no desire to fellowship with God's people, no real hunger for his word. They prefer ungodly people, and the lure of the world is so powerful to their flesh that little by little they begin to adopt all of the ways of the world. You see it in their life. They adopt the world's values, their lifestyle, their dress, their entertainment, their perverted theologies and ideologies. They disregard Paul's warning in Romans chapter 12 and verse two, where he said, "Do not be conformed to the world." My great fear for them is summarized in first John two and verse 15, where we read, "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world, If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." And eventually, for all of the people who love the world more than they love the Lord, you see that they are finally given over to the consequences of their iniquities. Their sins begin to develop their character in such a way as to define who they really are. And God gives them over to a depraved mind. And little by little, they believe the lies of the world, and they do things that are unimaginably wicked. We see this all the time. Because sin is a state or a disposition of the sou,l an intrinsic part of the very essence of man, we see it manifested in ungodliness. And that is the great danger. People that have no love of God and no fear of God. As Solomon said in Ecclesiastes nine and verse three, "The hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives." And certainly we are seeing this lived out, in our culture. Ungodliness, frankly, is the outworking of human depravity. We read about this, for example, in Jude beginning of verse 14, "It was," he says "about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, "Behold, the Lord came with many 1000s of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." And frankly, dear friends, ungodliness is the root cause of all of the economic and social problems that we see in the United States. Not capitalism, not conservatism, not systemic racism, or any of the other manufactured leftist boogieman that you see. The root cause is ungodliness. People that do not love God and do not fear him. And the consequences of ungodliness is divine judgment. For example, in Psalm 34, verse 16, we read, "The face of the Lord is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth." And then Psalm 32, verse 10, "Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but he who trusts in the Lord, lovingkindness shall surround him." And as we study the book of Daniel, we see how lovingkindness surrounded him, as well as others in the book that he describes, especially his three companions. And how refreshing it is, to see a young man and other young men of about 15 years of age, demonstrating godly character and godly conduct. Living a life that epitomizes what the psalmist calls, "a tree firmly planted." It's for this reason that I've entitled my discourse, "A Tree Firmly Planted." And God blessed Daniel, for this. We read about the firmly planted tree in Psalm one, a familiar passage. There we read, "How blessed is the man," literally how happy "is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in the law of the Lord," referring to the Scriptures. "And in His law, he meditates day and night. He will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers." And this, dear friends, is what we will see in the life of Daniel and his three colleagues.

Now, let me remind you of the context once again, Israel, the northern kingdom of Israel has already been taken over, now the southern kingdom of Judah has been taken over by the Babylonians they have sunk so low in the rebellion against God and in their idolatry, that finally God judged them. Isaiah tells us in chapter one, verse four, "Alas, sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evil doers, sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, and turned away from Him." And indeed, they embraced hideous forms of idolatry that they picked up from the pagans living around them. By the way, I might add that after their Babylonian captivity, the Jews never again turned to idolatry, which is an interesting thought. But I must also add that the cancer of covetousness deceived them into believing that they could ignore God's law regarding the sabbatic year. So for 490 years, they ignored him. They believe that by tilling the ground every year, rather than allowing the seventh year for the ground to lie fallow, that they would somehow be more prosperous. Their mantra was the mantra of every fool, which is basically my way is better than God's way. And because God's judgment is not always immediate, they thought they could get away with it. No big deal. God is not watching. But God was watching and he was keeping a perfect record. And it was time now to square the account. And so he sends in the Babylonians to conquer them, and take them into captivity for 70 years, allowing the land to finally keep the Sabbath one year for every seventh year, they violated his command over the course of 490 years. Now, the last time we were together, we looked at the reason for God's judgment on Judah, and the prophetic significance and symbolism of Babylon. I hope you are grasping these things because these are foundational to understanding this book, and many other passages of scripture. But today, we want to look closer at the historical narrative and the remainder of chapter one and we want to do this under three headings. Very simply, we want to look at God's providential appointments. Secondly, Daniel's unwavering devotion to God and then finally, God's blessings upon faithful servants.

Now, something important to bear in mind here because I want to make this very relevant to where we live here in our day. Please know that the historical narrative that we are about to examine took place during the reign of one of the most brilliant, wealthy, and mighty leaders in the history of the world. Nebuchadnezzar was a brilliant man. But he could not see what was happening right under his nose. Ultimately, he was merely a pawn on God's chessboard. And he didn't realize it. He had no idea that because of his pride, he would soon lose his mind and eat grass with the cattle and live among the beasts for seven years. He had no idea that within the span of about 60 years, Babylon would fall to Darius the Mede. But God had a plan and he was working it precisely. Now, likewise, the United States of America is a fabulously wealthy country. But we are covetous beyond measure. We believe that our military is invincible. And we have leaders who are every bit as narcissistic as Nebuchadnezzar were only they're not even a fraction as brilliant as he was. And what most Americans cannot see is that God has abandoned this country to the consequences of their own rebellion. They cannot see that our leaders live in a fool's paradise. They cannot see that the that the ideologies and policies of our politicians, especially that of liberal Democrats, are destroying our nation. In fact, historically, what we see is that theological and political liberalism destroys everything that it touches. It is to the church what cancer is to the body. It is to a country what toxic waste or radioactive waste is to the environment. And today we see the overall mood in America gradually disintegrating. I was reading in the daily wire that the Washington Examiner reports that the number of illegal alien apprehensions at the United States Mexico border climbed again in June, bringing the US close to 1 million illegal immigrant encounters since the beginning of 2021. Can you imagine that,1 million? it went on to say the US border officials are expected to reveal soon that they encountered nearly 190,000 illegal immigrants in June, a 450% explosion over last June. And the latest sign the President Joe Biden's open-door policy has completely redrawn migration patterns. Now obviously, the priority of our government is open borders and globalism, and to get more votes. It has nothing to do with caring for the people and protecting the people. Because so many of these people are coming into our country and they're spreading COVID all over the country. And yet they're demanding that we get vaccinated, that we wear masks, and that we shut down the economy and that we have to do all of these other things. A recent Gallup survey found that a whopping 42% of all Americans anticipate that societal disruptions related to COVID 19 will continue to be around beyond the beginning of the new year. And according to an ABC News Ipsos poll, we see that Americans optimism about the direction of the country has plummeted nearly 20 points. 55% of the public say they are pessimistic about the direction of the country, a marked change from the roughly 1/3 or 36%. That said, the same in an ABC News Ipsos poll published May 2. Folks that is a 19% shift in just three months. It gets worse since last September, a moratorium that was issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that had been protecting millions of renters who were unable or unwilling to pay their monthly rent. That moratorium is now officially over. And all of that back rent is due. For some renters that will mean that nearly a full year of rent now needs to be paid. And the millions of Americans that cannot, or will not pay this, will now be subject to eviction. And I think of the poor landlords who have lost who knows how much? Well, I want to give you the bad news so that you appreciate the good news. And that is our God's still reigns. He's working his plan perfectly just like he did when Israel was in exile. And even as he carefully placed his choice servants in the courts, in the cities, in the villages of the satanic kingdom of Babylon, he continues to do the same thing today. And I pray that we will all be exhilarated knowing that somehow we are a part of that plan. Each and every one of us. He has promised to build his church and he uses each of us to do that. There is nothing that man nor demon can do to thwart the purposes of God. And I must say that I pray constantly, for God to raise up the next Joseph, or the next Daniel, or the next Hannah, or Naomi or Ruth or Esther out of Calvary Bible Church. And I believe he is and will.

So first, I want us to look at this whole concept of God's providential appointments. Beginning in Daniel one in verse three, "Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family and of the nobles, youths in whom was no defect." In other words, they were without physical handicap, "who were good- looking, showing intelligence and every branch of wisdom, endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge." The idea of wisdom here in the original language carries the idea of the ability to make wise decisions. And it also says "they were endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge," literally, they were knowers of knowledge, in the original, knowers of knowledge, which would have included things like science and math and language and history and so forth. And obviously, Nebuchadnezzar placed a high premium on superior intellect. And he says, "who had ability for serving in the king's court." This is a reference to young men who had a pleasing personality, they were engaging in their interpersonal style of relating, he had polished manners, noble etiquette, and so forth. You know, many times people with a high IQ have the personality of a two-toed sloth, you know, and the manners of Tarzan of the Apes, so you can't have that, okay, not in the king's court. And he says, "he ordered him," referring to Ashpenaz, "to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans." So imagine now you're about 14, 15 years old, you've been taken into a foreign country, a pagan country, and you don't know their language, and you've got to learn all of this. Now, their literature, by the way, that Daniel and the others had to learn was extensive. In fact, in that day, their literature dated about 1400 years back, we know, all the way to the days of Abraham. So this was a highly educated group of people in that day. And by the way, much of their literature is still extant, meaning it still exists. Thousands of clay tablets from this period have been found. They were written, by the way, through the use of a wooden stylus to make wedge shaped characters on clay. Cuneiform, it was called cuneiform. And I've seen this for example, in the British Museum, you see a lot of this and they would make these little characters on the clay and then they would bake the clay and preserve the impressions.

Now, from Nebuchadnezzar perspective, this was a very wise move, to hold hostage, these noble sons of Israel, and there were more than just Daniel and his three friends. There were many others. This was very important because this would help keep the Judean royalty in line, but it would also help him know how to govern this very peculiar people. However, it was also very important from God's perspective. God had providentially appointed these teenage men to be in Nebuchadnezzar's court, to learn how these people functioned, and how they could help preserve God's covenant people. But this was also important for Daniel to know how to navigate the treacherous political and religious waters of those pagan people. So these are truly providential appointments. This didn't just happen. God is at work.

But now, the plot thickens as they say, verse five; "The king appointed for them a daily ration from the king's, choice food, and from the wine which he drank, and appointed that they should be educated three years, at the end of which they were to enter the king's personal service. Now among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. Then the commander of the officials assigned new names to them. And to Daniel he assigned the name Belteshazzar, to Hananiah Shadrach, to Mishael Meshach and to Azariah Abed-Nego." Now, Daniel, meant, in Hebrew, "God is my judge." And Belteshazzar, his new Babylonian name meant, "lady protect the king." Hananiah meant, "Yahweh is gracious." Shadrach means, "I am fearful of God." Mishael meant, "who is like God," and Meshach meant, "I am of little account." And Azariah meant, "Yahweh has helped, " and Abed-Nego simply meant, "servant of Nebo," one of their pagan gods. Now as we will see, these young men came from godly homes, which made them hate all the more that ungodliness that they saw all around them. And by the way, godliness will always be repulsed by ungodliness. And you see that in their lives. Notice verse eight, "But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king's choice food, or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself." And here we come to the second point in this little outline.

Here we see Daniel's unwavering devotion to God. Now, some people might say, well, you know what, he was wrong to defy the authority that God had placed over him. But what you must understand is, Daniel knew that God's law was infinitely higher than man's law; they feared God more than man. A truth by the way that we would all do well to remember. You will recall in Acts five, when the apostles were thrown into prison, after violating the command to stop preaching the gospel in the temple, you will remember that story, an angel of the Lord came and open up the gates of the prison. We read in verse 20, of Acts five, he says, "'Go your way stand and speak to the people in the temple with the whole message of this Life.'" And so they did that. And then lo and behold, they get arrested again, and in verse 27, we read, "When they had brought them, they stood before they stood them before the Council. The high priest questioned them saying, 'We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us.' But Peter, and the apostles answered, 'We must obey God rather than men.'" That was Daniel's attitude, that must be ours as well.

Now, why was it important for Daniel to defy the king's orders? Well, let me give you two reasons, two primary reasons. First of all, some of the meat was considered unclean according to the dietary restrictions of the Mosaic law. You can read about this for example, in Leviticus chapter 11. You will remember that those dietary restrictions were given to the covenant people under the old covenant to keep them separate from their idolatrous neighbors. And I might add as a footnote, with the coming of the new covenant and the calling of the church, God ended those dietary restrictions. You will recall in Mark seven, verse 19, Jesus said, "'Whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach and is eliminated (Thus he declared all foods clean)." God also made this clear in Peter's vision, you remember the great sheet that came down from heaven filled with all kinds of animals and Acts 10. And God commanded him to rise, kill and eat those things which had previously been considered unclean. But no such provision existed during the time of Daniel under the Old Covenant.

Another reason why Daniel felt that the meat and the wine would defile them was because they knew that they had first been offered to Babylonian gods, and to eat would be tantamount to recognizing the legitimacy of those gods. And they weren't going to have any part of that. Moreover, the pagans believed, and they knew this, that eating the meat that had been dedicated to their gods would, would curry favor from those gods. And I'm sure both of those were considerations that Nebuchadnezzar had in mind. So think about it, we get these young Jewish men, let's give them good Babylonian names and get them to recognize and obey and benefit from their new gods by giving them the food and the wine that had been given to the gods and so forth. And I might add, that this is always how Satan works, isn't it? You know, force Christians to forsake the one true God in exchange for idols, and then get them to not only tolerate pagan lies, but celebrate them. And of course, he uses secular government and false religions to accomplish these purposes. I mean, I think of all of this "celebrate pride" stuff that we see and "celebrate trans;" and someone was telling me the other day they took their, their young child to the doctor and the doctor, or the I guess the nurse, first ask the child, you know, what's your name? And the second question was, what is your preferred pronoun? It's insane. And now you get in trouble if you misgender someone, if you call a biological male who thinks he's a female, a male, a "he," then you're canceled and all of that type of thing? Well, the point is, the Babylonians had their own way of forcing people to assimilate into their pagan culture. They wanted them to adopt a Babylonian name and eat the foods offered, and the wine offered to their gods, and eventually even to bow before their gods.

So Daniel and his three closest companions knew that the king's order was a way of testing their fidelity to Yahweh, or to Nebuchadnezzar and his gods. Daniel also knew that it was because of Israel's idolatry, that they were in this mess in the first place. So not going to have anything to do with that. And here we see, as I say, "a tree firmly planted by the streams of water." In other words, the nourishing water of godliness that results in spirit empowerment. And undoubtedly, he learned that from a godly family in which he grew up so he was a tree, you might say, which yields his fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. And in whatever he does, he prospers. Would that we all, manifest such an unwavering devotion to God. And unlike so many young people today, Daniel and his three friends would not bow to the ungodly culture. They loved God, and they feared God, and they would not conform to the world. They would not defile their conscience. And I would challenge all of you young people in particular, do not yield to the pressures of the culture. Do not get near the slippery slope of all of the world's enticements that are so appealing to your flesh. Because what will gradually happen is your love for God, if it was ever there in the first place, will begin to wane. Your love for His Word will gradually disappear. Your love for His people will gradually disappear. Your love for his ways will gradually disappear. And you will become like the world and it will destroy you.

Now I want you to notice the spiritual integrity and the Spirit empowered wisdom of young Daniel, not to mention the providence of God who works all things according to the counsel of his will. Notice verse nine, "Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials and the commander of the official said to Daniel, 'I'm afraid of my lord, the king, who has appointed your food and your drink; for why should he see your faces looking more haggard than the youth who are your own age? Then you would make me forfeit my head to the king?'" In other words, you're asking me to defy the king, and if he sees that you're not developing the way you should, he'll probably take my head off. But verse 11, "Daniel said to the overseer whom the commander of the officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, ‘Please test your servants for 10 days.'" Well, that's remarkable wisdom, isn't it for a 15-year-old? That's divine wisdom right there. "'Test your servants for 10 days and let us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink.'" Vegetables, by the way, in the original language, refers to that which is grown from seed. So it would include vegetables as well as grains, so they could have, you know, vegetables as well as bread. Now, obviously, that is not a healthy, nor a desirable diet, especially for 15-year-old boys who typically have a hollow leg and they're developing and so forth. It's certainly not what they were accustomed to. Nor was it one that they chose indefinitely, which we will see. I mean, I can hear the chef's saying to them, Well, guys, let me give you the menu for the day, we have succulent filet mignon, and we have sumptuous lamb chops. We have delicious grass-fed roast beef and gravy. And you can wash it down with the king's finest wine. And I can hear the guys saying, nah, you know, I'll have the salad and the broccoli, and the turnip greens, some carrots, piece of bread. I'll wash it down with water. You know, on second thought, I'll have some of that beef stew but no beef or gravy. You know, 10 days of that would be bad enough. I was thinking about this. And I hope I'm not offending you vegetarians, I'm sure I probably am, I don't mean to be. I couldn't handle that. I mean, one of my favorite commercials years ago was "Beef. It's what's for dinner." I mean, if I ate that, you know, especially after three years, I don't know I'd be so skinny, I'd have to run around in a shower to get wet. I just can't imagine living that way. But here's the point. Now think about this. If I knew that by eating these things, God would be dishonored and that God had said, I don't want you to eat this. And if I knew that, by honoring him, he would bless me. Then you know what I would say and I hope you would say, "give me some broccoli, a glass of water." And that's exactly what they did. So test us for 10 days. Let's see what happens.

Verse 13, "'Then let our appearance be observed in your presence and the appearance of the youths who are eating the king's choice food; and deal with your servants according to what you see.' So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for 10 days. At the end of 10 days, their appearance seemed better, and they were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king's choice food." Now obviously, what we are witnessing here is divine intervention, you know, for for this to happen in these young men over the course of 10 days, for it to be such a noticeable advantage. Obviously God was at work.

Verse 16, "So the overseer continued to withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink and kept giving them vegetables." So because of Daniel's unwavering devotion to God, we see number three, God's blessings upon faithful servants. And this is such an important lesson, dear friends. Bear in mind that God is always watching us. He is always faithful to bless our obedience, to bless our sacrifice, to bless our faithfulness to him. I think I think of Second Chronicles 16 nine, "For the eyes of the Lord, move to and fro throughout the whole earth, that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His." Isaiah 66 two God says, "But to this one I will look," in other words, this is the person that gets my attention, “to him who is humble and contrite of spirit and who trembles at My word." Psalm 115, verse 13, I don't think you have this on the overhead. The God says, "He will bless those who fear the Lord," we read that earlier. "He will bless those who fear the Lord, the small together with the great." Beloved, please hear this, God's way is always the best way. Though your flesh will tell you otherwise. But pastor I won't have any fun, and I won't have any friends. If I go God's way, wrong, wrong. What have we read earlier in Psalm one? "How blessed," ow happy, "is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the path of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers! But his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night, he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. And in whatever he does, he prospers." Dear friends, it's real simple. You either believe God or you don't. And if you don't, you will forfeit blessing in your life. And especially if you refuse to obey His command, to repent, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, your life will end in misery which will be a prelude to your eternal hell. Proverbs 14 Verse 12, "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death." And I think of Moses in Hebrews 11 verse 24, we read, "By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter, choosing rather to endure ill treatment with the people of God, than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Christ, greater riches than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward." Dear friends, I can tell you, having counseled probably into the 1000s of people over 35 years of ministry, I've seen pretty much everything. I've seen young women who painted themselves up and dressed immodestly to get the attention of boys gradually become sexually involved. Some of them became pregnant out of wedlock. Others got venereal diseases. Others have had multiple abortions, broken relationships. Some of them end up being single parents. Some of them end up addicted to drugs and alcohol end up in suicide. I've seen it all. They found their identity in their body. And little by little as we grow older, that body isn't what it once was. Then what do you have left? I've seen young men who were too cool for school. They wanted nothing to do with godly friends, nothing to do with the church. They did not love God nor did they fear God. They loved themselves, ruled by their lusts, they would make one foolish decision after another end up in miserable marriages, multiple children that brought nothing but heartache; alot of them end up being potheads or alcoholics. They lived in a fool's paradise. And I know a number of them that have died in their sins. I know young people who turned away their ears from the truth and turned aside into myths and they were recruited by homosexuals and they began to live that lifestyle. They were drawn into it. Young people became adults who have had literally hundreds and hundreds of sexual encounters that have destroyed their bodies. I know what it is to watch them die of AIDS. But Oh dear friends I also know of God's redeeming love. And I know of God's grace that saves sinners and sanctifies sinners. I remember one man in particular that comes to my mind that had been a homosexual for years, lived that lifestyle for years. But he came to repentant faith in Christ by God's grace. He experienced the miracle of the new birth, God changed everything about him, gave him new desires, he was married and ended up with children, very happily. And I remember one time him sharing his testimony. And with tear filled eyes, he suddenly broke into song, and he sang, "On Christ, the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand." Folks, that's the power of the gospel. That's the power of obedience. Dear friends, dare to be a Daniel. love God and fear him. Don't embrace the world that God has gone to such great lengths to deliver you from. Daniel understood this, his three friends understood this and here, the Word of God, once again, as I stated earlier in first John two beginning in verse 15, this is so clear, "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life. It's not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever."

Yes, like Daniel and his friends, God blesses those who are faithful and obedient, who love Him and fear Him. God is opposed to the proud but he gives grace to the humble, I want you to notice how God bless them in verse 17, "As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom." Can you imagine that? They learn to read cuneiform; they learn to understand that language. And basically, they got a PhD in all this stuff in three years. Then he adds, “Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams." Now, it's important to understand here that the Babylonians believed, and we read this in their literature, that there were certain methods of divination that one had to adhere to, in order to determine the will of the gods. And certainly, priests they believed, specialized in these techniques and these methods. And we know that the demons would assist them, especially in dream interpretation, and unbeknownst to them. But these young Judeans understood that true revelation only comes from God. And God enabled Daniel with a special gift, that he would later use to interpret God's revelations to Nebuchadnezzar in the form of a dream as we will see, and also later when he would use it to interpret the handwriting on the wall of Belshazzar's palace in chapter five, Leon Wood is very helpful here. He says, "While Daniel lived, he was the one gifted by God, and accordingly, the only one used to give the interpretation of them. The pagans believed that dreams regularly carried significance, and they even induced dreams for this reason, certain priests were considered experts in dream interpretation. Scripture teaches, however, that only certain dreams are revelatory, namely those which God gives for that purpose. Daniel's gift was that he was specially endowed for receiving God's interpretations of such occasions of divine communication." He goes on to say, "It may be noted further that when God gave his revelations to Nebuchadnezzar, he used only the dream type of communication, never the vision, whereas he did use the vision with Daniel. In fact, the Scripture shows God regularly employing the dream when given a revelation to pagans. The reason seems to be that, with the dream, the human personality is neutralized and made a passive instrument for the occasion. But with the vision, the person himself is often a participant, and must be constituted to respond and react in a proper manner. Something true only of a child of God. Though the revelation of Belshazzar in chapter five was not a dream, it was still of a type entirely objective to himself in which he played no part. Daniel was necessary for its interpretation, just as he had been with Nebuchadnezzar's dreams." End quote.

Now I might add, that, since the completion of the canon in Scripture, divine revelation, received and delivered through the apostles and the prophets, has ceased along with those offices. There's no such thing today as a prophet, or an apostle. In Ephesians 2:20, Paul states that the church quote "has been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone." But now that the foundation has been laid with the completion of the New Testament, those once necessary offices, are no longer needed and they no longer exist. You must bear in mind that the canon of Scripture is now closed. We read about this in Jude three and Deuteronomy four two, Deuteronomy 12, verse 32, Proverbs 30 and verse six, Revelation 22, verse 18, and 19. And therefore, to insist as some do, that God is still giving new revelation to Christians, is to deny the doctrine of sola scriptura. That the scriptures alone are the sole and fallible source of authority for faith and practice. And we don't need to go beyond the pages of Scripture to hear from God. Moreover, those who claim to receive special revelation, or sometimes you will hear them say, you know, I've received a word from the Lord or, or I've got some prophecy, people that do that, undermine the authority, as well as the sufficiency of Scripture, by placing their suppose revelations on par with the inspired, inerrant, infallible word of God. And that, dear friends, is a blasphemous presumption. This continues to cause great confusion in the church today, unfortunately. And what it does is it paves the way for Christians to elevate subjective feelings as well as personal impressions, to the status of divine revelation, to put it on par with what God has said in his word. And as a result, unfortunately, many people look to these prophets and prophetesses to hear something new and fresh from God. Rather than looking into his self-disclosure that he has given to us in His inspired record. Jude appeals to all believers pleading with us to quote, "contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all handed down to the saints," Jude three. Likewise, Paul told Timothy in chapter three and verse 16, of Second Timothy, "All Scripture is inspired of God, is breathed out by God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work."

Well, enough of that, back to God's blessing on his young servants. As we wrap this up this morning, notice verse 18. "Then at the end of the days, which the king had specified for presenting them, the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them and out of them all, not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's personal service. As for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them 10 times better than all the magicians and conjurers, who were in all his realm." And then it says, "and Daniel continued until the first year of Cyrus the king." There Daniel reflects upon the goodness and faithfulness of God, to carry him through 66 years of service in captivity until he was about 81 years old. He served, think about it, in the high offices of Babylon through the course of four Babylonian kings and through the Babylonian defeat by at the hands of Cyrus, the Mido-Persian, which happened in 539 BC, and then served in the court of Cyrus himself and so forth. And what an amazing testimony of God's faithfulness, God's goodness and providence during those dark days of apostasy and judgment upon the Israelites. And how exciting to know that God is always in control. He is always in control. He's working his plan. And he is always using faithful servants who love him, and who fear Him to accomplish his purposes. And what a great example is we have with these faithful young men, whose testimonies continue to be a source of inspiration and encouragement for every believer, persevering in a time of trial. And may each of us stand with Daniel and Hananiah, and Mishael and Azariah. May we all stand with him in these dark days of apostasy and judgment here in our own country. And dear friends, keep looking up, because our redemption draweth nigh. The King is coming. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word. Cause us to cherish them, to meditate upon them, to make them the theme of our conversation, the lyrics of our songs that you might be praised in our lives and that others might see the glory of God and his plan of redemption revealed in the Gospel. Lord, we thank you We give you praise. In Jesus name. Amen.

I invite you to take your Bibles this morning and turn to the Old Testament book of Daniel, as we really embark upon our verse by verse study, having had an introduction, the last time we were together. Daniel chapter one. And I've entitled my discourse to you "The Evil of Babylon, Past, Present, and Future." This morning we will look at the first two verses. So follow along as I read. "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god."

As we approach our study of this amazing book, we want to maintain the big picture of God's redemptive plan for the ages, one that God has ordained in eternity past to bring glory to himself. And this is the key, frankly, to understanding scripture, especially Bible prophecy. I want you to remember, dear friends, that there exists two opposing kingdoms in the universe, there is the kingdom of God and there is the kingdom of Satan. We see this all through Scripture. The kingdom of God is the primary theme of Scripture. It is the center of gravity around which all other themes providentially orbit, in order to bring glory to the King of kings and the Lord of lords. There are essentially three aspects to the kingdom of God that you must keep in mind. There is a universal kingdom, there is a mediatorial kingdom and there is a spiritual kingdom. God's universal kingdom can be defined as God's eternal, sovereign rule over everything that exists, everything that he created. In David's great song of majesty and love in Psalm 145, verse 13, we read, "Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and Your dominion, endures throughout all generations."

But Scripture affirms another aspect of God's universal kingdom. And that is a mediatorial kingdom, that can be defined as God's sovereign rule over the earth, through divinely chosen human representatives, who speak on his behalf, and represent the people before him. And here God exercises his absolute authority, and his invisible rule in the spiritual kingdom on earth through the agency of divinely chosen men.

And then finally, in addition to the universal and the mediatorial aspect of the kingdom of God, Scripture reveals a spiritual kingdom that can be defined as an invisible kingdom that exists in the hearts of those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the king. This aspect of the kingdom, by the way, came after Israel rejected her Messiah. And while the kingdom of God can have spiritual requirements and characteristics, as we would see in Romans 14:17, for example, this does not rule out the land and the physical prosperity promises that are also included in the Abrahamic, the Davidic and the new covenants, as we read in Jeremiah 31, through 33, Ezekiel 36 through 37, as well as Deuteronomy 30 in the first 10 verses. During the 40 days between Jesus resurrection and ascension, he spoke according to Acts one three of "the things concerning the kingdom of God;" a reference there to that spiritual kingdom, the sphere of salvation where God reigns within the hearts of believers. Those who have experienced the new covenant blessings have a new heart of the indwelling Spirit, who as Paul said in Second Corinthians three six,"gives life." And aren't you thankful that he has given us life, eternal life? The New Testament epistles reveal how entrance into the spiritual kingdom comes through the message of the gospel and is granted to all believers in this church age.

Now, in opposition to the kingdom of God, is the kingdom of Satan. He has opposed the kingdom purposes of God since the very first sin in the cosmos, that he himself committed. And since his temptation of Adam and Eve to sin against God in the Garden, Satan, along with his demonic horde, has conducted a guerrilla warfare campaign to deceive and enslave men and women in his kingdom of darkness. And the world today exists in that kingdom of darkness and mankind's only hope is through the redeeming grace of God. Paul reminds us in Colossians, one beginning in verse 13, "For He rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." And in Acts 26, verse 18, we see that caused us to turn from darkness to light, and from the dominion of Satan to God. What a marvelous testimony of God's grace.

Now the anti-God world system that God allows Satan to temporary control, consists of human beings who are willing subjects to his rule, those who have rejected the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Moreover, Satan's rule is mediated in his kingdom, by what Paul said in Ephesians, 6:12, "rulers...world forces of this darkness and the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." You may recall last week we looked at some of the evidence of this in Daniel chapter 10, verses 12 through 13. In verse 20, you remember where the angel Gabriel said to Daniel that the prince of the kingdom of Persia, had battled him for 21 days until Michael, one of the chief princes came to help him. He said, For I had been left there with the kings of Persia. And then in verse 20, the angel Gabriel describes another demon, who was assigned to influence the rulers of Greece. In that passage, he says, "and now I must return to fight with the Prince of Persia. And when I have gone forth, indeed, the prince of Greece will come." Dear friends, all of the nations of the world today, including the United States of America are being controlled by demonic forces that influence their leaders. We know according to Scripture, John 12:31, that Satan is the ruler of this world, and he will remain so until the Lord Himself casts him out. First John 5:"19 says that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." And according to Ephesians, two, two, "he is the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience." And Paul tells us in Second Corinthians 11, that Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. History is also replete with examples of human beings who wittingly, as well as unwittingly, do his bidding. Together they rebel against the Most High God and for this reason, God even cursed his own creation. Remember, we read of this in Romans eight beginning of verse 20. He says, "For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, that because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption, into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." And as we will see, Satan, attempted to establish his earthly kingdom in the land of Shinar at the Tower of Babel in the days of Nimrod, according to Genesis 11. The original city of Babylon was therefore, the breeding ground for all of the false religions that would eventually cover the earth.

We will also see that there is great significance in the fact that Babylon conquered Judah. And I want to prepare you for this so that you can understand the whole flow of what the text tells us. The wicked influence that that satanic culture had on God's covenant people, has been in effect down through the centuries. It has had, therefore, a profound spiritual, as well as eschatological, effect on them and an impact on the entire world. And this is all part of God's providential maneuvering to accomplish His plan. History is "his story", the story of the Lord Jesus Christ, the coming King; he is the Almighty sovereign. Remember in Isaiah 46:10, "He is the one who declares the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all my good pleasure.'" And you will recall that even Nebuchadnezzar confessed that Yahweh is the God who according to chapter four and verse 35, of Daniel, "does according to His will, in the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of Earth; and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, 'What have you done?'" Indeed, our God, the One True God, is in absolute sovereign control over all of His creation, and He is the one "who works all things after the counsel of his will," Ephesians 1:11. And what comfort this is in times of trouble. I know even this week, there were several scenarios that came up in my life and my heart just breaks as I see people that I know doing things and believing things that are just such an abomination to God, watching our country just being engulfed by a tsunami of ungodliness and all of this leftist lunacy, that's absolutely destroying our country. And watching the militant LGBTQ mafia force their wickedness on all of us, it causes me to feel like Lot. Remember in Second Peter two and verse seven, we read that Lot was "oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men," referring to the homosexuals in Sodom, "(for by what he saw and heard that righteous man while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds)." And dear friends, the heart of every Christian should be tormented by the rampant immorality and idolatry and wickedness that we see in our country and is now even being promoted by woke apostate churches. It grieves my heart. But we can rejoice knowing that no matter what the circumstance, no matter how bad it gets, no matter how hopeless the condition, or how unfair our plight, God is ultimately, in absolute control of all things. And his purposes, will not be thwarted by man nor by Devil.

Now, with this reminder of the cosmic warfare between these two opposing kingdoms and kings, let's begin to see how this conflict plays out. As we look at Daniel, I've given you a real simple outline. It's just two concepts we want to see, first of all the reason for God's judgment on Judah, and secondly, the prophetic significance and symbolism of Babylon. Now, first, if you'll bear with me with something technical, but I know it'll come up if I don't. Very important, we must address an apparent contradiction that critics like to use to discredit the book of Daniel as a reliable historical document in verse one, we read, "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah." Now, there appears here to be a chronological discrepancy, because Jeremiah dates this in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, not the third year. You read that in Jeremiah 46 two, also in chapter 25 in verse one. Of course the critics say "ah, see there, there's a big problem, your Bible is not reliable." Well, this is easily resolved, in that these two men were using two different calendar systems. Daniel used his native Jewish system where the kings of Judah officially would begin their reign on the first day of the seventh month, that would be Tishri or the month of October, and that would be considered the beginning of a new year for the Jewish people. And this would have been important and appropriate for Daniel to do because his goal was to encourage his exiled countrymen that they would eventually be able to return to their homeland. But Jeremiah used the Babylonian calendar system where Nissan, or April, began the new year rather than Tishri or October. The kings of Assyria and of Babylon commenced their reigns in the spring, not the fall, and this would have been appropriate for Jeremiah, because God commissioned him to prepare apostate Judeans for exile to Babylon. So given these two distinct systems of chronology, all of the events that occurred between the spring and fall would therefore be considered one year off. And so what would appear to be a discrediting discrepancy, is in fact, another remarkable proof of the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture. I might also add, if the book of Daniel was a forgery, as some of the liberal critics would have us believe, if he was some guy who wanted to convince the Jews of his day that his book had been written 400 years earlier, you would think he would have been much more cautious right? Not to contradict the canonical book of Jeremiah, which was written before Daniel. Well, I'm chasing rabbits here, but so much for the critical view of theological liberals on this point.

So again, back to the text, "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah." Judah now comprised of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin. And, really, we need to stop here for a moment because I want to give you some fascinating history. Jehoiakim was the eldest son of his father the good and godly King Josiah. But what's interesting is at Josiah's death, Jehoiakim's younger brother, Jehoahaz was crowned king of Judah in 609 BC. Evidently for some reason, that we don't know, the people of Judah did not want Jehoiakim to reign over them. However, because Pharaoh Necho had recently defeated Josiah and the Judean army at Megiddo, Necho decided to dethrone Jehoahaz, who had only been ruling for three months and put Eliakim in his place. Eliakim, was really his name his but Necho changed his name to Jehoiakim. And Jehoiakim, now, proved to be just an ungodly fool who ruled from 609 to 598 BC. We know because of history, because of Scripture, that he was a very covetous man, he taxed the people to death, he made them build a magnificent palace for him and refused to pay them. He sent men to Egypt to bring back God's faithful prophet Uriah so that he could execute him. You read about that in Jeremiah 26 and Jeremiah 36. We know that he had one of the scribes read Jeremiah's prophecy, his inspired warnings, and every few verses, he would take a knife and cut it out and throw it in the fire until the whole thing was burned up. So that's the type of guy he was. He ruled for 11 years, and the last three years he rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar who retaliated with another attack on Jerusalem in 597 BCE. And Jeremiah prophesied in Jeremiah 22:19, that, "He would be buried with the burial of a donkey, dragged and cast out beyond the Gates of Jerusalem." No wonder he wanted to cut up the prophecy right? He didn't like that. And we know that that he was indeed killed in Babylon's second siege and his corpse was left to rot on the ground like a dead donkey and the scavengers ate his flesh. Well, as Paul Harvey used to say, that's the rest of the story, right? So now you know who we're dealing with. By the way, prior to the fall of Babylon in 586, Judah had 19 kings that ruled over them, eight of them were good and 11 of them were bad.

So, with that background, look at the second part of the first verse, "Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it." So this brings me to our first point that I want us to investigate. You must understand the reason for God's judgment on Judah. We could go to many passages, but I want to take you to Isaiah chapter one. Isaiah helps us understand the depths of their wickedness there in verse four, he says, "Alas, sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, offspring of evil doers, sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away from Him." If you go to Isaiah five, you will read seven woes that God pronounced against them. He cursed them because of their greedy materialism their drunken dissipation, they would have parties with musical accompaniment, it would be their version of a drunken rock band, Spring Break type of a thing. This was what was going on with those people. They redefined morality. You will recall in verse 20, of Isaiah five, "Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness." My goodness, we could give 100 examples of that today, here in our country right now. They were cursed because of their haughty humanism, their corrupt leadership; their moral apostasy was profound. And in Isaiah 24, one through six, we read how they had forsaken the law, and ignored God's covenant. But God also solemnly warned his people through the prophet Jeremiah, as well, to repent of their idolatry, lest he judge them, but they refused. Moreover, according to Jeremiah 34, verses 12 through 22, we see how they neglected the Sabbath day, and the sabbatical year. Therefore, God sent them into captivity for 70 years, to reclaim the Sabbath that they had violated and give the land a rest. Folks, I hope you get the idea that God is serious about obedience, right? He's serious about obeying his law, his righteous standard.

And I also want to remind you of his Law, which can be understood as in terms of, frankly, the whole Old Testament scriptures. The law had three divisions. First, there was the moral law that regulated how Israel was to love the Lord their God with all their heart, and their neighbors as themselves, all of which was based upon the 10 commandments. But second, there was the judicial law that regulated Israel's theocracy as a nation. And then there was the ceremonial law that regulated Israel's worship. And we know that ultimately, the Lord Jesus Christ fulfilled each division of the law. That's why he said in Matthew, chapter five, verse 17, "'Do not think that I came to abolish the Law, or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.'" And he did that in various ways. We won't have time to get into right now. But dear friends, we should never forget that while the judicial and the ceremonial laws were fulfilled in Christ and are now obsolete, the moral law is still being fulfilled in the church, in the redeemed because we are united to Christ through faith. And when we violate the Word of God, God will chasten us. And when unbelievers violate the Word of God, God will judge them eternally so, lest they repent, and place their faith in Christ as their only hope of salvation. Now, sadly, most in ancient Judah, grievously violated God's law.

So again, back to the text, "Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it." As we look at the historical evidence, even in Scripture, there is no evidence of any fighting. Babylon was such an overwhelming force; it would have been suicidal for Jerusalem to in any way resist. And we read here that, "The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand." This is such a great statement. We find such hope here, the Lord, Adonai, the Lord God, the owner, ruler, the supreme master, the mighty sovereign. He's the one that "gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand." In other words, Nebuchadnezzar, you did not do this, God did. Nebuchadnezzar was merely God's ape, although he didn't know it. This was the sovereign will of the Lord God, which, by the way, is the theme of Daniel. Folks, I want you to remember this. Rulers can only do what God allows them to do. They can never exceed the limits of divine providence, the boundaries of his decreed will.

So again, "The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand." It goes on to say, "along with some of the vessels of the house of God," referring to the sacred vessels of Solomon's temple. Imagine that, Solomon's temple, "and he brought them to the land of Shinar," which is an Old Testament reference to Babylonia that stretched across the lower, lower Mesopotamia. And it says that, he brought them to, "the house of his god and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god." Now, this is most likely a reference to the Temple of Marduk, in Babylon, the capital of Babylon, which is on the Euphrates River. It's about 50 miles south of modern Baghdad, if you want to get a frame of reference. There were around 50 temples for different deities that existed in that day. But the Temple of Marduk was the most prominent temple located in the most sacred area. One scholar by the name of Woods says quote, "In this area, entered by the magnificent Ishtar Gate, was also a great ziggurat, a sacred tower crowned with a small shrine. The splendid Marduk Temple boasted numerous chapels to deities other than Marduk. But his was the principal one richly decorated with cedar wood paneling, gold, alabaster, and semi-precious stones." So you get an idea of what's going on here. It's also interesting to note that Nebuchadnezzar named his son, Amel Marduk, or could be translated "Evil-Merodach." How'd you like to name your son that? By the way, Nebuchadnezzar was named after another Babylonian deity by the name of Nebo. Now Marduk was sometimes referred to as "Bel", which means "lord." He was the fertility god, and all of their worship involves sexual orgies, things that I wouldn't want to even discuss in public. It also included human sacrifice, throwing babies into the fire, they would bury some of their young ones in the foundations of their homes, in public buildings. They had male and female prostitution; it was just completely vile.

Now for Nebuchadnezzar to come to Judah, and to take these items from the temple, to pillage the Temple of Yahweh, and place the booty in his temple, was a way of symbolizing the superiority of Marduk over YAWEH. It's fascinating that approximately 130 years before what I'm about to tell you actually happened, the prophet Isaiah exposed just how dead those idols in Babylon really were. When he predicted that Babylon would be defeated by Cyrus the Mede, which happened in 539 BCE, and how the middle Persians would come in and take their items and carry the Babylonian deities away in oxcarts. We read this in Isaiah 46 verses one and two. Let me read this to you. He says, "Bel has bowed down, Nebo stoops over; their images are consigned to the beasts and the cattle. The things that you carry are burdensome, a load for the very for the weary beast. They stooped over, they have bowed down together; they could not rescue the burden but have themselves gone into captivity." So, now we have a bit of an understanding of the reason behind God's judgment and what happened.

And secondly, we want to look at the prophetic significance and symbolism of Babylon. I want you to understand that over 100 years before Judah's fall, Isaiah predicted that this would happen. We read about this in Isaiah 39, beginning in verse six, "Behold," he says, "the days are coming when all that is in your house, and all that your father's have laid up in store to this day will be carried to Babylon, nothing will be left says the Lord. And some of your sons who will issue from you, whom you will beget, will be taken away, and they will become officials in the palace of the king of Babylon." Now, it's fair to ask the question, why Babylon? Why the land of Shinar? And again, I would submit to you that it's because the land of Shinar was the first place where Satan tried to establish his own earthly kingdom through his servant Nimrod at the Tower of Babel. Let me give you some Old Testament history. 1656 years after God created Adam, he judged man with a worldwide flood. And all except eight people who, according to the Scriptures, found favor in the eyes of the Lord, referring to Noah, his wife, three sons, and wives, all of them, everybody else was destroyed. And according to Genesis 10, eight through 10, one of the descendants of Ham was a character named Nimrod who tried to build, quote, "a kingdom called Babel Shinar." We read that in Genesis 10:10. By the way that would have been in modern day Iraq, the same region probably of the Garden of Eden, the land of Mesopotamia. And according to Genesis 11, and one, we read that, "the whole earth used the same language and same words." Interesting thought. They all spoke the same language as Noah. And then verse two, we read that they journeyed east to the land of Shinar, and they settled there. So keep this in mind. Now, some 100 years after the flood, Satan now tries to get his foothold on the earth through Nimrod, who was Noah's great grandson, who, as you will see is a foreshadow of the coming Antichrist. We learn more about their motivation in chapter 11, and verse four of Genesis and, "They said, 'Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower whose top will reach into heaven, and let us make for ourselves a name, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.'" And we know that they built this tower, a ziggurat, called the Tower of Babel; a tower that was erected ultimately, to facilitate idolatry. And history reveals that on the top of that tower, and many like them, was the sign of the zodiac where priests would chart the stars to somehow predict the future. By the way, it should be no surprise that we still have that satanic practice with us to this day, another ploy to distract man from worshipping the one true God who alone, not only predicts the future, but causes the future, to conform with his sovereign will.

Well, God was displeased with their rebellion and their idolatry, as you will recall, knowing that it was ultimately from Satan. So according to verse seven, here's what God says, "'Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.' So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of the whole earth; and they stopped building the city. Therefore, its name was called Babel. Because there the Lord confused the language of the whole earth." So now the people are confused. And each people group begins to coalesce around their respective languages, and they all begin to move to find a region that would support them. And naturally, they took with them all of their idolatries all of their wickedness, much of which historians have discovered was what we would call ancient mother son fertility, cult worship. A combination of myth and legend in history, points to a woman by the name of Semiramis, who was believed to be the wife of Nimrod and if you read some of the story, she was impregnated by some sunbeam that came in through a window. She had this child named Tammuz, he was eventually killed, but came back to life. Basically, what you see is a counterfeit version of Mary and Jesus and so forth.

Well, regardless of the veracity of those names, as many as 180 shrines dedicated to the goddess Ishtar, had been documented in ancient Babylon. Now, the idolatrous mother-son fertility cult worship can be seen virtually in every pagan religious system around the world and Greece. She became Aphrodite, Artemis, Athena, Demeter and Gaya. In Rome she was Venus, Diana, Minerva and Terra. In India, she was the goddess Devaki with a son infant Krishna, Isi and infant Iswara. In Egypt, it was the goddess Isis and son Horus. In Asia they were known is Cybele and Deoius. The Scandinavians called her Disa she's always pictured with a child. Ancient Germans worshipped the Virgin Hertha with the child and in her arms and on and on it goes. And even Israel was later rebuked for worshipping, quote, The Queen of Heaven, the goddess Ishtar, we read about that, in Jeremiah 44, as well as worshipping her son Tammuz in Ezekiel eight and verse 14, which included idol worship that involves just the lowest and most abominable forms of immorality, idolatrous practices, that, unfortunately, God's covenant people refused to give up and so God judged them severely. By the way, as a footnote, it should be no surprise that the name Queen of Heaven or Mother of God is still being used by Roman Catholics today.

So, out of the Tower of Babel came all of the complex of pagan religions; they were spawned there, everything from Islam, to Hinduism, Shamanism to Buddhism. They were all birth there at the Tower of Babel in the land of Shinar. And this helps us understand what John has to say, in Revelation 17, in verse five, where he describes a coming mystery, "Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and of the abominations of the earth." Now, I might add that this is not a reference to the historical geographical city of Babylon, but rather to a future religious amalgam that will exist, that will be led by the false prophet that's described in Revelation 13:11 through 18, he will be a counterfeit Holy Spirit, remember, there will be a counterfeit trinity one day of Satan, the Antichrist and the False Prophet. So the false prophet will be a counterfeit Holy Spirit who will seek to exalt the Antichrist, and somehow reinforces efforts to thwart the purposes of God during the time of the tribulation, just prior to our Lord's return.

And as we read the prophetic literature we see that under the aegis of the false prophet and an ecclesiastical ecumenical one world counterfeit religion, will serve the Antichrist, and this religion will seduce the nations like a harlot seduces the fool. And we read in Scripture that the term "fornication" which refers to having sex outside of marriage, as well as harlotry, or prostitution; those terms are often used in Scripture to illustrate spiritual prostitution. In Revelation 14 and verse eight, we read, "she who has made all the nation's drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality." And indeed, we see that one day the nation's will become so intoxicated with her idolatrous pleasures that they will seek to destroy anyone that serves the one true God. Dr. Larson says quote, "Counterfeiting the Holy Spirit's faithful testimony and witness to Christ, the false prophet points unceasingly to the beast, performs mighty wonders and successfully imprints the mark of the beast, (666), the number of man. humanism with a vengeance." And then he goes on to say, "He will imprint that on the deceived," quote, "The inhabitants of the earth, without which they can neither buy nor sell, Revelation 13:16 and following." You know, given what we are witnessing in the world today, all of these things are not only plausible, they are inevitable. Larson goes on to say, "This Christ-less, wordless, but bloodless, and powerless, religious sham, will sweep the vulnerable inhabitants of the earth off their feet. And the greatest hoax of all history, as Jesus described it in Matthew 24, beginning in verse 10, 'At that time, many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people's love will grow cold, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.'" Larson goes on to say, "But God is never without a testimony. And even in this dark time, Israel will be his witness. Though sorely persecuted, martyred and hated," quote, "by all nations because of Christ, Israel will preach the gospel of the kingdom. Again, according to Matthew 24 and verse 14, preach the gospel of the kingdom 'in the whole world as a testimony to all nations.' And then Jesus says, 'the end will come.'"

So, the satanic idolatry that originated from Babel, from the original Babylon and the land of Shinar, will eventually culminate in an orgy of rebellion and hatred of the one true God, just prior to our Lord's return. Mystery, "a mystery" John says, "Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the abominations of the earth." Folks, history will come full circle. All of these false religious systems will have a family reunion, you might say, they're all going to come home to mama, they will be rolled into one world religion, designed to worship the beast, the Antichrist. And this one religion is personified as a harlot, and indeed, the world is being prepared for that great Babylonish horror, even today, one that will promise to bring all of the world's religions together, coexist, you see it all the time, right? You're gonna bring it all together under under a monolithic banner of ecumenism, a demonic system that will eventually lead to the sole worship of the beast himself. I must add that in Revelation 18 there is a description of a commercial Babylon that will collaborate with religious Babylon, we see that there's also going to be not just a one world religion, but a one world economy. In fact, the prophet Zechariah describes this as well in chapter five, verses five through 11. There he had, you might recall a vision of a woman in a basket, and according to verse eight, she was called wickedness and there we have a personification of religious and ecclesiastical apostasy that will also manifest itself in wanton materialism and secularism, Zechariah five verses 10 and 11. We read, "I said to the angel, who was speaking with me, 'Where are they taking the ephah?' this basket that this woman is in, "Then he said to me, 'To build a temple for her in the land of Shinar; and when it is prepared, she will be set there on her own pedestal.'" If we had time we could look into that text and all of the passages around it and see that a day is coming when the system of organized godlessness that has dominated the world since the time of Nimrod will be will be transported by demonic powers to the land of Shinar and there it's going to be placed on a pedestal, we believe probably in a temple as an idol to be worshipped in the final Babylon, the final world system of the Antichrist. But it will be destroyed and forever removed from the earth when the Lord returns.

I want to comfort you with these words in Revelation chapter 18, beginning in verse one. "After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority and the earth was illumined with his glory, and he cried out with a mighty voice saying, 'Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.' I heard another voice from heaven saying, 'Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.'" Then dropping down to verse 21, we read that, "A strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, 'So will Babylon, the great city, be thrown down with violence, and will not be found any longer, and the sound of harps and musicians and flute players and trumpeters will not be heard in you any longer; and no craftsman of any craft will be found in you any longer, and the sound of a mill will not be heard you any longer; and the light of a lamp will not shine in you any longer; and the voice of the bridegroom and bride will not be heard in you any longer; for your merchants were the great men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth.'" Merrill Unger says, quote, "Not until this evil system is removed from Palestine, will it become," quote, "The Holy Land. And not until it's rooted out of the whole earth in its entirety, will God's kingdom come and God's will be done in earth as it is in heaven."

Folks, my point with all of this is to make sure you understand that the original Babylonian captivity of Judah described in Daniel, and in other passages in the Old Testament, was not some kind of a random event without any purpose. But rather it points to, and it symbolizes, an entire worldwide political, economic and religious kingdom of antichrist, for which the world today is being prepared. We simply cannot, and we must not, read these passages in isolation, but see how they fit into the whole counsel of God revealed in Scripture.

Now, in closing this morning, I know many of you have already asked, "Where does the United States fit in to all of these things prophetically?" And I will deal with this more at length at another time. But the answer is nowhere specifically, okay? It may be part of the revived Roman Empire that will be ruled by the Antichrist. If it survives the removal of the church at the time of the rapture, it's going to be profoundly weakened. And certainly already we see serious cracks in the foundations of our country. The wrath of divine abandonment is having its effect on our country. Dear friends, the glory days of the United States of America, are quickly disappearing in the rearview mirror. Well, to be sure, America, to whatever degree it exists when the Lord returns, is going to join with all of the rest of the nations of the world. It too will fall under the spell of mystery Babylon, and under the power of the rule of the Antichrist and his false prophet. And like all nations, it too will come against Israel. We're already seeing that movement. And like all the nations, it will be destroyed.

Let me close by reading Zechariah's prophecy in Zechariah 12, beginning in verse three, "'It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lifted will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.'" And as I said, like all nations, it will be defeated. All these nations will be defeated, including the United States. And a remnant of Israel will come to repentant faith in the Messiah, that the one that they have so long rejected. And we read of this again, back to Zechariah 12, beginning in verse eight. "'In that day the Lord will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the one who is feeble among them in that day will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them. And in that day, I will set about to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.'" There's the fate of the United States, and all of the nations. He goes on to say, '"I will pour out on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son, and they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn.'" Dear Christian, be encouraged our God reigns. And one day, the glory of the Lord will fill the earth as the waters cover the sea, as the prophet has promised. But dear friends, if you're here today, and you do not know Christ, my word to you is, be warned. But also be encouraged because there is a way of escape if you place your faith in Christ. But if you don't, you will perish in your sins. And you will pay for your sins in the torment of solitary confinement where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. And you will be in torment forever and ever, and ever. That's why the gospel is such good news, Amen? The Gospel provides a way for our sins to be forgiven, and for us to enjoy the imputed righteousness of Christ, who gave his life for all who would believe on him. So I challenge you, if you don't know Christ, today is the day that you need to do business with God. Let's pray together. Father, thank You for the eternal truths of your word. And even though we don't know all of the particulars, we see the grand themes in the grand direction, the trajectory of your plan of redemption, of your plan to bring glory to the king and establish your kingdom. We thank you therefore, for the hope that we find through your inspired, infallible Word. But Lord, we also thank you for your indwelling Spirit that causes our hearts to leap with joy, knowing what awaits us all because of your grace. Lord, give us an ardent zeal for evangelism, to share the good news of the gospel with others that they too might be saved, that they too might enjoy the hope that is ours in Christ. And finally, Lord, I must say please, come quickly, Lord Jesus, come quickly. For it's in your name that I pray, Amen.

We have a great privilege this morning to begin our study in the book of Daniel. So if you will turn there, I would like to offer an introduction this morning. I hope it won't be the most boring sermon you've ever heard, but it is necessary to build the right foundation. I might add that the fore view of human history that is revealed in Daniel's prophecies, not only shed light on the contemporary issues that we see in our world today, but they also animate our hope that the Lord's return could be real soon. So bear that in mind, and I trust your heart is prepared to receive the Word this morning. Let me just read the first six verses. Daniel one beginning in verse one. "In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem and besieged it. The Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them to the land of Shinar to the house of his God, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his God. Then the king ordered Ashpenaz, the chief of his officials, to bring in some of the sons of Israel, including some of the royal family and of the nobles, youths in whom was no defect, who were good-looking, showing intelligence and every branch of wisdom endowed with understanding and discerning knowledge and who had ability for serving in the king's court; and he ordered him to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans. The king appointed them a daily ration from the king's choice food and from the wine which he drank, and appointed that they should be educated three years, at the end of which they were to enter the king's personal service. Now among them from the sons of Judah were Daniel and Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah."

Do you ever wonder why the Jewish people have been and continue to be the most hated and persecuted people on the planet? Why does Satan have such a vendetta against the Jews? Have you ever thought about that? Have you ever wondered how the Jewish people could rise from the ashes of the Nazi Holocaust to become the most dominant military power in the Middle East, and one of the most powerful militaries and political states in all of the world? How could that happen? You ever wonder how such a little country about the size of New Jersey, 9000 square miles, with a population of only 9.8 million can survive against the overwhelming numbers of their enemies all around them? Is that not curious to you? You ever wonder how they could survive when they are surrounded by 22 Arab countries occupying 5 million square miles composed of 200 million people. And all of them aligned with all of the Muslim nations of the world, which consists of about 1.8 billion people. Nations that occupy lands that are 672 times the size of miniscule Israel. Dr. David Larsen said, quote, "Abraham purchased burial in Hebron 4000 years ago, and the Jews are still there." He went on to add, "How have the Jews, virtually alone, avoided genetic regression of IQ and achievement and been successful for 4000 years? The Hittites and the Canaanites are all gone. But the Jews are like Jonah, the stubborn Prophet, tossed out into the swirling and stormy seas, ostensibly consumed by the great fish, but ingested, then vomited upon the land once again." You ever wonder why, for 3000 years, Jerusalem, which means "the city of peace" has been a city of unparalleled war and bloodshed? One in which the Lord said in Zechariah 12, three, "a heavy stone for all the peoples," and he added, "all who lift it will be severely injured. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it." You ever wonder why the Temple Mount in Jerusalem is the most disputed piece of real estate in all of the world? You ever wonder what's going to happen to our country, to the great military powers of Russia and China and other nations? You ever wonder about the coming Antichrist of Bible prophecy? And how his rule fits into what we're seeing today with the rise of totalitarianism and globalism and ecumenism and apostate Christianity. You ever wonder what's going to happen on earth just prior to the Lord's return? Well, dear friends, these topics and many others will be addressed as we study the book of Daniel and other ancillary biblical passages. One of evangelicalism's most prominent 20th century theologians Dr. John Walfvoord, the former president of Dallas Theological Seminary, and a friend of our family, he used to come to our house and we used to play pool together and talk about Bible prophecy when I was a young man. He's gone home to be with the Lord now, but here's what he said, quote, "In many respects, the book of Daniel is the most comprehensive prophetic revelation of the Old Testament, giving the only total view of world history from Babylon to the Second Advent of Christ and inner relating Gentile history and prophecy, concerning Israel. Daniel provides the key to the overall interpretation of prophecy is a major element in Premillennialism and is essential to the interpretation of the book of Revelation. Its revelation of the sovereignty and power of God has brought assurance to Jew and Gentile alike, that God will fulfill His sovereign purposes in time and eternity."

Dear friends, today we embark upon a journey of the one of the most fascinating books in all of the Bible written under the inspiration of the Spirit. By one of God's choice servants, the prophet Daniel, whose name by the way, means "God is my judge." Jesus said in Matthew 24 and verse 15, "When you see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken up through Daniel, the prophet, standing in the holy place," and in parentheses he added, "(let the reader understand)," And I might say that's exactly what we are going to attempt to do; understand what Daniel and the other prophets have said concerning what is going to come upon the earth. You need to understand that Daniel is to the Old Testament, what the book of Revelation is to the New Testament. In fact, Daniel is the interpretive key in understanding Jesus' Olivet Discourse, in Matthew 24 and 25. And we will witness obvious parallels between Daniel's prophecies and other New Testament prophecies.

One of my favorite seminary professors, Dr. John C. Whitcomb wrote this, and I believe you have this in your bulletin, as he compares what we see in Daniel and other passages. He says, "No one who has reverently studied the book of Daniel, in the context of the completed scriptures, can deny the crucial contribution of this book to God's complete prophetic revelation. Our Lord spoke often of the Kingdom of Heaven, Matthew five, three, we also see it in Daniel 2:44, and of himself as the Son of Man, Matthew 26:64. Also in Daniel 7:13 through 14. Looking toward his second coming to the earth, he referred to "a great tribulation such has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now," Matthew 24:21. We see it as well in Daniel 12, one and two, "the abomination of desolation that will stand in the temple," Matthew 24:15, but also Daniel 9:27 and chapter 12, verse 11. The Apostle Paul also referred to this work of "the man of lawlessness," Second Thessalonians, two, three through four. We see it as well in Daniel 7:25, and chapter 11:36 through 39, but rejoice that someday the saints will judge the world. First Corinthians six, two, but also in Daniel 7:18, 22, and 27." Finally, Dr. Whitcomb says, "The chronological structure and much of the symbolism of Revelation six through 19 build upon the book of Daniel. We see this in Revelation 13, one through two, chapter 17, verses three and 12. And also in Daniel seven, three through 27, 9:27 11:36 through 39, and 12, one through seven."

Here, dear friends, we are going to marvel at the sovereignty and the power of our God. And as we look at the text, we will see how, through Daniel's prophecy, God reveals the successive stages of Gentile world domination through the ages, until the coming of Messiah, when the Lord our Savior, and King returns in power and great glory as King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, when he judges the nations and he defeats them, and he establishes His glorious Millennial Kingdom is universal reign over the earth. That day in which he fulfills his physical, as well as spiritual promises, to regenerated Israel. That day in which we too shall reign with Him.

Now, the book can be divided into very basic general parts. In chapters one through seven, the inspired prophet will reveal God's sovereign rule over history. His rule over all of the nations, even the ones that exist today. His rule over those who lead them. In fact, Daniel, two and seven reveal how God will one day unexpectedly and astonishingly establish his kingdom, after the ruin of four literal successive Gentile Empires, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. And just as these four kingdoms are literal kingdoms, so too, the coming, messianic kingdom that will destroy them, and replace them, will be a real geographical and political kingdom. And then in chapters eight through 12, we will see God's sovereign rule over Israel's future. There he will unveil his kingdom purposes both during and after Gentile domination in the world; what we read in Scripture as "the times of the Gentiles" that we are living in right now, and we will see how his kingdom promises apply also to Gentiles, like us, probably like most all of us. And I'm thankful that that is true, because, as the Apostle Paul said, in Ephesians 2:11, "we were strangers to God's covenants" we, according to Romans 11:24, are "the wild olive branches" that have been grafted into the spiritual tree of Abrahamic and Davidic and new covenant blessings. Today, ethnic Israel is experiencing a temporary and partial hardening as a consequence of God's judgment upon them. And today, the church has temporarily replaced Israel as the custodian of divine truth and many Gentiles are being saved. But as we will see a remnant of believing Israelites have been preserved; a preview of God's faithfulness to save the nation as a whole, as promised in Romans 11, beginning in verse 25, where the apostle Paul says, to the Gentiles, "For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery--so that you will not be wise in your own estimation--that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved just as it is written, 'THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB. THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.' From the standpoint of the gospel, they're enemies for your sake. But from the standpoint of God's choice, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." In Daniel, we will find profound encouragement, as believers, to see God in control of his universe, and of all of history. And certainly it was a profound encouragement to the ancient Jews and in exile in Babylon, and frankly, throughout their weary sojourn. And here we will witness the miracle of divine providence, as God orchestrates all of the events, all of the contingencies of human history to ultimately accomplish his purposes in bringing glory to himself. Because God intends to do two primary things, one to exalt Christ as Savior and King, but also to redeem His people. And all through Scripture, we see Christ both as lion as well as lamb. And he will indeed redeem all that the Father who has given him according to Revelation seven, beginning of verse nine, "A great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches, were in their hands, and they cry out with a loud voice saying 'Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.'"

Oh, dear child of God, what a gift we have in His Word, in his prophetic word. What comfort we can gain as we look at Scripture, especially in light of all of the chaos we see all around us, knowing that there is absolutely nothing that escapes his notice, because there is nothing hidden from his site. Moreover, nothing thwarts his purposes because no power exists, apart from his authority, apart from his permission, and all that He has promised Israel, all that He has promised the church, all that He has promised to you and to me will come to pass. Today, we know that the world laughs at the gospel, laughs at Bible prophecy. People scoff at the idea of God's judgment because they have no fear of God. And they mock anyone who claims that Jesus is coming again. But our response must be like that of Peter's. As we read in Second Peter three, beginning in verse three, "Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For ever, since the fathers fell asleep all continues, just as it was from the beginning of creation.'" To which Peter responds, "For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God, the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water, through which the world at that time was destroyed, being flooded with water. But by His word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, with the Lord one day is like 1000 years and 1000 years, like one day. the Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but as patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all, to come to repentance."

To be sure, as we examine the prophecies of Daniel, our faith will be fortified, and our souls will be blessed. Moreover, we must understand that that Bible prophecy is one of the greatest evidences of the inerrancy and inspiration of Scripture. In fact, we read in Second Peter one, verse nineteen that, "we have the prophetic word," referring to the entire Old Testament and by extension, all of Scripture, "made more sure," in that context, more sure than just personal experiences, "to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts." John MacArthur said quote, "It is said that future predictive prophecy occupies 1/5 of Scripture, not a small amount. Of that 1/5 of Scripture which is predictive prophecy, 1/3 of that speaks of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ, to judge sinners and to reward and reign with the righteous. So 1/3 of the 1/5 is focused on the second coming of Jesus Christ." He went on to add, "There are about 660 General prophecies in the Bible, half of them are about Jesus Christ. Of the 330 that are about Christ, 110 of them are about His first coming, and 220 of them are about His Second Coming. So there is a huge amount of Scripture that focuses on the second coming of Christ. Another sort of statistical way to look at the importance of this subject is out of the 46 Old Testament prophets, 10 of them spoke of matters related to His first coming, but 36 of them spoke of matters related to His second coming. Someone has estimated that over 1500 verses in the Old Testament look to the return of the Messiah in glory and judgment. One out of every 25 verses in the New Testament relates to Christ's return. For every time Christ mentions His first coming, he mentions His second coming eight times. That is, every time the New Testament mentions His first coming, it mentions His second coming eight times." And then he closes the section saying, "Our Lord referred to it 20 times, and there are over 50 times in the New Testament, we are warned that He is coming." Indeed dear friends, Jesus is coming as he has promised in His Word.

So with this introduction, let's establish a bit of the context of what God is going to reveal to us maybe a good way of doing that is imagine something that might not be too far-fetched. Imagine China coming to the United States and defeating the nation. And suddenly you and many of your family and friends have been killed. You've been taken from your homes. Calvary Bible Church, in terms of its building structure and facilities no longer exists. And some of you are taken away to China. You don't know the language, you don't know the culture, you don't know the people, and you are forced to submit to what they believe. That's basically what happened to Daniel with Babylon. We learn from Deuteronomy 28 that when God settled the tribes of Israel in the Promised Land, he promised to bless them if they were obedient and curse them if they rebelled against him. Well, we all know that, sadly, they were unfaithful. And as we look at the Old Testament, especially in the days of the judges, for example, in Judges three through chapter 16, we see a continuous cycle of apostasy, and then judgment, and then restoration and repentance, and then it would start over again. And while the rule of King David was characterized primarily by obedience and God's blessings, we know that Solomon eventually, quote, "turned away from the Lord," which triggered God's judgment once again. And this continued, despite all of the warnings of the prophets until the northern kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrians in 722 BCE. Then a little over 100 years later, the same fate befell the southern kingdom of Judah at the hands of the Babylonians. And it's so sad for many years, the prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah warned Judah, of the coming judgment. If they refuse to repent of their idolatry and their immorality and their hypocrisy and their injustice and their greed, and on and on and on, but they scoffed at the prophets even though they knew what had happened to the northern kingdom in 722 BC. It's astounding. And gradually, we know historically that Assyria's power began to wane until it succumbed to the powerful and brutal forces of Babylonia. And then in the spring of 605 BC, we know that that Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian forces fought against the Egyptians and what was left of the Assyrian Empire at Carchemish. And the Babylonians defeated them and then just a few months later, they invaded Judah, and subdued them. And dear friends, it was at this time that Daniel and his friends were exiled to Babylon. And then later because of Judah's continued rebellion, eight years later in 597, Nebuchadnezzar once again came upon Judah, forced another 10,000 leading citizens to come to Babylon. You can read about that in Second Kings 24:11 through 16. That included by the way, the prophet Ezekiel, let me read you a little about that surrender in Second Kings 24, beginning in verse 12, "Jehoiachin, the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants and his captains and his officials. So the king of Babylon took him captive in the eighth year of his reign. He carried out from there all the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold, which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, just as the Lord had said. Then he led away into exile all Jerusalem and all the captains and all the mighty men of valor, 10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen and the smiths. None remained except the poorest people of the land. So he led Jehoiachin away into exile to Babylon, also the king's mother and the king's wives and his officials and the leading men of the land, he led away into exile from Jerusalem, to Babylon. All the men of valor, 7000 and the craftsman and the smiths, 1000, all strong and fit for war, and these, the king of Babylon brought into exile to Babylon."

And then there was a third coming of Nebuchadnezzar to Judah that happened in 586 BC when he once again, because of the rebellion, came back and he utterly destroyed Jerusalem and made them a province of Babylonia. And that destruction included the demolition of Solomon's temple, which many times we call the first temple. That magnificent structure that was 20 stories high, a structure that took 150,000 men, many years to build. And according to First Kings 10 in verse 14, we know that it's wall and floor were overlaid with pure gold amounting to 666 talents, that's 25 tons of gold. I had to get out my calculator, see what the price of gold is and get some idea of what that would be worth today, that would be worth approximately $1.2 billion. Folks, so you get the idea that God is serious about His holiness. He is serious about his word, he is serious about his will, and he will judge those who rebel against Him.

Dave Harrell

So in summary, in 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar pillaged the temple and took the articles to Babylon where he placed them in the Babylonian temple at Shinar. You read about that in Second Chronicles 36, seven. And then again in 598 and seven BC, he returns and he further plunders the treasures of the temple. That's the Second Kings 24 and Second Chronicles 36 and seven, you read about that. And then finally, in 586 BCE, he invades Jerusalem a third time, and utterly destroys it and the temple. And later as we study the book, we will learn from Daniel chapter nine, how in 538 BC, Daniel prayed for Jerusalem, and prayed for the temple to be restored. And in that context, he received the prophecy of the 70 weeks concerning the Messiah's death in Jerusalem. That was fulfilled precisely to the day. He also prophesied in that context, the destruction of the Second Temple, which was the one built by Ezra and Nehemiah sometimes called Zerubbabel's temple, and the one that Herod expanded upon in the first century, and he also prophesied its future rebuilding and desecration under the rule of the coming Antichrist. In that context, he also revealed to him the defiling of that future second temple that would occur at the hands of Antiochus Epiphanes and the replacement, or I should say the placement of a statue of Zeus in the holy place in the temple. You read about that in Daniel 11:31.

Now, I want you to understand that when Daniel first came, he spent eight years in captivity before the first Judeans arrived in 597 BCE. And he spent 19 years before the final group came in 586 BC. And as we look at the whole book, we will see that Daniel bridges the entire 70 years of Babylonian captivity. Now, Daniel and his three close friends, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, were about 15 years old when they were taken captive. Daniel was from royal descent, as we read in Daniel one and verse three. And given the remarkable nature of his character, he must have been raised in a very godly home. We know nothing about really his parents or his home. And apart from his own book, Daniel is mentioned five times in Scripture. In Ezekiel 14 four and also verse 20, he's described as a righteous man along with Noah, and Job. It's good company to be in right? And in Ezekiel 28:33, we see how his wisdom is underscored. And this is especially noteworthy since Ezekial would have known Daniel very well because he was one of Daniel's contemporaries, who came to Babylon eight years after Daniel. And as mentioned earlier in Matthew 24, and verse 15, and Mark 13:14, Jesus points to Daniel's prophecy in Daniel 9:27 and chapter 12, and verse one, as the key to properly interpreting quote, "the abomination of desolation," end quote, that will take place during the great tribulation. Now, it's fair to ask, Why did Nebuchadnezzar take Daniel and his three friends? And the answer in a nutshell is because they were the brightest and the best and he needed to train young Jewish men in the ways of the Babylonians, so that they could come alongside him and help him govern the Jews. But we might also add that God had his own purposes, in all of this, to use Daniel as his mouthpiece, to encourage his covenant people in that day and down through the centuries as well as to encourage all of us today, and also to gain the adoration of the pagan rulers, demonstrating to them that YAWEH was the one true God. Yes, the God of Israel, but the God overall, the ruler of the heavens and the earth, and that his purposes cannot be thwarted.

Regarding Daniel's remarkable character and giftedness, Leon Wood writes, quote, "His three year education in Babylon, which no doubt followed good training before this in Jerusalem, equipped him well for his life's work. Along with this, he must have had a natural ability for administration, because once granted a high position at the court, he remained there. Later, he achieved a place even as one of the three top presidents in the Persian government of Darius. This honor was clearly the result of God's special blessing, but God regularly employs natural means to accomplish His will. Still another quality," Woods goes on to say, "was his admirable faith in God, while still a youth of about 17. He and his three friends had faith to believe that God would reveal to them the dream of King Nebuchadnezzar and the four held a prayer meeting to ask God to do so."

You know, as we approach this book, I must say, especially to you young people, and even especially to you young men, you need to take notice of Daniels godly character, be reminded of what God can do. And a young person who fears him and who trusts in Him who obeys him and worships him. We are told in Second Chronicles 69, "For the eyes of the Lord look to and fro throughout the world that He might strongly support those whose heart is completely His." Now, I must make brief mention of a few important aspects of this book. Here's where he gets a bit technical. And I hope I don't bore you out of your mind. But this is important for you to understand.

First of all, you must know that less than half of the book was written in Hebrew, the rest was written in Aramaic. In fact, the Aramaic part is from chapter two, verse four, all the way to chapter seven. And throughout the chapter, verse 28, I believe. Now why is this the case? Well, it's because Aramaic was the language of the Gentile world of that day. Moreover, as we will see, the subject matter pertain to the Gentiles rather than to Israel directly. I might also add that the shift from Hebrew to Aramaic and back and forth that we see is was found in the scrolls of Daniel discovered at Qumran, and this really underscores the legitimacy of this feature in the Masoretic text of the Jewish canon that's used in the English translation of the Bible. But a second important aspect of the book is this, there have always been and there will always be arguments between theological conservatives and liberals about the authorship and the date of Daniel, when it was written. Now I have deliberately not chosen to bore you with all of these technicalities, many of them are, are tedious, and frankly, unnecessary. I don't want to take away from the majestic flow of the book, if you have questions and you want more information, contact me. And believe me, I can give you places where you can read to your heart's delight, all of these obscure arguments. And furthermore, I must add that, because liberals deny the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture, because they deny the supernatural nature of those things in Scripture, and because they deny the supernatural nature of predictive prophecy, they have no credibility, in my mind. In fact, liberalism, whether theological or political, is a deadly spiritual virus designed by Satan to deceive and to destroy. We've seen this throughout history, you can look at Europe today and see this, especially theologically, it's like a deadly virus spawned in the laboratories of demons. It makes COVID look like a common cold. But if you will indulge me I will make mention of at least one of these technical criticisms, I think you'll find it quite interesting and quite affirming.

Liberal critics insist that the prophecies of Daniel are so incredibly and undeniably and literally fulfilled, that they must have been written after the fact. Nobody could have possibly predicted all of that. It had to have been written by someone years later, who merely recorded historical facts in the guise of predictive prophecy. And I marvel at the blindness of the unregenerate. And I'm just thankful that, I'm thankful for God's grace, or I'd be right there with them, so would you. I mean, think about it, there are over 100 supernatural prophecies that have been fulfilled in chapter 11, alone, as we will see. Yet liberals deny the supernatural, especially biblical prophecy. Dr. Whitcomb is most helpful once again, one of my former professors, I'll read some of my notes that has been put in book form, or some of his notes that I have this is from him. He says, quote, "Theological liberals who deny the supernatural have maintained that predictive prophecy is a moral impossibility for God. Thus, the book must be a second century BC product of, quote, 'pious deception.' The supposed purpose of the book from their perspective, namely, the encouragement of Maccabean freedom fighters against the monster Antiochus Epiphanes, was somehow accomplished through the deception of a pseudonymous document pretending to be written by a legendary Daniel of four centuries earlier." But he goes on to argue saying, "Jews living in the intertestamental period, especially in Palestine, would never have accepted as canonical a book quote, 'hot off the press that claimed to be over 350 years old, and that was supposedly filled with historical blunders.' Jewish scholars of that period had access to numerous historical records of the Neo Babylonian, Medo-Persian and Hellenistic periods." He went on to add, "Even more important, intertestamental Jews were keenly aware of the identity and boundary lines of their own sacred canon of Scripture, and thus did not hesitate to exclude from their canon such books as Tobit, Judith, and even First Maccabees." And then he says this, "Would Jews, who were dying for their God given faith and their God given scriptures, have looked for encouragement to fictional characters, and events and a pseudo graph. The truth of the matter is that nothing but well-known material and material that was believed to be infallibly true and inspired by God could have kindled their spirits in the midst of that supreme hour of national crisis."

Beloved, please understand my perspective and the perspective of this church, what we have before us is the inspired, inerrant, infallible, authoritative, all sufficient Word of the living God. And what is said here is true, and what is promised will come to pass. We need to treasure it, we need to meditate upon it, we need to guard it, we need to memorize it, we need to obey it. And we need to be encouraged by it. Because it indeed is a lamp into our feet and light into our path.

Well, in conclusion, over the next few minutes, let me give you three outstanding themes that we will see as we journey through this book. And I might add, this is really hard because I saw a whole lot more. There's other themes that are going to come out, but let me just give you three here. Okay. First of all, we are going to be encouraged to see how God uses faithful servants who fear Him and love Him. We see this from the beginning in Daniel one in verse eight. We read, "Daniel" mind you now, a 15-year-old boy, "Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king's choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of officials that he might not defile himself." And you will see and you may recall that he got permission and, and the guys ate vegetables. By the way, this cannot be in any way, advocating vegetarianism. I would rather die than be a vegetarian. But they ate vegetables and verse 15 says, "At the end of 10 days, their appearance seemed better and they were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king's choice food." By the way, later on, we will see that Daniel really enjoyed meat. Remember that.

And then in verses 17 and following, we see how God blessed them. "As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom; Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams. Then at the end of the days, which the king had specified for presenting them, the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar. The King talked with them, and out of them all, not one was found, like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the Kings personal service. As for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them 10 times better than all the magicians and conjurers, who were in all his realm." And you will also recall that later on, Nebuchadnezzar made an image of gold and demanded that everyone should bow down and worship that image or be thrown into a blazing furnace of fire. But Daniel and the guys said, not us, we will not bow to your God, chapter three, verse 17. We read of their response after Nebuchadnezzar warned them again in his fury. You know what's going to happen, don't you? And here's what they said in chapter three, verse 17, "'If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He will deliver us out of your hand O king.' But,'" and I love this, '"even if He does not let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.'" Oh dear friends would we be so faithful, would that we refuse to bow down to the demands of our culture? The false narrative of critical race theory, the racist narrative of the Black Lives Matter terrorists, the abominations of the LGBTQ mafia and the delusions of these transgender lunatics. How sad. That we would not bow down to all of the COVID fear mongers and the global tech oligarchs, and all of this woke garbage, all of these deceptions that are being crammed down our throat. A friend of mine, talked with me this week. And he, we were writing back and forth on another matter, and he was telling me about the Cleveland Indians that changed their name. Did you hear about that to the Guardians? And he wrote to me sarcastically, well, frankly, I think the name smacks of masculine toxicity. I anticipate a lawsuit brought by the LGBTQ community against the team, and alas, poor Indians, how will they ever recover? Well, you get the idea. This is where we're at. It's just it's just insane. But dear friends, like Daniel, we must not bow to these things.

A second theme that we will see in Scripture is how Satan works. We will shudder at Satan's guerrilla warfare tactics to deceive the world and thwart the purposes of God. We know that He is the ruler of this world until the Lord cast him out according to John 12, and verse 31. He is the God of this world that blinds the minds of the unbelievers. According to Second Corinthians four, four. John tells us in first John 5:19, that "the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." Paul tells us in Ephesians, two two that he is "the prince and the power of the air of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience." And he is one, as Paul says in Second Corinthians 11:14, who disguises himself as "an angel of light."

And dear friends, as Daniel unfolds the wickedness of Gentile domination in the world, we are going to see how the devil and his minions work. And we will see how he has assigned certain demons to be rulers over certain nations and their rulers. We see this for example, in Daniel chapter 10. The context here is Daniel prays and Gabriel comes to answer his prayer. And then verse 12, Gabriel says, "I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for 21 days. Then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia." And then in verse 20, the angel Gabriel describes another demon assigned to influence the rulers of Greece. And he says, and now I must "return to fight with the prince of Persia. And when I have gone forth, indeed, the prince of Greece will come." Dear Christian, we must understand that even today, in times of fasting and prayer as we cry out to the living God to protect us and help us, and use us as instruments of righteousness, that behind the scenes, there is a great spiritual conflict occurring. There's an unseen struggle between angelic forces going on right now in the world. And this is going to escalate as the day of the Lord approaches. How else can you explain the sheer insanity and depravity that has so quickly gained power in our country. But I must add this, do not fear. The battle has already been won at the cross, Amen? The battle has been won. And Daniel's prophecies will reveal the utter destruction of Satan's kingdom that is currently being mediated upon the earth through the reign of wicked men and women and ultimately through the reign of his version of the incarnate Christ, and that will be the reign of the Antichrist. And here's what Daniel says, in chapter seven, beginning in verse 13. And be encouraged with these words. "'I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed."

And finally, we're going to marvel at the miracle of divine providence as we witness His rule over all of the contingencies of history to accomplish his purpose. And indeed, he is continually right now exercising his rule, even though he's allowing Satan to do his thing, at least for a while. And even Nebuchadnezzar confessed in Daniel four beginning in verse 34, "'I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever, for His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation, all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, but He does according to His will, in the host of heaven, and among the inhabitants of Earth, and no one can ward off His hand or say to Him, What have you done?'" Dear friends, what confidence we can have in the Word of God, and the prophecies of the book of Daniel and throughout Scripture. And to know that we are part of that plan. We're all part of that plan. We are all members of this one magnificent organism, the body of Christ, we all have a role to play, we've all been given a gift. And as we all work together, the purpose of that is to edify the saints so that all of us together, can exalt the one who is the head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ.

So let's prepare our hearts as we look into this great text. I would encourage you to read it, it's not very long, I would encourage you to read it at least two or three times a week, become familiar with it. And you will be excited to see what the Spirit of God will reveal to you, in the coming months, perhaps years. We shall see.

Let's pray together. Father, we're so thankful for your word that truly gives us an overwhelming sense of your love, your faithfulness, your sovereign and providential rule over all of your creation. And to know that, by your grace, you have made us a part of your kingdom. And Lord how we long for your kingdom to come and your will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. But until that day comes, I would ask that You would help us to be faithful, even as Daniel and his three friends were faithful and many others. Even in that day, I pray that you will use us all in a mighty way for the sake of the kingdom, that others might see Christ in us, that they too might be saved by your grace and Your grace alone. And if there be one here today that knows nothing of what it is to truly be reconciled to the only God who can justify the ungodly. I pray that today you will overwhelm them with the guilt of their sin that they might come running to the cross and cry out for the mercy that you will so quickly give those who are truly coming to you and repentant faith. So we thank you, we give you praise and all things for Jesus sake and in His name. Amen.

This morning, we return to Mark's gospel. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark chapter 11; we're going to be examining verses one through 14 in a very general way this morning and then, in a few weeks when I'm back with you, we will look at it more closely. And I've entitled my discourse to you, "The Royal Entrance and False Coronation." This will be part one. Let me read the text to you. Mark 11, beginning in verse one. " As they approached Jerusalem at Bethpage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples and said to them, 'Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt there, on which no one yet has ever sat. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' You say the Lord has need of it. And immediately he will send it back here.' They went away and found a colt tied at the door outside the street, and they untied it. Some of the bystanders were saying to them, 'What are you doing untying the colt?' They spoke to them, just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission. They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it. And He sat on it. And many spread their coats in the road and others spread leafy branches, which they had cut from the fields. Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting: 'Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; blessed is the coming kingdom of our father, David; Hosanna! in the highest!' Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the 12, since it was already late."

This is a very familiar passage of scripture to most Christians. They have read it, they've heard it preached before probably many times. And yet, I have found that for most, they have a very shallow understanding of the historical and theological implications of this magnificent piece of scripture, this amazing event that speaks of God's Kingdom purposes, and how they relate to the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And my goal this morning, is to help deepen your understanding of these things, so that you will not only understand better this text but be more and more amazed at all that God is doing. So today will not be a typical verse by verse exposition. But rather, and that will happen the next time I'm with you, but rather, this will largely be a historical and theological introduction. And I trust that the truth you're about to hear will shed light upon this very dark and depraved world, which is a veritable Sodom and Gomorrah, awaiting divine judgment. And the more we contemplate the person and the work of Christ, especially as it relates to the kingdom of God, and our future in it, the more our hearts will long for his return.

Now, may I remind you from the outset that the kingdom of God is the dominant and unifying theme of Scripture. And it is the climactic fulfillment of God's redemptive purposes. And that, of course, is going to include Israel as well as the church. Now, spiritually we know that God is currently reigning in the hearts of the redeemed. We understand that. In fact, the apostle Paul says in Philippians, three, in verse 24, "Our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ." But we also know that the most glorious aspect of the kingdom is yet future, it's yet to come. For example, in Isaiah chapter nine in verse seven, we read, "There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore." And my how I long for that day, every moment of my life. And for this reason, you will recall that Jesus taught us to pray, in Matthew six, "Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be your name." In other words, make your name sanctified, make it holy, in my life and throughout the world. And then Jesus said, you're to go on and say, "Your kingdom come your will be done on earth as it is in heaven." And I might add that all three petitions regarding God's name, regarding the kingdom and his will, in the original language, all of those verbs are in the emphatic position, which attests to their profound importance. And each one of them, grammatically, is in what we call the aorist active imperative form, which indicates that this is going to be a single or instantaneous event, that there will be something that will explode upon the scene, namely, the hallowing of his name, the kingdom that's coming; his will being "done on earth as it is in heaven," all consistent with kingdom prophecy. So, in other words, this is not merely speaking of some spiritualized kingdom that already exists. That would cause those texts to beg for relevance. Moreover, it's not speaking of a kingdom that is going to gradually appear as the church brings it to fruition. But rather, we're asked to pray for God to suddenly and instantaneously burst forth in all of his glory, so that his name will be hallowed, so that his kingdom will come, and that his will be done.

Now, let me give you some more historical and theological background to this amazing scene of Jesus coming into Jerusalem. First of all, we know that God chose Israel to be his covenant people, to be a holy nation, to be a holy kingdom. They were chosen to represent God among the nations as we read in Deuteronomy four. We are told that they were ultimately to bring blessing to all of the nations consistent with the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12. And also, they are to demonstrate God's great love and God's great faithfulness. But they disobeyed God, and they were enslaved by the nations. And what we see throughout Scripture is Israel is basically depicted as a microcosm of God's redemptive purposes and all of his elect. For example, if you go to Romans chapter nine, you will see the apostle Paul speaking of Israel's election. In chapter 10, you will read about Israel's defection. In chapter 11, you will read about Israel's salvation and eventual restoration. But for now, because Israel rejected her Messiah, they are currently experiencing a period of temporary and partial hardening as God saves many Gentiles. We read about this in, for example, Romans 11 and verse 25. But because God is faithful to his covenant promises, Israel's unbelief will one day be reversed, during the time of the day of the Lord, the coming day of the Lord. And God will restore them, God will save them when Christ returns, consistent with Zechariah's prophecy in Zechariah, chapter 10 and verse 12. And at that point, the Messianic kingdom will be established when the Lord returns. And Israel will enjoy the blessings of the kingdom. They will assume their role of leadership and service among the nations and those blessings of course, will be extended to Gentiles as well.

Now you will recall and here's some big picture perspective. Remember when the angel came to Mary? When she was to conceive a son that would be king. In Luke chapter one, verse 32, we read this, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most and the Lord God will give Him the throne of his father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end." And certainly, throughout Jesus's life he proved himself to be the Son of God. From his miracles to his parables, he demonstrated that he indeed was the Messiah of Old Testament prophecy, who had come to officially and finally offer himself as the king of the Messianic Kingdom, an exact fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. An offer, however, that was conditioned upon Israel's national repentance. In fact, he was fully prepared to establish his earthly kingdom as the prophets predicted when he first came. We read about this, in Mark one and verse 15, Jesus said, "'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.'" So indeed, this announcement of the kingdom required Israel to make a decision, to repent, and to believe in who he was. Because we know that God's promises to Abraham had to be received by faith. But they refused, despite all of the miracles that they saw and experienced, and perhaps even benefited from; they rejected him. The rejection by the civil leaders and religious leaders was unmistakable. When they blaspheme the Holy Spirit, you will recall, in Mark 3:22, they said, that "'He is possessed by Beelzebul,' and 'He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons,'" and so forth. However, we know that, as in the realm of jurisprudence, a legal proffer, or in other words, an offer of proof, must be made. And so, an official offer had to be made to the nation of Israel as a whole, in order for them to determine their final decision of who he really was. This was Israel's time and her visitation to receive the king.

Now, many will argue that the kingdom of God that Jesus was offering was merely a spiritual kingdom, the rule of God in the hearts of men. And certainly, there's some merit to that. But such an announcement would have been silly to the people of that day because such a rule of God had always been recognized by them. That's not what the Old Testament prophets were prophesying. What Jesus was offering them, was God's mediatorial kingdom, on Earth, through the reign of the Messiah. But once again, while his promises cannot be abrogated, in other words, annulled, or rescinded, such a kingdom on earth was always conditioned upon regeneration, and repentance, resulting in faith and obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ.

So now Jesus comes to offer himself to Israel, as their promised Messiah, their promised king, who will establish the kingdom if they repent. And you will remember that prior to our Lord's entrance into Jerusalem, according to Luke 10, one, "The Lord appointed 70 others, and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come." And as we read that passage, we see that their mission was very simple. "'Every city that receives you,'" he said, "'heal those who are sick and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.'" we read that in verses eight and nine of Luke 10. And then he said in verses 10, and 11, if they don't receive you, "'Go out into the streets and say, 'even the dust of your city which clings to our feet, wipe off and protest against you; yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.'" So, everything that is happening here, in Jesus' final journey to Jerusalem, all that's recorded in the Gospels, is part of God's deliberate, purposeful, precise plan, which by the way, took probably around five months. And his plan is to present himself to Israel as the Messiah of Old Testament prophecy. And he's conducting himself once again as the public claimant to the messianic title.

Now, as we look at this, what I would call a royal entrance and false coronation, there are a number of circumstances that are worthy of our investigation to help us see how Jesus regarded this event as a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies, especially pertaining to the mediatorial kingdom upon the earth and the future nation of Israel; very important consideration. So let me give some of them to you. Number one, we must look at Jesus stage setting encounters and miracles. Now, some of this will be review, but it's important to keep it all kind of in context. To be sure, the messianic expectations were running high at this time of year. This was the Passover season. It was the time when the Jews are celebrating God's deliverance from the Egyptians that took place some 1400 years earlier. But this Passover was different because of what they had seen in Jesus, they had never seen anything like this. All of the miracles, healing of the sick, the blind, the deaf, lepers, raising the dead, absolutely astounding. And certainly, the raising of Lazarus from the dead was on the lips of virtually every person in the region. 1000s of pilgrims now are with Jesus, as he goes first through Jericho, and then eventually, ascends up to Mount Zion to Jerusalem. And many of these people are wanting not only to see Jesus, but they want to see Lazarus. I mean, wouldn't you? I want to see this guy that was raised from the dead, I understand he's with Him. We read about this in John 12 beginning in verse nine, "The large crowd of the Jews then learned that Jesus was there, and they came not for Jesus’ sake only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead." Now catch this, "But the chief priests planned to put Lazarus to death also; because on account of him, many of the Jews were going away, and were believing in Jesus." So that gives you a sense of what's going on. We have reason to believe that there were approximately 2 million Jews that are awaiting Jesus' entry in Jerusalem to the utter consternation of the religious leaders. Moreover, as Jesus makes his way to Jerusalem, remember, he encounters this rich young ruler. He demonstrates how that that kind of a person who is in love with material things will never enter the kingdom of God apart from divine intervention, he said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Then he went on to say, "but with God, all things are possible." And then we read next that he gives sight to two blind men, also there and Jericho. proving once again his deity, but also demonstrating the power of regenerating grace where he gives sight to the spiritually blind, as well as the physically blind. And then next, we see this amazing scenario with Zacchaeus that is essentially a juxtaposition of the most salient themes of those first two encounters, because he gives spiritual sight to a spiritually blind man who was fabulously wealthy and corrupt. And there we have an example of the camel going through the eye of the needle. What an amazing testimony, especially to his disciples that he's trying to instruct in preparing them for what is to come. And in the context of Zacchaeus' conversion, we know that Jesus preaches a sermon on a most important theme that ran absolutely contrary to all of the Jewish hopes and dreams, contrary to even what the disciples were thinking.

What he wanted to demonstrate to them is that he was not coming to conquer, but to seek and to save. Luke 19 and verse 10, Jesus says, "'For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.'" And that was the theme of the sermon that he gave there with Zacchaeus and the others that were listening. So, all of these miracles now are setting the stage for his regal entry into Jerusalem.

A second observation is Jesus stage setting parable in Luke 19. Bear in mind during this final season of Jesus ministry, he's going to describe the mystery form of the kingdom and how that that will assume all that will happen during the interregnum. An interregnum is just an interval between two successive periods; a time period where a king is not reigning, a kingdom doesn't have a leader. In this case, the interregnum will intervene between Jesus's death and his second coming, when he comes again as King of kings and Lord of lords. And his parable in Luke 19 is designed to prepare them for this interregnum. You will recall that in Luke 19, Jesus gives this parable of a noble man, referring to Christ, he travels to a distant country referring to Heaven, to receive a kingdom that is to receive official authority to reign and then he returns to rule over that kingdom. And we read in that parable that Jesus is saying that he's wanting to correct the erroneous assumption that they had, that the kingdom was going to appear immediately. Instead of appearing later on at a future time, after the nobleman's departure, after him receiving the authority and then returning as King--an interval of time that was unspecified, causing every generation to live in anticipation, you will recall that he describes two groups. He describes, first of all slaves, those that profess allegiance to him, those that are loyal subjects. And that represents those who profess to be faithful servants of Christ. Some are, some aren't, regardless of what they profess. And also he describes citizens that hated him, especially representing Israel, but also all who reject the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 14 of that passage we read, "'But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.'" And I might add, that this is what will begin to play out in the final week of Jesus ministry on earth, often called his Passion Week. And sadly, the multitudes that are shouting "Hosanna to the Son of David!" are soon going to turn on him and demonstrate their final rejection. In a few days Israel will scream, according to John 19:15, "'Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify him!'" Pilate said to them, 'Shall I crucify your King?' The chief priests answered, 'We have no king but Caesar.'" And as we will see before the week is out, Israel will eventually be united in their repudiation of the nobleman's regal claim to be their king.

I might pause for a moment this is so typical of so many people that follow Christ today. The Jesus that they have concocted is not the true Jesus. Most people have come up with a Jesus, that's kind of the smiley face, God that winks at sin, that just kind of loves everybody, everybody is going to heaven. You can do anything you want. This is the Jesus of love. But they never understand that because of his holiness, he's also the Jesus of wrath, a Jesus of judgment. People don't want that. They want a false Messiah that came to make them happy, not holy. Kind of a genie in the bottle type of a thing that will do whatever they ask the genie to do. And certainly that's what the Jews wanted. They wanted a deliverer from Roman bondage. They wanted social justice, they wanted the end of poverty, the end of disease, they wanted the end of I don't know, poor self-esteem, they wanted no more unhappiness. They wanted, shall we say, a malleable Jesus, like the prosperity gospel Jesus, the one that you can manipulate, to give you stuff. Or they wanted, the leftist woke Jesus of the social justice gospel. And like the Jews, all of these people will reject the true Jesus.

Now to be sure, Jesus didn't meet the Jewish expectations. They wanted a conquering king; they did not want a suffering Savior. But Jesus, when he came, again said, "I came this time to seek and to save that which is lost," because only then can sinners enter the kingdom.

Now back to the parable. After receiving his kingdom authority from heaven, we know that the nobleman returns to earth over a realm of his subjects that are living in it, and the first regal action of the king now is to judges slaves who were entrusted with what he had given them in his absence. And he eventually executed judgment on both the disloyal slaves and the citizens that hated him. And of course, all of this parallels the eschatological prophecies that we read in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, especially as it relates to Israel's rejection of her Messiah, and the second coming of Christ. And I might also add that this is going to be a preview of all that will happen at the beginning of his Passion Week, because he's going to continue to expose Israel's hypocrisy. He's going to expose their apostasy by cleansing the temple, he is going to continue to do what he does so best and that is humiliate the Jewish leaders, embarrass them publicly, call them out. And in fact, what we're going to see is that for two days, he will rule in the temple precincts, answering the public charges and challenges against him. And he will pronounce the judgment of God on those who reject Him. The fickle crowd is going to turn against him, they will eventually be apoplectic with rage, and they will call for his crucifixion. I'm reminded of what Jesus said in John seven, seven, that "'The world hates Me because I testify of it, that it's deeds are evil.'" John one, verse 11, "He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him." And Jesus will later promise them of coming judgment in Luke 19:44, "because you did not recognize the time of your visitation." And because of the rebellion, we know that the kingdom was temporarily withdrawn and postponed on Earth awaiting a future day.

And this brings us to a third circumstance that helps us understand what was going on as it relates to Old Testament prophecy, and the kingdom of God. Number three, we must look at Jesus' lament over Jerusalem. Luke 19:41, "When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it." The term wept, in the original language carries the idea of crying aloud profusely. saying, "'If you had known in this day.'" Let me pause there. This, as we will see from other passages in a moment, this is Israel's day, a precise day of opportunity that was prophesied by the prophet Daniel, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground, and your children within you. And they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.'" And of course, all of this came true in 70 AD with the Roman invasion. And tragically, Israel could not see as Jesus says, "'The things which make for peace.'" And because of that, God judged them. And now these things would be as he says, "hidden from your eyes." And the things that would make for peace, will be postponed until his second coming.

I'm always amazed when I read Bible prophecy. I'm just astounded at it. And there is no other religious book in the world that has prophecies because this is the only one written by God. Nobody else wants to write prophecies, and they don't come true and you look like an idiot, right? But this is so astounding. In fact, if you read Jesus' Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24, and 25. And what we have here in Luke 19:41 through 44, we see that Jesus gives these incredibly detailed descriptions of what is going to happen. I mean, this isn't just vague things. This is a detailed description. And I was reading one scholar by the name of Pearson, he identified 25 distinct predictions in that context of Scripture. And he says, "And on the laws of compound probability, the chance of all meeting in one fulfilling event is one in 20 million." And my friend, David Larson, who has now gone home to be with the Lord, said this, "Comparing the predictions with the historical fulfillment, as described in Josephus, and an eyewitness, Antacitus, we cannot but agree with Eusebius. If anyone compares the words of our Savior with the accounts of the historian, how can anyone fail to wonder and to admit the foreknowledge and prophecy of our Savior were truly divine and marvelously strange." And then Larson concludes, "The words of Jesus spoken in another context come to mind." Then he quotes John 14:29. "I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen, you will believe."

Let me give you another fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, in the context of all that's happening in his regal entry. This has to do, number four, with Jesus perfectly timed arrival into Jerusalem. Now a little bit of background. Since according to John 12, Jesus was at Bethany quote, "six days before the Passover," which was probably on Saturday, on Shabbat. It was on the next day, which would be Sunday, the Jewish crowds came to see Jesus. And according to John 12, Jesus, quote, "and Lazarus whom he raised from the dead." So when we look at John 12, verse 12, we read, "On the next day, the great multitude who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him and began to cry out 'Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.'" So when you look at this, you see that it is more likely that it was on Monday, not traditional Palm Sunday, after Jesus had been in Bethany with Lazarus, that he traveled through Bethpage making his way through the eastern gate of Jerusalem. And I might also add that a Monday triumphal entry is also very important. Because in Exodus chapter 12, verses two through six, we read that, according to the Mosaic Law, sacrificial lambs, for Passover had to be selected on the 10th day of the first month. They would select the lamb and then they would take the lamb into their home. And they would love the little lamb until the time for the sacrifice on the 14th. And only a Monday triumphal entry would fulfill this important symbolism. Because Jesus, the year Jesus was crucified, the 10th of Nissan was on Monday, of the Passover week. And this would allow, and I hope you see the symbolism, this would allow the Jewish people to nationally select Jesus as the Lamb, to take them unto themselves as the Passover lamb, to take them into their hearts, in their home symbolically, and to love Him. And yet, because of their sinfulness, to sacrifice him on Friday, the 14th of Nissan. Isn't it astonishing? I mean, think about this, the exact day of the king's presentation was not something random, but one determined, one that was decreed in eternity past by a sovereign God, who not only knows the end from the beginning, but has ordained the end from the beginning. In fact, 600 years before the Holy Spirit revealed to the prophet Daniel the precise date that this would happen, though he didn't fully understand what he was writing down. Daniel 9:25, "So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and 62 weeks." This is referring to weeks of years, "heptads." 69 weeks of prophetic years, consisting of 360 days each add up to 173,880 days. So when we do the math, which I'm not going to take time to go through all of it, what you have is 483 years after the Persian Artaxerxes' decree to rebuild Jerusalem, which happened in 445 BC, the first advent of Messiah would be fulfilled precisely, at the triumphal entry on the 10th of Nissan, AD 30. And it was precisely on that day that our Lord rode into Jerusalem as the messianic king of Israel. This is when the Jewish people took in their Passover lamb, and they loved him for a while, until the time of the sacrifice on the 14th, consistent with Mosaic Law. You get the idea that God is not capricious in what he does? I might add, as a footnote, as we look at these judgments that Daniel describes, 69 weeks of years have been fulfilled, but there are 70 total. So there's one more week of years yet to be fulfilled. We typically call that Daniel's 70th week, and it refers to the pre-kingdom tribulation judgments right before our Lord returns. And during that time, the Antichrist will rule and we're seeing that being, the way for all of that, being paved right now, in our culture and in our world. These are days pertaining to the days of the Antichrist, as Daniel will go on to prophesy in verse 27. He adds this, "And he will make a firm covenant," referring to the Antichrist, "with the many for one week, but in the middle of the week," in other words, after three and a half years, "he will put a stop to sacrifice and grain offering; and on the wing of abominations, will come one who makes desolate, even until a complete destruction, one that is decreed is poured out on the one who makes desolate."

Let me give you a fifth fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies concerning the kingdom and the future of the nation Israel, in the context of what's happening here with Jesus regal entry into Jerusalem. And that has to do with Jesus prophecy, fulfilling mount. Now as a old horseman, this is always fascinating to me, and I'm not going to get into all of the details this time, I'll get into it at another time, but this is an miraculous thing. In Mark 11, two we read, Jesus, "said to them, 'Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here.'" Beginning of verse seven, he says that "They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it." By the way, those are details, if you understand anything about horses, you know that that's not going to happen, unless a miracle happens. And the details of that are very, very important for us to see. Because dear friends this is a preview of millennial blessing in the animal kingdom. And it says, "And many spread their coats in the road, and other spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. Those who went in front of those who followed were shouting: 'Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; blessed is the coming kingdom of our father, David; Hosanna, in the highest!'" And Matthew records this in chapter 21, verse four, "This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet." And here's the prophecy: "Say to the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, gentle and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of the beast of burden.'" Zechariah nine nine is where he got that. Isn't it amazing how Jesus was careful to fulfill every single detail of the predictions of his triumphal entry into Jerusalem as the king of Israel? And to know that about 550 years before this happened, the Holy Spirit inspired the prophet Zechariah to pen these words and Zechariah nine nine. A detailed description of the king's mount is foretold. And certainly this reveals the humility of the king and the honor that would mark the event. "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph," this is Zachariah nine nine, "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just and endowed with salvation, humble and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt the foal of a donkey."

I might also add that this is a messianic millennial prophecy that's also recorded in Genesis, chapter 49 and verse 11, spoken some 1859 years BC. You see the entire prophecy of all that Zechariah and all the prophets said, all of those things were fulfilled literally. In fact, I want to pause here. This is very important. It's a bit technical, but I find it very important to note. Matthew only quotes Zechariah nine, nine. He stops there. He doesn't quote verse 10. He only quotes verse nine, pertaining to the Messiah's entry into Jerusalem and his lowly mount. He mentions nothing about the next verse that speaks about the promises pertaining to the Messiah's rule and reign and bringing peace upon the earth. The very next verse says, "I will cut off," cut off by the way, in the original language carries the idea of a violent eradication of war, a termination of these things, "I will cut off," I will completely terminate, "the chariot from Ephraim," another word for Israel, "and the horse from Jerusalem; and the bow of war will be cut off. And he will speak peace to the nations; and His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth." Why didn't Matthew mention any of that? Well, the answer is simple. Because the king at that point, did not come to establish his kingdom and occupy his messianic throne and rule at that time. What verse 10 is speaking about is the peace that will exist during the kingdom age. Alva J. McClain says quote, "If the colt ridden by the king, upon his arrival had to be literal," and we know that it was, "so also," he goes on to say, "must the warfare be literal, which will be abolished when he reigns." All right? He goes on to say, "If Matthew had believed in a present Messianic reign, ushered in by the first coming of the King, here would have been the time and place to cite, in full, the details of Zechariah, nine, nine through 10." But he says, "Not a word about the wondrous things of verse 10." Well, of course, verse 10 is going to happen, but it didn't happen when Jesus came the first time, it will happen when he comes the second time. And I marvel at all this. Jesus' humble entry into Jerusalem, was really a precursor to his second coming when he will come riding on a white horse as its described in Revelation 19:11, when he will come to conquer his enemies, and usher in peace and prosperity, all consistent with his is Abrahamic and Davidic, and New Covenant promises.

Now notice what else Jesus did to demonstrate that he indeed was the messianic king of Israel, according to Old Testament prophecy. And this is my sixth point in this little outline. And here we look at Jesus permitting the public to proclaim his regal person, Jesus permitting the public to proclaim his regal person. This is really interesting. First of all, notice all four gospels describe how the people give full throated praise to Jesus as the Messiah. When he comes in, again, Mark 11, at the end of verse nine, "Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; blessed is the coming Kingdom of our David, of our father David; Hosanna, in the highest!" Matthew chapter 21, verse eight, "Most of the crowd spread their coats in the road, and others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them in the road. The crowds were going ahead of Him, and those who followed were shouting, 'Hosanna, to the son of David;" By the way, the "Son of David” was a common messianic title. They knew exactly who he was and claimed to be. "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest!" And I might add that this was taken from Psalm 118 verse 26, "Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord." That by the way, Psalm 118, is the sixth and final psalm of the Egyptian Hallel sung before and after the Passover meal in the Jewish community. And it was also sung at the Last Supper by Jesus and his disciples. So you see how all of these intricacies fit together precisely, to accomplish God's plan. Luke 19 verse 38, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" John 12, verse 12, "A large crowd who had come to the feast," goes on to say, "took the branches of the palm trees and went out to meet Him, and began to shout, 'Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel.'"

I might add that to the idea of spreading your garments in the road for a coming King was something that they would do. And it basically denoted your willingness to be in total submission to the king and let him just kind of march over you. So that's what they were doing here. And the waving of the palm branches was customary when welcoming an approaching monarch. Moreover, the waving of the palm branches was part of the Feast of Tabernacles. And this all fits in to the whole theme of what's happening here. That was a seven-day celebration commemorating the deliverance and the protection and the provision that God gave the Israelites during the wilderness wanderings of the Exodus. And it also was a testimony to God's blessing to them in the harvest time in the autumn, according to Leviticus 23:39 through 40. And I might also add that that will be celebrated during the Millennial Kingdom, according to Zechariah 14:16. So the people understood the Regal meaning of the Lord's entry into Jerusalem. But here's what's fascinating. Prior to this scenario, the Lord Jesus would not allow any public acclamation of his Messiahship.

Boy, there's a big shift here, what is going on? You remember Matthew 16:20, "Then He warned the disciples that they should tell no one that he was the Christ." Any public proclamation of Him as Messiah would really upset everything that he's trying to do, because then at that point, not only would they lose all attention to his gospel message, but also they're going to want to make him king right then and there. You see, people want free stuff. That's part of our human nature. I mean, be honest, we all want free stuff. And certainly, then they wanted free stuff. And that's what they saw with Jesus. You know, I'm not interested about this, you know, all this forgiveness of sin, I'm good. You know I keep the law. I mean, that's the idea. I'm a good person. I'm a child of Abraham, or whatever. People think that way today. I mean, people want reward without responsibility, right? And by the way, politicians have played this game for years, to get people reward without responsibility. This is how they stay in power. I mean, this has been the whole modus operandi of the Democratic Party for years and years and years; to offer people free stuff, reward without responsibility, so that they can stay in power. That's why we're $33 trillion in debt and we don't have a border; to let more and more people come in to vote them into office. So I mean, this is nothing new. And that's what was going on with those people.

You see if I can put it very clearly, man's lust for the fleeting pleasures of life will utterly eclipse any thought of needing to be reconciled to a holy God. Now bear in mind prior to this massive public ovation of his Messiah ship, Jesus just allowed his miraculous works and the prophetic scriptures and his teaching to give witness to him, but he would not allow public acclamation. You will recall in John six and verse 15, we read, "So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone." He didn't want that. And this was also why Jesus removed himself from the large cities and went into the desert regions, especially removed himself from Jerusalem in order to conduct his ministry, but now--now is the perfect time. This is the time. Now he allows the multitudes to shout the truth of who he is, with all of their might. Luke 19:38, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord; Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" But then notice what happens. "Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, 'Teacher, rebuke Your disciples!' But Jesus answered, 'I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out!'"

I might also add that Jesus is allowing this for another reason. You see Israel's public acknowledgement and praise of his royal credentials would later be used against them when they rejected him. Isn't it amazing what began with praise very quickly deteriorated into condemnation. My dear friends, how quickly sinful men and women will turn against the true Christ, once they understand that he is not the idol that they have created him to be. So everything Jesus did, was orchestrated to reach the high point of this day of his triumphal entry, a day of Messianic presentation foretold by the Old Testament prophets, predicting the manner, the moment, the meaning of the king's final offer.

And following this, as we are going to see, he will speak a new series of parables, once he's in Jerusalem; parables about the kingdom. He will do battle with the religious elite one last time and humiliate them and then he is going to state his last lament, and judgment upon all, who reject Him. So dear friends, I hope with this overview, you can begin to see the amazing realities historically, theologically that's going on here, in this incredible scene. And I would challenge you to reflect upon this passage, because it encompasses all that Christ has done and will do. And remember this, that the one who came in humility, the lowly Messiah, the suffering servant, who offered Himself as the Lamb of God, is going to return again one day in power and great glory. And he will conquer his enemies. He will judge the nations, he will judge the wicked, all those that mock at him today--our King is coming again and he will establish his kingdom. My how I long for that day--how I long for that day, to think that he came first in obscurity, but he will come again in dazzling clarity. He said in Matthew 24:27, "'For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.'" Nobody will miss it the next time he comes. He came the first time in humility, the second time, he's coming in glory. He came the first time to seek and to save--he will come again to judge the nations. He came the first time as a lamb, but he will come again as the Lion of Judah. He came the first time and he opened not his mouth, but he will return, as we read in Revelation 19:15, "and from His mouth comes a sharp sword ao that with it, He may strike down the nations and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fear the wrath of God, the Almighty."

Dear friend, if you have trusted in Christ as your only hope of salvation, you don't have to fear any of this. But if you haven't, you need to be absolutely terrified. Because the day is coming, when you will have to face the Lord Jesus Christ. And you will either do so in triumph or in terror. The good news is the gospel--that God has provided a way for each one of us as sinful people to be reconciled to Him as a holy God by placing our faith in our substitute, who paid the penalty for our sin in his body on the cross. And if you reject that, and you mock at that, one day you will experience the wrath of the Lord Jesus Christ, for he is the judge of heaven and earth. So let's rejoice in all that is ours in Christ, amen? And celebrate what he has done, is doing and will do. Let's pray.

Father, thank you so much for the power of your word. It brings such clarity to our understanding of all that we've seen historically, and it gives us such hope in what is yet future. So I pray once again, that you will move upon the heart of anyone that does not know you as Savior. Especially religious people who have played a religious game but they're Christian in name only. Lord, I pray that you will save them by your grace. And when you cause all of us who know and love you to live in light of your coming glory and we ask it for Jesus sake. Amen.

Will you take your Bibles and turn to Luke's Gospel? Chapter 19; we will be looking at verses 11 through 27. In what will actually be a two-part series on the subject: Kingdom Delay and Future Rewards. May I remind you that we have been in Mark's gospel, but we're taking a little detour in order to maintain both the chronological and thematic flow of Jesus final journey to Jerusalem; his final journey. The leaders of Israel have already officially rejected Him, they are seeking to kill him but now he is going to present himself to basically all of Israel at the Passover feast in Jerusalem. And of course, all of this is leading up to what we call the triumphant entry into Jerusalem. So he's traveling with his disciples and with his pilgrims, and going to the Passover, where he will offer himself as the Lamb of God. And a couple of the incidences that occurred in that trip are not included in Mark's gospel so I wanted to jump over to Luke's gospel, so that you understand the flow.

Now, by way of review, remember that previously, he has encountered a rich, young synagogue ruler. And he has demonstrated through that man's rejection of Christ, that a rich man has a very difficult time entering into the kingdom apart from divine intervention. In fact, Jesus said, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And they asked, well, who can be saved? And he basically said that, apart from me, nobody can but with God, all things are possible. And then next, we read that He gives sight to some blind men, not only proving his deity, and by the way, this also happened in the region of Jericho, the same region. But this also demonstrated the miracle of regeneration where God gives sight to the spiritually blind. And then, as we studied last week, there was really a juxtaposition between those two incidences when Jesus dealt with another rich man, a rich tax collector by the name of Zacchaeus, who was also spiritually blind. And there we have a picture of God not only giving spiritual sight, to a man that was spiritually blind, but there you might say, we see the camel going through the eye of the needle, by the power of God. And in the context of Zacchaeus' conversion where Jesus is over at his house, others are watching, and so forth, Jesus preaches a sermon that is very important, one that certainly ran contrary to the hopes of the Jewish people. They were hoping that the Messiah had come and he was about to destroy Rome and establish the kingdom that has been promised all through the Old Testament; that he would be the conquering Messiah. But instead, we read that Jesus in Luke 19 and verse 10, is speaking about "the Son of Man who has come to seek and to save that which was lost." And so that was a sermon. We don't have all of the details of all that he said, but it's in the context of that sermon, that we come to verse 11, in Luke 19. "While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and they suppose that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. So He said, 'A nobleman went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and then return. And he called 10 of his slaves and gave them 10 minas and said to them, 'do business with us until I come back.' But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.' When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that the slaves to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know what business they had done. The first appeared saying, 'Master, your mina has made 10 minas more.' And he said to him, 'Well done good slave. Because you have been faithful in a very little thing you were to be in authority over 10 cities.' The second came saying, 'Your mina, master, has made five minas.' And he said to him also, 'And you are to be over five cities.' Another came saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I kept but put away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.' He said to him, By your own words, I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? Then why did you not put my money in the bank and having come, I would have collected it with interest?' Then he said to the bystanders, 'Take the mina away from him, and give it to the one who has the 10 minas.' And they said to Him, 'Master, he has 10 minas already.' I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slayed them in my presence.'"

Now there is much historical as well as theological understanding that we have to have in order to clearly see what Jesus is saying in this amazing parable and Lord willing, this parable will be something that will clarify perhaps some theological issues for you, certainly as it relates to eschatology, but it is one that can bring conviction and encouragement, and certainly instruction. And in a world that is rapidly descending into an abyss of evil things that are threatening our livelihoods, our families, even our church, isn't it wonderful to have the word of God, the truth, so that we know how to live? And we know how the story ends up, right? We know that in the end, Jesus will reign supreme. And certainly the goal of my exposition to you this morning, besides helping you just to understand the text, is to apply it in such a way that you will have a clearer understanding of eschatology, the study of end times. And also based upon that, be all the more excited about the fact that Jesus is coming again. I mean, we are a second coming church, we long to see the Lord come and we know according to First John three that, that when he comes, "we shall be like Him, we will be able to see Him as He is." And we are told that everyone who has this hope, fixed on him, purifies himself, even as He is pure. And so that's what we want as we examine this

Now, this idea of a nobleman receiving authority to rule a kingdom was not something foreign to them, it would be to us in our culture, but it was not to them. They were familiar with noblemen going to a far country to receive a kingdom. This happened, for example, with Herod the Great, who had to go to Rome to receive his kingdom from Caesar. At his death in his will he divided his kingdom into into three regions to be ruled by his three sons, and all of them had to make their way to Rome to claim and receive their kingly authority to reign. So they were they were accustomed with this, but Jesus' parable especially resembles the historical account of Herod Archelaus, a ruler despised by the Jews. His father, Herod the Great, along with the army, proclaimed him to be leader prior to receiving the right to reign from Caesar in Rome. And the Jewish historian, Josephus, describes the wickedness of this ruler. I won't go into the details, but he was an evil, evil man. In fact, he slew 3000 of his Jewish subjects at Passover. So the Jewish people hated him. And later when Archelaus traveled to Rome, a deputation of Jews who contested his promotion, followed after him. And they successfully persuaded Caesar to only allow him to rule over half of his father's kingdom, and only with the status of ethnarch, not the status of King. And ethnarch was another word for a governor. And he could become king if he lived up to the kingly traits that were necessary, but he never proved himself worthy. So that's the background here.

And also, it's, it's fascinating to me that the story of Archelaus, according to Josephus, all of that happened primarily in that region of Jericho, because Archelaus built a complex aqueduct system that brought water to that whole 14-mile valley right there in Jericho. And that's where this parable was told. And he also built a magnificent palace in Jericho, probably one of his summer homes. So you can see some of the parallels here between that situation, and the story that Jesus tells in his parable. However, I want to caution you, you don't ever want to press the allegory and a parable too far and try to make it fit some historical context. But there is a loose connection here. And it was, it's certainly important for us to see this because it will help us understand the lens through which the Jewish people would have heard what Jesus was saying.

Now I want to offer some broad observations about this parable. Number one, notice the timing. The Passover season was a reminder of God's deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Egyptians. And so messianic expectations would always run high during the Passover season, hoping that another deliverance would occur. And certainly they were really excited because of this man, Jesus of Nazareth. They had seen what he could do, they had witnessed his miracles, some of them had even been ones that experienced his miracles.

Secondly, no one, I want you to think about this, no one believed that the kingdom here was some kind of just merely a spiritual kingdom that already existed. Verse 11, "They suppose that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately." Obviously, this is reference to the kingdom of Old Testament prophecy. And also they had no understanding that Jesus came first to seek and to save; they wanted a Messiah that would search and destroy.

Thirdly, no one believed that Israel, as some people believe today, would be permanently disenfranchised and replaced by a new entity called the church. And to be sure, no one believed that the physical and the material blessings of the Abrahamic and Davidic and new covenants would somehow become nothing more than mere spiritual blessings to the church. Each of those covenants contain both spiritual as well as physical promises. And both of them coincided with one another, they existed together. In fact, if you go to Deuteronomy 30, verses one through 10, you will see that there are promises both for regeneration, which is the spiritual blessings that God would give to his people, and prosperity in the land, referring to the physical blessings.

Fourthly, the purpose of the parable, as we look at just a broad picture of what Jesus is saying, the purpose of the parable was to correct the erroneous supposition that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately, instead of appearing at a future time; after the nobleman his departure to gain authority, and then to return as king. Now, going from kind of the macro to a little bit more of the micro, I want you to notice some other details of this parable. And again, this will be with limited commentary, we will take up more of that, the next time we are together in part two.

Number one, the nobleman in verse 12, represents Christ who is not reigning, but rather he is going to travel to a quote, "distant country," referring to Heaven, to, quote, "receive a kingdom," in other words, to receive official authority to reign. And then after that, he returns to rule over that kingdom.

Secondly, with respect to the distant country, it must refer to heaven because Jesus' authority is linked to his resurrection and his ascension as we look at the scriptures. For example, in Matthew 28, in verse 18, Jesus said, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven, and on earth." Let me give you some examples of this that we see in Scripture. You will recall the four beasts of Daniel seven, that pictures the Gentile kingdoms that will reign upon the earth, rule the earth, until they are destroyed, ultimately, by the Messiah who will come from heaven after receiving dominion, glory and a kingdom from God, the Father, let me read that to you, Daniel seven, beginning in verse 13, "I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, what like a son of man was coming. And he came up to the Ancient of Days, and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed."

Now, we also see the distant city, referring to heaven or the distant country, referring to heaven, in the tribulation passages that we read in Matthew 24, Jesus describes his second coming in verse 30, and following, "'And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other.'"

Christ's earthly kingdom follows a heavenly scene, as well, after the Messiah has been at the right hand of God. We see that in Psalm 110 beginning in verse one, "The Lord says to my Lord: 'Sit at my right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.' The Lord will stretch forth Your strong scepter from Zion, saying, 'Rule in the midst of Your enemies.' Likewise, in Revelation five, verses four through eight, Jesus describes how he will receive a scroll from the right hand of the Father. And in that scrolls contain the title deed to the earth and the divine judgments that will be meted out upon the ungodly. Those pre kingdom judgments during the time of the tribulation, meted out upon those who reject Christ and in that heavenly scene, the saints and the angels will sing, Revelation five four, 'Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain and purchase for God with Your blood men, from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth," in verses nine and 10. Also in Acts three verse 21, we read, heaven must receive Jesus, "until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time." So there you get a clear understanding of the nobleman going into heaven. He's receiving authority to be able to come back and to reign.

A third detail as we look at the parable, will you notice that Jesus describes essentially two classes of people, slaves that profess allegiance to the nobleman. In other words, loyal subjects. They are even said to be, quote, "his," that is Christ, in verses 13 and 14. And these, of course, represent all who profess Christ, to profess to be faithful servants of Christ. And as we will see, some truly were, and others truly were not. And then the second group of people are the citizens that hated him. This is primarily a reference to Israel, but it extends to all who hate Christ. And we know that Israel was united and their repudiation of the nobleman’s regal claim to be their Messiah King. Verse 14 again, "But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.'" And we know that in a few days, they would scream, in John 19 verse 15, "'Away with Him, away with Him, crucify him!' Pilate said to them, 'Shall I crucify your King?' And the chief priests answered, 'We have no king, but Caesar.'"

Fourthly, another detail of the parable, will you notice, that he gives an equal amount of money, 10 minas, which will be about three months wages, to each of the 10 slaves. And he commands each of them to, quote, "do business with us until I come back." And of course, a good and faithful steward would manage an estate well, and they would do something with the funds that were entrusted to them, something that would be profitable, something that would be productive, to make a profit on behalf of the nobleman. Will you also notice that each one of them accepted the responsibility. And we know that some of them were loyal, some of them were not. But the loyal ones represent those faithful slaves of Christ, true believers, those who love Christ and want to serve Him, those faithful in proclaiming and living out the gospel of Christ, that they have received so freely. Those that are faithful, and fulfilling the Great Commission, to go and to make disciples and to baptize and to teach others all that Christ is commanded. And the implication is that when the nobleman returns as king, every slave will have to give an account for what he has done with what he was given and be rewarded or punished accordingly.

A fifth detail; after receiving his kingdom authority from heaven, we see that the nobleman returns to a realm. You really can't have a kingdom apart from a realm; apart from a territory, apart from a domain with subjects living in that domain. And this represents Christ's second coming when he returns again in power and great glory as King of kings and Lord of lords and establishes his millennial earthly kingdom that will last for 1000 years, as we're told in Revelation 20. I might add that the term "kingdom" in Hebrew, which is "malku", and "basileia," the word in Greek, includes three things if you look at their biblical usage, you will always see that there is a ruler that has power and authority. Secondly, there is a realm over which the ruler reigns. And then of course, there is rulership. The Kingdom involves the exercise of ruling. Now we get a sense of this in Revelation chapter one, at the very beginning of that magnificent book, beginning in verse four, "Grace to you and peace, from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to him who loves us and released us from our sins by His blood, and he has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father, to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen." Once again, undeniable parallels of what Jesus is saying in this parable in Luke 19.

Another detail, will you notice, that the king's first regal action, when he comes to take his kingdom, is to judge his slaves who were entrusted with his money in his absence, and reward them according to their faithfulness or judge them. And of course, this represents the eternal rewards for believers, and of course, judgment for unbelievers. I'll talk more about that in a moment. But the application is that every believer should be faithful and making use of the gifts that God has given you; make full use of the opportunities that God has given you, and the resources that God has given you. And of course, those all vary. God doesn't expect us to be successful, he wants us to be faithful. And that's the point.

A seventh detail is that the reward for faithful stewardship of those gifts, those opportunities and resources given, focuses primarily on the authority to reign with the king over a specific region called cities. Later on, in Luke's gospel in chapter 22, beginning in verse 28, Jesus is speaking to his apostles here, he says, "'You are those who have stood by Me and My trials; and just as My father has granted Ma kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the 12 tribes of Israel.'" Now, of course, this ruling and reigning with the king extends to all believers in his kingdom. First Corinthians six two Paul says, "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?" And Second Timothy 2:12, "If we endure, we also will reign with Him." Revelation two beginning in verse 26, "He who overcomes and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him, I will give authority over the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of the potter and brokens are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My father." Revelation five and verse 10, "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God and they will reign upon the earth."

Number eight, as we look at the details, to give you this picture of what Jesus is saying; when the nobleman returns as king, he is also going to execute judgment on both his disloyal slaves, those that profess to be his loyal servants, but weren't, referring to phony Christians, as well as the citizens that hated him. So you have two groups represented here that he is going to judge, the phony pretend Christians who have no love for Christ; it's all show. They're all sizzle and no steak. Churches are filled with them. In fact, we have so called churches today that do nothing more than cater to them. They entertain the goats. They do not shepherd the sheep. And then that judgment will also extend to all of Israel, that will be Daniel's 70th week of judgment during the time of the tribulation, as well as all other unbelievers who reject his sovereign authority to reign over them.

And then number nine, the interval of time think about this, the interval of time between the nobleman's departure and return as king, is unspecified. We don't know how long that will be. And certainly the message is clear, this requires every generation to be watchful. So, there you have a general summary of our Lord's parable. And now I want to examine it more carefully, look into some of the great truths that are there. And we will do so under three headings, we're just going to do the first one here for a few more minutes. Since we have a baptism today, I'm abbreviating all of this, we're gonna look at what the Lord says under three headings, number one, enemies of the king, number two loyal subjects of the king, and number three, disloyal subjects of the king.

So number one, let's look at enemies of the king, verse 14, once again, "'But his citizens hated him, and sent a delegation after him saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.'" Likewise in verse 27, "But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.'" Now, unlike the historical drama of Archelaus, who was a wicked butcher, there is absolutely nothing about Jesus that indicates that the nobleman, that he's describing to be himself, that this nobleman did anything to anyone to warrant such hatred. And certainly this would apply to the Lord Jesus. The same was true of Israel's hatred of Jesus. I mean, he was compassionate, he was kind, they marveled at his teaching. He healed disease, everywhere he went, he fed them, he raised the dead. And we read in John 15, beginning of verse 24. Jesus saying, "They have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their Law, 'They hated me, without a cause.'" And we read about this in Psalm 69. In that context, David is engulfed in the deep waters of despair and, and he's pleading with God to save him, to rescue him. And in that context, he portrays the reproach that he is experiencing from his enemies. And in verse four of Psalm 69, he says this, "Those who hate me without a cause, are more than the hairs of my head; those who would destroy me are powerful, being wrongfully my enemies. What I did not steal, I then have to restore." Which was probably a proverb depicting injustice that they used in that day. Similarly, in Psalm 35, verse 19, we read, "Do not let those who are wrongfully my enemies rejoice over me; nor let those who hate me without cause wink, maliciously." So the question comes up, and rightfully so, why would Israel hate Jesus so much? Moreover, let's extend it to the rest of the world. Why does the world hate Jesus like they do? Why do they hate Christ? Well, Jesus answers that in John seven and verse seven. There we read his words, "'The world hates me, because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.'" That's why they hated Christ. That's why they hate him today. I mean, if we're all honest, nobody likes being told that your deeds are evil, right? We don't like to fess up to anything. And all we have to do is look at our culture. I mean, people hate being exposed. As I was reading the headlines, even this last last week, our government and so many other people, they just don't want to admit they're wrong about anything. I've been reading about from these Nobel winners and so many great scientists, they are absolutely disproving this whole manmade global warming thing. It's just embarrassing. I mean, the whole thing has been a hoax. But you're not going to hear anybody say, you know, boy, we were wrong. You know, Al Gore is not going to say yeah, you know what, we really blew it in that movie. I mean, we missed some things. Sorry, folks, and the trillions of dollars that we have spent to pull this thing off that we were wrong. We need to back off. You're not going to hear that, people don't like to be exposed. They've proven now that these COVID lockdowns and the masking and the vaccine safety and its ability to do...all of those things were grossly exaggerated. So much of it's wrong but you're not going to hear anybody saying boy, yeah, you know, we really blew it here. The data is overwhelming that we made a mistake, whether it's abortion, whether it's the LGBTQ perversions, whether it's any of the woke stuff, nobody is going to say, my as we look at this thing playing out, it is an absolute disaster, we are wrong. So naturally, when Jesus comes along, or any preacher of the gospel, and says, Thus saith the Lord, and people in their heart are saying, no, no, they're gonna hate that message. But we need to remember that because of Adam's sin, the entire human race was plunged into sin. Romans five and verse 12. Every individual is conceived in a state of sin, a state of depravity, they're spiritually blind, they're spiritually dead. And apart from regenerating grace, as we look at Scripture, all that man is and all that man does is fundamentally offensive to a holy God. We're in desperate need of something beyond ourselves, not just forgiveness, but a righteousness that is not our own. That can only come through faith in Christ. But people don't want to hear that. The unsaved have no fear of God. Scripture says that they resent God's authority. They're at enmity with God. They walk in the futility of their mind being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, and on and on it goes. You will recall what Jesus told the Pharisees, John 8:44, that "You serve your father, the devil." I mean, that's not exactly a seeker sensitive, opening, right? He said, "'You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.'" And we know according to First John, five 19, that "the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." And Second Corinthians four and verse four, we read that "The god of this world," referring to Satan, "has blinded the minds of the unbelieving." So unbelievers believe their own lies. They're hopelessly biased in their own favor. They don't want to hear from Jesus. They don't want to hear from the Word of God. So they conjure up their own phony religions create false gods. I was talking with some dear friends this last week who are familiar with what's going on in the military. And they told me that Odinism is really on the rise with a lot of military people. Odinism is a pre-Christian, pagan, polytheistic religion, involving the worship of the Norse and Germanic gods, especially Odin, who is the chief god. Folks, Satan doesn't care what you believe, as long as this is lie, right? And he's got a smorgasbord out there. You can choose whatever you want but people hate the truth. It's part of man's nature. And Jesus especially exposed all of that in apostate Judaism of the first century, where they had developed their own works righteousness system to somehow impress God, so that he would save them. Jesus exposed their hypocrisy. And moreover, he did not fit into their idea of what a Messiah should be. I mean, they, they basically wanted a, I don't know, a Barack Obama, they wanted somebody that was going to give them free stuff, right? And bring in some kind of a utopia, and of course, many other politicians, and, you know, they all kind of try to sell the same thing. And for the most part, we know that America hates biblical Christianity. In fact, I've written a book on that "Why America Hates Biblical Christianity." And fundamentally at the very core, it's because there are two evils in the world. Those evils are human depravity, and satanic deception. And they work together, so that when we hear the truth about who we are and what we need with respect to the Gospel, our immediate knee jerk response is one of disbelief and anger. So like the citizens in Jesus parable, Israel hated Jesus, and they were united in their rejection of his messianic claims. We do not want this man to reign over us. We have no king, but Caesar. And it's fascinating that despite their rejection of Jesus, both Israel and the whole world, you must understand, are ultimately under his sovereign authority. And for this reason, we are called citizens. You see, Jesus created the world. So many passages speak to that. Especially John one and verse three. So everyone is under his authority. And dear friends, please hear this. One day, each one of us will stand before Jesus, actually, we will bow before Jesus. And we will either do that in terror or we will do it in triumph. Philippians two, beginning in verse nine, the apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Scripture says, "God highly exalted Him," referring to Jesus, "and bestowed on him the name which is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow of those who are in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Ah, but these enemies of mine in the parable, Jesus says those "who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here, and slay them in my presence." What a chilling prediction. Make no mistake, dear friends, Jesus has the authority to judge his subjects, as well as to slay them. With respect to his authority, to judge, may I remind you of what Jesus said in Matthew 25, beginning in verse 31, "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne, all the nations will be gathered before Him and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'" And in verse 41, he says, "'Then He will also say to those on his left, 'Depart from me accursed ones, into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.'" In verse 46, we read, "'These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.'" And I must also add, that when the King returns, He has promised to slay his enemies. Let me read this to you out of Revelation 19, beginning in verse 11, and with this, we will close this morning, "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True. And in righteousness, He judges and wages war, His eyes are a flame of fire and on His head are many diadems; and he has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed and fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it, He may strike down the nations and He will rule them with a rod of iron. And He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty, and on His robe and on His thigh, He has a name written, 'KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.' Then I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in mid heaven, 'Come assemble for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings in the flesh of commanders in the flesh, of mighty man and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them in the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves and small and great.' And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast, and those who worshipped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword, which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh." There we have a picture of the battle of Armageddon. And yet there will be another judgment, the great white throne judgment where the Lord will cast away all of those who have rejected him. Yes, dear friends, the earthly kingdom has been delayed, but it has not been forfeited. The Lord our God is going to return and he is going to reward those who love and serve Him. And He will judge and slay those who don't. You say, well, yeah, I mean, this is what some people believe. But I don't believe that. Well, I understand. Only the Spirit of God can soften your heart to the truth. But may I remind you that there are over 300 prophecies in the Bible that have been fulfilled precisely as they were predicted, in fact, 27 prophecies were fulfilled on the day that Jesus died. If you know anything about statistics, you know that there is a very high probability. In fact, on the basis of the Word of God, there is an absolute certainty that what God has promised, will come to pass. So I plead with you if you don't know Christ, oh, dear friend, today is the day of salvation, humble yourself before Him. Trust in him as the only hope of your salvation, and for those of us who know and love him, let's celebrate Amen? Our king is coming, I will be so glad to get away from all of this. I told you how much I hate heat, I hate the world way more than I hate the heat, right? And I know you do, too. We have so much to celebrate. And we're going to do that here in a few minutes as we celebrate what Christ has done in the lives of three young women. Let's bow our heads in prayer.

Father, we thank You for Your Word that brings such clarity to this chaotic world. Truly, it is a lamp unto our feet and a light into our path. I pray that you will bless each of us that know and love you. May we serve you all the more until that day, when we see you face to face. And Lord, for those that do not know you, especially those that pretend to know you, Oh, Lord, do your work of grace in their heart. Humble them that they might be saved. I ask in Jesus name and for his sake. Amen.

This morning, I invite you to take your Bibles and turn to Luke's gospel chapter 19. We've been going through Mark's gospel verse by verse, and we will return and finish that. But this morning, I want to examine the story of Zacchaeus that we find in Luke 19, verses one through 10. And the reason for this, that you will understand more as we go along, is primarily because chronologically, this is the next thing that happened in Jesus' trip to Jerusalem. Moreover, as we will see, the story of Zacchaeus is a way of merging some of the other great themes that Jesus has been dealing with in some of his other encounters.

Now, let me remind you before I read the text that Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem the final time, to present himself as the Messiah, of Old Testament prophecy. He is traveling with his disciples and there is a large group of pilgrims going with him; he has orchestrated all of this. And they are going to Jerusalem for the Passover feast, where he will present himself ultimately, as the Passover lamb, that will take away the sins of all who believe in Him. Now bear in mind, his focus in this last journey is not only to lay claim to the Messianic mantle, but also to instruct his disciples. They needed a lot of instruction. Remember, they are still bickering over who's going to be first in the kingdom, because they're convinced that he's going to do away with Rome and establish the kingdom. Now, you will remember that Jesus has previously encountered a rich young synagogue ruler, who loved himself more than Christ who would not part with his wealth, because his wealth afforded him the opportunity to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of power and prestige in his life. And for this reason, in Mark's gospel, we read that, "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." And after Jesus said that, we read the disciples saying, well, then who can be saved. And in verse 27, he looks at them and says, "with people, it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God." And then next, we see him in Jericho giving birth to the sight of a blind man by the name of Bartimaeus. Actually, there was another blind man with him, we studied that last week in Mark 10, verses 46 and following. And once again, there he not only proved his messianic claims, that he was indeed God, very God, but also he illustrated the miracle of regeneration, whereby God gives sight to those who are spiritually blind.

But next, chronologically, while in Jericho, Jesus seeks and saves another spiritually blind man, by the name of Zacchaeus. And like Bartimaeus, he is determined to see Jesus. Moreover, like the rich young ruler, he is a very wealthy man. So what we have in the account of Zacchaeus is really a juxtaposition of the striking themes in this previous story, where they all come together. And what we see now is Jesus, giving sight to another spiritually blind man by the name of Zacchaeus, but also a rich man and therefore, here we have an example of the camel going through the eye of the needle, if you will, because all things are possible to God. So this is profoundly instructive for Jesus disciples. I might also add that Luke is the only gospel writer that records the story. Also, this historical narrative really summarizes the very essence of the gospel message and the purpose of Jesus's ministry on earth. And as we will see in verse 10. His goal is to seek and to save that which was lost. And aren't you thankful that he continues to do that this very day.

So with that in mind, let me read the text Luke 19, beginning in verse one. "He entered Jericho and was passing through. And there was a man called by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector, and he was rich. Zacchaeus was trying to see who Jesus was, and was unable because of the crowd, for he was small in stature. So he ran ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for he was about to pass through that way. When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today, I must stay at your house.' And he hurried and came down and received Him gladly. When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, 'He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.' Zacchaeus stopped and said to the Lord, 'Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much. And Jesus said to him, 'Today, salvation has come to this house, because he too, is the son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.'"

I'd like to examine this text under two very simple headings. Number one, we will see the Savior seeking and number two, we will see the Savior saving. And I might add, dear friends, that there is no greater privilege in the Christian life, than contemplating the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. My how I long to see him face to face, and we would all do well, to learn from the angels who, quote, "long to look upon the mystery of the incarnation," as we read in first Peter 1:12. The glory of Christ, dear friends is, worthy of our bold and unfettered proclamation, and meditation, especially as it is revealed in Christ's inconceivable condescension to our lowly estate. And his infinite mercy, and his unassailable power as he goes to the cross, to render powerless, the effects of sin, Satan and death. And to be able to fix our gaze upon his grace, is a miraculous thing in and of itself. Because in so doing, the Spirit of God uses that to conform us evermore into the likeness of Christ. And he gives us peace and power and joy, even in the midst of our trials. And I know some of you, a number of you are going through very serious trials right now. What a wonderful thing it is to be able to behold the glory of Christ. And I might also add that if your life is a train wreck, and if your marriage and your family is a dumpster fire, there's a high probability that you know very little of Christ. If anything at all, you're probably not walking by the Spirit, you're probably ruled by your flesh. And my goal this morning, as it is every time I stand before you and open up the word, is to point you to Christ, even as Paul did when he came into Corinth, in First Corinthians two and verse two, he said, "For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." My prayer is that we'll all be able to echo what the Apostle Paul said recorded in Philippians three beginning in verse seven. "But whatever things were gained to me those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of their surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord."

So let's look at the text; number one we are going to see the Savior seeking. Notice verse one, "He entered Jericho and was passing through." I want you to see Jericho as it was in the first century. It was a magnificent oasis city, at the edge of the Judean wilderness about six miles from the Dead Sea and the Jordan River. It's a heap of ruins today in the Palestinian territory, but it was beautiful back then. It's about 15 miles northeast of Jerusalem down in the Jordan Valley. In that day, it was a magnificent place with gardens that landscaped the entire area planted by Herod. In fact, Jericho means "the perfumed" and it was a perfumed city. There were streams and aqueducts and palm trees and Balsam plantations, sycamores, cypress flowers on and on, it went. All growing in a plain of about 14 miles. In fact, many called it the Eden of Palestine in its day. Josephus described it as the richest part of the country, a little paradise. Magnificent commercial, and military center. It was positioned on the major caravan route from Damascus, and Arabia.

So what we have now is Jesus leading this large group, his disciples with him and this massive crowd, as he makes his way through Jericho. Verse two, "And there was a man called by the name of Zacchaeus." Ironically, that name means "the just;" he wasn't very just until God justified him. But that was his name. And then we read that, "he was a chief tax collector, and he was rich." Now, you must understand that in those days, tax collecting was tantamount to a cross between the IRS and the mafia. That's basically how they functioned. In many ways, it was legalized extortion. Some things never change, right? I know that's what you're thinking. And these people associated with the criminal element that they hung around with, that protected them. Other corrupt businesspeople, other tax collectors, prostitutes, as we read. Even in the gospels, they're always kind of together in a group because they weren't allowed to associate with the Jewish people, because they were unclean. And they collected taxes for Rome, they had to meet a certain quota. But they also had the authority to levy taxes as they saw fit. So they had the power to enforce their own wishes. And in fact, we know that Herod even sold tax collecting franchises to the highest bidder, and then they would split the profits. It's a very lucrative business venture if you're a crook. And that's what Zacchaeus was, a crook. And as I said, they were considered unclean by the Jewish people. They were barred from the synagogue so they couldn't associate with others. Only thing they could associate with were other lowlifes. And they were even considered traitors, because they worked for Rome, and took money from their own kinsmen to be used against them. Not to mention they line their own pockets with money they stole from the Jewish people. And I have to laugh, we see that the Pharisees were especially resentful of the tax collectors, but not for the reason you might think not because they were so ungodly and so unclean, but because they cut into their profits. But we also know that some were saved right? Remember when Jesus called Matthew in Mark two? And Matthew was a tax collector and followed Jesus and other tax collectors and prostitutes and so forth that hung with them, repented and came to Christ. We see some of that in Luke three, for example. But what we see here with Zacchaeus, is he wasn't just your run of the mill tax collector, he was a chief tax collector. So he was kind of like a mafia boss. Kind of like, I don't know, a drug lord. So he got a cut on all of the others that worked underneath him. So this guy was a notorious crook. However, as we read the story, we see that the Holy Spirit is already at work in his heart, we see that he's bringing conviction, a sense of shame and guilt, disrupting his life, with difficult circumstances, arousing his curiosity about Jesus. And perhaps he was even aware of Jesus reputation that he was a friend of tax collectors. I mean, that information would have spread like wildfire, right?

Verse three, "Zacchaeus, was trying to see who Jesus was." This is in the imperfect tense in the original language. And so what it helps us understand is that, that he was busy seeking Jesus, he was a man on a mission. An old adage comes to mind, the Hound of Heaven was after him, right? And the text goes on to say, "and he was unable because of the crowd where he was small in stature." And of course, this makes sense. You've got a massive crowd of people, they're lining the roads, they're also traveling with Jesus. And if you're short, you're not going to be able to see him. But the indication here, and the implication is, that he wanted to do more than just lay his eyes on him. He perhaps wanted to engage him. Verse four, "So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree in order to see Him, for He was about to pass through that way." Here, we get the sense that Zacchaeus was both disturbed and determined. Now, when we think of a sycamore tree, we see something very different in Tennessee than what it would look like in the Middle East. It was really what was called a fig mulberry or a sycamore fig. It had fruits on it that kind of resembled figs and evergreen leaves that resemble the Mulberry. Its fruit was an insipid, kind of tasteless fruit that only the most poor would ever eat. But it had very low limbs, big limbs, easy to climb. And no doubt, Zacchaeus wanted to remain hidden from sight. After all, he was the most hated man in the whole country, right? That whole area at least. Moreover, it's not very dignified for a wealthy man to be climbing up in a tree like that. And as I meditate on, as I meditated on this scenario, I'm reminded of Jesus' words to the Syrophoenician woman. Remember before he saved her, recorded in Matthew 15, verse 24, Jesus said, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." And of course, that was, as you recall, a reference to his original ministry focus regarding the kingdom. But here now regarding Zacchaeus, we see the Great Shepherd of the sheep pursuing one of his last lambs up in a tree of all places. What happens next is truly remarkable. And here's where the plot thickens.

Verse five, "When Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, 'Zacchaeus, hurry and come down for today. I must stay at your house.'" Oh, I wish I could have seen the look on Zacchaeus his face. The deer in the headlight look right? The mule staring at a new gate look. He is suddenly exposed. Now, Luke just records the most basics of the whole story, but you know Jesus had to have stopped and when Jesus stops, everybody stops. Things get quiet and they see Jesus looking up. All of a sudden they see Zaccheus. It was probably quiet enough that they heard what Jesus said. And there's Zaccheus, utterly exposed. I imagine he was saying to himself, "I can't believe this is happening. I'm the most hated man in Jericho. Everybody's looking at me, including Jesus." The sovereign, omniscient, omnipotent, creator of heaven and earth, the long-awaited Messiah of Old Testament prophecy is now calling his name. How did he know his name? Zacchaeus must have been scratching his head, how does he know who I am? Dear friends, of course, he knew his name. Because Zacchaeus was chosen in eternity past, to be part of our Lord's bridal church.

Dave Harrell

This is such a magnificent truth; I need to camp on it for a moment. We know according to Ephesians, one four that the father chose believers in Him, referring to Jesus Christ, "before the foundation of the world," in eternity past, we know according to Romans 8:29, that they were "predestined" for justification also for "adoption," Ephesians, one, five, and even for "a heavenly inheritance, “Ephesians five and verse 11. And Paul said, in his epistle to Timothy in Second Timothy one nine, that he, "has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works." In other words, it's not because he somehow looked down the annals of time and saw who would and who wouldn't believe in him; Oh, there's one. Yeah, Zacchaeus is going to believe so I'm going to elect him. Now that is blatantly unbiblical, and frankly, quite silly, but rather, "not according to our works, but according to His own purpose, and grace, which was granted us in Christ Jesus, from all eternity." Which literally, in the original language, means "before time began." Second, Thessalonians two and verse 13, we read that we are "beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth." Of course, he knew Zacchaeus' name. Jesus said in John six and verse 37, that "all that the Father gives Me, will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out." And in verse 44, of John six, he says, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him." This reminds me as well of what Jesus said in his high priestly prayer, when he was in the garden, before he went to the cross, it's recorded in John 17. Jesus prays in verse one of that passage, "'Father, the hour has come, glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You.'" See, Jesus is about to go to the cross and redeem those whom the Father had chosen for him. And we read the phrase "all whom the Father has given Him," we read that repeatedly, verse two, verse six, verse nine, verse 24, says, "'Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.'" And of course, Zacchaeus was one of those whom the Father had given the Son. Dear friends, let this sink in. You must understand this magnificent truth. In eternity past, the Father ordained a plan to demonstrate his infinite love for his Son. And he chose for him a bride made up of undeserving sinners, that would one day be transformed by the power of his grace. And he chose them by name. And he recorded their names in a book of life. And these names make up the Son's bride, an elect group of redeemed humanity. And he pledged to his Son a gift; a gift of the Father's love. And this gift was a pledge that was sealed by the Holy Spirit of promise. The Father would then intentionally draw unto himself, this great company of sinners through the convicting and regenerating work of the Holy Spirit of God. This is utterly astounding. And to be sure, God has to seek us, because we would never seek Him. Romans three, verse 11, says, "There is none who seeks for God." You see, sinful man will always hide from God, even as Adam and Eve hid from God in the Garden after they had sinned. Yet we see the scarlet thread of redemption being woven through every page of holy writ, as God in his infinite mercy pursues those that he has elected by his grace.

Moreover, Jesus knew who Zacchaeus was, because Jesus was about to bear his sin, in his body, on the cross. His atonement was a specific act of substitution for specific individuals. Remember, Jesus came to do the will of the Father, and what was the will of the Father? To purchase the redemption of all whom the Father had given him. His plan was predetermined. And it was personal. Acts 2:23, we read Peter saying, "This man," referring to Jesus, "was delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God." And what an amazing thing it is to know that we have been chosen by the Father, as a gift to the Son, who will one day give us back to the Father as a reciprocal expression of his love. This is the great plan of redemption, dear friends. And please hear this, we are merely incidental in that whole plan. He orchestrated our conception at our mother's womb, he superintended our development and our birth. We know from Scripture that he has even ordained the length of our life. Before we were born, he knew everything about us, because he created our DNA. Let that sink in for a moment. He even knew that we would rebel against him, that we would violate his law, that we would reject him. And despite all of this, because of his predetermined and personal plan of redemption, the apostle Paul says in Romans five eight, "that God demonstrated His own love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Oh, dear friend, if you have trusted Christ, as your Savior, please know that you are not some insignificant number that is part of some vast, impersonal, divine plan. But know this, the Lord Jesus Christ is intimately and personally and powerfully and compassionately involved in your life. The Father who chose us, drew us unto Himself, the Spirit convicted us and transformed us, the Son purchased our redemption. And as we can see, in the story of Zacchaeus, God takes the initiative in all of this. Oh, yes, he's working in the heart of Zacchaeus, but Jesus is the one who was seeking and saving. He has to do that because we're spiritually blind, right? We read in Ephesians four, verse 17, and following that, we are alienated from God that we "walk in the futility of our mind." And this is what we see in the unredeemed. We're darkened in our understanding, were excluded from the very life of God because of the ignorance that is in us; because of the hardness of our heart. But then God comes along, he pursues us and he saves us. Even when we are in bondage to our sin; morally, socially, mentally, spiritually. When everything about us was in rebellion to God, worthy of his eternal judgment, because prior to salvation, we were just like Zacchaeus, we were in a dungeon of wickedness, and we loved it so.

Some men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. We were "dead in our sins" according to Ephesians two and verse one. Of course, we know that sin produces death, therefore we are in desperate need of a resurrection, a spiritual resurrection, that only occurs when we are born again. Paul went on to say, in Ephesians, two beginning in verse five, and six, But God... even when we were dead in our transgressions made us alive together with Christ, (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him." And Paul adds in Romans six and verse four, that we have been, buried with Christ "through baptism and to death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead... we too might walk in newness of life." We must remember that the natural man, the unsaved, man, indeed is dead in his sin. And thus he is unable to even understand or accept the things of the Spirit of God, as we read in First Corinthians 2:14. Therefore, repentant faith cannot occur apart from the new birth. And that is a work that is entirely passive for the sinners. Because in John one, verse 13, Jesus said that we "were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God." So of course, Jesus knew Zacchaeus' name; he knew everything about him. He created him, the father chose him to be part of his bridal church. And soon Jesus is about to bear his sin in his body. And what we see here, as Jesus seeks after Zacchaeus, perched up in that sycamore tree, is a beautiful example of how the spirit convicts and draws and calls and, and regenerates an unbeliever. Jesus spoke of this in John three and verse eight, "The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from, and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." I remember when I was a little boy, when the wind of the Spirit blew my way. Do you remember when it blew your way? And now it's blowing Zacchaeus' way, as he's perched up in a sycamore tree. "'Zacchaeus hurry, come down, for today, I must stay at your house.'"

Now bear in mind in these great narratives, there's probably much more that was said. So we're getting the bare minimum. But can't you imagine? Not only what Zacchaeus is thinking, but what everybody else is thinking, including the disciples. It's like, "You're surely not going to save that guy. I mean, after all, we're aligned to be first in the kingdom, what's going on here?" Notice the response and Zacchaeus, verse six, "hurried and came down and received Him gladly." Dear friends, here's a marvelous example of the supernatural, efficacious call of God at work in the heart of a sinner. A work that would fill volumes were we able to read all of it in Zacchaeus' his life. I wonder, when we see him someday, if he will be able to tell us his story of all of the things that transpired in his life that caused him to come to that place where he's feeling more and more of the guilt and the shame of his sin. And how he's crying out for God to do something that he cannot do on his own. Perhaps you remember when the Lord drew you unto himself, and you began to see the holiness of God when your conscience was set a flame with guilt when he just upset your world; when he caused circumstances to converge in such a way, as to make you even more miserable in your life. So you begin to examine your heart. The gospel of God began to keep you up at night, you began to realize that you were lost. You must understand that for the elect of God, this call is irresistible. God is not a contingent God, he is a sovereign God and he will accomplish his good pleasure, come what may. Nothing can thwart his eternal purposes. We will see this summarized well in Romans eight beginning in verse 29. Where the apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Spirit says, "For those whom He foreknew," literally for ordained or for loved, "He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son," he went on to say, "and these whom He predestined, He also called and those whom He called, He also justified and these whom He justified, He also glorified."

But I want you to notice the mysterious convergence of God's sovereignty and man's responsibility in this scenario. And here we witness the compatibility between God's uninfluenced, sovereign grace to save, and man's responsibility to believe. God takes the initiative in calling sinners to repentance, but man must choose to believe. Indeed, human will and divine determination are complementary, therefore compatible in the purposes of God. And we see that here. The end of verse five, we read, "'Zacchaeus, hurry and come down for today I must stay at your house.'" And verse six, "and he hurried, and came down and received Him gladly." Here we see that God did not violate Zacchaeus, his will. He did not coerce him, but rather, he transformed his will, so that he would freely and voluntarily believe and be saved. What a magnificent truth. This is, it's inscrutable in our mind; perfectly clear in God's mind. A magnificent demonstration of how God works in the life of a sinner.

So first, we see the Savior seeking. The Savior taking the initiative. And secondly, we see the Savior saving. Zacchaeus, we can see from the story, received Jesus into his home. And we're not told anything about that home, or what happened inside that home. But certainly, he would have heard the gospel from the lips of the Savior Himself. Can you imagine that? And we know that he comes to genuine saving faith, as the text goes on to tell us. I was meditating upon what might have been said in that scenario. And again, this is conjecture, but I think it's has some merit because of other things that we know, biblically. Jesus would have told him who he really was, he would have exposed his sin. I know all about you. I know when you did this, I know when you did that. I know what you think here and what you do there. But I want you to know that I love you. And that I want to pay the penalty for your sin. But you must trust in me is the only hope of your salvation. Aren't you thankful that the good news of the gospel is proclaimed to outcasts, even the worst of sinners and how they will respond in repentant faith. When I was saved, when I was nine, I wasn't some great sinner, even though I was a sinner, and I knew it. But I had a depraved heart like everybody else, and left unto myself, no telling where I would have ended up. But God sees our sin, no matter how dark it might be. And of course, the Jews were convinced that only the righteous were recipients of divine blessing. So we see that the crowd is horrified at all of this.

Verse seven, "When they saw it, they all began to grumble, saying, "He has gone to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." It's interesting, when it says, "when they saw it." It carries the idea that they're watching here. It's not like they just kind of dispersed and went their way. They're watching this whole thing. They're probably following at a distance. And certainly Zacchaeus would have had some magnificent estate, and they're watching all of this. And they're grumbling; I don't need to explain that word. We all know what it is. Because we're all guilty of it. "He has gone to be the guest;” “kataylo" in the original language. It means "to lodge, to unpack one's pack animal or backpack or suitcase." Even carries the idea of losing one's garments to prepare to stay overnight. So they're watching all of this. He's going in to the house of a sinner. Well, obviously they saw themselves as far more righteous than Zaccheus. Aren't we all hopelessly biased in our own favor when we compare ourselves to other people?

Verse eight, we read, "Zacchaeus stopped," the term means that he stood respectfully and stated a position. Now mind you this, what he's about to state would have happened after much conversation, and after he had truly come to faith in Christ. And he says to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor; and if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much." My what a beautiful picture of what Paul describes in Second Corinthians seven, as a godly sorrow versus a worldly sorrow. In that text, we read how a godly sorrow is one that longs for reconciliation. It mourns over sin. It has an earnest desire for righteousness for a vindication of one's reputation, and indignation towards evil and avenging of wrong, a seeking of justice. And all of that was wrought within his heart by the power of the Spirit of God when he was suddenly made a new creature in Christ. And won't you notice that he obeys the law of the theocratic kingdom of Israel, as recorded for example, in Exodus 22, and verse one, and he restores fourfold all that he had stolen. Friends, this is such powerful evidence of what happens when someone is genuinely born again. This is evidence of the fruit of repentance, the miracle of regeneration, there's a radical change in a person's heart, in their nature and their disposition. Second Corinthians 5:17, that I alluded to a moment ago, "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things passed away, behold, new things have come." The adjective "new," "kainos," means unseen of a kind, not seen before, new in quality, not in sequence. This is the miracle of the new birth, and regeneration, which is that instantaneous, supernatural impartation of spiritual life to a spiritual cadaver, where they are raised to walk in newness of life. This is the stuff of genuine Christianity, a radical departure a dramatic change takes place. A restructuring of one's life. Jesus said, "You will know them by their fruits," and boy, you see it right here, don't you? At the moment of our new birth we are made new creatures and God sets into motion this process of sanctification that will ultimately culminate in Christ's likeness.

Again, as Jesus said, in John three, six, "'For that which is born of the flesh is flesh, but which is born of the Spirit is spirit.'" The life of the newborn saint is characterized by overcoming the wicked influences of Satan's world. There's a radical hatred that begins to occur towards those things that we once loved. The Spirit plants within us new desires, new loves, new passions, a new direction in life, new values, new beliefs, so that we begin to manifest the fruit of the Spirit, as described in Galatians five. And with the disposition of the soul, so radically changed, God's desires become our desires, as we read in Psalm 37 in verse four. Then he causes us according to Romans 6:17, "to become obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which we were committed." For indeed, as we read in First John 2:29, "If you know that He," Jesus, "is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him." This is what we see with Zacchaeus. Is this what people see in your life, my friends? Do people see Christ in you? When they spend time around you are they drawn to Christ? I grieve over the self-deception that characterizes so many Christians today, at least ostensibly, Christian people. You look at so many; they claim to be followers of Christ, but there's nothing about their life that shows that they love Christ, that they have a desire to obey him. They are basically Christian in name only; part of cultural Christianity. There's no personal pursuit of holiness, no separation from the world. There's no mourning over sin. There's no hungering and thirsting after righteousness. There is no appetite for the Word of God. There is no desire to submit to the authority of God, so they just make stuff up. They have no spiritual discernment. No humility, no sacrifice, no burden for the lost, no real love for other believers. No desire to understand what biblical worship truly is. Both privately as well as corporately, and frankly, there's nothing to distinguish them from the world. And my friend, if that is you, you have no basis to claim genuine saving faith. And I would plead with you to examine your heart. Illustrations of this kind of hypocrisy are myriad. We see it in our friends, we see it in families, see it in apostate churches. As I said earlier, they claim to know Christ, but their life is a train wreck. And their marriage and their family is a dumpster fire.

In Luke six and verse 46, Jesus asked those who claimed to be His disciples, but had no desire to obey Him, saying, "'Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?'" And he went on to answer the question by saying that they are basically unregenerate. You're operating according to your fallen nature. You do not have the indwelling Spirit to help restrain your flesh. You've never been born again. He went on to say in verse 49, "'The one who has heard and has not acted accordingly, is like a man who built his house on the ground without any foundation, and the torrent burst against it. And immediately it collapsed and the ruin of that house was great.'" Friends, you must understand that saving faith is obedient faith. That will always be the fruit of a spiritual resurrection, of a spiritual transformation. Indeed, we've been raised to walk in newness of life. This is why Jesus said in Matthew seven in verse 21, "'Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven will enter.'" John three and verse 36, he says, "'He who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.'" And in James one and verse 22, we read "But prove yourselves doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves." And my what an amazing miracle it is, to see someone radically changed when they come to faith in Christ. Sometimes, it takes a while for you to see it. With other people, it's like the next day, almost the next minute, and that's practically what you have here with Zaccheus. I remember one woman who came to the church a number of years ago and, and she was a godless woman, dressed very immodestly, and she became convicted of her sin and over the course of several months, she was saved, radically in her living room, on her face in front of her couch. And I remember when the day, I remember the day when I first met her husband, who was a godless man. And I remember he contacted me, and he came up to me and he said, I'll never forget this, "I want to know what has happened to my wife." And at first I thought it was going to be a confrontation. But then I realized, and he went on to say, "Look, I'm not mad, I just don't understand. I don't know who this is." And he went on to describe that, and by the way, about six months later, he came to faith in Christ. I heard him cry out in the midst of a communion service here in this church. That's the stuff of genuine saving faith dear friends.

"Behold, Lord, half of my possessions I will give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give back four times as much. And Jesus said to him, 'Today, salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham, for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.'" Can you imagine the look on the disciple’s face when they heard all of this? "Oh, my goodness, he's one of us now. Wonder if he's gonna get a spot in the kingdom, you know, boy, the race is on here." And of course, the crowd hated him. At least for a while, until they realized that he was going to give back the money had taken from them. Then don't you know, they all lined up saying "hey, Zacko, buddy, I believed in you all along, never doubted, yeah, you know, put it right here."

By the way, according to a third century AD collection of ecclesiastical law, thought to have been written by the apostles, possibly. It's called the Apostolic Constitutions. We read that later on Zacchaeus became the first bishop of Caesarea in Palestine. And if that is true, God not only called him to saving faith, but called him to be a pastor. Let me read that to you. I just copied and pasted it. The Apostolic Constitutions, volume seven, chapter 46. Quote, "Now concerning those bishops who have been ordained in our lifetime, we make known to you that they are these of Jerusalem, James, the brother of Our Lord upon whose death the second was Simeon, the son of Cleopas, after whom Judas, the son of James," then he says this, "of Caesarea in Palestine, the first was Zacchaeus, who was once a publican."

It's interesting, isn't it, Jesus called him a son of Abraham. Now, he's not merely saying that you are a physical descendant of the patriarch Abraham, but rather a spiritual descendant in the inward sense of believing Jew. For example, in Romans two verse 28, "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew, who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter, and his praise is not for men, but from God." We see something similar in Galatians, three, beginning in verse six, "Even so Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who were sons of Abraham. The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, 'all the nations will be blessed in you'. So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer." I remember in Israel one time, going to meet a congregation that was worshiping in secret to avoid persecution from the Jews. And the pastor said something that I wrote down, he said, "By God's grace, I am a true son of Abraham, part of the Israel of God." And then he said, "we're all part of the Israel of God." There were probably 60 or 70 people there in the forest, meeting on those little white chairs like you get at Walmart. By the way, the Israel of God is, is taken out of Galatians six and verse 16, is a reference to ethnic Jewish Christians because they had been circumcised in their hearts and not just physically, they were the true Israelites. It's not a reference to the church. And the church is never called Israel in Scripture. The Israel of God is the same group Paul described in Romans 9:6, "For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham's descendants, but 'through Isaac your descendants will be named.' That is it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants." And of course, Isaac is the perfect illustration of sovereign election. Remember, that long before he was conceived, he was chosen from among the descendants of Abraham to be the heir of promise. He was preordained, not only to become a physical child of Abraham, but a spiritual Child of God, made effective through faith, as with everyone who believes; so too was Zacchaeus.

Well got a picture dear friends, of what Peter said in First Peter two nine, that "He called us out of darkness into His marvelous light." As we close, my friend, if you reject Christ, if you reject his claims, if you have never trusted in Him as Savior, I plead that you will do so before it's too late. And I will tell you very boldly, but in love, that I will pray that you will be absolutely miserable until you come to repentant faith in our precious Savior. And for those of us who know and love him, let's use this historical account of Zacchaeus to cause us to celebrate. The Savior sought us and saved us.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for the magnificent truths of your word. May they bear much fruit in every heart. I ask in the precious name of Jesus, and for his sake. Amen.

What a joy it is to be able to minister the word of God to you once again on this Lord's day morning. Will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark's gospel chapter 10. As we continue to make our way, verse by verse through it, I've been titled my discourse to you this morning "Jesus Gives Sight to the Blind," beginning in verse 46, of Mark 10. "Then they game they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples, and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road. When He heard that it was Jesus, the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!' Many were sternly telling him to be quiet. But he kept crying out all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me!' And Jesus stopped and said, 'Call him here.' So they called the blind man saying to him, 'Take courage stand up! He is calling for you.' Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus. And answering him, Jesus said, 'What do you want me to do for you?' And the blind man said to Him, Rabbioni, I want to regain my sight!' And Jesus said to him, 'Go, your faith has made you well.' Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road."

One of the clearest proofs of human depravity is man's inability to see the depths of his sin, in contrast to the holiness of God. They are spiritually blind apart from Christ. You ask any believer, are you ever troubled over the ways that you have offended a holy God? And their answer will typically be something like, oh, I never even think about that. I don't believe in that stuff. They would only be ashamed of their private sins, if they were made public. But they have no shame in sin itself. If you were to ask them, Have you no fear of God's judgment when you die? And again, the response is typically, oh, I never think about that. I really don't worry about that type of thing. After all, I'm a good person, if there is a God, whoever he or she might be. I'm sure that I'll make the cut. And so people live as if there is no God. People trifle with death and with judgment. And they use all of the anesthetizes that the world offers them. Drugs, alcohol, entertainment. The Football season is getting started up in colleges, and you'll see hundreds of 1000s of people going to worship in the stadiums. And by the way, I like college football. But the point is, for many people were it not for entertainment on television, and in their sports, they would have no life. They pursue the fleeting pleasures of this world. And consistent with what Peter warned in Second Peter three, three, "In the last days, mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts." And this is what we see in the world today. People go merrily along their way with no thought of God, no thought of judgment, no thought of their own sinfulness, just living their life as if there is no God because for them, there really isn't. And they will continue to do that until that fateful day when they are confronted with their own mortality, and they will die and then be confronted with the God they have ignored and mocked. Dear friends, this is the consequence of spiritual blindness. In first Corinthians 2:14, we're told by the apostle Paul, that "a natural man," and unsaved man, "does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because he is spiritually appraised." In other words, he has no capacity to discern spiritual truth, when the evidence is right in front of him. He's spiritually blind. Moreover, in Ephesians, chapter four, we read an excellent summary of where people are, that are apart from Christ, beginning in verse 17. "The Gentiles also walk, in the futility of their mind, being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their heart; and they having become callous, have given themselves over to sensuality, for the practice of every kind of impurity with greediness." Oh dear friends, the horror of spiritual blindness; to be spiritually incarcerated in a dungeon of deception and ignorance and arrogance; unable to see your hard hearted rebellion against the Most High God, blind to the reality that you are walking inexorably toward, and abyss of everlasting woes, what Jesus called in Matthew 22, "the outer darkness" that place there "will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." And of course, there's that passage in Second Corinthians four and verse four, where we read that "the god of this world," small g, referring to Satan, "has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ."

But dear friends, when God gives spiritual sight, a miracle takes place that we should never, ever underestimate. Man has suddenly awakened to his own sin, he suddenly sees it for what it is. And like the sting of 1000 Hornets, he remembers his sin down through his life. And he shutters to know that he will one day stand in the presence of a holy God. Guilty unless he cries out for mercy. Unless he says, as blind Bartimaeus said, "Oh, God, have mercy on me." Indeed, "the word of the cross is foolishness," according to First Corinthians 1:18. It "is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." And how I rejoice in that. And I might say from the outset, if you're here today, or you're hearing my voice, please know that if you trifle with your sin, if you dismiss God's indictment against you, and you refuse to trust in Christ as your Savior, your arrogance proves that you are spiritually blind. And you simply must cry out to God for mercy. Sadly, this was the perfect description of Israel in the first century. And of course, the Gentile world as well. But as we see in this text, Jesus gives sight to the blind.

And let me remind you of the context, the setting here, so that you get the flow of what's happening. Jesus is coming to the end of His earthly ministry, his final days on earth and he's on his way to Jerusalem to suffer and to die and to rise again from the dead. And from his miracles to his parables, what he has been demonstrating to everyone, primarily Israel, is that he is who he claimed to be, the Messiah of Old Testament prophecy, the one who had come to offer himself officially and finally, as the king of the Messianic Kingdom, in exact fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. An offer conditioned upon national repentance. He has ministered in Galilee in the region of his homeland, and he's experienced enormous opposition. He ministered around the regions of the Galilee and the Gentile area, then journeyed to Jerusalem, and to Judea, constantly teaching, exposing the hypocrisy of the scribes and the Pharisees, performing many miracles; many, many more than what we have recorded in the scriptures. He's made a brief tour through Samaria and Galilee. Then he was in and around Perea, the Gentile region, on the east side of the Jordan. And now he has crossed back over the Jordan, right there north of the Dead Sea. And he's now around the city of Jericho, which is about 15 miles from Jerusalem, and about 3300 feet below Jerusalem. So it will now be a steep climb to get up to Jerusalem. You must picture that there are massive crowds following Jesus. They have witnessed His miracles. A lot of them are merely thrill seekers, but others are really wondering what is going on here. Some of them undoubtedly were those whom he fed in the feeding of many 1000s earlier in his ministry. They've witnessed him cast out demons, give sight to the blind, give hearing to the deaf. They've seen mutilated bodies of lepers, completely healed, limbs appearing on people. They've even witnessed Lazarus coming out of the grave, the raising of the dead. And they're amazed at his teaching. They're amazed at his authority. In fact, in Luke 12, and verse one, we read about the massive crowds it says, so many 1000s of people had gathered together, that they were "stepping on one another."

And by the way, in the context of that massive crowd, it says that he began preaching, "'Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.'" He was fearless in the face of all of the crowd. You must understand that everything that Jesus is doing, is moving inexorably towards a high point, which is namely his triumphant entry into Jerusalem. That will be a day of Messianic presentation foretold by the Old Testament prophets. In fact, as we've studied before, the Old Testament prophets predicted the manner, the moment and the meaning of the King's final offer to Israel. The rejection by the civil and religious leaders has been unmistakable. But now an official offer needed to be made to the nation as a whole. Even in the realm of jurisprudence, even in the days of the Old Testament, in the realm of the theocracy, a legal proffer, or an offer of proof, must be made. And that's what he is about to do. This was Israel's time of her visitation to receive her King. But Jesus will later promise them of coming judgment in Luke 19:44. He says, "'because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.'" So Jesus is now making his way to Jerusalem to present himself as the Messiah.

But I want you to know that prior to this, according to Luke 10, and verse one, "the Lord had appointed 70 others and sent them in pairs ahead of Him to every city and place where He Himself was going to come." And their mission, we know from reading the text, is very simple. "'Every city that receives you,'" he says in verses eight, and following, "'heal those who are sick and say to them, 'the kingdom of God has come near to you.' And if they don't receive you,' according to verse 10, and 11, 'go out into its streets and say, 'even the dust of your city, which clings to our feet, we wipe off and protest against you, yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near.'" But the two words "to you" are not there, a frightening omission.

So, everything that is happening here, everything recorded in the gospels, is part of God's deliberate, precise plan to accomplish his purposes. Now, mind you, all of this is extended over the course of about five months. And what Jesus is ultimately doing is presenting himself to Israel as the Messiah of Old Testament prophecy. And please understand that everything that we see in the gospels points to this. We see it in our text this morning, when Jesus gives sight to this blind man and what did the blind man call him, he called him "Son of David," in verse 47, the ultimate Son of David, the one who would fulfill the Davidic covenant promises of Second Samuel seven, which were really a reaffirmation of the regal terms of the original Abrahamic covenant. And this is yet another miracle, connected with the arrival of the Messiah that was prophesied, for example, in Isaiah 35 five, "Then the eyes of the blind will be opened," when the Messiah comes.

Next chronologically, we're going to see that Jesus will meet a dishonest tax collector named Zacchaeus. Mark doesn't record that, Luke does. And I'll take you to Luke, to see this. And we see Zacchaeus is saved by his grace in Luke 19, a man who Jesus called, quote, "a son of Abraham." And because he was the son of Abraham, he therefore obeyed the law of the theocratic kingdom of Israel, like we would see in Exodus 22 one, "and he restored fourfold all that he had stolen." This is yet another reminder of Old Testament prophecy concerning the kingdom when, as the King James puts it in Isaiah 40, in verse three, "the crooked will be made straight." He's then going to heal 10 lepers in Luke 17. We know according to Micah four and verse two that he's going to come or that when he would come, he would "come with healing in His wings," other passages, speak to this as well. And then in Luke 19:11, and following, he will give that amazing parable concerning a nobleman who went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and then he would return, and this, of course, portrayed his rejection, and an interval of delay that will exist until his future arrival a second time.

Dave Harrell

And as Jesus travels with this band of pilgrims, he is conducting himself once again, as the public claimant, to the Messianic mantle. And soon the multitudes are going to see him come into the city, and they're going to cry out "Hosanna!" to the son of David. And then that same crowd, will a few days later demand his crucifixion, demonstrating their final rejection. Well, there are many other events that are recorded and many others that we will examine in the days ahead, hat all fit into the same pattern going forward. There is a purpose in all that is happening here; these aren't just random stories, random events, but rather, Jesus is presenting himself as the Messiah of Israel, the king of the messianic kingdom, but it was conditioned upon Israel's repentance, national repentance.

By the way, whenever I think of these things, I find myself overwhelmed with the miracle of divine providence. Isn't it amazing that God can orchestrate all of these things in ways that we can't even imagine, to fulfill his prophetic word, and all that he has ordained in eternity past, to ultimately bring glory to himself. And to think that somehow in ways that we can't even imagine, we are a part of that. You know, only a fool would deny the infallibility and the inspiration of Scripture. Now, back to our text. Jericho if you go there today, as I've been on a number of occasions, it's not a very pretty place. It's in the Palestinian area. In fact, it's very dangerous to even go in there. They tried to destroy all of the ruins because it really proves that the Israelites were there and that it came down just exactly as Scriptures teach. But in Jesus day, Jericho was a magnificent oasis in a desert wilderness. It had a beautiful theater amphitheater, villas, baths. In fact, in 35 BC, the Roman politician Mark Anthony gave Jericho as a gift to his lover Cleopatra of Egypt. But Jericho was also a mecca for the blind. Because of the balsam bush that grew in that area they were able to extract certain elements of that bush to treat a salve for blindness. Ophthalmic diseases were a common problem in that day, a condition called ophthalmia. I need to get my words right here. We're not familiar with that as much, but it was common in those days. Its a severe form of conjunctivitis that would affect the inner eye highly contagious. It was transmitted by flies, aggravated by sun and the dust in that region. And it was very common in childbirth. They had a disease called trachoma, which was a virulent form of conjunctivitis, an infection that would blind infants, and also in pagan societies in that day, and even in this day, due to sexual promiscuity, venereal disease was common, and many women were infected by various kinds of bacteria, especially gonorrhea, or some other septic condition. And children would contact that at birth, and they would soon be blind. But the people in those days had no understanding as to what was really going on with this blindness, with eye disease. They didn't know how to treat it. And many believe that it was a result of sin, that only really sinful people go blind. You will recall in John nine, Jesus passed by a blind man and the disciples asked "Rabbi, who sinned this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" And of course, Jesus answered "neither."

Now, at times, we know in the Bible, blindness was a form of judgment. Blindness was a consequence of disobedience, in Deuteronomy 28 with the covenant people. We also know that he blinded the Syrians in Second Kings six. We know that he blinded the homosexuals of Sodom in Genesis 19. He blinded Saul on the road to Damascus to get his attention, that he might save him and he temporarily is blinding Israel even to this day, according to second Corinthians three and Romans 11. But here, and in many other passages, blindness is used to illustrate the condition of men's spiritual sight. You will recall, Jesus used blindness to illustrate man's utter inability to see the light of truth. For example, He said in Matthew 6:22, "'The lamp of the body is the eye if therefore your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!'" And certainly the vast majority of the people in Jesus day, as in our day, were filled with darkness. They were spiritually blind. And for this reason, Jesus said in Luke four and verse 18, that he was sent "'to preach the gospel to the poor'" and "'recovery of sight to the blind.'"

So, with many hundreds of blind beggars lining the road from Jericho to Jerusalem, Jesus is orchestrating all of these things to demonstrate not only his compassion, but also the terms of salvation necessary to come to him in repentant faith. And this would also be a lesson to the self-absorbed bickering disciples, who are still jockeying with one another to figure out who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom. Now, as we look at this, there are four essential components of genuine conversion that I see being manifested out of this text. Let me give them to you and expand upon them. First of all, we must recognize who Jesus is. Secondly, we must recognize the severity of our situation. Thirdly, we must recognize, we must cry out for undeserved mercy. And finally, we must believe Jesus alone can deliver us. So let's pick up the text in verse 46. "Then they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with his disciples in a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road." "Bar" means son, so he was the "son of Timaeus." Now, it's interesting, by the way, in Matthew's account in Matthew 20, verse 30, it says, "And behold, two blind men sitting by the road," but we see here that Mark only focuses on one of them, but there are actually two. And if we read all of the texts, we see that he too, was given sight and was saved by God's grace. Now, the road from Jericho to Jerusalem was prime real estate for begging because you have, especially around Passover, because you have 1000s of people going that way up to Jerusalem, for the Passover feast. So we have a blind beggar, named Bartimaeus.

So, he begins to cry out. To "cry out" literally could be translated, scream or shout at the top of his lungs; "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Friends, you must understand that no one will ever be saved from their sins and reconciled to a holy God unless they understand who Jesus is. He was not merely some great teacher, as many claim he was, not a manipulative type of God that could be, I should say, maybe a malleable type of God, that could be manipulated, to hand out the goodies to make you healthy, wealthy and successful. Nor was he some political revolutionary, as many say that he was in our day, one that came to tear down the established authority of Roman rule. Certainly, he was not some social justice warrior promoting the contemporary Marxist ideologies of liberation theology, particularly critical race theory, as many teach today. And as many ostensibly evangelicals have bought into, what a lie, he did not carry a sign that said, "Jews lives matter." He did not carry a sign that said, "down with Rome." No dear friends, the truth of who Jesus was, and is, can be seen in Peter's confession, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And we must understand that he is therefore the only acceptable object of saving faith. Jesus said in John 14 six "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, but through me."

In verse 47, we read, "When he heard that it was Jesus, the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, 'Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" And this brings us to the first point that I would like for us to examine. And that is, if we're going to be saved, we must recognize who Jesus is. Most of the world today, do not. Everyone knew Jesus was a famous miracle worker. But not many believed that he was, quote, "The Son of David," another name for the Messiah that was promised in the Davidic Covenant in Second Samuel seven. The long-awaited Messiah, of that unconditional and irrevocable covenant, where God promised David a dynasty in a kingdom that would never end. And again, that is a covenant that parallels the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12, one through three. A covenant that will ultimately bless the Gentiles, the Gentile nations as well as Israel. In fact, in Acts two, Peter makes it clear that David, quote, "looked ahead." David looked ahead as a prophet and spoke of Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the covenant he made to David. Let me read that text, Acts two beginning in verse 29, "Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day. And so because he was a prophet, and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath, to seek one of his descendants on his throne, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ." So in the miracle of regeneration, God now reaches down into the heart of this blind beggar and causes him to see the light of his sin and the light of who Jesus really is; the Messiah, the King, the Savior of sinners. No doubt he recognized Jesus to be the one of whom the angel spoke to Mary in Luke one verse 32, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David; and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever and his kingdom will have no end." I believe that it's very possible that he along with many 1000s of others, were aware that this was the one of whom the angel described to Joseph and even the shepherds. Remember, the angel said to Joseph in Matthew 1:22, that "Mary will bear a son and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which translated means God with us." It's fair to say that he would have also been aware of the testimony of the shepherds, because we know that they spread the word to everyone, as to what they saw. It's recorded into Luke 10, beginning of verse Luke to beginning of verse 10, "But the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid for behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all the people for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.'"

And I must ask you, do you know who Jesus is? Because one day you will face him. You will either face him and triumph or in terror. He's not only the Messiah of Old Testament prophecy, but he is the judge of the living and the dead. You remember what Paul said to the men of Athens in Acts 17. God is now declaring to men that all, everywhere should repent, "because he has fixed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness through a man whom he has appointed, having furnished proof to all men, by raising Him from the dead." So we must not only recognize who Jesus is, but we, like Bartimaeus, must recognize the severity of our situation. And oh to be blind in those days was a horrible thing. It's hard today, terribly hard. But blind beggars were social outcasts. They were scorned. They were ridiculed, they were rejected. Because again, many people thought that their blindness was because of their sin. They were utterly helpless to care for themselves. Imagine what that would be like, dependent upon other people to do virtually everything for you. But you know the same is true spiritually. When we are blind spiritually, we are utterly helpless. We're walking in darkness; we can't see the truth. Two plus two is five theologically. We are spiritually "dead in our trespasses and sins," according to Ephesians two. Paul went on in Ephesians four to say that, "apart from Christ man is darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their heart." In Ephesians five it speaks of how that the unsaved "walk in darkness, and they participate in the deeds of darkness." And Paul said in Titus one and verse 15, "to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled." In other words, man's depravity, dear friends, is pervasive. Sin's corruption and pollution has made man both unable and unwilling to glorify God, and there is no hope of recovery in himself. He's utterly dependent upon God to do something. And so this dear man is begging Jesus not only for physical healing, but also for the forgiveness of sins and eternal life. You say, Well, how would you know that? Well, in verse 52, we read, "And Jesus said to him, 'Go, your faith has made you well.'" The term that he uses there, for "well" is "sozo,"it's a term a Greek term, used frequently in the New Testament for salvation. And if being "made well" only referred to physical healing, he would have used the common word "iaomai," which means "to heal." Moreover, we immediately see the fruit of genuine saving faith being manifested in these men, verse 52, "Immediately he regained his sight, and began following him on the road." Matthew and Luke both record "following him glorifying God." So this indicates that they were not only physically healed, but also they were given the gift of saving faith, validated by their desire to submit to the Lordship of Christ in their life.

So, Bartimaeus recognizes his sinful condition. He recognizes his guilt and in desperation, he cries out to the Lord. And again, the foremost attitude necessary for spiritual sight is this one of desperation, where we see the reality of our sin. I think of the Canaanite woman with a daughter that was demon possessed in Matthew 15. Remember, she sought the Lord in humble persistence, and she said, "Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David." And the tax gatherer in Luke 18, "Unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, he beat upon his breast, saying, 'God be merciful to me the sinner.'" You see friends, divine mercy, always responds to spiritual desperation. This is the prayer of the penitent. This is the cry of the contrite; those broken over their sin. Jesus said in Matthew five, verse three, "'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.'" In other words, blessed are those who are collapsing under the weight of their sin; those who acknowledged the impoverished nature of their state, they recognize that they're alienated from God, that they are helpless, that they are corrupt, they are hopeless and apart from mercy, they will perish for eternity in their sins. So, they're longing for God to act on their behalf. That's the one God blesses. And I must ask you have you come to that place in your life where you realize who you really are before a holy God? Or are you still blind to the ways that you have violated his law and offended his holiness and therefore continued to live in spiritual darkness? We must recognize who Jesus is; we must recognize the severity of our situation and thirdly, we must cry out for undeserved mercy and that's what he did.

Verse 47, "'Jesus son of David, have mercy on me!'" Verse 48, "And many were sternly telling him to be quiet." But he kept crying out again screaming at the top of his lungs. "He kept crying out all the more, 'Son of David, have mercy on me!'" And can't you see it? People saying, 'shut up, you blind beggar, he doesn't have time for you. In fact, you're probably getting what you deserved. He doesn't have time to deal with you. Plus, we were here first.' I bet some of that was going on. In fact, Luke hints at that and Luke 18:39, "Those who led the way were sternly telling him to be quiet." That was probably the disciples, "He doesn’t have time for you, he's dealing with us right now, we're in the in crowd here."

Dear friends when the Spirit of God is at work in the heart of a man or a woman, there is absolutely nothing that can stop them from screaming. God is merciful. But he will only save those who recognize their need for his saving grace, and who will cry out for it. This is the response that God demands from us. And here I might also add that we recognize the irresistible power of regenerating grace. Jesus said in John 6:44, that "'no one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.'" The idea of drawing means. in the original language. means to cease, or to grab hold of. There's an irresistible, supernatural, compelling at work. And this is what happens when the Father suddenly activates what was decreed in eternity passed; when the Holy Spirit breathes life into a spiritual cadaver and gives them sight to see the glory of the cross. And when God does that work, there is absolutely no force on earth, that can stop a sinner who, in desperation, begs for saving mercy. A sinner will not be silenced by any opposition, when in their spiritual desperation, they're seeking forgiveness and help. Sadly, most people today have a very superficial understanding of regeneration, what it means to be born again, that's what the term literally means. They talk about asking Jesus into their heart. But for many people, they really don't have much of an understanding of who Jesus is. Worse yet, they're clueless about the depths of their depravity, their spiritual condition; they have no sense of desperation. So they really don't cry out. This is why so many people today, and for many years, have used manipulative techniques to get people to get saved, to get them to walk in aisle, to get them to repeat a prayer.

If I can digress for a moment, they use Charles Finney's method, the altar call method. Charles Finney was a New York lawyer turned evangelist back in the early 1900s. And he believed that man was sovereign over salvation, not God. And so he devised some mechanical methods to manipulate the human will. And he created mainly what was called the anxious bench. And the key to this was a sequence of things that had to happen in in a meeting or a church service, in order to get people to make a decision for Christ. The first step was to create the mood with music, because we know that emotions tend to bypass reasoning. So the music had to be just right, to establish the mood. And then secondly, to offer something easy, like, you know, "won't you bow your head, and if God is moving in your heart, why don't you raise your hand." So let's make it easy at first, kind of prime the pump, and then prime it even more with a third step; have certain people begin to walk the aisle. If you remember the Billy Graham crusade, they would have hundreds of people who would begin to walk the aisles so that others would kind of decide that they would go as well. Kind of a herd instinct to go with the flow. And then fourthly, make it easy to believe. Repeat some prayer and bam, you're in the kingdom. There's no real crying out. In fact, In the famous Purpose Driven Life, bestselling book, you can read how people are invited to come to Jesus quote, "The author invites people to quietly whisper the prayer that will change your eternity." Here it is, "Jesus, I believe in you and I receive you." Oh, that's easy. And then Pastor Warren goes on to say, "if you sincerely meant that prayer, congratulations, welcome to the family of God, you are now ready to discover and start living God's purpose for your life." Beloved, this is the danger of easy believeism, of cheap grace. Where's the desperation there? Do these people really understand the alienation that is going on between them and a holy God because of their sin? It's fascinating just before this event in Jericho, in Luke 13, an unnamed enquirer noticed all the multitudes. You may remember the story and realize that these people really aren't seeking salvation. They're, they're wanting you to do something for them. So in verse 23, he asks, "Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?" And of course, numbers aren't the issue. Jesus ignored the question and he answered it this way in the very next verse. He said, "'Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you will seek to enter and will not be able.'" You see, Bartimaeus was striving. Now some will say, "Well, wait, I thought it was easy, I thought you just quietly whisper the prayer that will change your eternity, Jesus, I believe in you. And I receive you." I mean, where's the striving in that? You know, the term "strive" comes from a Greek word "agonizomai." It means to fight, it means to engage in hand-to-hand combat, to engage even in an athletic contest that requires great intensity, exhausting effort. So where's the fighting in this easy believeism? And what's this stuff of "many I tell you will seek and will not be able," again, people will say I thought the road was easy. Well, yeah, you know, Satan has offered a wide gate and a wide way, but not Jesus.

My friends, please understand salvation is far more than just kind of reaching out and accepting a free gift and whispering a prayer. There's a sense of desperation. There's a sense of striving, Matthew seven, verse 13, Jesus said, "'Enter through the narrow gate,'" narrow comes from the Greek word "stenos," which means the restrictive compressed gate, and it comes from a root word that means to groan. You don't enter this gate with ease. There will be intense pressure, you're going to fight your own flesh, you're going to be conscious of your own pride. There are going to be other people that are in your mind that you know are going to ridicule you and mock you, may even try to kill you. So when you come to Christ, there has to be a determined effort to seal out all of the crowd that's telling you to shut up. And to say, "I am going to focus exclusively on the Lord my God, I am desperate for mercy. I don't care what anybody says, I don't care what my flesh says, I see the horror of my sin." In Luke 16:16. We read how quote "the gospel of the kingdom of God, when it's preached, everyone is forcing his way into it." The idea of vigorously, forcefully pressing into the kingdom. You will remember in Matthew seven, Jesus said there are two ways to enter the kingdom, the narrow and the broad. There are two gates, the narrow and the wide. There are two destinations life and destruction. There are two groups, the few and the many. There are two trees, the good and the bad, producing two kinds of fruit, the good and the bad, two kinds of people who profess faith in Christ, the sincere and the false. There are two builders, the wise and the foolish. There are two foundations, rock and sand. And they build two houses, either one that is secure or insecure. And I would challenge you to ask yourself to which group do you belong? And once you sort through all of the deceptions of "this way to heaven, this is the real Jesus," once you sort through all of that, and you go into battle with yourself, then you begin to deal with your self-righteousness, your pride, your unwillingness to deny yourself and take up your cross daily and follow Christ.

Well, without any need for manipulation, with no mood, music, or anything else, Bartimaeus, despite all that's going on, cries out for the Lord, to heal him. "Son of David, have mercy on me!" Then I love this verse. In verse 49, it says, "And Jesus stopped." I mean, folks, put yourself out there. I mean, when Jesus stopped, everybody stopped, because everybody was watching Jesus, he actually stopped. Now, it doesn't say this in the text. But I think it's fair to assume that suddenly, a hush comes over the crowd, perhaps 1000s of people. And all they can hear is a blind beggar crying out "Son of David, have mercy on me!" In fact, two of them doing this. You see, I don't believe Jesus wanted anyone to miss what they were saying, but for all to hear, and for all to see. And then it says, "And Jesus stopped and said, 'Call him here.'" Oh, what a blessed invitation. Here again, beloved, here, we witnessed the miracle of irresistible grace and regeneration. When God overcomes a man's natural resistance to the Gospel, when he gives man spiritual eyes to see the glory of Christ, when God frees man's rebellious will, so he will come freely and willingly and embrace the irresistible Christ, man's will is not violated, it is transformed. This is what's happening.

I remember it well, when I was a little boy of nine years old, when he moved upon my heart, and I must ask you, have you heard that call? Have you come to him? And if the answer is no, then you simply must recognize who Jesus is. You simply must recognize the severity of your situation and cry out for undeserved mercy.

And finally, as we see in this text, you must believe that Jesus alone can deliver you. "So they called the blind man, saying to him, 'Take courage, stand up! He is calling for you." In verse 50, this is really interesting when I thought about it, "Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus." Okay, now imagine being blind. There's all this going on, and you kind of know who he is, and you throw your cloak away, and you get up. Probably some people are helping him, but you get up and you move towards Christ. And I was thinking about this whole issue of the cloak. You know, a cloak in those days was a matter of life and death. The average temperature around Jericho, especially in the spring, goes from 54 degrees at night to 85 in the day. If you know anything about sleeping in the desert, being in that type of an environment, it is cool at night. And so he throws aside the cloak. It's like all of a sudden, that cloak doesn't matter anymore. And why would he think that? Because he had absolute faith that God was going to give him sight, and he could come back and find his cloak if he needed it. I mean, there's faith at work. But we must understand that there will be no hesitancy when a man or a woman responds earnest to the irresistible grace of regeneration, because God has sovereignly ordained in eternity past, the salvation of all of his elect, and there is nothing that can thwart his eternal purposes.

Verse 51, "And answering him, Jesus said, 'What do you want Me to do for you?' The blind man said to Him, 'Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!' And Jesus said to him, 'Go; your faith has made you well.' Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road." Matthew's statement regarding this is in chapter 20, verse 33, "They said to Him, 'Lord, we want our eyes to be opened,' and it says and "moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes, and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him." I'm reminded of Jesus words, "My sheep hear My voice and they follow Me." Luke 18:43, "Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him, glorifying God; and when all the people saw it they gave praise to God."

What a beautiful picture of our compassionate savior. And what a magnificent illustration of his saving grace. I want to challenge you. Do you recognize who Jesus is? Do you recognize the severity of your situation? Have you ever come to a place where you cry out for undeserved mercy, believing that Jesus can and will deliver you? Those of us who have been given spiritual sight can appreciate this closing illustration. This reminds me of the great hymnists of the 1800s, who though she was physically blind, had perfect spiritual vision. Her name was Fanny Crosby. And once a well-intentioned Scottish minister, remarked to her quote, "I think it is a great pity that the Master, when he showered so many gifts upon you, did not give you sight." She was quick to respond and say to him, quote, "Do you know that, if at birth, I had been able to make one petition to my Creator, it would have been that I should have been born blind." He was surprised. He wanted her to explain and here's what she said. "Because when I get to heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight, will be that of my Savior." And out of that testimony, she wrote that great hymn that we've sung many times, "When my life work is ended, and I crossed the swelling tide, when the bright and glorious morning I shall see, I shall know my redeemer when I reached the other side, and his smile will be the first to welcome me." And the chorus goes, "I shall know him, I shall know him, and redeemed by his side I shall stand. I shall know him, I shall know him by the print of the nails in his hand." One day we will meet Fanny Crosby and we will meet the man who was once blind by the name of Bartimaeus, and his buddy, and many others, amen? What a glorious hope we have in Christ. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the magnificent truths of your word that speak so clearly to each of our hearts. I pray if there be one here today that knows nothing of what it what it really means to be in fellowship with the lover of their soul, I pray that they will cry out to Christ this very day. Beg him for the mercy that he will so get so rich and freely give. And thank you, that the rest of us who know and love you solely by your grace, can celebrate these magnificent truths in our lives. May we live them out in such a way that others will see Christ in us. For it's in his name that I pray. Amen.

As many of you know, we are making our way through Mark's gospel and this morning we find ourselves once again in Mark chapter 10. If you will take your Bibles and turn there and we will be looking at verses 35 through 45. Under the heading "Greatness in the Eyes of God." Let me read the text to you. Mark chapter 10, beginning with verse 35. "James and John, the two sons of Zebedee came up to Jesus saying, Teacher, we want You to do for us, whatever we ask of You.' And He said to them, 'What do you want Me to do for you?' They said to Him, 'Grant that we may sit, one on Your right, and one on Your left in Your glory.' But Jesus said to them, 'You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?' They said to Him, 'We are able.' And Jesus said to them, 'The cup that I drink, you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized. But to sit on My right or on My left, this is not mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.' Hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant, with James and John. Calling them to Himself Jesus said to them, 'You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you, shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to be first among you, shall be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.'"

We read in Proverbs 18, in verse 12, "Before destruction the heart of man is haughty. But humility goes before honor." This is a lesson that the disciples needed to learn, as we all do. We live in a narcissistic culture, do we not? A culture that is dominated by attitudes of self love, self importance, "me first." All you have to do is drive on the interstates and you'll get a little sample of that. All you have to do is look on Facebook and you will see the ways people try to promote themselves and gain applause. People are self absorbed. They're filled with self love and they demand that everybody else love them too. And if you have any kind of a problem these days, it seems like it's always because you don't love yourself enough, right? You've got poor self esteem. But we're told that we're never to really feel guilt, or to feel shame, that's bad. Instead, you need to be who you want to be, do what you want to do. Even if it means changing your gender, even if it means going through hormone therapy, chemical and surgical castration. Double mastectomies for young girls. If that makes you happy, you need to do that. The Center for Disease Control says that suicides in the US are skyrocketing. They've been going up like 5% every year in 2020 to 49,500. I read an article, I believe it was this morning in the daily wire, it caught my attention. The headline was "Physician groups beg for help, with emergency rooms flooded by children in psychiatric crisis, anxiety, depression and suicide attempts are common causes. Folks, this is where all of this leads when pride is not restrained. And human pride cannot be restrained apart from the indwelling work of the Spirit of God who humbles us. The serpent of pride dwells in each of our hearts and it's deadly venom seeks to poison our heart. It's a venom that will spew forth from our tongue often when we speak. It's a venom that will animate haughty eyes to look down on other people. It's what produces the swagger that we see in our culture. The psalmist says in Psalm 75 and verse five, "Do not speak with insolent pride." And yet that is the very opposite of what we see in our culture. Rather, as Peter tells us and he had to learn this the hard way, in First Peter five, beginning in verse five, he says, "clothe yourselves with humility toward one another for God as opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time." Beloved, you must understand that God hates pride above all other sins. In fact, haughty eyes is the first example of the seven evils that God hates that are listed in Proverbs six, verses 16 through 17. In Proverbs 16 verse five states quote, "Everyone who was proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Assuredly, he will not be unpunished." The same pride that ruled Lucifer and caused him to be cast out of heaven was passed on to Adam and Eve in the garden. We know that it came in the shape of what was probably a magnificent looking lizard, and tempted them to be like God by merely eating the forbidden fruit. And as a result, that lizard was cursed to slither on its belly and eat dust all of the days of its life; a common figure for personal humiliation that's used elsewhere in Scripture, and ultimately, he would be destroyed by the seed of the woman. And we also know that our first parents were also cursed as well as all creation.

Dear friends, as we look at this passage, may I humbly, but forthrightly ask you to examine your own heart. The deceptive nature of pride is so powerful. It is pride that fuels the lusts of our heart. It is pride that separates friends and families. It is pride that destroys marriages. It is pride that enters into a church and disrupts it and breaks fellowship. And it is pride that turns to rage and violence when it is wounded. And frankly, it is pride that is ultimately destroying our country. Because we live in a country that will not humble itself before the one true God. Nevertheless, self-seeking, self-serving pride is truly the hallmark of our society. We see it in the LGBTQ pride parades where the most depraved amongst us celebrate the grossest kinds of immorality. They flaunt it, in God's face. That which God considers an abomination. We see it in the whole woke movement, the Black Lives Matter movement, Antifa, the social justice warriors that are so proud they're quite confident that they know how to produce utopia in the world today. If you will only succumb to their demands, so they alone are the self-appointed social redeemers. We certainly see this kind of pride in our corrupt, narcissistic, immoral political leaders who demand that we bow to their every wish. We see it in many pulpits were predatory preachers are so arrogant that they will distort the Word of God and add their own touch on things to somehow attract the masses and then demand to be praised and obeyed and lavishly compensated.

And dear friends, we see it in ourselves. The tendency towards self-love, self-worship, self-promotion, self-interest. It lies dormant within our hearts. And if we're not careful, it will demand obedience. And it will bring misery and destruction into our life. And the world in which we live offers every imaginable form of temptation to allow the full expression of our pride. I always go back to the two dominant ways of tempting us to manifest our pride, our Facebook and pocketbooks. Endless opportunities to sound off and show off. And for this reason, we're warned in first John two beginning in verse 15, "Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world." And sadly, the unregenerate laugh at all of this, they scoff at us in their unrestrained egotism, in their self-righteousness they oppose God who poses them and their pride. In Isaiah chapter two, God warned the people of the horrific and unparallel judgments that he's going to pour out upon the nations of the world during the time of the tribulation, the pre-kingdom judgments that we are now awaiting, just before His return. We read in Isaiah two beginning in verse 11, "The proud look of man will be abased and the loftiness of man will be humbled, and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. For the Lord of hosts will have a day of reckoning against everyone who was proud and lofty, and against everyone who is lifted up, that he may be abased." And then in verse 17, he says this, "The pride of man will be humbled, and the loftiness of men will be abased." Now, of all people, Christ's disciples should have learned this lesson well. They should have learned the importance of conquering their pride, and putting on the garments of humility, but at this stage in their life, in their ministries, we see that they had a long way to go. And what they must learn is that greatness in the eyes of God does not come through self-advancement, or through self-promotion. But it comes through self-sacrifice, and servanthood. Principles, the world rejects and many Christians as well. Like the disciples in our text, we will all do well to examine our life under the penetrating truths of Scripture, for indeed the Word of God is a living word. It's active and sharper than any two-edged sword, it pierces through the very core of who we are and exposes us.

Now, let me remind you of the historical context once again. From his miracles to his parables, Jesus has demonstrated that he is who he said he was, that is the Messiah of Old Testament prophecy, who had come to offer himself officially and finally as the king of the Messianic Kingdom, in exact fulfillment of all of those prophecies. But this offer was conditioned upon national repentance. As we studied some last week, as indicated in passages like Leviticus 26:40 through 42, and Luke 9:19, 41, through 44. But tragically, the Pharisees, representing all of Israel, rejected the fullest possible revelation of the Messiah. Now after accusing Jesus of casting out demons, by the power of Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons, as we read in Matthew 12, the unpardonable sin, as it's often caused, Jesus announced the building of a new ecclesia, which he called "my church," in Matthew 16 verse 15. And throughout this season of his ministry, he will describe the mystery form, which the kingdom will assume, during the interregnum; an interval when a kingdom does not have a ruler. In this case, the interregnum would intervene between His death and His Second Coming as King of kings. We live in it now, in the church age. But it was only after the Pharisees rejection, and on the heels of that, Peter's confession, that Jesus was indeed, the Son of God, the Lord, the Messiah. It was only after that, that Jesus began to clearly describe his suffering, and death and resurrection. Matthew 16, verse 21, "From that time, Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day." And as we look at the flow of the Gospel accounts, we see that it was immediately on the heels of all of this, to assure the disciples that he would return and fulfill his promises regarding a coming kingdom, he transfigured himself on a mountain, before Peter, James and John. He allowed the effulgence of His glory to beam forth in a way that was absolutely astounding, so that they could see His glory, because that was a preview of the glory that He would display at His second coming. It portended the glory that Jesus described in Matthew 24 and verse 30, the glory of "'the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.'" So now Jesus is making his final journey to Jerusalem.

We pick it up in verse 32, of Mark 10, "They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them; and they were amazed and those who followed were fearful." Again, they know that he is heading into the lion's den in Jerusalem. Verse 33, he says to them, "'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him and spit on Him, and scourge Him and kill Him. And three days later, he will rise again.'" And remember, during this final journey, Jesus gave them the parable of the pounds in Luke chapter 19, a parable that describes a nobleman who went away to a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. And this would not only correct the disciples misunderstanding that the kingdom would come immediately, but it would also make it clear that there would be an interregnum, there would be an interval of delay, followed by a future arrival. And it was also on this final journey that Jesus promised that those disciples would even share in the rule of His coming Kingdom. We read about this in Matthew 19:28, "'Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me in the regeneration,'" referring to the millennial kingdom, '"when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.'"

But, Christ's ministry in preparation for the interregnum also included ethical instructions regarding how they were to function, how they were to behave, how they were to live for His glory until he returned, especially emphasizing the need for this self-denial and servanthood. Matthew 16:24 He said, "'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me for whoever wishes to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it.'" And Mark chapter nine, verse 35, we read, Sitting down, he called the twelve, and said to them, 'If anyone wants to be first he shall be last of all, and servant of all.'" And then we see in Mark chapter 10, with Jesus encounter with the rich young ruler consumed with self-worship. There we see a living illustration of this very thing; a man who used his wealth to somehow promote himself, to empower himself, to gratify his flesh. A man who refused to embrace the true cost of discipleship and the self-surrender it involved. However, even with all of these instructions, all of these parables, all of these warnings and even though they were amazed, the text says, as he's walking ahead of them towards Jerusalem, even though they were afraid, as they witnessed him resolutely doing his father's will, going to his death, they could not free themselves from their self-serving pride. And Jesus knew it. And in his great love, he is going to do something about it, as he continues to do in my life, and in yours. As we look at this text, I wish to draw your attention to three overlapping principles of pride that will serve as a vivid contrast to the selfless humility that the Lord requires. Because it is through selfless humility that we become great in the eyes of God. Not in the eyes of the world, but in the eyes of God.

Now notice again, what happens, verse 35, of Mark 10, "James and John, the two sons of Zebedee," and they come, "up to Jesus saying, 'Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You.' And He said to them, 'What do you want Me to do for you?' And they said to Him, 'Grant that we may sit, one on Your right hand and one on Your left in Your glory.' But Jesus said to them, 'You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?' They said to Him, 'We are able.' And Jesus said to them, 'The cup that I drink you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized.'"

The first principle that we see, dear friends, is number one: pride is always fueled by selective hearing. Jesus had repeatedly warned them about the need for self- denial and cross-bearing. Anyone who wishes to follow after me needs to step down off of the throne of his life. And follow me as the sovereign of his or her life; renounce your former self, break away from your former way of life that's dishonoring to God, surrender your plans and ambitions and your will and submit yourself wholly to my plan and my purposes, all of which I am revealing to you through my spirit and through His Word. If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last and servant of all. And think about this. He has just told them about his betrayal, his arrest, his trial, his crucifixion, his death, and His resurrection. And you can almost hear Jesus say, "and you're obsessed about your own personal status in the kingdom? Are you kidding me?" That's a paraphrase, by the way. No, dear friends, pride only hears what it wants to hear. How many times do you all sit in this audience and you hear things you don't want to hear? And so you no longer hear it? How many times have we been warned and instructed about spiritual realities, about God's plan of salvation, about God's sovereignty and salvation?....I don't want to hear that. God's principles for male and female role relationships....I don't want to hear that. How to enjoy the fullness of God's blessing in your life, the things that we need to avoid, the things we need to do, the things we need to put off and put on? But no, we only hear what we want to hear. We only believe what we want to believe. And there is this pervasive attitude in each of our hearts that basically says, "Don't confuse me with the facts, my way or the highway."

Paul warned about this in Second Timothy four beginning in verse three. And this certainly summarizes what we see in apostate evangelicalism today. He says, "For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves, teachers in accordance to their own desires. And they will turn away their ears from the truth and they will turn aside unto myths." You see, all the disciples could hear was this, "Jesus is the Messiah, and he's going to bring in the kingdom." And that's all they could hear. Therefore, I better put my name in the hat so I can be selected. So I can have a high place in the kingdom. That's what was driving them. Remember, Peter, James and John had witnessed the manifestation of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, something that would, would have been exhilarating, beyond words to have a little glimpse of the Shekinah glory of the living God. But almost immediately thereafter, we read this in Mark 9:31, "He was teaching His disciples and telling them, 'The Son of Man has to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.'" And then we have this remarkable statement, "But they did not understand the statement, and they were afraid to ask Him." You see, we tend to suppress those things we fear. We tend to suppress those things we don't want to hear. As we read in Romans one and verse 18, how sinners "suppress the truth of God, in unrighteousness." A dying Messiah would dash all of their hopes and all of their dreams, they didn't want to hear that.

In Luke nine, beginning of verse 44, Luke puts it this way, "'Let these words sink into your ears,'" this is Jesus speaking now, '"For the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.' But they did not understand this statement, and it was concealed from them, so that they would not perceive it; and they were afraid to ask Him about the statement." I mean, what's going on there? Well, I believe it is this, out of our Lord's great love, Jesus withheld from them the full meaning and implications of this revelation. Although his death was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, Jesus knew they couldn't handle it, because of their pride. He knew their sinful proclivity to hear only what they wanted to hear. He understood the self-serving, self-seeking power of pride in their hearts that would soon be manifested in their jealousy towards one another, as they enter into a competition to see who's going to be first in the kingdom. So he would need to soften the blow of his coming departure, by "concealing," the word is; concealing the full impact of it from them all at once. You know, as I was thinking about this, I am so thankful that the Lord doesn't reveal all of my sin at one time, aren't you? I couldn't handle it. But rather he patiently and gently exposes it, in his own timing and in his own way.

But as we see in our text, the self-serving pride of the disciples was still too strong to fully embrace the truth of Jesus death, and the self-denying, cross-bearing sacrifices that that would require of them. You know, many people come to the gospel, they come to Jesus with the same type of attitude. They don't count the cost of discipleship, all they hear is a get out of hell free card, right? That's all they want. Man, where do I sign up for this deal? And yet Jesus said in Luke 14 beginning of verse 28, "'which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it?'" verse 31, he says, "'Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand?'" You see, the disciples believe the road to self-fulfillment was through self-advancement, and not self-sacrifice.

So first of all, we see that pride is fueled by selective hearing. Secondly, pride ignores the needs of others. Jesus has just told him that he must suffer and die. Again, in verse 33, he predicts is betrayal, his arrest, the phony trials that would come, the crucifixion, his death, his resurrection; they're afraid, they're amazed. But rather than showing sympathy to the Lord, rather than trying to comfort and encourage him, they're preoccupied with their own self-interest. "Teacher, we want You to do for us whatever we ask of You." Yeah, yeah, I know, you're, you're going to Jerusalem, you're going to be tortured and killed, we don't want to deal with that...we want you to hear us and do something for us. Are we not the same way at times? When we approach the Lord? "Grant that we may sit, one on Your right hand and one on Your left, in Your glory." Why on earth would they possibly say that? Here's why. Because the priority of pride is always personal ambition, and self-fulfillment. The needs of others simply get in the way. Serving Christ is an unwelcomed intrusion. We see this all the time, in our culture, men and women who are so preoccupied, for example, with their careers that they have no time, for their marriage, for their family. I had a conversation with a doctor friend of mine and an attorney friend of mine, both at the same time. And we were chatting about some of the difficulties of their careers and other careers. And the one attorney says, I don't know an attorney that hasn't been divorced at least once. I'm not saying that is true, by the way, but the point is, the enormous amount of hours that many people put into things that are eternally inconsequential eventually destroys marriages and families.

Think of how pride can even work in our own heart, where we just don't see the needs of others in the church. The husband who never offers to help his wife, the mother who never has time to really sit down and instruct her children. Those that will never stay to help clean up after meals. Let somebody else do it. Those who won't volunteer to come and help when the church needs cleaning or work. Those who will never help others to move or bring meals. Yeah, we're too busy. No, you're not, you're too proud. You're too lazy. You're too selfish. You're too self-absorbed. Because the priority of pride is always personal ambition and self-fulfillment, the opposite of humility, the key to greatness in the eyes of God. Beloved, humility is a virtue that God honors and God blesses. And it's so hard for us, I admit it's easier for me to preach it than to live it.

In Micah chapter six, beginning in verse eight, "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" Now as a footnote, James and John's mother was, Solome, the sister of Mary, Jesus mother. Therefore, James, and John are Jesus first cousins. Jesus named them Sons of Thunder, probably because of their intense fiery personalities. And I find it interesting as you think about it, Mark, who's writing this was not there to see these things. But we know that Peter was discipling him. And Peter knew these things full well. And so he's helping by the power of the Spirit to instruct John to write what we are studying. And later on, we know that both of these dear brothers in Christ, learned the lessons of humility the hard way. We know for example, that James was the first apostle to die. He was beheaded by Herod Agrippa, around 44 AD in Palestine, not far from where he was a local missionary to the Jewish people in Judea. And John later on became the author of five books, the Gospel of John for second, third John and the book of Revelation. And what's interesting is when you read his accounts, he always referred to himself in the third person and described himself as the one, "the disciple whom Jesus loved." We also know of his humility that came later on while on the cross. We know that Jesus entrusted John with the care of his mother. And historians believe that Mary eventually died in Ephesus, under the direct care of John and after suffering on the Isle of Patmos, John would be the last of the apostles to die, the only one to die, we believe, of natural causes. We believe that happened at Ephesus, sometime around AD 98, during the reign of Trajan.

But prior to the humbling trials, in their sanctification, both James and John and others, were ruled by pride, by selfish ambition, self-fulfillment, they had not yet learned what the Apostle Paul would describe later on and Ephesians chapter four, you're familiar with the passage beginning in verse one. He says, "I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you, to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love." And he said, In Philippians, two, beginning in verse three, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another is more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard a quality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in the appearance as a man, He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." There is the humbling.

But then notice the exaltation. He goes on to say, “For this reason, also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on him the name which is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Dear Christian, the pathway to greatness, in the eyes of God, will always be a steep, a narrow, a windy, a treacherous trail of self-sacrifice and servanthood. But at the summit, there will be eternal glory beyond your wildest imagination. This is what we long for. You want to ask yourself, Is this the path that I have chosen? Is this the trail that I pursue? Or am I a legend in my own mind?

Pride is fueled by selective hearing. Pride ignores the needs of others and then thirdly, pride uses God for self-advancement. Notice again, verse 35, James and John. They come "up to Jesus saying, 'Teacher, we want You to do for us, whatever we ask of You." That's one of the most arrogant statements in all of Scripture. Notice the demanding nature that is inherent in the request. But is this not also the way we are prone to use God for our own ends? As if Jesus is somehow our servant, the means to accomplish our good pleasure; that somehow God exists for me? Is this not at the very heart of evangelical pragmatism, that essentially is a man centered theology, that somehow God is there to orbit around my needs. And certainly, this is at the heart of the heretical social justice gospel, prosperity gospel as well. The gospel is all about man and his needs, rather than God and his glory. Jesus becomes nothing more for many people, than a genie in a bottle, that you can somehow rub and he'll pop out and do whatever you want him to do. Or a Santa Claus that you can manipulate in certain ways, so that he will hand out the goodies. Or a divine social justice warrior that wants to redeem the planet, from white, patriarchal, Christian men and produce some preconceived utopia. Dear friends, please hear me. God will never use you or bless you, if you use him to somehow accomplish your own ends. That's just not how it works, even though our flesh would say otherwise.

So indeed, out of pride, they use God to advance themselves, "Teacher, we want You to do for us, whatever we ask of You." Rather than saying, "Teacher we want to do for you, whatever you ask, for our good and your glory." Bit of a difference, right? But is this not a deep-seated propensity in each of our hearts? Is this not the manipulative theme very often in our prayers? It's interesting, according to Matthew's account, the mother of James and John was with them when they approached Jesus. So there was somehow a little collaborative effort going on, they were probably playing the family card, you know how that would work. You know, the self-serving arrogance of parental pride is often manifested in the brazen attempts parents will go to, to exalt their children. All you have to do is go to these youth games and see how parents act and see that. I remember when our kids were little and we took them to the youth basketball teams, you'd watch parents make fools out of themselves. It was so bad that, I'm not making this up, they literally had sheriff's deputies escort the refs out of the games at the end of the game to protect them from the parents. This was the power of pride.

Back to the text, Jesus says to them, "'What do you want Me to do?'" And they said, "Grant that we may set on Your right and one on Your left in Your glory." See, again beloved, this is the deceptive power of self-advancement in the human heart, even among those who love Christ. These men weren't some pagan nut jobs. I mean, these people love Christ, they're trying to follow Christ. In other words, we want you to glorify us because somehow we believe we deserve it. I mean, that's literally what they're saying. Our glory is ultimately the end of our aspirations. And we want you to help us accomplish that. Rather than realizing, as they did later, that nothing about them deserved his grace. Nothing deserved his mercy. Beloved, we must remember that God is under no obligation to make us great, but rather, God rewards those who can sincerely sing, as we often do, in this worship center, "Nothing in my hands I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Naked, come I to thee for dress, bless helpless look to the for grace. Foul, eye to the fountain fly, wash me Savior, or I die." We must understand that God's purpose in saving us is not to somehow make us happy, although that is a byproduct of it. And certainly we will be happy beyond our wildest imagination in glory. But his primary purpose in saving us, is to bring glory to himself. We are only incidental to his plan to bring glory to himself. We are not the center of God's universe. Christ was our example with this. John 17 says he's praying to the Father before he goes to the cross. In the garden, he says in verse four, "'I have glorified You on the earth, I have finished the work which You have given me to do.'" That's what drove him, that was at the heart of all that he did, to do the will of his Father. The apostle Paul speaks of this as well in First Corinthians 10, verse 31. "Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." You see, the great purpose in our sanctification is to conform us into the likeness of Christ, not somehow satisfy our every desire here on Earth. In Second Corinthians three, verse 18, the Spirit of God speaks to us through the Apostle Paul and says that "We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed." There's a metamorphosis that's going on here, as a work of the Spirit of God, as we behold the glory of the Lord. We're being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit. And this process of sanctification is indeed a very painful process because it includes the ratification of that self-serving pride that deceives us into believing that we're worthy of some kind of special treatment from the Lord our God, and therefore we demand it, and we learn how to manipulate it. And then we forfeit blessing in our life.

Now, notwithstanding the solemn truths, James and John, beseech Jesus; Jesus says to them, "'You do not know,'" verse 38, "'what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?'" In this context, by the way, that is an Old Testament idiom, referring to the experiencing God's judgment. In other words, are you able to experience God's judgment as I'm about to do? He goes on to say, "'or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?'" The term here has nothing to do with water baptism, but rather the immersion into his sufferings. Are you willing to do that? Can you handle that? Humility would say, "No way." But pride says "we're able." Two empty naive ignorant words, right? We're able, we can handle it. Yeah, what happened when the soldiers came to arrest Jesus in the garden? They all ran like scalded dogs right? Oh, how hollow the boast of an overconfident fool. But of course, pride only hears what it wants to hear. It only believes what it wants to believe. Because the priority of pride is always personal ambition and self-fulfillment.

"Jesus said to them, 'The cup that I drink, you shall drink; and you shall be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized.'" And we know, as we've already discussed, their lives were a mixture of joy and sorrow, all for the glory of Christ. Then he says in verse 40, "'But to sit on My right or on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those whom it has been prepared.'" In other words, these matters belong to the secret counsel and purposes of God the Father. And in his incarnation, Jesus was totally submissive to His Father's will.

And then what happens next is both sad and a bit comical. Verse41, "Hearing this, the ten began to feel indignant with James and John." So in other words, they're hearing this whole thing, and we see that they feel indignant. Now, this indignation was not because "Oh, our brothers are so ruled by self-serving pride, I can't believe they said that." No, they were indignant because they beat them to the punch. They were filled with the same selfish ambition. Just because you're his cousin's? Yeah, you can you can see how that works. You know, again, this has been an ongoing problem back in nine, Mark nine, verse 33, "They came to Capernaum; and when Jesus was in the house, He began to question them, 'What were you discussing on the way?' But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another, which of them was the greatest." And folks, this problem went all the way into the Last Supper, Luke 22, verse 24, "There arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest." But notice what Jesus does. Verse 42, I love this phrase, "Calling them to Himself." By implication, they're spread out; they're murmuring, they're grumbling, they're whining. Wherever there's jealousy in Scripture, we also see another word right next to it. It's called strife. So they're divided. They're huffing and puffing. And you can just see Jesus saying, Hey, guys, I want all of you to come here. I want you to gather round where you will come to me right now. "Calling them to Himself, Jesus said to them, 'You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them.'" Certainly, they knew that, we're all familiar with that. I mean, you give people political power, and they turn into, you know, Barney Fife. You know, they've got a bullet and a badge. Everybody's in jail. You know, they're throwing their weight around. They become control freaks, omniscient, domineering autocrats. When you look at some of our leaders today, I mean, we got barmaids drag queens, every kind of pervert imaginable, but they've all got the answers and we're all supposed to bow to them.

Verse 43, "'But it is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant.'" "Diakonos," in the original language, we got our word "deacon" from there. It literally referred to one who waits on tables. Guys, are you willing to be that kind of person. And by the way, you will remember Jesus put a apron on himself and washed their feet. He went on to say in verse 44, "and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be a slave of all.'" "Doulos." Not just a servant, but a slave. You see, true leadership, and true greatness in the eyes of God, is characterized by a humble willingness to not only serve, but catch this, to place yourself under the authority, as it were, of others, like a slave. There's no place for self-worship. There's no place for self-love. There's no place for self-promotion or self-fulfillment. Those are the marks of pride which God hates.

And then Jesus uses himself as the supreme example, verse 45, "'For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many.'" And of course, washing his disciples feet in the upper room was an illustration of that. But the greatest illustration of all is when he offered his life as a ransom, for each one of us. You're ransomed, because somehow you're imprisoned. And you might say he's paying the bail for those who needs to be released from the bondage of their self-serving pride and all of the rest of the sins.

And the key to what Jesus is saying is summarized best by the two verbs that we see here, that he uses "to serve" and "to give." When we do this, we manifest the essence of God, and bring glory to the one who deserves our utmost. Folks, this is true greatness in the eyes of God; when we serve and we give. So I challenge you to examine your life under the great truths of God's righteous standard, be brutally honest with yourself. Beware, it's easy to tout your humility, which is pride. I've known many who project the image of perpetual sackcloth and ashes. But you get to know them and you see there's something else going on there. I've known many men, whose prayers drip with a sweet honey of self-abasement. But in private, they have no prayer life. Those who know them best, know that they are arrogant, demanding, demeaning men. May we all learn to humble ourselves for the glory of God to serve and to give and to know that the Lord will prosper us in time? The Lord will exalt us at the proper time. Because again, this is how we become great in the eyes of God, amen? Amen. Let's pray.

Father, thank you for the eternal truths of your word that so clearly expose the realities of our heart. I pray that you will help us all as we battled the flesh. And we know that we can only do this by walking by the Spirit, which means to surrender to the Spirit of God holy completely, as he has revealed himself in his Word. May we be that kind of person, that you may be honored in our life and that we might enjoy the fullness of all that is ours in Christ. And finally, Lord, if there'll be one here today that knows nothing of what it means to truly be in relationship with Christ, having been reconciled to God through faith in their Savior, the only hope of their salvation. I pray that you will bring such overwhelming conviction that today they will bow the knee to Christ and be saved. We ask this in Jesus name, and for His glory. Amen.

For those of you that have not been with us, we are currently going through Mark's gospel verse by verse. And this morning we find ourselves in verses 32 and 34 of Mark 10. So, if you will take your Bibles and turn there. And this morning, I've been titled my discourse to you "Christ's Ministry of Prophetic Preparation." As we watch our country collapse under the weight of its own depravity, it's important for we, as Christians, to have a biblical worldview. We are told in First John 5:19, that "the whole world lies in the power of the evil one" and we see that manifested every single day. We see his nefarious deceptions being implemented primarily through theological and political liberalism that has brought on a very virulent stream of Cultural Marxism. In fact, the woke cult is now the official religion of our culture. And we are all supposed to bow to it. Its demonic priests are among the most immoral and ungodly in our country, including transgenders and drag queens that are nothing more than painted up pedophile perverts trying to seduce our children and many apostate churches have embraced this insanity. Our responsibility, in light of all this, is to have a biblical worldview and live it out. And at the very heart of that, we must not only understand the gospel, but we must proclaim it and all of its power, with all of its clarity, and even with its offense. Moreover, we must live the gospel. And my responsibility before the Lord is to make sure I am equipping you to do just that, to make sure you have a biblical worldview. And our text this morning, along with a number of associated passages will help us see the big picture of God's Kingdom purposes, it's easy to come to a passage like we're going to look at and just kind of read it and grasp some great truths that emerge from it, and not see how it fits into not only the immediate historical context, but into the overall context of God's redemptive purposes. In our violent world of deception and perversion, and corruption the truth concerning what God has done, is doing and will do, is certainly a treasure of inestimable worth. In fact, the eternal destiny of men's souls depends upon it. And what we are going to see is that our God reigns in absolute sovereignty, and we can rest assured that he will accomplish his good purposes in his time. With that, let me read our text Mark, chapter 10, verse 32, "They were on the road going up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was walking on ahead of them; and they were amazed and those who followed were fearful. And again, He took the 12 aside and He began to tell them what was going to happen to Him, saying, 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes and they will condemn Him to death and will hand Him over to the Gentiles. They will mock Him and spit on Him and scourge Him and kill Him. And three days later, He will rise again."

Now I wish to explain this passage under two headings that I hope will be helpful to you. The first heading is we want to look at the historical and theological contexts of Jesus prophecy in this particular passage. And secondly, we want to look at the specifics and fulfillments of Jesus prophecy. So let me begin, first of all, giving you the big picture of the historical and theological context of what Jesus is saying. There is a historical flow to the biblical storyline, as we see it unfold throughout Scripture and throughout history. It can be divided into four categories, we see that there is a creation, then there is a fall, there's redemption, and there's restoration. At creation, God made a magnificent and a perfect universe. At the fall, Satan deceived his image bearers, and they sinned. And as a result, God cursed them and all creation, and death enters into the world. Through redemption, God implements a plan, through His promises, and through his covenants, whereby he will restore his creation, through the person and the work of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the final big category is one of restoration that we all are longing for. This plan includes the descendants of Abraham, the Israelites, as a means of blessing to all of the nations, they would become the vessels through whom the Savior, the King, the Messiah would eventually come. He would be the rightful descendant of Abraham and David, thus fulfilling the Abrahamic and the Davidic covenants. And Jesus came as a literal fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies predicting a Messiah that would come and would one day rule over a worldwide kingdom. As we read, for example, in Zechariah, 14 in verse nine when "the LORD will be king over all the earth," but he would also suffer for the sins of the people, as we have read and Isaiah 53 earlier. And as we look at the big picture, we see that these purposes will be accomplished through two distinct arrivals, two "comings", a truth not clearly revealed in the Old Testament, but made abundantly clear in the New Testament. Scripture reveals that his suffering for sin on the cross was fulfilled in his first coming consistent with Old Testament prophecy. But the Old Testament prophets, concerning his worldwide reign, have yet to occur. For example, the prophecies related to the pre kingdom judgments of Daniel's 70th week as we would read in Daniel 9:27, the day of the Lord, the salvation and restoration of Israel, the reign and the defeat of the Antichrist, the millennial kingdom, all of these events are awaiting a second coming. And we can anticipate a literal fulfillment of all of the Old Testament prophecies and promises. Jesus made this abundantly clear. In Matthew five beginning in verse 17, he said, "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets," that's a reference to the Hebrew Scriptures as a whole, including all of its prophecies. "Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished."

Jesus illustrated a literal fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies in his prophetic discourse, for example, in Matthew 24 and 25. To give you one example, in Matthew 24, beginning in verse 15, Jesus declared, "Therefore, when you see the abomination of desolation," now catch this, "which was spoken up through Daniel the prophet," when you see that "standing in the holy place, (let the reader understand) then those who are in Judea must flee to the mountains," and so on. And we also know that Jesus prophecy, in the text that we have before us, concerning his betrayal, his arrest, his trials, his crucifixion, his death, and resurrection, were all fulfilled literally. And it's fascinating that all of these details and many more, were promised, were prophesied in the Old Testament. In fact, Luke records Jesus speaking to His disciples, and Luke 18:31, about quote, "all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man, that would be accomplished." And for this reason, I am committed to the consistent use of a grammatical, historical hermeneutic principle of interpretation in all areas of Scripture, including the prophetic sections, I am only concerned with the original, authorial intent of every passage. I'm only concerned with what the original readers would have understood through the normal meaning of language.

And I might add, by doing this, it avoids the theological confusion, especially in the realm of eschatology, where many Christians look for hidden or allegorical meanings in the prophetic literature. Spiritualizing the prophetic literature has led to the errant belief, for example, that the church is the new Israel, that despite all of God's promises, to the contrary, he has permanently disenfranchised his covenant people Israel from his redemptive program, and he has replaced them with his church, that somehow all of the material and physical blessings of the kingdom promises that he made to Old Testament Israel are really nothing more than spiritual blessings that belong to the church. And I believe that these claims run contrary to the revocable nature of divine election. For example, in Romans 11 in verse one, Paul says, "I say then God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!" He goes on to say in verse 25, "For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery--so that you will not be wise in your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; and so all Israel will be saved, just as it is written, 'THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB, THIS IS MY COVENANT WITH THEM, WHEN I TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.'" And then he says in verse 29, "for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable." All of this is important for us to understand, as we approach Jesus prophecy here in Mark 10, especially as it relates to the chronology of Jesus's ministry. And I hope you will bear with me here. Sometimes as I put together my thoughts for the sermons I get finished and think, "Oh, my goodness, they're going to be so lost with all of this Lord, only you can illumine them, and help them to endure this." But dear friends, I believe that this is very important, you may not understand it all now; you may have to go back and listen to it, but this is absolutely foundational to a biblical worldview.

Now, the immediate context; the chronological flow of these historical narratives that we've been studying in the gospels can easily get lost when you just study one gospel at a time. For example, Matthew, Mark and Luke do not record the raising of Lazarus from the dead, and the subsequent decision of the Sanhedrin to put Jesus to death. And how, after that Jesus and his disciples took refuge for a few quiet weeks in a small village of Ephraim, awaiting the time when quote, "All things should be fulfilled." Yet you need to understand that this took place before the texts before us, before what Jesus prophesied. And this is really important. You see, no one knew where Jesus was after the raising of Lazarus. Although everyone was looking for him, and the question that was on everyone's mind is recorded in John 11, verses 55 and six, Do you think this Jesus of Nazareth will have the courage to come up to the feast, referring to the Feast of Passover?

Now, during the Passover season, great throngs of pilgrims, Jewish pilgrims, would leave the northern region of Israel, the region of Galilee, and travel south, down to the east side of the Jordan River in the region of Perea. They would do this to avoid Samaria, they would not set foot in Samaria. But Jesus was in Ephraim, on the southern boundary of Samaria. So, as Passover grew near, what we see is Jesus and his disciples leave the village of Ephraim, and travel north through Samaria. They could have just gone south, just a little ways to Jerusalem, but instead they go north through Samaria, because there's no Jews there. Therefore, he could avoid arrest. And he goes to the south edge of the Galilee, as we read in Luke 17, and verse 11. And then he crosses over the Jordan Rift, the little town basically of Pella. They cross over, and he joins one of the large pilgrim bands going south through Perea. Eventually, then, they will go south, and they will turn back west, they will cross the Jordan River at Jericho, a number of you have been with me, we've been on this trail before. And they will start to make about a 20 mile climb of 3500 feet up to Jerusalem. Now we know that Jesus and the disciples then stop at the village of Bethany, just outside of Jerusalem, stay with Mary and Martha and Lazarus, and the ecstatic pilgrims continue on to find lodging. And there's many things that they heard and saw, miracles that Jesus did during that journey. Many parables that he spoke, but they're going to go on into Jerusalem, where they are going to announce that the king is coming. And they're going to describe the miracles that they saw that they witnessed on the way.

Now it's an also important for us to understand that Jesus is orchestrating all of this. He's moving it towards a high point, a climax on the day of His triumphal entry, by traveling with the Jewish pilgrims. By working these miracles, by rebuking the Pharisees during that journey, and then by stopping in Bethany and allowing the pilgrims to proceed on before him into Jerusalem, he really accomplished three objectives. The first objective that he accomplishes is that somebody is going to spread the word that he is going to appear in Jerusalem. Secondly, he fueled the fires of messianic expectation that would pave the way for his triumphal entry into Jerusalem. And then thirdly, he frustrated the murderous plans of the Sanhedrin, making them afraid to arrest him because of his enormous popularity. Albeit it was a superficial and self-serving popularity that would soon turn to rejection of their king; and the same people would call for his crucifixion. His triumphal entry, you must understand, was a day of Messianic presentation foretold by the Old Testament prophets, predicting the manner, the moment and even the meaning of the King's presentation. In Zechariah nine verse nine, we have the prediction of the manner of the King's presentation, it's foretold. The prophet says "Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout in triumph O, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; He is just endowed with salvation, humble, and mounted on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey." In Daniel nine and verse 25, we even have the moment of the king's presentation being foretold. There we read "So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there will be seven weeks and 62 weeks." This is a reference to weeks of years. Without getting into all of the details, suffice it to say, that this is speaking of 483 years, after the Persian king, Artaxerxes, decreed to allow the Jews to rebuild Jerusalem in 445 BC. The first advent of Messiah would then be fulfilled at his triumphal entry that occurred on Nissan nine AD 30, precisely as it was predicted. As a prophetic footnote, 69 weeks of those years have been fulfilled. There is one more seven-year period yet to be fulfilled. It's known as Daniel's 70th week that corresponds with the pre kingdom tribulation judgments, just prior to our Lord's Second Coming.

And Psalm 118, beginning in verse 21, even tells us of the meaning of the king's presentation, There we read, "I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me, and You have become my salvation. The stone which the builders rejected, has become the chief cornerstone. This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad." Furthermore, both Mark and Luke state that he will, quote, "Be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed. And after three days rise again." That's Mark 8:31, and Luke 9:22. In fact, in Mark 8:32, Mark expresses how Jesus is now quote, "stating the matter plainly." Now there's no more ambiguity. And you will recall when he states the matter, plainly, what does Peter do? Peter said, no, no, no, no, you can't do that. Jesus says, "Get behind Me, Satan." Now, the question that stands before us is simply this. Why would Jesus avoid stating these matters clearly, in the early stages of his ministry? After all, the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, are absolutely central to the gospel, and the history of the church. Moreover, if the church and the kingdom of heaven are essentially indistinguishable, one in the same, as some will argue, and if the kingdom and quote "the gospel of the kingdom," Mark 1:14, is merely a spiritual entity, as many claim, then why didn't Jesus and his disciples emphasize the cross from the outside of their ministry? Why would Jesus begin his public preaching, recorded in Matthew 4:17, by saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand?" Why didn't he say, "Repent, For the kingdom of heaven, is at hand and it is a spiritual kingdom, that I am going to offer you through my death and my burial and my resurrection." Why did he not do that? And the answer is this, dear friends, is because Jesus first offered himself as the promised king of the messianic kingdom in exact fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. You will remember, originally, the good news of the kingdom was announced only to Israel. John one in verse 11, "He came to His own," referring to the people of Israel, "and those who were His own did not receive Him." In fact, prior to Israel's rejection, Jesus would not even allow His disciples to go into the region of the Gentiles and the Samaritans. But he said, Go only quote "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand,'" Matthew 10, verses five and six.

But the promised kingdom to Israel, God's chosen covenant people, demanded a decision and we see this when we read the imperatives that Jesus uses in calling them to repentance. We read verbs like repent, believe, receive, confess, follow, yet at every turn, despite all of his miraculous signs, they rejected him. Now, to be sure, Jesus atoning work on the cross, as predicted in the Old Testament, was necessary for both cosmic and human reconciliation to occur. We know that Jesus according to Acts 2:23, was "delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God." We know according to Revelation 13, in verse eight that the Lamb was slain prior to the foundation of the world, all of this was set into motion in eternity past. So, Jesus's death was going to happen, it was not a plan B, as some would claim. But to emphasize his betrayal, and his arrest and his phony trials, and his crucifixion and death and resurrection, at the outset of his messianic presentation, would have been horribly confusing to them. They could not imagine a suffering and dying Messiah. Emil Schurer, a 19th century German Protestant theologian, wrote an elaborate four volume history of the Jews around the time of Jesus ministry. And I might add that all of you who are serious Bible students, and want to be teachers, you absolutely must have this in your library, and you must become familiar with it. It's absolutely fascinating and it will enlighten you as to how the people thought in those days. But in these volumes, especially in one volume, he provides a systematic statement of Messianic doctrinal theology regarding the eschatological expectations of the Jewish people in the days of Jesus. In other words, this is how they thought, and I've summarized this very briefly, first of all, they believe the Messiah's appearance of redemption must be preceded by a special period of trouble and affliction, what he called the last tribulation and perplexity. Secondly, they believe that Elijah will return as the forerunner to prepare the way of the Messiah. Thirdly, they believed that Messiah will appear and overthrow the...(inaudible in transcription)... correct the disciples misunderstanding that the kingdom would come immediately. Because remember, I mean, even in the upper room, right around that time, what are they fighting over? Who's going to be first in the kingdom. You know, they're thinking even with all that Jesus is saying, the kingdom is coming now. That parable refutes that. But it also makes it clear that there is going to be an interregnum, there is going to be an interval of delay, followed by a future arrival. So, there you have a very hurried historical and theological context of Jesus prophecy that we have here in Mark 10.

Let's look finally at the specifics and fulfillments of Jesus prophecy. Notice verse 32. "They were on the road going up to Jerusalem. And Jesus was walking ahead of them. And they were amazed. And those who followed were fearful." Can't you see the scene? They know that Jesus is walking into a death trap. They're terrified. They don't know what's going to happen. The disciples are terrified. And Jesus is on up ahead of them, in that steep 3500 foot climb over 20 miles. He was resolute was he not? In his determination to accomplish the will of his Father. He was unflinchingly committed to finishing his atoning work on the cross. To bear my sins, your sins in his body, as our substitute.

We read this in the Messiah soliloquy about being perfected through his obedience and his suffering recorded by Isaiah the prophet. Some years before in Isaiah 50 beginning in verse five we read this "The Lord God has opened My ear; and I was not disobedient, nor did I turn back. I gave My back to those who strike Me and My cheeks to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover My face from humiliation and spitting. For the Lord God helps Me, Therefore, I am not disgraced; Therefore, I have set My face like flint, And I know that I will not be ashamed. He who vindicates Me is near; Who will contend with Me?" And what's amazing is that these specifics recorded 800 years prior are the same specific that Jesus gives here in Mark 10.

Now notice them, verse 32, "And again He took the 12 aside and He began to tell them what was going to happen to Him." And what we're going to see is that Jesus makes eight very specific predictions concerning his suffering, his death and his resurrection in verses 33 and 34. A real quick, important digression, just so you know, this is all setting up the Passion Week of Christ. On Sunday, Jesus is going to enter the city of Jerusalem on a colt and be welcomed as king on Monday and Tuesday. He is going to enter the temple, he is going to cleanse it and for two days he is going to rule its precincts as the Messiah King, and he is going to answer the charges leveled against him, denounce the scribes and the Pharisees in a series of woes, and pronounce judgment on all who reject Him. And then he will leave the temple, he will go up to the Mount of Olives where he will answer the disciple's questions concerning his appearance, his coming, known as the Olivet Discourse. We read about it in Matthew 24 and 25, Mark 13, Luke 12:21. And there he predicts, as well, the destruction of Jerusalem and his own second coming. And then on Wednesday, there's really nothing recorded, but we believe that he's probably in Bethany with the 12, worshipping and fellowshipping with Lazarus, preparing for the feast on the following day. And then on Thursday afternoon and evening, he will wash the disciples feet, he will enjoy his last supper Passover meal with his disciples. Judas will leave and go to betray him and then on Friday morning, well before dawn, he will be betrayed, he will be arrested, and He will even be forsaken by the 11. He will suffer three mock trials by the Jews and the Sanhedrin. And sometime after dawn, he will be formally condemned, and then he will endure three more Roman interrogations, Pilate will then surrender to the demands of the Sanhedrin, Jesus will be scourged and executed by crucifixion. And then on Sunday, early in the day he will rise from the dead.

Now, the eight predictions, number one, verse 33, "'Behold, we're going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and the scribes.'" This was fulfilled beginning with Judas betrayal in the Garden of Gethsemane, John 18 three, when the Roman cohort and officers from the chief priests and the Pharisees came there with lanterns and torches and weapons. And likewise, Mark records this in chapter 14, verse 53, they lead Jesus away to the high priest, and all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes gathered together.

The second prediction, "and they will condemn Him to death." This was fulfilled for example, in Mark 14:64, we read, "You have heard the blasphemy; how does it seem to you? And they all condemned him to be deserving of death." John 19, verse 14, "Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover, it was about the sixth hour. And he," referring to Pilate, "said to the Jews, 'Behold your King! So they cried out, "Away with Him, Away with Him, crucify Him!' Pilate said to them, 'Shall I crucify your King?' The chief priests answered, 'We have no king but Caesar.' So he then handed Him over to them to be crucified."

A third prediction, and they "will hand him over to the Gentiles." Mark 15 verse one, "Early in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes and the whole Council, immediately held a consultation; and binding Jesus, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate." The reason they had to do this is, they did not have the authority to kill anyone. So they had to let the Romans decide that. And "Pilate questioned Him, 'Are You the King of the Jews?' And He answered him, 'It is as you say.'"

And then the fourth and fifth prediction, "'They will mock Him,'" in verse 34, "'and spit on Him.'" We see this fulfilled later in Mark 15, beginning in verse 17. "They dressed him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him and they began to acclaim Him, 'Hail, King of the Jews!' They kept beating His head with a reed and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him. After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they led Him out to crucify Him."

Number six, Jesus predicted that they will scourge me. Mark 15, verse 15, "Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus scourged he handed Him over to be crucified." Let me back up. Remember the soldiers have put a purple robe on him mocking his kingship. They put a crown of thorns on his head, they gave him a scepter to mock him as a king and then they took the reed and they beat the thorns into his head, driving them deep into a skull. This beating, combined with the previous beating that he received from the high priests, rendered him at this point, completely unrecognizable as a human being, as predicted in Isaiah 52, verse 14, that we read earlier, that "His appearance was marred more than any man." And in this condition, Pilate brings Jesus out to the Jewish mob hoping that they would see this bloody form and be appeased, but they would not. According to Matthew's account, it would appear then that Jesus was scourged the second time with with a severe "verberatio" flogging it's called, the worst kind. Because Matthew indicates that Jesus was scourged after Barabbas was released, this kind of flogging was the most severe kind. Most men would not recover. In fact, it was once reserved for those that were about to be crucified. It was one that would literally rip the hide off of one's back right down to the ribcage most would bleed to death. It was designed to be so brutal that it would hasten the criminal’s death. May I remind you, dear friends, that he endured the suffering that we deserved.

The sixth prediction was that they would kill him. We know this happened, there was a cry of victory in John 19:30, when he said "'It is finished.'" There was a cry of commitment in Luke 23:46, "'Father into thy hands, I commend my spirit," Mark 15, verse 37, "And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed his last."

Then an eighth prediction, "'And three days later, He will rise again.'" Mark 16, verse six, we read that an angel said to the women that had come to the tomb, "'Do not be amazed; you are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who has been crucified. He has risen; He is not here; behold, here is the place where they laid Him.'" The resurrection of Jesus Christ is substantiated by the biblical record of five appearances just on the day of His resurrection, and then five more appearances during his subsequent 40 day ministry. And yet, dear friends, our Lord, our Savior and our King, marched forward to do all of this for us. A resolute determination to accomplish the will of the Father to suffer and die on our behalf. My what a model for us, Amen? Would that we be so resolute in our commitment to do the Father's will?

I challenge you. If you're here today, and you have never really understood the good news of the gospel, that God has provided a way for your sins to be forgiven, for you to be reconciled to a holy God through faith in a suffering Savior who is also our King, today, you have been told. I plead with you to repent, to place your faith in Him, the only hope of your salvation. And for those of us who know and love Christ, o, how we need to rejoice with joy inexpressible as we think of all that God has done and is doing and will do. To know that God is saving and preparing, in the ecclesia, the members of the royal family, destined to rule with the king, when He returns in all of his glory to establish His kingdom, an earthly kingdom, that will be the consummating bridge between human history and the eternal state. And to think that we are part of that nucleus of a future kingdom. May we all be diligent. May we be obedient to pray as Jesus has asked us to pray, "'Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.'" Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for the magnificent truths of your word that give us a biblical worldview. Truly, your word is a lamp unto our feet and a light into our path, especially in the dark days in which we live. We give you praise for all that you have decreed in eternity past. And we relax in your promises knowing that you will never leave us nor forsake us and that you will accomplish your purposes to bring glory to yourself. What amazing truths and for them we give you thanks. In Jesus name, Amen.

Will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark's gospel? We are now in Mark chapter 10 in our verse-by-verse examination of this wonderful gospel that the Spirit of God has given to us through his servant Mark. We will be looking at verses 17 through 31, under the heading "Exposing the Idolatry of Self Worship." Let me read the text to you, Mark chapter 10, beginning in verse 17. "And as He was setting out on a journey, a man ran up to Him and knelt before Him and asked Him, 'Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' And Jesus said to him, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good, except God alone. You know the commandments, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.' And he said to Him, 'Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.' Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him. And said to him, 'One thing you lack, go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven, and come follow Me.' But at these words, he was saddened, and he went away, grieving, for he was one who owned much property. And Jesus looking around, said to His disciples, 'How hard it will be, for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!' The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again, and said to them, 'Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.' They were even more astonished and said to Him, 'Then who can be saved?' Looking at them, Jesus said, 'With people it is impossible, but not with God; for all things are possible with God.' Peter began to say to Him, 'Behold, we have left everything and followed You.'' Jesus said, Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters, or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake, and for the gospel's sake, but that he will receive 100 times as much now in the present age, houses, and brothers and sisters, and mothers, and children's and farms, along with persecutions and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.'"

Here Jesus exposes the idolatry of self-worship. This is a clever and clandestine idol that is often propped up by material wealth, and the power and the pleasure and the prestige it affords. And I might say, in comparison to the rest of the world, we all fall into the category of the wealthy. Before God called me into pastoral ministry, I spent almost 10 years counseling very affluent people, a lot of them were artists, especially in the Christian music industry. Many well-known Christian leaders. Most were very religious, most claim to be Christian, but by their lifestyles, and their secret reputations, you can see that they really had no basis to claim genuine saving faith. When you seemingly have all that the world has to offer, denying yourself and taking up a cross and following Christ is simply not all that appealing. The rich young ruler, as he's often called, in this text, was probably a leader of the synagogue. He would have been a fastidious keeper of the law and we see here that he was wealthy. And of course, in that culture, wealth was an indication of divine blessing. You were a very special person if you were wealthy. And if you were poor, that's an indication that you got some problems going on, and God's just not as impressed with you. All his externals were in place. But what's fascinating is he obviously knew something was missing. So he comes to Jesus, as we're going to see and says, "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" And as we look at this text, we can see Jesus' answer to him, and they really fall under four categories that I hope will be helpful for you. He is going to essentially say, number one, you need to know that Jesus is God. Number two, you need to acknowledge violating the law of God. Number three, you need to cast yourself on the mercy of God and finally, joyfully follow Christ in humble obedience. No one can inherit eternal life any other way. And I might add that, we're going to see some very key principles here for evangelism. And sadly, like so many proud people today, this proud young man could not part with his wealth, because it offered him the fleeting pleasures of power, and prestige, the gratification of his lusts; he loved himself more than God.

Now, may I remind you of the context here, having completed His Galilean ministry, Jesus and his disciples are traveling on the eastern side of the Jordan River, the region of Perea and he's making his way to Jerusalem, and ultimately to the cross. And his priority in this particular season of his ministry is to instruct his disciples. And what we're going to see in this particular scenario is one of great instruction for his disciples. And by extension for all of us. You will recall in Mark eight in verse 34, we read, "And he summoned to the crowd with His disciples and said to them, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?'" And dear friends, this particular historical narrative, with this rich young synagogue ruler, is a living illustration of these truths. And I would humbly ask you to examine your heart, as we go through this very carefully. You want to ask yourself, what are those things in my life that prevent me from truly loving Christ? Truly following him? What are those things that I love more than Christ? What are those things that I absolutely will not give up because they exalt me more than Christ? What are those things that promote me rather than Christ that gratify me more than Christ, so that I find my greatest joy and my greatest delight in these things of the world rather than in Christ? Those things that you cannot live without, that prevents you from honoring Christ, will cause you to forfeit his blessing in your life.

Now this man ultimately worshipped himself, not God, which was manifested before him in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. But as we will see, he didn't really recognize that. And the issue here is not so much, in my humble opinion, his love for money, but rather his love for self. Because his wealth was the primary means by which he could exalt himself, promote himself, gratify his flesh. And what we're going to see here is Jesus is about to expose his self-worship, his idol, verse 17, "As He," referring to Jesus, "was setting out on a journey a man ran up to Him and knelt down before Him." Now, obviously, this man is passionate, right? I mean, he's sincere. And one of the things we must bear in mind is prominent Middle Eastern men do not run up to anybody, and they do not kneel to anybody. To run would require binding up your robes and girding them with some type of a belt. And what you see, even to this day is Middle Eastern men do not run they calmly glide. They kind of float with an air of unruffled dignity, and demeanor of nobility. But this guy runs and he's running through a crowd. Moreover, he kneels before Jesus, this guy that a lot of his buddies hate. "And he asked Him, 'Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?'" Obviously, he had no assurance of his salvation. Although he was a careful keeper of the law, he was afraid that he might not be good enough to make the kingdom cut. And I might add that this is true for all unbelievers. They have a nagging guilt, that just maybe what they believe, maybe what they've done, just isn't good enough. And of course, they're right. Now, according to the standards of evangelical pragmatism today, this guy is the quintessential seeker, right? I mean, this is what everybody dreams of. This is what you want in a church service. You want some guy to run up into kneel down, and what must I do to inherit the kingdom, to inherit eternal life? Wow. He's desperate. And so what we read in verse 18, And Jesus said to him, Well, you must make a decision for Christ. That's what you must do. You must repeat the sinner’s prayer. No, no, you must be baptized. No, you must also keep more rules and regulations, and do more rituals. That's what you must do. Or you must do more acts of penance, then you will make the cut. But Jesus saw the man's arrogance, he saw his ignorance. And he knew that first, this man needed to be humbled. He needed to be humbled to the point of planting his face in the dust. He needed to come to the same place where Thomas finally came, as you will recall, when he was able to plant his fingers in the Lord's side and see the nail prints of the hand, and ultimately, say, of Jesus, "My Lord, and my God." This guy was nowhere near that. "'Why do you call Me good?'" Jesus said, Here's his answer. "'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' Jesus says, 'Why do you call Me good? No one is good, except God alone.'"

And so this brings us to our first point. Jesus makes this real clear. If you want to inherit eternal life, you must number one, know that Jesus is God. You must understand the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. In other words, Jesus is going to make it infinitely clear to him that I'm more than a good teacher. I am God very God. You know, this reminds me of Isaiah. When in Isaiah six, Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted with the train of his robe filling the temple. And what did he say? He said, "Woe is me, for I am ruined because I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips form. My eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts." This is where this guy needed to come. He was nowhere near that. He had no idea that he was in the presence of the King, the LORD of hosts. And this young man, like every sinner, needed a soul terrifying and a sin destroying vision of the Most High, thrice Holy God. If you're going to come to saving faith in Christ, you must come to a place where the reality of who Jesus is, is so overwhelming. And His Holiness is so transcendent and so terrible, in comparison to your sinfulness, that the only rational and reasonable response would be to prostrate yourself in abject terror and plead for undeserved mercy. This is what this guy needed to hear. Dear friend, you must understand that our ability to see our sin and therefore see our need for saving grace will always be proportionate to our ability to see the holiness and the majesty and the sovereignty and the omnipotence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's who Isaiah saw sitting on the throne, the pre-Incarnate Christ, John 12:41, helps us understand that. This man was clueless, "Good Teacher", are you kidding me? This is the Creator, the Sustainer, the Redeemer, the consummator of all things. This is the ineffable tetragrammaton, the too wondrous to utter from the lips, four letters of YHWH. This is the Lord our God, the Lord of Glory, and he will tolerate no rivals. And this explains Jesus response. ''Why do you call Me good? No one is good, except God alone.'" I mean, after all, this guy thought he was good, right? Hey, you and I are good, right? Give me a little bit of advice, good teacher. All of the Pharisees thought they were good. This man needed to know who he was speaking to. And only then will a sinner bow, in humble obedience, and in brokenness, and cry out for the mercy that the Lord will give so freely. And again, this whole scenario, is a vivid illustration of every man's need to personally surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This is reminiscent of Jesus conversation, remember what the Samaritan woman that he encountered at the well? In John four verse nine, she said, "'Why would You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I'm a Samaritan woman?' Jesus answered and said to her, 'If you knew the gift of God, and who it is, who says to you, 'Give Me a drink,' you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.'" And later on in verse 19, John four, she says, "'Sir, I perceive that you were a prophet.'" I mean, she's closer, right? She's not there yet, but "I perceive that you're a prophet." And she went on to say, "'I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called the Christ)." And then later Jesus said to her, "'I who speak to you, am He.'" This is what this rich young ruler needed to understand, that he was seeking advice about gaining eternal life from the very source of life, the only one that can grant eternal life.

"'Why do you call Me good? No one is good, except God alone.'" Now, what's fascinating is what Jesus goes on to do from here. Jesus begins to expose his self-righteous assessment of himself by applying the law to his life, to his conscience. He wants him to feel the full weight of the law that he is violated, bearing down upon his conscience, to expose his guilt and the condemnation he deserves. You will recall in Galatians 3:24 that "The Law," the Apostle Paul says is "our tutor to lead us to Christ so that we may be justified by faith." So one cannot receive eternal life unless first of all, they know that Jesus is God.

And secondly, they must acknowledge violating the law of God. Now, let me remind you of something here. The Law of God, sometimes referred to as the mosaic code was the codification of God's holiness, the divine standard of righteousness. And we can see it divided, first of all, and in a two-fold summary of the Law, which is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, and secondly, to love your neighbor as yourself. And then there is a 10-fold summarization of the Law. It's called the Decalogue or the 10 commandments, also called the tablets of stone. It was the Mosaic law given to Moses on Mount Sinai, you read it, about it in Exodus 19, and 20, also called the Old Covenant. And there we see that if you keep the covenant, you're blessed, if you violate it, you're cursed. And the Decalogue can be divided into two very broad categories. You have a vertical and a horizontal category. The first half is the vertical, how to love the Lord your God perfectly. The second half is the horizontal, and that is to how to love your neighbor. And then I might also add, there's what's called the manifold part of the law. It's called the words of the covenant. You read about that in Exodus 24:7. And the entire book of Leviticus, for example, is an expansion of the law. And all of it was written down and placed in a receptacle on the side of the Ark of the Covenant, which inside held the tablets of stone that we have violated. And according to Deuteronomy 31, in verse 26, God said, "Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. And here's why, that it may remain there as a witness against you." You see, dear friends, the purpose of the law is to expose our sin, to see God's standard of righteousness and compare it to ours. And we know that any breach, any violation means that you've broken the whole law and the consequence, of course, is death. So it's an extremely oppressive thing. In fact, the apostle Paul said this in Romans seven, in verse seven, "I would not have come to know sin except through the Law." Again, it is a witness against you. He went on to say in verse nine, "I was once alive, apart from the Law, but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died." Dear friends, whenever we are brutally, brutally honest, and we measure our innermost person against God's standard of righteousness. We all see that we fail miserably. In fact, Paul likened his righteousness, and all of his law keeping as a Pharisee, all of his religiosity, he called it rubbish in Philippians, three. In fact, Philippians three, beginning in verse six, he said, "As to the righteousness which is in the Law, was found blameless. But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish, so that I may gain Christ, and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith." And we know as well in Galatians two and verse 16, that "a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but through faith in Christ Jesus." And of course, this is central to evangelism. We must preach the law before we preach the gospel. Yes, people must understand the deity of Christ, but they must also understand the severity of their rebellion against the Most High God. They must see their high treason against God and then they can understand the condemnation that is upon them. In fact, the old divines used to speak of quote, "the law work before the gospel work." People must see that they stand guilty before God's bar of justice, that they are condemned, unable to save themselves certainly unable to save themselves by keeping the law. The only way you can be saved is by trusting in Christ who has come, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. And then when we come to saving faith when we are born again, he then produces in us his very character, through the work of the indwelling Spirit. Therefore, regeneration and justification and sanctification are all inseparable doctrines. Samuel Bolton, who was a 17th century English clergymen and scholar, a master of the master of Christ's College in Cambridge, said this, "The law sends us to the gospel, that we may be justified and the gospel sends us to the law again, to inquire what is our duty as those who are justified." In other words, the law sends us to the Gospel for salvation. And then the gospel sends us back to the law for sanctification.

Now, this young man believed he had a perfect score when it came to keeping the second half of the commandments, the horizontal division, and externally, he looked really good. But not so in his heart. There he failed miserably. We see, for example, in Matthew five, where Jesus said that even if you have anger in your heart, you've committed murder. Even if you have lusted after a woman, you have committed adultery in your heart. But Jesus is not only going to expose these things, he's going to expose his miserable failure in the vertical category of the law, the first half of the law, which prohibited having any other gods before the one true God. And Jesus is going to demonstrate to this young man that he actually worship not so much money, but himself, using his wealth again to promote his status, his power, his prestige, to gratify his flesh.

So first focusing on the second half of the 10 commandments, Jesus gave him a little sampling. He said in verse 19, "'You know the commandments, do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.'" And the young man said to him in verse 20, "'Teacher, I have kept all these things from my youth up.'" You know, his response proved Jesus point, and that was that he was absolutely clueless of his own sinfulness. He measured himself based upon his externals, not his internals. So he thought, you know, I'm good to go. I'm good to go. In his heart, however, he was a habitual violator of the law. Paul described the power of indwelling sin, even in a believer. In the end of his confessional lament, there recorded in Romans seven, he said, "Wretched man that I am! Who will free me from the body of this death?" And then he says, "Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then on the one hand, I myself with my mind, I'm serving the law of God, but on the other with my flesh, the law of sin." And obviously, this is more pronounced, infinitely more pronounced, in an unbeliever because they do not have the indwelling Spirit to restrain the flesh. Paul went on to rejoice. However, in Romans eight and verse one, "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death, For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." "Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" Know that Jesus is God. Acknowledge violating the law of God, and then number three, cast yourself on the mercy of God.

Notice verse 21. "Looking at him, Jesus felt a love for him." Such a precious statement. Jesus felt the love for him. Certainly there were some very good things about this young man. But we must all see, in this situation, the importance of having a burden for and a love for the lost. They're slaves to Satan, they're slaves to indwelling sin, they're blind, they're at enmity of God. Their heart is darkened. And notice, Jesus loved this man, who was blinded by his own sin, loved him so much that he would tell him exactly what he needed to hear, but certainly not what he wanted to hear. Beloved, just because we love sinners, does not mean we somehow conceal the truth from them. So that they will appreciate us and like us. So in love, what we see here is Jesus goes right for the juggler, the idolatry of self-worship, he didn't come right out and say it. Instead, he asked him to give up, what this man used to exalt himself, namely, his wealth. So Jesus said to him, "'One thing you lack'", and again, notice, he doesn't say you're not keeping this commandment, or you're not praying this prayer, you're not being baptized, you're not any of those types of things. By the way, isn't that typically what people do in churches? Oh, my goodness, look at this. I mean, this guy is down here on his knees, he wants to be saved, man, let's sign him up. Instead, Jesus says, "'Go and sell all you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.'" I can only imagine the look on that young man's face. And I'm sure in his heart, he's saying, You don't know what you're asking. My very identity depends upon my wealth. I am defined by my wealth. Who would I be without my vast earthly possessions? I would be a nobody. Now you might ask, and appropriately so, didn't he also worship his wealth and his possessions? I mean, after all, Matthew 6:24 Didn't Jesus say "'No one can serve two masters,'" Jesus said, "'for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.'" Well, certainly this would apply here to this young man. But I believe wealth worship was secondary to self-worship. And here's why I would say that. Ever since Jesus revealed to his disciples that he was going to go to the cross, that he was going to be a sacrifice of sin, something they could not grasp; ever since that time, he has been emphasizing the implications of the cross on discipleship, what it means to follow him. Again, back to Mark eight in verse 34, "'If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.'" In other words, be willing to give up everything, even your life if that's what it takes to follow me. So if anyone wishes to come after me; he's been stressing to them that you've got to step down from the throne of your life. You've got to submit to me as the one and only sovereign. You've got to renounce your former self, you got to break away from the old habits, and the old ways of thinking that dishonor God. You've got to refuse to recognize or acknowledge those things in your life that are contrary to the Word and the will of Christ. You must surrender your personal plans and your ambitions and your will and submit wholly and solely and fully to the plan and purposes of Christ.

James Brooks, a 19th century Presbyterian pastor, author and leader, by the way he was born down in Pulaski, he said this, "To deny oneself is not to do without something or even many things, it is not asceticism, not self-rejection or self-hatred, nor is it even the disowning of particular sins. But it is to renounce the self as the dominant element in life. It is to replace the self with God in Christ as the object of affections. It is to place the Divine Will, before self-will," End quote. See, again, this man's wealth was merely secondary, it was an external idol that propped up the most important idol. And that was the love of self. We must all ask ourselves, again, what do we love more than Christ? What must we never be without? What is more important to us than life itself, even eternal life? My career, my body, my looks, my wealth, my titles, my reputation, my family, and on and on it goes. All you have to do is look no further than Facebook, where many who are desperate for attention and affirmation will go to try to gain those things. Because they're not finding it in Christ. Their identity and greatest treasures are all of those things that are a part of the world, things used to exalt themselves rather than Christ. So again, remember the context of which all of this is happening, and how Jesus is trying to instruct his disciples.

Dave Harrell

Mark eight again, verse 35, "Whoever wishes to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?'" So here in this account with the rich young ruler, Mark is not warning his disciples about the worship of money, they had none, they really didn't want any. They've given up everything to follow Christ, but rather, he's warning them about the worship of self. The refusal to renounce yourself. He speaking to them about the cost of discipleship and the self-surrender it involves. A willingness to sacrifice that which is most important to your pride, to your prominence, to your pleasure.

So here Jesus is challenging this proud young man regarding those things. And all of those things, of course, were enabled by, defined by, his wealth, and his phony self-righteousness. So Jesus is saying, if you want to know what you must do to inherit eternal life, you need to love me, the Lord your God. More than you love yourself. If anyone wishes to come after Me, in other words, if you want to be my disciple, you got to deny yourself take up your cross and follow Me. So Jesus is challenging here on the cost of discipleship. Something we must all hear. It’s as if he's saying to them, Hey, look, by examining all of your externals you think you look pretty good, but when it comes to obeying the horizontal, division of the law, how you treat other people, really, you fail miserably. Worse yet, when it comes to the vertical division of the law, how you love me, the Lord your God, with all your heart, mind, soul and strength, you fail even worse. In fact, I have told you, you are to have no other gods before me and yet you worship yourself. You really want to know what you must do to inherit eternal life? Go and sell all you possess and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me. In other words, jettison all of those things that fuel your pride, renounce those things that you secretly desire and use so others will exalt you and praise you. Come and follow me. Now to be sure God will not share his throne with anyone. God delights in His glory and he will not share it with another, he alone is the one that must reign supreme in a worshiping heart. I'm reminded of Exodus 34, verse 14, "for you shall not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous is a jealous God." Deuteronomy 4:24, "For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God." Indeed, God is jealous for his bridal church, as I am jealous for my wife, and my children, and my family, and my church family. And his jealousy is therefore the glorious expression of his zeal for our joy in him, our greatest treasure. He alone must be trusted, he alone must be worshipped, he alone must be obeyed, and we receive the kingdom on his terms, not ours. We inherit eternal life on his terms, not ours. To deny yourself and follow Christ is to make God's glory the center of gravity around which your life orbits. Everything else is secondary or tertiary. It exchanges self-reliance for a total dependence upon Christ. It spells the end of self-exultation and a commitment to the exaltation of Christ alone. And this is what Jesus is asking him to do. By being willing to give up, sell all you possess, give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven and come follow me.

But notice his response in verse 22. "But at these words, he was saddened, and he went away grieving for he was one who owned much property." He could not part with his worldly possessions. Not so much that Jesus would make that a requirement before you can be saved, I hope you understand that, but a willingness to put Christ over these things. He could not part with these things because they defined him, they elevated him and they dignified him. His wealth made him somebody in the eyes of the world; being prominent, being powerful, able to satisfy the desires of your heart. Those were the priorities of his life. You see, his wealth was his security. The secret to fulfilling the longings of his heart, longings to be affirmed, to be applauded and to be deliriously happy. And he believed that his wealth was a sign of God's blessings. So indeed, he wanted to be worshipped. And Jesus knew this. And he's basically saying, Will you deny yourself and take up a cross if necessary to follow me? Oh, dear friends, the damning and deceptive power of pride. The many ways it can erect idols in our heart, I think of how God exposed the insincere leaders of Israel, who came to Ezekiel to seek counsel when in fact, they had no desire to obey the Lord, Ezekiel chapter 14, verses three and six, he says, "Son of man, these, these men have setup their idols in their hearts and have put right before their faces the stumbling block of their iniquity," then in verse six, "Therefore say to the house of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord God, 'Repent and turn away from your idols and turn your faces away from all your abominations.'" We read something similar in Colossians, chapter three and verse five. The apostle Paul says, "Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil, desire and greed, which amounts to idolatry." And John says in First John 5:21, "Little children, guard yourself from idols." Which includes anything that prevents us from worshiping and serving and loving the Lord our God. Anything that we cherish more than him. You say, Well, Pastor, how will I know? Let me give you a few things that will help you know. First of all, your idol will be something that you will obsess about all the time. It's always on your mind. It takes priority over everything else in your life. Also you will go to any length to attain it, any length to keep it and you will resent anyone who dares confront you about it. Moreover, you will consider it your greatest treasure, your greatest source of joy. And you will use it to exalt yourself and promote yourself and pleasure yourself. This, of course, is the very opposite of Romans 12 in verse one, where the apostle Paul says, "Therefore," in other words, based upon the mercies of God and His grace in you, "I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." This man would rather forfeit eternal life, than give up his idol of self-worship. I've seen this many times in evangelism. People that will cling to anything they believe will make them happy, especially the rich and the famous. I can tell you many stories, I've worked with a lot of fabulously wealthy people, and only a few have come to faith in Christ. So you see, the rich think that Jesus wants to take everything from them, rather than give everything to them. And so we see in verse 23, "Jesus looking around said to His disciples, 'How hard it will be, for those who are wealthy to enter the kingdom of God!' The disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, 'Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.'" In other words, he's using hyperbole to basically say that it is absolutely impossible to inherit eternal life by your own means; this is something that God must do. "They were astonished and said to Him, 'Then who can be saved?' Looking at them, Jesus said, 'With people it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. For all things are possible with God.'"

Beloved evangelism is a work of God, not a work of man. We give them the gospel, but only God can change the heart. And all sinners, including the most wealthy, must humbly bow to the sovereignty of the Lord Jesus Christ and plead for mercy, as did the tax collector, in Luke 18, who pounded on his chest and said, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner." I had a friend who was literally one of the most wealthy men in America, but he was a vulgar man, a godless man. He used horrible language, intimidated people terribly. But somehow, for some reason, this guy would never curse around me. And he really liked me. And he would bring me into his home. Long story, but eventually, he had a terminal disease and I spent several hours, probably five or six hours over a course of time in hospice. And he was used to kind of buying his way into heaven as a Roman Catholic. And I remember very clearly telling him, my friend, you are going to die and go to Hell, unless you trust in Christ as your only hope of salvation. You cannot buy your way into the kingdom. And I remember in his broken state, this big guy that had shriveled up to nothing, I remember him telling me with tears, how he understood, and I believe he gave his heart to Christ. I believe God saved him. I believe we'll see him in the kingdom someday. But that is very rare. Most of the wealthy people I've worked with will not acknowledge Jesus as Lord, see how they violated his law, cast themselves on his mercy. And as we see finally in closing, joyfully follow Christ in humble obedience.

Notice verse 28. "Peter began to say to Him," and I'm sure he was speaking on behalf of the rest of the guys, "Behold, we've left everything and followed You." In fact, Matthew adds something else that Peter said, in Matthew 19:27 "Behold, we have left everything and followed You. What then will there be for us?" Verse 29, "Jesus said, 'Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms for my sake and for the gospel sake, but that he will receive 100 times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters, and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions and in the age to come, eternal life.'" The cost of self-surrender is necessary for discipleship and this cost can be costly, very costly. But the reward is beyond anything that we can imagine. It is eternal life. And Jesus finally says, "'But many who are first will be last, and the last, first.'" This young man idolized himself, he worshipped himself, he insisted on being first, no place for self-denial, no place for taking up a cross and following Christ, the price was too high. And his wealth, like Samson's hair, was the secret to his success and joy. And he could not part with it, not even in exchange for his soul. Oh, dear friend, ask yourself what is more precious to me than Christ? What do I refuse to give up so that I can gain Christ? Because unless you come to that place, you will never inherit eternal life? God cannot save you. If you love yourself and the things of this world more than him, for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? What will a man give in exchange for his soul? Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for the clarity of your word and its penetrating power in each of our hearts. I pray that you will cause us to pensively reflect upon these magnificent truths and certainly apply them according to every need, that people might be saved. And that saints might be sanctified all the more. For we ask it in Jesus name, and for his sake. Amen.

This morning, we return once again to our study of Mark's gospel. So if you will take your Bibles and turn to Mark chapter 10, we will be looking specifically at verses 13 through 16. Before I read the text, may I say that as a pastor, there are a number of things that are very painful to deal with. And as I come to this text, some of those things emerge. One of the most difficult things is having to deal with a family that has lost an infant or a young child. We all know how heartbreaking that is. And many times, families will ask, did my child go to heaven? Or did my child go to hell? What happens to a child when he or she dies? Something else that brings great grief to my heart is the pain of seeing parents that really have no desire to bring their children to Christ. They have no desire to really seek the Lord's blessing in their child's life, they just kind of let them grow up on their own. And then a third thing that is very difficult, is to see sinners who need to come to Jesus on his terms, but they prefer to come on their own terms, and therefore they will never enter into the kingdom of heaven. Each of these difficult issues are addressed in the passage that we have before us, as well as the parallel passages in Matthew 19, and Luke 18. So let me read this passage to you. Mark chapter 10, beginning in verse 13. "And they were bringing children to Him so that He might touch them. But the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant and said to them, 'Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them; for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God, like a child will not enter it at all.' And He took them in His arms, and began blessing them, laying His hands on them."

I would like to examine this passage under four categories that I hope will be helpful to you. First of all, we will see the priority of seeking the Lord's blessing on our children. Secondly, we will look at the obstacles of seeking the Lord's blessing on our children. And thirdly, we're going to examine the nature of the Lord's blessing on our children. And finally, the Kingdom promise for all who come in childlike faith alone. I trust you will all humble yourselves before the teaching of the Word of God.

Now, let me give you the context here. It's very important. Jesus is on the eastern side of the Jordan River Valley, in the region of Perea. He's with his disciples, he is gradually making his way towards Jerusalem. And he has just finished another round of conflict with the self-righteous Pharisees that have tried to embarrass him, tried to humiliate him and turn people against him. And they have tried to do this over the issue of marriage and divorce and remarriage and so forth. And of course, he constantly exposes their hypocrisy, and they are furious with him; they want to see him dead. And now in this next scenario that occurs, with parents bringing infants and little children to Jesus, Mark is really striking a very stark contrast with the Pharisees that believe they can earn their way into the Kingdom versus these children that have nothing to offer, and such as these can enter the kingdom. In fact, the next recorded scenario is one where the Lord encounters a rich young synagogue ruler, convinced he would inherit eternal life because of his religious law keeping and so forth. And so that will be yet another contrast. So that's what's going on here. Also, according to verse 10 of this chapter, we see that Jesus is still probably in a house with his disciples, meeting together with them. And this brings us to what happens here in verse 13. And this is under our first heading, the priority of seeking the Lord's blessing on our children. Verse 13, says, "And they were bringing children to Him, so that He might touch them." The grammar of the passage indicates that this was kind of an ongoing thing. They must have been lining up to bring their children to him. Now, the text doesn't tell us if these people were believing in Jesus, perhaps some did, they certainly knew his reputation. But it was customary among, especially the Jews, in the first century, to bring their children to a prominent rabbi to seek his blessing upon them. And throughout the gospel, we also see accounts of Jesus, laying his hands on those who are sick, those who are needy and so forth. His personal touch was not just an act of blessing, but it was it was a tangible expression of his unconditional love for people without any distinction, because he did this to the clean and the unclean, something the Pharisees would never do. Now, mind you, Jesus is really focusing on teaching his disciples. And so they're watching all this. And they still have much to learn, as we all do. They're watching, they're listening, and they're learning. So verse 13, says, "And they," referring to these parents, "we're bringing children to Him." The term "children," "paidion", in the original language is just a general term for a young child. It can include an infant all the way up to a preteen child, and they are bringing them to him so that he might touch them. And Luke's account adds a little bit more information. He uses the word "brephos", which means infant, they were also bringing infants, little babies, and that term includes an unborn child, even an unborn child in the womb. One that has not yet weaned; in Luke 18:15, we read, "And they were bringing even the babies to Him, so that He would touch them." So we have a steady stream of parents here, probably coming up to this house. Imagine the scene, they're seeking a blessing from this famous rabbi.

And I might pause here for a moment. What a great lesson for each of us as parents, especially those of us who obviously know who Jesus is, to do everything we can to bring our children to Jesus. That should be the supreme calling of every parent, the highest calling, a priority, that will yield the greatest joy in life, not only for the parents, but certainly for the child. And I want to ask you, parents, do you long for Jesus to bless your child? And if so, what are you doing about that? I hope you do. I hope you long for his touch, his loving embrace, his tender stroke, a stroke from the omnipotent hands that healed the sick, that gave sight to the blind. That even raised the dead. And we read later in verse 16, "And He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them." Dear friends, I hope you yearn for the Lord's blessing on your children.

I remember my grandparents, on both my mom and my dad's side, they love the Lord. And whenever I spent time with him with them, which was quite a bit, they made sure that I was in Sunday school. They made sure that I was in church. We had devotions, and certainly, we had that with my family, with my mom and my dad. And I praise God for that. I remember when a man came to our house and he was selling this, it looked like a set of encyclopedias, it was called the Book of Life. And dad bought that because it was all these Bible stories. And they got increasingly more theological, shall we say, you know, with every volume so that you could start with someone that didn't know much at all, a little child, and then it would go on from there. And I remember many, many, many times, my parents sitting down with me, and we would look at those pictures and they would read that story. I remember parents that made sure we never missed a church service. Not that it was legalistic, but they wanted to expose me and my sister to every opportunity to know who Christ is. Whatever a man or a woman sews, that's what they're going to reap. And I know way too many parents who have sown the wind and now they have they are reaping the whirlwind. I can tell you hundreds of stories. Over the past several months, I've had the opportunity to speak with several public-school teachers, and those that are substituting and they tell stories, especially of the middle school children who are so depressed, well, they're angry. So naturally, they are very vulnerable to the satanic deceptions of the whole woke ideology, the LGBTQ insanity, the transgender nonsense, how sad? How different would it have been for these kids and how different would it be if their parents would have exhausted themselves to make sure they brought their children to Jesus?

So we first see the priority of seeking the Lord's blessing. Secondly, I want you to look at the obstacles of seeking the Lord's blessing on our children. In verse 13, we read "but the disciples rebuked them." And again, the grammar of the text indicates that this was an ongoing thing. It's like as you can almost see it, it's like go on, no, Jesus doesn't have time for this. Go, go. No, no, no, no, he doesn't have time for this. Now, we don't know that's what they said, but it had to be something like that. Now why did they do that? It doesn't say, perhaps they thought, well, Jesus has more important things to do than mess with little kids, you know, parents of little kids. Or maybe they were thinking to themselves, you know, we just kind of want Jesus to ourselves here. You know, "us four no more, bar the door," even though there were 12 all right? We don't know. But beloved may I say very clearly, we want to be careful to never prevent anyone from coming to Christ. We want to have a burden for the lost, we don't want to tell people to get lost. And so, especially with parents in the church, or people that need help with their children, we want to do all that we can to help in that. So, this is what we going on here.

And what's also interesting in verse 14, is what Jesus does. He says, here in verse 14, "But when Jesus saw this, He was indignant." The term carries the idea of being aroused to righteous indignation, to righteous anger. He is indignant and said to them, "'Permit the children to come to Me; do not hinder them.'" Again, a present tense verb, it's the idea of, "stop preventing them, let them come, I want these parents, I want these children to have full access to me." And by the way, that needs to be the priority of every single person in ministry, you need to be accessible to your people. That must be a priority. Every Shepherd needs to smell like sheep. Let them come. Full Access. He says, "'For the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.'" Luke adds another dimension here, he says in Luke 18, in verse 16, "Jesus called for them." So, can't you see it? He said, Hey, you guys knock it off, let them come. Hey, you, come on, come on in. That's what we see happening here. So, the Lord encourages parents to bring their children to him, that he might bless them. And if that is his priority, beloved, should it not also be yours? Sadly, many professing Christian parents see no real need to invest themselves in such a way; invest themselves through prayer and through example, through discipline, through instruction. And then a lot of parents give up with the obstacles. And boy, don't we all know what the obstacles are today. We might not have the disciples out there saying don't come in, but we've got our own obstacles, many times the ones that we create ourselves, I'm too busy, I'm too tired. Too tired to go to Sunday school. I've got too many responsibilities. There's too many distractions in my life. I don't have time to sit down with my children and read them Bible stories and help them understand who Jesus is. After all, that's what the Sunday school teachers are for right? So many obstacles. I think of so many parents that I've seen over the years, that will exhaust themselves physically and financially, so their child can do something with a ball. But they have absolutely no time, or energy or finance, to help them understand who Jesus is. Talk about misplaced priorities, talk about obstacles. Well, whatever the obstacle, Jesus knows this, and Jesus wants you to press forward. He's inviting you to come. So, we need to take advantage of every opportunity that we have to expose ourselves to Christ.

By the way, this requires spiritual discipline. We live in a very undisciplined society today, we tend to just do whatever feels good. And there's no real priority to do the right things at the right time. But this requires spiritual discipline, I think of Psalm 16, verse eight, where the psalmist says, "I have set the Lord always before me." "I have set the Lord always before me," which would translate into therefore as a father or as a mother, I'm gonna set my children in front of me and the Lord and I'm gonna set the Lord before them. And he went on to say in that passage, "Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken."

So we see the priority and the obstacles of seeking the Lord's blessing on our children. And then this moves into some deeply theological issues that I want to address briefly, but hopefully, it'll be enough to help you understand what I believe the Scriptures teach. And this is under the heading of the nature of the Lord's blessing on our children. What was he really doing there? Spiritually speaking? I mean, why would he bless them knowing they had a sin nature? What is the nature of that blessing? Now, obviously, Jesus knew these infants and the small children, perhaps even some that are still in the womb. He knew that they were sinners by nature. Every child has inherited the imputed sinfulness of Adam. In Romans 5:12, other passages, in fact, and I know this is hard for us to hear, that precious little baby that smiles at us is capable of the most heinous sins, because that little child has a sinful nature.

God said in Genesis eight, verse 21, "The intent of man's heart is evil from his youth." David wrote in Psalm 51 Five, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin my mother conceived me." In Psalm 58, three we read, "The wicked are estranged from the womb, those who speak lies go astray from birth." And any of us who have raised children know exactly what that looks like. You don't have to teach your child to lie and to be naughty, it comes natural. Romans three, verse 10, and following, "There is none righteous, not even one, there is none who understands There is none who seeks for God, all of turned aside, together, they have become useless. There is none who does good, there is not even one." So Jesus understood their depravity, obviously. But beloved, he also understood that they had no moral awareness. They were unable to understand the gospel, to understand sin and the cross and who Jesus is, what he would do for them, et cetera. They also had no ability to exercise saving faith, or to even reject Christ. Now, the text makes it clear that there was no dispensing of saving grace here in his blessing or in his laying on of hands. So why did he want them to have access to him? Well, I believe primarily it is because they were innocent in his sight, as we will see, and simply because he loved them. In verse 14, we read "The kingdom of God belongs to such as these." The kingdom of God here, in this context, refers to the sphere of the redeemed where Christ reigns in the hearts of those who have trusted in him. But it says that this kingdom "belongs to such as these", it doesn't say merely "to these." He did not say the kingdom of God belongs to children, but to "such as these", which is a very precise way of indicating that he was referring to everyone just like them. And I believe there's two categories that we can see here, as we look at these children, the first category, they are those who are utterly helpless, to save themselves. They come to him with unassuming humility. They have no credit. They have no clout. They're utterly dependent upon his mercy and wholly trust in his grace alone. But I think the second category is that innocent children have no moral awareness. That's what we have here with these children. They have not yet reached an age of personal accountability. Let me address that issue first.

Prior to the age of accountability, infants and children are temporarily protected by God's grace until such a time as they are old enough to know the difference between right and wrong, good and evil. As we look at Scripture, nowhere in Scripture does God bless unbelievers. He would never bless those incarcerated in the domain of darkness, Colossians 1:13. In fact, he speaks of them in John 8:44 is those who "are of their father the devil and want to do the desires of their father." So practically speaking, as it relates to the death of an unborn infant, or a child or a mentally disabled person that has no moral awareness, because of God's gracious protection, if that person dies in that condition, despite their sin nature that deserves the wages of sin, which is eternal death, because they are unable to savingly believe, I believe the Scripture teaches they go straight to heaven. Once they reach an age of accountability, then they lose that innocence. But they don't lose their salvation. And I'll address that more in a moment. At that point they become culpable for their sin and God holds them responsible if they fail to repent and trust in Christ. But nowhere in Scripture do we read of anyone going into eternal judgment, because of their sin nature. We see that no place. Judgment is always pronounced upon those who rebelled against God who violate his law, which would include the sin of unbelief. God never condemned sinners for sins that they had not committed. Phil Johnson says this quote, "Whenever Scripture describes the inhabitants of hell, it always does so with lists of sins, and abominations they have deliberately committed." End quote. Obviously, that can't be the case with these children. Infants and little children have no moral consciousness and therefore they have no culpability of deliberate willful sin. Yes, they have a sin nature, but they have not committed sinful deeds. Nowhere in Scripture do we read of an infant child being damned for anything. Imagine the utter enigma, the unfathomable mystery in the mind of an innocent child, suffering in the torments of hell, when they had absolutely no knowledge of what they had done, or of the holiness of God. Incomprehensible. In his book, "The Theology of Infant Salvation," which was written in 1907, a great Presbyterian pastor and theologian Dr. R.A Webb, addressed this issue, he said this, quote, "If a dead infant were sent to hell, on no other account than that of original sin, there would be good reason to the divine mind for the judgment, because sin is a reality. But the child's mind would be a perfect blank as to the reason of its suffering. Under such circumstances, it would know suffering, but it would have no understanding of the reason for its suffering. It could not tell itself why it was so awfully smitten and consequently, the whole meaning and significance of its sufferings, being to it a conscious enigma, the very essence of the penalty would be absent and justice would be disappointed, cheated of its validation." End quote. Again, these little ones were unable to savingly believe because they had no moral consciousness, no moral awareness, and therefore no culpability for acts of rebellion. And again, this would include those that are mentally disabled. Yet the kingdom of God belongs to such as these, the helpless, the meritless, the humble, the dependent, the trusting. So one might ask, so okay, do they lose their salvation? Once they reach the age of accountability? And I believe the answer is not at all. And here I stand on the shoulders of other eminent theologians like John Calvin and BB Warfield, Charles Hodge, R.A Webb, John MacArthur, etc. The innocent child does not lose his or her salvation after reaching the age of, of accountability, but rather, it would appear that God temporarily protects them in his protective custody of his grace until they reach that age. Practically speaking, they remain innocent until they develop into a stage of moral consciousness. Let me give you an example or two of this in Scripture.

We see this for example, in Deuteronomy, chapter one and verse 39. In that context, God exempted the infants and little children in Israel from his sentence upon the entire generation of Israelites, because of the rebellion against them or against him in the wilderness, they wouldn't, they would not be allowed to enter the land, but their children would be able to enter and why the exemption? We're going to see in this text it was because they had no knowledge of good and evil. They were not in a conscious, willful state of rebellion against God and they had committed no acts of disbelief. Let me read the text to you Deuteronomy 139. We read "your little ones who you said would become a prey, and your sons, who this day have no knowledge of good or evil shall enter there," referring to the promised land, "and I will give it to them and they shall possess it." Again, to be sure little children and infants are incapable of making conscious, willful, rational, intentional choices.

Jeremiah chapter 19, verses four through five God speaks of the, quote, "innocent" children that were sacrificed to Baal. Ezekiel chapter 16, beginning in verse 20, "you took your sons and daughters whom you had born to Me and sacrifice them to idols to be devoured... You slaughtered," and then he says, "My children", they were his possession, "You slaughtered My children and offered them up to idols by causing them to pass through the fire." Jonah chapter four and verse 11, "Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know the difference between their right and left hand", I believe in reference to the children that were there. And again, I believe God's gracious, protective custody would apply to miscarried children as we're going to see. Stillborn children, I believe they go to heaven when they die. Job contrasted the blessing of eternal life, for the stillborn in heaven with the sorrows, the miseries, the wickedness, the weariness of life. In fact, he wished he had been miscarried or stillborn, rather than alive in the misery that he was dealing with; Job chapter three beginning in verse 11, "Why did I not die at birth? Come forth from the womb and expire? Why did the knees receive me? And why the breasts that I should suck? For now I would have lain down and been quiet, I would have slept then I would have been at rest." He goes on to say in verse 16, and following. "or like a miscarriage, which is discarded," In other words, why couldn't I have been like that? "I would not be as infants that never saw light." There, referring to heaven, "the wicked cease from raging and there the weary are at rest," and so forth. King Solomon, another example, made the same assertions pertaining to the preferred blessings in heaven for the stillborn child or the miscarriage child in Ecclesiastes six beginning in verse three, "If a man fathers 100, children and lives many years, however many they may be, but his soul is not satisfied with good things and he does not even have a proper burial. Then I say, better the miscarriage then he, for it comes in futility and goes into obscurity and its name is covered in obscurity. It never sees the sun, and it never knows anything, it is better off than he." We see this as well in the story of David and Bathsheba. In Second Samuel 12. Remember as part of God's judgment upon David and Bathsheba because of their sin, because of the sin of adultery, and the murder of Uriah, God said that his son with Bathsheba would die. And you will recall the story; the child was born, it was very ill, David fasted and prayed. Even the text says that he even was laying on the ground all night long. He did this for seven days, and then the child died. And we read this in Second Samuel 12, beginning in verse 20, "So David arose from the ground, washed, anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he came into the house of the Lord and worship. Then he came to his own house, and when he requested, they set food before him and he ate. Then his servant said to him, 'What is this thing that you have done? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but when the child died, you arose and ate food?' He said, 'While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, 'who knows. the Lord may be gracious to me, that the child may live', but now he has died, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again?" Then he says this, "I will go to him, but he will not return to me." The text indicates that God had forgiven David. He was heaven bound. And he also knew that that's where his son was, and that's where he would one day be reunited with him. I know there's a number of you that I've dealt with over the years that have lost a child through miscarriage, through stillbirth, and some even after the child was born. And I know what a heartbreak it is, but I hope this brings comfort to you. Because I believe that if you know and love Christ, you will be reunited with that child. One day, though we sorrow greatly, what a blessing it is even to know that they escaped the miseries of this world, amen? Regarding this scenario, in Mark 10, John Calvin also offers some insights, helping us see that this has been the teaching of Orthodox Christianity, all the way back. He said this, "Those little children have not yet any understanding to desire His blessing," referring to the texts we're talking about, "but then they are presented to him, he gently and kindly receives them and dedicates them to the Father by a solemn act of blessing." He went on to say, "To exclude from the grace of redemption, those who are of that age, would be too cruel. It is presumption and sacrilege to drive far from the fold of Christ, those whom he cherishes in his bosom, and to shut the door and exclude as strangers, those whom he does not wish to be forbidden, to come to him."

So, again, when Jesus says, "For the kingdom of God, belongs to such as these", can we not also even assume and I don't think this is too far of a stretch, that he also intends to indicate that the majority of the inhabitants of heaven are those that were aborted and miscarried and stillborn. Little children, like those that he held, even in his arms and blessed and justified by his grace. What an amazing picture of God's love. Again, notice verse 16, "He took them in His arms and began blessing them, laying His hands on them." The phrase in the original language, "took them in His arms", means to take something into the crux of one's arms as to hold it, or to enfold one's arms tenderly around a child. And we all know what that looks like, we take a child and we, we hold them like that. That's what Jesus was doing with them, with little ones. And while doing so, he blessed them. He laid his hands on them. Oh dear Christian, can we not see the tender loving compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ as he caresses these little children? What an amazing picture and oh to have the Savior's embrace and blessing. Dear friends, this is a matter of eternal life and eternal death. No wonder the Lord Jesus so strongly rebuked his disciples for preventing these parents from bringing their children and their little toddlers to him. May we never be such an obstacle. And again, I would plead with you parents ask yourself, does this apply to me? Am I a help, or am I a hindrance to my child, coming to a place of understanding the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do I lead the way or do I get in the way by my example? The eminent 19th century, Princeton theologian BB Warfield, also affirmed from Scripture, the salvation of infants, especially as it relates to God's sovereign purposes in election, which I might also add for you theologians that, as you look at it from the perspective that he gives in that I'm addressing here, you will see that this is just one more reason to thoroughly refute the Armenians system of soteriology. In fact, I might also add that the Palladian, semi-Palladian, Armenian claim that individuals are born morally neutral, rather than having a sin nature is disproved by the simple fact that babies die. The wages of sin is death. Here's what Warfield said concerning the salvation of infants, quote, "Their destiny is determined irrespective of their choice by an unconditional decree of God, suspended for its execution on no act of their own. And their salvation is wrought by an unconditional application of the grace of Christ to their souls through the immediate and irresistible operation of the Holy Spirit, prior to and apart from, any action of their own proper wills." He went on to add, "And if death in infancy does depend on God's providence, Providence," which I might add, it certainly does, "It is assuredly God in His providence, who selects this vast multitude, to be made participants of His unconditional salvation. This is but to say that they are unconditionally predestined to salvation from the foundation of the world. If only a single infant dying in infancy be saved, the whole Arminian principle is traversed. If all infants dying, such are saved, not only the majority of the saved, but that was the majority of the human race, hitherto entered into life by a non-Arminian pathway." End quote. And of course, he's referring there, to the grace of God in unconditional, sovereign election.

So this was the nature of the Lord's blessing upon these innocent babes, he loved them as one of his own. For the kingdom of God belongs to the helpless, to the humble. And that's what we have here now. I pondered the thought of what the Lord must have prayed in this blessing. And certainly the text does not tell us. What is the nature of this dedication? What were the words we don't know? But I will say that given the providence of God, in his elective purposes, for every image bearer, each individual image bearer that he blessed, he prayed for them in ways that we could never comprehend. These are things beyond us. But the Lord knew. No doubt some of those children grew up to come to faith in Christ, and others did not. But what an unforgettable experience for each parent, right? Again, many of them were probably, in fact, probably most of them weren't believers. Even though they knew something about Jesus, they knew he was this incredible miracle working rabbi. But to think one by one, Jesus calls you in and he takes your child, and he speaks to that child, and he holds that child and he blesses that child and those parents, one by one, he holds them in the omnipotent hands, that would soon be pierced. Later, I'm sure many of those parents would remind their children as the children grew up, remind them of that momentous occasion. Son, Daughter, let me tell you about the day when...and they would describe what happened. And undoubtedly, some of those children grew up to come to faith in Christ. And they would be able to tell their children, let me tell you what my mom and dad did when I was a little baby. They took me to see Jesus in this house. I don't remember it, but he called them and he took me in his arms and my mother and my father pressed their way through the crowds through all of the obstacles, so that I might receive a blessing from the lover of my soul that I now serve. No doubt, dear friends, we will see some of those people one day, won't that be an amazing thing?

So we've seen the priority and the obstacles of seeking the Lord's blessing on our children. We've seen a little bit of the nature of the Lord's blessing on our children. And finally, we want to look at the kingdom promise for all who come in childlike faith alone. He says in verse 15, "'Truly'", which could be translated, I tell you the truth, "'Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it at all.'" Beloved, can there be any greater proof that salvation is solely by grace alone than in this statement? In this scenario? I think not. May I remind you again of verse 14, he says, "'Permit the children to come to me, do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these,'" not to these, but to "such as these", again, a very precise way of indicating that you come like these children. Not only was he referring to, obviously the innocent children with no moral awareness that had not yet reached the age of accountability, but also to anyone that has the same characteristics as these children. And may I remind you, once again, what these characteristics are, because this is how you come to the kingdom. If you come any other way, you will not enter the kingdom. These children were utterly helpless to save themselves. When we truly come to faith in Christ, we have nothing to offer but our sin. They come to him with unassuming humility, with no credits or no or clout, utterly dependent solely upon His mercy. And you know how trusting a child is. I mean, they will basically believe anything, right? And when you come to Christ, we have to trust in what he has said. I think of what Jesus said in Matthew five and verse three, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." The poor in spirit refers to those who are so burdened by their impoverished spiritual state, that all they can do is cry out for what they know they do not deserve, what they know they cannot accomplish on their own. Broken and contrite in spirit, like a cowering beggar; Lord, I am desperate, please be merciful to me, a sinner. Again, verse 15, "'Truly I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God, like a child will not enter it at all.'" Won't you notice the word receive; we receive the kingdom as a gift. We don't earn it through some meritorious acts, we don't earn it through some spiritual act. Now, let me get more specific. We do not come into the kingdom through infant baptism. You do not come into the kingdom through the sacrament of christening a baby. You do not enter the kingdom through water baptism, through some ritual, through confirmation, through church membership, through denomination affiliation. Nor do you come into the kingdom, on the coattails of your parents. We receive the kingdom like a child, otherwise, we will not enter it at all. You can only receive it as a gift of God's grace, when you humbly trust in him as a dependent and helpless child.

I remember when the Lord saved me by His grace when I was nine years old. I remember a lot of the specifics of that time very, very clearly. One of the things that I remember is that I knew very, very, very little theology. But I did know this, that I was a great sinner, and Christ was a greater Savior. I feared hell. I understood the basics, so that I could cry out to Him and in repented faith trust in Him to save me. I didn't need someone to explain to me the creation of the universe. I didn't need someone to explain to me that the Bible was truly the infallible word of God. I didn't need a lot of apologetics. I didn't need a lot of theology to understand how there is relationship between and a harmony between man's responsibility and God's sovereignty. I didn't need all that stuff. I was a child and I came to him as a child. And every adult that comes to Christ must come the same way. And then you know what? When you come to saving faith in Christ, there is a miracle called regeneration that takes place. There is that supernatural, instantaneous impartation of spiritual life to the spiritually dead. The spirit comes into your heart and you begin to understand scripture in ways that you never did before. Oh you still have to study, you still have to learn, but the Spirit of God illumines your mind, and all of the magnificent truths of his Word begin to build upon one another. And you begin to put the pieces together by God's grace. But you don't have to have them all put together to receive the kingdom. That's the point.

I want to close with a quote from Charles Spurgeon that I think is a great summary here. He said this, "A little child believes with an unquestioning faith, which makes everything vivid and real. Believe just so, “he says, "the child believes in all humility, looking up to its teacher and receiving its teacher's word as decisive. Believe in Jesus, just so. Say Lord, I am a know nothing. I come to you to be taught, I am nothing be you, my all in all. A child when it comes to Christ comes very sincerely and with all its heart. It knows nothing of sinister motives or of formality. It's repentance and faith are genuine. I wish you would come to Christ this morning," he says. "You pour guilty ones in real earnest just as you are. Do not play at religion anymore. Do not look for fine words with which to trim yourselves and make your prayers look neat and pretty. Become as a child does in all simplicity, not ashamed to talk, because your heart feels when a child believes in Jesus, it cares nothing for critical points. That is the way you must come to Christ. You that have always been inventing religious conundrums, you that for many years have been readers of the last new novels and modern theology. For they are mere novels, and nothing better. You that have added your brains with the vain thoughts of vain men, come to Jesus as you are. And believe what Jesus says, Because Jesus says it. Take Christ at His word and trust Him. That is the way to be saved."

Dear friends, I hope you've all come to a place of saving faith in Christ. And you have heard today the characteristics of that kind of a person, and how you receive the kingdom. May it never be said in this life or the next, that you were never warned, that you were never explained the gospel of Christ. For today, you have been told, today you have been warned. And I plead with you as a minister of the gospel to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. And for you parents, may I one more time, plead with you. Do everything you possibly can to bring your children to Jesus. Pray for his blessing, pray for his touch, that your children might be saved. And we will all rejoice together in this life and in the life to come. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the truth of your word that brings such clarity to the various issues of life that we all struggle with. I pray that your spirit will find accessible hearts and that we would apply the things that we have heard that we might not just know them intellectually, but live them out practically, that you might be exalted in our life. That we might enjoy the fullness of all that is ours in Christ and that he might be glorified, both now and forevermore. Amen.

This morning we find ourselves in Mark's gospel once again in Mark chapter 10. We will be looking at the first 12 verses under the heading "God's Original Design for Humanity." This is a very instructive, very practical, very encouraging passage. And I might also add, as you will see, it's a very timely passage given the culture in which we live. Let me read the passage to you, Mark chapter 10, beginning in verse one. "Getting up He went from there to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan; crowds gathered around Him again, and, according to His custom, He once more began to teach them. Some Pharisees came up to Jesus testing Him and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife. And He answered and said to them, 'What did Moses command you?' They said, 'Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.' But Jesus said to them, 'Because of your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, God made the male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother, and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore, God has joined together, let no man separate.' In the house, the disciples began questioning Him about this again. And He said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife, and marries another woman commits adultery against her. And if she herself divorces her husband, and marries another man, she is committing adultery.'"

Let me begin by framing this text, in the context of where we all live. Surely we all understand what the Scriptures teach regarding our sinful nature, that we all have one. In fact, Scripture makes it clear that all that we do and all the we are is fundamentally offensive to Holy God, therefore, we are in desperate need of forgiveness and reconciliation, and a new nature. We are rebels by nature, we rebel against God's character that's reflected in his law. Even as believers we struggle with this. And our rebellion is especially manifested in the realm of God's magnificent design for male and female relationships. We were created in His image, to put his glory on display. But because of our sin, we tend to have other ideas as to how we need to function as men and women. For example, God's design for marriage is that it be an institution that illustrates and reflects the relationship God has with his people. But the world in which we live says that marriage is really an unnecessary societal institution, resulting in a deplorable infringement upon freedom and an unlawful burden of inequality. So we need to get rid of marriage. God says that sexual intercourse has to be restricted within the bounds of the marriage covenant, but our culture says no, sexual intercourse is fine anytime, anywhere, with anyone. In fact, unlimited sexual activity is now considered an entitlement. This, by the way, is what fuels the abortion debate. God says that marriage should be permanent for life, but our culture says no, no, no, no, you can divorce for any reason. God says marriage should be between one man And one woman. But our culture says no, no, it can include many partners, even same sex partners. God says that marriage is God's design for procreation. But our culture says, no. Marriage is no longer the only socially acceptable outlet for sexual activity, or for the rearing of children. In fact, women and men are entitled to have as many children as they want, and in any context. Worse yet, our culture would say that there is more than one gender, that there are multiple genders that have nothing to do with biology but have everything to do with one's subjective identification. And their social, background and environment. And of course, as a result of all of this, we see the systematic destruction of the family, the bedrock of society. And this is resulting in social and economic chaos, untold human misery, violence and even suicide. In fact, the testimonies of young adults who have undergone puberty blockers and hormone replacement and, and chemical and surgical castration, are absolutely heart wrenching. Thinking that somehow they can transition to the opposite side. These people are filled with physical and emotional pain, many of them now or are furious at those that allowed this to happen. You're seeing more and more lawsuits. And I might say, as a pastor, I'm very concerned for each of you, within the sphere of my influence, some of you may be struggling with these issues. Some of you young people, in fact, I know that some of you are, because I've heard about it. Some of you are confused, you're deceived. Some of you are burdened. And I trust that the passage that we look at here this morning, and the application of it will bring clarity as well as conviction and encouragement. Because, dear friends, when we do things, God's way there is enormous blessing. Repeatedly in Scripture, we read the phrase, "do not be deceived." And the amazing thing about self-deception is that we don't see that we're being deceived, right? But Satan deceives people by distorting His Word, especially concerning God's plan and purpose, for humanity. So the passage before us, will give us great insight into God's plan. His design, his purpose for marriage, as well as for human sexuality. And my goal is to help you understand this because I want you to enjoy the fullness of God's goodness and grace in your life.

Now, the context here in Mark chapter 10, verses one through 12 and the parallel passage that we will see in Matthew 19, the Pharisees are laying a trap for Jesus as they did quite often. They're trying to discredit him in the eyes of the public, because they hated him with an utmost hatred. And it's fascinating as we read Jesus’ response to them, that there is a response that absolutely transcends issues, merely pertaining to divorce and remarriage, which frankly, requires a much broader study of Scripture that speak to those issues, but he goes beyond just a narrow focus of whether divorce and remarriage are lawful. Instead, he focuses on God's will for humanity in his creation. That's why we read for example, in verse six, "But from the beginning of creation", I mean he goes all the way back to the very beginning. "From the beginning of creation, God made them male and female." And as we will see, what God is doing is pointing them to the one flesh covenantal pre-fall union between Adam and Eve, a God ordained union between one man and one woman. A marital union that was utterly bereft of sin, and functioned perfectly as God had designed it, until the fall.

The implications of Jesus' answer reaches far beyond just a narrow focus of marriage but reaches into the very heart of God's will for every image bearer that he has created. It even helps us understand the male and female gender is binary. It is not non-binary and fluid as our culture would have us believe, as the transgender activists argue. There is a God designed biological basis for sex and for gender. One's maleness and once femaleness is not a socially constructed, self-determined reality. It's not at all what we see in Scripture. God never made a female man or a male woman. From the beginning of God of creation, God made them male and female. Indeed, the male, female binary is something God affirms as being very good, as he did with all of his creation. So Jesus' answer has enormous implications, even beyond the issues of marriage and divorce, but also pertaining to God's designed for human sexuality and gender. And when his will is violated, when it is ignored, when it is distorted, when it is mocked, the result is chaos, and misery and judgment will be inevitable.

I've given you a very complicated outline, it's just two points. We're going to see the baited question number one and the beautiful answer, number two. Very, very simple. So let's look at the text. Now let me remind you that Jesus’ ministry in Galilee is now over. He along with his disciples, are headed for Judea and so we read in verse one, Getting up He went from there to the region of Judea, and beyond the Jordan; crowds gathered around Him again and according to His custom, He once more began to teach them." Now it was in the context of this crowd, that the Pharisees come along, trying to trick him. And so we come first to the baited question. Notice verse two, "Some Pharisees came up to Jesus, testing Him, and began to question Him whether it was lawful for a man to divorce a wife." Now, the Pharisees knew full well God's position on divorce. For example, in Malachi chapter two in the Old Testament, verse 16, we read "'For I hate divorce,' says the Lord, the God of Israel." And by the way, we should hate it as well. Moreover, the Pharisees were aware of Jesus' previous rebuke concerning this whole idea of divorce for any reason, which they held to a position that the Pharisees were ultimately pushing. Because they knew what was recorded in Matthew five, verse 31, "'It was said whoever sends his wife away, let him give her a certificate of divorce. But I say to you, that everyone who divorces his wife, except for the reason of unchastity, makes her commit adultery and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.'"

Now more on the cultural context of that statement in a moment. So their line of questioning was to ensnare and embarrass Jesus. They knew that he would have to answer in one of two ways, which would be at odds with the two prominent rabbis of that day and their disciples. They also knew that perhaps his views would even compete with what Moses had to say. And so they bait him now to contradict the Old Testament. Also, you want to bear in mind that Jesus is now in the region of Perea. That's the land of Herod Antipas. Remember, he was the one that had John the Baptist beheaded because he confronted Herod about his unlawful marriage with his brother Phillip's wife, Herodias. So they knew that they had a question here, they could get Jesus in a lot of hot water. Now, the text in question that the Pharisees were thinking of found in Deuteronomy 24, let me just read verse one, "When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes, because he has found some indecency in her and he writes her certificate of divorce of divorce, and puts it in her hand and sends her out from his house." Now, the key phrase here is "some indecency". What does that mean in the Hebrew? Well, it can mean something polluted, it can mean something shameful, or indecent. In fact, if you study the Hebrew lexicons, you will see a wide range of definitions, the exact meaning is a bit elusive. We see the phrase used, for example, in the purity ordinances, where it refers to some kind of inappropriate sexual behavior. The term "ervah", is commonly depicted as nakedness or genitals, particularly of a woman, for example, in Lamentations one in verse eight. Jerusalem is personified as an unclean woman who has exposed her nakedness. And there we see the Hebrew phrase. Now, here's what was going on, one school of thought was presented by Rabbi Shammai and his followers and they believe that you translate the phrase "some indecency", as "unchastity, or adultery", very narrow. But Rabbi Hillel and his disciples had a much broader understanding. And that was anchored in the statement that "she finds no favor in his eyes". And so they believe that the phrase refer to something the husband found offensive, or distasteful in his wife, even beyond adultery. So as a result, they had a philosophy that basically said, you can divorce for any reason at all, if you no longer found her attractive; she burned your food, if she exposed her ankles to some man even accidentally, criticized his mother, you name it. You can write her a certificate of divorce. Now here's what's going on. If Jesus took the narrow interpretation, that it means only for unchastity and adultery, the Pharisees knew that that would offend all of the followers of Hillel, making them all out to be adulterers and adulteresses. Moreover, they would say that he was inconsistent because after all, he consorted with tax collectors and prostitutes. Remember, the ones that were interested in the Gospel? The ones that were convicted of their sin. But if he took the more liberal view, then the disciples of Shammai would accuse him of moral laxity. And certainly all of the women would hate him.

So you have the baited question, and now you have Secondly, the beautiful answer. By the way, as we look at this, it's almost laughable to think that these clowns are actually trying to trick the creator of the universe. That is never a wise thing to do. So verse three, Jesus "answered and said to them, 'What did Moses command you?'" I find it interesting that Jesus completely ignores the rabbinic positions, he doesn't even touch any of that. And frankly, he stuns them with his unanticipated and I might even add, sarcastic response by pointing them to the ultimate authority, which would be the Old Testament scriptures in this context.

Matthew gives us a little further insight into what happened. Matthew chapter 19, beginning of verse three, "Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking Him, 'Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?' And He answered and said, 'Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female.'" By the way, in the Hebrew, it's in the emphatic position, emphasizing one man and one female. Verse five, "and He said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife." "Joined" could even be translated, "glued", or "cemented" or "bonded" to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. "'So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.'" And of course, in our text, Mark records the same thing a little bit differently. Mark 10, verse six, "'But from the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.'" So in other words, what Jesus is saying to them is, how could any rational, unbiased person believe that it is lawful for a man to divorce his wife, for any reason, any cause at all, considering God's design for marriage that is demonstrated in the relationship of the first union, between Adam and Eve? The two became one flesh. This is what happens when we marry, the two become one flesh. There is an indissoluble union that occurs before Almighty God and indissoluble oneness. Where a man and a woman are joined together in a permanent union by God himself, with children being the perfect expression of the supernatural symbiosis. "'What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.'" And if you think about it, Jesus is reasoning now out of the Pentateuch, and that was really hard for these guys to swallow because they were supposed to be the experts on all of this. His position was not rooted in their rabbinical teachings, not rooted in tradition, not even in the Law of Moses, but rather, he goes right back to the creative order that was ordained by God Himself. And folks, the implication of this is absolutely staggering.

Now back to Mark, chapter 10, verse three, he answered and said to them, "'What did Moses command you?' They said, 'Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.'" Which, by the way, is only a little smidgen of what's really in that whole passage, a very selective biased answer. He just said, Hey, write her a certificate of divorce, and send her away. That's Moses said. Really? If you examine what Moses said, In Deuteronomy, one through verse four, we see that it is a passage that emphasizes how an illegitimate divorce, where a husband puts his wife out, for whatever reason, and she marries another, that breeds adultery. But it does not command or commend or condone divorce. That's not what the text is about. As in all Old Testament passages, there's no specific permission for divorce given. It only states that if a man legally divorces his wife for something other than adultery, and then she marries another man, if that man dies or divorces her, she would not be allowed to return to her first husband. Why? Because she was defiled in the remarriage because there was no legitimate grounds for divorce, That's what the text is talking about. But the Pharisees response, as I say, was very selective, it was very biased in their favor.

So verse three, "'What did Moses command you?'... 'Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.'" So in other words, all they're focusing on is the legal paperwork for sending her away, not on the adulterous implications of divorcing her for something other than adultery. So again, the Mosaic law had nothing to do with his idea of permitting a divorce, for any reason whatsoever, as long as the legal documents were filled out. I might add, however, that a certificate of divorce was very important. Especially in ancient Israel. Eugene Merrill says this, quote, "Divorce proceedings consisted of his writing with respect to his wife, a certificate of divorce. In Hebrew, literally a writing of cutting off, placing it in her hand as a public symbolic witness to the disillusion of the relationship and sending her," quote, "from his house." That is from the family circle and all that that entails. She had thus been cut off and driven away from home and family. A punishment laden with indescribable shame and incalculable economic and social loss in the ancient Israelite world."

So, a certificate of divorce was legal proof that this woman no longer belong to this man, the man no longer had a claim on her, otherwise, a woman in a patriarchal society such as that, would have no hope of survival, being unattached to a husband for protection and provision and so forth. And think about it what man would want a woman who, whose husband still had a claim on her, and therefore she still had a duty to Him. So again, the Pharisees emphasized this issue of a certificate of divorce for any reason they wanted, based upon the phrase, "some indecency", rather than acknowledging that the text merely regulated the reality of divorce that God hates, without condoning or condemning it.

So we come to verse four. "They said, 'Moses permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and send her away.' But Jesus said to them, 'Because of your hardness of heart, he wrote you this commandment.'" In other words, what we see is that divorce was a concession that God made because of man's hard-hearted pursuit of sexual immorality. It was not something that that God ordained. In fact, in Matthew 19, verse eight, Jesus "said to them, 'Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning, it has not been this way.'" The point is this while there was no specific permission for divorce, in the Mosaic law, because of his grace, God permitted that which he hated. And I might also add because of His grace, we see that he allowed those that committed adultery to avoid the death penalty many times. Israel history is filled with those that God spared for that; David and Bathsheba is one example, Hosea and Gomer. Interestingly enough, we read in Ezra chapter 10, that God even commanded the Jewish exiles, returning to their land under Ezra's leadership, to divorce their pagan wives on the grounds of spiritual adultery. Probably physical adultery was a part of that; part of their pagan practices involved gross immorality. And certainly God hates divorce, but he hates idolatry even more. In fact, John MacArthur says this quote, "Though God hates divorce, there are times when it is the lesser of the evils and would prevent and would prevent a future and even greater spiritual catastrophe." So indeed, God hates divorce, but he graciously permits it under certain circumstances.

We will also see that this can happen when the marital bond is broken by an unbelieving spouse who no longer wants to be in a covenantal relationship with her. First Corinthians 7:15. More on that later. So again, Jesus says in Matthew 19, in verse eight, "'Because of your hardness of heart, Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it was it has not been this way.'" And then Jesus goes on in Matthew to suggest a condition where divorce would be permitted. He gives an example here in verse nine, "'And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.'" In other words, an illegitimate divorce followed by remarriage constitutes adultery. The term immorality "porneia" in the original language, we get pornography from that, here translated, "adultery," is a very broad term, encompassing just any form of illicit sexual activity, adultery being one of them. So if a person is living in persistent, unrepentant adultery; homosexuality, lesbianism, transvestism, voyeurism, which would include habitual obsession with pornography, or any other form of sexual immorality, then there is biblical grounds for divorce. Later in our text in Mark 10, Mark records the same statement, notice verse 10. "In the house, the disciples began questioning Him about this again. And He said to them, 'Whoever divorces his wife and remarries, another woman commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another man, she is committing adultery.'" Again, an illegitimate divorce followed by remarriage just constitutes adultery, they're still married in God's eyes. And I might also add that this was a not-so-subtle indictment against the Pharisees where many of them had divorced many wives for virtually any reason. This was part of the culture. As I stated earlier in First Corinthians 7:15, if I can digress for a moment, I believe Paul offers another exception that's illustrative of the kind of behavior that violates the covenant of marriage in verse 15. First Corinthians seven we read, "Yet if the unbelieving one leaves," the term in the original language of "leave" means to separate, it's in the present tense, indicating a continuing process; in the process of separating, of dissolving the marriage. Then there's a command that says, "let him leave; the brother or the sister is not under bondage in such cases, but God has called us to peace." And here we have a gracious provision, I believe for spouses that are languishing in a prison, not a marriage, where an unbelieving spouse wants nothing to do with a loving covenantal marriage relationship with his spouse, there is no covenantal faithfulness, there is no love. There is no peace, just bondage, and war and abuse and hatred. It results in desertion, disillusion of the marriage, and God grants a concession or a provision releasing the believing spouse from that bondage. They are not forced to stay, rather the command is to let him go or let her go. God has called us to peace. By the way, this is this is much more than just an unbeliever filing divorce papers, which was utterly foreign in the Greco Roman world. This speaks of an unbelieving spouse that has so violated the covenantal relationship that a desertion has taken place and abandonment of separation.

Now, I want to remind you that Christ's teaching, if we look throughout Scripture, Christ's teaching on adultery, and divorce, as well as Paul's instructions, on the desertion, and divorce, always reflect God's covenantal design for marriage. Biblically, the marriage covenant has essentially six purposes, I just want to give them to you without a lot of comment. The six purposes are these, first of all for procreation, secondly, for pleasure, thirdly, for provision or you might even add protection. Fourthly, partnership, which is both physical and spiritual, that should result in the mutual edification of a husband and wife, pursuing the will of the Lord. And then number five, purity, in that it protects against fornication and adultery. And finally, it's a picture of Christ's sacrificial covenant of love for his bridal church. The covenant of marriage is designed to accomplish these purposes. And I would humbly ask you, to those of you that are married, maybe even those of you that are thinking about getting married, are these prominent in your thinking, are these dominant in your heart? But when a spouse violates those covenantal purposes, through unrepentant adultery, or desertion, which is essentially the irreparable violations of covenantal faithfulness and love, God graciously offers the provision of divorce but that's not what the Pharisees wanted to hear. For these reasons God is merciful.

I might also add as a footnote whenever there are biblical grounds for divorce. In other words, whenever a legitimate divorce is permitted, I believe remarriage is assumed. Not everyone agrees with that. Just a couple of points, to that end. Romans seven verse three permission is given for a widow or a widower to remarry because they are no longer quote, "joined" or bound to their deceased partner, and by implication, the same is true in First Corinthians 7:15, the innocent spouse is no longer bound, no longer under the bondage of that marital union. First Timothy five, we see Paul addressing widows, those that have suffered loss or quote "left alone." And that term includes younger women who have lost their husbands, which would include losing their husbands through death, through desertion, through divorce, through imprisonment. And he encourages them to remarry. And basically, because of two reasons, number one, because of their, quote, "sensual desires", and number two, due to their immaturity to avoid being idle and going around from house to house gossiping and acting like busy bodies, talking about things not proper to mention. And so I would humbly argue that the Bible permits divorce, but not remarriage in such cases, or to say that Bible permits divorce but not remarriage, in such cases poses enormous problems. I mean, think about it, what are these women supposed to do? If they are forbidden to pursue their God ordained roles as wives and mothers? Are they to assume that they all have the gift of celibacy? Obviously, not. Paul tells these young women to remarry rather than become eligible for church benevolence, I mean, how could the church possibly care for all of these people? So again, whenever there are biblical grounds for divorce, whenever there is a legitimate divorce, when that's permitted, remarriage is assumed.

Now, let's go back to Mark 10. Some further insights, beginning of verse six, "'From the beginning of creation, God made them male and female. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and the two shall become one flesh. So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.'" Now, what I want you to notice here is that in this passage, Mark connects Genesis 1:17, with Genesis 2:24. I'll try not to get too technical, but what I want you to see is that this linkage is profound. And it reveals six very important characteristics of marriage, and also has implications into this whole LGBTQ w x, y, z, H, I, J, K, whatever stuff, that we read out there today. First of all, by connecting these passages, we see that marriage number one, has to be between one man and one woman again, Genesis 1:27, "God created man, in his own men image and the image of God, He created him, male and female, He created them." And so here God reveals his glorious purpose in creating the man and the woman. From the beginning of creation, he has a specific design, and that design is marriage. And then in Genesis 2:24, we have the paradigm. "For this reason, a man shall leave his father and his mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." So marriage very clearly is between one man and one woman. That was God's original design, and he has not changed it.

Secondly, marriage has to be complementary. Males and females were created different. I think we all can see that. We all understand that. But we were also created in ways that are complimentary. Sexual differentiation is a part of God's design for marriage. To put it in the cultural context of our day, gender binary is rooted in the order of creation. That makes sense. It is not fluid. God's created order where he makes man in his image and woman in His image, helps us understand human sexuality. One writer said this quote "Men have external genitalia women, internal. Women can bear children if reproductively healthy. Men cannot. Men can sire children, women cannot. Men give give either an X or Y gene in procreation. Women can only give an X. The way we are designed, which is by God's design should inform our purpose and function. Without the complimentary design and function of male and female, the human race would cease to exist, as we would no longer procreate." End quote, Oh, that makes perfect sense to me. And we see this in the creation mandate. Going back to Genesis one, if we look at the next verse, verse 28, we read that God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful, and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth." So again, sexual differentiation is part of God's designed for marriage. And this rules out same sex marriage that God calls an abomination. So, as we look at this linkage between Genesis 1:17, and Genesis 2:24, we see that marriage has to be between one man and one woman, it has to be complimentary.

Thirdly, it has to be restricted. In other words, it's to be exclusive, it has to be limited. It has to be between a man and a woman who become one flesh. There's a sexual union between a husband and a wife. In other words, what happens in marriage is an intimate, sacred bond is formed. And this bond requires a determined devotion for both the husband and the wife, to safeguard that union between them. We must guard our hearts to that end. In fact, Jesus said in Matthew 5:28, "I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." So, marriage is to be restricted between the two that have become one flesh.

Number four, it has to be permanent. And we see this again in this linkage. It's a lifelong union between one man and one woman. This is why Jesus states in Mark 10, verse nine, "What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." And this brings us to point number five, it has to be sacred. By combining these passage, Jesus also proves the sacred nature of the marriage covenant, a permanent agreement that is made by both the husband and the wife, along with God Himself, affirmed in the very presence of God, for it is God, who joins them together. So it's a sacred union. Beloved, please understand marriage is not as our culture would have us believe, an unnecessary societal institution, resulting in a deplorable infringement upon freedom and an unlawful burden of inequality. I mean, that's what Satan would have you believe, that is not what God has revealed to us. And we must be faithful to His word. Marriage is the measure. It is the standard, it is the North Star, if you will, for sexual morality. Marriage is to be a heterosexual union, monogamous, lifelong union. It is the foundation of the family. And the family is the pillar of upon which society is built and maintained. And when all of that crumbles, you have what you see today in our culture, and it's going to get worse.

And finally, number six, marriage is illustrative. Meaning marriage pictures Christ's sacrificial love for His church. This is such a beautiful thing. In Ephesians, five verse 25, we read "Husbands love your wives, just as Christ also loved that church and gave Himself up for her." In verse 28, we read "So husbands ought also to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself for no one ever hated his own flesh but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the church, because we are members of His body. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and she'll be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great. But I am speaking with reference to Christ, and the church." Those of you that are married, may I humbly ask you, does your marriage illustrate to a watching world, Christ's covenantal love for his bridal church? Can people see that and the way you relate to one another? When we become one flesh, by God's grace, we begin to grow together. In Christ, we experience the emotional joys of oneness, the physical joys of oneness. Better yet, our relationship reflects the oneness and the mutual submission and love of the triune Godhead, which is an astounding reality. And, therefore, when we combine all of these characteristics of Christian marriage that we see inherit in this passage, we are left with no other choice than to reject the LGBTQ agenda, which is a mockery of God's glory revealed in his created order. It is a distortion of his image that is to be manifested in his image bearers. It is a violation of his design and His purpose for human sexuality and marriage and it undermines his proclamation of the gospel. And that's what Satan is all about. As Christians, we must never contradict God's design.

I'm reminded of what Paul said to Timothy in First Timothy one and verse eight, "But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious for the ungodly, and centers for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers, and immoral men and homosexuals, and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, with which I have been entrusted." So again, friends, this is why we must totally reject homosexuality, same sex, marriage. All of those things are a distortion of God's original design and purpose in creation. In fact, as we look at it, marriage provides the perfect context for godly masculinity and femininity to be manifested. Any other kind of union, God calls an abomination because it is a base inversion of his created order and a violation of his moral order. Furthermore, God's created order, along with his creation mandate, is why we would reject transgenderism, people who perceive their gender identity to be contrary to their biological sex. This is a hot button issue in our culture today. Again, Genesis 1:26, God said, Let Us make." "Us" by the way, the Triune God, "Let Us make man in Our own image according to Our likeness." And then we read, "God created man in His own image and the image of God He created him male and female, He created them." This refutes the idea that there are more than two genders. Here we see that gender is determined by God. And by the way, we call that biology. It's not determined by one's self identification, by one's feelings. Genomic chromosomes come in two forms "x x" or "x y". At least that's what I was taught in biology many years ago, I do remember that. God is therefore the one who determines a person's sex or gender in God's created order. It inextricably connects biological sex with gender identity, which are necessary for men and women to fulfill their God given roles and when you disregard these realities, the result is insanity; non-binary or gender fluid fantasies. I noticed on one LGBTQ website it's called sexualdiversity.org. They have 107 gender identities. And they will tell you that gender identity, it has nothing to do with your biological sex, your genitalia, it has everything to do with your feelings, and how you describe yourself and present yourself. And of course, if you read the names of these things, it's just, it's just bizarre. Beloved, I would say, as lovingly but as on the authority of the Word of God, transgenderism is pure fiction. It is fiction. It is a satanic deception that appeals to self-deceived people. Often young people, who sadly have been marginalized, many of them are hurting, they're disturbed, and they're in desperate need of our love and the Gospel. There's a big controversy today on misgendering people. The LGBT Q advocates insist that we refer to those who identify as transgender by their chosen name and pronouns, instead of their given name and pronouns that match their biological sex. And I was reading in one article, the Christian Post that some 44% of millennials believe that quote "referring to someone by the wrong gender pronoun, 'he/him, she/he'r should be a criminal offense" per poll by Redfield and Wilton strategies on behalf of Newsweek. So, in other words, unless you embrace their delusion, you're committing a crime. But dear friends, I would submit to you based on the authority of the Word of God, we cannot do this. God did not create them this way. First Timothy four beginning of verse four, "For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer." Dear friends, please do not use the ridiculous pronouns and thereby endorse and embrace their delusions. In fact, Paul says in Ephesians, five and verse 11, and following "Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful to even speak of these things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything becomes visible is light." Ephesians 4:15 tells us we're to "speak the truth in love".

So may I close by challenging any of you who struggle with homosexual desires or gender dysphoria, which is really mental distress, because you perceive your gender as somehow out of sync with your biological sex, please, please don't embrace the fictional identity that the culture offers you and go contrary to God's revealed design and his purpose in creation. Don't exchange the truth of God for a lie. Please come and see me come and see others that we have in the church. We will help you, we will bring you to Christ. And there you will find true identity, true joy and true blessing. And if you're struggling with marital issues, with marriage, divorce, family issues, please come talk with us. I would plead with you. If you're struggling with these things, get on your knees with your spouse before God, hold hands and pour out your heart to him and prayer and beg him for help and he will answer. Moreover, search the Scriptures and see how God addresses your unique situation. And then humble yourself to what God has said. And watch what he will do. And if you're confused on that, come see me, come see the other elders, come see other people we have in the church. The answers are in Christ and in His word, not in the lies of the devil. And may we all celebrate the fact that God has made us in his image, male and female, to fulfill His glorious purposes.

And I just want to close with a profound word of encouragement that comes out of Revelation 19 verses six through nine is speaks of a future day when Christ's marriage to his bridal church which we were a part of, will be consummated, at the marriage supper of the Lamb, and we will enjoy him forever. And here's what the Spirit of God has revealed. "Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude, and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, 'Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him. For the marriage of the lamb is common. His bride has made herself ready.' It was given to her to clothe herself and find linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, "Write, 'Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'" And he said to me, 'These are true words of God.'" Let's pray together. Father, we are so thankful for every expression of your grace, for the clarity of your word on these issues that are so relevant to each of us. Thank you for your faithfulness, your love, your compassion. And I pray that you will bless us all to the praise of your glory, that we might enjoy the fullness of all that is ours in Christ Jesus. And for those that are struggling, those that are confused, I pray that you will bring clarity, that you will bring conviction as well as comfort. So we commit all of this to you. In Jesus name and for his sake. Amen.

As you all are aware, we are at war with the enemy of our souls with Satan and his minions, and the world system that he controls, ultimately, under the sovereignty of God who allows it to occur. We read in Scripture that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one and we experience that every day. As I just read a few minutes ago, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against powers, and principalities so we need to be good soldiers of the cross. We need to be prepared; every good soldier will be prepared. And it is the great burden of my heart to make sure that I do all that I can to help prepare you for not only the battles that we are currently experiencing, but the ones that I believe will be far worse, worse that are yet to come. So, this morning, I want to speak with you about fearless discipleship. And frankly, this will be a follow up of where we were last week in Mark chapter nine, you will remember, Jesus was calling his disciples to this kind of fearless discipleship. And using the language of sacrifice required in that kind of discipleship in Mark chapter nine, and verse 50. He said, "Salt is good, but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again?" And Jesus said in Luke 14, beginning in verse 33, "None of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions." In other words, if you're going to be a disciple of mine, you must be willing and ready to sacrifice everything you have to follow me. He went on to say, "Therefore salt is good, but if even salt has become tasteless with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." So it is the great burden of my heart that we be fearless disciples of Christ. In fact, the last book that I wrote is entitled "Warrior Preachers, A Spiritual Call to Arms in an Age of Militant Unbelief." We need to be sober, we need to be on red alert and we need to be prepared.

So for this reason, I'd like to spend the bulk of our time this morning in Matthew chapter 10, moving away from Mark. At least for this Sunday morning. Jesus called 12 ordinary men to be his apostles to send them out as sheep amongst the wolves. Don't you feel like that at times today? We're sheep amongst the wolves. And here in Matthew 10, Jesus offers some very straightforward words, describing what I would call fearless discipleship. Much needed reminder for our shallow, superficial, sentimental, evangelical culture that tends to cower in compromise. In verses 24 through 42, we see Jesus giving six characteristics of a fearless disciple. Let me give them to you and then we will elaborate upon them. Fearless discipleship: number one submits to the Lordship of Christ, secondly, fears God more than man, thirdly, publicly confessed as Christ. Fourthly, values Christ more than family, fifthly, values Christ more than life and six, values eternal, not temporal reward. And it is certainly my prayer that these virtues will be manifested in each of our lives.

I want you to notice the first characteristic of a fearless disciple that is one who submits to the Lordship of Christ. Notice what our Lord says in verse 24 of Matthew 10. "'A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household?'" Now, Jesus is reminding them again, that he is indeed their Messiah, they're their teacher, their master, and therefore, he deserves their absolute obedience, their unwavering submission. In Luke chapter six and verse 40, Jesus said, "'Everyone, after he has been fully trained, will be like his teacher.'" And certainly a true disciple of Christ will gradually become more like Christ, we all understand that. And in First John chapter two and verse six, we read, "The one who says he abides in Christ ought himself to walk in the same manner as he walked." And I would ask you, dear Christian, is this true of you? Is this true of your life? If yes, how's your progress? Are you noticeably more like Christ today than you were two years ago? As a footnote, if you have no appetite for the Word of God, if you have no private, personal pursuit of holiness, no desire to spend time with the Lord in prayer, no burden for the lost, don't kid yourself, you know very little of what it is to be in subjection to the Lordship of Christ. The internal metamorphosis that produces Christ's likeness only comes through the renewing of your mind, as we read in Romans 12 and verse two. You will recall in the Great Commission, Jesus said that we are to "make disciples and teach them to observe all that I commanded you". Are you observing those things? Are you teaching others? First Peter two in verse two, we "are to be like newborn babes." We are to long for the pure milk of the word that by it you may grow in respect to salvation. Those who claim to be disciples of Christ yet have no desire to know what the master would have them know or do, are frankly, merely withering vines that produce no fruit. We don't want to be that way. They are soldiers that are unprepared, that are vulnerable. And if that is you, as a father or as a wife, your vulnerability will make your children even more vulnerable. In verse 24, he says, "the disciple is not above his teacher." We understand that a learner doesn't know as much as his teacher, we don't have the spiritual wisdom of Christ. And certainly those apathetic and indifferent toward the Word of God, insult their teacher, right? Yeah, what he teaches is boring, unimportant, I have all that I need to know, you really have nothing to teach me, I'm good. Verse 24, he also says, "nor a slave above his master." And certainly a slave serves his master. In this case, our Master is our Creator, the sovereign ruler of the universe, that shed his blood, to reconcile us unto himself. The would-be disciple who has no desire to sit at the feet of the master to learn and to obey what He says, is no disciple at all. Beloved, Jesus is asking for our full allegiance. And when we give it we will grow in Christ's likeness, we will become more like Christ. You want to ask yourself, Am I passionately committed to these ends? Is this really the priority of my life? Or do I just kind of play along with the cultural Christianity of our day? Just kind of show up at Calvary Bible Church because that's what you do on Sundays in the South. Or am I here because I love the Lord. And I want to know Him and serve Him.

Next, Jesus adds another figure to help us grasp his point, not only are we disciples, that is learners, learning from our teacher and slaves that lovingly submit to our sovereign master, but he goes on and he talks about being family members who should not expect to be treated any better than the head of the family. He says something interesting here in verse 25, "'If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!'" Interesting statement. Beelzebul was a reference to the Canaanite deity Bael, the prime antagonist of Yahweh. In fact, the god of Akron was called Beelzebub, Second Kings chapter one, a term that means lord of the flies, a Hebrew pun on the name of that Philistine God, but the Jews may have further corrupted this into Beelzebul, which means lord of dung, which would be an even greater insult to that pagan deity. So Jesus uses this term because it was a well-known epithet amongst the Jews, for Satan. And because also the Pharisees had accused Jesus in Matthew 9:34, of casting out demons by the ruler of the demons. You will even recall in our study of Mark in Mark chapter three and verse 22, we read and, the scribes who came down from Jerusalem, were saying, 'He is possessed by Beelzebul', and 'He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.'" So Jesus point here and verse 25, is this, if they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household? In other words, if the religious elite would slander and malign me by calling me Satan, expect them to treat you in the same way? You know, it's fascinating, Islam considers all non-Muslims to be infidels, part of the great Satan. We've seen this down through history, where true Christians have been demonized by, frankly, demonic heretics, and their false religious system. And we see this as well for example, in John 16. And here Jesus is warning his disciples about the enormous hostility of the world and, and as they oppose the gospel, and those who preach it and beginning in verse one of John 16, he says, "'These things I have spoken to you that you may be kept from stumbling. They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.'" By the way, Paul, pre conversion, was one of those guys, right? He thought he was serving God by getting rid of Christians. Jesus went on to say, "'These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me.'" And even earlier, in that same section of Scripture, beginning in John chapter 15, beginning of verse 18, Jesus says, "'If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a slave is not greater than his master. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My namesake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.'" Dear Christian, the more you become like Christ, the more the world is going to hate you, just how it works. The question is, are you up to that? The answer is, on your own, no, you're not, but in Christ, you are. Young people, are you willing to obey the Lord? Submit to His rule in your life, even if it costs you popularity amongst your friends? Men, women, are you willing to obey to the point where it may mean giving up some life dominating sin, some debilitating habit, something that might bring reproach upon the name of Christ. But the point here is such a willing submission to the Lordship of Christ is the first mark of a fearless disciple that Jesus gives in this text.

Secondly, we see that a fearless disciple will fear God more than man. Now remember, as I said earlier, these are sheep being sent out among the wolves. And any stand we take for Christ today basically, results in all kinds of animosity from we call, the cancel culture. By the way, cancel culture has been around, all through redemptive history, but we know what it is in our culture today. We must remember that these people that are canceling us, are people that do not know Christ, we need to love them for the sake of the gospel, but they do not fear God. Therefore, God says they live in a fool's paradise. They are fools at enmity with God. And so Jesus is saying that they will treat you as they did me. And in verse 26, then he adds this, "'Therefore, do not fear them.'" Very clear, "'for there is nothing concealed that will not be revealed or hidden that will not be known.'" This is an amazing statement. I mean, he's literally saying don't be afraid, because someday, I am going to expose and judge all of their wickedness as well as exalt and reward you for your faithfulness. Beloved, the wicked will not go unpunished. And this is a great motivation for us to serve Christ. Knowing that we fight a battle that's already been won, right? I don't want to stand before the master someday, as some sniffling, coward, some wilting lily, that feared man more than I feared him. That's my challenge to each of you, dear friends, pick up your sword and join the fight. Don't be a coward. Don't be afraid of these people; we serve the Lord of hosts. I find great comfort knowing that when the Lord returns First Corinthians four, verse five, he will, "both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts and then each man's praise will come to him from God." Jesus went on to say in verse 27, "'What I tell you in the darkness; speak it in the light.'" This is a figurative expression of figurative darkness, referring to those divine truths that are disclosed to us in the context of our sacred closet of communion with God where the Holy Spirit speaks truth into our life from his word. In other words, he says, don’t be ashamed to publicly proclaim the truth that I have disclosed to you. He says, "'and what you hear whispered in your ear, proclaim among the housetops.'" Now, you'd have to understand the culture of that day to know what Jesus is saying here. It was common in the first century for Jewish rabbis to train their students, by standing beside them, and whispering in their ears, especially as they spoke, as they taught. In first Corinthians two in verse nine speaks of divine revelation and inspiration, he says, "Things which eye has not seen and ear has not heard and which have not entered the heart of man, all that God has prepared for those who love Him." He goes on to say, "For to us, God revealed them through the Spirit." And then in verse 13, we read, "which things we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual thought with spiritual words." And this is what the Spirit of God did, as he inspired the writers of Scripture, to speak the truth of divine revelation, the self-disclosure of God, that are recorded in the canon of Scripture that we have. And it is the Holy Spirit himself, you might say, that whispers truth into our ears through the infallible record of divine revelation that we have in our Bibles. And then we must faithfully proclaim that which we hear, that which we've learned, we need to do that from the house tops. In other words, publicly and may I encourage you to pray for opportunities to do just that. And then pray for boldness to do what you know you should do. Because believe me, if you ask the Lord for opportunities to proclaim the truth of His Word, he's going to give you those opportunities. In fact, you will probably see that they're already all around you. And now what you need is the boldness to act on what he has asked you to do.

Dave Harrell

He goes on to verse 28, "'And do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to to destroy both soul and body in hell.'" And we understand this, the wicked certainly have the power to kill the body, but they cannot kill the soul, the "psuche" in the original language; the rational, immortal, eternal, non-material center of our being that transcends the earthly. So don't fear them but do "'fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.'" An important note here, destroyed does not mean extinction, or annihilation, or to cease to exist as some would have us believe. For example, In Second Thessalonians one beginning of verse seven, we see him, Paul goes on to give detail describing Christ as the coming judge and explains the extent and the duration of hell. He says, beginning in verse seven, "the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels and flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the power of His glory of His power." I mean, think about it, if eternal destruction meant annihilation, this text along with many others would beg for relevance, it would make no sense. Annihilation can't be eternal, because by its very definition, it means to become extinct, to cease to exist. But rather eternal destruction is an irreversible experience of conscious torment. Isaiah 33, verse 14, it's described as a place of divine fire of everlasting burnings. Matthew 13, verse 42, Jesus says that He Himself will judge the wicked, and he says, and he will cast him into the "furnace of fire. In that place, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Now, back to our text, Jesus warns, don't fear man, but "'Fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.'" Beloved, please understand that the souls of men bear the image of our eternal God, they will therefore live forever. The souls of men are immortal. Jesus said, there will be in John 5:28, "a resurrection of the just and the unjust." Remember, when Paul stood before Felix, the governor, he warned in Acts 24:15, "there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked." So again, Jesus is simply saying, Don't fear men fear me. As I think about it, this perhaps was a targeted warning to Judas, who would have been in their midst, who was already beginning to scheme as to how he would cash in on Jesus. But it's certainly a warning to all men who reject Christ and unbelief. I remember reading a number of years ago, stunning illustration of the convicting and transforming power of the gospel to turn even the most rank pagan into a fearless disciple. And I noticed John MacArthur has this summarized well, I want to just share this with you. "From among the finest athletes in the Roman Empire, Nero selected a group called the emperor’s wrestlers. Their motto was 'we the wrestlers wrestling for thee O Emperor to win for thee the victory and from thee the victors crown.' The wrestlers were also soldiers and were often sent out on special military campaigns on a certain mission in Gaul, which is modern France. Many of the wrestlers were converted to Christ. Upon hearing the news Nero ordered the commander Vespasian, to execute any wrestler who refused to renounce Christ and swear religious, as well as military allegiance to the emperor. The emperor’s orders were received in the dead of winter, as the men were encamped on the shore of a frozen lake. When this Vespasian assembled the soldiers and asked how many were Christians, 40 men stepped forward. Hoping not to lose any of these fine men, many of whom were his friends, he gave them until sundown the next day to reconsider. But at that given hour, all of them still refuse to renounce Christ. In order that they not die at the hands of their comrades, the commander ordered the 40 men to disrobe and walk naked out onto the ice. Throughout the night, the soldiers on shore would hear the 40 sentenced men singing triumphantly. And here's what they sang, '40 wrestlers wrestling for the Oh Christ, to win for Thee the victory and from Thee the victors crown.' The singing grew fainter as morning neared and at dawn a lone figure walked back and approach the fire. He confessed that his faith was not strong enough to face death. When Vespasian then heard the faint strains of quote '39 wrestlers wrestling for Thee Oh Christ' he was so moved that he threw off his armor and clothes, and marched out to join the others shouting as he went '40 wrestlers wrestling for thee Oh Christ, to win for thee the victory and from the victor's crown.'" Beloved this is the power of the gospel. To turn men that once wanted nothing to do with Christ into fearless disciples.

Again, verse 28, "'Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.'" And then notice next, our Lord's tender words of comfort, beginning of verse 29, "'Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. The very hairs of your head are all numbered, so do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.'" The term "cent" was a reference to basically the smallest coin in circulation of that day, and it could be used to buy two sparrows, and yet not one of them will fall, the term could be translated hop to the ground, apart from your father. The point is simply this, with such staggering, intimate awareness of such insignificant creatures, how much more will our Lord attend to the needs of his children when they're persecuted? Likewise, he's numbered all our hairs, I read that there's an average of 140,000. Some of us have a little bit less. I find that I'm gaining a little bit more on my ears and in my nose. Random hair growth is just part of getting old, right? But the point is, he knows the intimate details of our life. Things that are spiritually insignificant, mundane matters, like the number of our hairs how much more will he involve himself in the affairs of those that he has purchased with His very blood, who are suffering from his glory? The point is simply this, with such amazing love and incomprehensible omniscience and power, how could we possibly fear man more than we fear our Father in heaven? Dear friends, please hear me, a fearless disciple will fear God more than man. And whatever suffering we endure for His glory will never ever go unnoticed. The Lord is always in it. And certainly persecution is mounting as we see all of the wickedness around us, as you all are aware of it all, even the Bible is being called hate speech, and certainly they're going to try to eliminate it. The question is, what are you going to do when, when your job is threatened because of your stand for Christ? I believe a day will come when churches like ours will be put on notice. And anybody that attends a church like this will be put on notice. What are you going to do when they come to remove your children? I'm reminded of the stunning descriptions of persecution in Hebrews 11, beginning in verse 35. There it speaks of those who were tortured. "Those who were tortured," interesting term. "Tympanizo," "Tympanizo," we get our word timpani. From that it means a drum or English word timpani kettle drum. Basically, what they would do is strap people to a wheel rack and beat them to death with a metal instrument called a companion. Those who were tortured, he went on to say "not accepting their release so that they might obtain a better resurrection. And others experience mocking and scourging, yeses, also chains and imprisonment." We don't see a lot of this here in the United States, but it's happening around the world. "They were stoned, they were sawn in two. They were tempted, they were put to death with a sword they went about and sheepskins and goat skins, being destitute, afflicted ill-treated men of whom the world was not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these having gained approval through their faith did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us so that apart from us, they would not be made perfect." And he goes on in chapter 12, beginning in verse one. "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against himself so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Indeed, it is our Lord who is our supreme example. It's a rare but glorious thing to behold a genuine soldier of the cross is it not? A true, fearless disciple of Christ. And whenever I read about them, or whenever I meet them or encounter them, I'm so profoundly humbled. So many people today wear the uniform of Christianity, but few really love their commander in chief. Never in the history of the world has there been a ruler that such set such an example. I mean, really, many rulers send their servants into battle for some earthly cause. Many of them, things that are eternally inconsequential. And many soldiers willingly give their lives for those things, but only the King of Kings went on before us and willingly sacrificed his life that we might live eternally in the presence of his glory. Fearless disciples of Christ are captivated by these marvelous truths. These are the things that drive them and they know that there is absolutely nothing that can separate them from the love of Christ.

Thirdly, a fearless disciple publicly confesses Christ. Notice verse 32. "'Therefore everyone who confesses Me before a man I will also confess Him before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.'" The term confess is a compound word in the original language "homologeo", "homo", the same, "logeo" means to speak. So in other words, to speak the same thing, to confess is to speak the same thing, to acknowledge, to wholeheartedly affirm in one's heart. And in this context, to say exactly the same thing that God is saying about the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we are to confess, to confess that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, the Creator, the sustainer of the universe, our Redeemer, Acts four 12 that "salvation is found, in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Well, put that on Facebook and see how long you last right? Again, folks, these are the magnificent truths that we're to publicly proclaim. And this will be the heartbeat of a fearless disciple. Because of our innermost convictions, that God has given us, there will be an outward expression of these magnificent tools, and nothing will be able to contain them. And it's tragic to see how few Christians are willingly to publicly confess, Jesus is Lord, free of embarrassment, the ridicule, physical harm, especially from family members, that can happen to all of us. And I know that's happened to a lot of you. I often hear from a lot of people in the church that Christmas is one of the most difficult times of the year for them, because they have to go home to be with family members that hate Christ and hate them. Paul warned Timothy in Second Timothy, 1:8, "Do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord." But notice in verse 33, Jesus goes on to say, "'But whoever shall deny Me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven.'" The term denial, it means to declare that you do not know or that you have no dealings with someone. Like Peter when he denied the Lord three times. You want to ask is this the pattern of my life? In subtle ways? Do I deny the Lord? Am I a chameleon Christian, where I can kind of blend in with whatever environment to make sure that nobody spots me. That's not the mark of a faith of fearless disciple. Again, verse 33, "But whoever shall deny Me before man, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven." By the way, the grammar here in the original language in verses 32 and 33, is in the future tense. So it's a reference to future judgment when he will separate the true from the false. Later in chapter 25, Jesus describes the judgment of the wicked at the end of the Great Tribulation, a time according to verse 31, "'When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne, and all the nations will be gathered before Him. And He will separate them from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.''" Then later in verse 41, we read, "'Then He will also say to those on His left, Depart from Me accursed ones into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.''" How incredibly sad it is to think of those who refused to receive the gospel, they held it out as something that was silly. And you worse yet for those who profess Christ, but didn't love him? That followed Christ like Judas, but didn't love him. Those who recognize the truth intellectually, but they never affirmed it in their heart. They never wholeheartedly embrace Christ. Oh, yes, Jesus is the Lord of my Sunday mornings. But he is not the Lord of my life. Dear friends, I hope that is not you.

Jesus, speaking of the religious hypocrite, Matthew eight and verse 12, says that, "they shall be cast out into the outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." But oh what a glorious contrast for those who confess Christ, who truly love Christ, and because of that their character and their conduct, and their creed, are all glorious to the Lord. Ours is a confident hope of heaven and assurance that Jesus Himself will confess us before the Father as one of his own even as we confessed him before man.

And anticipating the persecution His disciples are about to endure, inevitably, he gives a fourth characteristic of a fearless disciple. That is, he will value Christ more than family. Notice verse 34, "'Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth, I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother and a daughter in law against her mother-in-law. And a man's enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me.'" Jesus words must have reminded the apostles of Micah's prediction of what would happen within families when the Messiah would come. We read about that in the passage in Micah chapter seven and verse six. This is what Jesus is quoting. A time "when son treats father contemptuously, daughter rises up against her mother, daughter in law against her mother-in-law, in a man's enemies are the men of his own household." You know, while the peace of Christ brings comfort to all of us, who are at peace with God, because of his grace, because we've been reconciled to Him, through Christ, the reality of our life, this side of glory, is one of perpetual conflict. Again, we're at war. If you're living for Christ, you're at war. The gospel is inherently offensive. It cuts like a sword, especially in families where Christ is denied. And I might add that this passage really strikes a deathblow to those who exhaust themselves, to make the gospel relevant to the culture to make it inoffensive, to seekers, like the sanitized Jesus that is being portrayed in this Chosen Series. You're not going to see many people at odds with others in their family because of that, Jesus. Martin Luther took a stand against a millennium of Roman Catholic apostasy and political power. And he said this, quote, "If our gospel were received in peace, it would not be the true gospel." Luke 12, verse 49, Jesus says, "'I have come to cast fire upon the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled.'" Verse 51, he went on to say, "'Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth, I tell you, no, but rather division; for from now on five members in one household will be divided, three against two and two against three.'" Beloved, Jesus did not come to this world, to make peace with the world but to make war against it. And to provide us a way of being at peace with a holy God through faith in Christ, to deliver us from the world. And a fearless disciple will experience violence when they take a stand against wickedness in a world that hates God. In fact, in verse 33, he uses the term "against" three times to describe the rendering asunder, if you will, of family relationships and I know a lot of you have experienced that. Against, the term, means to cut in to, to divide into, to set it variance. I've seen this hundreds of times where family members are required to choose whether or not they are going to obey the Lord or compromise. Whether or not they're going to honor the Lord or dishonor him whether they're going to stand for truth or compromise and live in errors, whether they're going to side with righteousness or with evil. And suddenly, in those types of scenarios, the true cost of discipleship is made abundantly clear, is it not? What a grief it must be to the Savior, when one of his own that he has purchased with His very blood cowers in fear, and denies him in some way. One whose love for Christ is so weak that he will exchange a hollow peace with his family members, rather than take a stand for the lover of his soul. My friends, if this describes you, according to what Jesus says here in verse 37, you are not worthy of Him. It's very clear. "'He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of me.'" So again, fearless discipleship submits to the Lordship of Christ. It fears God more than man, it publicly confesses Christ, it values Christ more than family. And then fifthly it values Christ more than life.

Notice verse 38. "'And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me, is not worthy of Me.'" Certainly, the apostles did not grasp the coming reality of Christ's crucifixion, nor their own eventual martyrdom, they're still trying to figure all of this out. And here Jesus poses the very real possibility that true discipleship may cost you your life. The cross, of course, was a well-known symbol of torture. For those who dare defy Rome, a civilization interestingly enough, that was destroyed from corruption on the inside. Undeniable parallels with our own country that is repeating the same forms of wickedness, hatred of true genuine biblical Christianity, excessive taxation, excessive government control, obsession with pleasure, and entertainment, and all manner of the most vile forms of immorality. We see this of course, in the progression described in Romans chapter one, where God gives people over who suppress the truth and unrighteousness first to sorted immorality, which is a violation of God's moral order. And then it moves to the next stage a given them over to shameless homosexuality, which is an inversion of God's created order. And then finally, he gives them over to shocking depravity, which is a disposition of godless corruption where people are just completely irrational. He gives them over to what is called a worthless or depraved mind where they believe things that make no sense. The whole transgender insanity is a great example of that today. But my friends, fearless discipleship will stand with Christ against these things come what may, trusting Him. They will stand against all of those things that God considers an abomination. Those gross perversions that attack the glory of his image, manifested in those that he has created in His image. Fearless disciple will stand against those things, will stand for truth. So the apostles understood that following Christ might cost them their life. You want to ask yourself, Am I willing to sacrifice my life for Christ?

Unfortunately, many are like those that Jesus goes on to describe in verse 39, "'He who has found his life shall lose it.'" The context here you find your life, you're the religious people, who have deceived themselves into believing that you're the true disciples and that you, all that you believe is true, and all of that stuff that stands against the gospel. "He who has found his life shall lose it." Yes, the world is going to offer you all of its fleeting pleasure. Indeed there is pleasure in sin for a season. But none of it will last; but he goes on to say, "he who has lost his life for My sake, shall find it." Beloved, this is the spirit of fearless discipleship. And it's a riddle to the world. I mean, what a divine paradox, I mean, this cannot be reconciled in the mind of an unregenerate person. It's only when the Spirit of God changes us that we can see the truth. And when new birth occurs, we are indeed new creatures in Christ. Were partakers of the divine nature of Christ. We're aliens in this world, and what seems irrational to the world is abundantly clear to us so clear that we would willingly die for it. This is the transformation that takes place in the redeemed, the miracle of regeneration, beyond our understanding, and when that new birth occurs, what seems irrational to the world is abundantly rational to us. So it's for this reason again, that the fearless disciple of Christ submits to the Lordship of the one he loves, fears God more than man, publicly confesses Christ, values Christ more than family, values Christ more than life and finally, values eternal, not temporal reward.

Notice what he says here in verse 40, "He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives him who sent Me." You see, those who receive the testimony of true disciples receive Christ as their Savior. Likewise, anyone who receives the Son also receives the Father. So Jesus is telling them, that anyone who receives your testimony, that is your proclamation of who I am and what I have done in my atoning work on the cross, those people will receive me and the Father. And thirdly, those who receive the disciple himself, receives Christ in that they are his emissaries, they are His ambassadors. He goes on in verse 41, "He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward, and he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. So God not only rewards the Prophet, but catch this, anyone who receives him to accept, to accommodate, to care for, to appreciate, to support, especially in that culture, to give them food, and to give them lodging and to embrace them as a servant of the living God. But what's interesting is this reward goes beyond just receiving a profit. It includes any righteous man, or woman. Dear friends, anytime you do any kind of service to a servant of God, God will reward you. That's the point. The Lord says, I see all of this. Even something as mundane and seemingly as inconsequential as giving one of his little ones, a cup of water. God sees it all, he will reward it all. Notice verse 42. "And whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones, even a cup of cold water to drink, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward." You see, a fearless disciple is perfectly content, to wait upon the Lord to reward him in his time. And that reward will be in heaven, not on Earth. So we patiently wait for his reward when it will be realized in that day. A fearless disciple is driven by that. Moreover, the rewards of the world have no hold on him or her. For heroes like Abraham, who, according to Hebrews 11, verse nine, "by faith lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land." Goes on to say, "For he was looking for the city, which has foundations whose architect and builder is God," a reference to the New Jerusalem described in Revelation 21. Beloved, measure yourself against the standard, this is how you are going to prepare yourself, not only for the battles that are currently all around us, but for the ones to come. And your fathers I plead with you, that you simply must take these words seriously. You must be a fearless disciple of Christ. Otherwise, your family will be vulnerable to the deceptions and the destructions of the evil one. And certainly you mothers need to be the same way. So much so, that you will pour your life into your children that they might know and understand and love the Lord, our God. Measure yourself against the standards ask yourself, "Do I joyfully submit to the Lordship of Christ? Do I fear God more than man? Do I publicly proclaim him without compromise? Do I value Christ even more than my family? Do I value him more than my own life? And do I value eternal, not temporal rewards." And if that is the passion, and purpose of your heart, God will bless you and use you mightily and you will enjoy his soul satisfying presence and power in your life in ways that you cannot imagine. And then there's heaven. Right? And then there's heaven. Let's pray. Father, thank You for the eternal truths of your word that speak so clearly to each one of us. May we take what has been spoken here today and apply them to our hearts to the praise of your glory? For it's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.

It is my great joy to be able to minister the word of God to you again this morning. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark's gospel as we continue to examine it verse by verse gleaning as much as we possibly can, from what the Spirit of God has revealed to us through His servant. And this morning, we come to the second part of "The Danger of Causing Another to Stumble." And certainly it is a solemn responsibility for each one of us as believers to cultivate godliness in our soul. In fact, I believe its First Timothy four seven says that we are to "exercise ourselves for the purpose of godliness."" And when we do that, we will not be a stumbling block to others. And we will also be able to promote that godliness in our own heart. Let me remind you of the context here before we look at the passage. Remember, the disciples had been arguing about who's going to be greatest in the kingdom. And Jesus has just finished confronting them and teaching them on matters pertaining to pride, and to humility. In chapter nine, verse 35, we read that he called the 12 and said to them, "If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all." Well obviously the self-promoting arrogance of the disciples fueled jealousy and strife amongst them, causing them to forfeit divine blessing and power, which will happen to each one of us. And so to illustrate the kind of humility the Lord is describing, and that which he wants, we read in verse 36, of chapter nine, that he takes a child "He set him before them and taking him in His arms, He said to them, 'Whoever receives one child like this, in My name, receives Me, and whoever receives Me does not receive me, but Him who sent Me'." And of course, the imagery is very clear there, you have a child that has no honor, no status, and desperate need of love and attention and training and even discipline and certainly protection. Matthew even gets more specific in Matthew chapter 18 and verse three, Jesus says, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." And certainly, as believers, when we come to Christ, we do so like children do we not? Ignorant, naive, needy, naughty, and on it goes; in need of love and rescue and forgiveness and protection, training. And in fact, Jesus even speaks more specifically about believing children in verse six of Matthew 18, he calls them "little ones who believe in Me". In other words, he's addressing even the most vulnerable among us. And what follows is a very intense warning pertaining to the dangers of causing a little one, to stumble into sin and unbelief. And even young believers, even immature believers, and frankly, any believer for that matter. So with that in mind, we come once again, to Mark nine and verse 42. I want to read down through verse 50, because we will be looking at this as a unit this morning. So Jesus says in verse 42, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast

into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than having your two hands to go to into hell into the unquenchable fire, (where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched). If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than having your two feet to be cast into hell (where their worm does not die and their fire is not quenched). If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out. And it's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die in the fire is not quenched. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalted with what will you make it salty again? Hve salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another." I've divided this section into three categories that I hope will be helpful to you. Last week, we examined the first one and that is a call to realistic self-examination. And then secondly, we will be looking at a call to radical repentance and finally, a call to resolute discipleship. Let me give you a brief review because we need to see this as a unit. Last week we examined number one, a call to realistic self-examination and notice what he says in verse 42, to the disciples, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble", which means to to entrap, to ensnare, to cause someone to sin, to be deceived and to dishonouring God, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea." In other words, it would be better for that person to experience that horrifying form of execution than to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. No wonder Jesus would say in Matthew 18, verse seven, "Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks. For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes." See, Jesus is serious about protecting His redeemed, and we should be likewise, because they have been purchased by his very blood. Now this would have been very sobering to the disciples would it not? Because they had been treating each other with contempt, arguing about which one is more important, which one should be first in the kingdom, inciting each other to envy and jealousy and strife. So this would have been a call to realistic self- examination, concerning their own pride, their lack of humility. But it also gave them discernment because you see the same types of warnings in the context of the scribes and the Pharisees, who were causing everyone to stumble, including little children. And last week, I gave several illustration of what that looks like In our culture today. Especially the vile woke LGBTQ community that boldly brags about how they're coming after our children. I'm sure you all are aware of that; has been all over the news. The recent pride parade in New York City, there were hundreds of these perverted people in desperate need of the gospel, chanting quote, "we're here we're queer, we're coming for your children." What they refuse to admit is that God is coming for them unless they repent. Revelation 21 and verse eight we read that for the "cowardly and unbelieving and abominable, and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Dear friends, nothing can even begin to compare with the judgment of God on those who cause others, especially little children, to stumble into sin and temptation, and deception, and unbelief. But then beginning in verse 40, Three, there is a shift. Jesus shifts his focus from those who cause others to stumble to those who stumbled themselves. Instead of ensnaring others, we may also ensnare ourselves by acting upon the sinful impulses of our unredeemed flesh. What Paul called you will remember in Romans 7:23, "the law of sin". We're all aware of that. He said that though he rejoiced in God's law, he saw an opposing force at work in the members of His Body, an opposing force that demands obedience. And he called it quote, "the law of a different kind". This is the power of indwelling sin that must be resisted, it must be starved, it must be exterminated, which is an ongoing battle in our life. When you stop and think about it, if we're honest with ourselves, we did not have to learn how to fly off the handle in an absolute rage when things don't go our way. We come by that very naturally, we don't have to teach our children to be self absorbed, and self willed, and demanding. We don't have to work at being immoral and proud and demanding and envious and jealous and factious and so forth. I mean, don't we just naturally overeat, over medicate, overspend, overstate, overindulge, overstep and on and on it goes, right? Just who we are, in many ways. That's the law of sin. And then

we cause others to stumble as well. Even when we try to do good, there is an opposition going on within us. How many times do you come before the Lord early in the morning for private worship and prayer and as soon as you get your cup of coffee and you get hunkered down, your mind starts wandering. And there's all these distractions; there's the law of sin at work. Or you don't even get there because after all, you're too busy. Or you're too tired, or you're too hungry. Sunday worship comes family worship, home fellowship groups, opportunity to serve one another. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, I've got so much going on. I can't be distracted with those things today. Or to honor the Lord in our giving, to be good stewards of that which He has given us because it all belongs to him. Now, you know, I've got that boat payment, or my credit card payments, and on and on it goes, I don't need to give examples. There's always a danger of doing that because if I don't hit yours, you think you got off scot free, right? Paul speaks about this in Romans chapter seven. I want to underscore this in your mind. So you understand where Jesus is coming from and going and what he's saying. In Romans seven, beginning of verse 18, the apostle Paul laments over this very thing. He said, "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. For the good that I wan, I do not do, but I practice the very evil that I do not want. But if I'm doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one doing it, but sin which dwells in me, I find then the principle that evil is present in me, the one who wants to do good. For I joyfully concur with the law of God in the inner man. But I see a different law and the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, which is in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, on the one hand, I myself with my mind, I'm serving the law of God, but on the other with my flesh, the law of sin." We all feel the tension, right? We all understand this. I think of some of the saints in the Galatian church who were abusing their liberty in Christ, thinking they could sin without consequence. And so forth, they were failing to love one another and serve one another, resulting in bitter conflict in the church. And in Galatians five verse 15, we read the Apostle Paul saying, "But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. But I say walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh." Again, there's the law of sin. He goes on to say, for the law, or "For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please." Then he goes on in verse 19, and following is that "Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are;" and then he gives this list, "immorality, impurity", which could be translated uncleanness, it's a wider range of moral evil, and it's corrupting influence in our life and in the world, especially the defilement of sexual sin. He goes on and mentiones "sensuality", which is shameless debauchery. It refers to just a complete loss of restraint and decency. We see this, for example, in these pride parades that are frankly too vulgar to even describe. He mentions "idolatry", which is anything that distracts us from worshiping and serving the one true God. Anything that occupies our thoughts, anything that motivates our will to dishonor God, anything that fuels our emotions, to cause us to lust after other things. Cell phones are probably at the top of the list these days. Entertainment, even exercise, think of all the people that worship body image. Materialism on and on it goes. He mentioned "sorcery". Sorcery, which is could also be translated, witchcraft comes from a Greek term "pharmakeia" we get idea of, of pharmacies and so forth or drugs. And this certainly was used to describe the drugs that were used in association with the occult. By the way, these drugs were even used back then for abortions. So these are things that are part of the deeds of the flesh. He goes on, he mentions "enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." Those things, those wicked things that we do, if we continue to practice them, we are a slave to them, and sin eventually becomes characterological, right? A person that drinks too much is eventually called a drunkard. A person that steals is eventually called a thief, and on and on it goes. Now, those enslaved by their flesh, are basically those who have never been born again. But even we, being born again, have to deal with this law of sin that remains in our unredeemed humaneness until that day when we are

taken home. Now back to our text. Jesus now adds another dimension to his warning against causing others to stumble, which will be the lifestyle of the unregenerate. And now, he warns against stumbling ourselves or succumbing, shall we say, to the law of sin that works within us. And that's going to bring us now to our second point in a little outline, and that is a call to radical repentance, a call to radical repentance. And here he warns about the dangers of allowing ourselves to just let our sin run rampant and not deal with it. And he's going to do this through very figurative, even hyperbolic language, talking about removing a hand and a foot and an eye, each being a valued part of our body. And each a member of a pair, which I believe is most significant, as I hope to demonstrate. So I believe not only is Jesus emphasizing the spiritual need for the aggressive removal of anything that would cause us to stumble. But I think he's also pointing to an even greater reality and that is the need for a supernatural heart transplant. Because you think about it, you cut off one hand, what happens? You still got the other. You cut off one foot, what happens? There's still one that remains. You'd cut out one eye, you've still got the other. Moreover, the hand and the foot and the eye or any other bodily part, for that matter, do not act independently on their own right? It's not like boy, I'd be great if I could just get rid of this hand. They all respond to the lustful passions of the heart. James chapter one, verse 14, "each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his..." hand, his eye is foot? No. "His lust." Goes on to say "Then when lust is conceived, it gives birth to sin. And when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death." In fact, Jesus makes this clear. Back in Mark seven beginning of verse 20, he said, "'That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man, For from within, out of the heart of men, precede the evil thoughts, fornication, thefts, murderers, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these things proceed from within and defile the man." Jesus even used the example of sexual immorality, in Matthew chapter five, beginning in verse 27. He says, "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, then for your whole body to go into hell.'" So yes, absolutely, we must deal aggressively with indwelling sin, but unless there is a radical transplant of the heart, you will never be able to do that. And you will never have a desire to do that. You will remain enslaved. You can cut off all of your body parts until you're dead and you will still lust for various things. By the way, herein is the folly of asceticism. We don't hear that very much it's the practice of strict self-denial to eliminate sin. I was thinking even of Martin Luther before he rightfully understood that the just shall live by faith, not by works. He dedicated himself to the Augustinian order, devoting himself to long hours of prayer and fasting, to the point where he was frequently emaciated long periods of time, or he would confess his sin and he would even strike himself with a whip. And many people did that, not understanding God's grace, and how that grace works through the power of the Spirit and His word to sanctify God's people. In fact, there was a guy named Simon Stylites, he comes from the Greek term "stulos", which means pillar, and he was called the "pillar saint". He was a Syrian Christian ascetic, who lived 37 years on a small platform on top of a pillar. Would you like to do that? And now people venerate him as if he was some, you know, great saint, and many others did that type of thing. And there's some that do it today, desert monks, nuns and so forth. So to be sure, physical amputations of or any other form of asceticism is not only barbaric and absurd it is, it is futile. A total contradiction of the work of saving and sanctifying grace as Jesus repeatedly describes. Once again, folks, the remedy for dealing with indwelling sin is the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God through His Word. Now let's look more closely at what Jesus says. Verse 43, "'If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled than having your two hands, to go into hell and to the unquenchable fire, (where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched).'" Again this is figurative language used to describe the everlasting continuation of judgment upon the wicked whose resurrected bodies have been supernaturally outfitted for the eternal torments of hell. In Matthew chapter 13, verse 42, Jesus

says, "The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." This again describes the conduct of those who caused others to stumble, those who rejected God. The weeping signifies the unimaginable horror and helplessness of eternal judgment, and the gnashing of teeth or the grinding of teeth, is an expression of intense hostility and unimaginable rage toward God that would do this to them. And again, Jesus in verse 45, goes on says the same thing about the foot, "If it causes you to stumble, cut it off," and so forth. Verse 47, "If your eye causes us to stumble, throw it out," and so forth. So what is Jesus saying to his self-promoting disciples? What is he saying to us? So easy to get ensnared by our own sin is it not, to develop those habits to cause others to stumble? Is he saying to them, "Listen, guys, you either deal aggressively with your sin, or you're gonna go to hell?" Is that what he's saying? Well, of course not. But rather he's saying, deal aggressively with your sin. But no, this is going to require more than you will ever be able to do on your own. Because the ultimate source of your evil is in your heart. The reference to hell is to force the reader to take sin seriously. Not "do this or you're gonna go there;" Certainly for the unredeemed that will be their eternal destiny if they refused to ask Christ to pay for their sin, they will pay for them eternally themselves. But he's saying, as well here, to go to any extreme, any measure possible, to avoid divine punishment. And when you've done all, when you've cut off all of your body parts, you will still fall short. You will still need undeserved mercy and forgiveness and grace and cleansing. Now, please understand the unregenerate will see no need to deal aggressively with their sin, as I said earlier, just doesn't doesn't faze them. They don't even see it as sin. They're slaves to sin. We, as believers, by God's grace, have died to sin and we are alive in Christ. I like to put it this way, sin still remains but it no longer reigns. Romans six beginning of verse five, Paul says, "For if we have become united with Him, in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him in order that our body of sin might be done away with so that we would no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died is freed from sin." Only true believers will have a desire to put to death the deeds of the flesh. Let me take you to Romans eight for just a few minutes. Romans chapter eight beginning in verse 10. The apostle Paul says "If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness." And indeed, because of sin, physically, we die, we understand that. But notice the certainty based upon our justification, he says, "yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.N not our righteousness, but the imputed righteousness of Christ. Verse 11, gives kind of a summary statement. "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you. So then," verse 12, "brethren," in other words, in light of the glorious privileges that are ours, "we are under obligation." In Greek, it can be translated, we're a debtor, we are under obligation "not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh." In other words, although the flesh, that old sinful nature, is ever present, influencing our lives, and it will not be eradicated until we enter into glory, nevertheless, we owe it nothing. That's the idea. We are not indebted to the flesh, we're no longer required, quote, "to live according to the flesh." In other words, to live under the domination of the old nature. We've been freed from that. All of the selfish motives, arrogant purposes, idolatrous affections, the deeds of the flesh, Galatians, five, and so forth, all of the corruption that flows from the heart, and manifests itself in our body, we're no longer indebted to that, we're no longer required to live by that. The flesh no longer has any claim on us. In fact, as we read, "once we were sold under sin," Romans 7:14, but now we've been delivered from the realm of that tyranny. So now we become servants of righteousness, we no longer have to obey the commands of the flesh. We might say the flesh is now a toothless tiger. It has been declawed, it has been crippled, unless we succumb to a fantasy of its former fierceness, and once again, allow sin to control us. But now the spirit ultimately is in control, he has regenerated us, and one will one day resurrect us physically. So we are under obligation to obey Him. Notice Romans eight verse 13. "For if you are living according to the flesh, you must die." See here, the apostle is describing the unregenerate man that remains and the dominion of his own fallen flesh and slayed by his, his fallen

nature, dead spiritually. And unless he repents, his life will continue to move inexorably towards the second death of an eternal hell. Very clear throughout Scripture, if you live according to your flesh, you yield your allegiance to its power, and it will eventually drag you down into its doom. But not so for those who are now under no condemnation, notice verse 13. Again, he says, "But if by the Spirit" if you are living by the Spirit, in other words, if you're living according to the influence of the indwelling Spirit, "you are putting to death," the great old English term "mortify", your mortifying. I remember the first time I heard that word, I didn't know what it meant. But I thought that's a cool word, and then eventually looked it up. Now I understand what it means. And I also know how hard it is to do what it means, right? You're putting to death. You're making it die. What are the deeds of the body, the doings of the flesh that uses your body as its organ of wickedness. And he says, if you're doing that "you will live." Because eternal life is only available through Christ in whom we are united. So dear Christian, we are not debtors to the flesh, but to the spirit. And our joyful obligation is to submit to the Spirit of God who empowers us to put to death, the deeds of the flesh, resulting in eternal life. And now, with that privilege comes responsibility. Isn't it interesting when you first, when you think about it, first God gives us the blessing. He establishes the position that we have being able to stand in His grace because of the great doctrine of justification. He makes His promises to us and then He gives us his provisions and then he has made everything ready for us to succeed. And therefore he exhorts us to obedience. In other words, think of it this way, we are now in Christ. The Holy Spirit dwells within us and as Peter said, in Second Peter one three "His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness." Beloved, please understand, God never asks us to do that which He has not empowered us to accomplish by the power of his Spirit through His Word. Now, notice again, verse 13, "by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body," present tense in the original language grammar, denoting that this action is going on right now and it's going to continue to go on, it will be habitual, it is repeatable. This habitual killing of sin, frankly, will be the defining work of a believer. If it's not there, that person has never been born again. Paul wants us to grasp this. He wants us to realize these great truths;let them grip our soul. This is why Jesus prayed, "Sanctify them in the truth, Thy word is truth." So we want to realize that we are no longer debtors to the flesh. And to know that the Spirit of God is helping us put to death, the deeds of the body. Second Corinthians five, verse 14, speaks of what the Lord has done here. He says, "For the love of Christ controls us." What an amazing statement. It's the love of Christ, that motivates us. He goes on to say, "having concluded this, that one died for all therefore all died. And He died for all so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. Therefore," in light of all of this, he says, "From now on, we recognize no one according to the flesh, even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him in this way, no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away, behold, new things have come." Take of what Paul told Titus, in Titus two, beginning in verse 11, he said that, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live sensibly and righteously and godly in this present age", and so forth. Colossians three and verse five, "Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as," what? "dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil, desire and greed, which amounts to idolatry." So in other words, when those lusts come, whatever it might be, whenever I need to deal with indwelling sin, I've got the power to do that. I have got the power to do that. I am not under its tyranny anymore. Paul went on to say, "For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience and in them you also once walked when you were living in them." Thankfully, because of God's infinite grace and provision and power, we are no longer slaves to those things. So again, whatever form it takes in your life, whatever form sin takes, you need to kill it. And you know what it is in your life. But know this, unless your heart has been radically changed through the miracle of regeneration, where there has been an instantaneous, supernatural impartation of spiritual life to the spiritually dead, unless that has happened, you will be unable to deal effectively with your sin. Moreover, you will have no desire to do so. And as a result, as Jesus says, you will be quote, "cast into hell." Verse 46, of Mark nine, "where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched." And our pagan culture knows

nothing of holiness of God, right? There is no fear of God. And by the way, if you know nothing of the holiness of God, you have no desire to be holy. You have no desire to be saved from your sin that would make you guilty before God's bar of justice. So people mock Christ, mock his word, hate his people. They challenge all that is sacred. I was made aware of a billboard recently. It said huge letters, "virginity is a social construct." I mean, that's just satanic stuff. And this is what is being fed to our children, our young people. And sadly, much of the American church knows no different. So many ostensibly evangelical churches have embraced all of this woke, LGBTQ wickedness. And therefore, ichabod is written across their doorway, which means the glory has departed. They are thoroughly apostate; any church that embraces any of this wickedness is thoroughly apostate. And if you're a part of anything like that, you don't need to walk, you need to run to get away from it. Much of the church today is largely unregenerate. It's Christian in name only. So folks, we must not stumble into the same trap. as God's people, we must take seriously our Lord's command. As we've seen in this little outline, we've got a call here to realistic self-examination. Secondly, radical repentance. And finally, the Lord gives a call to resolute discipleship. Now remember, Jesus has been warning his disciples against becoming a snare to others, as well as becoming ensnared themselves by their own sin and to underscore the demanding requirements of genuine discipleship that sometimes we'll include radical spiritual surgery to deal with remaining sin, Jesus now closes this section with a trilogy of salt passages. The first one is in verse 49, he tells his disciples, "'For everyone,'" I believe this is referring to everyone who's following him, that's the context, "For everyone will be salted with fire." Now, granted, this is a very enigmatic, a very cryptic statement. But I think given the context, it refers to the cost of discipleship, the idea of taking up one's cross following Christ in resolute discipleship. Now, let me give you some background here. As I tried to explain this, it's really a fascinating passage. First of all, salt when you see it biblically, for example, in Exodus 30, and verse 35, we know that it was included in the sacred incense that would burn perpetually on a special altar just outside the Holy of Holies. And it represented the perpetual prayers of God's people, and the pure offerings of the heart that which is a pleasing aroma to God. And it's also interesting, salt does not burn. For example, in numbers 18, verse 19, we see that it was a sign of God's covenant dealings with Israel. In fact, in the Old Testament, it was included in the offerings because it was emblematic of permanence or loyalty to the covenant. You see this, for example, in Leviticus two and verse 13. And these offerings included the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, the peace offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, and the drink offering, all of which pointed to Christ's provision, and his character. And so salt, being a durable preservative, was applied to the sacrifices as a symbol of God's abiding faithfulness, that he will do all that He has promised to do. I might add that the burnt offering along with the other offerings that I just mentioned, will be part of our millennial worship one day, an amazing thought; a tangible memorial that's pointing back to the infinite value of Christ's sacrifice and our devotion to Him. We read about this, for example, in Ezekiel 43, verse 19, and also verse 24. It says, "You shall present them before the Lord and the priests will throw salt on them, and they shall offer them as a burnt offering to the Lord." So in summary, salt symbolizes God's faithfulness and the concomitant or associated consecration of his people to him. Well, what about fire? Well, in the Old Testament, we see that fire was associated with God's revelation of himself, in his Shekinah, in the burning bush with Moses for example. It also revealed God's judgment, like we see the fire upon the Sodomites in Sodom and Gomorrah on that judgment. It also was associated with the purification of God's own people. Remember the burning coal that that came from the altar that cleansed Isaiah, or the divine fire that healed and refines God's people. Malachi three, verse two, "But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiners fire, and like fullers soap. He will sit as a smelter and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, so that they may present to the Lord offerings in righteousness." And so what we see in both the Old Testament as well as the new New Testament is that fire is also associated with purification, with sanctification of believers, which at times can be very painful. I've been there, if you haven't, and you know the Lord, you will be there too. In fact, it's an ongoing thing in my life, as I'm sure it is you, if you will admit that. First Peter one, verse six, "In

this, you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith being more precious than gold, which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ." So with some of this background, we come back to Mark nine in verse 49, "For everyone will be salted with fire." I believe he's saying that all who follow Him, will be purified. As Jesus has mentioned earlier, the fires of eternal judgment will engulf those who persist in unbelief, those who reject Christ and His sacrifice. But the fires of divine testing will purify those who trust in the sacrifice of Christ. Moreover, First Corinthians three, verse 13, "each man's work will become the evident; for the day we'll show it because it has to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work." Beloved, in summary, all who follow Christ must be totally dedicated to him. That's what Jesus is calling them to, must be totally consecrated to him. But that's going to cost us. There's going to be fiery trials and persecution that will come into our lives for our good and for His glory. Romans chapter 12, verse one, Paul says, "Therefore I urge, you," he's pleading with believers here, "brethren, by the mercies of God, I'm urging you to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship." So salting a sacrifice, symbolically expressed the purity and acceptability to God, but that sacrifice also had to be roasted with fire, which I believe helps us explain the clause, "for everyone will be salted with fire." If I could paraphrase it. I would say it this way, every disciple of mine must experience, of salting, like the Levitical sacrifices to make their life and acceptable sweet smelling sacrifice, pleasing to God. But this will require the purifying fires of adversity. And then there's a second mention of salt. He says in verse 50, "Salt is good." And certainly we know that it is is a crucial mineral. It was used back then as it is today, sodium chloride; it was used as a cleansing agent, as a food preservative. I mean, we're all familiar with salting and brining and, and pickling and all those types of things. But it was also an important seasoning that enhances the taste of foods that would sometimes be almost unpalatable because they don't taste very good. I mean, who wants to eat an unsalted cracker? Or a hard boiled egg with no salt? Right? I mean, you get the idea. So he says salt is good, but if the salt becomes unsalted with what will you make it salty again. And indeed, in that region in the Dead Sea, they had to be very careful to process salt properly, to avoid contamination with gypsum. Otherwise it would lose its taste and it would become worthless. In fact, Jesus said in Luke 14:33, "None of you can be my disciple who does not give up all his possessions. Therefore salt is good; but even if salt has become tasteless with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear." So Jesus is here calling his disciples and, calling all of us, to an unwavering resolute commitment to following him to discipleship. And how sad it is to see so many believers today who are virtually worthless as a godly cleansing and preservative agent in a decaying society. As tasteless is tofu, right? I'm sorry, if you like tofu, I can't stand this stuff. No evidence of any resolute bold discipleship. Folks, we need warriors not cowards. You want to ask yourself, Am I a salty Christian? Right? Matthew five, verse 13. Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men." And then finally, in closing, he says, and this is the third in that little trilogy of salt. He says, "Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another." When you've been assaulted with fire, you will be a salty disciple. You will be that cleansing, preserving, unifying force among God's people; you will be that kind of an agent in your marriage, and your family and your church and your workplace and your community. And when you are, you will be at peace with one another. A lesson the disciples needed to learn as we all do. So may I challenge you, dear friends, to examine yourself here this morning. Someone has said that your life may be the only Bible people ever read. You want to ask yourself where am I causing others to stumble? Especially children? You all you want to ask yourself, Where am I allowing sin to ensnare me? Because I need to go after it and I need to kill it. And am I a faithful, dedicated, resolute disciple of Christ? Am I a salty Christian? Is my character defined by those qualities that promote truth and righteousness and the fruit of the Spirit? Or am I as tasteless as tofu? I hope that's not the case. Because if that's the case, you're as worthless as salt that's been tainted with gypsum. The good

news is if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So let's celebrate God's grace, even in the midst of all of these depressing things that we have to examine in our hearts. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, thank You for the Magnificent Truths of your word. apply them to our hearts that we might bear much fruit to the praise of your glory. For it's in Christ's name that I pray and for his sake. Amen.

It is absolutely astounding to realize that the King of heaven, of whom we have just sung has revealed Himself to us, not only in the person in the work of Christ but also in His Word. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark chapter nine, as we continue to examine this gospel verse by verse, And this morning, we will be in verses 42 primarily, but I want to read verses 42 through 50 because as I began to reflect upon the magnitude of this passage, I realized that I needed to divide this up into right now, three parts, we'll see how all of that goes, but we're doing so under the heading "The Danger of Causing Another to Stumble." Before I read the text, let me introduce the concept. This is a very solemn, frankly, a very terrifying passage of scripture. You want to ask yourself, what kind of impact do I have on other believers? Especially children? Does my life promote or hinder their faith in Christ? Am I serious about jettisoning every rebellious attitude and action in my life that might somehow negatively influence another person's faith in Christ. These are the issues that Jesus is addressing in this passage. And what we will see is that the punishment for impeding or harming or destroying another person's faith, especially a child, or a new Christian, is not only sobering, but it is terrifying. And sadly, this is typically ignored. We all know that the evangelical landscape is littered with corpses of those who have rejected Christ largely because of someone in their family or in their church, who have negatively impacted them. And have hurt them and harmed them, deceived them; we can all tell our stories right. Before I read the passage, let me remind you of the context. The disciples had been arguing with one another about who's going to be the greatest in the kingdom, Jesus is talking about dying and, and rising again, and they just don't understand fully what's going on there. So they're wondering, maybe, if they're going to be part of the kingdom that he's going to establish. So Jesus has just finished confronting, and teaching, them about the difference between the sin of pride and the virtue of humility, you will recall in chapter nine, verse 35, he called the 12. And he said to them, If anyone wants to be first, that is to be first in godliness, and garner God's esteem and blessing, "If you want to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all." And sadly, their self promoting arrogance fueled jealousy and strife amongst the brethren, causing them to forfeit God's blessing, to bring chastening upon their life. And so to illustrate the kind of humility that Jesus is talking about, in verse 36, we read that he takes a child, "He sets him before him and taking him in his arms, He said to them, 'Whoever receives one child like this, in My name receives,'" or literally welcomes me, and, "Whoever receives me does not receive Me but Him who sent Me." And certainly, children are ignorant, they're helpless, they're powerless, they're dependent. They have not achieved any status in life. They're largely ignored, and they're in desperate need of love and attention and training and protection. They're too young to even be really corrupted by the world. In fact, Matthew gets even more specific in Matthew chapter 18 and verse three, Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like little children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." In other words, we enter the kingdom of heaven with no status, no power, we need to be loved. We need to be rescued. We need to be forgiven. We need to be protected. We need to be disciplined. In fact, Jesus calls them in verse six, "little ones who believe in me," and certainly this would include believing children. So this is a very serious matter. And for this reason, Jesus reprimanded the disciples who are trying to prevent children, even from approaching him. Remember, in Matthew 19, verse 14, he said, "Let the children alone, and do not hinder hinder them from coming to Me, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." You know, innocent, often fearful, children are leery of coming towards an adult. But isn't it amazing how they came to Jesus? The same will be true with anyone filled with a love of Christ, children will be drawn to them. Other believers will be drawn to them, not repulsed by them, they will feel safe in their care and as God's children aren't we all like children. When you really stop and think about it, we're in desperate need of love and care and protection and provision. And leadership. As I was thinking about this, I was reminded of the hymn that we had sung at our wedding, some 50 years ago, "Savior, like a shepherd lead us much we need a tender care." So Jesus chose a helpless, and dependent child to perfectly illustrate God's adopted children, especially children. And all true believers who have humbled themselves like a child, and come to faith in Christ as their only hope of salvation. And what follows is just one of the most frightening passages in all of Scripture, where Jesus describes his utter disdain for anyone who would dare to cause one of his little ones to stumble literally, to fall into sin and apostasy and unbelief. In fact, as we look at this, we can see his nostrils flare in righteous indignation. And the full terrifying judgment of His wrath is put on full display here, in this passage, we would all do well, to hear and to heed. Now, bear in mind when he was about to say is the very opposite of what was going on with the disciples, right? I mean, they were causing each other to stumble into sin they were arguing about who's going to be first in the kingdom. And of course, with all that type of nonsense, all you do is stir up jealousy and strife. And they even ostracize another believer, remember, in verse 38, and following of chapter nine, another believer serving Christ because that person wasn't in their little group. And so, this really demonstrated how their pride fueled unwarranted intolerance and exclusivity. So that's what's going on here

So let me read the passage to you beginning of verse 42. "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believed to stumble it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. And it's better for you to enter life crippled than having your two hands to go into hell, and the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than having your two feet to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good but if the salt becomes unsalty with what will you make it salty again. Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another."

So here Jesus uses very vivid, dramatic, even hyperbolic language to underscore the danger of causing another believer to fall into sin and unbelief. I've divided the passage into three sections. This morning, we're going to look at the first one, which is a call to realistic self-examination. And then we will later look at a call to radical repentance and a call to resolute discipleship. But notice first, under the heading a call to realistic self-examination, Jesus is telling his disciples here, "whoever", verse 42, "Whoever causes one of these little ones, who believe to stumble." Now let's stop here for a second. The term stumble is from a Greek term "skandalon" and it means to cause to sin, or to cause a downfall. It carries the idea of an enticement or a temptation to sin. It was also used to describe a device for catching something alive like a snare or a trap or a bait stick. I remember when I was a little boy, I used to try to catch rabbits, I would do the little box thing and then have a little stick in there and a carrot. And if the rabbit would come in and get the carrot, it would trip the stick and catch the rabbit. I did catch one time. But that's the idea that we have here in this text. You might think of it this way. It's like putting peanut butter on the trip of a mousetrap, right? And we all know what happens. It was used by Jesus in Matthew 16:23. Remember, Peter tried to prevent Jesus from going to the cross, fulfilling His atoning work on our behalf and Jesus turned his head to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan, you are a stumbling block," a skandalon, "you are a stumbling block to me for you are not setting your mind on God's interest but mans." And dear friends, this will always be the driving force of one that causes others to stumble. They are ruled by their own lust. They're promoting their own selfish agenda, or some ungodly, immoral ideology. And what they will then do is try to influence and try to recruit and even force others to agree with them. In fact, Matthew's account adds even further clarity to Jesus warning. In Matthew chapter 18, beginning of verse three, Jesus says, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever receives one such child in my name receives Me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck, and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." Then he says, "Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks. For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come," in other words, God has sovereignly ordained to allow this to occur. Nevertheless, he goes on to say, "But woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes." So as we come to verse 42, of Mark's gospel, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble," in other words, those who need to be cared for, those who need to be protected, those who need to be respected and loved and disciplined, "it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea." Heavy millstone "onikos mylos" in Greek it means literally, donkey millstone and that is very appropriate in this was the type of millstone that was used in community mills. Now they had small millstones, where they'd have a rock and a little, kind of a doughnut looking other rock that they would use in their homes. And they would grind the flour with that, but this is referring to the large millstone which was a heavy stone shaped like a wheel and it would roll around on another heavy stone on a basin and it would have a shaft through it. And it would be attached to the millstone and attached to a donkey or to an ox that would go around in a circle, you've probably seen pictures of that, and the grain would be placed in the basin where it would be ground into flour. So this was a very familiar analogy to them. Because in that day, in Jesus time, the Romans would employ this type of gruesome execution by drowning criminals with a millstone around their neck, Josephus Flavius, attested to this in his writings. And what they would do is they would tie a rope onto a millstone, and tie it around the person's neck, and then they pitch the millstone off the boat, and it would immediately grab the neck and take you instantly to the bottom of the sea, or sometimes a river. And between the excruciating pain of that on your neck and the water pressure, not to mention the drowning, it would be a horrible way to die. This was also a great indignity to people, because in the Middle East, you need to have a burial, you need to have a grave and this prevented any of that. So Jesus is literally saying, Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for that person to suffer this kind of horrific punishment than the one that awaits for them in an eternal hell. 

Let me give you some examples of what this looks like people that cause little ones to stumble. We all know of children and baby Christians who have been so negatively influenced by wicked people, that their walk with Christ was profoundly wounded, if not completely destroyed. We know of children who grew up in physically and emotionally, spiritually abusive homes. Eventually they want nothing to do with Christ. They lived with parents who are Christian in name only, hypocrites, pretend Christians. Eventually kids get wise and they see the sham and they want nothing to do with it. We've all seen that before. I think of Ephesians six and verse four where Spirit of God speaks through the Apostle Paul and says "Fathers do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord." You can cause your child to stumble with harsh criticism and legalism, double standards, unfair rules, unfair and unrealistic expectations, disciplining out of anger, not loving your wife, marital conflict, breaking promises, failing to teach them the word and on and on it goes. Think of the brazenly immoral young woman who dresses seductively for the very purpose of somehow eliciting a lustful response from other men. Frankly, this is the norm now on social media and Hollywood. Or the adulterous woman who, as we read in Proverbs seven beginning of verse 21, "With her many persuasions, she entices a young man, with her flattering lips she seduces him. Suddenly, he follows her as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as one in fetters to the discipline of a fool until an arrow pierces through his liver, as a bird hastens to the snare, so he does not know that it will cost him his life." Think of the horrible influence of superficial churches that are led by people that God has not called, God has not gifted. God has not equipped their self-appointed worldly, many times immoral pastor. Sunday school teachers, youth leaders who lead little ones into sin and to error. By the way, it's not always because of what they teach, but most of the time, because what they leave out. Young people are never trained properly. They're never discipled, they're spiritually malnourished. They grew up to be weak and undiscerning, vulnerable to false doctrine, and the temptations of the world and eventually the kids grow up. They spot the hypocrisy. They don't really know what to do with all of the superficiality, and suddenly they get indoctrinated by some ungodly teacher or professor, or friend, and the rest is history. 

Think of the charlatans that are out there today that deceive young undiscerning Christians. Consider the atheist professor in our colleges and universities that do everything they possibly can to ridicule the beliefs of our children, causing them to deny, for example, God as creator. And of course, the most glaring example today of those who are causing especially our children to stumble is the woke LGBTQ agenda, where people indoctrinate young people to celebrate immoral practices that God abhors. Gay and Lesbian pastors, painted up pedophile perverts, drag queens, presenting Children's Bible stories in worship services. Dear friends, it would be better for them to have a millstone tied around their neck and thrown into the sea than what awaits them, lest they repent. By the way, this is a huge danger for our children today. You must understand that the clear priority of the woke LGBTQ agenda now being embraced and celebrated by many churches that that hold of these things, the goal of all of that is to indoctrinate and recruit and seduce our children. You must understand that homosexuals aren't born, they're recruited. 

You know kids love social media and I was reading some research. They estimate now that there's 500,000 sexual predators online every day. They comb through social media, especially with our kids to try to connect with them. And they estimate that one out of nine kids are approached every day, on the internet through social media, they connect with them, and then eventually they meet with them. And then they are abused. We see this especially in what's called CSAM, Child Sexual Abuse Merial, child pornography. They say that it has increased by 15,000% over the last 15 years. These people cause our children to stumble. I looked on the website of the National Education Association. I comb through it and I clicked on one section that called NEA LGBTQplus resources. Here's what it said. By the way, these are the ones in our public schools that are teaching our children right. "This resource page is designed to provide educators with LGBTQ plus information, tools and resources they need to support transgender and non-binary students to be more inclusive of LGBTQplus history in their classrooms, and to stop LGBTQplus bias and intolerance in our public schools." I looked at the Planned Parenthood website. And besides things that you could click on regarding abortion services, HIV services, birth control services, etc. I noticed it said "Planned Parenthood is proud to provide a safe and welcoming place to get transgender nonbinary hormone therapy. We offer services to transgender women, transgender men and non-binary people services include estrogen and anti-androgen hormone therapy testosterone hormone therapy, puberty blockers." You've heard me speak of California's Bill AB 957. That would require a quote "a parent's affirmation of the child's gender identity as part of the health safety and welfare of the child" end quote. This means that any organization, if this has passed, and it's moving in that direction, it means that any organizations that interact with children, including churches and schools would be required to affirm quote, "gender transitions even in minors or risk charges." California courts would be given complete authority under Section 3011 of California's family code to literally remove a child from his or her parents home, if that parent disapproves of the LGBTQ ideology. There's a new hate crime bill in Michigan, in the Michigan House they're trying to pass, its House Bill 4474 is supposedly designed to protect individuals from harassment and intimidation which encompasses any act that quote, "would cause a reasonable individual to feel terrorized, frightened or threatened." And this would include, quote, "gender identity or expression." And they define that as quote" having or being perceived as having a gender related self-identity or expression, whether or not associated within an individual's assigned sex at birth." And so as you read through this, what you see is this is a smokescreen to attack anyone who, for example, would misgender a transgendered person, or do as I'm doing today, warn other people about the dangers of this, especially with respect to God's judgment. It would make preaching against homosexuality considered to be quote, "harassment and intimidation." And therefore you are quote "guilty of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than five years or by a fine of not more than $10,000." This is where we're going folks. You know, it's fascinating, those who cause our little ones to stumble, seem to have their own name these days in our culture, they're called influencers. I kept hearing this about different people. And I looked it up an influencer. They say, "influencer marketing is a form of social media marketing involving endorsements and product placement from influencers, people in organizations who have a purported expert level of knowledge or social influence in their field." And I looked up some of the top influencers today. And I can assure you that absolutely none of them are influencing the millions of followers, mostly young people; they're not influencing them to come to faith in Christ and serve him. They're doing just the opposite. And of course, you've heard of the transgender influence influencer named Dylan Mulvaney, I believe the whole Bud Light controversy, a guy that pretends to be a woman all dressed up like a woman, you've seen that. But you know, what's really startling is you have an increasing number of ostensibly evangelical people that embrace this filth. All of it designed to groom and seduce our children. And I come back to what Jesus said in verse 42. "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe, to stumble, it would be better for him if with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he would be cast into the sea." By the way, if you see these kinds of people in the church, the apostle Paul tells us clearly what to do. Romans 16 Verse 17, "Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances there's the same word "skandola," Those that cause others to stumble, "keep your eye on them, who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching, which you learned and turn away from them." 

So folks, Jesus is serious about protecting His redeemed, those that he has purchased with His very blood, those that are united to him. Let me elaborate a little bit more on this millstone drowning, execution, and why it would be better for that than a punishment in hell. Let's look for a moment at Matthew 13. You remember in that text Jesus gives the parable of the wheat and the tares and agriculture. A tare was a type of wheat, they believe it was probably what was called a darnel, that was virtually indistinguishable from wheat until the head matures at harvest time. And often what wicked people would do to attack their enemies, they would sew these tares in their wheat fields, and that would ruin the crop. And here in Matthew 13, Jesus uses this wicked procedure to picture Satan's strategy of deliberately planting his followers in churches to grow up undetected, with other true followers of Christ. And it's extremely difficult, and often impossible to distinguish between the true and the false. But the tares will inevitably be the satanic plants that will cause genuine believers, especially our children and our young people, to stumble, to depart from the faith, to believe lies. So in Matthew 13, verse 39, Jesus said, "The enemy who sowed them as the devil," by the way them refers to back in verse 38, the tares are "the sons of the wicked one." So the enemy who sows the tears of the sons of the wicked one "is the devil. And the harvest, he goes on to say is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age, the Son of Man will send forth his angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom, all stumbling blocks," literally in Greek, "all causes of sin," which would include all of those that have led others into sin and unbelief. "And those who commit lawlessness." Fascinating phrase, Jesus spoke of this in Matthew seven, verse 23, "those who practice lawlessness." In other words, those who have no fear of God, and who will do everything they possibly can to live in rebellion against Him. Jesus spoke of this, especially with respect to the scribes and the Pharisees in Matthew 23, verse 28, he described them "as those who outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly are full of hypocrisy, and lawlessness." So again, in Matthew 13, verse 41, we read, that a day is coming when "the Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness and will throw them into the furnace of fire." The term "throw" carries the idea of grabbing something and flinging it, casting it. It denotes the use of supernatural, irresistible power and righteous indignation. It carries with it the idea of abhorrence of utter disdain. They will be thrown into the "furnace of fire", and then we read "in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth," which is a reference to hell. In fact, Mark will go on to state in verse 43 of our text "if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off, it is better for you to enter life crippled than having your two hands to go into hell into the unquenchable fire." The term hell is "geenna" that occurs 12 times in the New Testament, and it refers to the Valley of Hinnom on the East West Valley, at the south end of Jerusalem, you can read about this, for example, in the Old Testament in Jeremiah seven and verse 31. He speaks of the "high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom." The term Topheth comes from a Hebrew word "toph", for drum. And this was significant because in the Valley of Hinnom, was where the ancient people of Judah sacrifice their children to the god Molech by throwing them alive into a burning fire. And they would do this to the sound of beating drums to drown out the screams. Later, it became a place where dead bodies of criminals and animals would be buried. And so because of this, what we see in the New Testament is that New Testament writers and Jesus as well used this, this smoldering dump that reeks of future faction to symbolize hell. A place of eternal punishment, a place of eternal banishment, the eternal abode of the damned, who rebelled against God, who mocked Him and who caused his little children to be trapped in sin, to be enslaved by deceptions, many of them to apostatize. 

Back to Mark nine verse 44. Mark adds on several occasions here, he speaks of it "where the worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." Devouring worms would normally feed upon a rotting body upon that rotten flesh until it's all decomposed but not so in eternal hell. You really shouldn't take this literally, but figuratively to give you the idea of everlasting continuation. By the way, this comes from Isaiah 66, verse 24, "Then they will go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched and they will be an abhorrence to all mankind." You say, you know, I don't believe in hell, I don't believe in all that stuff. You know, you're in good company, most people don't. But you will. And all I can do, is in love, warn you what God has said. The horror of hell is described in other passages. We read it about it, for example, in the the pre kingdom judgments that will happen to the wicked during the time of the tribulation, Revelation 14, verse nine, "another angel, a third one followed them saying with a loud voice, If anyone worships the beast, and his image," referring to the coming Antichrist, "and receives a mark on his forehead, or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the couple of His anger, and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone and the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. They have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name." Revelation chapter 20, beginning in verse 12, "And I saw the dead," John said, "the great and the small standing before the throne and books were open, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."

Dear sinner, please hear me. If this applies to you, and you will know it in your heart, you must understand that if you cause others to rebel against the Most High God, the fate that awaits you transcends anything that you could possibly imagine. Because a holy God will not be mocked. And your eternal destiny will be horrific beyond words. Again, Matthew 13:42 The Son of Man will send forth His angels and will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness and will throw them into the furnace of fire in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." There we understand that those that will go to Hell will have a resurrected body that is suited for eternal torment. In fact, we can see that some of their physical faculties will be operational, they will be able to weep, gnash their teeth. You see, this describes the eternal conduct of those who have caused God's little ones to stumble. Weeping signifies the unimaginable horror and helplessness of their eternal judgment and gnashing, or it could be translated grinding of teeth, is an expression of intense hostility, of utter hatred and rage directed towards God. We can see a glimpse of this, for example, in the fourth bowl judgment, described in Revelation 16. In verse nine we read that during that time, "Men were scorched with fierce heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give Him glory. Can you imagine that? To know that this is God pouring out his judgement upon you and upon a wicked world and instead of bowing in repentance you blaspheme him. Dear friends the damned will blaspheme God for eternity as they weep and grind their teeth in unending fury and torment. Nevertheless, at that time, all the mocking, all the ridicule, all of the lies and empty threats against the Most High will be forever stopped. All that will be heard will be weeping and the gnashing of teeth. We also know this will be a place as Jesus said of outer darkness, Matthew 22:13. Can you imagine being in a place where there is absolutely no light? And aren't we beginning to see the light of righteousness and truth being extinguished in our culture. Matthew 8 in verse 12, "The Sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness and in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." In other words, this will be a place of solitary confinement forever removed from the Light of the glory of Christ and the glory of the eternal state. Dear friends the horror of hell transcends all human experience, and it exceeds the limits of our imagination and this is why it would be better for a man or woman who causes a child or an immature believer, or any believer, to stumble in to sin and unbelief, to have a heavy millstone tied around their neck and cast into the sea. No wonder Jesus would say in Matthew 18:7, "Woe," in other words cursed, damned, "to the world because of its stumbling blocks! For it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come; but woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes! Dear Christian, may I speak to you very clearly here, you must understand that how we treat other believers reflects on our attitude towards Christ. How we treat others is how we are treating Christ. Because every believer has been purchased by his blood and is forever hidden and united to him. Remember Mark 9:37, "Whover receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me." And this is what Jesus is wanting us to understand. You remember on the road to Damascus when the Lord Jesus Christ confronted the zealous Christian killer, Saul of Tarsus, who later became the Apostle Paul. We read in Acts 9:4, he demanded of him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" Jesus parable in Matthew 25 beginning in verse 34 says this great reality, let me read it to you. "Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' The King will answer and say to them, "Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.' Then He will say to those on His left, 'Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels, For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink, I was a stranger, you did not invite Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, you did not visit Me. Then they themselves will also answer, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you?' Then He will answer them. 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'" 

Dear friends, how we treat other believers is how we treat Christ. It's a reflection on our love for Him, and all who are belong to him. You know, John makes this very clear that any professing Christian that does not love fellow believers is a phony, we read it earlier. Let me read some of it again, first, John three, verse 14, "We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides and death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." So with all of this, don't you know that the disciples are examining themselves with brutal honesty? As we all should, right? Whenever the penetrating power of the light of divine omniscience that comes through the word of God falls upon us, it exposes us. This is why Paul said in Second Corinthians 13, beginning of verse five, "Test yourself, to see if you were in the faith, Examine yourselves, or do you not recognize this about yourself, that Jesus Christ is in you, unless indeed, you failed the test." So sobering. The power of self-deception, beloved, I come back to it over and over again, because I've lived long enough to see what happens in people's lives when they pretend to be Christians, and they're not. Like Judas Iscariot, who profess Christ, called him Lord, left everything to follow him. But he did not love Christ. And he did not love others, he loved himself. And when we truly love Christ, we will love those who belong to him, including baby Christians. And when we love in that way, the last thing in the world we would ever do is cause one of them, through our example, through our words, to stumble into sin, or error, or unbelief. Instead, as Paul said, In Colossians, one, verse 28, "We will proclaim Him, admonishing every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, so that," here's why, "we may present every man complete in Christ." He went on to say, "For this purpose I labor, striving according to His power, which mightily works within me." So may I challenge you, as we close this morning, examine your heart dear friend, father's, mothers, husbands, wives, think of all the ways that we are perhaps causing little ones to stumble, to be led away from Christ. Charles Spurgeon said, quote, "Inconsistent professors are the greatest stumbling blocks for the spread of the cause of Christ.” Folks, may we not be among that group, so let's examine ourselves. And I might also add that if you are in that camp and you feel convicted, over the influence you have had on others, may I give you the good news of the gospel, that there is forgiveness for all who come to Christ in humble childlike faith and cry out for his undeserved mercy and grace and he will forgive you and he will change you and He will use you for His glory and you will enjoy the fullness of what it means to be forever united to the lover of your soul. Let's pray together. Father, thank you for your word and that speaks so clearly to each one of us. May we all examine our hearts because we find ourselves failing in certain areas of our life. But Lord, certainly there are those that do not know you that literally live to do nothing more than cause others to stumble. Protect our children from them, and use us as fathers and mothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, use us, to warn them to protect them. We thank you for the hope and the salvation that is ours in Christ. Fortune, his name that I pray. Amen. .

This morning, we come to a very powerful text that contrasts humility with pride. It's also a very practical text. And as I'm sure you will agree, the sting of the lash will fall on all of our backs this morning. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark chapter nine, we will be examining verses 30 through 41.

Let me read the text to you, Mark nine, beginning with verse 30. "From there, they went out and began to go through Galilee. And He did not want anyone to know about it. For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, 'The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.' But they did not understand this statement and they were afraid to ask Him. They came to Capernaum; and when He was in the house, He began to question them, 'What were you discussing on the way?' But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. Sitting down, He called the 12 and said to them, 'If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.' Taking a child, He set him before them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them, 'Whoever receives one child like this, in My name, receives Me; and whoever receives me does not receive me, but Him who sent Me.' John said to Him, 'Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.' But Jesus said, 'Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me. For he who is not against us, is for us. For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he will not lose his reward."

I'm sure you will all agree that we live in a very self-centered, egotistical world, a me first society. If you disagree with that you have never driven on the interstates right? And people are absolutely obsessed with personal rights, legal rights, and many are obsessed with not being offended. I've learned a new term over the last I guess, couple years "micro aggressions." I'd never heard of anything like that. To make sure I have it right, I looked it up. Merriam Webster Dictionary says that microaggressions are "a comment or action that subtly and often unconsciously, or unintentionally expresses a prejudiced attitude toward a member of a marginalized group." And it has been my studied observation that the marginalized groups are always leftist, immoral, and anti-Christian groups.

So today, we walk around on eggshells, so to speak, trying to be very careful to say or do the right thing, and now we've got another term, "misgender," misgender is using a word or pronoun that does not reflect a person's gender identity. And so if you don't use the right pronoun, then you are in trouble. We must join their delusion and celebrate their insanity and so forth. And of course, with all of this, we have another term that I had never heard of until a few years ago and that is the term snowflake. We have a culture filled of snowflakes. It is a derogatory slang term for a person, implying that they have an inflated sense of weakness and unwarranted sense of entitlement. They are overly emotional, easily offended and unable to deal with opposing opinions. And then we've got another new concept in our culture, and that is safe places. My goodness, when I was growing up, there were no safe places, you learn to survive, right? But a safe place is typically something on a college campus where people can communicate and commiserate and figure out how to retaliate against those who have somehow offended them. And of course, the only ones offended typically are liberal progressives. In fact, offending Christians is an applauded virtue today in our culture. So what drives all of this? Well, the answer is real simple, Pride, the basis of all sin. In fact, pride is one of the seven abominations that God hates that we read about. In Proverbs six for six and following. To be proud, biblically or arrogant means to possess and to manifest attitudes of unwarranted importance. To have an exaggerated sense of one's own importance and abilities. You often hear the term narcissist, again, that's a proud person, one that is desperate to be admired. And when you look at the proud person, and by the way, now I'm going to describe every one of us at some level. A proud person tends to be unteachable, feeling as though they are better than others impatient, opinionated, hot headed, unwilling to listen to have a disdain for opposing opinions. Many times they defy authority, they lack empathy. In Proverbs 16 Verse five, we read, "Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. Assuredly, he will not be unpunished."

The 19th century British theologian and preacher JC Phillpotts said this, quote, "Of all sins, pride seems most deeply embedded in the very heart of man. Unbelief, sensuality, covetousness, rebellion, presumption, contempt of God's Holy Will and word, hatred and enmity against the saints of the Most High deceit and falsehood, cruelty and wrath, violence and murder. These and a forest of other sins have indeed struck deep roots into the black and noxious soil of our fallen nature. And interlacing, their lofty stems and gigantic arms have wholly shut out the light of heaven for man's benighted soul, but," He says, "these and they're associated evils do not seem so thoroughly interwoven into the very constitution of the human heart. Nor so to be it's very lifeblood, as pride were last may have no power covetousness no dominion and anger, no sway. There down down in the inmost depths, heaving and boiling like the lava and the crater of a volcano, works that master sin, that sin of sins, pride."

Peter and the disciples had to learn this. And they were, as we're going to see, having to learn this the hard way. And they did eventually. For example, Peter would say in first Peter five, five, "Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble." And James says in chapter four, verse 10, "Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you." But of course, this kind of humility aspersion, especially in the presence of the Lord, is seldom found in our culture. In fact, today, we even have pride parades. In fact, June is Pride Month, where the most morally bankrupt people in our culture celebrate their perversions, so that they can fight their shame and the social stigma of their particular movement. And sadly, an increasing number of professing Christians embrace and promote these things. In fact, Paul describes them in Philippians three, beginning at verse 18. "They are enemies of the cross of Christ whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things." Not to be sure, Satan has ingeniously designed his world system in opposition to God, to cater to this wickedness within us. In fact, we read in first John two and verse 16, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father, but is from the world."

Dear friends pride is at the very heart of road rage. It is at the heart of bigotry and hatred. It is what fuels slander and gossip. It is the poison well of, of sexual and physical abuse. It's what ruins marriages, what destroys families. It's what fuels political rancor and causes church splits. Pride is the secret motive of criticism. In fact, demeaning others makes us feel superior or so we think. Pride makes us controlling and contentious, combative. Pride will make us the hero of all of our stories, right? Pride will cause us to dominate conversations so that we end up talking about ourselves. Pride is what will cause us to dominate a Sunday school class with all of our incredible wisdom. Pride is what makes us the hero of our every story. It causes us to seek the spotlight, to be the center of attention. And it will even hide in the shadows of our perceived humility so that others will somehow notice us and applaud us for our humility. Like the guy that wrote the book, "Humility, and How I Achieved it Overnight." Pride has an insatiable appetite for praise. And it will take advantage of every opportunity for self-promotion. It is a wickedness that we must all fight. In fact, self-promotion is that jet fuel that drives social media. Pride will cause us to exaggerate our strengths and minimize our weaknesses and failures. It will cause us to flaunt our wealth, our prowess, our wisdom, and parade our possessions.

As we look at Scripture we see that pride originates in self-righteousness, like the Pharisee, who stood and prayed in Luke 18 "God I thank You that I am not like other men." Pride originates, as well, in unsanctified knowledge in First Corinthians eight knowledge that will even puff up a mature believer who has an accurate but egotistical understanding of his liberty in Christ causing him to feel superior and look down at his weaker brother.

Pride also originates in inexperience. This is why we are told to never put a new or immature believer in a position of leadership, First Timothy three six, "Lest he become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil." And of course, that condemnation was due to his pride. Pride originates in the possession of wealth, the possession of power, just look at Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar and Hezekiah and Herod, and so many other leaders that we've seen down through history. And of course, we witnessed this all the time, in our politicians and our celebrities. Pride leads to a contempt, the Bible says, a contempt for God's word, and even for its ministers. Biblically, we see that pride leads to a persecuting spirit, wrath, contention, jealousy, strife, self-deception, factions, disunity. And what's fascinating is it will always be followed by shame debasement and destruction and deed as we read in Proverbs 16, verse 18, "Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall."

You may recall that this was Paul's great concern for his brothers and sisters in Corinth. And by extension, his concern for all believers. You will remember that they were, they were polarized in their congregation because of their philosophical ideas, which was typical of their culture, where they promoted various opinions and philosophers, and they formed cliques. And ultimately, they would promote themselves and discredit other people. And they brought all this stuff into the church, you will recall, "I am of Paul, I'm of Apollo's, I'm of Peter, I am of the Lord." And there you have it. And confronting that arrogance in First Corinthians four and verse seven, Paul says, "For who regards you as superior?" In other words, who made you keeper of the gate, who puts you in charge of determining who is better? It reminds me of Diotrophes, you will recall in Third, John nine, the phony church leader who likes to put himself first and does not acknowledge our authority, who refuses to welcome the brothers and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church. Well that is always a sure symptom of pride, to criticize others to make you look more important.

Psalm 101 verse five, "Whoever secretly slanders his neighbor, him I will destroy. No one who has a haughty look at an arrogant heart will I endure." And of course, the Corinthians arrogance burst into full flame in regards to spiritual gifts, you will recall that they want, they wanted the ostentatious showy gifts in order to show off and garner the most attention and receive the most praise.

And as we come to our text this morning, you must understand that pride was considered a virtue in the first century. In fact, it was very much a product of Aristotle in what is called the Nicomachean Ethics written in about 350 BC. Aristotle said this, and I'm going to quote him. I don't often quote Aristotle when I'm preaching, but I will today so that you get an understanding of where the people were thinking, including the disciples. He said, "Now the man is thought to be proud, who thinks himself worthy of great things being worthy of them." He goes on to say, "the proud man, since he deserves most, must be good in the highest degree, for the better man always deserves more and the best man most. Therefore, the truly proud man must be good, and greatness and every virtue would seem to be characteristic of a proud man." And on it goes.

And of course, the Jewish scribes and Pharisees were the proudest of the proud. They were the striding peacocks with the most colorful plumage. We read about this, for example, in Matthew 23, Jesus said in verse five, "But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men, for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the marketplaces, and being called Rabbi by men." In fact, Jesus illustrated the kind of wicked contempt that the self-righteous had towards others that they deemed beneath them. In Luke chapter 18, beginning in verse nine, a little parable here, "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and was praying that this to himself, 'God, I thank you that I'm not like other people swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week I pay tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collectors standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast saying, 'God be merciful to me, the sinner!'" Jesus went on to say, "I tell you, this man, went to his house justified rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted."

Well, this was the proud culture in which the disciples existed. These were many of their role models, until they met Jesus, who described himself in Matthew 11, verse 29, as quote, "gentle and humble in heart." And to think as we read in John 13, for example, the creator of the universe, humbled Himself and washed their feet.

Now, remember the context here, as we come to our passage this morning, Jesus has just instructed His disciples concerning faith and now he's going to address the issue of pride through both precept as well as example. And he's doing all of this in preparation for his departure, back into glory, preparing them for the battles that lay ahead. Battles, not only from without, but also from within. He wanted them to grasp, for example, the magnificent truth that we read about in Isaiah 66 verses one and two. There we read, "Thus says the Lord, 'Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool, where there is a house you could build for Me, and where is a place that I may rest for My hand made all these things, this all these things came into being declares the Lord.'" The most exalted sovereign of all right? But he says, "To this one, I will look to Him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at my word."

To be humble and contrite of spirit is to be fully aware of the damage that has been wrought by your sin, and your personal inability to stand before the presence of a holy God. And a person who trembled at God's word is a person that has a passionate longing to please God to honor God in his life, to honor him in his heart, the spiritual temple where God dwells with His redeemed. And what we read in this passage, is that God's loving gaze is fixed upon those who bow, the lowest, in worship of Him. And those who are most fully aware of their sin, and their undeserved mercy. Those are the ones that will have a scrupulous sensitivity to the Word and the will of God and they will tremble before it. That's what gets God's attention.

So back to our texts in verse 30. We read, "From there," in other words from the Gentile region of Caesarea Philippi, where Christ had been transfigured. "From there, they went out and began to go through Galilee and He did not want anyone to know about it." Remember, now, Jesus priority is now on instructing his disciples. And so he's not going to do as much with the public as he has been doing. There's going to be less contact with the public. Verse 31, "For He was teaching His disciples and telling them, 'the Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.' But they did not understand this statement, and they were afraid to ask Him."

Now remember, this shocking statement is coming on the heels of Jesus astounding exorcism of the little demon possessed boy, absolutely overwhelming. So for him to now say this seems like a non sequitur. It's like, logically it doesn't flow from the majesty that we just witnessed. I mean, how could the Messiah who has power over demons allow men to kill him? So they're, they're wrestling with all of these things, and Jesus knows it. To give us further clarification, Luke tells us in Luke nine beginning of verse 43, "But while everyone was marveling at all that He was doing, He said to His disciples, "Let these words sink into your ears, for the Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.' But they did not understand this statement. And it was concealed from them so that they would not perceive it. And they were afraid to ask him about the statement." You see, what Jesus is doing is, is planting the seeds of redeeming grace in their mind, Some magnificent truths that would be fully revealed later on after His death and His resurrection. But he did not want to communicate to them the horrifying details of his torture, and of his execution, it would be too much for them to bear.

Moreover, as I say, he would conceal the full implications of his atonement, until they could better understand it after his resurrection. In fact, later on in Luke 24, you will recall how Jesus suddenly comes in appears before his forlorn and his amazed disciples in his resurrected body. Remember, he shows them his hands and his feet and ate some broiled fish and some honeycomb. And we read this in Luke 24, beginning in verse 44. "Now, He said to them, 'These are my words, which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets, and the Psalms, must be fulfilled.' Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures and He said to them, 'Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all of the nations beginning from Jerusalem.'" So later on, they're going to understand all of these things and later on he's going to open up their mind. And they will get it, but right now he has bigger fish to fry, so to speak, concerning an issue, namely, their pride. Verse 33, Mark nine, "they came to the Capernaum; and when He was in the house, He began to question them, 'What were you discussing on the way?'"

Now, he was well aware of what they were discussing. But he wanted to highlight their immature, childish bickering. He wanted to expose all of that talking about their status, who's going to be the greatest? And certainly for the disciples, they're thinking, okay, Jesus is talking about dying. Okay, who's gonna take the lead when he's gone? Don't you know that had to come up? We don't necessarily read that in scripture, but it would appear that that would be a logical topic of conversation. And some of them were probably also saying why, why is it that that Peter, James, and John got to go with Jesus up on the mountain? We didn't get to go. And maybe Peter, James, and John, were thinking, boy, we got to go up on the mountain. Y'all didn't get to. I'm sure all of those types of things. And that's just part of the flesh. Right? How we operate.

Later in Mark 10. Mark is going to record how James and John put in a bid to Jesus to be the most prominent in his kingdom. There we read. And Mark 10:37, "They said to Him, 'Grant that we may sit one on Your right and one on your left in Your glory.'" My, talk about throwing Peter under the bus, you know, you got a left and a right. Where's Peter gonna be? Right? Obviously, they had not yet understood the humility of Jesus dying on the cross. You know, it's really sad when you think about it. You've got calloused, self serving disciples that were more concerned about their own status than Jesus suffering and death, rather than mourning over Christ's humiliation, they're scheming about their exultation. Now I'm sure I would not have done that our you would have done that. But sadly, they did. Can't you just see our own flesh and all of this type of stuff.

So here Jesus is painting a jarring contrast between selfless humility, and their self-exalting pride, their lust for status, their lust for power, and, you know, really, if you think about it, they're still clueless about the real cost of following Jesus. The lessons that Jesus is now going to teach them can be summarized in four sentences. Let me give them to you just as they come.

Number one, we're going to see that pride fuels jealousy and strife, resulting in disgrace and judgment. "What were you discussing on the way?" Verse 34, "But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another, which of them was the greatest." I smiled when I read this. Their response was the same of the Pharisees, who kept silence because of their guilt and their shame when Jesus asked them in chapter three, verse five, "'Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save life or to kill?' But they kept silent."

Sadly, when you think about it, the difference between Christ's greatest enemy and his chosen disciples was somewhat negligible even at this point." They kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another, which of them was the greatest." Why don't you know that was an uplifting conversation, right? Sounds like a bunch of toddlers trying to one up each other, or politicians slinging mud at their opponents right? Beloved, again, pride fuels jealousy and strife resulting in disgrace and judgment. It'll happen in a church, it'll happen in a family. It'll happen in the workplace. James three, verse 16, "Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing." Proverbs 11, verse two "When pride comes, then comes dishonor," or it could be translated shame.

It's interesting in Proverbs 16, verses 18 and 19. Pride is likened to robbery. There we read, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling." In other words, the pleasures of, of of pride and the prosperity of the and all of the things that you're proud about are really short lived and they lead to misery. Then it goes on to say "It is better to be humble and spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud." In other words, what he's saying is the arrogant are like criminals, who thinks they are too clever to get caught, and who are so self centered, they care nothing about the welfare of other people. Make no mistake, dear friends, if you want to place yourself in the pathway of divine chastening as a believer, just live for yourself in arrogant indifference to God and to others.

Luke 14 Verse 11, Jesus warned "everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." I've learned over the years that Facebook is the playground for the proud. I've learned that broken marriages and families are the legacy of the proud. Prisons are filled with the proud and hell will be the eternal abode of the proud.

What a contrast to Paul's admonition for believers in Ephesians, four, remember, beginning in verse one "I, the prisoner of the Lord," he says, "implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit, in the bond of peace."

So again, Jesus asked him, "What were you talking about?" They kept silent, they knew that they were talking about who's going to be the greatest. And then we read in verse 35, "Sitting down," it says, that was the posture of a Jewish teacher; i's like an event is about to occur here, you can just see it. Now he finds a spot and he sits down and he knows, or the disciples know that they're about to get an earful here, the teacher is going to speak and, "He called the 12 and said to them, 'If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all, and servant of all.'"

So first, we see number one that pride fuels jealousy and strife resulting in disgrace and judgment and number two, humility prevents jealousy and strife, and results in honor and blessing. "If anyone wants to be first," to be first means to be first with respect to godliness. If anyone wants to garner God's esteem, and God's blessing, "he shall be last of all, and servant of all." Well, this is just the opposite of what they were used to, the opposite of the scribes and the Pharisees who craved attention, craved affirmation, craved applause, again, who "did the all their deeds to be noticed by men," Matthew 23 and verse five.

We read more of this in Jesus words in Matthew six beginning in verse one, "Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them, otherwise, you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. So when you give to the poor do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full." And of course, seeking the spotlight and constantly tooting your own horn may garner some short term praise from undiscerning people. But dear friends, please understand, it does not impress God. Man looks at the outward appearance right? But the Lord looks at what? At the heart.

You know, the world considers those who follow Christ to be last right? To be the foolish inferior people, the last ones who deserve any honor. Unlike the rich and the famous, we are considered to be the naive the ignorant, the inferior, the dregs of society, but God sees and God rewards the faithful, not the successful. As a steward, we're to be found faithful, not successful. When we stand before the Lord, he's not going to say, well tell me how successful you were. He's going to ask you how faithful you were. How faithful were you with the gifts that I gave you, with the opportunities that I gave you with the responsibilities that I gave you?

Later on in Mark chapter 10. These types of things were going on in the minds of the disciples. And Peter says beginning in verse 28, he said to Jesus, "Behold, we have left everything and followed you." Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters, or mother or father or children or farms, for my sake, and for the gospel sake, but that he will receive 100 times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters, and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions and then the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last and the last first." So again, here, Jesus says, in our text, if anyone wants to be first he shall be last of all, and servant of all. In other words, if you want my praise in the kingdom, you must reverse the common self-assertive, self-aggrandizing human values that dominate Satan's world system in your culture. Choose the loneliest position, prefer the most humble space and out of love for me and others seek to serve rather than to be served.

Paul will summarize this in Philippians two, you will recall beginning in verse three, he says, "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind, regard one another is more important than yourselves. You're not merely look out for your own personal interest, but also the interests of others." Again, humility prevents jealousy and strife and results in honor and blessing. And Paul will go on to give the most magnificent of all examples of this kind of humility. He goes on to say, "Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard the equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself taking the form of a bondservant and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man He humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason, also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name so that at the name of Jesus, every knee will bow, those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Christ, Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Now with this in mind, to illustrate this kind of humility, notice what Jesus does, in verse 36, it says,"Taking a child, He set him before them." He probably took a child and had the child stand before Him. And as we would often do kind of leaned down and put your hands on the child's shoulder or around their chest and kind of loved them. And then it says, "And taking him in His arms," and now he picks the child up. And he says to them, verse 37, "Whoever receives one child like this, in My name, receives Me; and whoever receives me does not receive me but Him who sent Me." You see, to receive literally means to welcome, to willingly allow a person into your company for meaningful, loving relationship. This was utterly foreign to the Jewish culture. Children were a bit of a nuisance, they were to be seen and not heard. The lowest rung on the social ladder. In fact, rabbis believe that teaching any child under 12 the Torah was just an exercise in futility. But here Jesus takes a child into his harms. I find it interesting, the child was not afraid of Jesus. A helpless, ignorant, powerless, dependent child, human being that has no honor, no status largely ignored, but one that is in desperate need of love and attention, and training and protection. Why would Jesus choose a child? Because this was the perfect illustration of God's adopted children in Christ. This pictures us as believers.

This brings us to our third little sentence, we see that humility is validated by love for fellow believers and glorifies Christ. In fact, we must become like children. According to Matthew 18 three, Jesus said, "In order to enter the kingdom," let me read that text for you. Matthew 18, beginning of verse three, Jesus said, "Truly I say to you, unless you are converted, and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest of the kingdom and heaven. And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me and whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, which literally means to cause to sin, it would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea." In fact, Mark will say the same thing later in verse 42, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believed to stumble, it would be better for him, if with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea." In other words, any person that would deceive or entice or trap or influence an unsuspecting believer and cause that believer to believe lies, or to be mistreated, or to live a life of sin, If a person does that, even unwittingly, what Jesus is saying is they have committed a crime that is so heinous, that it would be better for them to experience the horrifying and inescapable punishment, that sometimes the Romans would do, of putting a large millstone, the type that the donkey's would turn on an axis to put that around your neck and throw you into the sea. Now, Mark isn't calling people to become like a child to enter the kingdom as Matthew does, although he will do that later on in chapter 10 in verse five, he'll do the same thing. But instead, Mark's emphasis here is on reversing the the conventional status criteria based upon perceived value, and to humble yourself as a child. Disciples, please hear this. And his point is, this is how we are to treat fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Dear friends, you must ask yourself this question. Does this describe the attitude of my heart? Or do I have a tendency to ignore other believers, to maybe use them, maybe even deceive them? Or to give a bad example before them.

Fathers on Father's Day, we really need to ask this question of ourselves. Because our children, and our wives, and our grandchildren, all of our family, and our friends and neighbors are watching. Like, again, verse 37, "Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me and whoever receives Me does not receive Me but Him who sent Me." Oh Child of God, we must learn to abandon our perceived importance. We must learn to deliberately subordinate ourselves to meeting the needs of others. That's what honors, God that's what brings blessing into our life. You know, this must have had an immense influence on the disciples. Because they had to have been thinking, Boy, we've we've been exposed, you know, in their mind, they're thinking we just got through raking each other over the coals about who's going to be the greatest and now he's showing us how bad that is. And of course, when you act that way, all you do is produce envy, envy and jealousy, and strife.

You want to ask yourself as believers, do you welcome, do you receive other believers into your life? Are you glad to welcome them into your home and into your relationships to care for them? What kind of influence do you have with other Christians? Do people see Christ in you? Or do they just see you? Beloved submission to God as manifested by our submission to others, our love for God is manifested in how we love others. Humility is validated by love for fellow believers and it glorifies Christ. That's why he says, "Whoever receives one child like this, in My name, receives Me and Him who sent Me." You see, this was of enormous importance to Jesus. And the idea of any other believer, luring a little child, even another believer, and certainly that is the analogy here, to do that, to get somebody to believe a lie or to practice evil, to somehow abuse them.

Zechariah tells us that that is like poking your finger in God's eye. Zechariah two eight, "For he who touches you touches the apple of His eye." You know, I've lived long enough to see arrogant, self-centered, self-aggrandizing selfish Christians, even in this church, professing believers, treat others with absolute contempt. Many times, it's subtle, and you don't see it until later on, and then you begin to witness it and you just think, Oh my, I can't believe this is happening. I've seen them demean and deceive and abuse and manipulate and control and even seduce them. And I've also seen God punished them in ways that would stagger your imagination. God is serious about this issue. And this is one that the disciples had to learn.

Fathers, if I can digress for a moment, what kind of godly impact are you having on your children? Your family, your wife? Ephesians sixth verse four, "Fathers do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and the instruction of the Lord." Is that what you are doing? Is that the passion of your heart? Is that the priority of your heart? What would your wife say? What would your children say? May I remind you that the progressive left, which is basically the Democratic Party is waging war, against fatherhood, against marriage and against the family. I recall one of their own Barack Obama when he was running for president made a speech where he claimed that children who grow up without a dad are more likely to live in poverty, commit crime, drop out of school and go to prison. But what was fascinating is by elevating fathers had absolutely infuriated his progressive supporters and as a result, Democrats removed all references of fatherhood, from their 2016, and their 2020 party platforms.

You see, progressives never talk about marriage. They never talk about fatherhood, because they believe that social outcomes are primarily determined by public policy and systemic forces, not individual decisions. Moreover, they believe that it is the state that must control families. Not a father, not a mother, not a family. Or as this is the satanic world system that we're fighting against, and dads, you need to hear this. There is a war going on. We have an enormous responsibility to humble ourselves as fathers, and to love our family love our children, enough to teach them to protect them, to warn them.

So again, we've seen the pride fuels jealousy and strife resulting in disgrace and judgment. Humility prevents jealous jealousy and strife results in honor and blessing. Then we've seen that humility is validated by love for fellow believers and glorifies Christ. And finally, we're going to see that pride fuels unwarranted intolerance and exclusivity.

Now, before we will look at verse 38, and begin to wrap this up, I believe that all that Jesus was saying, was really getting to them. And John is thinking about how he and the others treated a fellow believer that was outside of their group outside of their circle. That's why he says in verse 38, "John said to Jesus, 'Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.'" Now, it doesn't say this, but I believe what he was thinking to himself was, you know, I guess we shouldn't have done that.

Verse 39, "But Jesus said, 'Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name and be able soon afterward to speak evil of Me.'" Obviously, this person was a believer. And then he adds, "For he who is not against us, is for us."

So here we see Jesus warning about unwarranted intolerance and exclusivity. You know what it is, "us for no more, bar the door." We've got the corner on the truth. Now, to be sure, we break fellowship when professing Christians distort the gospel and deny the authority of Scripture. Things like women preachers and churches that do the hokey pokey with all this crazy stuff that's going on these days. We're going to break fellowship with that, that is so dishonouring to God. And by the way, that's the vast majority of evangelicalism today, as we see in Matthew seven. We're told in Second Corinthians six, verse 14, "Do not be bound together with unbelievers for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness or what fellowship has light with darkness or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what is a believer in common with an unbeliever." But folks, this is a very different dynamic than what we have here, what Jesus is talking about. Although even now, in our culture, we may differ with some churches, some denominations on non essentials. But we must never be so proud is to think that we can have no fellowship with them, and that we are somehow better than them, that we are the only ones honoring Christ, we must guard against that.

Let the Lord sort all of those things out. You know, we would do well, to have the same broad minded attitude as Paul expressed in Philippians one, verse 15, interesting passage. There we read, "Some to be sure, are preaching Christ, even from envy of strife, but some also from good will." In other words, some preachers are out there, they don't like Paul, and some of the things he's saying or whatever. They're preaching out of envy and strife. And then he goes on to say, "the latter do it out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the Gospel. The former," in other words, the one preaching out of envy and strife, "proclaim Christ out of selfish ambition, rather than from pure motives, thinking to cause me distress in my imprisonment. What then?" In other words, okay, so what are we going to do here? He says, "Only that in every way whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice. Yes, and I will rejoice." In other words, even when there are men who are insincere and they're preaching, and their underlying motives are not what they need to be, If Christ is being preached, then let's rejoice. Let's rejoice. His word is going to be unleashed even by ungodly people at times, but His Word will either harden or soften hearts. Remember, it's the message not the messenger of God that he uses to save and to sanctify sinners.

Well, finally, Jesus completes his reasoning with a with a final clause that really underscores just the veracity and the solemnity of what he has been saying, verse 41, "For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, He will not lose his reward." Beloved, here in the eternal rewards of humility, divine recompense that exceeds the limits of our imagination that will be revealed to us, given to us and experienced by us in heaven someday. rewards for even the smallest gesture of humble, selfless love, like giving someone who is thirsty, a cool drink of water.

So I challenge you this morning, to contemplate these divine lessons on pride and humility. Examine your life under the light of divine scrutiny and let's humble ourselves and serve Christ by serving others, remembering that if anyone wants to be first he shall be last of all and servant of all, amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank You for these Magnificent Truths. My how they speak to each one of us because we all battle with that unredeemed humaneness that is still within us. May the Spirit of God help us to see these things more clearly and to repent of them, to put them off and put on Christ in a new in a fresh way. We thank You for Your humble, selfless love for us. May we live that out in the lives of our families and our friends, that Christ may be exalted, for it's in his name that I pray. Amen.

This morning we come to Mark's gospel, once again, we're in chapter nine, verses 14 through 29. And I've entitled my discourse to you "Imperfect Faith," something that we can all identify with.

Once again, we have the privilege of beholding the majesty of Christ through the longing eyes of faith. And I might say that if you have no longing for Christ, no real love for him. If he is not your greatest treasure, if he is not the joy and the delight of your soul, then you do not know Him in a way of saving faith. And therefore what you are about to hear, is going to be just another boring sermon. But for those of us who know and love Christ, because of his grace, we will be able to once again see him a fresh and anew. I might add that Second Thessalonians two and verse 10, we see that deceived sinners perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, so as to be saved. And what we see throughout Scripture is a genuine love for Christ, is what distinguishes true Christians from false Christians, from those that just merely say they believe in Him. And that love is what causes us to hunger for his word to long for his return. I trust that each of you will be able to say with Peter, First Peter one, beginning in verse eight, "Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not see him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your soul."

So let me read the text to you. Mark chapter nine, beginning in verse 14, "When they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. Immediately when the entire crowd saw him, they were amazed and began running up to greet him. And he asked them, 'What are you discussing with them?' And one of the crowd answer Him, 'Teacher, I brought You my son possessed with a spirit, which makes him mute; and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground. And he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it. And He answered them and said, 'Oh, unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to me!' They brought the boy to him. When He saw him, immediately, the spirit threw him into a convulsion and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. And he asked his father, 'How long has this been happening to him?' And he said, 'From childhood, it has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us.' And Jesus said to him, 'If You can? All things are possible to him who believes.' Immediately, the boy's father cried out and said, 'I do believe help my unbelief.' When Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirits saying to it, 'You deaf and mute spirit, I command you come out of him and do not enter him again.' After crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out and the boy became so much like a corpse, that most of them said, 'He is dead!' But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him up; and he got up. When He came into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, 'Why could we not drive it out?' And He said to them, 'This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.'"

In order to help you grasp the amazing truths inherent in this text, I have a little outline that I would like to use. We're going to see five headings and five truths that flow from them, we're going to see first of all, a gloating confrontation. Secondly, a gut-wrenching situation. Thirdly, a grievous lamentation. Fourthly a glorious restoration and finally, a god empowering revelation. Now here we will examine issues pertaining to the tactics of the evil one, and his demonic horde that serves him. We're gonna see things relating to how faith and prayer unleash the power of God. And in all of this, we're going to once again see the sovereign majesty and omnipotence of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Now, remember the context, Peter, James and John have been on the Mount of Transfiguration. They have seen the effulgence of divine glory emanating from Christ, a preview of the coming Kingdom. And they are still euphoric over all of this, but also in need of harmonizing what they had just witnessed, which included not just Jesus but seeing Moses and Elijah harmonizing that with Jesus talk of death and resurrection. Again, they're thinking to themselves, okay, if he's going to die and be resurrected, and we're not allowed to talk about it until after that is done, then how soon after that, is he going to restore the kingdom.

So they come down off the mountain, with all of this going on, in their mind. They’re going to reconnect now with the nine other disciples that stayed behind. And what we see here is frankly, reminiscent to what Moses discovered. Remember, after he had been in the presence of God on Mount Sinai, he came down off of the mountain and what did he see? Faithless and fickle people being deceived by religious leaders.

So verse 14, "When they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them." Here we come to our first point, and that is a gloating confrontation. The scribes were probably reveling in the fact that the disciples were unable to exercise the demon afflicting the little boy. However, we also know according to Luke, chapter 11, beginning in verse 53, that the scribes and Pharisees were very hostile, and questioned Jesus on many subjects, plotting against him to catch him in something that he might say. So this is their mindset. They're looking for some reason to discredit Jesus and ultimately destroy him and those with him.

Now, naturally, without Jesus to defend them, the nine disciples were easy prey for these hostile scribes. In fact, in Mark three, verse 22, we read that, "The scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, 'Jesus is possessed by Beelzebul', and, 'He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons.'" And we know that they were already plotting to kill him. They hated him, and they hate everybody that believed in him, that followed him. And the same is true today. May I remind you, dear friends, that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one, first John 5:19. The term world and the original language is "kosmos" and it carries the idea of an orderly system ruled by Satan. And with Satan using human and demonic forces to do everything they can to thwart the purposes of God. And in orderly systems, he promotes depraved values and ideologies and philosophies and false religions and morals. I mean, this is literally the kingdom of darkness, an evil system that's organized and ruled by Satan and his minions. For example, if you want to see where Satan works, look at the education system. Look at seminaries, Bible colleges, churches, look at the media, certainly look at government. In fact, I was reading this week that a recently amended California bill which is a B 957, would add quote, "affirming the sexual transition of a child to the state standard for parental responsibility and child welfare, making any parent who doesn't affirm transgenderism for their child guilty of abuse under California state law.

California courts would be given complete authority under Section 3011 of California's family code to remove a child from his or her parents home if parents disapprove of LGBTQ plus ideology." And by the way, AB957, is scheduled for a hearing in the State Senate on June 13. The whole world lies in the power of the evil one in orderly systems. And this is why we are exhorted and First John two beginning in verse 15, "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh," referring to the evil cravings of sinful men, "and the lust of the eyes," that is the desire to actually see that which the flesh craves, "and the boastful pride of life." In other words, to be puffed up with pride because of who one is or what one owns. If you have that it's, "not from the Father, but it's from the world."

Now, to be sure, the scribes and the Pharisees were part of Satan's world system. In fact, these vices that I just read really defined their character, and therefore attacked anyone that disagreed with them, or spoke out against them. And of course, we see the same thing happening down through redemptive history. In fact, Jesus warned to John 15, beginning of verse 18, "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world. Because of this, the world hates you." I might add, parenthetically, don't be intimidated by this evil world system and those people that try to shout you down. Especially these nice pusillanimous painted up, drag queen, girly men. I mean, they're really hard to take serious. Don't be intimidated by these fire breathing ANTIFA feminazis that have a four word vocabulary that try to shout you down. Just walk away from them don't dignify their existence. Don't try to engage them. Don't cast pearls before swine. But don't be afraid to stand up for the glory of God in your life, in your social media, even though you're probably going to get canceled as soon as Facebook reads it right?

I think of what Jesus said in Matthew 10, beginning in verse 32, "Everyone who confesses Me before men, I will also confess Him before My Father who is in heaven, but whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before my Father who is in heaven. Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." So don't cower in the face of the enemy. First John four beginning in verse four, "You are from God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." And proverbs 29 Verse 25 says that,"The fear of man is a snare," it's a trap, "but he who trusts in the Lord will be exalted." And often I am reminded of God's word to Joshua, in Joshua one nine, "And have I not commanded you," he says, "Be strong and courageous, do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." That has to be our mindset.

Now back to our text. As we can see the disciples now are going to have much to learn. They're still confused over a lot of these things. And what we also see is that in chapters nine and 10, the Lord really devotes himself to teaching them and to preparing them for the battles ahead. So as Jesus, Peter, James and John, come down off of the Mount of Transfiguration they encounter this gloating confrontation. Verse 15, "Immediately when the entire crowd saw Him, they were amazed and began running up to greet Him." Now naturally, it's like, oh, there he is the miracle worker. Here they come. But then notice for 16. Jesus asked them, "What are you discussing with them?" Probably a reference to the scribes. He's confronting them.

Now, of course, Jesus knew exactly what was going on. He knew what the whole debate was about. But he wanted them to give an account. There's no record in the gospels that they answered, they were probably too intimidated to deal with Jesus. But Jesus knew exactly what was about to happen, and how what was about to happen, would silence them. Furthermore, this whole scenario, you must understand, was a profound object lesson regarding the importance of faith, and prayer in discipleship; this is what he wanted the disciples to learn.

So we moved from a gloating confrontation to Secondly, a gut wrenching situation, verse 17, "And one of the crowd answered Him, 'Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; and whenever it seizes him, it slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and stiffens out. I told your disciples to cast it out and they could not do it."

What we have here is a description of a whole body seizure, with a paralyzing effect that corresponds to the grand mal seizures of epilepsy. And Matthew identifies it as such in the Greek in Matthew 17, verse 15, we read, "Lord have mercy on my son, for he is a lunatic and is very ill, for he often falls into the fire and often into the water." Now, the term lunatic is rooted in a Greek word for moon. And so it carries the idea of being "moonstruck" and they believed in those days that the seizures were caused by the moon, that somehow it was affected by the moon and thus, they were called lunatics. Now today, we use the term in a different way that describes irrational crazy nut jobs, you know, and we've got them running around everywhere today. But because the symptoms are consistent with epilepsy, and because in antiquity people really saw those symptoms as being rooted in being "moonstruck," the term is sometimes translated or believed to refer to epilepsy. But I would submit to you that that's not really what the issue was. This is not a physical ideology here. Clearly the condition is caused by an indwelling demon, not by something physical. The child is not merely diseased, he is assaulted. The boy didn't merely fall to the ground, I mean, he is seized and he is thrown to the ground. His condition was brought on by an unclean spirit. In fact, Luke helps us see this in Luke nine beginning of verse 38, "And a man from the crowd shouted, saying,' Teacher, I beg You to look at my son, for he is my only boy, and a spirit seizes him, and he suddenly screams and it throws him into a convulsion with foaming at the mouth, and only with difficulty does it leave him modeling him as it leaves, I beg your disciples to cast it out and they could not." Folks, can you imagine being that father? Can you imagine having that happen to your child? Can you imagine having a child possessed by a demon?

As a footnote, demons are angelic beings, beings that possess great power, but nowhere near the power of their Creator. As we look through Scripture, we can see that they indwell humans and animals, they can physically afflict people, terrorize human, imitate false worship, promote false doctrines and ideologies, perform false signs and wonders, deceive prophets encourage idolatry and even engineer death. As we read in Judges nine, however, they unwittingly serve the purposes of God. Judges nine, verse 23 gives you a little bit of understanding in that regard. And what we see in Scripture is whenever demons encounter Christ, they are absolutely terrified of Christ, then they're terrified of the gospel. They obey Christ. They even obeyed the 12 and the 72 that were sent out. And better yet, this is really good news. They cannot separate believers in Christ from the love of God, Romans 8:38, so don't be afraid of him. And they can be restrained by the Holy Spirit. Second, Thessalonians two and verse six speaks of that, first John four and verse four, as well.

Now I know many times people will ask me, Well, can a Christian be demon possessed? The answer is an emphatic no. While they can indwell nonbelievers, meaning they can literally invade their body and exercise living and dominant control over them, that they cannot resist, we see in Scripture that they cannot inhabit true believers who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit. There is no cohabitation between the spirit and some demon. I mean, we know that we belong to God, not to Satan, right? We have been delivered from the kingdom of darkness and placed into the kingdom of his dear Son, we have been sealed in Christ by the Holy Spirit of promise. Ephesians one and verse three, First, John two and verse 13 and following says that we have overcome the evil one. First, John, "For greater is He who is in you that He that is in the world." First John 5:18. We know that no one who is born of God's sins, but He who is born of God keeps him and the evil one does not touch him.

Indeed, dear friends, as believers, we can be tormented. We can be troubled, we can be oppressed. Externally, I've experienced that on numerous occasions, and I'm sure you have. This happened to King Saul in the Old Testament. It happened to Paul in the New Testament, who according to second Corinthians 12 seven was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment him. But we cannot be demonized. We cannot be spatially indwelt by a demon, nor is there any warning anywhere in Scripture that speaks of that, or how to deal with that. And for this reason, I might add that any so called ministry that claims to deliver indwelling demons from Christians is a fraud. Run, don't walk from that stupidity. It’s as ridiculous as offering hysterectomy is for men. You cannot remove that which is not there, unless you live in the parallel universe of transgender lunacy.

By the way in Scripture, for example, James four seven, "Resist the devil and he will," what? "He will flee from you. “Resist the devil. First Peter five nine says the same thing. We're never told to rebuke the devil or demons, or to exercise them or to bind Satan. We are told to wear the full armor of God, and therefore to stand firm against the schemes of the devil and so forth. Now, I might also add that if you encounter a person that truly does manifest signs of demon possession, as I have on several occasions, there's really two things that you need to do. Number one, cry out to God and persistent prayer and ask the Lord to rebuke the demon. We see this for example with Michael the archangel in Jude nine, There we read, "But Michael the Archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment but said, 'The Lord rebuke you!'" And I can assure you, none of us are even remotely as powerful as Michael the archangel and if Michael the Archangel prayed for the Lord to do something that he couldn't, we ought to do the same.

And secondly, what we need to do is proclaim the gospel. Dear friends, don't ever underestimate that. Unleash the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. This is why Paul said in Romans one and verse 16, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes." Well, enough of demonology this morning, but I wanted to cover a little of that for you to make sure you're not confused about these things.

So we've seen a gloating confrontation, and a gut wrenching situation. And thirdly, now we have a grievous lamentation. "And Jesus answered them and said, 'Oh, unbelieving generation,'" The little word Oh is just an expression of profound frustration. You "unbelieving generation" is people. People of that day, "how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to me!" This is reminiscent of the diatribe that we see in the song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32 Verse five. There we read, "They have acted corruptly toward Him, They are not his children, because of their defect; but are a perverse and crooked generation." Jesus expressed a similar frustration in Mark chapter eight and verse 12, "Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, 'Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.'" We also see it when he rebuked those who doubted his provisions for life. In Matthew six and verse 30. He said, "You have little faith." And also, when he rebuked his terrified disciples in the boat, in the midst of the storm, in Matthew eight, verse 26, he said, "You men have little faith." Now, here in Mark nine, Jesus is frustrated. Certainly with the inadequate faith, resulting in prayerlessness, as we will see, in his disciples, I mean, after all, we know that they had been given authority to rebuke demons. We see that, for example, in Mark three and Mark six; he is also frustrated, even with the feeble faith of the father. And certainly he's frustrated with the absence of faith with the Jewish leaders and the crowd, this unbelieving generation. I mean, these guys were so fixated on discrediting and destroying Jesus, that they had zero sympathy for this poor father and this little boy. Its as if Jesus is saying, What must I do, more than what I have done, to manifest my deity and my power, so that you will trust me? Dear friends, I would ask you that. Do you believe who Jesus is? Do you believe what He says? Do you believe that he can do all of his promises? Do you take him at his word? Or do you doubt him? Or do you come to his word, and because of something you believe or some agenda that you have, twist and distort his word to make it fit your thinking, conform to your beliefs, Do you obey Him?

Well, in verse nine, he says, or verse 19. He goes on to say, "How long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you?" And then he says this, "Bring him to me!" "Bring him to me!" Don't you know that the father was ecstatic when he heard that? Oh the love of Jesus. Jesus takes the initiative. "Bring him to me!" That's the idea. The father is ecstatic. The crowd is electric. The scribes are afraid that they are about to be humiliated once again, because that always happened whenever they encountered Jesus. And I'm sure the disciples are overwhelmed with emotion, it's like what is going to happen now?

This leads us to our fourth point and that is a glorious restoration verse 20. "They brought the boy to Him when He saw him immediately the Spirit threw him into a convulsion. And falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth." Is this amazing? I mean that this is the demon. He's having a terrifying reaction to seeing his creator. What a horrifying and violent scene. Whenever I read these things, I try to in my imagination, look around and see what's on the faces of the people. I've been in somewhat similar situations, where clearly, demonic powers are at work. And it is terrifying. I'm not afraid of very many things. But I'll have to admit when you encounter that type of a scenario, you are afraid because it is something beyond anything that we can imagine.

Verse 21, "And Jesus asked his father, 'How long has this been happening to him?' And the father said, 'From childhood.'" Now, obviously, Jesus already knew because he knows all things, but he wanted others to see the severity of the supernatural torment, and thus magnify the supernatural the nature of the deliverance. Now it's fair to ask, Why would God allow this? And certainly we are not told in scripture. But we do know from scripture that God ordains to allow even evil to exist in his world, to put his glory on display. Like the man born blind from birth that Jesus healed, and John nine, beginning in verse one, "And his disciples asked Him, 'Rabbi who sinned, this man or his parents that he would be born blind? And Jesus answered, It was neither that this man's sin nor his parents, but here's the answer now. It was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.

We see this most vividly in the crucifixion of Christ, do we not? In Acts chapter two and verse 22, we read that Jesus was, quote, "Delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God." And why would that happen? To put the glory of God on display through his wrath, his judgment against sin, but also to put his love on display in Christ, who bore our sins in his body, so that we could see His grace and His mercy, and so forth. So, the distressed father goes on now to tell Jesus more about the terrifying effects of the unclean spirit upon the boy, verse 22, "It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him." So you know that the little child was scarred. And then he says this, "But if You can do anything, take pity on us, and help us!" I'm struck with the word help. "Boetheo", in the original language, it's really a compound word that consists of two smaller words, which is a cry and run, and it means to run, to a call for help.It means to hasten to help someone who is oppressed.

The term was used, for example, in Matthew 15, in verse 25, remember the Canaanite woman whose daughter was cruelly demon possessed, she cried out to Jesus and said, "Lord, help me." And here, this father is begging the Lord, to take pity and run to the aid of his little family. But then he adds this, "If you can?"

Jesus picks up on that in verse 23. Jesus said to him, "'If you can? All things are possible to him who believes." See, Jesus is saying the question is not so much if I am able, but whether or not you believe I am able. And all of this remember is going on to teach his disciples. It's as if he's saying, disciples, are you listening? Are you learning? Because they need to learn the importance of accessing divine power through confident prayer.

As we will see, verse 24. Immediately the boy's father cried out and said, "I do believe; help my unbelief." Don't you appreciate the brutal honesty here; I've prayed the same prayer haven't you? Imperfect faith, we all struggle with it. Help my unbelief. Grammatically, it's a present continuous, active imperative, which means he's saying, Never stop helping me with my weak faith. I need it all the time, every moment.

Later, Jesus will explain the reasons the disciples could not exercise the demon in Matthew 17:20. He said it's because of the littleness of your faith. By the way, as we will see, it wasn't so much that they needed more faith, that wasn't the issue. What they needed to do was to exercise the faith that they had, however imperfect is was by crying out to God to do what only He could do. Again, as Jesus said, "All things are possible to him who believes." By the way, be careful here, all things comprehended in the promise being made, not all things indiscriminately. Jesus also said in John 14, verse 14, "If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." Anything in his name for His glory, etc.

I appreciate what Sinclair Ferguson said in regard to these things, especially with respect to prayer and faith, he says, and I quote, "The struggles we sometimes experience in prayer, are often part of the process by which God gradually brings us to ask for only what he has promised to give. The struggle is not our wrestling, to bring him to give us what we desire, but are wrestling with his word until we are illuminated and subdued by it saying, Not my will, but Your will be done." He went on to say, "This is why true prayer can never be divorced from real holiness. The prayer of faith can be made only by the righteous man whose life is being more and more aligned with the covenant grace and purposes of God, and the realm of prayer to since it is a microcosm of the whole of the Christian life, faith, prayer to the covenant Lord, without works, obedience to the covenant Lord, is dead."

Let me digress for a moment, this is very important, I want you to understand this issue of faith. Many times people are confused. This is just a brief reminder of what Scripture says, in Ephesians, two, eight, we are told that "By grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is a," what? It's a gift of God. It is important for you to understand that it's not the act of faith that saves a man even when that faith is focused on the correct object. But rather, it is the object of faith that does the saving. God the Father who has sent His Son, who has ministered the gospel through the Spirit. And when this happens, in a mystery we can't understand, God works with a human will so that it freely and voluntarily chooses to come to Christ and saving faith, this miracle of regeneration, and then God responds to that act of faith and justifies the believer. An amazing thing, moreover, genuine saving faith involves the whole man, the intellect, the emotions, the will. The intellectual component includes knowledge. In other words, there must be objective truth, which is the conscious object of faith. I mean, faith doesn't operate in a vacuum. Romans chapter 10. in verse 14 says, "How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?" Verse 17 goes on to say "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." But not only is there an intellectual component, there is an emotional component. There is an emotional assent, there is a heartfelt agreement and love for the truth and for who God is and who Christ is. You see, dear friends, and this is very important, faith is more than just mere knowledge. I mean, demons believe and they shudder, right, James 2:19. Judas left everything to follow Christ. He served Christ. He believed in who he was. And today he is in hell. Why is that? It's because he did not love Christ. It's one thing to believe in Him. It's another thing to love him. First, John five, verse one, "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him." In other words, there will be a love of God, there will be a love of Christ, as well as a love for all those who belong to him.

What did Jesus ask Peter? Do you believe in me? No. He said, "Do you love me?" That's the issue. Dear friends, I ask you, you claim you know Christ, you've placed your faith in Him. If it's genuine, saving faith, that means you love him, and you will give yourself for him. Romans 8:28, "We know that all things work together for good to those who love God." Not just those who believe in God, "to those who are the called according to His purpose." James one in verse 12, speaks of those who will, quote, "Receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised, or those who love Him."

In Matthew seven, we know that many will cry out to the Lord on the Day of Judgment, saying, "Lord, Lord!" Jesus says, "They will not enter the kingdom, depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you." Well, what's the deal there? I mean, they believed in Jesus. So why aren't they going to get into the kingdom? Because they didn't love Christ. And when we love Christ, we will obey Him. All of that is a magnificent work of the Spirit. Remember, again, second, Thessalonians, two, nine, or 2:10.

The deceived will be those who perish quote, "Because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved." Well what is the truth? Well it's the gospel, but it's also Christ. "I am the Way the Truth and the Life."

So there is an intellectual component to faith. There is an emotional component and then there is a volitional component. There is a decision to trust there is an act of the will. When a man believes and loves Christ, therefore loves the truth, he will make the conscious decision to reject all of the lies that he's trusted in and depend therefore solely upon the truth of the gospel, the glory of Christ. You see, again, saving faith is a knowledge of, and an assent to, a love for and an unreserved reliance upon the finished work of Christ in redemption, as it is revealed in scriptures.

You know, we often hear the phrase "people of faith", Faith in what? Faith in whom? And typically just refers to anybody that's religious. Hell is going to be filled with people of faith. But there will not be one single person in hell, who truly loved Christ. Because inherit in genuine saving faith. there's a love for Christ. Hebrews 11 and verse six, we read that "Without faith, it is impossible to please Him. For he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him." And scripture is filled with all of the blessings that belong to the redeemed who love Christ. Those things that flow to a believer who lives by faith, the hope, the joy, the peace, the confidence, the boldness in preaching, the soul exhilarating joy of Christ, within one soul. Christ dwells in our heart through faith, we read. And Peter tells us in first Peter two seven, "To you who believe, He is precious.”

So faith is a gift from God whereby a believer will wholeheartedly trust in all that he is, all that he's done, all that he is doing, all that he will do, all that he can do. And at the very core, there is a genuine love for Christ, a reflex of the soul that that delights in him what John Calvin called "pious affections. “That person will hunger and thirst for Christ, will hunger and thirst for righteousness because it gives glory to the one that he loves. That person will surrender all that they are and all that they have to him, they will prefer Him above all else, they will have a joyful commitment to obey Him, they will enjoy him, and therefore they will be dependent upon him, which will be the fuel for prayer. Dear friends, if you have a weak prayer life is because you love Christ very little.

I love my wife dearly. I fell in love with her when I was 16 years old, married her when I was 21. We're about to celebrate 50 years of wedding bliss. And you know what? I love to be with her. I love to hear her voice. I love to serve her. Right? That's the way it is with Christ, when we truly love Him. And when we truly love someone, we want to speak to them, we want to commune with them. If you didn't want to commune with Christ, it'd be like being married to someone, you don't really want to talk with them. You don't want to be around them and what's going on there. That's not genuine love. So our love for Christ will be the fuel for prayer. We love him, we want to honor Him, we trust Him, we depend upon him. Therefore we say, Lord, these issues in my life, all I know to do is cry out to you for help. And that's what this father is doing. You see it was persistent, passionate, dependent, confident prayer that was missing in the lives of the disciples. Again, Hebrews 11 Six, "Without faith, it is impossible to please him." For he who comes to God must believe that He is in other words, you must believe that He is all that he claims to be and can do all that he promises and that he is a rewarder of those who seek Him. And of course the reward is eternal life. It is salvation, it is eternal fellowship. And dear friends, it is answered prayer for the glory of God.

Now back to the historical account. Verse 25, when Jesus saw that a crowd was rapidly gathering, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, "You deaf and mute spirit." In other words, you, the one who has possessed this little child and caused the state, "I command you come out of him, and do not enter him again."

And then we read, "After crying out," the term could be translating, translated shrieking loud shrieking loudly. After shrieking loudly "and throwing him," referring to the little boy "into terrible convulsions. It came out and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, 'He is dead!'" I mean, that's what we would all conclude, right? I mean, we would see the stiff, lifeless child with this ashen, paler. He's dead. "But Jesus, took him by the hand." Isn't that precious? I mean, the Lord could have just raised him up, but he reaches down. And he takes him by the hand, you know how precious it is with a child to take them by the hand. When you talk with your child, you want to look them in the eye, and you want to take them by the hand you want to touch them. You want to engage them that demonstrates your love for them.

He takes him by the hand and raised him up; and he got up. Reminds me of a song we used to sing when I was a little boy. I don't know if we've sung it here. Maybe we have, "Love lifted me, love lifted me, when nothing else could help. Love lifted me." Oh, what a glorious restoration.

And then in verse 28, "When He came into the house," obviously they went now to some place privately together with the disciples. His disciples began questioning him privately, "Why could we not drive it out? “And He said to them, 'This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.'"

And here we come to the fifth and final point, in our little outline, we now see a god empowering revelation. And I might add, it is one that we should all take very, very seriously. It is precious indeed. Now, no doubt, their question was prompted by their public humiliation, right? They couldn't do what they had been doing. And the scribes are just giving down the road. There's the....scribes are gloating over it, but they're also confused. I mean, they've been able to exercise other demons. Why weren't they successful this time? What is going on? Now, we must remember that the New Testament record reveals that there is a hierarchy to demons varying ranks or levels, Ephesians 6:12. And other passages speak of that. And obviously, some are more are more powerful than others. First Corinthians 15:24, speaks of how Christ will eventually abolish all rule and all authority and power. But the demon that indwelt this little boy must have been more powerful than some of the others that they had encountered. However, Jesus frustration here had nothing to do with the power of the demon but rather the deficient faith in His disciples, which was the primary factor in their failure.

Matthew helps us understand this in Matthew 17, beginning of verse 19. "Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, 'Why could we not drive it out?' "And he said to them, 'Because of the littleness of your faith, for truly I say to you, if you have faith, the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, move from here to there, and it will move and nothing will be impossible to you. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.'" You see, what Jesus is saying is even miniscule mustard seed faith, can be effective. The issue is not the amount of the faith or the adequacy of the faith, but the infinite power of God that it employs, what is needed is not more faith. But the exercising of existing faith through persistent, passionate, believing prayer. James four and verse two, "You do not have because you do not ask."

I'm reminded of Luke 11. Remember, the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray. And he gave them a model for prayer, sometimes called the Lord's Prayer. But then he followed that with a parable. And this is appropriate for where we're at here in this text. In Luke 11, beginning in verse five, "Then Jesus said to them, 'Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says to him, 'Friend, lend me three loaves; for a friend of mine has come to me from a journey, and I have nothing to set before him.' And from inside, he, the one who was sound asleep, but has now been awakened with his whole family.

Doesn't say that, but that's what's going on here. He answers it says, "'Do not bother me. The door has already been shut my children and I are in bed, I cannot get up and give you anything. I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything, because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence he will get up and give him as much as he needs. So I say to you ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and it will be open to you. For everyone who asks receives and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks a will be opened."

Then he adds this, "Now suppose one of you fathers is asked by his son for a fish. He will not give him a snake instead of a fish, will he? Or if he is asked for an egg, will he not give him a scorpion? Or he will not give him a scorpion will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children. How much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"

Beloved ours faith is imperfect. We are not glorified yet. But what God wants is for us to exercise the faith that we have by pounding on the gates of heaven. Asking him to help us, to do so with a sense of urgency, with a sense of earnestness with boldness with confidence, Oh father helped me, I'm asking you to do this, to help me so that I can ultimately give You praise and give you glory. We are to cry out to the only one who, according to Hebrews four verse 15, can "sympathize with our weaknesses. One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw nearer with timidity." Doesn't it say that does it?

"Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need." Jesus made the same point in the parable of the persistent widow remember Luke 18, in verse one. Now, he was telling them a parable to show them at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart. You see, dear friends, what we see in scripture is God not only responds to passionate, persistent, persevering prayer, but he desires it. It shows our love and dependence upon him.

Isaiah 62, verses six and seven speaks of never being silent, give God no rest. In other words, plead with him, show him your absolute dependency on him, your love for him, your confidence in him. And your willingness to accept his answer, whatever it might be, whenever it might come, knowing that he is right, and that he is just, and he ultimately acts for our good and for His glory. Paul prayed with passionate persistence, quote, "night and day." And he did so with heartfelt intensity and earnestness. He pleaded with God for the sanctification of others, because he really believed that God hears and God acts for His glory.

Well, this was the lesson the disciples needed to learn, and they did over time. And I trust we will learn it as well may I challenge you first of all? Do you possess genuine saving faith? If so, you will have a genuine love for Christ that will motivate all that you do. And therefore you will have a longing, you will have a desire, you will see him as your greatest treasure. Again, it will be a reflex of your soul, to commune with Him, to honor Him, to obey Him and to cry out to Him to do what only He can do in your life. That's the stuff of real saving faith. And sadly, most of evangelicalism today knows nothing of any of that. They believe, but they do not love. And those of us who do, by God's grace, love Christ. Do you exercise your imperfect faith with passionate, persistent, confident prayer? I hope you do. I hope you will.

Charles Spurgeon said "He who knows how to overcome with God in prayer has Heaven and Earth at his disposal." May this be the passion and the practice of our daily walk with Christ, amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father, as always, we are humbled when we immerse ourselves in your word, because through it Your Spirit speaks to us in such profound ways. And I pray that you will change us to the praise of your glory. And I asked it in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark's gospel chapter nine, we will be examining verses nine through 13, along with some other passages. And we're even going to launch off into Revelation Chapter 11. A little bit different kind of exposition this morning. Before I read the passage, may I say that this is what you might call a flyover passage, you know, what flyover states are where nobody pays any attention to them, right. This is kind of one of those passages where you read and you don't pay much attention, and you just kind of move on. But there's some fascinating truths here in this text that the Holy Spirit has given to us with respect to Elijah like, forerunners of the Messiah. And my goal this morning is to not only help you understand this text and apply it to your life, but to really ignite your heart with anticipation for the Savior's return. I mean, we constantly face all of the wickedness in the darkness of our culture and, and we have to deal with our own sin plus everybody else's sin splattering on us, right. And it's just so wonderful to be able to do as we're told, and to set our minds on things above, not on the things of this earth. And so we want to do that this morning. Now, as we come to this text before I read it, let me remind you of the context. Jesus knew that his disciples were absolutely shocked, even repulsed to hear him predict his coming murder. And they were clueless about his talk of resurrection and how all of that fit into their theology, especially their eschatology of suffering dying and a dying Messiah just simply did not fit their idea of the Messiah of the kingdom. They wanted a conquering Messiah. And they were fixated on the glory of the kingdom, not the glory of the cross, or the resurrection. And he also warned them that they too, must be prepared to sacrifice everything, if they were going to follow him. So in an effort to encourage them and strengthen them, he took Peter, James and John, and allowed them to witness the manifestation of His glory, the effulgence of his Shekinah, coming from him, known as the transfiguration of Jesus Christ, a preview of the of the kingdom glory that we will one day share.

So with that background, now we come to verse nine, of Mark nine. "As they were coming down from the mountain, He gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, until the Son of man rose from the dead. They seized upon that statement discussing with one another what rising from the dead meant. They asked him saying, 'Why is it that the scribes say that Elijah must come first?' And He said to them, 'Elijah does first come and restore all things. And yet, how is it written of the Son of Man that He will suffer many things, and be treated with contempt. But I say to you that Elijah has indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wished, just as it is written of him.'"

I'd like to examine this under three headings that I hope will be helpful to you. First, we will look at these questions regarding Christ's resurrection and Elijah. Secondly, we want to look at Jesus' rather cryptic reply to them. And then thirdly, we want to look at some other texts concerning Elijah's past and future role. Now, let's notice the historical account here more closely. Verse nine, "As they were coming down from the mountain, he gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen until the Son of man rose from the dead." Now remember, what these men had just seen was absolutely terrifying. It was overwhelming. So much so that they fell on their faces in fear. And Jesus according to Matthew 17, in verse seven, had to touch them and say "Get up, and do not be afraid." But now Jesus orders them. Don't tell anybody what you have seen until after I've risen from the dead. And we know according to Luke's account and Luke nine, verse 36, "And they kept silent and reported to no one in those days any of the things which they had seen." Now why? Why couldn't they tell anyone? Don't you know they were wanting to? Well, because news of such a magnificent display of Christ's deity would just throw gas on the fire of messianic expectations that were already burning rather brilliantly. They would force him perhaps to be king, they were already thinking of that we read that in other passages. So that would produce more chaos and confusion. And that would become an unnecessary obstacle in his road to Jerusalem and to the cross. Plus, we must remember that miraculous displays of Messianic glory, whether we see them in healing of diseases or casting out demons, raising the dead, all of those things were merely a means to an end, not the end in and of themselves. The proclamation of the gospel, and the salvation of sinners is the goal. It's all about God and His glory, not man in his needs, something that's grossly twisted in evangelicalism today. And of course, that ultimate goal cannot be accomplished apart from His death and His resurrection, the two central elements of the gospel. First Corinthians 15, beginning of verse 13, Paul says, "if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised, and if Christ has not been raised then our preaching is in vain. Your faith also is vain. Moreover, we're even found to be false witnesses of God, because we testified against God that He raised Christ whom he did not raise, if in fact, the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless, you are still in your sins." You may also remember when Paul stood before Agrippa, he testified, in Acts 26, beginning in verse 23, saying, "the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead, He would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles." And we also know that without Christ's atoning work on the cross, and without his resurrection from the dead, there would simply be no salvation. Romans 10 verse nine, "if you confess with your mouth, Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart, that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." If you don't, you won't. Very clear. So Jesus is saying, don't tell anyone that's just going to distract them confused them. In essence, he's saying I must first conquer Satan, sin and death, not the Romans. All right, so wait until the Son of Man has risen from the dead. Before you tell them what you have seen.

Verse 10, says, "They seized upon that statement, discussing with one another what rising from the dead meant." And this brings us to the first point in our little outline: questions concerning Christ's resurrection and Elijah. So here's what they're thinking, okay? If he's going to die and be resurrected from the dead, and we're allowed to speak about that, after that happens, then how long after that before the kingdom is going to be inaugurated? That's what they're excited about. And you will recall that this issue, along with Jesus prophecy that the temple would be destroyed, is what prompted the disciples questions recorded in Matthew 24 and verse three, when, "The disciples came to Jesus privately saying, 'Tell us, when will these things happen? And what will be the sign of Your coming in the end of the age?'" In other words, surely you're coming in triumph very soon. But you see, they could not envision Christ's ascension into heaven. They could not envision a long intervening church age, they could not envision a second coming of Christ. And this was common. Even in that day, the disciples you will recall on the road to Emmaus were also heartsick, that Jesus had not delivered Israel and established the kingdom and immediately, Luke 24:21. They told Jesus by the way, they didn't know who he was at this point. "But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, it is the third day since these things happened." Still no kingdom. Verse 25, we read, Jesus said to them, "'Oh foolish men, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things, and to enter into his glory?' Then beginning with Moses, and with all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the scriptures." Don't you wish you could have been there to hear that? Well, naturally, between Christ's resurrection, and His ascension back into glory, this was the topic of conversation. And this is what Jesus spent 40 days explaining to them remember, in Acts one, verse three, we read, "To these He also presented himself alive after His suffering by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of 40 days and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God." Then we read it beginning in verse seven, "When they had come together, they were asking him saying, 'Lord, is it at this time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?' And He said to them, 'It is not for you to know times or epochs, which the Father has fixed by his own authority.'" So we can understand why the disciples were asking Jesus about the resurrection. And we can also understand why they were asking him about Elijah, especially after seeing him with Jesus and with Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration, verse 11, "They asked him saying, 'Why is it that the scribes say that Elijah must come first?'" Well, this makes sense. I mean, after all, we just saw him. So here's the kingdom. Furthermore, they understood the current scribal teaching, and the rabbinic texts that by the way, you can still read many of them to this day, they understood what was being taught in these apocalyptic text that describe Elijah as the one that's preparing the way for the coming King in the establishment of the Kingdom. And this is why you will recall in John 1:21, the Pharisees asked John the Baptist, "What then? Are you Elijah?" You can see why they would say that. "And he said, 'I am not.' 'Are you the Prophet?' And he answered, 'No.' Moreover, the disciples understood Malachi's prophecy, remember in Malachi in chapter four, verse five, Elijah's appearance was to come. "before the great and terrible day of the Lord was ready to be unleashed. There we read, "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord." Now, as a footnote, this phrase, The Day of the Lord, or a close variant is used 19 times in the Old Testament and four times of the New Testament. And sometimes it's called the day of vengeance, Isaiah 34 Eight, or the day of wrath in Romans two and verse five, a day of visitation, in First Peter to 12, the great day of God Almighty, and Revelation 16, in verse 14, and at times as we look, for example, in the Old Testament, the day of the Lord had a near fulfillment, something that would happen very quickly in history, as we read in Joel chapter one, but that would also prefigure something that was going to have a far fulfillment, as we would read, for example, in Joel chapter three. And we know biblically that this judgment will find its ultimate climax in the Lord's return at the end of the tribulation, according to Second Thessalonians two, and Revelation Chapter 16, through 18.

And I might also add that there will be another final consummating judgment of this earth after the millennium that will usher in the new Earth that we read about in Second Peter 3:10, through 13 and Revelation chapters 20 and 21. So this is a period of judgment now. But I might also add something that I find intriguing, this period of judgment parallels the ordinary solar day in a Jewish calendar, which began at sunset, and would extend through the next sunset, a period of darkness, followed by light. For example, Isaiah tells us in Isaiah chapter 60, beginning of verse two, "For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples, but the Lord will rise upon you and His glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising," speaking of the kingdom age. And it's important to remember, however, that the prophets also spoke of a preparatory work that would happen before even the great day of the Lord. And of course, we read of one of those in Malachi, four five that he's going to send Elijah. But Joel, for example, reveals "The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered." So again, if we go back to Malachi, chapter four, and verse five, we read, "Behold, I'm going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord." That hasn't happened yet. That is a future event, which will immediately precede the inauguration of the millennial kingdom. And then in verse six, we read, "He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse." In other words, in the kingdom age, there will be mutual love and submission, the word of God will rule the homes because the fathers are doing what they're supposed to do, and teaching their children the Word of God and requiring them to live consistently with it.

I might also had and you don't have this text on the screen, but I am reminded of how this will be the opposite of the horrors of cannibalism that was prophesied against Jerusalem because of their sin. We read about it in in Ezekiel, chapter five, verse 10, where in that time of the Babylonian siege which took place in about 598 BCE, there was actual cannibalism that took place in Jerusalem and throughout the land. There we read that, "Fathers will eat their sons among you, and sons will eat their fathers, for I will execute judgments on you and scatter all your remnant to every wind." Now also, Isaiah reveals more about a future messianic messenger that will warn about what we might call the leveling judgments of God, Isaiah 40, verse four, we read, "Let every valley be lifted up and every mountain and hill be made low; and let the rough ground become a plain, and the rugged terrain, a broad valley; then the glory of the Lord will be revealed and all flesh will see it together; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." So there is a messenger that is coming again, that will communicate these things and this messenger will go on to announce the glorious news of the kingdom being inaugurated in verse nine of Isaiah 40, "Get yourself up on a high mountain Oh Zion bearer of good news, lift up your voice mightily, oh, Jerusalem bearer of good news; lift it up, do not fear. Say to the cities of Judah, here is your God! Behold, the Lord God will come with might, with his arm ruling for him, Behold, His reward is with Him and his recompense before Him. Like a shepherd, He will tend to his flock in His arm, He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom, He will gently lead the nursing ewes."And on it goes. My how I long for those days, how I long for those days to come.

So given the rabbinic teaching of that day, combined with the prophecies of Elijah, being a forerunner of the Messiah, we can understand why the disciples would ask in verse 11, of Mark nine, "Why is it that the scribes say that Elijah must come first?' Well, now we moved, secondly, to Jesus cryptic reply, beginning of verse 12, we read, "And he said to them, 'Elijah does come and restore all things.'" In other words, indeed, he does come and announce my arrival. And that is supported for example, in Malachi three and verse one, "Behold, I'm going to send my messenger and He will clear the way before me and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple, and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, Behold, He is coming, says the Lord of hosts."

So again, back to verse 12. He says to them, "'Elijah does first come and restore all things.'" But then he adds this, "'And yet, how is it written for the Son of Man that he will suffer many things and be treated with contempt?"' In other words, you write about Elijah, but you're missing some other very important prophetic passages. In fact, as we will see, they were doing what we tend to do. We love to read those passages that make us feel good and make us feel excited. But we kind of skip over those others that may not necessarily fit our agenda. And that was somewhat the issue here. So he's basically saying, hey, what about those passages that speak of the Messiah suffering? What about those passages speak of the Messiah dying. Now, we're not told everything that he went on to say, but I'm sure he's talking about Psalm 22. He's talking about Isaiah 53. He's talking about Zechariah 12. For example, in verse 10, which speaks of Israel, repentance, at the Second Coming when they finally understand who Jesus is, the one that they rejected and crucified, There we read, "I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son. And they will weep bitterly over Him, like the bitter weeping over a firstborn." So in essence, Jesus is saying, I'm curious guys, why aren't these passages part of your theology? And then Jesus really shocks them in verse 13. "But I say to you that Elijah has indeed come. And they did to him whatever they wished, just as it is written of him." And of course, we know that this is a reference to John the Baptist, who was then a Elijah like person who came according to Luke one in verse 17, "in the spirit and power of Elijah." In fact, we read in Matthew's account in chapter 17, beginning in verse 11, Jesus said, "Elijah is coming and will restore all things; but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished, so also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptist." I find it fascinating by the way that like Elijah, John the Baptist was a fearless preacher. He feared God, not man. And what's also interesting is we know that he even looked like Elijah. Second Kings one eight, "Elijah was a hairy man with a leather girdle bound about his loins," Mark one six, "John the Baptist was clothed with camels hair and wore a leather belt around his waist." You can see a bit of a resemblance there, can you not?

So again, in verse 13, "Elijah has indeed come and they did to him whatever they wished, just as it is written of him." And this probably is an allusion to Jezebel's threats against Elijah. Remember, in First Kings 19 in verse two, we read that Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah saying, "So May the gods do to me and even more if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time." That was after he called down the fire on the prophets of Baal and so forth. And again, I find it interesting that Elijah, in the Old Testament was tormented by an evil woman. And ultimately, her husband, Ahab. And John the Baptist was also beheaded by a king who was manipulated by another evil woman. And we know that Jesus was crucified by the Jews and the Roman authorities and the final Elijah will be executed by the Antichrist as we read in Revelation 11 and verse seven.

Now, I want to help you understand some other texts concerning Elijah's past and future role, and this is the third section in our little outline. Once again, bear in mind the disciples didn't understand that the establishment of the Kingdom on earth was contingent upon Israel, accepting their Messiah for indeed the divine promises and covenants belong to that nation. We read about that, for example, in Romans chapter nine, verse four. And through them all of the blessings of the mediatorial kingdom would extend to all of the nations and this would include the literal fulfillment of national and physical blessings for a regenerate ethnic Israel and blessings for Gentiles. And even with creations restoration, as we read in Isaiah 11 in verse 65, and so forth. Now an important key. In his first coming, the Messiah offered the kingdom to Israel. We know that. Mark one, verse 15, John the Baptist says, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel." And in Matthew four, verse 17, "Jesus began to preach and say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" In other words, Israel must now make a moral and spiritual decision to follow Christ. But they rejected Him, we will not have this man to reign over us. And as a result, the divine promises concerning the physical material aspects of the kingdom were postponed, temporarily interrupted. For example, in Matthew 21, verse 43, we read "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you," referring to the chief priests and the elders that are described in verse 23, "and given to a people producing the fruit of it," referring to a future repentant, regenerate Israel.

Now currently, Israel is undergoing a temporary hardening Romans 11, verse 11, makes that clear. And the church has now become the temporary custodians of divine truth, the custodians of the gospel witness until Jesus returns to rule the nations and then Daniel's 70th week prophecy against Israel will begin. And so since Israel rejected John the Baptist, the Elijah like foreigner, and since the great and terrible day of the Lord and the Messiah's return, that is future since those things have not happened yet, we can conclude that both Elijah the prophet of the Old Testament, and John the Baptist, of the New Testament, the Elijah like person, both of them prefigured yet another forerunner of the coming Messiah, who may well be one of the Two Witnesses described in Revelation 11, verses three through 12.

So will you take your Bibles and turn there? Bear in mind, just a brief overview of what I believe is a biblical eschatology we are currently waiting for the rapture of the church, the snatching away of the church. And at that point, the Lord will once again turn his attention to ethnic Israel. And again, that will be part of the Daniel's 70th week judgment upon them and even upon the earth. And we read about these things in many passages. But the pre kingdom judgments during that time of tribulation are recorded in Revelation six through 19, and other passages. And so that's a little bit of a background, but during the pre kingdom judgments in the time of the tribulation, we know that the Antichrist, and the world right now, is being prepared for his rule, the Antichrist will be infuriated by the prophetic ministry of two witnesses. And because of this, he will violate his covenant with Israel, and demand that the world worship him. Second, Thessalonians two, four, he will erect probably some kind of a robot like idol of his likeness, he will place it in the Holy of Holies. Jesus described this, for example, in Matthew 24, beginning in verse 15, he called it the "abomination of desolation, which was spoken up through Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place." Now we know that the Jews will refuse to worship Him, and that is going to infuriate him all the more, and he is going to seek to destroy them, and anybody that believes in Christ, and this will lead him ultimately to the battle of Armageddon where demonic spirits will draw, quote, "The kings of the whole world to gather them for battle on the great day of God Almighty." Revelation 16 And verse 14.

So what is revealed now and in Revelation 11, and I will go very quickly here because there's much to cover, and I want you to get the big picture, and not get lost in all of the details and all of the weeds. But we know in Revelation, chapter 11, the first two verses, we see that the Jews are measured, they're marked off as belonging to God. In other words, and speaking of those whom He will preserve and protect, during the final 42 months, well, the Gentiles, whom he does not claim, as his own, quote, tread underfoot the Holy City. And they will do that, of course, under the rule and the leadership of the Antichrist. And now what we see in this text is God raising up two preachers with supernatural powers, who will be able to counter the prophetic quote, "signs of the False Prophet." And you read about those signs, for example, in Revelation 13:11, and following, and his mission, of course, is to deify the antichrist that he serves. And since the Antichrist is the final ruler, of what, for example, Daniel calls the times of the Gentiles, he will be ruling over we believe a revived Roman Empire of European nations, probably the United States will be a part of that. And this whole scene recapitulates just the the vile, symbiotic relationship between Satan and ancient Gentile rulers, how he influenced and manipulated them, and their puppet priests and prophets, that they use to accomplish their nefarious purposes, to thwart the purposes of God. And even as the ancient rulers of Rome, once controlled the masses, both politically and religiously, Satan will continue this strategy and the rule of the Antichrist and his false prophets. So the Lord raises up these two witnesses, to witness of his saving grace, as well as his escalating wrath. And these two powerful preachers then become a real thorn in the flesh to the Antichrist and the False Prophet. We pick it up at verse three of Revelation 11. "And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1260 days, clothed in sackcloth." And again, now God is going to offset the false signs of the antichrist and the false prophet. And so he grants two men to be His witnesses. It's interesting, biblically, we know that every testimony must be validated by two witnesses, and the plural here of "martus", we get our English word martyr. That's what is used, and indeed, they will be martyred as we will see for their testimony. The text goes on to say "and they will prophesy," it means they will preach, they will proclaim, they will speak forth, is what the term means. You must understand that New Testament prophesying was primarily foretelling. I mean, forth telling, not foretelling, I am prophesying right now, I'm not predicting the future, I'm just telling you the truth. These two witnesses will proclaim the gospel of grace, they will warn about the coming judgment on the earth, and in an eternal hell they're going to do that it says, for 1260 days, and that, of course, is the final three and a half years of Daniel's 70th week, and notice that they're clothed and in sackcloth. Of course, that is coarse cloth made of camel or goat hair. And it was often accompanied with ashes. It was worn in those days by men, and even by women in times of great distress. And it was worn by the prophets; worn for the purpose of calling to attention the wickedness of the society, and calling men and women to repentance. And also it was used to warn of the imminent judgment that was about to come upon the people. And so that's why we see Elijah wearing this and John the Baptist as well. And this was, this was a proper response Jewish response for intense grief, especially as they mourn the temples desecration in the future, as they mourn the tyranny of the Antichrist. You think the tyranny is escalating now, wait till the Antichrist rules.

Now we know prophetically as we look at all these other passages that many Jews are being massacred at this time, while others have fled into the wilderness for divine protection. And once the Antichrist enters the Holy of Holies and establishes himself as god, small g, the entire temple complex, along with the entire land of Israel, is thrust into a state of ritual defilement. Restoration and ritual purification can only occur by the Messiah, only he can accomplish that and he will physically appear, he will eventually defeat the desecrated and cleanse the land and finally, rebuild and even consecrate the temple. Verse four, "These are the two olive trees and the two lamp stands that stand before the Lord of the earth." Now, John would have understood precisely what Jesus was referring to here. When this was revealed to him. He knew the background statement. It was one that Zechariah had prophesied almost 600 years earlier. We read about it in Zechariah four, and there Zachariah predicted the rebuilding of the Jewish temple after a long period of exile. And this was led by two men, the high priest, Joshua who was the spiritual leader, and Zerubbabel, who was the Civil leader. And there we read of the same symbols as here in Revelation 11. They were called two olive trees and two lampstands. And this, of course, is symbolic of the oil of the Holy Spirit's power that would perpetually fuel the lamps of divine truth pertaining to saving grace. In fact, in verse six of that passage in Zechariah we read, "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts." We also know that in Zechariah, four, verse 14, Joshua and Zerubbabel are described as, quote, "the two anointed ones, who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth." But bear in mind, like most prophecies, there existed both a near and a far fulfillment. As we see here in Revelation 11 and verse four, These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth." By the way, that's almost an exact quote of Zechariah four and verse 14.

Now, we know that there was a near fulfillment of that prophecy in about 538 BC, two witnesses were raised up to bring spiritual revival to Israel and rebuild the post exilic temple. But there is also a far future fulfillment; two witnesses again, being raised up as lamp stands for God shining for the light of saving truth. Men empowered by the Holy Spirit, not by demonic influence, and they're going to bring spiritual revival to Israel and national conversion, whereupon the Lord himself will come and establish himself as the long awaited King, and the kingdom will be established and he was will build his millennial temple.

Now, Who are these men? Well, there's much speculation regarding their identity. And I must say very clearly, that what I'm telling you, I cannot be dogmatic. But I think that for the most part, what I'm presenting to you has sufficient biblical merit, that we can believe that these points in a very compelling way to an actual Moses and an actual Elijah, we know in Deuteronomy 18, verse 15, Moses prophesied that, quote, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him." And then in verse 18, the Lord said," I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him." And I might also add that to this very day, the Jews are convinced that this prophet will be Moses himself. And again, Malachi chapter four, verse five, 'Behold, I'm going to send to you, Elijah, the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord." And we know according to the angelic messenger, who spoke to the terrified priest, Zacharias, that his son, John the Baptist, would come, quote, and this is Luke one, verse 17, "in the Spirit and the power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready of people prepared for the Lord." But this does not automatically preclude Elijah from appearing again. Both Moses and Elijah, you will recall were fearless prophets that boldly confronted the tyrants of their day, and preached the Word of God without compromise. It was both Moses and Elijah that appeared with the Lord, when he manifested His glory on the Mount of Transfiguration, again, a preview of second coming glory. And it's also fascinating to note that the miracles performed by the two witnesses during this final three and a half years are very similar to those performed by God through Moses and Elijah. Remember, they could destroy their enemies with fire, or that's what they're going to be able to do. The two witnesses in Revelation 11, and Elijah, we know call down fire from heaven. I've been right at the place and some of you have been with me where that actually happened. And in Revelation 11, verse six, we read that "These have the power to shut up the sky in order that rain may not fall during the days of their prophesying." Well, we know that, that Elijah pronounced a three and a half year drought in the land, First King 17, the same period of time, as the two witnesses in Revelation 11. We also know that in Revelation six, the latter part of, of the verse, "and they have power over the waters, to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague as often as they desire." Well, who else turned water into blood, it was Moses with the Nile. And he performed numerous other plagues against Egypt. And finally, we know that these two witnesses will be supernaturally translated into heaven, as we're going to see in a moment. And in similar fashion, Eliza Elijah never physically died, but he was taken into heaven in a fiery chariot. And we also know that God Himself buried Moses secretly disposing of his body. So God Himself will intervene in a supernatural way with the departure of these two witnesses, even as he did with Moses and Elijah. But again, the text does not specifically identify them. So we can only speculate who these men might be.

But we learned more about their ministry in Revelation 11, verse five, "And if anyone desires to harm them, fire proceeds out of their mouth, and devours their enemies. And if anyone would desire to harm them in this manner, he must be killed." Well, by implication, many are going to desire to harm them. I mean, imagine this kind of bold preaching, even today, in Iran, or Saudi Arabia, or in in China or North Korea, or, frankly, most cities now in the United States. I mean, you can't even put bible verses on Facebook anymore, without going into Facebook jail or being canceled completely. That's how bad it has gotten. Well, it's going to be even worse during the Tribulation, because you must understand that by this time, the Earth has been absolutely devastated by plagues. They have cried out for the mountains and the rocks to fall on them, according to Revelation six, verse 16, to hide them "from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of the wrath has come." So they know exactly who is causing all of this. But if you go on to read, they still will not repent, and they will continue to blaspheme the Lord our God. So by now the people of the world have rallied behind their new messiah, Satan's Counterfeit, the Antichrist, and they're mindlessly believing him and worshipping Him and their disdain for anyone that would dare call them sinners in need of saving grace, would be eclipsed only by their utter contempt for the God who offers it. So these preachers will need to be protected. Enemies will attack them, and the amazing fire from their mouth will devour or consume them. And of course, this is only going to fuel their rage. Sometimes I wish I had that power, don't you? By the way, so much for being seeker sensitive, and trying to accommodate the culture. So again, verse six, "These have the power to shut up the sky in order that rain may not fall during the days of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague as often as they desire." This is amazing. By the way, you will recall, perhaps the third trumpet judgment has poisoned 1/3 of the world's freshwater supply Bear in mind that in Revelation six through 19, you have sealed judgments then trumpet judgments, and then bowl judgments. And so by this time, a three and a half year drought has basically been devastating, catastrophic to the planet.

Verse seven, and "When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them." This is the first time we're introduced, to quote "the beast," "Therion" in Greek. First time we see it in the Apocalypse, a term describing various carnivores, a beast of prey like a lion or a tiger. And so this is an animal like person with a ravenous appetite that functions solely on the basis of, of just an instinctively cruel and violent nature. And this is reference to the Antichrist, who I might add is called the beast 36 times. And notice he comes up out of the abyss. And this is mentioned seven times in Revelation to describe some mysterious subterranean cavern on earth that extends down into the bowels of the earth through some kind of a shaft that has been sealed shut, for the purpose of incarcerating and tormenting the most vile demons. We read about this, it's discussed in Chapter nine as part of the fifth trumpet. But this is not Satan, who is represented by a dragon but rather a man that is empowered by demonic forces that's released from the abyss. And here we learn that after the divinely decreed duration of the ministry of the Two Witnesses, God allows the Antichrist to finally overcome them and kill them to the utter jubilation of the world. Verse eight, "And their dead bodies will lie on the street of the great city, which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified." Well, this is obviously a reference to Jerusalem, which I might add will be the primary staging area of their ministry, as well as the headquarters of the Antichrist, as you read about in Second Thessalonians Two. By now, this is a city that is so infected with every imaginable form of wickedness, that it is likened to ancient Sodom, and the original enemies of Israel, the nation of Egypt. The figurative likeness of these two places just underscores the loathsome depths to which the city has fallen.

And then what we have is a very macabre, just ghoulish scene, and their dead bodies will lie on the streets of the great city. The greatest form of indignity that can be perpetrated upon an enemy is to leave the body unburied and watch it gradually decompose. Verse nine, and "Those from the people and tribes and tongues and nations," which by the way, is a technical term in Revelation for the Gentile world, "will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days, and will not permit their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry and they will send gifts to one another because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth." I mean, can there be any greater demonstration of rebellion against God than this? Obviously, the whole world is going to be watching. Television will be filled with this scene. And you can see it right now on the screen there will be a little section right there where the bodies are, just focused constantly on the bodies. The whole Gentile world will celebrate the death of those who came to give them eternal life. And apparently great throngs of people will assemble to see this, this barbaric display, and within two to three days, a decomposing corpse will begin to bloat and emit the putrid odors of putrefaction. And this will happen while a wicked world laughs while they scoff and while they celebrate the prowess of the Antichrist and the defeat of Christ. But what they do not know is what's coming in just a few days, verse 11, "And after three and a half days, the breath of life from God came in to them and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell upon those who were beholding them." "Great fear fell upon" that has to be one of the greatest understatements in all of Scripture. "And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them 'Come up here.' Then they went up into heaven in the cloud and their enemies watched them." Finally, the news anchors are going to be speechless, right? People will be panic stricken. Suddenly, these bloated decomposing corpses will miraculously return to their original state, they will stand up. By the way, there's no record that they say or they do anything. They simply respond to the divine summons, "Come up." They are caught up in the clouds. Even as we will be caught up in the clouds, First Thessalonians, 4:17, to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Notice what else happens in verse 13. "And then in that hour, there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell and 7000 people were killed in the earthquake." This is a curious statement. The word "people" or "persons" in the original language, it literally means names of men "onomata antrhropon", names of men, a very unusual expression. And many of us believe this refers to to 7000 prominent men or leaders who served the Antichrist in his headquarters there. The text says "and the rest were terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven." A reference primarily to Jewish people who were inhabiting the eastern part of Jerusalem and the region of the temple. They will be saved at that moment.

And in closing, I must say that here we discover the fulfillment of God's promise to his covenant people, recorded in Romans 11 and verse one "God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be!" Verse four, "But what is the divine response to him? I have kept for myself 7000 men who have not bowed the knee to Baal. In the same way, then there has also come to be at this at the present time a remnant according to God's gracious choice." In verse 26, we read a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until," what? a fabulous word, "until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and thus all Israel will be saved." So as we look at the "Apokalupsis JesouChristou," the revealing of Jesus Christ, the book of Revelation, in this section, we see the desecration of the temple. The deification of the self, deification of the Antichrist, the murder and resurrection of the two witnesses, followed by the terror of the Gentile world, a devastating earthquake. And all of this point to the coming of Christ, to end the Gentile domination, to save his covenant people, and to pour out the final stage of his vengeance on the nations of the world, and finally, establish his kingdom as he has promised. And as the disciples were worrying themselves sick, to find out when it's going to happen. Folks, may I challenge you to do as Jesus said, and pray, Thy kingdom, come, Thy will, be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Let's pray together. Father, thank You for the magnificent truths of your word that, it brings such clarity to the glory of Your goodness and grace, that indeed you are the sovereign ruler over all of your creation. And history is literally his story, the story of Christ in all of his glory and how we long to see him. So we thank you for the hope, the blessed hope of the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus who gave Himself for us. And I pray that each of us will live in light of that glory that others will see Christ in us and be saved. We thank you, we give you praise in Jesus name. Amen.

As we continue to make our way verse by verse through Mark's gospel we find ourselves now this morning in chapter nine. So if you will take your Bibles and turn their Mark chapter nine, and we will be looking at verses one through eight to this morning, under the heading "The Promised Preview of Kingdom Glory." Before I read the text I must say that these are very dark days in which we live. I think you all realize that, my heart is heavy because of this. There is an ominous cloud of evil that has enveloped our country, frankly the world. As I thought about that, even this week and prayed for our country, I, I was reminded of Jeremiah's warnings to Judah. That because of their persistent disobedience and immorality, God was going to judge them unless they repented and came back to him. In Jeremiah 13, verse 16. He says, "Give glory to the Lord your God, before He brings darkness and before your feet stumble on the dusky mountains. And while you are hoping for light, he makes it into deep darkness and turns it into gloom." In the Hebrew deep darkness is the same term used in Psalm 23 in verse four, for the "shadow of death." My heart is heavy for our country, our culture. I was at a graduation commencement. I guess you call it ceremony celebration for one of my grandsons. And some of your people were there as well. And when I looked around at the people, especially the young ladies and I saw the way they were dressed, and I saw the way their mothers were dressed, it just brings you to a place where you realize that there is absolutely no moral compass whatsoever in our country, in our culture. God has truly given us over to the consequences of our iniquity, what the Bible calls the wrath of divine abandonment. Death is indeed casting its shadow over our country. People can't see it. When retailers sell swim wear designed for men to look like women and women to look like men, the darkness has encompassed the culture. When retailers sell a t shirt that says quote, "Satan, respects pronouns." And another one that has a skeleton draped with a Rainbow, rainbow colors that says, "trans witches for abortion." When you have a culture that has sunk to that level of depravity, the shadow of death is over that kind of culture. I think of Ecclesiastes nine and verse three, "the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives. Afterwards, they go to the dead." And in Psalm 74, verse 20, the Psalmist says the dark places of the land are full of inhabitants of violence. So this is nothing new. This has been rather commonplace down through the centuries. And a day of judgment is coming. Biblically, darkness is always a symbol for ignorance, for satanic deception, and for divine judgment. In fact, we're told in Ephesians six and verse 12, that" our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers against the powers against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." We could go to Second Peter two, we could go to Jude, chapter one and verse 13. And in both of those texts, we see that there's a special place in hell reserved for those who teach these things and preach these things in pulpits, for whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. But I might say, dear friends, on a positive side, against the contrast of this darkness, the light of the gospel of Christ shines ever more brilliantly. What a joy it is to occasionally go into a restaurant and see a family actually sitting there talking with one another, rather than doing this the whole time. No, I'm not saying they're Christian families. But I mean, just that gives you some sense of wow, isn't it great to see that, but then to see truly godly families, my what a rarity, and what a joy. We have to immerse ourselves in the light of the truth this morning. We must remember, as First Peter two verse nine says, "We've been called out of darkness into His marvelous light," right? Colossians 1:13 says "For, he rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son." First Thessalonians five and verse five, the apostle Paul says that we are "sons of light and sons of day and we are not of night, nor of darkness." And in Ephesians, five, beginning in verse eight, the apostle Paul says, "You were formerly darkness." I mean, that's, that's that was what your nature, your character was, it was just dark. But he says, "now you are Light in the Lord, so walk as children of Light, for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness, and truth, trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them." Dear friends if you're here this morning, and you are craving the glory and the greatness of God, and you have a desire to immerse yourselves in the magnificent truth of His Word, so that you can more know of who Christ is and become more like Him, than that is a profound manifestation of regenerating grace that God has performed in your life, a clear testimony of God's grace, so that you would actually have an appetite for his word. And for those of you who might be new to Calvary Bible Church, we hold to a biblical position, which is sometimes called in the Latin "sola scriptura." You see the five Solas around the sanctuary here, that means "scripture alone," which therefore means to every true believer that the Bible is our sole source of faith and practice; our sole authority. And therefore we refuse to accommodate the depraved whims of our culture that now dominates quasi and apostate evangelicalism, people that have sacrificed biblical truth on the altar of cultural relevance. We reject all of that. In fact, by embracing secularism and syncretism, and moral relativism, much of evangelicalism has now embraced what we might call the woke cult of just unrestrained depravity, a call to the demands, unquestioned allegiance, which I might add is the poison fruit of both theological and political liberalism. And as a result, the true church that will not bow the knee to Baal is going to experience more and more hostility. And unless the Lord intervenes, our plight will eventually mirror what happened, especially in the first and second centuries, with respect to Christians and during Roman persecution. And this brings us to our text this morning, this historical narrative. In Mark nine, Jesus knew that his disciples were absolutely shocked to hear him predict his coming murder that did not fit into their theology concerning a conquering Messiah. That's who they thought he was. In fact, in Luke 18, beginning in verse 31, we read this, "Then he took the 12 aside and said to them, 'Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and all things which are written through the prophets about the Son of Man will be accomplished, for He will be handed over to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and mistreated and spit upon. And after they have scourged Him, they will kill him, and the third day He will rise again.' But the disciples understood none of these things, and the meaning of the statement was hidden from them, and they did not comprehend the things that were said." Now we know later on, they understood. In fact, later on, according to First Corinthians one beginning in first, verse 23, the apostle Paul said, and "we preach Christ crucified, to Jews, a stumbling block, and to Gentiles, foolishness, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God." Jesus told them that self denial and cross bearing and joyful submission was what was required if they were going to truly follow him. And that was a hard pill for them to swallow. Imagine learning that Jesus is indeed your long awaited Messiah, and you're thrilled, you're euphoric with that knowledge and then to hear that he is going to be murdered. Or worse yet, that you too, if you follow Him, run that risk. Well, the lover of their souls and of our souls understood their consternation understood their frustration, their bewilderment, and their sadness. And his grace is always sufficient, right? And it's always right on time. The Lord knew how desperately they needed to be comforted, how desperately they need to be encouraged and strengthened for their journey and the battle ahead. And so what does he do? He allows them to witness with their own eyes, a manifestation of His divine glory, known as the Transfiguration of Christ. And therefore what we have in our text this morning, is a preview of the kingdom glory that they belong to that we belong to that we all share. And I trust that what we study here this morning will whet your appetite for the glory that is to come and encourage your heart, even as we live in these days of increasing darkness.

With that, let me read the text, Mark nine beginning in verse one. "And Jesus was saying to them, 'Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death, until they see the kingdom of God, after it has come with power.' Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them. And His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on Earth can whiten them. Elijah appeared to them along with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, 'Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for You and one for Moses and one for Elijah.' For he did not know what to answer for they became terrified. Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them. And a voice came out of the cloud, 'This is my beloved Son, listen to him.' All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone." I hope it will be helpful to you to look at this passage under three headings number one, we will see as I said earlier, the promise preview of kingdom glory, secondly, the ineffable majesty of Christ's transfiguration, and finally, the divine rebuke from the Shekinah cloud.

Now, once again, Jesus previous description of those who are truly willing to follow him means that they must be willing to take up a cross; a terrifying concept, intentionally so depicting a march to a public execution on a Roman cross. That's what it might cost you. Certainly, crucifixion was often the fate of those who followed their masters. Often, they would crucify the master and some of their key disciples along with him. And Jesus added in verse 35, of chapter eight, "for whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake in the gospels will save it." So in other words, count the cost, live in light of eternity, when the Lord brings His rewards with him, and gives to those who follow him. And I must say, if you live for yourself, and for this life, only, you will lose your life eternally. But if you live for Christ, and His heavenly rewards, you will gain your life eternally. So we must ask, ask ourselves, Am I willing to lose my life for the cause of Christ? And if the Lord has truly transformed your heart, the answer will be a full throated, Yes, because that is the power of the Spirit. Jesus said in verse 38, of chapter eight "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My Words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father, and His holy angels. " So in other words, live your life with an eternal, not a temporal perspective. Think often about the day when the Son of Man returns, in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. That's the idea. And now again, in an effort to encourage his bewildered and frightened disciples, The Lord gives them a glimpse of future glory, a mental miraculous revelation, that should thrill every believer. Now let's pick up the narrative. Verse one, and Jesus was saying to them, "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death, until they see the kingdom of God." The kingdom of God speaks to the super terrestrial realm ruled by Yahweh, also speaks of the royal power and triumph of Christ, the royal splendor of the Redeemer King. So he speaks here of the Kingdom of God and, and he says, You're not going to taste death, until you see the kingdom of God, after it has come with power. And this brings us to our first little point in the outline here, we're going to see the promise preview of Kingdom glory. And this now is going to include a visible manifestation of Christ's glory in His Transfiguration, but it will also include his resurrection from the dead later on. As a footnote, the transfiguration is what is called a "prolepsis," of the resurrection. In other words, it's a it's a representation or an anticipation of the resurrection presently existing even before it actually occurred. That's what it's speaking of here, it assumes that it's going to happen, as if it already has, and what a magnificent reality that we now can look back and see how all of these things played out. So Jesus is telling them that some of you will not die, until you see the kingdom of God after it has come with power. So I'm promising you now a preview of Kingdom glory. I know you're depressed, I know you're confused, but hang in there. My, talk about encouragement. I'm sure they're ecstatic with expectation, wondering what's going to happen. And think about it, we not only know what they witnessed with their own eyes, but we also know about the transforming power of regeneration in our own heart. Plus, we know the details concerning His glorious return and his glorification So dear Christian, don't miss this. What we are about to examine in the Transfiguration of Christ is an affirmation of His deity but also a preview of Kingdom glory for all who follow Him. Now, as we will see, Peter didn't know what to make of all this, even when he sees it. Now, he's not going to know what's going on for sure, until later on in his life. In fact, we read his inspired testimony in Second Peter one and verse 16. By the way, this is kind of like when you start reading this, the this this novel, and you're wondering what in the world is going to happen and you have to go back to the back because you just kind of want to see how it turns out. This is how it turns out. He says, it's second Peter one, verse 16. "For we did not follow cleverly devised tales, when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, 'This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased' and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain."

So first of all, we see Jesus making this promise, this preview of Kingdom glory. Secondly, we see now the ineffable majesty of Christ's transfiguration. Ineffable, it's indescribable, it's inexpressible. It's unspeakably beautiful and glorious. Verse two, "Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter, and James and John, and brought them up on a mountain by themselves, and He was transfigured before them." Now, first of all, according to Mark, and Matthew, the transfiguration took place, six days after Jesus made the promise, whereas Luke nine and verse 28, says that it happened, quote, "some eight days later." Now, there's really no contradiction here. Luke is merely including the day of the promise and the day of the Transfiguration, rather than the six days between the two events that Matthew and Mark, use. Now notice what happens. And we learn more about this in Matthew's account in Matthew 17, beginning in verse one, "Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter, and James and John, his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves." Now we know from the context of the history that they were in the region of Caesarea Philippi, where that's where Peter made his confession. And that's right at the foot of Mount Hermon, that's about 9200 feet in elevation. So that's probably where they went. And Matthew goes on to say, "And He was transfigured before them and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light." The word transfigured translates the Greek verb "metamorphoo," we get metamorphosis from that. And it means to change into another form, to be transformed. Luke's Gospel says, in Luke nine beginning in verse 28, "Some eight days later, after these things He took along Peter and James and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different. And his clothing became white, and gleaming."

So this is what happens, Jesus is praying, and all of a sudden, all of this glory begins to appear upon him, in fact, in Luke's gospel in verse 32 of chapter nine, we learned that they were asleep while the disciples were asleep during this time, and then all of a sudden, they awake, and they see His glory. And he's talking with two men. Imagine waking up and seeing that. So that's what's happening here, it's astounding. Dear friends, here we have the effulgence of the divine glory, that is revealed to humanity suddenly shining forth. His earthly form was transformed into this supra terrestrial heavenly form. And his closest disciples witnessed this with their own eyes. I mean, can there be any better way to bolster their faith and encourage them with anticipation than sharing in this glorious scenario? Could there be any greater way of sustaining Jesus as he faces the agonies of the cross? I think not. Later the disciples were able to better understand that only through Christ's suffering and through His sacrifice, and through His death, could his glory be permanently displayed to his kingdom citizens. Moreover, this pictures the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, in the life of a believer, whereby, because of His indwelling presence in power, he progressively conforms us into the likeness of Christ. Paul spoke of this in Second Corinthians three beginning in verse 18, "But we all with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror, the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."

I might add that the context of that analogy is most glorious. It's, it's speaking of the time when Moses looked upon God with an unveiled face, upon the mountain, and he was only allowed to see a fraction of His glory. But now because of the new covenant, believers are able to behold the glory of the Lord with an unveiled face. That's the analogy that Paul is using. So what was once concealed and, the mysteries of types and symbols and, and ceremonies, all of it becomes perfectly clear, because of the new covenant. The new covenant explains what was once only a shadow of what was to come and now we are being transformed into the likeness of Christ. The apostle Paul says in Romans 12 And verse two, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed." Well, how does that happen? By the renewing of your mind, it's in the present tense, it means that there must be a continual process of biblical understanding that results in spiritual discernment. That's how transformation works. And he goes on to say, "so that you may prove what the will of God is that which is good and acceptable and perfect. And Jesus said, Father, Sanctify them in the truth, Thy word is truth." That's what he uses to conform us into the image of Christ. That, frankly, is what's happening right here. As believers hear the word they understand it better, they begin to apply it more in their life. And the Spirit uses that to make us more like Christ.

I might add that your spiritual maturity is directly proportional to your understanding and application of the Word of God. Folks, the more we see Christ for who he is, in all of his glory, the lower we will bow and humble adoration and live to the praise of his glory. Let me put it in a way that is consistent with what's going on in our culture. This means that the Lord Jesus Christ is not some smiley face God that winks at sin. He is not some woke, social justice warrior, whose word can be altered to somehow accommodate the culture. He is the thrice Holy God, the sovereign of the universe. In fact, in John chapter 12 and verse 41, we learned that it is Jesus that Isaiah spoke of, in Isaiah six, beginning in verse one, Jesus is the one "sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted with a train of his robe filling the temple. Seraphim stood above Him." Later on, it says that they say, "Holy, Holy. Holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory. And the foundations of the thresholds trembled at the voice of him, who called out while the temple was filling with smoke." When you truly understand who God is, and all of his glory, that he is the one that is high and lifted up the only one and true God, then you will respond even as Isaiah did when he beheld his glory. The text goes on to say, "Then I said, Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips. And I live among a people of unclean lips, for my eyes have seen the King the Lord of hosts."

So with this background, think about this, think how amazing this is. Peter, James and John, are allowed to have a glimpse of Christ's unveiled majesty.Verse three tells us "and His garments became radiant and exceedingly White is no launderer on Earth can whiten them." There's not enough bleach in the world to get your garments that white, right? That's the point. Matthew 17 Verse two, "and he was transfigured before them and His face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as light." Luke says in nine, verse 29, "and while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and his clothing became white and gleaming." Folks, this is so exciting. All through Scripture, we know that God describes the glory of His presence by using the concept and the reality of resplendent, brilliant, dazzling, unapproachable light. In fact, it was called the Shekinah in Daniel chapter two, verse 22, we read that he emanates light without shadow, saying light dwells with him. Psalm 104, verse two, he covers himself with light as with a garment. And Paul described Jesus our Messiah to Timothy, as dwelling in "unapproachable light," First Timothy 6:16, whom no man has seen, or can see to whom be honored and everlasting power. No one has ever seen the fullness of His glory and lives only a glimpse of it. First, John one of verse five, we read that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. You will remember that in Matthew, one in verse 23, we read, "Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel, which translated means God with us." Emmanuel is not a proper name, but a title or a description, first given to the covenant people in Judah through Isaiah the prophet, and it reiterated to them and reminded them that indeed, he will be the one that makes good on all of his covenant promises to his people, and even dwell amongst them. And often then, he is manifested in the Shekinah, the presence of God's glory. And when we see this biblically, we see that God who is immaterial will materially materialize himself, in this resplendent dazzling light. You will recall, that the presence of God was housed within the tabernacle and the temple. In fact, the Hebrew term for tabernacle is "mishkan" , and is derived from a root word "shakan" which means to dwell, or to rest or to abide in from "shakan" came the term Shekinah, denoting the glorious presence of God. Light is therefore a fitting metaphor to describe the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And of course, all of this is steeped in Old Testament allusions. We see this light, for example, in the burning bush with Moses, we see the light of His presence as a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, that led his covenant people out of Egypt and through the wilderness. Again, at the giving of the Law at Mount Sinai, in Exodus 33, we read Moses saying, "show me your glory." And remember, the Lord says, You can't you can't see my glory. You can't see my face. For no man can see me and live but I'll tell you, you hide over there in the cleft of the rock, and I'll cover you with my hand, you can see a little of my backside. His shekinah hovered at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Remember when Moses would enter the tent, the glory would be there, in front of it, Exodus 33. And it was the Shekinah glory, the presence of the living Christ, that hovered between the chair of them over the mercy seat, the golden lid of separation that sat above the Ark of the Covenant. Within the ark was the tablets of stone, representing the law that we have broken. And between the cherubin was the Shekinah that glowed that the people could see glowing even up through the tent of meeting later on and in the temple. And the symbolism there is very clear that no one could ever enter into the presence of God apart from the shedding of blood that would happen on the "hilasterion" the, the place of propitiation. That's what the high priests would do at Yom Kippur. He would sprinkle the blood and that would symbolically propitiate the sins of the people temporarily, all of it pointing to Christ. We can see the luminous cloud of the glory of God demonstrated in his approval of Solomon's temple. Remember in First Kings eight, beginning of verse 10. "It happened that when the priest came from the holy place, the cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the priests could not stand a minister because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord fill the house of the Lord." And I love that passage in Ezekiel one, where Ezekiel is trying his best to somehow describe the glory of the Lord seated upon his throne. Ezekial one, verse 26. He says that "on that throne, high up was a figure with the appearance of a man. Then I noticed from the appearance of his loins and upward, something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it. And from the appearance of his loins and downward, I saw something like fire and there was a radiance about him." That clears it up, doesn't it? Moreover, we know that the coming Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ was prophesied as the one who would one day come in light, and both his first and second comings. In his first coming, we see it was predicted in numbers 24, verse 17, that "a star," a kokab, a blazing forth, would come forth "from Jacob." And in Second Samuel 23, verse four, and "He shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises a morning without clouds." We also know that because of idolatry and apostasy that the glory of Christ presence, departed from the temple. And after 400 years, without any of the Jewish people seeing the light of the Shekinah, it suddenly appeared to some humble shepherds in Bethlehem. We read about that, in Luke two "and an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them." And here it is "the glory of the Lord shown around them. And they were terribly frightened. And the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid for behold, I bring you good news of a great joy. Christ the Savior is born.'" It appeared again to the Persian kingmakers, the Magi, they saw a star and the east in Greek an "aster", a blazing forth something that not everyone could see, something that would appear and then disappear and appear again, and even eventually hover right over where Jesus was. And all of that pointed to the person of the Promised Messiah King. And in John one, John the Baptist, was the one who was sent. It says in verse seven, "to bear witness" of the what? "of the light of the glory of Christ," saying Jesus was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. And in His incarnation the shekinah was revealed in a child, veiled in human flesh, Emmanuel, God with us, the Lord Jesus Christ. Later in John one, verse 14, we read "And the Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us, and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." And you will recall how Paul recounted his conversion in Acts 26 Verse 13, he says," At midday along the road, I saw a light from Heaven brighter than the sun shining around me and those who journeyed with me." And dear friends, today we see a glimpse of the glory of God and the person and the work of Christ. It's just a glimpse, but we see it. In fact, we read in Hebrews one beginning in verse two, that God "in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world and He is the radiance of His glory, and the exact representation of his nature." Radiance, "apaugasma" in the original language, it means a effulgence. It means the that which flashes glorious light. This is who Christ is. Is it any wonder that Jesus said in John eight and verse 12, "I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness but shall have the light of life." And in John 12 and verse 46. He said, "I have come as light into the world that everyone who believes in me may not remain and darkness." Peter, James and John saw a glimpse of that light. I might also add that a day is coming when all those who are alive upon the earth, will see his return in power and great glory. Matthew 24, beginning in verse 29, the Lord Jesus says, "But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then the sign of the Son of Man," there it is, the Shekinah presence of Christ Himself will appear in the sky, "and then all of the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory." Because of sin, they cannot see it now. Plus, Satan has blinded the minds of the unbeliever so that they might not see the light, the glory of the gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, but one day, no one will miss it. He came the first time in obscurity, the next time he's coming in glory. And even the description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, beginning in verse 22, we read what John sees, he says," I saw no temple in it for the Lord God, the Almighty and the lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illuminated and its lamp is the Lamb." And here on the mountain, Peter, James and John, see the ineffable majesty of Christ's Transfiguration, a preview of coming glory. I can only pray that each of you see it as well.

But notice what else in verse four of Mark's gospel, chapter nine, "Elijah appeared to them, along with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus." This is a fascinating statement. And we know biblically that Old Testament saints do not receive their glorified bodies until the end of the tribulation, according to Daniel 12, and verse two. So somehow God must have supplied them with that body, or somehow made them appear in such a way that they knew who they were, now how to Peter, James and John know who they were, they didn't have any pictures of them. I can't answer that. I guess Jesus introduced them. I don't know. Maybe they introduced themselves. Hey, hey, guys. I'm Moses. Hey, I'm Elijah. By the way, doesn't this give us a little glimpse of the heavenly fellowship that we're going to be able to enjoy? And the heavenly fellowship that those who have gone on before us are currently enjoying with Jesus and with others? Now, why Moses and Elijah? I mean, I mean, why not? Abraham, Daniel, or Isaiah, maybe Jeremiah? Well, the text doesn't say, but perhaps it's because Moses and Elijah represented respectively, the Law and the Prophets, that Jesus came to perfectly fulfill. According to Matthew five and verse 17, perhaps that's part of it. So I think about it, both men also experienced mysterious deaths, didn't they? Remember, God buried Moses body in a way that it could never be found? And Elijah, which is taken up alive into heaven, not sure how all of that fits in there. But God knows. Certainly both were supernatural means to provoke repentance during their ministries on Earth. In fact, the death of Jesus we know is going to bring salvation, even repeating the exodus that Moses led. And both of them are associated with the second coming of Christ in the inauguration of His earthly kingdom. Remember Malachi four beginning of verse four. And maybe Peter was thinking of this, I'm not sure what was going on in his mind. But there in that text we read, "Remember the law of Moses, my servant, even the statutes and ordinances which I commanded him in Horeb for all Israel, Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord." In fact, there is strong evidence to indicate that it is Moses and Elijah, that are the two witnesses described in Revelation 11. It's interesting, both were given supernatural power to strike down their enemies while they were on Earth with the plagues, and so forth, the same kind of plagues that they will pronounce upon the wicked during the time of the tribulation. And even according to Revelation 11 six, "having power to shut heaven so that no rain falls." That's exactly what Elijah did. So maybe all of those things were a part of this.

And notice what they were talking about, according to Luke nine and verse 30. "And behold, two men were talking with him. And they were Moses and Elijah, who appearing in glory, we're speaking of his departure." In other words, his bitter suffering and his death. That's what they were talking about, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. And he goes on to describe a rather comical scenario, if you think about it, in Luke nine, beginning in verse 32. "Now Peter and his companions had been overcome with sleep but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory, and the two men standing with Him." And then a very interesting statement. "And as these were leaving Him," as Moses and Elijah are starting to walk away after this conversation, "Peter said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here, let us make three tabernacles, one for you, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." And then we have this profound statement, "Not realizing what he was saying." Mark's gospel in verse five says, "Peter said to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us make three tabernacles, one for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah," verse six, "for he did not know what to answer, for they became terrified." Now, Peter, who reminds me of me a lot of times, was a ready fire aim kind of guy. I mean, think about it. He has seen the glory of Christ, He knows who he is. Now he sees Moses and Elijah. And he was thinking, oh phew there for a minute, I thought the kingdom wasn't going to be coming. But now it's here. It's here now. So naturally, that's what he's hoping, isn't this great, he must not be going to suffer and die in Jerusalem. Maybe that's what he was thinking, I think so.

Plus, I find it interesting, this astounding event took place during the month of Tishri, which is six months before Passover. And this was the time when Israel celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles, or the Feast of Booths, "Sukkot" It's called, and that commemorated the great exodus from Egypt. And they would take leafy branches, and they would build temporary shelters, and so forth. In fact, many Jewish people still do this. I've seen lots of pictures of them in Israel. And this, of course, celebrated the time when God tabernacled with Israel, in the wilderness. And it pointed to the time when the Messiah's presence would once again dwell amongst the people in the joyful restoration of Israel and the end gathering of all of the nations during the Millennium. So he's probably thinking, my, maybe now we're going to be delivered from Rome. And after all, the Feast of Tabernacles, along with the Feast of the new year, and Passover are going to be celebrated during the kingdom age. We read about this, for example, in Zechariah, 14, maybe Peter's thinking of this a bit, beginning of verse 16, "Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went up against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. And it will be that whichever of the families of the earth does not go up to Jerusalem, to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, they're the Lord of hosts, there will be no rain on them. If the family of Egypt does not go up or enter, the no rain will fall on them and it will be the plague with which the Lord smites the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths. This will be the punishment of Egypt and the punishment of all the nations who do not go up to celebrate the Feast of Booths." So maybe all of this is going through Peters mind; I think that is a tenable hypothesis. He doesn't want Jesus to suffer and die plus he wants the kingdom now. So he's basically seeing them walk away off, stop, stop. Let's build some tabernacles right here. That's what he's thinking.

And then notice what happens in the midst of all that. Verse seven, "Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them and a voice came out of the cloud. 'This is my beloved Son, listen to him!'' All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore except Jesus alone." This brings us to the final point in our little outline, and that is the divine rebuke from the Shekinah cloud. Luke tells us in Luke nine, beginning in verse 34, "While he was saying this," talking about Peter, while he's trying to do the whole tabernacle thing, while he's trying to frankly establish the Kingdom, all right. "While he was saying this, a cloud formed began to overshadow them." In fact, Matthew tells us that it was a bright cloud. Once again, we see the glory of the presence of God. Matthew goes on to say, "and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. Then a voice came out of the cloud saying, 'This is my son, my Chosen One, listen to Him." Matthew says, "This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to Him." If I can paraphrase what I believe is going on here. God is basically saying to Peter, please, don't start this again. Stop demanding your own way. It's not time for the kingdom. This is almost like what happened in Mark 8:33. When Jesus or when Peter rebuked Jesus, Jesus said, "Get behind me satan you're not setting your mind on God's interest, but man's." That's what's going on here. It's a divine rebuke. And then in verse eight, we read "All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore except Jesus alone." Matthew 17, verse six, "When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground, and were terrified." But don't you know, I would be too. You know, I'm in the midst of trying to get my own way here and make things work my way. And all of a sudden, I'm rudely interrupted by glory cloud. And then I hear this voice from heaven. I mean, I'm facedown you would be too. "When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground, and were terrified." And then I love this next statement, isn't this just like Jesus? "And Jesus came to them, and touched them, and said, 'Get up, do not be afraid.' And lifting up their eyes," in other words, getting their face out of the dirt and terror, "they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone."

Dear Christian, what an exhilarating hope of glory that we have in Christ. And I wish to leave you with these thoughts this morning. Yes, we live in days in which the dark blackness of Satan's kingdom is just getting darker and darker, but our hope is in Christ, the one who conquered the darkness on the cross, and today we merely await his triumphant return. And we've seen a glimpse of this in the past. In fact, in Isaiah, verse nine or chapter nine, verse two, the people who walk in darkness will see a great light. Those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them. But sadly, we know that most people and I have them in my family, and you have them as yours as well. They don't want anything to do with the light. In fact, Jesus spoke of this in John three, verse 19. "This is the judgment that the Light has come into the world. And men love the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil." And certainly the light has come into the world. That light has come through the incarnation of Christ and through the word to the person in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ who is the revelation of God in the very image of His divine holiness, but people don't want anything to do with that. Then Jesus said, "For everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."

So, beloved, please hear me. Don't let all of this darkness depress you. Yes, it is depressing in so many ways. It's frustrating, it's infuriating, but oh to see the glory of Christ, and to know what he has done for us, because were not for His grace, we would be wearing those T shirts, right? We are people of light, not people of darkness, we need to celebrate that every day. And I want to close with the Apostle Paul's words in First Thessalonians five. Because it speaks to this, beginning of verse four, "But you brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light, and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk, get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith that love and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God is not destined us for wrath, but for attaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with him." Therefore, this is my challenge to each of you. "Therefore, encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing." Let's pray together. Father, we are deeply humbled by the glory of Your grace and the power of your word that reminds us of these magnificent events that have occurred in the past and what they speak about concerning the future. And to think that somehow we are all part of that even though we as believers are only incidental to your glorious plan of redemption. Because we know that ultimately, it's all about you and your glory. But we thank you for your word. I pray that it's magnificent trues will lodge deeply in each heart and will will bear much fruit to the praise of your glory. And we will be careful that in all things Christ will have the preeminence for it's in his name that I pray. Amen.

This morning we are in Mark's gospel. So if you will take your Bibles and turn to Mark chapter eight, we will be looking at verses 34 through 38, under the heading "What it is to Follow Christ." Let me read the text to you beginning in verse 34, of Mark eight. "And He summoned the crowd with His disciples and said to them, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for My sake and the Gospels, will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father, with the holy angels."

Over the years, I've had opportunity to counsel many hundreds of people on a variety of issues. Everything from marital strife, to relational conflict in families, immorality, anger, drug and alcohol addictions. People that lack discernment, lack an understanding of Scripture that can cause all kinds of problems. And whenever I deal with them, very often, I will set their presenting problem aside. And first what I want to know is, what about your walk for Christ, your walk with Christ? And I will often ask them that, let's set all of this aside for a moment. Help me understand, tell me, tell me about your walk with Christ. And more often than not, the answers will be very external. In other words, it will be something like, well, I go to church at whatever. So it's about church attendance. Or maybe they will leave and add something about how they give some money to the church or whatever. And when I go a little bit deeper, and ask them, Are there any areas in your life where you think you might be living in rebellion to God's Word and His will? Once again, I typically get very external answers. Well, yeah, I guess I need to go to church more. I guess I need to give more money to the missionaries. I guess I need to read my Bible more. But what you won't hear most of the time is, you know, I'm living for myself rather than for the Lord. I'm not about making disciples. I'm not really committed to raising my children in the discipline and in the instruction of the Lord. I really don't have a prayer life. I'm not very thankful, I tend to be angry and manipulative. I really know nothing of what it means to present my body and living in a holy sacrifice to God, which is acceptable to him. I really don't have an appetite for the Word of God. I don't read it very often, I certainly don't meditate upon it. And frankly, it has very little impact on my life. But the priorities that the Lord gives us, with respect to what true conversion looks like, are very different. Typically, what is missing is a real passion for God. We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, right? To love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. We should have a longing to know and to serve Him, a genuine love for Christ, a desire to honor him, but most who claim to follow Christ, don't really have an understanding of these things. I will very often take them to Galatians five beginning of verse 16 that says, "Walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. For these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please." And sadly, those great truths are foreign to many Christians whose lives are a train wreck. It will go on to say in verse 19, "that the deeds of the flesh are evident." And by the way, these are the types of things that are typically the presenting problem, "which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarn you that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." But the Apostle Paul went on to say, in contrast to the deeds of the flesh, He gives us the fruits of the Spirit beginning in verse 22, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control against such things, there is no law." In other words, a true believer doesn't need some external law, to force him or her to have these ruling attitudes in their heart. That's a work of the Spirit, it's a fruit of the Spirit. So why are these things missing in your life? He goes on to say, "Now those who belong to Christ Jesus, have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. When if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit." So the point is one of the things that I will have to do in working with people, and what you need to do in your own life, and when you work with even your own family members, is help them understand what it means to follow Christ. Very simple. And this is what Jesus wanted his disciples to understand. And even the crowds that were following him, typically for the wrong reasons, this is what He wants us to understand. So I wish to explain this particular passage of Scripture, under two headings, number one, the priorities of conversion, and secondly, the penalties of rejection.

Now, it's always important that you understand the context in which all of this is occurring, you will recall that Jesus along with his disciples, have been in the northern villages of Caesarea Philippi, a very pagan Gentile region. And Jesus has asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" and they've given him a list of things that people wrongly say that he is. And then he asked his disciples, "But who do you say that I am?" And speaking on behalf of them all, Peter says, "You are the Christ." And in Matthew 16, verse 17, "Jesus said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven." And then he warned them to tell no one about him at that time. They wanted to force him, remember, to become their military deliverer and King and to announce this publicly, at this stage in Jesus ministry would have caused all manner of chaos. And then we read that He began to teach them, His disciples that He, the Son of Man, must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed. And after three days rise again. This was a total shock to his apostles, who had just had it confirmed that he is indeed the Messiah. And then you will recall that Peter was so upset that he yielded to Satan's temptation, he takes Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him to try to prevent him from going to the cross and suffering and dying. After all, that would upset Peter's plans right to be in the kingdom. Jesus said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan, for you are not setting your mind on God's interest, but man," that's the context.

And now we come here to verse 34. "And Jesus summoned the crowd, with His disciples." The term "summoned" is important. It carries the idea of making an important announcement. It's like his disciples are here and the crowd is there. Hey, everyone, please come here. I have something to tell you. That's what's going on. And here's what he said to them. "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." Dear friends, here we see, number one, the priorities of conversion. Remember, now the disciples had just learned that a cross must precede a crown for Jesus. They've just learned that suffering paves the way for glory. They have just learned that humble submission and self-sacrifice, come before the splendors of heaven. And it's mind boggling to them. But now what they are hearing is that these same principles apply to everyone who follows Jesus. If anyone wishes to come after me, he must join a church. That what it says? No. He must attend church regularly and tithe 10% of gross or net? I mean, all that stuff is made up, none of that's biblical. That's not what it says, Is it? No. "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself take up his cross and follow me." Folks, this language is intentionally shocking, because it evokes the horrifying image of a death march to a public execution on a Roman cross, the willingness to die for their faith in Christ. In other words, following Jesus might cost you everything. Oh, that's not what I'm, that's not what I signed up for here. I mean, I'm here for the free stuff. All right. I'm here for the handouts. I'm following you, Jesus for the prosperity you know, the health and the wealth, and the success. I think that's why I'm here. I'm here for self-fulfillment. I'm here to boost my self-esteem. I'm not here for self-denial, whatever that is. I mean, I'm all about taking up a church but not a cross. To put it in our modern context. I'm here for reparations, not repudiation. I'll follow you as long as you meet my felt needs. Anything beyond that? I'm out. I mean, after all, you exist for me, I don't exist for you. That's the mindset. Dear friends, please understand, if you have a distorted understanding of Jesus, you will have a distorted understanding of discipleship, and you will forfeit blessing in your life, assuming you even know Christ.

Now, this type of thinking is at the very heart of apostate evangelicalism today, which is a perversion of true Christianity that has given rise to errors like prosperity theology, the prosperity gospel, and even the social justice gospels, and the satanic woke and LGBTQ culture that now demands strict adherence in our culture, and seeks to indoctrinate and seduce and abuse our children. John MacArthur put it this way, quote, "In contrast to the man centered, feel good platitudes that pervade contemporary Christendom, the Gospel preached by Jesus was a sobering call to self-denial, suffering and absolute surrender. False gospels entice their hearers with promises of material prosperity, physical healing, earthly success, self-esteem, and an easy life. The true gospel deals a deathblow to such counterfeits. The Lord Jesus calls his followers to humble brokenness, a life of self-sacrifice, and a willingness to endure hardship for his sake."

So again, Jesus says," If anyone wishes to come after Me." The original language carries the idea of literally if anyone wants to follow behind me. And here in this context, it means to place their faith in me. And by the way, that's what people would do, they would follow behind their favorite teacher, their master, so to speak. If you're going to do that, if you're going to be my disciple, and enter in the Messianic Kingdom, you've got to deny yourself take up the cross and follow Me. So in other words, this is a matter of eternal life versus eternal death. That's how serious this is. And I might add, dear friends, that this is the stuff of genuine conversion, genuine saving faith. It will be characterized by these non-negotiable, joyful, willful priorities. Let's look at them more closely. Self-Denial. In the original language carries the idea of refusing to recognize or acknowledge something or to utterly disown or disavow. In fact, it is used in Mark 14 Verse 30, Jesus said to Peter, "I truly say to you that this very night, before a rooster crows twice, you yourself will hear it is deny Me three times." Likewise, in Luke 12, and verse nine, Jesus says, "He who denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God." So Jesus is literally saying here, If anyone wishes to come after me, he needs to step down off of the throne of his or her life, and submit to me, as their only Lord and Master, their only sovereign. You must be willing to renounce yourself, repent of your sins, break away from your former way of life that was dishonoring to God. You've got to be willing to refuse to recognize or acknowledge everything in your life that is contrary to the Word and the will of the living God. You must surrender your personal plans and your ambitions and your will and submit yourself wholly to the purposes and the plans of the Lord Jesus Christ. James Brooks said this quote, "To deny oneself is not to do without something or even many things, it is not asceticism, not self-rejection or self-hatred, nor is it even the disowning of particular sins. It is to renounce the self as the dominant element in life. It is to replace the self with God in Christ as the object of affections, it is to place the divine will before self will."

Now, you must understand that what Jesus is saying is absolutely devastating to the Jews, because it meant that all of their self-righteous efforts to impress God and gain salvation were of no avail. You will recall in Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew chapter five and verse three, Jesus said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Blessed are those who have an overwhelming sense of their impoverished state, the impoverished state of their spiritual condition. Those who cower like a beggar in spiritual bankruptcy, who know that they have nothing to offer, but their sin. But I might also add that for the Jews, as well as the Gentiles, to follow Jesus meant you basically had to give up everything in life. For the Jews, it would cost them their job, their careers, typically their family, their friends, they would be disenfranchised from the Jewish community, even for the Gentiles. They were part of trade unions, and they all had their own little gods, little deities that they had to worship. And that often included all manner of sexual deviance as part of their worship, they'd have to give up all of that.

Dear friend please hear this, to deny yourself and follow Christ means that you are to make God and his glory, the very center of gravity in your life around which everything else must orbit. That's what it means to follow Jesus. It exchanges, self-reliance for total dependence on Christ. It's actually the end of self-exaltation, and a commitment to worshipping Christ in Word and deed. Paul said in Ephesians four verse 22. And following, "in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit and that you be renewed in spirit of your mind and put on the new self which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth." My, how fundamental this is to Christianity, yet sadly, it is so foreign. How sad to see so many professing believers live as if God doesn't even exist. They live for themselves. Christ is not even a priority. They don't even understand who Christ really is. I was reading some Barna statistics recently, I learned that more than half of born-again Christians don't believe Jesus lived a sinless life. That means they're not born again. By the way, fewer than half believe they have a unique God given calling and purpose in life. Quote, "A downward trend was also observed among those who say the Bible is unambiguous in its teaching about abortion falling from 58 to 44%. Those who say life is sacred fell from 60 to 48%. And the number of born-again Christians who say God is the basis of all truth fell from 69 to 63%. Over basically a two-year period, the share of born again believers who say they are deeply committed to practicing their religious faith fell from 85 to 50%. While the share of those who say they read or study the Bible, at least once a week fell from 60 to 55%." And folks, that trajectory is going down rapidly. Of course, this is music to the ears of the Neo Marxist progressive Democrats in our country who hate Christians more than cancer. This is what happens when the Bible is no longer seen as the inspired, inerrant, infallible, authoritative, all sufficient Word of the living God. Churches end up not teaching it, compromising it, trying to appease the culture. They feel like they have a better strategy for evangelism rather than preaching the gospel. That's so offensive. What we must do is somehow appeal to the culture. If they like us, then maybe they will like Jesus too. This is why so many mainline denominations have descended into an abyss of apostasy and utter irrelevance. Like the Southern Baptist Convention that now embraces every aspect of the Neo Marxist social justice movement, radical feminism, the transgender insanity, and every other aspect of the perverted LGBTQ cults that God calls an abomination in his eyes. These people are not followers of the true JESUS. They are followers of Satan doubly blinded by their own depravity, as well as the father of lies and they will therefore, never enter the kingdom of God unless they repent and believe in Christ and be saved. The concept of self-denying, surrender to the lordship of Jesus Christ, as he has revealed himself in the Word of God is utterly foreign to the unregenerate. And sadly, many churches are led by ungodly men and women that are ill suited to shepherd the flock of God. And we even see it in our government where leaders are equally ill-suited incompetent, immoral, for the most part corrupt buffoons that are leading millions of equally greedy fools over a cliff of perceived utopia. I mean, we as someone has said, we have the chimpanzees running the zoo. Our culture has turned into a drag queen burlesque show put on by the government.

This reminds me of the shameless leaders of Jerusalem and Judah that led the people in overt rebellion against the Lord, the blind leaders of the blind Jesus called them. Isaiah spoke of this and Isaiah three beginning in verse 11. He said, "Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him for what he deserves will be done to him." "Oh my people," he says, "Their oppressors, are children, and women rule over them. "Oh my people! Those who guide you lead you astray and confuse the direction of your paths." So the first priority of genuine conversion is self-denial, a call to surrender to the Lordship of Christ.

Secondly, it is cross bearing. That's what he says "take up his cross." Again, this was a horrifying statement, utterly repulsive, in every way. Because the cross was a symbol of excruciating, dehumanizing cruelty, and death. So this was a call to potential martyrdom. And many professing Christians today are like the shallow heart of temporary belief that Jesus described earlier in Mark four beginning in verse 16, where he said, "these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they heard, hear the word immediately received it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; and when affliction or persecution arises, because of the word, immediately they fall away." These are the people who hear the gospel and quickly and favorably respond. I mean, they're absolutely enthusiastic. They're giddy with joy. There's all kinds of drama and emotion. But the gospel seed merely fell on the shallow topsoil of emotion that concealed the impenetrable layer of selfish unbelief. So the plant seed quickly sprouts up, but it's unable to establish any root below the surface. How many times have we seen some superficial profession of faith that simply cannot withstand the storms of persecution? So people cower. As soon as they are required to make a decision to honor Christ, they cave. They're like wilting lilies. They're exposed, therefore, to be nothing more than some superficial Christian in name only. They love themselves more than Christ. There's a dead faith that cannot save. You know, potential martyrdom is somewhat foreign to us because we still live under the safety of the Constitution. And they're still some measure of law, even though all of that is changing rapidly. But I've been in parts of the world where that is not the case. I remember my times, especially training pastors in Siberia, the churches that I went to, such dear people, people just like us. And what I would hear is that virtually every single person in that church had a loved one that had been killed by the communists. And there were places where we would drive by and they would say, Oh, by the way, let me stop and show you. You see that that large wall out there in the woods, that's where some of my family members were shot. You see that big ditch over there? That's where many of our church members a number of years ago, were shot and killed.

You see, Christianity cannot coexist with socialism and communism, you must understand that. Mark my words, this is, this is coming, more and more to America. The left is obsessed with pitting a perceived victim group against a perceived oppressor group. So they can be considered the society's redeemer group. This is classic Marxism. And now it's morphed into what many call cultural Marxism. Folks standing for Jesus and following Jesus in the years to come, it's going to cost us far more than what it does now. Remember, Satan is the consummate counterfeiter, and it should be no surprise to any of us that Karl Marx, who was satanic to the core, wanted to fundamentally change human nature. And naturally, Satan, the master counterfeiter wants his version of regeneration. Biblical regeneration is where we become a new creature in Christ. We have a new nature that Christ gives us. Satan wants to do the same thing, only change people into his image that American citizens, especially evangelical Christians, cannot see. The evils of Marxism invading our country is a testament to the satanic evil behind it. The left's never-ending obsession with social justice, and redeeming marginalized people groups, no matter how statistically rare they might be, like transgenders that make up less than 1% of the population. All of this should be a clue that something nefarious is at play.

Folks, are you willing to suffer for the glory of Christ? The answer will be yes, if you've truly been born again, because that willingness is a work of the indwelling Spirit of God. Remember, even as God has his standard of righteousness, Satan has his standard of unrighteousness. And like God, he will punish those who violate his godless law. And the plan is simple. We see it playing out in our culture, legalize unrighteousness and criminalize righteousness, then prosecute those who refuse to obey. This has been and still is the priority of cultural Marxism. As I have written before, this can be summarized by eight sequential terms that naturally build on each other first begins with criticize, find fault with the oppressor group and criticize its members relentlessly. Then scandalize; falsely accuse the oppressor group to build a case against his members, through the manufactured outrage of cancel culture. Then dehumanize, demean the oppressor group members in terms so horrific, they should no longer be considered human and thus deserving of inhumane treatment. Then propagandize. Silence the dissent of reasonable voices by indoctrinating the public with lies that appeal to their emotion. And then organize. Remember Barack Obama, he was a community organizer. This is the mindset behind all of that; organize, which means mobilize disenfranchised individuals into a collective group think that are rabidly committed to fundamentally transforming the current social structure and eliminating natural moral principles held by the oppressor group. Then legislate. Enact laws the oppressor group will refuse to obey, then use coercive control to force its members to comply. And when they don't, incarcerate, imprison those who violate the laws that were structured to entrap the oppressor group, and free the oppressed group. And then eradicate. Kill them. Communist countries killed approximately 140 million people in the 20th century. As I've talked with my friends in other parts of the world that have suffered under Marxism and communism, this is exactly the path that it takes.

Dear friends, let me ask you, are you going to continue to stand for Christ when they come to take your children away because you refuse to bow to the LGBTQ ideology? Do you realize that they are already saying that they want laws that would require us to put our children on puberty blockers until they have a chance to really determine what gender they want to be? Are you going to stand for Christ when they threaten to fire you at your job because of your faith? Are you going to still follow Jesus when you go to the bank and you didn't have enough social credit points to maintain an account and you can't borrow money? Will you still deny yourself and follow Christ? Are you willing to pay any price for His glory, and for the blessings that are yours, that are mine, because we're united to him forever? Will you say with the Apostle Paul in Second Corinthians four, verse 17, "Momentary light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory, far beyond all comparison, While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal." Dear friends, when, not if, but when persecution comes, and it really gets severe, will you still patiently endure? And without any equivocation, say with the apostle Paul, "For me to live is Christ and to die is gain?" Because that's the stuff of genuine conversion. If you truly belong to Christ, again, the answer will be absolutely, "I will do that." I will struggle but by God's grace and His power, I will stand firm because once again, we can't do that on our own. That's the work of the Spirit of God within us.

This leads us to the third mark of genuine conversion and that's joyful submission. "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me." Remember what Jesus said in John 10, in verse 27, "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them and they follow Me." You see, this is referring to what I would call joyful submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This is an indication of true knowing. This is what validates genuine saving faith. This is the great miracle of regeneration, where the Spirit of God supernaturally infuses to the spiritually dead, the life of his spirit, and causes us to be born again. There's a spiritual resurrection that takes place. You must understand dear friends that the renewed heart is a radically new heart. It is a heart that finds the majesty of Christ saving grace and transcendent glory, irresistibly compelling. It is overwhelmed by the magnitude and the glory and the greatness of our God. And there is absolutely nothing that will prevent that person from bowing the knee to some other idol. It is a heart that "counts all things to be loss, in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord" as the Apostle Paul said. You see faithful following of Jesus, and joyful obedience is not some kind of onerous duty. But rather, it's a passionate desire. That's the joy of our heart.

I appreciate the definition of regeneration, offered by a 17th century Scottish pastor, young man by the name of David Dixon, and I understand that he preached 27 sermons on this subject in a town called Irvine resulting in a mighty work of the Spirit of God in that realm. Here's how he defined regeneration. "Regeneration is the work of God's invincible power, and mere grace, wherein by His Spirit accompanying his word, he quickeneth, a redeemed person lying dead in his sins, and renewith him in his mind, his will and all the powers of his soul, convincing him savingly of sin, and righteousness and judgment, and making him heartily to embrace Christ and salvation and to consecrate himself to the service of God in Christ all the days of his life." You're not going to hear that message preached very often in our culture today. Dear friends, if you have no desire to joyfully submit to the Lordship of Christ, to be obedient to His will, as He has revealed Himself in His Word. If that's just not in your agenda, you have no basis to claim genuine saving faith. You do not know Him and He does not savingly know you. And as a result you love the world and the love of the Father is not in you, right? First John 2:15. Jesus said in John 8"31, "If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of mine." In other words, persistent disobedience proves that you have never come to saving faith in Christ. And unless you do, you will perish in your sins. In Matthew seven in verse 21, Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of My Father, who is in heaven, will enter." First John two beginning in verse three, "By this, we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, 'I have come to know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word in him, the love of God has been truly perfected. By this, we know that we are in Him, the one who says he abides in Him, ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked." Folks, this is what it means to follow Jesus, the supernatural work of the Holy Spirit in the heart of the redeemed.

So there we have the priorities of conversion, self denial, cross bearing, joyful submission. And then Jesus contrasts that, with secondly, the penalties of rejection. Notice what he says in verse 35. "For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life, for My sake and the gospel's will save it." The term "life" here is the Greek word "psuche", which can refer to physical life, but it can also refer to the soul, the being the personhood, of an individual, personhood that exists beyond the boundaries of time and space. So what Jesus is envisioning here is personal martyrdom, for those who follow him. And again, this has happened countless times. But for those who really love Christ, and have been born again, who have been radically changed, that very real possibility, is something that we would willingly accept, even though we don't want it. But a person who clings to this life on their own terms for their own agenda, the glorious reward of eternal life, the glories of heaven, will not be theirs. Please understand, discipleship here is more than just kind of merely acting like Jesus. It rather includes a determined willingness to surrender oneself completely to the Lordship of Christ and endure persecution and even death for his glory, the glory that will be shared by those who have been redeemed.

So I'm going to ask you, are you trying to save your life on Earth by living for yourself? If so, you will lose your life eternally. That's what Jesus is saying. And dear friends, only a fool would exchange an eternity in heaven for a few fleeting years of self-pleasure and an eternity in hell. Like many of the Jews and all other false religious systems, the Apostle Paul once tried to save his life, through religious rule keeping and good works until he was radically converted. And in Philippians three, verse eight, he declares, "I counted all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death." So again, with this in mind, Jesus is saying, "For whoever wishes to save his life," to save his soul is going to "lose it." "But whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world." In other words, all that you could possibly hope for in life, and then forfeit your soul.

He goes on to say, "For what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" But friend, I want you to answer that question. What will you give in exchange for your eternal soul? What is the value of your soul? A soul made in the image of God and given immortality, a soul that was purchased not with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Charles Spurgeon said, quote, "Do you think that which hell craves for and that which God seeks for is not precious?" The answer is, of course, it's precious.

Dear friends, if it is precious to God, should it not be precious to you? What will you exchange for your soul? Earthly fame, fortune, pleasure. That's about all there is. How long are you going to pursue that? 60 years, 70 years, maybe 80 years depends upon how old you are now. But know this, according to Hebrews 9:27, "it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment." Like the old Baptist preacher RG Lee once preached, "There's payday someday."

Dear friends, what more can I say to warn you of the penalties of rejecting Christ and His gospel invitation. Jesus then closes this section and he says, "For whoever is ashamed," the term ashamed, by the way, in the original language means to feel embarrassment or to reject or despise, "For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels. This adulterous and sinful generation adulterous carries the idea here of spiritual harlotry. And certainly this was indicative of the Jewish people with their mechanical ceremonies and rituals in the lifeless, hypocritical, external traditions of apostate Judaism. You know, as I was thinking about this, I am so eternally grateful that God is not ashamed of me, although he has every reason to be. He's not ashamed of me because of any merit of my own. But because Christ has purchased my redemption with his blood, and I am forever hidden in him, along with all of you who know and love Christ. For this reason, in Hebrews two the writer says in verse 11, "For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, 'I will proclaim your name to My brethren, in the midst of the congregation, I will sing Your praise.'"

But oh dear friends, to see what Christ has said here, what a horrifying thought that the Son of man, when he comes, is going to be ashamed of all those who are ashamed of him. And by using the title Son of Man here in this text, and linking it with the glory of his Father, and with the angels, Jesus is clearly harkening back to Daniel's prophecy of when Christ returns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We read of that prophecy in Daniel seven beginning in verse nine. This is what Jesus is thinking of here. The Prophet says, "I kept looking until thrones were set up, and the Ancient of Days took His seat. His vesture was like white snow, in the hair of His head like pure wool. His throne was ablaze with flames its wheels were a burning fire. A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before Him. Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, and myriad upon myriads were standing before Him; The court sat down and the books were opened. Then I kept looking because of the sound of the boastful words, which the horn was speaking; I kept looking until the beast was slain and its body was destroyed and given to the burning fire. As for the rest of the beasts, their dominion was taken away. But an extension of life was granted to them for an appointed period of time. I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples nations and men of every language might serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away. And his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed." Dear friend, I ask you, do you want him to be ashamed of you when he comes? If you're here today, and the priorities of conversion are foreign to you, if you can honestly examine your life, and you have to say, my goodness, none of this even shows up on my radar. Then I would humbly suggest to you that you are ashamed of Jesus, and he is ashamed of you. But there is hope. And that hope is in the Gospel. And he extends to every one of you, every man, woman, boy and girl, not only in this sanctuary, but wherever, he extends to you the offer of his forgiveness and grace, if you will, but repent of your sins and cry out to Him, to save you, to forgive you, to change you. And when that happens, everything about you will change. Little by little, you will become more conformed into the image of Christ. And these priorities of conversion will not be onerous. Oh, we we will struggle with it. But we have the power source within us to do all that He has commanded. Aren't you thankful for that? Let's pray together. Father, we are so so grateful for your all-sufficient grace. And although each of us fail miserably as believers, we thank you that by the power of your spirit, little by little, you continue to conform us into the image into the likeness of Christ. Give us strength, give us wisdom, give us discernment. Father give us boldness that we might be salt and light in this decaying and dark culture in which we live. Lord, help us to love our enemies enough to boldly proclaim the gospel, that they too might be saved. And finally, Lord Jesus, come quickly. We long to see you face to face. For it's in your name that we pray. Amen.

In the providence of God, he has now brought us to Mark's gospel yet again on a Sunday morning. And we will be looking at Mark eight, verses 27 through 33. So if you will take your Bibles and turn there, Mark chapter eight, beginning with verse 27. And here, we will see the heart of the gospel. And that is what I've been titled my discourse to you this morning. And of course, the heart of the gospel is none other than the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me read the text to you. Mark eight beginning in verse 27. "Jesus went out along with His disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and all the way He questioned His disciples saying to them, 'Who do people say that I am?' They told him saying, 'John the Baptist, and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.' And He continued by questioning them, 'But who do you say that I am?' Peter answered and said to him, 'You are the Christ'. And He warned them to tell no one about Him. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he was stating the matter, plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter, and said, 'Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests but man's.'"

The heart of the Gospel is that Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of God; the one who paid the penalty for sin on behalf of all who believe in Him. He is the one that has conquered sin, Satan and death and all who trust in Him will have eternal life. You will remember when the Apostle Paul came to Corinth, which was an exceedingly wicked city. We read in First Corinthians chapter two and verse two what he said. He told them "For I determined to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." But we must understand that Satan's primary objective is to thwart the purposes of God and redemption. And one of the primary ways that he does this, as this supernatural brilliant deceiver, is to distort and to demean the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, the apostle Paul addressed this in numerous passages, especially in Second Corinthians chapter four, beginning in verse three, he said, "And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case, the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." So who is Jesus Christ? How would you answer that question? I might add to that, the eternal destiny of your soul depends upon how you answer that question. And what you do with the reality of who he is. If you could have asked the people in the first century, and the days of Jesus, you would get many different answers. The religious elite of Judaism, the Pharisees and the Sadducees said that he was a fraud. He was a satanically empowered, blasphemer worthy of death. King Herod thought he was John the Baptist, who was resurrected from the dead and he was terrified because he knew he had him beheaded. The Jews thought that he was maybe Elijah or one of the prophets, like Jeremiah in particular, which was consistent with some of their traditional beliefs. And the Gentiles thought, well, he's he just a great teacher and this miracle worker, but some believe the truth of who he was, that he was, indeed the Messiah of Israel. He was the Son of the living God. Today in our culture, you will hear many errant responses to that question. For example, the prosperity gospel, which is a perversion of the true gospel, would say that, well, yeah, Jesus is the Son of God, but his primary purpose was to bring blessings of health and wealth and power, all of which were provided in the atonement. And when we give money to God, God rewards us with wealth, faith, they would tell us, faith in him, is a self-generated spiritual force that leads to prosperity. And prayer is the tool that you use to force God to hand out the goodies. Beloved, that is not the Jesus of the Bible. The social justice or woke gospel, also a perversion of the true gospel would tell us that he was basically a liberal Democrat and a socialist, according to one spokesman for this cause, James Chasey. He offers a good perspective of the leftist understanding of who Jesus is. Here's what he said, quote, "Jesus was a liberal Democrat, and a socialist. The defining message of the four Christian gospels and of Jesus himself was this, helping the poor, helping the sick, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, uplift the underdog, care for children, distribute wealth, be mindful of immigrants and strangers in your land, etc. By all the defining definitions of liberal and socialists, Jesus was most definitely both of them. He was also a rebel, and a fighter for the poor, for the bullied and the displaced of his time." End quote. One article that I read in the liberal British Daily newspaper called The Guardian caught my eye, the title of the article was "One Jesus for Liberals, Another for Conservatives," written by John Joe McFadden, here's what he said, quote, "A study led by Lee Ross of Stanford University in California, has found that the Jesus of liberal Christians is very different from the one envisaged by conservatives. The researchers asked respondents to imagine what Jesus would have thought about contemporary issues such as taxation, immigration, same sex, marriage and abortion. Perhaps not surprisingly, Christian Republicans imagined a Jesus who tended to be against wealth redistribution, illegal immigrants, abortion and same sex marriage, whereas the Jesus of Democrat voting Christians would have had far more liberal opinions. The Bible may claim that God created man in His own image, but the study suggests man creates God in His own image." End quote. I would have to agree with that last statement. What about the Jesus of black liberation theology, that drives Black Lives Matter and critical race theory. They believe that Jesus was a revolutionary savior, to liberate black people from the bondage of white people. It's a theology that centers around victimhood and, and oppression, salvation is all about equality, and social justice, and therefore, the mission of the church is all about political change. It's really a religious version of Marxism. James Cohn, who was a leading voice in this movement, and the leading voice in the Black Lives Matter Movement said this, "It is my thesis, that black power, even in its most radical expression, is not the antithesis of Christianity, nor is it a heretical idea to be tolerated with painful forbearance. It is, he says, rather, Christ's central message." He defines black power as, quote, "the complete emancipation of black people from white oppression by whatever means black people deem necessary." End quote.

Well, it gives you an idea of the different philosophies of our day with respect to who Jesus is, and what he is all about. So the question is, are these popular cultural definitions of the person in the work of the Lord Jesus accurate, biblically? Is this the true Jesus? Of course, the answer is, no, they are inaccurate. In fact, they are a blasphemous and damning distortion of who he is. My friends, please hear me if you do not know who Jesus is, what he has done, what he is doing, and what he will do, you will one day perish in your sins, and pay the penalty for your sins in an eternal hell. And that's the bad news that makes the good news of the Gospel so incredibly good. My friend, please hear me. Jesus is indeed the Son of God. John three and verse 16. And following familiar passage, we read, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged. He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment that the Light has come into the world and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil." And down in verse 36, we read "He who believes in the Son has eternal life. But he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

Now the text that we have before us answers this question of who Jesus is, and in our passage here in Mark 8:27 through 33, we will examine this whole issue under two categories that I trust will be helpful to you. First, we will see a divine disclosure. And secondly, we will see a satanic temptation. Now, let me remind you of the context, Jesus and his apostles have been in the Jewish region of Bethsaida, where the people and the religious leaders have showed nothing but contempt for Jesus despite all of the miracles that He has performed. They refuse to believe that he was the Messiah, the Son of God, and because of their persistent, unyielding unbelief, Jesus had sentenced them to permanent spiritual blindness. He had also already commanded His disciples to be aware of the leaven. That is the damning and deadly influence of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and Herod and his sycophants, beware of them, and he then healed a blind man to illustrate the difference between permanent spiritual blindness of the religious phonies, and the temporary spiritual blindness of the disciples. And now they have all hiked about 25 miles north, to the region of Caesarea Philippi. And here Jesus is turning his attention primarily to his apostles. And here he focuses on the most important of all questions, and that is, who am I? And their answer, and ours, is the key that unlocks the door to eternal life in heaven if you get it right, and if you don't, without that key, you will remain incarcerated in a dungeon of darkness that will consign you to an eternal hell, where you will pay the penalty that Jesus would have paid had you trusted in him. The place of what Jesus described as Outer Darkness, of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Now, with that little background, let's pick it up at verse 27. "Jesus went out along with His disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi." A number of us were just there not too long ago. Let me take you there for a moment. This was essentially a Hellenistic and pagan city, was about 45 miles southwest of Damascus, Syria, and about 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. It's located at the base of Mount Hermon. It's near the ancient Israelite town of Dan. And in fact, this is about as far north as Jesus went when He was on earth. It has an enormous spring, beautiful spring that feeds the Jordan river that runs through it. In fact, the foothills there of Mount Hermon are lush, they're beautiful. There's, there's lots of water, lots of foliage. Originally, it was known as Baal ,Hermon and Baal God in the Old Testament period. And then later on about the third century BC, during the Hellenistic period, the city was resettled. It became Paneas, or Pantheon, named after the Greek deity Pan, maybe you remember seeing pan is the half man, half goat, half goat God, alright, you've seen that as half goat half man. It's amazing what the depraved mind can come up with to worship, right? And he's typically seen playing a flute, that's another story in and of itself. But he was the god of fright. In fact, we get our word panic from that. And these are magnificent ruins that are still there. To this day, you can see an open air sanctuary, there's a sacred cave where they offered sacrifices. All of that is still there. There's a series of hand hewn niches where statutes of their deities were placed, and there still exists remains of shrines to Pan and inscriptions even from the second century bearing his name.

Now in Jesus day, the city was ruled by Herod the Great's son Philip, and Philip had renamed the city Caesarea in honor of Caesar Augustus, and to distinguish it from Caesarea Maritimi which was located west of Jerusalem on the coast of the Mediterranean, it became known as Caesarea Paneas or Caesarea Philippi, in honor of Philip the Tetrarch. I might also add that it was in this area, that Jesus transfigured himself on the mountain so you get a little feel of where it is, and it was a magnificent city in Jesus day, but a pagan, wicked city.

Verse 27, goes on to say, "and on the way Jesus questioned His disciples saying to them, 'Who do people say that I am?'" Now the parallel passage in Matthew, verse 16, or chapter 16, verse 13, says that "when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He was asking His disciples, 'Who do people say that the Son of Man is?'" And in Luke 9:18, we read, "And it happened that while He was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and he questioned them saying, 'Who do the people say that I am?'" So that's what's going on here. Now, bear in mind that Jesus knew exactly the opinions of all of the people. He wasn't in need of information here, there was no lack of knowledge. In fact, in John two verse 25, we read that Jesus "did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man." So why was he asking this? Well, I believe it's because he wanted them to rehearse what people were saying, to contrast the folly of their beliefs with the truth of who he really was, and who he truly is.

So we have the answer here in verse 28, "They told him saying," well, some say you're "John the Baptist," and again, that was Herod's idea, "Others say, Elijah," I might add that this was consistent with what the Jews understood from God's prophet in Malachi four, verse five, we read, "Behold, I am going to send to you Elijah, the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord." So some of them thought, well, maybe this is Elijah. And then finally, it says, "but others one of the prophets." Now, one might ask, and appropriately so, why on earth with all of these miraculous signs, why was it so hard for them to believe that He was who He said He was, namely the Messiah? Well, the answer is it's because he did not fit their pre-conceived idea of the type of Messiah that they wanted. You see, by the first century, messianic expectations were at a fever pitch. The people were so tired of being under Roman bondage. You will remember in Matthew 11, beginning of verse two, "Now when John," referring to John the Baptist, "while imprisoned, heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples who said to Him, 'Are you the Expected One? Or shall we look for someone else?'" I mean, even John was thinking, I mean, I'm in prison here. I mean, when are we going to get the show on the road here and get rid of Rome? So are you the one or should we expect someone else. We also know according to John 1:29, that John knew that Jesus was the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. So there was confusion. And I might add that the average Jewish person did not want a lamb, they wanted a lion. They wanted someone to deliver them from the bondage of the pagan Gentiles, not deliver them from their sin. You remember what happened after his miraculous feeding of the many 1000s. In John six, we read in verse 14, "Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, 'This is truly the Prophet who is come into the world.' So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take him by force to make Him king withdrew again to the mountain, by Himself alone." So they wanted a military Messiah. And it should be no surprise given the conditions in which they lived in that day.

But we also need to remember that there is great power in man's depravity, we can come up with all kinds of crazy things and believe things that are utterly preposterous. You add that to Satan's temptation and you can see that man can believe all kinds of silly things. It is in man's very nature, they had he invent gods of his own, making after his own image. After all, most people want a God that they can appease. They want a God that they can impress. They want a God that they can manipulate. They want a God that will kind of wink at their sin and be their buddy. And this is central to all forms of idolatry, all false religious systems, because fundamentally, in the depravity of our hearts, we want to believe that God exists for us, rather than the truth, which is, we exist for him, to live to the praise of his glory. And often self is the God that people worship. In fact, self idolatry is at the core of, of apostate Christianity. Whether it's the social justice Jesus or the prosperity Jesus, or the Jesus of all the religious systems that preach salvation by works, if you just do these things, then you can impress him enough for him to save you. I recently read about a female contemporary Christian singer songwriter. The lyrics of one of her songs underscores the idolatry of self that is so popular, especially in apostate evangelicalism, and how men and women invent a God that will exalt them rather than the other way around. The one of the lines of her song says this, I am who I am because the I am tells me who I am. And people sing that over and over and over again. Well, yes, that's clever. That's cool. It's catchy, isn't it? The difference it is also self-exalting hogwash. It demeans God. And it redefines his purpose in redemption, to be nothing more than a God that exists to make his creatures feel good about themselves. Dear friends, that is not the Jesus of the Bible.

I might add that he does indeed tell us who we are. He tells us that we are spiritually dead that we live in open rebellion, that our hearts are at enmity with him, were darkened in our understanding. We are alienated from God because of the ignorance that is in us and because of the hardness of our heart. So he does tell us who we are. And when we understand who we really are and who he really is, then the only thing left to do is to cry out for undeserved mercy. And when we do, He will save us by His grace. But that is not a message that sells records. That is not a message that will pack churches. So the point here is that Satan is ingenious in his distorted deceptions, the ways that he can somehow deny the infinite perfections of the living God. He is cunning with his abilities to misrepresent the person and the work of Christ and his deceptions are always appealing to our depraved hearts. You see, until we come to faith in Christ and understand who we really are, who he really is, until he has saved us by His grace, we have to admit that prior to that we really wanted a Jesus that's a genie in a bottle, right? One that will serve us. We want a genie in a bottle that winks at sin, not a thrice holy sovereign, right? We want a Santa Claus not a savior, we want a butler, not a king. That's how people think of who Jesus is.

So again, Jesus asked his apostles to list the diverse beliefs of the people. And verse 29, "And he continued by questioning them. 'But who do you say that I am?'" You've listed all of the popular opinions. But who do you say that I am? And now we see Peter answers on behalf of all of them and says to him, "You are the Christ." "Christos" in the Greek, the Greek word for Messiah, from the Hebrew "Mashiach", which means the anointed one. What I find really interesting is although most all of the people were confused, the demons knew exactly who he was right? In fact, we read about that, for example, in Luke. A demon recognized him as a Jesus Son of the Most High God. So the apostles were finally resolute in their conviction of who Jesus was. Ah, but you must understand how they came to this conclusion.

And here's where the story gets even more fascinating. Yes, the apostle saw all of the miracles, they were with Jesus, but 1000s of other people saw the same miracle. So the question is, how did they come to believe the truth? How do any of us come to believe the truth? And the answer, my friend is because God reveals it to us. God revealed it to them. So here we see the first point in my little outline, a divine disclosure. Matthew helps us understand this in Matthew 16, verse 17, a parallel account, "And Jesus said to him, 'blessed are you Simon Barjona,'" which means son of Jonah, which is just a variant spelling or a shortened form of John, "blessed are you Simon, Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven;" flesh and blood referring to mortal man. In other words, no human being, no mortal person, no human effort or cleverness, no human cogitation, reveal this to you? Dear Christian, if you believe, as I hope you do, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, it's because God has revealed it to you. It is because God the Father decreed for His glory to save you by His grace. And he called you unto himself and adopted you as His child, and drew him drew you unto Himself gave you the gift of faith. It's because God the Son revealed Himself to you in His incarnation, It is because he accomplished your redemption through the shedding of His blood on the cross of Calvary. It's because God the Spirit, breathed spiritual life into your spiritual cadaver, so that you could see the horror of your sin and the glory of the cross. It's because he gave you spiritual eyes to see the glory of who Christ really is. is. The apostle Paul testified to this very thing in Galatians one, verse 15. We read what he says, "God, who had set me apart even from my mother's womb and called me through His grace was pleased to reveal his Son in me, so that I might preach him among the Gentiles." As I was meditating upon this passage, and the reality of all of this, even in my own life, knowing that God has revealed this to me, solely because of His grace, my mind went as it often does to a hymn. To Charles Wesley's great hymn, "Love divine all loves excelling, joy of heaven, to Earth come down. Fix in us, they humbled dwelling all the faithful mercies crown. Jesus, thou art all compassion, pure, unbounded love thou art. Visit us with thy salvation, enter every trembling heart." Oh, isn't it wonderful that God has loved us enough to reveal Himself to us by the power of His Spirit and His word.

I want you to notice what happens next. Next, we have a very stern admonition. Seems a bit strange, right on the heels of this divinely revealed, revealed confession, we read in verse 30. And he warned them to tell no one about him. Why? Don't you know if you were one of one of the apostles, you would have just you would have been euphoric. In this is who he is. And what do you do when you hear really, really, really incredibly good news? You want to tell everybody, right? You know, that was what was going on with them. They were ecstatic. But Jesus says, I don't want you to tell anybody. You see, he had other plans. And he's about to reveal to them more information. And what he was about to say was utterly incomprehensible to them.

Verse 31, "And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things;" he must suffer many things. The implication here is very clear, this is part of the Father's plan. This was a part that could not be altered, it could not be ignored. This was integral to Jesus mission on earth; he must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes then be killed. And after three days rise again, Verse 32, "And He was stating the matter plainly." This is why he didn't want it publicized. Because any public proclamation concerning his ultimate mission would only throw fuel on the fires of confusion and create chaos as he tried to make his way to Jerusalem and to the cross. This, of course, was all inconceivable to them. Mark later on in chapter 10, verse 45, tells us what Jesus said, "For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many." And as we will see, Peter and the others just could not accept this, because it did not fit into their preconceived ideas. It conflicted with their theology. But as God declared through the prophet Isaiah concerning his incomprehensible grace, especially as it related to rebellious Israel, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor or are your ways my ways," Isaiah 55, eight, and nine. "My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways declares the Lord, For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." And in that context, literally what he's saying is that the grace of my pardoning mercies do not even remotely compare to the way that you would treat people that have offended you. You can't even begin to comprehend the limits of my grace and Jesus' death on the cross was the key for God's provision for this Mercy and accomplishing our redemption. Remember, according to First John two and verse two, Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. Propitiation means he is the satisfaction. He is the one that placates the just wrath of God that should fall upon us. This is why the Son of Man must, as we read, "suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed and after three days rise again." As I was thinking about this, isn't it sad that the apostles had never apparently heard about this, even though they were raised in Judaism, and although there are several Old Testament passages that would have given them a sense of what the Messiah would do, and endure. For example, in Isaiah 50, and verse six, and granted, some of these are a bit veiled. But There we read, "I gave my back to those who strike me and my cheeks to those who pluck out the beard. I did not cover my face for my humiliation and spitting." When you think that the rabbi would have said, you know, this is a reference to the Messiah someday. Isaiah 52:13, all the way through Isaiah 53 And verse 12 make it real clear. Let me give you a few examples of this. Isaiah 53, beginning in verse four, "Surely our griefs He Himself bore, and our sorrows He carried, yet we ourselves have esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted, but He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities, the chastening for our well being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him." Later on, in verse 11, "As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied. By His knowledge, the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the booty with the strong, because He poured out Himself to death, and was numbered with the transgressors. He had He Himself bore the sin of many, and interceded for the transgressors." Even the Psalmist tells us in Psalm 16, verse 10, "For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay." Psalm 22 and verse one, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning." Verse seven and eight, "All who see me sneer at me, they separate with the lip, they wag the head saying, commit yourself to the Lord, let Him deliver him, let Him rescue him, because He delights in him." Verse 16 and following,"For dogs have surrounded me, a band of evildoers has encompassed me. They pierced My hands in my feet, I count all my bones, they look, they stare at me, They divide my garments among them. And for my clothing, they cast lots." What about Zechariah chapter 11, beginning in verse 12, "They weighed out 30 shekels of silver as my wages, then the Lord said to me, throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them. So I took the 30 shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord." And then one of the great texts in Zechariah, chapter 12 and verse 10, "I will pour out on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son. And they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn."

Here's my point with all of this. The apostles did not connect these dots, theologically, so they couldn't grasp the idea of Jesus suffering and dying. And again, he warned them to tell no one about him. Later, however, Jesus would himself make that proclamation concerning himself. Mark records this in Mark 14, verse 61 and following, "Again, the high priest was questioning him and saying to him, 'Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?' And Jesus said, 'I am. And you shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven.'" Well, all this was more than Peter could stand. And Satan loved it so.

So we've seen a divine disclosure now we're going to see a satanic deception in verse 32, "And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him." I cannot imagine a more brash display of arrogance. Here, you've got an uneducated fisherman, rebuking the omniscient Creator of the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them. Can there be any greater disparity of, of wisdom and authority? I think not. But also we shouldn't laugh. We can all be guilty of this. Are we not all guilty of reading some passage in scripture, coming across some doctrine that we don't really understand? And frankly, we don't like very much. So what do we do? Oh, we get creative. And we come up with a novel way of explaining what God has said. Yeah, so six days, six day creation, but they weren't six literal days. Or well, yeah, sovereign election, but it's not like he really chose some and not all. Think of all the ways people try to deny the doctrine of hell, or reinterpret the role relationships between men and women, that God has ordained for males and females, the covenant purposes of marriage between one man and one woman. How people remove the offense of the cross, to make it more acceptable, to make it more politically and religiously correct so that more people will like Jesus. Because after all, being a friend with the world is a better strategy of evangelism than preaching the gospel.

Well, in various ways, we've all struggled with who God is, if we're honest, and how he rules His universe. I think of what the Apostle Paul said at the end of his discourse, there in Romans, on the glorious doctrine of justification, he finally said, "Oh, the depths of the riches, both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God, How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways." Dear friends, when we reject His Word, and we reinterpret His Word, and we ignore His will, that is called sin. And basically, what we were saying is, thank you God, but I have a better idea. And that's what was going on with Peter and the others. They could not fathom the Lord Jesus, their Messiah, the one that they love, they could not imagine, in their wildest dreams that he is going to be rejected, that he is going to suffer, that he's going to be murdered, don't you know, in their hearts are saying, You've got to be kidding me. I mean, I've got all these plans for where I'm gonna live in the kingdom and in what I'm gonna do with my family, and in all of these magnificent things. I mean, really, are we supposed to live under the bondage of the Gentiles? Are we supposed to remain in this wicked world and endure all of this? No! I won't have it! Jesus, we need to talk. Have we all been there? In some ways? Dear friends that is the satanic temptation. God, I know what you said, but you certainly can't mean that I've got a better idea. I've got a better plan. I've got one that kind of fits into the culture, and certainly jives with my preconceived ideas of how you need to be and we need to be. Matthew tells us in Matthew 16, verse 22, "Peter took Him aside." I can't even imagine this. And yet I'm sure if I was there, I would have probably been just as dumb. Just as selfish, just as rebellious Peter took Him aside. You can almost see Jesus taking him by the arms. Hey, come here. We need to talk. We need, we need to talk. "And he began to rebuke Him saying, God forbid it, Lord, this shall never happen to you." And then we read that Jesus turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on God's interest, but man's." Mark says in verse 33, "But turning around and seeing His disciples," that's a very important phrase. I mean, he knew the disciples were thinking the same thing. So, you know, Peter has taken him aside, and he's going to answer him. And so what did Jesus do? He turns around so that they can all hear all right? "He turned around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, 'Get behind Me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's'". You see, Jesus knew that sinful people could never enter into the holy presence of God in the eternal kingdom. He knew that the only way they could possibly do that is for an infinitely Holy God, to pay the penalty for their sin. And that required suffering sacrifice, it required a cross. Jesus knew he had to pay the penalty for their sins so that they could be reconciled to God by grace through faith and enter the kingdom. They didn't understand all of that. And sadly, many people today, do not understand that.

By the way, Satan tempted Jesus to avoid the cross during his week and stayed in the wilderness. Remember that in Matthew four and Luke four, he knew Christ's sacrifice would not only defeat him, but also gain victory, your victory over sin and death. So you will recall how he tempted Jesus to doubt the father's perfect plan and to presume upon his grace, but Jesus refused to transfer his allegiance to Satan. And it's interesting in Luke four, verse 13, we read, "When the devil had finished every temptation, He left him until an opportune time." Peter was now an opportune time to tempt him once again. You know, it's hard to imagine Peter being speechless, but I think at this point, he probably was. I mean, think about it, he went from confessing Jesus as the Christ and being blessed for it to being likened to Satan. He went from being a spokesman for God to being a spokesman for Satan. And, and he did this in one short encounter. There's a great lesson here for me and one for you. And that is to remember how quickly the righteous can stumble. Dear friends, always be suspect, of your own spirituality.

Fortunately, God is long suffering, he's gracious to save and to sanctify. And later, Peter and the and the others understood. I mean, it all came together they understood that Jesus had to die. They understood that that was God's perfect plan all along, that apart from that, they could never be redeemed. You will recall at Pentecost, Peter said in Acts two beginning of verse 22, "Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know, this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. But God raised Him up again putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power."

Dear friends, I pray that you all know that Jesus is the Christ. He is the Messiah of Israel, the Son of God, that this is the very heart of the gospel. This is what we see all through the gospel record. In fact, the apostle John summarize this in John 20 and verse 31. "These had been written to you so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." So who do you say that Jesus is? I hope Your answer is as it should be, and I pray that you have surrendered your life to Him and that you serve him. Because the eternal destiny of your soul depends upon not only your answer, but also your response to His Lordship. Let's pray together. Father, we are so thankful for the magnificent truths of your word that brings such clarity to all of the confusion and chaos that is inevitably part of this fallen world. We know that Satan is ingenious at coming up with ways of distorting the person and work of Christ. And you add to that our own depraved hearts that that long for things that will ultimately destroy us. And it's easy for us to be deceived. So we thank you that you have revealed the truth of who Christ is to us. And we know that it is all because of your grace, not because of our ingenuity. Not because of our cleverness. And, Lord, if there be one here today that knows nothing of what it means to be reconciled to you through faith in Christ. I pray that you will overwhelm them with such conviction that they will humble themselves before you this day and place their faith in the living Savior. We thank you We give you praise for the glory of Christ. Amen.

This morning, I would invite you to take your Bibles and turn once again to Mark's gospel. We are in Mark chapter eight, continuing to make our way, verse by verse, through what the Spirit has revealed to us. In these texts this morning, we will be looking at verses 11 through 26, under the heading, "Permanent Versus Temporary, Spiritual Blindness." And this will be demonstrated to us in a very profound way in this text. Mark eight beginning with verse 11. Follow along as I read the text. "The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, seeking from Him a sign from heaven to test Him. Sighing deeply in His spirit, He said, 'Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation." Leaving them He again embarked and went away to the other side. And they had forgotten to take bread and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. And He was giving orders to them saying, 'Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.' They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread and cheeses. Aware of this said to them, 'Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart? Having eyes Do you not see? And having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember when I broke the five loaves for the 5000? How many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?' They said to Him, '12.' 'When I broke the seven for the 4000, How many large baskets full of broken pieces did you pick up?' And they said to Him, 'seven.' And He was saying to them, 'Do you not yet understand?' And they came to came to Bethsaida. They brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch Him. Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village. And after spitting on his eyes and laying His hands on him, He asked him, 'Do you see anything?' And he looked up and said, 'I see men for I see them like trees walking around.' Then again, He laid His hands on his eyes and he looked intently and was restored, began to see everything clearly. And He sent him to his home, saying, 'Do not even enter the village.'"

This morning, I wish to address a terrifying reality. A horrifying certainty that is so universally hated, that it will instantly evoke rage in those that it describes. It's a chilling inevitability that most people will spend their entire life trying to suppress through mockery, and through violence towards Christ and those who belong to Him. It is a shocking truth that is so indicting that it not only resulted in the murder of the Lord Jesus Christ and millions of his followers, but it is now the primary object of societal scorn in our country, and frankly, around the world. And what is this terrifying reality? It is simply this that God permanently blinds the spiritual eyes of those who persist in rejecting the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when they do, God will eventually seal their fate in the everlasting torments of hell. This is the bad news that makes the good news of the gospel so glorious, right? The good news of the Gospel is that there is a way to prevent this. And that is through faith in Christ, whereby we can be reconciled to God have our sins forgiven. Because of man's sinful nature, we know that all men are born blind to the truth of their need to be reconciled to God, through repented faith in Christ. And for many people, this is only temporary, but for most, it is permanent. And the reason for that is because God knows their hearts. And eventually God will abandon them, and the darkness of their cherished rebellion. He removes all restraint and allows their moral degradation and idolatry that they love to eventually destroy them. We read about this in a number of passages of Scripture, for example, in Romans one, verse 21, we read that "Even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened." When people reject God, God eventually rejects them. Their thinking becomes futile. The term literally means useless, worthless. And it's characterized throughout Scripture as darkness, their beliefs and their desires will destroy them. We're all aware of the mass shooting that happened in Texas, just what was it yesterday. And I was reading that we've now had 198 mass shootings, so far and 2023 in America. This is unrestrained depravity. Criminals are now promoted and protected by liberal leftist, they will even make martyrs out of criminals and on and on it goes. Verse 24 of Romans one goes on to say,"Therefore, God gave them over to th lusts of their hearts to impurity so that their bodies would be dishonored among them." He continues, and he says in verse 26, for this reason, God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural. And in the same way, also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman, and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts, and receiving in their own persons to do penalty of their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do those things, which are not proper." Their minds are literally unable to make rational, much less righteous, moral judgments. We see this in the transgender insanity, that promotes irreversible physical mutilation and chemical castration, so a child can pretend to be what he or she could never be and that is the opposite sex. By the way, folks, this is not mental illness. Sometimes there may be a component of that. But this is human depravity and divine judgment. The wrath of divine abandonment upon those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, those who knew God, but refused to honor Him as God or give thanks. This is an example of the futile speculations that the apostle Paul talks, about a foolish heart that God has darkened. So amazing, isn't it that our society is so dark and that it actually believes that personhood can be defined by the individual rather than the Creator that made them in his image, male and female, absolutely incomprehensible. And the state believes it must preserve a person's civil rights to be or do what they want. So in their mind, we must eliminate gender distinctions. And frankly, along with it, we need to eliminate marriage and we need to eliminate family. Now society is expected to celebrate painted up pedophile perverts known as drag queens. Pedophiles are now even seeking protection, legal protection status based on their sexual orientation. I mean folks, these things are purely satanic. Satan's lies are always in opposition to God's designs, always in opposition to God's purposes, to bring glory to himself. And they are certainly appealing even to the farthest extremes of human depravity. And when man exchanges lies for the truth, in defiance of God's revealed will, God will permanently hardened their heart and abandon them to the damning eternal consequences of their rebellion. Should be no surprise that apostate evangelicals who embrace the woke lies of the left are a part of all of this. Embrace the ludicrous virtue signaling trends of our satanic culture, ranging from the use of preferred pronouns for self loathing, drag queens, and transgenders. And even having drag queens in libraries, reading stories to children and even in so called worship services. I cannot imagine a greater blasphemy to the Lord our God, than what we're seeing in our culture today. I'm reminded of what Paul said in Titus one, verse 15. These are" those who are defiled and unbelieving, to those who says who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess to know God, but by their deeds, they deny him being detestable and disobedient, and worthless for any good deed."

I might add, however, that God's hardening and apostate Christianity is not only manifested in its embrace of the sexual perversions of our culture, and the Neo Marxist woke propaganda, propaganda that's sweeping the country, but also in its acceptance of virtually every form of heresy that a person can think of. From the social justice to the prosperity gospel. I was reading were in a recent chapel service at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota, the seminarians sing a Buddhist worship song about becoming one with the world. And examples like this just go on and on and on. I'm reminded of what Jude said about these kinds of people, these sexual perverts and predatory preachers, that ascend pulpits, and so called churches, Jude four, he says, "For certain persons have crept in unnoticed," referring to coming into the church. "Those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ." Dear friends, my point is simply this, if you reject the truth long enough, God will reject you, and He will abandon you. And these people today have not only rejected the truth, they mock it. And as a result, they have crossed a line of Divine Mercy and God has judicially hardened their heart. These are the ones according to Second Timothy four, beginning of verse three that Paul described. Those who "will not endure sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled or they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." The Greek grammar is fascinating here, the first part, "to turn away their ears," is in the active voice. That indicates that this is a determined deliberate rejection of what they know to be true. But the second phrase is in the passive voice when it says" they will turn aside to myths," And what happens there is the myths will overpower them and overtake them without them even realizing it's happening. They deliberately reject the truth because it conflicts with their desires, and as a result, they allow themselves to wander into religious errors and are overtaken by them. They are beyond repentance. Their eternal fate is sealed. Dear friends this is the permanent spiritual blindness that we see even illustrated in our texted Today, this is the consequences of God's wrath upon those who willfully and persistently and militantly reject the gospel. This is what caused Jesus to openly sob over the inhabitants of Jerusalem. People that embrace the religious lies of their leaders, and rejected Christ. In Luke 19, beginning in verse 41, we read of this, "When he approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, 'If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now," catch this, "Now, but now, they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you and your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side and they will level you to the ground and your children within you. And they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.'"

In our text here this morning, in Mark eight, we see a dramatic illustration of God's permanent, blinding judgment on those who reject him with full knowledge. But we also see God's mercy upon those who by His grace embrace the truth. And dear friends, I pray that each of you are among the latter and not the former. I want to divide the text into two very simple categories that contrast one another. First, we will see the divine sentence of permanent spiritual blindness. And secondly, we will see the divine remedy for temporary spiritual blindness. May I remind you of the context, for the last two or three months, Jesus and his disciples have been in the northern regions of Tyre and Sidon, pagan, Gentile territory; the Lord has been preaching, he has been performing many miracles. And then he traveled south with His disciples on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee down to the region of Decapolis on the south eastern shores, and now they have returned by boat to the Jewish region near Capernaum. In the Galilee, and as they arrive, we pick it up in verse 11. "The Pharisees came out and began to argue with Him, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test Hm." Matthew's gospel gives us a little more insight as to what happened. In Matthew 16 Verse one we read, "The Pharisees and Sadducees came up and testing Jesus, they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven." Now, this is most remarkable, dear friends, because the Pharisees and Sadducees were hostile adversaries. They might be likened to the Conservatives and the Liberals that we see in our culture. Now remember, the Pharisees, the term literally means separated ones, the Pharisees were fastidious keepers of the law, legalists of the first order. They obeyed all of the manufactured rabbinic traditions and rules and regulations. And they were determined to avoid any association with a Greco Roman culture. The Sadducees however, were a bit different. They were the wealthy upper class. They were the aristocrats. They were the ruling class priests, and they rejected oral law. The only thing they accepted was the written law alone. So they denied for example, the supernatural, they denied the resurrection from the dead the existence of spirits and angels, retribution in a future life and so forth. Their lives literally orbited around the temple. They gave oversight to the temple services. In fact, that was the source of their income. And it was a very lucrative business. They ran the whole money changer scam, as well as the sale of sacrificial animals. They might be likened to a temple mafia. And you will recall when Jesus occupied the precincts of the temple, he took a whip and he ran them out. He called called what they were doing a den of thieves. So that's the Sadducees. But isn't it interesting when it came to Jesus, oh, They were united in their hatred. Like the old adage, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And we see a similar dynamic in the ecumenical movement in our culture today where diverse religious groups that hold to beliefs that are even hostile to one another, will come together in their hatred of Biblical Christianity. Remember, anything other than Biblical Christianity is satanic. And Satan doesn't care what you believe as long as it is a lie. And he has a smorgasbord from which you can choose in every culture so you can pick your poison.

So the Pharisees and Sadducees came up to meet Jesus and the disciples as they get off the boat, and testing Jesus, they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. Now, why a sign from heaven? Why not just a sign? Well, it's because they believe that demons could work miracles. After all, they saw this in Pharaoh's court. We read about that in Exodus seven. And by the way, that's why they attributed Jesus miracles to Satan. But they believed that only God could perform miracles in the sky and they were convinced that Jesus couldn't do that. And so they set a trap for him. I might add, that Jesus had already provided miracles in the sky. Remember when he rebuked the wind and calm the sea, and Mark 4:39. And when even when Jesus was baptized by John in the Jordan, we read in Mark one, verse 10, "Immediately coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opening." And by the way, there would have been others there that would have seen that as well. Word would have gotten around that that's what happened. "They saw the heavens opening in the Spirit like a dove descending upon him, and a voice came out of the heavens, 'you are My beloved Son, in You I am well pleased.'" But you see, Jesus knew that any further miracles weren't really going to have any effect upon them. And he had done 1000s of them already. Nothing would change their mind. They had already settled in their unbelief. It's interesting that Nicodemus understood this. We read in John three verse two Nicodemus, by the way, being kind of the leading rabbi, "he came to Jesus by night," the text says, "and said to him, 'Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher, for no one can do the signs that you do, unless God is with him.'" So again, there was more than enough proof to validate Jesus claims that he was indeed the Messiah, the Son of God. And consequently, Jesus knew that the persistent rejection of those unbelievers had already sealed their fate. They were willfully blind. They had seen the light, but they chose instead, the darkness. So what we see happening here, dear friends is a terrifying reality. God is going to shut the vault door on the tomb of darkness that they love, and seal them in it forever. In Matthew 8:12, Jesus called Hell quote, "outer darkness; n that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." And again, we see this all around us, unfortunately. And we're not for God's grace, we would be among the scoffers. What a tragedy. Jesus declared in John 8:12, "I am the light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." But he also said in John three beginning in verse 19, "This is the judgment that the Light has come into the world. And men love the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed." Therefore, Jesus said in John three and verse 36, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life but the wrath of God abides on him."

So again, in verse 11, "The Pharisees come out and they began to argue with him," the text says. Now we're not told the exact nature of the argument, but it must have related to his claims to deity, because he goes on to say they were, "seeking from Him a sign from heaven to test Him." And then notice verse 12, "Sighing deeply in His spirit He said, 'Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.'" Beloved, here we see the first of the points that I have given you this morning, here we see the divine sentence of permanent spiritual blindness. "Sighing deeply" is the phrase that is used here, "sighing deeply in his spirit." The term in the original refers to groaning with intense pain or displeasure, or dissatisfaction. And in this case, Jesus deep distress was over the determined unbelief of the religious leaders, but also those who followed after them. Moreover, Jesus knew that any further light would only result in more extreme denunciation on their part, and therefore greater punishment in hell. If I can dwell on that for a moment. Yes, there are degrees of punishment in hell. So fascinating reality. Jesus warned, for example, those regions that rejected him and Matthew 10 and verse 15, saying, "Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah and the day of judgment than for that city that rejects the gospel." Even those who never hear of Christ we know will go to hell because of their sin, yet their punishment will not be as severe as those who hear the gospel and understand the gospel, and yet willfully and persistently and arrogantly rejected. Romans two and verse five. Paul says, "Because of your stubbornness, and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself and the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God." The writer of Hebrews tells us in Hebrews chapter 10, beginning in verse 26, "For if we go on sinning WILLFULLY, after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment." And then in verse 29, it goes on to say "How much severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the Spirit of grace?" So Jesus groans in sorrow, he groans in anger and rebukes the Jewish leaders and says, "Why does this generation seek for a sign? Truly I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation." Matthew's Gospel adds further clarity in Matthew 16, beginning in verse one. There we read, "The Pharisees and Sadducees came up and testing Jesus they asked Him to show them a sign from heaven, but He replied to them, 'When it is evening, you say it will be fair weather for the sky red. And in the morning, there will be a storm today for the sky is red and threatening. Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but cannot discern the signs of the times? An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. And the sign will not be given it except the sign of Jonah.' And He left him and went away." In other words, even with their primitive forecasting skills, by just looking at the color of the sky, they were able to have some kind of confidence in their ability to predict the weather. Yet, despite the countless miracles that Jesus had performed, they could not because they would not recognize their Messiah. The only sign they would later receive would be the sign of Jonah, a reference to his death and resurrection.

As I think about it, I find it interesting that a sign from the heavens is coming one of these days. Jesus speaks about it and his Olivet discourse in Matthew 24, beginning in verse 29, There we read, "But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky." The sign here speaks of the ineffably glorious appearing of Jesus Christ, "the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of man coming out of the clouds of the sky with power and great glory." Dear friends, you want to sign from heaven? That sign is coming. One that no one will miss. But until then Jesus said, "'An evil and adulterous generation seeks after sign and a sign will not be given it except the sign of Jonah.' And He left them and went away." The last phrase in Matthew 16 four is most telling, "And He left them and went away." Indeed, he left them in the spiritual darkness they loved and abandon them to it forever. And I fear for those today who are just like them. And I agree, you have to think that the perhaps there are some even in this church, you've sat under the teaching of the Word of God and you've heard the gospel countless times and yet in your arrogance, and in your stubbornness you refuse to believe. Dear friend if that is you, please examine your heart before it is too late and God seals you in your blindness. I've seen this over the years, arrogant fools, deceived by a depraved heart, double blinded by Satan. Those who blindly frolic in a fool's paradise as they party their way to hell. Today, we are watching our society descend further and further into an abyss of moral and spiritual darkness. All the while, believing they are creating some egalitarian, classless utopia of freedom and civil rights. When in fact, they fail to realize that God is merely allowing them to pursue their depraved minds, to pursue their lusts and embrace Satan's lies that will ultimately destroy them. This is tantamount to allowing a drug addict to pursue his desires or her desires to have all the drugs they want. Until they destroy themselves. Well, such was the fate of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, whom Jesus called in Matthew 23, "blind leaders of the blind."

So we've seen the divine sentence of permanent spiritual blindness. Secondly, I want you to notice the divine remedy for temporary spiritual blindness. Verse 13, "Leaving them He again embarked and went away to the other side." Now, here again, he abandons the apostate religious elite, and those that were following them and brings with him a small remnant of believers, one of whom was a devil. Think of the disciples now. They were often confused, hard hearted, they lacked clarity. But this was only temporary, because God was at work. And so Jesus and his disciples leave the Pharisees and the Sadducees behind and the darkness they loved and they cross over now to the north eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee. Verse 14, "And they had forgotten to take bread and did not have more than one loaf in the boat with them. And He was giving orders to them." By the way, the grammar here in the original language indicates that these were ongoing commands. "And he was giving orders to them saying, 'Watch out! Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.'" Leaven, of course, is also yeast, you're familiar with that. Matthew 16 Six adds that he includes the leaven of the Sadducees. So beware. We all know that a small amount of leaven causes fermentation that will expand in dough or batter causing it to rise and, and in Scripture, it is used to symbolize influence both good and bad. And in this case, in the context, we see that it's bad influence. And Jesus is commanding them to beware of the wicked influence of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and Herod, and, of course, all of his sycophants known as the Herodians. And I believe each group is really representative of the unique forms of wickedness that has impacted the church down through redemptive history. I mean, think about this, the Pharisees again, these legalist, hypocrites show offs. They love to promote themselves, through their works righteousness, all of the rules and regulations that gave them an illusion of spirituality, religious phonies, of the highest order, and have we not seen that infect the church down through the centuries. And then you have the Sadducees and ancient version of modern day materialistic liberals. Rationalists, who deny the person and work of Christ, deny the supernatural, the doctrines of the resurrection and immorality, immortality of the soul and so forth. And they use their religious influence to amass wealth and power by fleecing the naive and the ignorant. Beware of their influence. And then, of course, the influence of Herod and Herodians. These were just purely ungodly, immoral, corrupt, secularist politicians that used religion to advance their political and personal ambitions. And we see that today, do we not? This whole social justice gospel is, is used by the Democratic Party, and even now by a lot of the Republicans to advance the Neo Marxist globalist agenda that they are trying to pursue. So Jesus now is talking about influence. But the disciples are a bit on the dense side here, they failed to make the connection, because they're hungry. I think the moral of the story here is don't teach spiritual truths to people that are hungry, because all they've got on their mind is eating. Verse 16, "They began to discuss with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus aware of their said to them, 'Why do you discuss the fact that you have no bread? Do you not see or understand? Do you have a hardened heart?'" You see, the disciples were concerned about a lack of food, and Jesus was concerned about a lack of discernment. That's what's important here. Yes, 11 of them were born again. But they lacked spiritual understanding. But this was only temporary. You will recall on the night before Jesus death, in John 14, verse 26, Jesus promised them, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." And later, when the Spirit of God came upon them permanently at Pentecost, they began to grow exponentially, and their spiritual maturity. And the Spirit of God even inspired them to write the inspired word in the scriptures. But what Jesus is talking about here is frankly, consistent with the great doctrine of illumination whereby the indwelling Spirit will give understanding when the scriptures are read, and when they are heard.

You will recall in Ephesians one, verse 17, the Apostle Paul prayed "that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom, and of revelation in the knowledge of God, I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of his calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints." Beloved, this is why God has given to us the Holy Spirit to take up residence within us. This is why he has given scripture I might even add, this is why he has called and gifted pastors, teachers, for the church Ephesians 4:11 and following. This is for "the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith referring to doctrinal unity, and the knowledge of the Son of God to a mature man to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." But again, prior to the arrival of the Spirit, the disciples struggled in their understanding. We read for example, what Jesus said in John 16 beginning in verse 12. He said, "I have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak and He will disclose to you what is to come, and He will glorify me for he will take of Mine and will disclose it to you all things that the Father has are mine, therefore, I said, that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you."

Now, friends, there is a lesson to be learned here. Please hear it accurately. Faith alone is insufficient to produce Christian maturity, apart from theological understanding. You must grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without an understanding of the truth, you'll never be able to apply it. It's just like physically, if you expect to grow strong, and be able to do all that your body is capable of doi, you don't live on Pepsi's and cotton candy. You have to nourish your body with the proper food. A lack of spiritual discernment will lead to a hardened heart. That's what Jesus was concerned when he said, "Is your heart hardened?" Jesus warned them of that. You see, a heart that is merely focused on the cares of this world is a hard heart, a heart that is theologically ignorant. And when you're theologically ignorant, you will be vulnerable to Satan's deceptions. And they are absolutely ingenious. This is why the Apostle Paul warns us in Ephesians six and verse 11, "to put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil." I might remind you that that phrase "put on the full armor of God" is linked to an earlier instruction about putting on the new self, which was created to be like God and, and true righteousness and holiness we read about in chapter four, verse 24. And this cannot be done apart from the illuminating work of the Spirit of God to help us understand and apply scripture.

So Jesus instructs them "'Having eyes do you not see? Having ears do you not hear? Do you not remember when I broke the five loaves for the 5000 how many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up?' They said to him? 'Twelve.'" In other words, why are you guys worried about food? Good grief? Don't you remember what I did? Are you that dense? Verse 20, "'When I broke the seven for the 4000 how many large baskets full of broken pages did you pick up?' And they said to Him, 'Seven.' And He was saying to them, 'Do you not yet understand?'" By the way, can I give you some good news? Thankfully, Matthew records this in Matthew 16, verse 12. "Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees." Boy, I'm glad you know, I was beginning to question the IQ here, you know. But folks don't miss the profound contrast here that we see in the text. The Pharisees and the Sadducees were permanently blinded because of their deliberate and persistent unbelief. But the disciples were just temporarily blinded to the light of Christ, they were granted spiritual eyes to see, spiritual ears to hear. But it was only through the word of Christ and later the indwelling Spirit and the Word that they began to grow in the grace and the knowledge of Christ.

Now, what happens next in this narrative is truly remarkable. Here we see Jesus providing a vivid illustration of how lingering spiritual blindness can be cured by the master, even as he gives sight to this blind man and Bethsaida. Despite the fact, may I remind you of this, despite the fact that Jesus had already sentenced the residents of Bethsaida to permanent spiritual blindness, because of their persistent, unyielding unbelief, even in the face of all of the miracles, they would not believe. Remember what he said in Luke 10 beginning of verse 13. "Woe to you Woe to you Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had been performed to Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you." So here's what's going on now. After dealing with the permanent spiritual blinding of the religious phonies, and the temporary, spiritual blindness of his disciples, Jesus now is going to physically heal a blind man. And in so doing, he will further clarify all that he has been trying to teach them. And he's going to do it in a way that they will never forget.

Verse 22, "And they came to Bethsaida. And they brought a blind man to Jesus and implored Him to touch him. Taking the blind man by the hand, He brought him out of the village." Isn't that interesting? What tender, compassionate care. Take him away from all of the peering eyes, take him to a private place with his disciples to care for him intimately and personally. "And after spitting on his eyes," which probably what he did was spit on his fingers and touch the eyes so the man could feel; "And laying his hands on him, He asked him, 'Do you see anything?' And he looked and said, 'I see men for I see them like trees walking around.' And then again, He laid his hands on his eyes. And he looked intently, and was restored, and began to see everything clearly. And He sent him to his home saying, 'Do not even enter the village.'" Can you imagine the look of the disciples face, not to mention the look on the blind man's face, as they witnessed this miracle. And again, what Jesus is providing for his disciples is a preview of the coming Messianic kingdom. When all disease and death will be greatly diminished, I think of Isaiah 65:20. 'No longer will there be in it," referring to the kingdom, "an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his days, for the youth will die at the age of 100. And the one who does not reach the age of 100, will be thought accursed." So they get a glimpse of the future kingdom on earth, and all that the Messiah can do. And I believe also, they must have thought to themselves, oh my, like this blind man, spiritually speaking, we were blind, but now, the Lord has given us eyes to see. This was truly an astounding miracle. But also, it's followed by a strong prohibition, that we don't want to neglect, to not even enter, this blind man, I don't want you to even enter the village of Bethsaida and allow them to witness another miracle.

And with his prohibition, what he is doing is underscoring the permanence of their spiritual blindness. This is the wrath of divine abandonment upon them. Where there are so many today who fall into this category. Because of the hardness of their heart go, God no longer even allows them to hear the gospel, much less respond to it. We don't know who they are, so we keep presenting the gospel. But they are sealed, you might say, in the darkness that they love. They have been permanently blinded and abandoned by God. Oh dear friend, I trust the veil of spiritual darkness has been removed from your eyes, so that you see the glory of Christ and his saving grace. And I pray that you have trusted in him as your only hope of salvation. For indeed, He is the true light according to First John one nine, coming into the world, that enlightened everyman. You know, I've known many men and women over the years who know and understand the offer of God's saving grace, but they want absolutely nothing to do with it. They don't even want to talk about it. They live for themselves, they indulge the lusts of their flesh, as if God doesn't even exist. And we're told in Scripture that there is pleasure in sin for a season but because of their persistent stubborn unbelief, what I've seen happen in their life is they drift further and further and further away into the darkness of rebellion. And God finally just abandons them there. I've lived long enough to witness this gradual degradation and misery. I've seen it in people with broken marriages, broken families, broken people. We see it today with people that are desperately trying to find something to anesthetize the pain of a purposeless life. To suppress the truth of who God is in their unrighteousness. Why do you think stadiums are filled with people to watch a bunch of guys or a bunch of gals kick a ball around? Why do you think there's such drug abuse in our country they depend upon these things to somehow anesthetize the pain. They live out their lives, and eventually, they get sick, and they die. And they enter into the eternal torments of hell. But not all are spiritually blind and on a permanent basis, like the 18th century Atlantic Slave trailer, John Newton, man who lived a life of want and debauchery in rebellion against God. Then God used a violent storm off of the coast of Ireland to open his eyes to the truth of the gospel, caused him to cry out to God for undeserved mercy. And to make a long story short, God saved him by his grace. His spiritual blindness was only temporary, not permanent. And because of this, he wrote those words that we've sung so many times. "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me, I once was lost, but now I'm found, was blind, but now I see." Oh, thank you, Lord. Let's pray together. Father, thank You for the eternal truths of your word, that have such penetrating clarity. To those that you have redeemed, and those that you will lumen by the power of your Spirit, we give you praise. Because this is all of your grace. May we

What a joy it is to be able to open up the Word of God and to look into it, and to have the Spirit of God speak to us through it. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark's gospel? We are now in Mark chapter eight. We're going to look at the first 10 verses of Mark eight. And I've entitled my discourse to you lessons from Jesus miraculous feeding. This is a detailed account by an eyewitness, probably Peter, who discipled and informed Mark. And what a wonderful privilege it is to be able to take ourselves into these scenarios, and see what Christ has done. And what he's continuing to do today, follow along as I read, Mark, chapter eight, beginning in verse one. "In those days, when there was again, a large crowd, and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them, 'I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with me now three days, and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from a great distance.' And His disciples answered Him, 'Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place, to satisfy these people?' And He was asking them, 'How many loaves do you have?' And they said, 'Seven.' And He directed the people to sit down on the ground. And taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks, and broke them, and started giving them to his disciples to serve to them. And they serve them to the people. They also had a few small fish. And after He had blessed them, He ordered these to be served as well. And they ate, and were satisfied. And they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over, of the broken pieces. About 4000 were there and He sent them away. And immediately He entered the boat with His disciples, and came to the district of Dalmanutha." There are many lessons that we can learn when we look into these historical narratives. And certainly here, as we look at this particular one, we see that Jesus has compassion for people regardless of who they are, as should we. We can also see that Jesus is able to meet all of our needs from His infinite resources. And he is aware of what those needs are, indeed, he is both omniscient, as well as omnipotent. We also see through these miracles that Jesus is indeed who he says he is, that He is God very God, that we might worship Him. Moreover, through these miracles, we can anticipate the glories of the Messianic Kingdom to come, and the eternal state that will follow in the new creation. And I trust you are learning and applying these kind of realities in your life. And if not, frankly, you're forfeiting God's blessing in your life. Especially in these dark days of unrestrained wickedness that we see all around us, the satanic blinding, the militant unbelief. May I remind you that we live in a world where the light of Christ is being extinguished by Satan and those who belong to him, although it will never ultimately be extinguished. Jesus said in John three beginning in verse 19, "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the light, and does not come to the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God." And certainly we can all rejoice in our salvation, that God gave us eyes to see the light of the glory of Christ. The apostle Paul reminds us of what we have in our salvation in Ephesians five beginning in verse eight. There we read that, "you," speaking of believers, "were formerly darkness. But now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord. Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light." And certainly, the mockery of this god hating, immoral world is both sickening to behold, indeed, it is tiring to endure. But remember, the darker the night, the more brilliant the light. And this is what we see as we behold the infinite perfections of Christ in this particular narrative. I've given you a little outline, we're going to see three basic categories here that I think will be helpful. We're going to see a model of unconditional compassion. We're going to see a confirmation of infinite resources and a preview of coming glory. What I'd like for you to do is put yourself in the position of one of the disciples. In that day, you've been traveling with the Lord for two or three months, you've witnessed many miracles in the northern regions of Tyre and Sidon, pagan, Gentile, dark regions, and then you've traveled south on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, into the region of Decapolis on the south eastern shores, and you've seen massive crowds coming to Jesus, you've been a part of all of that. In fact, Matthew tells us in Matthew 15:29, "And large crowds came to him, bringing with them those who are lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others. And they laid them down at his feet and he healed them. So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking and the blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel." But during this extended journey, you have enjoyed the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has instructed you on many things. He continues to encourage you, challenge you, exhort you, prepare you for what lies ahead. And one of the things that you've noticed is that he's been breaking down all of the racial barriers between Jew and Gentile and he has given sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, a living illustration of your need to be able to see and hear what the Lord would have for you, that you might fully embrace the reality that Jesus is who He says He is. God, very God, deserving of our breathless adoration and worship. And now Jesus is about to perform another astounding miracle, to underscore these wondrous truths. The feeding of 4000 men, plus women and children, probably a group of people, as we shall see that are about 15,000, maybe 20,000 people. Let's look closely at this climax to Jesus Gentile ministry. Verse one, "In those days when there was again a large crowd, and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called His disciples and said to them, 'I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with me now three days and have nothing to eat.'" Now, imagine this dear friends, you're in a desolate desert wilderness. It's hot, it's dry. There's no food. The only water that you would have is the water that you carried with you or perhaps some springs here and there. No other sources of food, and you really haven't eaten in three days. When I fast for a day, I get hangry. Right? Are you that way? You've been sleeping on the ground and Jesus, frankly, has just had a magnetic draw. You can't take your eyes off of him, you can't stop listening to him. You are overwhelmed with all that you're seeing. Spellbound. Is this, indeed, the Son of God, the Jewish Messiah? Now bear in mind, the environment in this second feeding is quite different from the first feeding that you see in Mark six, about verse 35 and following. The first feeding was on the north eastern shore of the Sea of Galilee, in the springtime. It would have been around Passover, so the hillsides would have been thick with green grass. In fact, Matthew tells us in Matthew 14:19, Jesus ordered them to sit down on the grass, okay? And John says, and John 6:10, Jesus said, Have the people sit down now there was much grass in the place. But now in the second feeding, several months have passed by. The summer sun has done what it typically does in an arid region, and any grass that is there is going to be weathered. The first feeding of the 5000 was in a less arid region and it was surrounded with with farms and villages. So there were some places that you could go to get food, but the second feeding of the four or five 4000, is on the southeast side of the Sea of Galilee, a desolate wilderness, no food sources, it would be much like Southern California, I remember when I lived there, they said there were two seasons in Southern California, green and brown, right? Green and brown. And it would have been brown here in the second feeding. Verse six, "and he directed the people to sit down on the ground," not on the green grass. Matthew 15:35, says the same thing. Now Jesus is fully aware of the spiritual needs as well as the physical needs of the people. In fact, he was more aware of their needs than they were. They were mesmerized by what they saw. And of course, that would have been rather dangerous, because you're going to have to eat, and some of them are going to have to travel a great distance to get to their homes and to a source of food. So Jesus calls his disciples to come over to him, and he expresses his compassionate concern. And this takes us to the first point in our little outline, a model of unconditional compassion. Verse two, "I feel compassion." The word in the original language means to have deep feelings within one's bowels. You know, as we would say it, it just gets me right in the gut. That's the type of concept that we have here to have a profound sympathy in one's innermost being. "I feel compassion for the people, because they have remained with me now, three days and have nothing to eat." And he says, "If I send them away to their homes, they will fade on the way and some of them have come from a great distance." Now, as we think about this, beloved, I want you to remember that God is a God of compassion. We read about that a little bit ago in our scripture reading. In Exodus 33, beginning in verse 18. Moses says, to the Lord, "'I pray you show me your glory!' And He said, 'I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you and will proclaim the name of the Lord,'" referring to YAWEH, "'I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.'" Isn't it interesting that the first attribute of Yahweh self proclamation is that he is a compassionate God? Meaning that he genuinely cares about men and women and boys and girls that he has made in His image, and he has enormous tenderness for them, for their needs physical as well as spiritual. And later when Moses ascended Mount Sinai after Israel's sin, of erecting and worshiping a golden calf, we read in Exodus 34. "Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, the Lord God, compassionate, and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness and truth, who keeps His loving kindness for 1000s, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin, yet, will by no means leave the guilty unpunished." So indeed, our God is a compassionate God. And we're reminded of this in this particular narrative, even during the wicked reign of Jehoahaz in ancient Israel. The LORD spared Israel of ultimate military defeat that would lead them into exile. Why did he do this? Well, all because of his compassion, along with his promise to the patriarchs, to give their descendants the land. Because of his great mercy and compassion towards Israel, He spared them. We read of this in Second Kings 13, verse 23, "But the Lord was gracious to them, and had compassion on them and turned to them because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and would not destroy them or cast them from his presence until now." I find it interesting even with Israel God knew all along that his people would rebel. In fact, he ordained to allow that to happen, to manifest the glory of His attributes. He knew as well that we would rebel, and yet he has saved us by His grace, right? And even though God knew Israel would, quote, "act corruptly," Deuteronomy 4:25, and, quote, "do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord, causing him to scatter the people among the nations," Deuteronomy 4:27 "and serve their gods," verse 28. Nevertheless, let me read the prophecy that he made to Moses, Deuteronomy four and verse 30. "When you are in distress and all these things have come upon you in the latter days you will return to the Lord your God and listen to His voice. For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant with your fathers which He swore to them." Indeed, God will not permanently reject Israel, but will honor His covenant promises to Abraham. His compassion and faithfulness will lead ultimately to the restoration. Now, as we come back to Mark's gospel, we know that later, Jesus compassion was revealed in a most dramatic way, when he approached Jerusalem, for the what is often called the triumphal entry. Actually, it was a time of great sorrow for him. A time of Lamentations, he, his soul was in an agony over the superficiality and the self deception of the people. And he judged them for this. Remember what Luke tells us in Luke 19:41, "When he approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it." There is his compassion. And here's what he said, "If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes." To be sure Jesus wanted to model compassion for his disciples. He wanted them to see it and experience it firsthand. Especially his compassion toward those that had been canceled in his culture, namely those unclean Gentiles. We must ask ourselves would the Lord describe me as compassionate, truly sympathetic to those who are in need. By the way, this means a whole lot more than just writing a check to help somebody out. True compassion is going to roll up your sleeves, you're going to get your hands dirty. You're going to get in the presence of people, you may even touch them, look them in the eye and minister to them. I remember the times I've been in Siberia, we would go to small churches at times, and there would be people there that had never seen an American, and never seen a pastor. And I remember on a number of occasions, the old men would come up and take me by the hand, and begin talking to me in Russian. And fortunately, I had a translator, tears running down their eyes, and they're translating, and we're trying to interact. But they were so thankful that I would come and spend some time with them. And they would want to ask questions, they would want to say things, they would bring glory to Christ. And I remembered as well, when we would go to some of these small churches and desolate areas. They don't have rest homes. When you get old, you basically die. But the churches would care for the widows. And I remember one of the pastors telling me, "now when you go in to see the widows know this, they're all going to want you to hold their hand." And I remember going into these little shanties of places that they had, on the little church grounds, some of them just rooms off of the small little churches. And these dear ladies all wrapped up in all of their coats. And they would want me to sit down with them and take them by the hand and they would weep. And we would talk and I'm not saying that to put a feather in my hat, but I was just really convicted that that's what compassion looks like. It's a lot easier to write a check than it is to get in the presence of people that are in desperate need. And that's what we see here in this text. You know, God has shown us what this looks like. And a number of passages of Scripture may remind you of what James one verse 27 says, "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world." Hebrews 13, verse three, "Remember the prisoners, as if chained with them, those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body also." Do you identify with the suffering of others, who suffer physically even as you suffer in your own body? Proverbs 19:17, "one who was gracious to a poor man lends to the Lord and he will repay him for his good deed." Do you realize that compassion for the spiritually ignorant and rebellious was one of the primary qualifications of a High Priest? Because it revealed an awareness of his own sin, his own frailties, his own shortcomings, Hebrews five beginning of verse two says that "he can deal gently," the word could be translated,he can have compassion, "with the ignorant and misguided since he himself also is beset with weakness. And because of it, he is obligated to offer sacrifices for sins as for the people, so also for himself." In other words, when we have an honest evaluation of our own sinfulness, our own weaknesses, that will animate our hearts to have compassion for others who are in similar conditions. We're all exhorted in Romans 12, "to rejoice with those who rejoice" and what? "Weep with those who weep." By the way, one of the greatest acts of compassion is that of evangelism, to proclaim the gospel to those who walk in spiritual darkness, who are dead in their sins. I mean the world has no answer. They're always trying to legislate something else, you know, well, if we legislate gun control, then everything will be okay. Well, no, we've got to legislate woke ideology, and then we'll have the utopia that everybody wants, and on and on it goes. It's all just a fool's paradise. I mean, God must change the heart right? Normally the gospel will do that. You show me a professing Christian that has no burden for the lost and I will show you a phony Christian. I will show you a person who has no understanding of what God has truly done for them by his saving grace. True compassion will never be ashamed of the Gospel. In fact, I'll give you a practical illustration of what you can do to show compassion. Boldly tell people the truth of who Christ is, for example, write onyour, whatever pages you use Facebook, I guess, perhaps, First Corinthians 6:19 "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revelers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." And then add what he says, "such were some of you." But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God, beloved, share your testimony, unleashed the scripture on people. That is compassion. This is the kind of compassion that Jesus modeled, and many were saved. And many were persecuted, including the Lord. So Jesus felt compassion for the people vecause they had remained there with him now three days, they had nothing to eat and if he sends them away, they go a long distance to go, they might faint. Verse four, "And His disciples answered Him, 'Where will anyone be able to find enough bread here in this desolate place to satisfy these people?'" Now, obviously, the disciples knew that he was able to feed all of the people, he had just done that a few months before in a very similar situation. But what they question was whether or not the Lord Jesus was going to miraculously feed these unclean Gentiles? That was the issue. I mean, they weren't even allowed to eat with Gentiles, much less, have their Messiah create food, and give it to them, and then eat with them. But what Jesus was about to prove, is that ethnicity was not a qualification for divine blessing. Ethnicity has nothing to do with admittance into the kingdom of God. Salvation is by grace alone through faith alone, in Christ alone. Now notice verse five, it says, "And he was asking them, 'How many loaves do you have?' And they said, 'Seven.'" The idea here is he's asking them, it's almost like how many loaves do we have? How many loaves? I want all...how many loaves do we have? He wants to make sure they all know just seven. All right. That's what he's doing. Now, of course, Jesus knew. It wasn't like he ever lacked information, alright? He's omniscient, he knew the amount. But he asked them in order to underscore the miniscule amount of food that they had, which was greatly disproportionate to the vast need of the crowd. Moreover, this would magnify the miraculous nature of the creation that was about to take place, and more importantly, put his deity on display one more time for them, and for everybody else, in case you disciples have any doubts, remember, there's just seven loaves. So we've seen a model for unconditional compassion. Secondly, now, another lesson that's about to be learned here is, is just a confirmation of infinite resources, verse six. "And he directed the people to sit down on the ground." Then it says, "and taking the seven loaves." Now, let me stop here. The term loaves here in our culture, we think of a loaf, you know, somebody's got one of those big loaves of bread that you all will give us from time to time, by the way, I love sourdough. But you know, and it's kind of hard to break those things off. That's not what this is. These are basically flat cakes, that's the idea. That's what they have, and they could easily be broken into smaller pieces for distribution. So, "and taking the seven loaves, He gave thanks and broke them and started giving them to his disciples to serve to them, and they serve them to the people." Now, folks, this is staggering. Here we have instantaneous, ongoing, spontaneous creation of bread from the hand of the Creator Himself. You know, when I read these things, I'm always reminded that this is my Creator, this is my Savior. This is my Lord. This is my king, and yours as well, if you know and love Christ. I'm reminded of John one and verse three, "All things came into being through Him and apart from Him, nothing came into being that has come into being." And here's a great example of that. Colossians, 1:16. And following, "For by Him, all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created through him. And for Him, He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." This is my Jesus, I hope he's yours. Now, imagine being one of the disciples, you're watching all of this. Along with others that I'm sure, were asked to come and help with the distribution, I was thinking about this, the Lord probably had them be seated in groups of 50 and 100, as in the feeding of the 5000, that's recorded in Mark six and verse 40. And, of course, this was necessary for orderly distribution. And so we've got 15, maybe 20,000 people, you start doing the math, you know, maybe a couple 100, 250 groups of people, it's hard to say exactly. So you're gonna need lots of help. Imagine if you go to a group of 50, maybe 75 people, maybe 100, imagine carrying that many of these flat cakes, and you've got it, no, you're gonna have help. And you're watching all of this. By the way, imagine if it was just 12 of them. And they're going back and forth to a couple of 100 groups of people. I mean, they would have all starved by the time they got their bread, right? So all of this is going on. Now, think about this, Jesus could have just as well, miraculously, just put the food right in their lap. Whoa, there it is. Wow, you see that? You get...I mean, he could have done that. But why didn't he do that? Well, the text doesn't say, but I think it is a tenable hypothesis to assume that Jesus wanted his disciples to be involved in the miracle, that they might experience the compassion, these filthy, unclean Gentiles that you are now serving. Moreover, he wanted them to experience the sheer joy of that compassionate service, along with the power of Jesus. Don't you know they were watching his hands? It just, it just kept coming. I'm sure if I was there, I would be speechless. He's just creating that. Think of the lessons that the disciples learned with all of this. Again, one of the big lessons was to show compassion to all people regardless of who they are. But also, the lesson that they would need to depend upon in the days ahead, in times of great persecution. A lesson that would go something like this, I know that my god can supply all of my needs according to His riches and glory. I know that I can trust in him. I can trust in Him for my daily provisions. Isn't that what Jesus said in Matthew six verse 31, "Do not worry then saying, 'What will we eat? or What will we drink? Or what will we wear for clothing?' For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you." Now back to the text, verse seven, "They also had a few small fish," and by the way, they would dry fish, this is very typical in that culture. "And after he had blessed them he ordered those are these to be served as well." So here comes the second course. I have to share with you whenever I think about these things and think man don't you know that bread and that fish was absolutely delicious. I'm sure they were saying "I have never had such good bread or such good fish." I mean, you talk about fresh right I mean, it was just created. Verse eight, "And they ate and we're satisfied. And they picked up seven large baskets full of what was left over of the broken pieces." Interesting term there that Mark uses terms "spyris" in the original language for basket. This speaks of a very large basket, you might call it a hamper. It was made out of wicker or rope and it was used for carrying provisions. In fact, this is the same term used for the basket that Paul got into when he went over the wall in Damascus in Acts 9:25. And Mark's use of this term, I might also add, is in stark contrast with the term for basket that was used in the feeding of the 5000. There the term "kophinos" was used in Mark 6:43. And this was a stiff, smaller basket, it would hold about a gallon to two and a half gallons, kind of a little wicker basket. The Roman accounts indicate that it was essentially a Jewish traveling bag, an ancient version of what we might call a daypack. Later, Jesus also made the distinction between these two baskets. When he asked his disciples in Mark eight, beginning of verse 18, "Do you not remember when I broke the five loaves for the 5000? How many baskets?" And there uses the term coffin us the small basket, "How many baskets full of broken pieces you picked up and they said to him 12. Then he says, "When I broke the seven for the 4000, how many large baskets," there's the term from, from from a spy Iris, "how many large baskets full of broken pieces that you picked up and they said to him seven." So you see a distinction there, which, by the way, refutes along with other other issues that we could see in the text, it refutes this idea that there was just one miraculous feeding. There were really two. Now back to verse eight, "And they ate and we're satisfied." They were satisfied, you know, think about this, only Jesus can satisfy our physical and spiritual needs as his image bearers. And that's what happens here. "And they picked up seven large baskets full of what was leftover of the broken pieces." Now, obviously, the people had all they wanted to eat and the text doesn't say this, but I'm sure anything they had to stuff some extra bread and fish in, they did that for their trip home, because there's just so much of it. There's plenty of leftovers. You know, Jesus is never stingy in his blessings, right? Unlike, I don't know, we got some frozen meals the other day, sometimes I'm in a hurry. I need the microwave I needed, you know, well, the thing said something like chicken cheese, broccoli noodle, something. All right? So you heat it up. And guess what it basically is? It's noodles and you have to go on a search and destroy mission to find a little piece of chicken. And when you do its some little hard piece of something that tastes like Purina dog Chow, you know? That's not how the Lord blesses. All right. He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, right. Oh, the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to think we are children of God. Paul says, "And if children, heirs also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ." And then Mark concludes the narrative. He says, verse nine, "About 4000, were there." Matthew 15, verse 38, adds further clarification, those who ate were 4000 men besides women and children, so there was probably closer to 15,000, maybe 20,000 people. Then at the end of verse nine, it says, "And he sent them away." I don't want to make too much about this. But I noticed that in the original language, the term for sent them away, can be used in two different ways. It can mean to dismiss or get rid of, or it can also mean to liberate, to set free or to pardon. And knowing Mark's use of irony here perhaps what he is alluding to is the Jewish leaders would dismiss the people get rid of them and they would leave unsatisfied. When Jesus sends them away, they've been set free. Maybe some of them were pardoned because they came to faith in Christ. But certainly physically, they went away satisfied. And so that's what we have here. And then verse 10, "And immediately he entered the boat with His disciples and came into the district of Dalmanutha." By the way, this is about a year away from the cross. Now, he's going to return according to Matthew 15:39, to the region of Magadan. This would be up near Capernaum. So he was going to get on the boat and gonna go back up to the north end of the Sea of Galilee, to Capernaum, and the town of Magdala, there in Galilee. Magdala, by the way, was the hometown of Mary Magdalene. It was also where Jesus healed the woman with the issue of blood. I might even add that it's a town that's been recently uncovered by archaeologist, last time our group was in, in Israel, we were able to see that, it's an amazing place. It's very close to Tiberius and Israel. So we've seen a model of unconditional compassion and a confirmation of Christ's infinite resources. And I want to close this morning with something else that we see. And that is a preview of coming glory. It's so easy to read these passages and just kind of leave them in that context and fail to see what they can point to. Throughout Jesus ministry, we know that he performed many astounding miracles, most of which aren't even recorded miracles, that left both Jews as well as Gentiles just speechless. But his two miraculous feedings, one to predominantly Jews, the first one and the second one to predominantly Gentiles, when he points to something even greater than his deity, I believe that it points to a preview of coming glory, especially with respect to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Here I go to Revelation 19 verse nine, we read, "Blessed it are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb." I want to take you for just a few minutes into Revelation to expand upon this point. In Revelation 19, we see the fullness of Christ reign coming to fruition, that time when Heaven is going to explode in heavenly praise. The end of verse six "Hallelujah for the Lord our God the Almighty reigns." This is now the fullness of the messianic kingdom that has come in. The kingdom of God, remember being the central and unifying theme of Scripture, the ultimate goal of biblical history, that consummating bridge between the end of human history and the eternal kingdom and the splendors of heaven. And in verse seven of that chapter, we read how the multitude of the redeemed are exclaiming, and verse seven, "Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready." The metaphor of marriage and bride is used in the Old Testament to depict the covenant relationship between God and His people Israel, both past and future. It pictures the deep personal union between God and His people manifested by his elective love for them, and their responsive obligation to be faithful and pure. And likewise, the apostle Paul uses this metaphorical imagery to describe the relationship between Christ and His Church. And we see this as well here in the marriage supper of the Lamb in Revelation 19 and verse seven, and even in the description, later on of the New Jerusalem, in chapter 21, verse two which the apostle John sees, quote, "coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband." So as we look at Scripture, we see that, that with ethnic Israel, with the church and even with this new Jerusalem, the marriage and bride and metaphor symbolizes the covenantal love of God for His people. The perfect union with God that characterizes the redeemed, the inestimable beauty that God bestows upon his bride and her spotless purity. Now to fully grasp the transcendent glory of this text regarding the marriage of the lamb with the bride that he has made ready, a little background is necessary. The ancient Hebrew marriage consisted essentially of three parts. The first part was the betrothal or the engagement period, called the "kiddushin." And this included a contract whereby the couple were considered legally married. The trial usually lasted about 12 months, and it was a time for them to prove their sexual purity, to prove their faithfulness, and a time for a young man to go away and prepare a place for his bride. And then the second stage was that of presentation. And what would happen is that at the close of the betrothal period, the groom would go to his bride often unannounced, and take her to his father's house and present her to family and friends. Over a period typically of one week, lots of festivities during that time. And at the end of the presentation, the bride would return home briefly. She would gather her things as well as her bridesmaids, and then the groom and his groomsmen would go to the bride's house and escort her and the bridesmaids to the ceremony. I was able to witness this particular aspect in Old Jerusalem a number of years ago when I was there, an amazing sight. And then you have the third aspect the third stage, and that is the "huppah", the ceremony itself where actual vows are exchanged. And after the ceremony, a final meal would take place followed by the physical consummation of the sacred union in the couple's private chamber. Now, this imagery, beloved, dominates our Lord's relationship with his bridal church. And I might also add that it is crucial for our understanding of the prophetic literature as his bride. We were betrothed to Christ in eternity past, by his uninfluenced, sovereign will. Paul described this in Second Corinthians 11 in verse two, "For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy for I betroth you to one husband, so that to Christ, I might present you as a pure virgin." Currently, the groom to whom we are betrothed is preparing a place for his bride. Jesus said in John 14 "In my Father's house are many dwelling places if it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am there you may be also." And the period of betrothal is also a period of sanctification as we are being prepared by the Spirit of God for that day of presentation, that process of sanctification whereby the Spirit of God, through the power of His word, primarily is conforming us more and more into the likeness of Christ. The apostle Paul speaks of this in Ephesians five, verse 25, "Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her, so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water and the word that He might present to himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she would be holy and blameless." Now I believe that the presentation will occur at the time of the rapture of the church, when he comes for His bride unannounced and he takes us onto himself as his pure virgin, the sanctified church. And then during the seven years of Tribulation upon the earth, the raptured church will be presented to the heavenly hosts, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, holy and blameless. And at the end of the seven year celebration, it will be a time of the final ceremony, and the marriage supper of the Lamb. That marriage supper of the Lamb will begin with and coincide with the earthly kingdom. And ultimately, the ceremony will extend throughout the entirety of the millennial reign of Christ with the final consummation occurring in the new heavens and the new Earths, the New Earth along with the descent of the New Jerusalem. Again, Revelation 21:2, "coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband." And there in the new heavens and new earth, a glorified bride which will include all of the redeemed throughout all of redemptive history, will live in perfect union with her bridegroom in the bridal city, the New Jerusalem. And as we look at the text, in Revelation, this is the final theme of that great heavenly song. It evokes praise for the love of God for his bride, verse seven, "let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready." And by God's grace, and by His power through the Spirit, He is making us ready, Verse eight says, "and it was given to her to clothe herself and find linen, bright and clean, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints." And here we see that the stunning attire of purity that was worn by the angels, referred to back in Revelation 15 and verse six. Now that adorns the bride and what an amazing transformation has taken place. We know that at salvation we are clothed with the imputed righteousness of Christ. But now the righteousness is no longer imparted. But it is intrinsic to our glorified state, as his bride forever and ever. And finally, the promise of Romans 8:19 will be realized that is the "revealing of the sons of God" in verse 21, when we will be "set free from the slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God." As I think about this, imagine when all of this was revealed to John on the Isle of Patmos. How exhilarating it would have been for this weary apostle to now be able to see all that is being declared and to be reminded of what he wrote in first John three and verse two, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be, but we know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is." Then in closing back to Revelation 19. Finally, we see how an angelic messenger speaks to John most likely the one that was one of the angels of the seven last plagues, who initiated his role as John's guide back in Revelation 17, verse one. Verse nine says, "And he said to me, 'Write, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.'" This is so precious. These invited guests, dear friends represent the Old Testament saints, whose bodies will be resurrected at the end of the tribulation in connection with Israel's restoration, we see this for example, in Daniel 12, verses one and two. In fact, John the Baptist was a prime example of this. Remember, Jesus described him as the greatest of Old Testament believers, Matthew 11:11, yet John described himself as a quote, "friend of the bridegroom," John 3:29. The invited guests will also include the tribulation saints, who have died and have been glorified as well as those who are still alive when Christ returns. And then at the end of verse nine, Revelation 19, the angel said, "These are true words of God." And then I'm sure this is more than John can handle. He's so excited verse 10, he's caught up in the triumph and he says, "I fell at his feet to worship. And he," referring to the angel said to me, "Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus." By the way, isn't it fascinating, even the angels are the Lord's servants, and they to give witness to Jesus? The angel says "worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Said differently, he who has the spirit of prophecy, will convey Jesus testimony. Dear friend, I hope you know and you love and you serve the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior and King. I hope you know that only in him will you find pardon and forgiveness of sins and eternal life. It is only found through the blood of Christ that can wash away your sins. If you've never trusted him, I pray that you will today. And I challenge all of you who do know and love Christ, to learn well the lessons that we see in this magnificent historical narrative. So that we will all share his compassion with those with whom we come in contact with regardless of who they are. And that we will trust in His infinite resources, regardless of how difficult the days might come, and that we would also anticipate his coming glory. Knowing all that he has in store for those that he has made to be His own possession, his bridal church. Let's pray together. Father, thank You for the magnificent truths of your word. May they take root in our heart and bear a magnificent harvest to the praise of your glory. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.

As I mentioned, earlier, this morning, we are going to be looking at Jesus's miraculous power. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark's gospel? We're in Mark seven and this morning, we will be looking at verses 31 through 37. And while you're turning there, may I remind you that we have a wonderful privilege that we never want to underestimate, the privilege of coming together and worshiping the Lord, and freedom. We must never take that for granted. Moreover, we have the marvelous blessing of being able to look into the Word of the living God. The Psalmist tells us in Psalm 119, beginning in verse one, "How blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord, How blessed are those who observed His testimonies, who seek Him with all their heart." I know that these are dark days, I've talked with a number of you as I do every week. And it is on everybody's mind. Just the great difficulties that we are facing in our country in our culture, America's military and economic and moral superiority in the world is vanishing under the current administration. Our allies no longer trust us, our enemies no longer fear us. And I hear from many of you every week, about your frustration concerning the left's woke and LGBTQ war against specially our children and our youth. The whole transgender insanity can only be explained by satanic blinding, no rational person could possibly believe these things. Certainly, transgender ideology is fundamentally incompatible with Christianity. And they know that and that's another whole topic. But certainly, many of you are afraid, especially of those of you that have kids in public schools. I've talked with you, you feel helpless. At times, you will ask me, Pastor, what can we do? And I've had those conversations with you. Certainly a number of things that you can do, but one of them that you can do, one of the things that all of us can do, is what we're doing this morning. And that's coming together and worshiping the Lord, submitting our lives to His Word, applying it to our life. In fact, and Psalm 119, verse 23, the Psalmist says this, "even though princes," referring to rulers and officials, "even though princes sit and talk against me, Thy servant meditates on the statutes." Wonderful text. This is a great commentary on how we should respond to our politicians that scheme to do us damage to silence our voices, and so forth. Beloved, if I could put it to you this way, don't march, meditate. All right, don't march, meditate. They don't matter God does. Too often we wring our hands and pace the floor with all of this insanity, all of this wickedness. But our authorities are only doing what spiritually dead people do. You must understand that and God will keep them within the boundaries of his sovereign will and we can relax in that. So let's focus on what the Lord would have us do not what they would have us do. Again, Psalm 119, verse 78, "May the arrogant be ashamed, for they subvert me with a lie, but I shall meditate on your precepts." And so let's do that this morning as we look at this amazing historical narrative concerning the power of Jesus. Let me read it to you beginning in verse 31. "Again, He went out from the region of Tyre and came through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis. They brought to Him one who was deaf, and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him. Jesus took him aside from the crowd by himself and put His fingers into his ears. And after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva. And looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, He said to him, 'Ephphatha!,' that is 'Be opened!' and his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed. And he began speaking plainly. And He gave them orders not to tell anyone; but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continued to proclaim it. They were utterly astonished, saying, 'He has done all things well, He makes even the deaf to hear, and the mute to speak.'" I never tire of contemplating the tender mercies of Our Lord, His infinite power, as well as his future return and reign. And that's what we have here before us. Let me remind you of the context. Jesus, as you know, posed a serious threat to the Jewish authorities. They were absolutely livid. He confounded them at every turn, every time they tried to confront him or questioned him, he made fools out of them. Moreover, he exposed their hypocrisy, including their ridiculous manmade rules and regulations that they had concocted, especially as they related to what was clean and unclean. And remember, Mark has just recorded the incident where the Jewish leaders confronted Jesus and the disciples for eating their bread with impure or unwashed hands, for not observing the tradition of the elders. And so Jesus excoriated them, exposing their self righteous, moral superiority, calling them quote, "hypocrites." In verse, verses six and following, "Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men," verse eight, then he went on to remind them that that which proceeds out of the man that is what defiles the man in chapter seven in verse 20. So in an act of judgment, what we see now is Jesus abandons them, and he goes Northwest, to the region of Tyre, Gentile territory, it's actually in southern Lebanon as we would see it today. And he once again takes the message of the Kingdom, beyond the ethnic and territorial borders of Israel, and brings the gospel to the unclean, to the Gentiles. And remember, Jews were not allowed to even enter into Gentile areas, they were forbidden from purchasing things in their markets, they would never eat food from Gentiles, they would never go into their home. And yet what we see in the Gospel accounts, as many of them as Jesus comes and brings the gospel to them, many of them come to saving faith in Christ, and that has gone on through the years. And that's would apply to most all of us who are Gentiles that have been saved by His grace. And it's really interesting how some of the Gentiles come to faith in Christ. And this becomes, frankly, a rebuke to the Jewish leaders. And Mark does a lot of ironic recording in his Gospel, and this is an irony, is it not? That the people that are unclean are the ones that Jesus saves. So we must remember that many of the people in this region where Jesus is going have heard the gospel message, but yet, they're still unsure who Jesus really is, including some of his own family. And you will recall that those in his hometown wanted to kill him. The scribes and the Pharisees were already scheming to to kill him. They said that he was demon possessed. He was a blasphemer, a false teacher, and even some of his own disciples had lingering questions about who Jesus is. And in the height of irony, what we see is that whenever Jesus confronts the demons, the demons know exactly who he is, that he is the Son of God. And yet the religious leaders refuse to acknowledge that. And I might also add that this journey now up into this region is a priority. Jesus is trying to find some peace and safety and solitude away from Jewish hostility, and he's going to be spending more and more time in discipling his apostles. So this is kind of a necessary calm before the storm that will ensue with his betrayal, his arrest and crucifixion. So Jesus and his disciples now travel about 40 miles northwest of this idolatrous region of Tyre and Sidon on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. And you will also remember that there, Mark records how he encounters this Gentile woman who was willing to risk everything, all of her pagan idolatry, abandon all of that to come and ask this Jewish Messiah, in fact, beg this Jewish Messiah, to deliver her little daughter from an unclean spirit. And clearly she understood Jesus was more than just a miracle worker, She evidently understood the gospel. And as you will recall, Jesus both tested as well as rewarded her faith, delivered the little girl from the demon that possessed her. So once again, proving that the kingdom now is being offered to the Gentiles, as well as to the Jews. And now Jesus and his disciples travel about 20 miles north of Tyre, passing through the region of Sidon, and while there Mark records this miracle. And this is a miracle that the other gospel writers do not record. That is the healing of this deaf man, who was therefore unable to speak. As a footnote, a very important one, he performed many, many other miracles. Don't think that just the ones that we have here are the only ones that he performed. In fact, between this time and throughout the remainder of his time, when he travels then over towards the Sea of Galilee and into the region of Decapolis and then moved south, the crowds continue to grow very large. In fact, Matthew records this, in Matthew 15, beginning in in verse 30, he says, "And large crowds came to him bringing with him, those who were lame, crippled, blind, mute, and many others and they laid them down at his feet, and he healed them. So the crowd marveled as they saw the mute speaking, the crippled restored, and the lame walking and the blind seeing, and they glorified the God of Israel." Now, as we come to this text this morning, I would like to draw your attention to three things pertaining to our Lord that I think are most encouraging, as well as instructive. To every believer we're going to see number one, Jesus' tender compassion, secondly, his infinite power. And finally, Jesus' messianic preview. Beloved, I must say that there is no greater act of worship, than contemplating the infinite perfections of the person in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, His unmerited love for his bridal church and the promises that He has given to all of us, and the glory of heaven that awaits us. So let's look at this, verse 31. "Again, he went out from the region of Tyre, and came through Sidon, to the Sea of Galilee, within the region of Decapolis." Now this was the same vicinity of Gerasa, you will recall where he had delivered a man that was living in the tombs and he was possessed by many demons. Remember, Legion was his name, and he sent them into the swine, you read about that in Mark five. Decapolis, now it means it means 10 cities, deca in Greek is 10 and polis is cities; 10 cities, predominantly Gentile cities, but there were also a significant number of Jews that lived in that region. And this was the center for Hellenistic and Roman culture. It was, those of you that have been with me in Israel, this was the region of Caesarea Philippi, for example. And it was a it was a region governed by Philip rather than Herod. And it was a an extremely pagan area. Archaeological finds have produced many idols, deities of Zeus and Aphrodite and Artemis and Dionysus and all of these creepy idols that they worshipped in those days. Now, this was a considerable detour to the east and then south, in a largely desert region, and eventually he's going to reach the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee and from there he's going to continue south. Now, the inhabitants of Decapolis were well acquainted with Jesus' claims to deity. I mean, frankly, everybody in the whole region had heard about Jesus, and his healing, his supernatural healing powers. And undoubtedly many of them had come to saving faith in Christ and what's about to happen here is going to astonish them all the more. That doesn't mean that the people that were astonished by His miracles came to faith in Christ, but many of them certainly did. But I want you to notice number one, Jesus tender compassion. Verse 32, "They brought to Him one who was deaf, and spoke with difficulty, and they implored Him to lay His hand on him." Now there's several things that we want to see here. First of all, I want to underscore the word spoke. It is a Greek term that refers to a speech impediment. Someone who cannot utter comprehensible words, they utter incomprehensible sounds. And it is a very rare Greek word. It's used only here in the New Testament. And it appears only once in the Septuagint. The Greek translation of the Old Testament where it is used, with respect to what is going to happen in the Messianic age there is used to describe the Messiah and what he will do in Isaiah 35, beginning in verse five, "Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the death will be unstopped, than the lame will leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute, will shout for joy. For waters will break forth in the wilderness and streams in the Arabah," that is the desert. So he says "and the tongue of the mute will shout for joy." "Mogilalon" in the original language that is the same word that Mark uses here in verse 32. And the rabbinic understanding of this text is explained in the Hebrew Midrash, which means exposition or instruction, an ancient commentary on the Hebrew Scriptures. And the rabbi's believed, and I believe, they are absolutely right, that this will be fulfilled by the Messiah in the Messianic age to come. And we're going to look at that a little bit more closely in a moment. But I want you to notice then that they brought to him this man, the one who is deaf. Obviously, this man is an outcast in society. You must understand that the person with this kind of a problem would be ignored, he would be rejected. And now he's got some family or friends, we're not told really who they are, but they care about him so deeply that they are going to bring him to Jesus. And here we witness both faith and love on the part of these unnamed companions. Perhaps these caretakers had heard the good news of the gospel, they certainly had faith in Israel's Messiah. And what I find here is they they have no desire for reward or applause. They're simply acting here, out of faith and love. And notice, they "implored him to lay his hand on him." Implored in the original language means they begged him. They pleaded with him earnestly, and laying hands on someone was a visible and tangible way of demonstrating his healing power to those that are in need, and to be sure, every one of us as Christians need to do likewise. We need to bring people to the master and we need to plead with Him, to deliver them both physically and spiritually, to offer them the certain promise of eternal life. I will remember as at least one of you will, that was with me, when I was in Uganda with one of our missionary Shannon Hurley. One of the things that we would do is we'd leave the compound and we would be in this, this very remote jungle area, and I remember going with him to one of these little huts and there was a woman there out by a fire. And he began to talk with her and she had a 16 year old daughter, and both of them were dying of AIDS. And he asked them to come and he sat down in front of them and had them sit down and the daughter was lying in the hut and she came out and he looked in their mouth. That's a way of determining AIDS, there is always a fungal infection there called thrush. You see other infections as well. And he examined their mouth and then he showed them the love of Christ by telling them that, and he immediately got on his phone, and amazing, we've got technology in the middle of nowhere. He got on the phone and called for the medical people that work with the mission to come and to give them attention, while at the same time giving them the gospel. You know what a picture of love and that's what we have going on here with these people that bring this dear man to Jesus. And I want you to think about this how accessible Jesus was, throngs of people around him. John MacArthur makes an interesting observation to this. And he said, "Unlike the Pharisees, and scribes, who considered themselves to be above the common people, Jesus gladly mingled with the crowds and willingly extended his touch toward those in need. Doing so displayed his and heaven's tender compassion, and personal care. It also demonstrated that he was not afraid of ceremonial defilement. Jesus was never defiled by those whom he touched. Whether it was a leper, a woman with a hemorrhage of blood, a dead body, or a Gentile man who suffered from deafness. Rather than being corrupted by them, they were cleansed and restored by him." Now, I want you to again to notice further the Lord's tender compassion here. It says in verse 33, "Jesus took him aside from the crowd by himself." Now imagine the scene, imagine if you were this man and you were an object of ridicule and mockery in your culture. Now you're in front of this big crowd, your friends have brought you here. How humiliating that would be. Feelings of helplessness, you're unable to hear, you're unable to communicate. But Jesus is fully aware of the desperate nature of his condition and the humiliation that he endured. And remember, a severe speech impediment was considered a symptom of mental handicap among the Gentiles and it was a sign of God's judgment, for exceptional sin amongst the Jews. And so everywhere he turned in that culture, this is how people perceived him. So it would be hard for us to imagine the ridicule and the rejection that this man endured. But Jesus now, in his tender compassion takes him aside. That act alone demonstrates our Lord's tender mercy, and his desire to to personally commune with this man. And this, by the way, would have been something totally foreign to this man. Nobody else would come and do this with him. He probably took him aside into a nearby dwelling, we don't know for sure, but a private place. And it's interesting later on in chapter eight, verses 22 through 26, Jesus will do the same thing when he heals the blind man in Bethsaida. And what a picture of Christ's great saving work, right? I mean, this man had no merit of his own. And yet, Jesus lovingly takes him aside and freely lavishes his love upon him and delivers him from the bondage of his physical limitations and perhaps from his sin. And perhaps Mark's recording of, of this particular act, the man that could not hear, as well as later on, the man who could not see, was symbolic of the disciples who still needed ears to hear and eyes to see who the Messiah really was. So we see, first of all, Jesus tender compassion, but secondly, His infinite power. Verse 33, "Jesus took him aside from the crowd by himself, and put His fingers into his ears, and after spitting, He touched his tongue with the saliva." Now Jesus is touching the specific organs that are in need of healing. And by so doing, he's communicating to this man that cannot hear and cannot speak, that this is what I am about to do. This is where I am going to bring healing. And people in that day believe that saliva had healing properties and so this would be a good way for Jesus to communicate that this is what I am about to do. So when Jesus spat upon his fingers and touched the man's tongue, that man would have understood what Jesus was trying to communicate. And then it we read in verse 34, "and looking up to heaven with a deep sigh, he said to him, 'Ephphatha!' that is 'Be opened!'" Jesus looks up to heaven thereby demonstrating to this man and perhaps his friends that were gathered with him or family, demonstrating to them that your help is coming from above. And it says, He "looked up and with a deep sig." The term "sigh" is an interesting term in the original language, it refers to an inarticulate groan. We would understand it as *sigh sound* that type of sigh. And here it is a moan of profound sorrow and sympathy and concern. "And he says to him, 'Ephphatha! that is 'Be opened!' And his ears were open and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly." Impediment, the original language "desmos", comes from that term, it means to be loosed from bonds or from chains. And both his ability to receive and respond were now suddenly freed from the bonds of his disability. And it is noteworthy here that, that there was no need for him to learn the language, no need, and there was no need for speech therapy. In fact, the text says that he began speaking plainly. "Plainly," "orthos" in the original language, meaning straight or right. He began speaking properly in the correct manner, we get our English medical terms, orthopedics and orthodontics from this Greek term, the correction of deformities of bones and muscles or teeth, and jaws and so forth. Now, as I read this, when I contemplate upon it is absolutely astounding to think of what really happened at that moment. Trillions of cells had to be rerouted. What you have here is a physical regeneration that came from the mouth of the Creator that can speak things into existence. In order to understand this a little bit better as a layman, in medical terms, I looked up, how do we hear how does hearing work? From Johns Hopkins and they said this, "First of all, you've got an outer ear, a middle ear and an inner ear. The outer ear," they said, "the Oracle "fin pinnae" is the visible portion of the outer ear. It collects sound waves and channels them into the ear canal, the external auditory meatus where the sound is amplified." We all know that we do this you know, so that we can hear a little better. "The sound waves then travel toward a flexible, oval membrane at the end of the ear canal called the eardrum, or tympanic membrane. Sound waves cause the eardrum to vibrate. Then you have the middle ear. The vibrations from the eardrum, set the ossicles into motion. The ossicles are actually tiny bones, the smallest in the human body. The three bones are named after their shapes, the malleus, which is the hammer, the incus, the anvil, and stapes, which is the stirrup. The ossicles further amplify the sound. The tiny stapes bone attaches to the oval window that connects the middle ear to the inner ear. The eustachian tube, which opens into the middle ear is responsible for equalizing the pressure between the air outside the ear and that within the middle ear. Then we have the inner ear. The sound waves enter the inner ear and then into the cochlea, a snail shaped organ. The cochlea is filled with fluid that moves in response to the vibrations from the oval window. As the fluid moves 25,000 nerve endings are set into motion. These nerve endings transform the vibrations into electrical impulses that then travel along the eighth cranial nerve which is the auditory nerve to the brain. Signals from the right ear travel to the auditory cortex located in the temporal lobe on the left side of the brain. Signals from the left ear traveled to the right auditory cortex. The auditory cortices sort, process, interpret and file information about the sound." They also said the "inner ear also contains the vestibular organ that is responsible for balance." And in an instant all of those things are working perfectly. And that's not to mention all of the aspects of language skills and everything else that would work in the brain. My mind went to Psalm 139:14, "I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works in my soul knows it forever, knows it very well." I marvel at God's omnipotence. And this is what we see here, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Creator, to see his ability in his power to do whatever he pleases. That's who the Lord is. In fact, one of the Old Testament terms for God is El Shaddai. El means God and Shaddai means Almighty. The apostle John exclaimed in Revelation 19 Verse six, "Hallelujah for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns." Dear friends, we can find great comfort in these days of uncertainty and fear, and even death. Stephen Charnock, one of the great Puritans of the 17th century said this about the omnipotence of God. "The omnipotence of God is his ability and strength to bring to pass whatsoever he pleases. Our desires may be, and are, more extensive than our power, but with God," quote, 'His counsel shall stand and he will do all his pleasure.' Isaiah 46:10. You must, in your conception of divine power, enlarge it further than to think God can do only what he resolves to do. In truth, he has an infinite capacity of power to act, as he has an infinite capacity of will to resolve. His power is such that he can do whatever he pleases, without difficulty or resistance. He cannot be checked, restrained or frustrated. How worthless His eternal councils would be, if his power could not execute them. His mercy would be a feeble pity if he were destitute of power to relieve. His justice, a slided scarecrow without power to punish, and his promises an empty sound without the strength to accomplish them." Oh, dear Christian, the tender compassion and the infinite power of Jesus, and aren't you thankful that we have a Savior that can identify with our weaknesses and actually feel what we feel? So often, when we try to comfort someone, we will say, I know what you feel. Well, you know, we really don't, we may have some idea but none of us can really feel exactly what another person feels, but Jesus can. In fact, in Hebrews four, verse 15, the Spirit of God speaks through his writer and says, "For we do not have a high priest, who cannot sympathize." By the way, the word means to suffer together with someone. "We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses." I like the King James rendering it says "For we have not a high priest, which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. But one who has been tempted at all things as we are yet without sin." It's absolutely astounding. Jesus experienced the full range of temptation and sorrow that we could ever imagine. Mental exhaustion, physical fatigue, hunger, thirst, excruciating pain, tears, heartache, slander, mocking persecution and suffering beyond anything that we can comprehend, the worst of which was being forsaken by the Father. All of the pressures of hell were released upon the Lord Jesus, sorrow and suffering, beyond anything that we could ever think of. Therefore, think about this, no matter what we experience. No matter the pain, the pressure, the sorrow, the weakness, Jesus has experienced it, yet without sin He understands it. And like no one else, he is actually able to enter into it with us. And that's what happened here with this dear man. Jesus cared deeply for him, as he does for all men and women in the world, evidenced by his common grace, even those that hate him. So again, in verse 35, we read "And his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was removed, and he began speaking plainly." Then it says, "And he gave them orders not to tell anyone." Now bear in mind by this time, in Jesus ministry, the crowds were enormous, it had reached a fever pitch here. And as we will see, in the next chapter, in chapter eight, massive crowds are coming to him. But unfortunately, they saw him primarily as a miracle worker, not as the Son of God, the Messiah of Israel, who came to save, both Jews and Gentiles from their sins, that we might be reconciled to God through faith in Him, and His sacrifice on our behalf. So they didn't understand the full scope of his earthly mission. The disciples struggled with all of this as well. In fact, Paul would later on write to the Corinthians in First Corinthians 15, three, "For I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received," here it is, "that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and that he was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures." So back to our text, it says that Jesus gave this man and his friends or family orders not to tell anyone. And the reason he did this is he didn't want the people to basically take him by force and make him king and ultimately hinder his mission. And Mark helps us understand this reasoning better. In Mark eight beginning in verse 30. "And Jesus warned them to tell no one about Him. And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed and after three days rise again." So that's Jesus mindset here. Of course, they don't understand this. Verse 36, again, it says, "but the more He ordered them, the more widely they continue to proclaim it." More irony, by the way, God gave him ears to hear but he doesn't listen. Right? You know, I'm sure I would have been the same way. I mean, all you can do is think man, I'm hearing and I can speak. He truly found his voice, right? I mean talk about being elated. In verse 37, it says "They were utterly astonished." Astonished carries the idea of being absolutely overcome with awe. And here's what they said, "He has done all things well, he makes even the deaf to hear and the mute to speak." So we've seen his tender compassion and his infinite power. And I'm going to close with Jesus messianic preview, because we see this in this text that I just read. This last phrase speaks to this, as did verse 32, that I mentioned earlier. The last phrase, notice again, "they were utterly astonished." And here's what they're saying, "He has done all things well, and he makes even the deaf to hear, and the mute to speak." The term mute in the Hebrew "illem", which is translated from the Greek word that I mentioned earlier, "mogilalos" that we read in the Septuagint. And again, you will recall "They brought to him the one who was death and spoke," and there's that term, "spoke with difficulty and they implored him to lay on His lay his hand on him." And that term was the one that I mentioned earlier was used in the Septuagint with respect to the Messianic age and Isaiah 35, verses five and six, let me read that to you again. "Then the eyes of the blind will be open and the ears of the deaf will be unstopped. Then the lame will leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute there it is "mogilalon", the same term, "the mute will shout for joy." So here, I believe Mark is giving us a preview of the conditions of the Messianic Kingdom and then please understand, Christ's stunning miracles during his incarnation, especially those in the physical realm, were performed to do much more than just alleviate physical suffering. They were proof of Jesus regal Messiahship in the imminency of the kingdom that he had announced that had come upon them. Let me give you a little example. Remember Matthew 11, John the Baptist is languishing in prison. Here he was the herald of the king and he expected Jesus to judge the wicked and establish His earthly kingdom as the prophets had said, as the prophets had promised. And yet here he is in a prison, about to have his head severed from his body. And Matthew 11, verse two we read, "Now when John while in prison heard of the works of Christ, he sent word by his disciples and said to him, 'Are you the expected one? Or shall we look for someone else?' Jesus answered and said to them, 'Go and report to John what you hear and see. The blind receive sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.'" So the point is no, John's not mistaken. Jesus is saying, I am the promised mediatorial king of Old Testament prophecy. And he was right about the nature of the kingdom, it is going to be established on Earth. And it would be a literal kingdom, manifesting all the physical aspects of the Old Testament prophets. And obviously, it was not merely some spiritual kingdom, otherwise, Jesus would have explained that to John. Instead, Jesus wanted John to consider his physical miracles in the context of Old Testament prophecy. And some of what Jesus has quoted here is out of Isaiah 29, verses 18 and 19, is certainly Isaiah 35, five and six that I just read Isaiah 61, in verse one. But what John did not understand is that the Jewish opposition to Jesus as their Messiah would result in total rejection of him as their king, they would not have this man reign over them right? And therefore, the complete establishment of the earthly messianic millennial kingdom was going to be delayed until his second coming. He didn't understand that and we must understand, and we can look back and see this now that the rejection of the king and the removal of his bodily presence meant the removal of the kingdom, albeit temporarily, his physical return will usher in the arrival of the kingdom. Peter spoke of this in his sermon in Acts three, beginning in verse 19. He says, "Therefore, repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time." Now, to be sure, the prophetic Scriptures describe conditions of the Messianic age. And these conditions are utterly irreconcilable with the conditions in which we live today. Which therefore, is another refutation of the idea that we're living in the kingdom now that the kingdom is on earth now. And I might also add, if, as some will argue, the kingdom is narrowly spiritual. Why did Jesus performed so many physical miracles in both kind and in number? Moreover, if physical miracles properly belong to a spiritual kingdom on earth, as we witnessed in Jesus's ministry in his own incarnation, why do we not witness them still today? Well, the answer is that these miracles now await the inauguration of the Messianic millennial kingdom on earth, which will be the consummating bridge between human history and the eternal state. May I whet your appetite a bit more With respect to even the physical blessings to come, of which we get a little taste of here, and this gospel narrative, Albert J. McClain said this quote, "As to the conditions in the coming Kingdom, it should be noted first that the prophets envision human life as continuing through the natural processes of procreation, birth and growth. The rejoicing of the bride and the bridegroom is heard, Jeremiah 33:11. The children play in the streets of the cities, Zechariah eight, five, the little one shall become quote, 1000, Isaiah 60 and verse 22. But the accidents and deviations of nature, often so appalling in character, will be dealt with by divine power. All physical infirmity and deformity will be rectified." And then he quotes Isaiah 35 Five and six that I just read "and the eyes of the blind shall be open and the ears of the death shall be unstopped, then shall the lame leap as an hart and the tongue of the dumb sing." MacLean goes on to say, "Disease which is distinguished from deformity (Malachi one eight) will likewise be controlled by divine power, perhaps through both prevention and cure. At any rate, quote, 'the inhabitant shall not say I am sick,' Isaiah 33:24. The manner in which these happy results will be accomplished is not precisely stated. But as we have suggested above, there are intimations that in some cases tangible means may be used." And then he gives Ezekiel 47:12, as a reference where it says, quote, "The fruit thereof shall be for food, and the leaf thereof for healing." "For any who may regard such prophecies is wholly implausible, a sufficient answer may be found in the amazing progress in the chemistry of food and medicine. Investigators of high imminence are even seriously suggesting today." By the way, this would have been written back, I think back in the 50s, or 60s. "They're suggesting today that the final answer to the scourge of cancer may be found in the field of internal medicine, rather than in surgery. With physical ills under divine control, it follows that long life will again become the rule." And then he quotes Isaiah 65:22. "For as the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands." "For longevity, no more appropriate comparison can be suggested than a tree. Infancy will be measured by years instead of days. And there will be no more quote 'an old man that hath not filled his days.' In fact, Isaiah suggest that the crisis of physical death will be experienced only by those incorrigible individualists who rebel against the laws of the kingdom. And even in such cases, the gracious probation will be a century in length, Isaiah 65:20." And on and on it goes. Dear friends, this is the glorious hope of the redeemed. And I long for that day, when the Lord returns in all of his glory, judges the nations, establishes His kingdom, and we will be there to reign with him. That day when the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. May I challenge you to contemplate these glorious truths with respect to Jesus tender compassion, his infinite power and his messianic preview. And may we all live in light of his return? I believe it could be very soon. Let's pray. Father, thank you so much for the truths of your word. My where would we be without them? Thank you for saving us by your grace. Thank you for changing our hearts in such a way that not only can we understand the scriptures, but we can do so savingly and be transformed by them. Or if there be one here today that knows nothing of what it means to truly be reconciled to you through faith in our beloved Savior and King, may you speak to that person, overwhelm them with the reality of their sin and help them to see that their only hope is in Christ. That today would be the day of their salvation that today would be the day when they experienced the miracle of the new birth. We thank you We give you praise and ask that you will come quickly. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

A few minutes ago, we read from John's Gospel chapter 14. And this morning, we will look at verse 27. Primarily, under the heading, finding peace in an evil world. I've decided to step away from our verse by verse study of the gospel of Mark to address this issue, because I know that many of you, like me, are hurting. Given all that we have endured this last week, the loss of one of our precious ladies, the acknowledgement of serious health issues, and others, I believe it was nine of our soldiers that were killed up at Fort Campbell in a helicopter accident and other sorrows that I have that I cannot share with you. And of course, our hearts are broken over yet another mass murder, in a school specifically, a Christian school and church that was targeted. I've talked with many of you about that. One of the things that we are in need of and certainly as believers we have is a sense of peace in the midst of all of this chaos, all of this evil. This is the fourth mass shooting by a transgender in five years. That's four mass shootings committed by people who make up about one half of 1% of the population. And of course, the answer is gun control. Right? Let's take guns away from law abiding citizens and leave them helpless. And let the criminals and the crazies have their way. By the way, I do believe in some gun control, they should never allow a transgender person to get near a gun. A 2022 Canadian study entitled, meaning and life future orientation and support for violent radicalization, that I read this week said transgender and gender diverse youth emerge as the group at the highest risk of support for violent radicalization. So sad. And of course, we see this in trans activism today. They were going to have a Trans Day of vengeance sometime this last week, I'm sure you heard about that. And that was cancelled. They're protesting what they call transgender genocide, which is a total hoax. Gender ideology is, frankly, the breeding ground for despair, for depression, for self loathing, for violence, violence against all those who oppose them. And anybody that is willing to be honest will have to acknowledge the fact that transgender ideology is an attack on the image of God manifested in the creation of males and females, to give him glory, and also to enter into the covenantal bond of marriage, which is to illustrate Christ's love for His church. God has ordained two institutions, the church and marriage. Christ is to be the head of them both. And of course, Satan is doing all he can to destroy those two institutions. The self loathing and rage of the transgenders is really understandable. I mean, they've been deceived by their own deceitful hearts. They've been deceived by Satan. And they've been deceived by a culture that has encouraged them and recruited them. Homosexuals are not born they are recruited. They've been given puberty blockers, cross sex hormones. They've been surgically and chemically mutilated castrated so that they can pretend to be another gender. And now they're miserable. Physically, emotionally, spiritually, they're dead. And of course, they're filled with hate because others don't join in with their delusion. Others don't celebrate their insanity and use their ridiculous pronouns, so they hate anyone who disagrees with them, but they hate your friends they hate God especially and all who belong to Him. As James said, in James four two "You lust and do not have; so you commit murder." I read another study this week, Cambridge University research in 2020 found that transgender and gender diverse individuals are more likely to be autistic, and report higher autistic traits. Well, my point with all of this is to say any reasonable person will have to admit that these people are mentally disturbed. They in many cases are deranged, delusional. And from a biblical perspective, we understand that they are also depraved and demonic in terms of how the enemy has influenced their thinking. And yet we live in a culture that tries to celebrate all of this, rather than protect us and our children from them. Our president just proclaimed the other day, March 31, as, quote, Transgender Day of visibility. Folks, this is staggering evil that has invaded our country, another indication of the wrath of divine abandonment. And this President and his administration, and these people that support this stuff, are a national disgrace. I was reading a political commentator by the name of Matt Walsh, some of you are familiar with him. He said something that I thought was very well stated, quote, "No matter who is responsible for the latest burst of demonic violence, what lies at the root is the reality of human evil, and a society that fosters this evil. Whether it's a trans person or anyone else carrying out the latest mass, murder, the root is always a culture in a state of spiritual and moral decay. We have become a country filled with numb, detached, empty, desensitized people with no sense of overarching purpose. We try to fill in the gaps with things that cannot solve the problem, and will often only make it worse, psychiatric drugs, the internet, entertainment, trying to numb the numbness even more. Increasingly, people, especially young people, seeking a sense of identity and belonging, turn to gender identity for the answer. But there they find only more of the confusion and despair, they are trying to escape. This is the soil that these tragedies grow out of the landscape where this nightmare is playing out." End quote, well stated.

Beloved, these are days of unmitigated evil, and apostasy even in many churches. These are days of granite indifference and apathy concerning God's judgment. These are like the days of Noah. Remember, Genesis six, five, the Lord looked on those days and we read that "the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only continually evil." And our Lord said in Matthew 24, in his great Olivet Discourse, beginning in verse 37, "The coming of the Son of Man will be just like in the days of Noah." So there is another judgment coming, and everything points to it soon arrival. And can there be anything more distressing and depressing than what we're seeing play out in this whole LGBTQ woke trendsgender phenomenon. I was thinking about this, a mother's womb, a child's school and churches should be the safest places on earth. But they have become the most dangerous. And the focused rage on Christians is escalating every day. And for this reason, I want to remind you, of how we find peace. In the midst of all of this stuff, I want to encourage you, as I have been encouraged myself, because sometimes the weight of all of these things began to wear on me as I'm sure it does on you. The world craves peace, and so we need to understand what it is how we get it. So we want to know what Jesus has to say on the topic. The world is always looking for peace among the nations, people are looking for peace in themselves. If you Google as I did, how to find peace within yourself, there are 3,670,000 results. We're not going to go over all of them today. But what's funny when you look at them, one will say four ways to find peace and other 10 ways, 10 simple steps, five tips, and a cursory examination of the most popular sites listed indicate that the answer to peace always lies within yourself. That's the great lie that the answer lies within yourself. And it's typically through meditation and visualization and so forth. One popular charlatan by the name of Joel Osteen wrote a book "Become a Better You" and he offers seven steps for finding peace from the inside out. Here's what he says, "Number one, keep pressing forward, give your dreams a new beginning. Number two, be positive toward yourself. Learn to like yourself. Number three, develop better relationships, keep the strife out of your life. Number four, form better habits, keep yourself happy. Number five, embrace the place where you are. Number six, develop your inner life. Number seven, stay passionate about life." Dear friends try offering this frivolous dribble to those dear parents who have just lost their children. Try offering this kind of advice to a person who has just buried a dead loved one that has been martyred for their faith. Give the seven steps to parents who are sitting in a hospital room caring for their comatose child. Give this to a woman who has just lost her husband, and is now faced with raising her children all on her own. Give this type of foolishness to someone who has just been diagnosed with a terminal illness. And you'll see how much peace it brings them. But friends, I bring you good news. Peace is available. Inner personal peace is available, a peace that we can experience regardless of the circumstances. But it is only available to those who have first made peace with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it does not originate from within ourselves. This peace is not a result of something that we do and as a result of that which is being done to us a mighty work of grace wrought within our souls by the power of the Spirit of God. It is a supernatural gift from God Himself. It's not one that is subjected to circumstances. It's a peace that will transcend circumstances. And frankly, this was the piece that sustained the frightened and the confused disciples in the closing section of Jesus farewell address to them during his final days on earth, part of which we read in John 14. This is the Passion Week of Christ and here's what Jesus said to them, in John 14:27, which will be our text this morning, he said, "Peace, I leave with you. My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you, let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful."

Now today, we celebrate the beginning of the Passion Week of Christ that leads up to his sacrificial death on the cross on our behalf, and His resurrection. And I want to give you a little historical background before we look at this text more specifically, so that you understand all what's going on. Remember that in Jesus day, at this particular time, a multitude of Jewish people were making their way to Jerusalem, to celebrate the Passover and coronate Jesus as their Messiah King. Jesus and his apostles also are making their way to Jerusalem. And I might also add rather than the traditional Palm Sunday what that we call this here, it is more likely on a Monday, after Jesus had been in Bethany, with Lazarus that he made his way through the eastern gate in Jerusalem. A Monday triumphal entry is very important because in Exodus 12, verses two through six, the Mosaic law required that sacrificial lambs for Passover are to be selected on the 10th day of the first month, taken into the home to be loved, until they are sacrificed on the 14th. And only a Monday triumphal entry would allow for this kind of symbolism because the year Jesus was crucified, the 10th of Nissan was on the Monday of the Passover week. And this would allow the Jews nationally to select Jesus as their Passover lamb. This was the great symbolism that we see in the scriptures, and then to symbolically take him into their hearts and their homes and love him and then sacrifice him on Friday the 14th of Nissan. According to Daniel chapter nine, verse 25, a prophecy given 600 years before the very day of our Lord's messianic presentation coming into Jerusalem was predicted by the Holy Spirit through His inspired author. There we read that 483 years after Artexerxes decreed to Nehemiah the quote Messiah, the Prince, would be presented to the Jewish nation on April 10, 30 AD. Likewise, the manner of our Lord's triumphant yet I might add humble entry was predicted 500 years earlier, through the prophet Zachariah, Zachariah chapter nine in verse nine. The text which Matthew quotes, says this, "Rejoice greatly Oh daughter of Zion shout, Oh daughter of Jerusalem, Behold, your King is coming to you. He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey." So, the Messiah King approaches Jerusalem with all of the crowds, they're swelling in size. They're frenzied in anticipation shouting, according to Luke 19:38, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord, Peace in heaven and glory in the highest." And then we read some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "'Teacher, rebuke your disciples.' Then Jesus answered, 'I tell you, if these become silent, the stones will cry out'". But then in verse 41, Luke records a stunning event that puts this whole scene in the proper perspective. Because there we read as Jesus, the Messiah King approaches the city of Jerusalem. He actually wept. Yay, he wailed aloud over their unbelief and rejection of their king. He does not enter the city with joy but with immense sorrow, because he knew that they were worshipping Him for all the wrong reasons. So with tears flowing down his tree cheeks we read in Luke 19:41 and following, "When he approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, 'If you had known in this day, even you the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side. And they will level you to the ground and your children within you. And they will not leave in you one stone upon another because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.'" And of course, this was literally fulfilled a few years later, beginning on April 970 AD Titus laid siege there in the summer, and he slowly began to starve the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the soldiers systematically slaughtered them going into one section of the city and then the next. And many of these same people that were saying Hosanna were killed at that time. We know that they utterly destroyed the temple, they took remaining captives to Rome, to be mocked, to be enslaved to be butchered in the Roman circus, and the gladiatorial bouts. So on Monday, Jesus approaches Jerusalem, to offer himself officially, and finally as the king of the Messianic Kingdom, exactly as the Old Testament prophets had predicted. And then he returned quietly to Bethany. But on the next day, he returns again to Jerusalem. And it was early Tuesday morning that Jesus and the 12 approached the city. And you may recall that as he approaches the city, he curses the barren fig tree. We read about that in Matthew 21, verse 19, he said, "No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you, and at once the fig tree withered." And of course, that was symbolic of the judgment that was now going to fall on Israel, for they like the leafy fig tree had the pretense of being fruitful. But they were in fact barren. They did not produce fruit in keeping with repentance. So he enters Jerusalem, he enters the temple at that point, and he cleanses it. And for two days, he rules its precincts. He claims possession of it as the mighty sovereign. And during that time, every stratum of official Judaism was verbally attacked by the Lord Jesus. And they tried to attack him and embarrass him. But in fact, he embarrassed them with his answers. And he even rebukes them openly for their ignorance of Scripture, and he boldly pronounces judgment on them, and upon all who reject Him, and it was in his last public discourse that he denounced the scribes and the Pharisees. In a series of woes, you read about that, for example of Matthew 23. And then they leave the city on Wednesday night and they ascend, once again upon the Mount of Olives, making their way back home, to the home of Lazarus, and Bethany, and we know that at the summit of the Mount of Olives, they were able to look back and view the temple, and all of its grandeur, the one built by Herod. And Jesus then said to his disciples in Matthew 24, and verse two, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down." And then later, the disciples confused said, "Tell us when will these things happen? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" And then you read his answer in the Olivet Discourse, Matthew 24 and 25 his longest answer pertaining to future things concerning the destruction of Jerusalem, His Second Coming and, and specifically, the conditions and the signs that would precede His coming again in power and great glory. This brings us to Thursday afternoon, Jesus and the 12 reenter the city. Preparation is now made for the Passover meal and a private room that they had obtained earlier. This would be the meal that would become what we call the Lord's supper or the Last Supper. And as evening approached, which was Jewish Friday, the supper began with a dispute among the disciples over who's going to be greatest in the kingdom. This was probably precipitated by the seating arrangement around the table. And you will recall Jesus rebuked them and said that the greatest and true leader must become a servant, like a servant. And then to illustrate this, Jesus, the honored guest assumed the role of a lowly servant. And he washed their feet. And during the meal Jesus exposes Judas as the betrayer. Judas departs, Judas had already made arrangements with the Sanhedrin to betray Jesus, an event that would now take place several hours later in the Garden of Gethsemane. And now the final drama of Jesus death is set into motion. And at this point, Jesus announces his departure. Peter, then voiced his undying allegiance and devotion to Christ. And Jesus responded that instead, Peter, you're gonna deny me three times. So we have the Lord's Supper instituted and after a farewell discourse to the disciples, Jesus will depart with the 11 going into the garden of Gethsemane, and then you know, the rest of the story. Now, I wish to draw your attention to just some of what Jesus said in this farewell discourse to His disciples, especially as it relates to the supernatural peace, that he is going to give them, and all of the redeemed, one that would transcend to the sorrows of life. We're going to look at four things, we're going to see the substance of peace. In other words, what really is it from Jesus perspective, The source of peace. In other words, where does it originate? How do we receive it? And then the semblance of peace, that is the fake and fleeting peace that the world offers? And then finally, very briefly, the spoilers of peace, and that is, how can believers forfeit peace? I pray that this will minister to your spirit in a profound way this morning. So first of all, let's look at the substance of peace notice, John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you."

Now, how does Jesus define peace? Well, first of all, you must understand that it's something very different than the way most people think of it. According to one Greek Lexicon, the Greek word for peace, which is "eirene" refers to quote, "the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ and so fearing nothing from God and content, with its earthly lot of whatsoever sort that is." Now can you identify with that kind of peace? Even when your body trembles in fear, and confusion? When tears run down your cheeks, and you don't have an answer for the great adversity that you're experiencing? Do you still enjoy an uninterrupted sense of calm and contentment in the core of your being? Beloved, this is the kind of peace that Jesus bequeaths to all who trust in Him as Savior, and worship Him as Lord. Now, most people and most languages define peace as the absence of something, not the presence of something, very important distinction. Socially, peace is the absence of conflict and hostility, freedom from war, freedom from civil unrest. And personally, peace is the absence of inner turmoil, freedom from disquieting and oppressive thoughts or emotions resulting in personal tranquility and harmony in relationships. But how do you escape the conflict? The inner turmoil and many people use entertainment, recreation, vacations, you know, how well does that work for you? And others, turn to alcohol, turn to their music, turn to drugs. I know Oh, why don't I try to be the other gender, and many, finally ended up in suicide. But dear friends, the peace of God is more than the absence of something. It is the presence of God himself in the soul. Biblically, there are two sides of the coin of peace, the objective side and the subjective. First of all, objective peace pertains to our judicial standing before God, but from birth by nature, we're born in rebellion to God and as a result, we all sin, we become the enemy of God, this is so obvious. Humanity hates the one true God. But they love themselves, they love the world, they love this cosmos, which is this orderly system, ruled by Satan, in rebellion against God. So apart from faith in Christ, the person without Christ is at war with God, there is no peace with God. And then in the depths of their soul, they know this, even though they suppress that truth. God is at war with them. Ephesians four, verse 17, They walk in the futility of their mind being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them because of the hardness of their heart." John 3"36 For this reason, Jesus warns unbelievers and says, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." Ah, but unbelievers love themselves. They love this world, they don't love Christ. They love all that the world offers them. And they mock God, they mock his word. James, for verse four says, "Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." But then, when a sinner comes to genuine saving faith in Christ, cries out for forgiveness, God does a mighty work of grace in his heart, one of which is He is then justified, he is declared to be righteous based upon the imputed righteousness of Christ. Suddenly, the war with God is over. Now he is at peace with God, because reconciliation has taken place because of what Christ has done. Enemies suddenly become sons and daughters of God. That's why the Apostle Paul says in Romans five and verse one, "Therefore having been justified," in other words, declared righteous by faith, "we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." And according to Romans, chapter eight and verse six, those who once had, quote, "a mindset on the flesh, resulting in death," now have quote, "a mindset on the spirit resulting in life and peace." But apart from this objective peace pertaining to man's judicial standing before a holy God, not only will that person remain at war with God, but also he will never experience any kind of tranquility, any kind of lasting inner peace. And so this brings us from the objective to also now the other side of the coin, the subjective aspect of peace that comes when we enter into relationship with God through faith in Christ. And this is a state of tranquility within the soul. This is what replaces the turmoil and the confusion and the doubt and the discontentment. Because our opposition to God is over, the Holy Spirit, now the comforter, takes up residence within us, and we can therefore experience this transcendent peace that is impervious to circumstances, oh, yes, there will be sorrow, there will be bitter sorrow, there will be anguish, but down underneath at all, there will be a sense that God is in control. And in this I rejoice knowing that better days are coming. Our body becomes the temple of God. There is perfect peace in the sanctuary of His presence. The objective peace of justification, friends, is what produces the subjective peace of God's presence in our life. And for this reason, we can see say with the apostle Paul in Philippians, four verse six, "Be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard," which literally means to keep watch over, it "will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Now, you must understand that this is not some kind of passive peace that results from the absence of strife and turmoil. Nor is it some kind of short lived superficial tranquility that we conjure up through mystical experiences through contemplative prayer, or getting into some yoga position and practicing primordial sound meditation, whatever they do, or sitting around listening to underwater whale sounds while you sip on Chardonnay, that's not what we're talking about here. This is a peace that transcends everything, an active peace, not a passive peace. And it operates within us, according to the power of the indwelling Spirit of God in the redeemed, and it's unaffected by circumstances, it will always remain, it's one that causes us to transcend the inevitable sorrows and conflicts of life. You see, this is the kind of peace that would cause the persecuted Apostle Paul to declare in Romans 8:18, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us." And certainly this peace is one of the fruits of the Spirit, right? In Galatians five. It's that peace that rules the heart of every believer who have put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity, Colossians 3:14, and that results in verse 15, "the peace of Christ that rules in our hearts." This causes us to live in unity with other Christians. I find it interesting in Paul's benediction to the Romans. He says in chapter 15, verse 13, "Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." And similarly in his benediction to the saints of Thessalonica. At the end of second Thessalonians chapter three, verse 16, he says, "Now, may the Lord of peace Himself continually grant you peace, in every circumstance." That is the personal peace that he enjoyed. And this is the personal peace that Jesus enjoyed even though he was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Beloved, this is the peace that Jesus experienced on the eve of his crucifixion. When he was speaking to the disciples, and trying to comfort them. Yes, his body trembled in anguish, given the torture that he knew awaited him. It was so bad that in the garden he would later sweat drops of blood, but his soul was at perfect rest. Because he was decisively committed to his Father's will and the Spirit of God gave him peace. This is the peace that sustained him during the horrors he endured before and during his time on the cross 1 Peter two verse 23, " while being reviled, He did not revile in return while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting himself to Him who judges righteously." Beloved, again, this is the peace that animates joy within us even in the midst of suffering. This is what Jesus experienced, according to Hebrews 12, two, we read "For the joy set before Him, endured the cross." It goes on to say he is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God. And this is the peace that Jesus wanted to give to his troubled, confused, fearful disciples, which includes all of us. So he says, "Peace I leave with you." And he knows, he knew, he would make good on that promise, through the Holy Spirit that would soon come upon them. So we've seen the substance of peace, how about secondly, the source of peace, He says, "My peace I give to you." There it is. He is the source of this peace along with the Father along with the Holy Spirit. In fact, Paul's salutation in all of his epistles include the statement, "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." And one of the great ministries of the Holy Spirit is to administer this peace in the midst of great sorrow. Again, it's one of the fruits of the Spirit. I have thought much, Nancy, and I've talked about this, how can those dear parents who have lost their little children possibly survive this? There's only one answer. It's a supernatural work of peace, that the Spirit of God gives them in their heart. Moreover, according to Romans five, five, we have "a hope that does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." In other words, this is an awareness that we as believers have of God's love for us. In fact, the Greek word translated peace reflects the Hebrew shalom, which was the customary greeting and word of farewell. A fitting expression in Jesus farewell address, and it became the primary word of greeting after his resurrection. When Jesus came and stood in the midst of his awestruck disciples, he said in John 20:19, "Peace be with you." Dear friend, please hear me if your life is bereft of peace. If you don't experience anything like this, if you're in a constant state of frustration and confusion, of anger, of discontentment, if you're anxious and depressed, overwhelmed by sorrow, and stress and strife, you must look to Christ. Jesus said in John 16:33, "These things I have spoken to you that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." And Isaiah spoke of this as well when he said of the Lord, in Isaiah 26, verse three, "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you." "Stayed" meaning its rest, supported by you, because he trusts in You. My friend, do you have a fixed disposition of trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? I pray that you do. Routinely, Paul spoke of the God of peace. Indeed, you must understand that God alone is the great fountainhead that feeds the comforting blessings of peace to the redeemed, the springs of peace, and that reservoir will never go dry. This is the peace that Jesus offers, "My peace I give to you." And then he says, not as the world gives do I give to you? And here we come to thirdly, the semblance of peace. This is the world's peace. This is the false peace, the deceptive peace. It appears to bring peace. It appears to bring happiness and joy. It purports to bring peace, but it delivers just the opposite. Think of the difference between the transcendent, eternal peace of God and the inadequate and fleeting peace of Satan's world system. In Isaiah 48, verse 22, we read, "There is no peace for the wicked, says the Lord." Think with me about this contrast that Jesus gives between the world's peace. I mean, the world's peace is merely a mirage in the desert that distracts travelers. they think, oh, there I can find happiness and joy. But it's an elusive promise that will never deliver, it will only destroy. And every man and woman alive hopes for a better life. They believe that somehow better times are coming and they work hard to achieve those things only to discover every day that there's a new set of trouble. People in our country are pursuing the American dream. Once they have it all, they worry about losing it. The government's kind of always trying to take it away from you. Even the wealthy eventually discover that their dreams are really nothing more than nightmares. And then when a man dies without Christ, nothing that he has achieved, nothing that he has possessed in life will be any use for him. They will only serve as a tragic reminder of a wasted life as they endure the torments of hell. How different the peace of Christ for those who have made peace with God, who therefore love and live for him. We're told in Scripture that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord, and unlike the world, when the Lord gives he gives forever. He even comes and dwells within us. All the years of the Christians life, he is able to experience the security of the objective peace of God because of our justification. But also we experience the subjective peace of God through the power of the indwelling Spirit. In fact, all of life can be summed up in Jeremiah's words in Lamentations three, verse 22 and following where Jeremiah said, "The Lord's loving kindnesses indeed never cease, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning, Great is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion says my soul. Therefore I have hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for him to the person who seeks Him." Beloved, I can tell you firsthand that the ones that I have talked to this week, that have experienced great loss, and are struggling in profound ways, can give full throated agreement with what we've just read. Great is thy faithfulness. Yes, the world offers peace. But it's not only an illusion, frankly, it's a delusion. It's a trap, it's a lure. It offers the bait but conceals the hook. It gives nothing more than the fleeting pleasures of happy days. The momentary joy of sexual experience, of material things, the temporary life of escapism. The great Puritan Thomas Watson said, "What fools are they who, for a drop of pleasure, drink a sea of wrath." So knowing all of this, and knowing the desperate need of his disciples, in the coming days, knowing the persecution and the confusion, Jesus says, Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful. And as I read earlier in John 16:33, "These things I have spoken to you so that in me you may have peace." And here he is referring to the Helper, the Holy Spirit, that he is going to send. And if you read about what Jesus said, He is going to come, he is going to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. He is going to guide you into all truth, and he is going to disclose to you what is to come. He is going to give you a joy that the world cannot take away. And then Jesus says "In the world, you will have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world." I want you to think about this because we are united to Christ and saving faith. We are not only going to experience the same kind of persecution that Jesus experienced, but we're going to experience the same kind of victory, and the same kind of joy.

If I can close with the spoilers of peace, two things very quickly. They are doubt and disobedience. First of all doubt. Notice again, Jesus said in John 14:27, "Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." This command was first given in in verse one of chapter 14, which was followed by a divine remedy, that even in the midst of your tears, you should have a soul anchoring faith in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Moreover, you should have a soul thrilling anticipation of future glory. You've got to keep those things in perspective. Said differently, believers who are at peace with God will not experience this peace unless they can live consistently with who Christ is and what He has promised. We must appropriate the promises of God and as we do, the peace begins to flood our soul. What a joy it is to know that even when we've lost a loved one, we will see them again, and we know where they are. How do we know that? Because we live by faith, and God has communicated that to us. When we see the world crumbling all around us, what peace and joy we have, knowing that ultimately, we have a sovereign God who has ordained the end from the beginning, and that he is coming again, to pronounce judgment, and to enact judgment upon this world and to deliver us from it. When we do these things, God fills us with "all joy and peace in believing" Romans 15:13. You know when we're anxious and discontent about the present, it's easy to start worrying about things, isn't it? We begin to catastrophize, we begin to think make things even worse than what they are. And then we watch the news and we're ready to go jump off the roof, you know. And it's so easy at that point to begin to doubt God and dishonor him and forfeit the peace that we have, rather than as we read earlier. To obey the command to be anxious for what? Nothing. Don't be anxious about things. Every prayer supplication, give thanks, let your requests be made known to God. And then, when you do that, when you have that kind of heart attitude, the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, it will be something that you cannot explain, and the world cannot understand, because it is supernatural. In Ephesians, five and verse 18, we are commanded to be filled with a spirit. In other words, to continually live under the influence of the indwelling Spirit, and letting his word control us and this is what we must do. Otherwise, we will move not only from doubt, to disobedience, sins of omission, and commission. If you're living in disobedience, you're going to forfeit peace. In fact, Psalm 119, in verse 165, we read those who love your law, have great peace, and nothing causes them to stumble. So this is to live in the conscious presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, as we walk by the Spirit. Galatians 5:16. And when we do that, we will not carry out the desires of the flesh. We will manifest the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, and so forth. Colossians 3:15, Paul exhorts us. He says, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." I love that word "rule" that means to referee or umpire. All right, live that way. We must always be asking, Lord is my heart attitude and my life pleasing to you? Well, I asked you, do you have this kind of peace? And if you don't, it is only available through faith in Christ. And I would plead with you to come to Christ, to repent of your sin and ask Him to save you. Again, quoting Thomas Watson, the great Puritan. He said, "If you would have peace, make war with sin. If you would have peace with God, break the league with sin, give battle to sin, for it is a most just war."

I close with a story that many of you are familiar with. Horatio Spafford was a Chicago lawyer and friend of the evangelist Dwight Moody. In 1873, to visit Moody's preaching campaign in England, he planned a trip for his family to Europe. And he set his wife Anna, and their daughters on ahead. He was going to catch up later. But the ship sunk in the passage and only Anna his wife survived. They lost their four daughters Annie 11, Maggie, age nine, Bessie, age five, and Tonetta age two. And his wife Anna sent a telegram back to her husband, which began "Saved alone. What shall I do?" Can you imagine getting that telegram? Well, Horatio quickly got on board a ship, he sailed to join his wife and Midway across the Atlantic, the captain told him that they were near the place where the ship was sunk and where his daughters had drowned. And though grieving in ways that we cannot imagine at that moment, he testifies how he experienced a supernatural peace like a river. quoting Isaiah 66:12. And you will recall the first verse of that hymn that we have sung so many times. He wrote this, "When peace like a river, attended my way, when sorrows like sea billows, roll. Whatever my lot thou has taught me to say, it is well. It is well with my soul." Let's pray together. Father, we are overwhelmed when we think of the peace that you have given us in Christ. We thank you that you have saved us by your grace and the long war with you is over. No longer does your wrath abide upon us because Jesus paid it all. And we thank you as well for the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, who gives us a subjective awareness of your love for us and sustains us even in the midst of unimaginable heartache. And once again, I would plead with you to minister to those who have lost loved ones this last week. And to teach us all the importance of trusting you and living in faithful obedience that we might not ever forfeit the peace that is ours in Christ. We thank you, we give you praise. for Jesus sake. Amen.

This morning we come to the Gospel of Mark, once again. Would you take your Bibles and turn to chapter seven, we're going to be examining verses 24 through 30. It's been a wonderful journey through Mark and we still have a ways to go. But this is magnificent display of authentic faith in the text that we have here before us. And that's why I've entitled, my discourse to you this morning, sincere faith rewarded, and I hope to make this passage come alive to you. I hope to help you understand it and most importantly, apply it to your life. Let me read it to you Mark seven, beginning of verse 24. "Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre. And when He had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it. Yet He could not escape notice. But after hearing of Him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at His feet. Now the woman was a Gentile of the Syrophoenician race. And she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And He was saying to her, 'Let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.' But she answered and said to Him, 'Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs.' And He said to her, 'Because of this answer go; the demon has gone out of your daughter.' Going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left."

Fascinating passage of Scripture with much instruction, much encouragement as you will see. Let me remind you of the context here. This is now the beginning of a new time of ministry for Jesus, his Galilean ministry is now over. And he is now seeking safety and solitude in the Northwest region of Tyre, which as you look at it today would be southern Lebanon. Matthew 15:21, says that "he went to the district of Tyre and Sidon." Now this was a predominantly pagan, Gentile territory. It was part of the land of the ancient Canaanites. The city of Tyre, in fact, existed some 2000 years before Christ. And for those of you that are familiar with the land, it's about 35 miles north of Mount Carmel. It's about 28 miles west of Mount Hermon, but it was a island stronghold, an ancient Phoenician sea port on the Mediterranean Sea. But now in Jesus time, it was under Roman rule. You might recall that this was the region, in fact, Tyre and Sidon are the regions where Solomon appealed for the lumber to build the temple, even used their sailors to fill up his navy. It was later defeated by Alexander the Great in 332 BC, which by the way, I might add was prophesied in Isaiah 23, as well as Ezekiel 26 through 28. But I want you to know that this region was the one that introduced Baal worship to ancient Israel. It was notorious for its evil paganism, and even its opposition to the Jews. You might recall that Tyre and Sidon were known for the fertility goddess, Astarte, as Ashtaroth, which is really the plural of Astarte, that we see in the Old Testament. Astarte was a consort of Bale, the great Canaanite storm and a and fertility god, and their worship practices were utterly reprehensible. It included things like human sacrifice both adult and children, temple prostitution, mutilation of the human body, sorcery, divination, and among some of the surrounding nations there was the official religious sanction of bestiality, incomprehensible wickedness. In fact, the wicked Queen Jezebel, who incited Ahab to worship Baal and persecuted the prophet Elijah, was the daughter of the Sidonian king, you read about that in I King 16. Now, obviously, the Jews absolutely loathed these people. Fascinating footnote in Psalm 87, verse four, God predicted that they would one day share in the Messianic blessings of the Messianic Kingdom, along with other Gentile nations. And what we see in this text is kind of a preview of coming attractions, the first stage of this prophecy being fulfilled in Jesus earthly ministry. Now may I remind you in Mark three, eight, we read how the people from quote, "the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon" end quote, came to Galilee, to hear Jesus to be healed, and so forth. But now Jesus is coming to them. Something else that's important to understand in this context, the certainty of the cross is now looming. And the emphasis of Jesus ministry is shifting from dealing with the crowds to dealing more specifically with teaching his disciples, preparing them for what is to come in His death, and the persecution that they would inevitably endure. And so what we see here dear friends, is really an object lesson of the essence of sincere saving faith in this Gentile woman. And the Lord's gracious response to it. But we also see how the message of salvation is now being extended beyond the Jewish people and into the entire world. I think that we can best understand this passage of Scripture under three very simple headings, we're going to see, first of all, a desperate plea for mercy. Secondly, a deliberately delayed response and finally, a display of sincere faith rewarded.

So let's examine this historical narrative more closely. And I think this will help us understand even the immediate context, verse 24, "Jesus got up and went away from there." This is probably Capernaum. That's probably where he's leaving. And he leaves there to the region of Tyre. Now, this would have been about a 40 mile hike. And normally, especially in the terrain that is there, it would take about four days to get there, alright, traveling about 10 miles per day. Now, you might ask the question, and appropriately so, why would he travelled so far from Galilee? Well, there's several reasons. First of all, remember Herod thought that Jesus was John the Baptist, that he come back to life. So he was terrified. But he also saw Jesus as a rival to His throne, a political rival, so he wanted to kill him. You read about that, in Luke 13, verse 31. And then also, most all of the people that had been following Jesus, even those that had participated in the feeding of all of the 1000s, most all of those people had left him when he started preaching the doctrines of sovereign grace, read about that in John six. We see people continuing to leave Christ because they simply have a rabid commitment to self-determination. And they don't like to hear that God is the one who is sovereignly in charge of salvation. And so you will recall in John 6:66 that most all of them left him but also the Jewish leaders wanted to kill him. Remember Mark three, we read about that. So indeed he needed to travel north west to escape, you might say, an untimely arrest. Plus, he needed more time alone with his disciples to prepare them for what was to come. And what a great opportunity to be able to hike with them for some four days, and go someplace where he wouldn't be as well known. But as we will see, he was still known. So Jesus got up and went away from there to the region of Tyre, verse 24, "And when he had entered a house, He wanted no one to know of it. Yet he could not escape notice." Obviously, some people recognized him. Some of them had undoubtedly gone to Galilee and heard him preach and teach, and maybe were even recipients of his miraculous powers. But indeed, they saw that. And so they had a version of Facebook there in the first century and word spread like wildfire, that he's here. Verse 25, "But after hearing of him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at his feet." I have to smile here so much for privacy, right, so much for getting away from it all. So you can kind of spend some time but the Lord knew all of that. And he's compassionate, as we will see. And I'm sure there were many other things that he did that aren't recorded here. Okay? Verse 26, "Now the woman was a Gentile of the Syrophoenician race." Now, you will recall that Mark is speaking primarily to a Gentile audience. So it's important for them to know this. And they would have understood that Rome had annexed Syria and Phoenicia, Matthew described this woman in Matthew 15:22 as a Canaanite woman. So she's clearly a non Jew. And then we read, "And she kept asking him to cast the demon out of her daughter."

So here we come to our first little point, and that is a desperate plea for mercy. Now, you must understand that this would have been absolutely shocking to the disciples, I can imagine their eyes are wide open, their mouth is hanging open, they cannot believe what is happening. For one thing, Jews and Gentiles would have nothing to do with one another. Jews wouldn't even go near a place like this. And here they are right in the middle of Tyre. Moreover, women would never approach a man, never, much less a Jewish rabbi, especially, and idol worshipping woman. I mean, this Gentile woman would have been like, toxic nuclear radiation to a Jewish rabbi. But Jesus knew that the disciples were still struggling with the Messianic blessing of salvation being extended to the Gentiles. So none of this caught him by surprise. In his sweet providence, he was orchestrating it all. He was going to teach them something. And you also have to understand that for this woman to do this, and mind you, there would have been a crowd all around. For her to keep asking him to cast the demon out of her daughter meant that she was abandoning her pagan idol worship and putting her faith in the Jewish Messiah, which would translate into becoming an outcast in her own family and society. Imagine if you did that, in Iran today. That's the idea. So she risked everything. Now we're going to see several other things here. We're going to see that she was well acquainted with who Jesus was. We're also going to see that God had already been at work in her heart, drawing her unto himself in repented faith and salvation. Because we know according to what Jesus said in John 6:44, "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws them." There is an irresistible, compelling force that's at work, when God draws us unto himself. Often that's what's going on here. So none of this caught Jesus by surprise. I find it interesting as well as a little side note, to compare this scenario with Elijah's provision of food for a Syrophoenician woman, and her son at Zarephath, which was between Tyre and Sidon. And the resurrection of that son, you read about that in 1 King 17. Again, now back to verse 25. "But after hearing of him, a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately came and fell at his feet."

So her little daughter, we don't know how old she was, was possessed by a demon. And certainly, this is not surprising, given the demonic culture in which they lived. And friends, we cannot imagine the level of wickedness, the cesspool of evil that they lived in. And there are pockets of this, even in many of our cities in the United States. But imagine the horror of such a thing. Imagine having a little girl that you love, that would sometimes speak with a hideous voice, and sometimes do violence to herself, to threaten perhaps her mother and other people. All of the bizarre behaviors, it would be heartbreaking, would it not? Of course, it would. Obviously, the mother knew that her idols were powerless to do anything. But she also knew that they were the cause of her problems. And she also knew that Jesus was the answer. Now remember, Jesus arrival on Earth at his incarnation ignited a firestorm of demonic activity, it's like going in and poking a hornet's nest. So there's a lot of demonic activity going on. And every encounter that Jesus had with these demons, we see that they were absolutely terrified of him. And he had complete power over them because he was their Creator. In fact, he ordained to allow Satan and his demons to wreak havoc upon the earth. While God is never the cause of sin, as we understand the Scripture, we see that he does bring it about indirectly through the willing and the voluntary actions of moral creatures. In fact, this is evident from God's own testimony of himself. When he said in Isaiah 45, verse seven, "I form the light and create darkness I make peace, and create evil. I the Lord, do all these things." Beloved, nothing happens to the Lord that he has not sovereignly ordained to allow. In God's permissive providence, we see that he operates through second causes, which includes not only the the evil propensity in Satan and the angelic beings, but also the actual decree that they would eventually rebel. And although all the angelic beings were created, originally, as very good, remember in Genesis one, even though that is true, the New Testament makes it clear that Satan was a murderer from the beginning. He was the father of lies. Jesus spoke about this in John eight, verse 44. And all through Scripture we see that he ordained to allow evil, to enter into his perfect universe, through the voluntary choices of moral creatures in order to dramatically display his glory, the glory that we see and his holiness and His wrath and His mercy in His grace, His love and His power, and we see all of these things working here, even in this passage of Scripture. So God allowed this woman's little daughter to be possessed by an unclean spirit. In verse 25, we read "and immediately she came and fell at his feet." Again, an amazing scene, something that was virtually unheard of, for a Gentile woman to do. In the original language, the word for falling at one's feet, is a term that means to prostrate oneself, to fall on your face, an act of humble submission, and reverent homage. In fact, we read the same word, remember the Samaritan leper that Jesus healed in Luke 17 Verse 15? We read he was the One who turned back glorifying God with a loud voice. And he fell on his face. "Pipto" in the original language, same term, he fell on his face at his feet, giving thanks to him. But people you must understand that nobody does this unless the Spirit of God is at work in their heart. And that's what we see in this text. The Spirit of God is drawing this woman into Christ in genuine saving face.

So she falls at Jesus feet, verse 26. "Now, the woman was a Gentile of the Syrophoenician race." I've already talked about that. But remember, again, in His providence, the Lord is orchestrating all of this, drawing her unto himself, that he might save her, but also to show his disciples that the gospel of salvation was intended for all people, not just for the Jews. Remember, the Jews thought non Jews were eternally separated from God's Kingdom purposes. After all, according to Exodus 19, six, God says, "You shall be to Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation." But he also made this promise to Abraham in Genesis 12 in verse three, "And in you, all the families of the earth will be blessed." And indeed, Israel was to be the custodians of God's truth. They were to be a witness nation to the world. Psalm 67 seven says, "God blesses us that all the ends of the earth may fear Him." But we also know that they failed miserably in giving God glory. We see that all through the Old Testament and in the New Testament, we see how they rejected their rightful king and the kingdom that he offered. Just read about that in Acts two, for example, if I can digress for a moment, because I find this so fascinating, because we see elements of this in this text,

Jesus, you will recall in Matthew 21, verse 43, said to the Jewish leaders of his day, "Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing the fruit of it." Now, there there are some that believe this is a reference to the church permanently replacing Israel. I do not believe that is a viable biblical explanation, because in Matthew 19:28, and Matthew 23 and verse 29, Jesus affirmed a future for national Israel. Moreover, this would contradict the teaching of both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Look at Deuteronomy 31 through eight, look at Zechariah 12 through 14, look at Luke 132 and 33. Look at Romans 11:26, and many other passages. So this promise that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing the fruit of it will be fulfilled literally when the Jewish people eventually embrace their King in saving faith. Romans 11, verse 25, and 26. That will be when, according to Matthew 23 and verse 39, just a few verses later, they will cry out, "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord." But until then, God's Kingdom purposes are being temporarily fulfilled in the church. And this will continue until a future nation of Israel cries out to him for salvation. So Mark makes it clear here that this was a Gentile woman of the Syrophoenician race, again, to demonstrate how salvation is now being offered to non Jews. And we cannot under emphasize how much the Jews hated the Gentiles, and how much the Gentiles hated them. By the way, we see a little of this today and the whole Iran/Israel thing, don't we? They want to wipe them off the face of the earth, and so forth. Paul addressed this in Ephesians two that we read earlier in our scripture reading, beginning of verse 11. He's says, Therefore remember that formerly you the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision, by the so called circumcision, which is performed in the flesh by human hands. Remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world, but now in Christ Jesus, You who formerly were or far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ." And beloved, we're seeing an example of this here in this historical narrative, verse 26. Again, we read, "And she kept asking," the original is very clear, is the idea of she just kept asking over and over again and again, she would not shut up. She was absolutely persistent, "Asking him to cast the demon out of her daughter." Matthew explains it this way. In chapter 15, verse 22, there we read that, "she began to cry out saying, 'Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David, my daughter is cruelly demon possessed.'" What a remarkable statement. I mean, think about this, her theology was far superior to all of the Jewish leaders. And frankly, many evangelicals today. She addressed him as Lord, in other words, her master, the one in whom she was willing to submit. And she used his messianic title, the son of David. So she understood these things. Moreover, she's crying out for undeserved mercy. And we're going to see more of that as we look at the text. So clearly, she understood Jesus to be something more than some impersonal Miracle Worker, she understood the gospel. And the reason she understood the gospel is because God was doing a work in her heart, because that's what God does.

So we've seen a desperate plea for mercy. Now we're going to see a deliberately delayed response. This is really interesting. Verse 27, "And Jesus was saying to her, let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." Matthew puts it this way, Matthew 15, beginning of verse 23, "But he did not answer her a word," like can you imagine that? She's hounding him here, publicly. He's not answering her. "And his disciples came and implored him saying, Send her away, because she keeps shouting at us. But he answered and said, I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." Why, can't you just see how there is an object lesson that's growing here with all of this? Now, mind you, if you just look at the text here, in both Mark and Matthew, this sounds really rude, maybe condescending, especially in light of her persistent pleading, ah, the dear friends, Scripture always interpret Scripture, right? And we know what Jesus said in John six and verse 37, "All that the Father gives Me will come to me, and the one who comes to me, I will certainly not what I'm going to cast her out." So what's going on? Well, one thing for sure is he is testing her faith to prove its authenticity to his disciples. And she is going to pass that test with flying colors, because of the Spirit of grace in her heart. But also you must remember, once again, the context, you must remember what Jesus has been dealing with. And that is Israel's fickle, superficial faith, combined with utter rejection. And now we're going to see just the opposite of all of this. He obviously knew she was part of the bridal church that God hadn't given him in eternity past. And notice what he says in verse 27. "Let the children," and what you must understand the children is a reference to the Jews. "Let the children be satisfied first." In other words, let Israel be the first to partake of this food of spiritual blessing that I offer. Now remember, the first stage of the gospel witness was to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. Romans 1:16. Remember? In fact, in Acts 13, verse 46, Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly and said, "It was necessary that the word of God be spoken to you first, since you repudiate it and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life behold, we are turning to the Gentiles." And he said that in the context of the Jews being furious, that somehow they were presenting the kingdom purposes of God and salvation to Gentiles.

So back to verse 27, "let the children be satisfied first, for it is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs." Now dogs here in the original language is the diminutive form of dog, and it means little dog, it's referring to a tame, domesticated house dog. And although the Jews refer to Gentiles as dogs, what Jesus is saying here is not meant to be some kind of a racial slur. What Jesus point is, is very clear. He is simply saying, You don't feed the little dogs that are begging under the table before you feed the children. But this lady would not relent. Because true, saving faith is not going to give up because it's Spirit empowered. She is undaunted, and undaunted in her pleadings. Now, I would imagine even though the text doesn't say this, I think, I mean, we know that she's fallen on her face. She's probably now raising up maybe to her knees, with tears streaming down her face. She's been crying out to the Lord, to help her and her little daughter oblivious to the watching crowd, can you imagine the scene? It would be heart wrenching. And again, I imagine the disciples are standing back. I mean, they're speechless. They're utterly flabbergasted at what's going on. Verse 28, "But she answered and said to him, 'Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs.'" Matthew puts it this way, Matthew 15, verse 25, "But she came and began to bow down before Him saying, Lord help me!" Not just her daughter, but help me. "And he answered and said, 'It is not good to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.' But she said, 'Yes, Lord, but even the dogs feed on the crumbs, which fall from their masters table.'"

Dear friends, don't miss this powerful truth. The Lord has arranged all of this. He's orchestrated all of this, so that she would declare these things with such passion. Now, yes, indeed, it's true that all the biblical covenants were given to Israel, were given to the Prophets, the scriptures were given to them, the Messiah, were all given to Israel. Paul speaks of this in Romans nine, beginning of verse three, he says, "my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to Whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises who are the fathers." Yes, all of that's true. But that didn't mean that the Gentiles received nothing. And that's what Jesus is showing. In fact, we know that God literally, and continually, uses the salvation of Gentiles, to make Jews jealous so that they will be saved. It's an amazing thought. Paul reminded the Gentiles that Moses prophesied of this very thing in Romans 10, beginning of verse 19. He says, "I will make you jealous by that which is not a nation, by a nation without understanding will I anger you." And in Romans 11, beginning of verse 11, "I say, then" they referring to Jews, "did not stumble, stumble so as to fall," which means to be destroyed beyond salvage. "They did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous." There it is, in one sentence, God is using Israel's failure to bring salvation to the Gentiles. He uses the Gentiles to cause elect Jews to become envious, to arouse Israel to yearn for salvation to yearn for their Messiah, that they might be reconciled to God. The very God that is blessing the Gentiles. Romans 11:12. Paul continues, he says, "Now, if their transgression," referring to the Jews, "if their transgression be riches for the world, and their failure be riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be1" In other words, if those wild olive branches, those Gentiles, that have Been engrafted into the Abrahamic covenantal blessing, the root of that blessing, with all of its millennial consequences, how much more will their fulfillment be referring to Israel's restoration. And he goes on in verses 25 and 26, to describe it when all Israel will be saved and so forth. Oh, dear Christian, we see these promises being fulfilled to the Gentiles right here in this text before us. And what an amazing thing it is for all of us. Again, verse 28, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs under the table feed on the children's crumbs." In other words, what she's saying is, I will gladly, I will gladly be compared to those unworthy little house dogs for that I am. But I plead with you that I might at least eat of the children scraps. My how Jesus tested her faith. And whenever God tests true saving faith, it always proves it. Think of Job. Moreover, the testing of our faith strengthens our faith. That's what's going on here.

So we see a desperate plea for mercy, a deliberately delayed response. And then finally, a display of sincere faith rewarded, verse 29, "And he said to her, 'Because of this answer,'" in other words, because of the great faith that I see in your heart, that I have implanted in your heart, because of your great hope, in me and love for me, "'go, the demon has gone out of your daughter.'" Matthew 15, verse 23, Matthew says, "Then Jesus said to her old woman, 'Your faith is great.'" Don't you love that? Don't you want to have great faith? Not some weak, mealy mouth, phony faith. You want to have great faith, oh, woman, Your faith is great. It shall be done for you as you wish. Then we read "and her daughter was healed at once." Oh, the omnipotent power of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I was reading this I was thinking how this was the exact opposite of "Little Faith." Remember in Pilgrims Progress, who took a nap in Dead Man's Lane, a place that was frequented by murderers and so forth? This lady had great faith. Where does she get that great faith? Does she just come up with it on her own? No faith is a free gift from God. And then I love this next verse, "And going back to her home."

Now let's think about that. She trusted him enough to say, Okay, I'm gonna go back home. Little Faith would say, Oh, you need to come with me here. You know, in case it didn't work? No, all she needed was for him to say what he did. "And going back to her home, she found the child lying on the bed, the demon having left." What faith and what compassion? What compassion Jesus showed time and time again, to women, right? That's another amazing thought. This scenario reminds me of First Thessalonians one. Paul addressed the idol worshipers there in Thessalonica, who had come to Christ, beginning of verse nine, he said, "For they themselves, report about us what kind of reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God and wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath to come." Oh dear friends, I pray that each of you have placed your faith in Christ. And I would ask you to ask yourself, How would you compare your faith with this dear woman? And I must say that it is the great burden of my heart to see such shallow faith among so many people that profess faith in the Lord Jesus. Those who profess faith in Christ but live on the outer boundaries of the church, on the periphery. Those who just kind of come occasionally, who aren't really involved. For people who really don't see Christ as central to their life, he only exists in the periphery of their thoughts and their affections. He exists only in the margins of their priorities, not at the sanctifying center, worshipping Christ corporately with other believing believers and fellowshipping with them. This is kind of an option. Frankly, it's kind of the duty it's not really a desire. And of course, private worship is non existence. No real desire to know Christ, no real love for Christ.

Think of the contrast of what Jesus describes in Matthew 13, verse 44, and following, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field." And beloved, what we see throughout Scripture is this treasure is Christ himself. "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field which a man found and hid again, and from joy over it, he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls. And upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it." Beloved, is this how you see Christ? As your greatest treasure? This priceless Pearl, that which is deserving of you, forsaking everything you have for him alone. Paul says, "For God, who said, light shall shine out of darkness," Second Corinthians four six, 'Light shall shine out of darkness is the One who has shown in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels." This is utterly astounding, dear friends. We have the treasure of Christ in all of his glory, and grandeur living within us. He's the crown jewel of our soul. Nothing compares to him. If we've truly been granted, saving faith Ephesians 3:17, "He dwells in our hearts through faith." Ephesians two verse 20, "Christ lives in me and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God." Romans eight verses nine and following," Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him. But if Christ is in you, the Spirit is life because of righteousness." Colossians 1:27 "Christ in you the hope of glory." Colossians two beginning in verse six, "Therefore, as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, having been firmly rooted and now being built up in him, and established in your faith, just as you were instructed and overflowing with gratitude." When I see a Christian that's not overflowing with gratitude, I'm sorry, I have to question the genuineness of your faith. Sadly, these types of things are often foreign to many people that profess faith in Christ. Ask yourself, is he the center of gravity around which my life orbits or do I expect him to orbit around me? And my needs? Is Christ, my greatest treasure? Is he the soul satisfying, Soul transforming, soul exhilarating savior and Lord of my life? Can you truly say that? Or have I placed my faith in Him to merely forgive my sins and make my life go smoothly? I fear for many professing Christians. It is the latter not the former. I asked you when you came to faith in Christ, did you come like this idol worshiper in desperation, but convinced that Jesus was your only hope. And there was nothing that could stop you from coming to him. That he was your omnipotent creator. That he was God very God, the Promised Messiah? Did you bow down before Him and would like her say, Lord, help me. Like the Publican that wouldn't lift up his head and beat on his chest and said, Lord, have mercy upon me a sinner? Is that how you came to Christ? Willing to forsake all of your idols, all of your family and social ties? And willing to abandon your pride and cast yourself solely upon him? Because nothing else is worth what he is. Or did you come to him like you would, an airplane pilot, you know, how it is you get on a plane a lot of times and the pilot is right there at the door, especially on smaller flight. We get on the plane and we put our trust in that pilot, right? We trust him to get us to point A to point B, but we don't really know him. We certainly don't love him. We don't treasure him, we just kind of use him. Of course, the analogy breaks down as all analogies do, but I think you get the point. We can become so selfish and manipulative in our faith.

Dear friends, Christ is not merely an airline pilot. Christ is not merely a means to something more prized, and more satisfying than Christ Himself. Christ is not merely a means to a more glorious end. You must understand that Christ is the all sufficient, all glorious end in himself. He is the great treasure. He is the Pearl of Great Price. Folks, this is the stuff of genuine saving faith. John seven, verse 38, "He who believes in me as the scripture said, from his innermost being will flow rivers of living water." Psalm 63, beginning in verse one, "Oh God, you are my God, I shall seek you earnestly. My soul thirst for you by flesh yearns for you in a dry and a weary land where there is no water." Then in verse three, "Your loving kindness is better than life. My lips will praise you so I will bless you as long as I live, I will lift up my hands in your name. My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and my mouth offers praises with joyful lips." Psalm 107 in verse nine, "He satisfies the longing of my soul." Dear friends, is he the longing of your soul? If he is you will find your greatest satisfaction in him. Nothing else will do. Therefore, we love Christ, we desire Him above all else. And in Him, we find our greatest joy and satisfaction. And beloved, you must understand that it is this sincere love and treasuring of Christ that we receive when we receive the gift of saving faith. When God gives us that miraculous gift, Ephesians two, eight.

I remember when I was nine years old, God saved me on the first row of Edgewood Baptist church, but I had been under conviction for some time before that. Now, all I knew is that I was a sinner, that I was guilty before a holy God, I knew that Jesus was God, that he gave his life for my sins, and that I needed to trust in him. I knew that he was crucified and raised the third day. And I knew that I'd go to hell if I didn't do that. I knew the basics of the gospel. And with that God saved me. Did I see him as my greatest treasure? My greatest joy? Did I cherish him and adore him more than all else that I find in him? The satisfaction of my deepest desires? No. My greatest treasure were probably my horses, my 22 rifle, my shotgun and my bird dogs. Right? But you must understand that when he saved me even as when he saves you, he gives you the gift of faith and in the embryo of that faith, we have all have the spiritual DNA to be able to grow in such a way as to become a mighty oak that treasures Christ more than all else. Because what happened to me and what happened to all of you who truly know Christ, just like this woman is in God's sovereign election. He took this person, this little boy, that he set his love upon and he brought conviction to his heart. And he called me unto himself. And he caused me to be born again, the great miracle of regeneration, the impartation, that supernatural, instantaneous impartation, of spiritual life to the spiritually dead. And he granted me repentance, which is more than just changing behaviors, it means a changing of the mind. In repentance, there is a renovation of the hearts desires. Moreover, he gave me the gift of faith. And in that faith, it's not just a mental assent to an airline pilot, no, no, no, no. Within the DNA, of that embryo, existed, everything that I needed for life and godliness, and over time, through the various means of grace that God gave me, like he gave you, the indwelling Spirit, the Word of God, fellowship, preaching all of those things. Over time, he caused me to see more and more of who Christ really was, who he really is.

Now, I say all of this because if none of this resonates with you, I would plead with you to examine your heart. And I think I could put it this way, because of my love for Christ, that He has granted me and because I see him as my greatest treasure and delight, because I adore him, as so many of you do, wild horses couldn't keep me away from coming to church on Sunday morning. Why? Because I love him, I want to worship Him. I want to be with my brothers and sisters in Christ. There is nothing that can keep me from worshiping Him privately, from studying his Word, from interacting with Him in prayer. And the point is, so many people that name the name of Christ will hear these things and think, oh, that's just foreign to me. Well, with Christ, He becomes our greatest treasure. And therefore we can say with Paul, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them to be rubbish. That I may gain Christ. The apostle Paul explained how unbelievers are perishing in second, Thessalonians two. He said, in verse 10, "Because they did not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved." Not that they did not believe the truth, they did not receive the love of the truth. Speaking of the love for Christ, they had no real love for Christ. So they did not have the gift of faith. Matthew 10 Verse 37, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of man, he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of me." First Corinthians 6:22. If anyone does not love the Lord, he has to be accursed. Now, please understand our love for Christ is not a prerequisite for saving faith. No, no, no, no, that's Roman Catholic doctrine. That's faith plus works, Faith plus our virtue. No, that's not at all what we see in Scripture. Christ's righteousness alone is the grounds for our justification, but our love for Christ, our joy in Christ, our delight and satisfaction in his infinite perfections, our treasuring and adoring and thankfulness for who Christ is, are all affections that make up the essential elements of saving faith. They are part of the nature of genuine saving faith. First, John five beginning in verse one, "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And whoever loves the Father loves the child born of him. By this, we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and His commandments are not burdensome, for whatever is born of God," now catch this, "whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?" Beloved, what this text is saying is that if you have no real love for Christ, if you have no desire for his commandments, in fact, if you find them burdensome, if you are unable to overcome all of the things that the world has to offer you, that are in opposition to God, and in fact, you enjoy those things. What he's saying here is you've never been born of God, you've never received the gift of faith. You have never been miraculously united to Christ.

I close with these thoughts. This is at the heart of Paul's doxology. Remember, in Ephesians, one three, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ." And I would submit to you that on the basis of what we witnessed here, in this pagan, Gentile woman, as she cast herself on the mercy of Christ, and as we see his response to her, the Lord Jesus blessed her with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Oh, what sincere, authentic faith. One day we will meet Him in glory, right? And we will meet her in glory. May I challenge you to examine your heart? Don't look at your heart and say, well, once upon a time, I made a decision to follow Christ. Judas did the same thing, but he's in hell. The question is, do you really know him? Do you really love him? Do you cherish him above all else? For all of us, who can hardily say amen to that, you can express with me the words of an old hymn that I sang as a child. Although once again, it did not mean as much to me then, as it does now. I'll just read the first verse in the chorus, "Who can cheer the heart like Jesus? By His presence all divine, true and tender, pure and precious, oh how blessed to call him mine. All that thrills my soul is Jesus. He is more than life to me. And the fairest of 10,000, in my blessed Lord, I see. Let's pray together. Father, Your Word, by the power of Your Spirit causes our hearts to soar into the heavens as we contemplate the glories of Christ, all that that means to us. We thank you for the gift of saving faith. We thank you for the example of this that we've read about here today. And, Lord, may You help us all to grow in the faith and if there be one that's really not in the faith, I pray that you will bring conviction that they will truly repent and be born again. But Lord, use us mightily as we endeavor to live out our faith, as other people see in us, what Christ truly means to us. We ask you to bless us to these ends, in Jesus name and for his sake. Amen.

God has given us a wonderful gift in music has he not? What a profound way to express the doxologies of our heart. And we certainly thank you musicians for leading us with such excellence and faithfulness, and humility.

Will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark seven? We will be looking at verses 14 through 23. Mark seven, verses 14 through 23. I've entitled my discourse to you this morning the source of moral corruption. Follow along as I read the gospel record beginning in verse 14. "After Jesus called with a crowd to him again, he began saying to them, 'Listen to me, all of you and understand, there is nothing outside the man which can defile him, if it goes into him. But the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.' When he had left the crowd, and entered the house, his disciples questioned him about the parable. And he said to them, 'Are you so lacking in understanding also, do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach and is eliminated.' Thus he declared all foods clean. And he was saying, 'That which proceeds out of the man that is what defiles the man for from within, out of the heart of men, precede the evil thoughts for fornications, thefts, murder, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.'"

There is a long standing debate, those of you that have been in philosophy classes in college will remember this, and that is his man inherently good or evil. Of course, the secularists believe that man is inherently good, but can do bad things. And that of course, is because of the effects of his or her environment. For the secularist man is deprived, not depraved. And if you give him the proper love, the proper modeling, the proper socialization, the proper education, giving the right environment and his true goodness is going to show. Of course, that has never happened, but at least that's what they are pursuing. Of course, the question is, how do you define good? I did a little bit of research this week. And to summarize it, the secularists basically define good as being intuitively kind, by nature. We are cooperative, selfless towards our fellow man. But when man acts these ways towards his fellow man, is that really an accurate measure of his nature? What happens when the other guy doesn't reciprocate? What are the real motives behind being kind and cooperative? And selfless? Could those actions be selfish, perhaps? And then another question comes up. Do those good things honor God? Oh, we can't talk about that because we don't know if there is a God. I mean, now you're moving into another whole realm of understanding human nature, we can't talk about that. Now you're introducing theology and anthropologie based upon some understanding of God, whoever he or she might be if he or she even exists. We don't know if there is a God. So we don't know how to honor God. There is no such thing is an absolute standard of right or wrong. So it's intuitive. It's fluid according to societal norms. So if that's true, man is the one that decides what is good and what is evil. That's how people view it today. Of course, the question is which man? Right? Which man decides which group of people? Moreover, I would submit to those people, that if there is no God, if there is absolutely no moral standard, no authority, no standard of righteousness, and if we are nothing more than sophisticated germs, that have evolved out of some primordial gas and crawled out of some swamp, and we've randomly come together to be what we are to today, what difference does it even make? What is good or what is not good? Why should we even care? After all, we're just a mass of randomly selected meaningless cells. Some societies sacrifice human infants in a fire to appease their deity, is that good? There are other societies that enslave other people, other human beings, they torture them. They even eat them, is that good? Some people would say it is. Our society kills unborn, inconvenient babies. Our society claims that gender has nothing to do with biology. Is that good? Who says there are many people that wouldn't agree with that? So how do you define what is good? And then you have to ask the question. Are we as human beings made in the image of God, and all of a sudden, the secularists will begin to snicker and shake their head? Can't believe you would even ask such a stupid question. Well, let me go a bit further. Let's just say that we are. If so, are we not therefore responsible to our Creator? To honor him? Well, now the laughter begins to turn to mocking, right? Has he not revealed himself in creation, and even in our conscience, and even in His Word, the Bible and in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, now the laughter turns to absolute scorn. There is a crescendo of rage, as you begin to logically trace this whole debate. Yet man is basically good. What standard do we use to define good and evil man standard, or God's standard? Who is our moral authority? Is it man? Or is it God? If it's man, it's fluid, it's ever changing. Kind of like whoever wins the next election that becomes the next standard?

Well, of course, as believers because of God's grace, we understand that God exists, that we are responsible to him, and that He has revealed Himself in His Word, and he is the standard of righteousness. Jesus said in Matthew 19, verse 17, "There is only One who is good." referring to God. Now, Isaiah 64, verse six, "For all of us, have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment."Romans 3:23 "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." And we're told in Romans chapter five and verse 12, that through one man, "Through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned." Jesus described the ultimate standard of goodness. Here it is in Matthew 22, beginning in verse 37, Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, this is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the prophets," referring to the Old Testament scriptures.

God has revealed his standard of righteousness and His law. And he has written that in his word, the law of God is sometimes referred to as the mosaic code. And that was the codification of God's holiness, the divine standard of righteousness. And if we look at God's law, we see that the features of his law includes a two fold summarization of his law that I've just read, that we are to love God with all of our being and love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. And then there's a 10 fold summarization of that law. It's called the Decalogue of the 10 commandments, also referred to as the tablets of stone, the Mosaic law given to Moses at Mount Sinai read about it in Exodus 19, through 20. It's also called the Old Covenant. And there we read that if you keep the covenant, you're blessed, if you violate it, you're cursed. The first three, speak of how we are to love God perfectly, it speaks of polytheism, graven images and swearing. And then you have the Sabbath. And then you have the last six tell us how to love our neighbor, it speaks of obedience to parents. It talks about how we should not commit murder, adultery, theft, bear, false witness, coveting, and so forth. And so you have a two fold summarization of the law, a 10 fold summarization of the law. And then there is also a manifold summarization of the law. It's called the words of the covenant. You read about that, and Exodus 24, verse seven, and that, frankly, the entire Book of Leviticus is an expansion, a detailed expansion of the law. Now, all of that was written down for a purpose, and we know that it was to be placed in a receptacle beside the Ark of the Covenant with the tablets of stone inside. And according to Deuteronomy 31, verse 26. Here was God's intention. "Take this book of the law and place it beside the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord your God, that it may remain there, catch this now, as a witness against you."

You see, folks, the purpose of God's holy, perfect, righteous standard is to expose our sin. To be a witness against us in any breach, any violation means that you broke the whole law. The consequence was death. So the law was extremely oppressive. It shows God's standard of what is good, which is radically different from man standard. Now, it is true that God prescribed certain rituals and regulations and the Mosaic Law prescribed them for Israel, there were regulations with respect to certain foods you could and couldn't eat and certain conditions that could be considered defiling, like there would be certain medical issues that would be defiling like leprosy. Menstruation would render a woman ceremonially unclean during that period, touching a dead body, etc. And God's covenant people were expected to obey the law as best they could. But they were required to do so out of a heart that sincerely loved the Lord. And that's where they failed miserably. They became preoccupied with external symbols that ignored internal purity of the heart. Take, for example, circumcision. God gave that as a law to the men of Israel. And it was the seal of God's covenant with Abraham. It was a reminder of God's covenant promises that was placed on his body and the bodies of all of the male descendants. You read about that in Genesis 17, for example. And while the cutting away of the flesh that could hold disease in its folds and be passed on to wives was important. In those days where they didn't have the hygiene that we do. Now, circumcision also indicated that God's people were in desperate need of cleansing grace, cleansing grace. You can read about this in Leviticus 12. For example, the first three verses, it was a symbol of the need for the heart to be cleansed from a deadly disease, one that would be passed on through reproduction from generation to generation. For example, in Deuteronomy 10. The context there was when the Israelites were encamped on the banks of Jordan, ready to enter into the promised land, the Lord spoke to Moses and spoke through him and gave the people five basic requirements that he expected of his people, beginning in verse 12, of Deuteronomy 10. "Now Israel, what does the Lord your God require from you." By the way, here's the definition of goodness, right? Here's what He requires "to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways and love Him, and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the Lord's commandments and his statutes which I am commanding you today for your good." And later on, he goes on to say so circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer. Jeremiah four and verse four, "Circumcise yourself to the Lord, and remove the foreskin of your heart, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or else my wrath will go forth like fire and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds." The apostle Paul spoke of this as well in Romans chapter two beginning in verse 28, "For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew, who is one inwardly and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. And his praise is not from men, but from God." Now, the point with these examples is simply this. All of the stipulations, all of the regulations, prohibitions in the Mosaic Law, were merely symbols that illustrated man's sinful condition, and his need for spiritual cleansing, ultimately, to point people to Christ. And if someone was ceremonially defiled, they couldn't even participate in public worship until they underwent an external cleansing. And that would be a graphic picture of man's sinful need, their sinful heart and his need for forgiveness for internal cleansing, before he could ever come into the presence of a holy God. So all of this was symbolic.

Now, this brings us to our text. The scribes and the Pharisees refused to see any of this. Because you see, they believe that spiritual corruption could be removed through physical, external and ceremonial practices. If you do certain external things, then you're good to go. And of course, nothing could be further from the truth. May I remind you, the writer of Hebrews comments on the symbolic nature of the Old Testament rituals in Hebrews eight and verse five. There we read, "they served as a copy and a shadow of the heavenly things." Hebrews 10 And verse one "For the law, since it was only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very form of things can never, by the same sacrifices, which they offer continually, year by year, make perfect those who draw near." You see, dear friends obedience to the law was never meant to save anyone, because it was absolutely impossible to obey the law. That's why again, it was called a witness against you. Deuteronomy 31:26, but rather it pointed people to the need, their need, for a Savior. And that's because "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God," Romans three and verse 23. Remember man has an innate inability to conform to the moral character and desires of God, he is a sinner by nature. And Jeremiah chapter 17, verse six says that the "heart is more deceitful than all else and desperately sick, who can understand it?" We must understand that the material and immaterial parts of man have been corrupted by sin. And the consequence of that is physical death and eternal death, unless we trust in Christ to save us, since corruption, in the spiritual part of Man, has defiled, has corrupted, has polluted his thinking, his reason, his desires, his affections, his motives. And Titus one in verse 15, Paul said, "to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their minds and their consciences are defiled." Ephesians four and verse 18, "they are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to the their hardness of heart." And in Romans chapter one and verse 21, we see that that sinful mankind is, quote, "futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened." So his man inherently good, or depraved. Of course, man is hopelessly biased in his own favor. And he would say, Oh, we're basically good. Just give us all the good things that we need, and we'll show you how good we are. And God says something very, very different. Unless you understand this, you will never see your need for a Savior, and you will perish in your sins. Romans three beginning of verse 10. We read the apostle Paul, indicting man's character, his conversation, his conduct, and he quotes several Old Testament passages There we read, "There is none righteous, not even one. There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God. All have turned aside together, they have become useless. There is no one who does good there is not even one. Their throat is an open grave with their tongues, they keep deceiving. The poison of asps is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in their paths and the path of peace they have not known there is no fear of God before their eyes." That's God's answer, dear friends. You see man is an active hater of God. Romans eight seven will tell you that, and on his own apart from regenerating grace, he has no capacity to understand and embrace spiritual truth. First Corinthians 2:14.

Now, while the secularists have always mocked all of this, mocked God's standard of goodness, you must understand that many in apostate Judaism have done the same thing. And this is what Jesus had to deal with. They believed that spiritual defilement or evil worked its way inside of a person from the outside. Now this is why going back to our text, in Mark seven, the scribes and Pharisees confront Jesus and in verse five, they say, "Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?" Don't you realize you can't do that you're gonna get defiled. And as a result, Jesus confronts their stupidity, their hypocrisy. And he exposes their elaborate system of external rituals and ceremonies that they believed would impress God and make them righteous in his eyes. And now here in verses 14 through 23, he explains to his disciples and to the crowd, the true source of moral corruption. This moral corruption does not originate from outside of us, it originates from within us, which is a chilling reality that should give us all pause. Man's very nature is corrupt, and he is utterly helpless to change it. Only the regenerating work of the Spirit of God can raise us from spiritual death to spiritual life. Because you must understand, beloved, that man's will is in bondage to his depraved nature. He has absolutely no desire to choose saving faith apart from Divine initiative. That's why Jesus told the great teacher of Israel, Nicodemus, a fastidious keeper of the law, in John three told him that you must be born again. Something has to happen to you that you can't do to yourself. You must be raised from spiritual death to spiritual life, by the power of the Spirit of God, that will give you the gift of repentant faith in the Lord Jesus. So salvation is, is not a matter of avoiding contamination from external sources. It's not a matter of keeping manmade rules and regulations, not even keeping the law. Because again, obedience to the law was never a means of salvation. Assuming anybody could keep it safe, the God man, Christ Jesus, Romans three in verse 20, the apostle Paul says, "by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in His sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin." It's an incredible statement. I mean, think about this, Paul was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, right? I mean, he was top dog in his day, the most elite of the elite, another fastidious keeper of the law, and a killer of Christians. But when he examined his life against the law, by the power of the Spirit that had transformed him, he died, he says, Romans seven, verse nine, "sin became alive and I died," he went on to say it proved to result in death for me. Why, what's he saying? Well, what the law did was expose the depths of his sinfulness. And it underscored the heights of God's standard of righteousness. And in light of that disparity, he knew instantly, that he was guilty. And he was helpless. dependent solely upon God's grace, as we all are, all his righteous accomplishments, and pride were reduced to ashes. And I might add that the same will be true of everyone that sees their sin for what it is, and sees Christ for who he is. Because our only hope is faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus on the cross.

Of course, all of these gospel truths were horribly offensive to the Pharisees and scribes. They're trying to kill him. And so as we look at the text, I want to do so under two headings that will help us grasp these very simple truths. First of all, we're going to look at the source of moral corruption. And then secondly, examples of moral corruption. Now, let me give you the more immediate context here, Jesus has just had a confrontive conversation with the scribes and Pharisees, I call them the hit squad that was sent by the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem. And apparently, the delegation now has departed after Jesus rebuts their ridiculous accusations. And so they leave and now Jesus is going to call the crowds that had probably moved back a little bit, because whenever these guys would come around, with all of their, their robes and everything, everybody else would back away because these are the holy men. So, scribes and Pharisees have gone, crowds around, they've kind of overheard some of this and they're wondering what's going to happen next. And Jesus called them in closer to him. So first, we're going to see what Jesus has to say with respect respect to number one, the source of moral corruption.

Notice verse 14. "After he called the crowd to him again, he began saying to them, 'Listen to me, all of you and understand.'" Now I want you to notice the authority that he exerts in his statement, and this is a clear contrast between him and the authority of the scribes and Pharisees. Their used to listening to them. And he is now saying, I want you to listen to me, not them. In fact, the verb listen is used nine times in Mark and it's always in the context of a solemn pronouncement. A solemn pronouncement, he goes on in verse 15, "there is nothing outside the man which can defile him, if it goes into him with the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man." Now folks you must understand, this is absolutely shocking to these people. What Jesus is saying is turning their world upside down. They've never heard anything like this. I mean, they've been doing all of these things, are trying to, and the law and then all the manmade stuff, the ridiculous stuff that the scribes and Pharisees have added down through the years. And he's basically saying that none of this is really defiling. But there's something inside that is defiling. Verse 16, says, "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." I might add that this is a phrase not found in the earliest and some of the most reliable manuscripts. And so even if we were not sure that it needs to be here, however, Jesus did, say this in other settings. So what happens here is Jesus is using kind of a short parable, basically, a riddle. And we see that in verse 17, In other words, his statement is a rather enigmatic, kind of a mysterious saying, that has wide application, and it will cause people to pensively reflect upon its meaning. An easy statement, but one that you got to think about a bit, especially when you've never heard anything like that. So you're not only going to think about it, but apply it to your life. And so Jesus is literally reversing the guiding principle of their religious system. He's saying that nothing outside of a man can enter into him and make him unclean. Rather, the defilement already exists within. And it is therefore what is in him that is going to come out of him that makes him unclean.

Let me give you another example of this in Matthew 23. Jesus made it a habit of humiliating and excoriating the scribes and the Pharisees on this very issue. Matthew 23, beginning in verse 24, he says, "You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self indulgence, you blind Pharisee first clean the inside of the cup, and of the dish so that the outside of it may become clean also. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside, appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness so you too outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness." Jesus never understood what we now understand today how important it is to be seeker sensitive. Obviously, that is ridiculous. He just unleashed the truth. This is why the Jews hated him, because he kept exposing them. Not to mention he claimed to be God. I might add that in many parts of the world, nothing has changed. I got a email this week from our friend Wes Tabor, remember Wes Tabor, with life and Messiah. We support them, the evangelistic mission organization that is primarily made up of Jewish people that have come to faith in Christ and they ministered to Jews all over the world. But he emailed me from Hong Kong to remind me of, of a Jewish friend, a former IDF soldier that that I know. In fact, he was here at my father's funeral if when some of you were here, but he was telling me how he was reading my father's book, the one that I wrote, out of the depths some of you have most of you probably have read that if you haven't, I would encourage you to do so. It's an amazing testimony of God's faithfulness and Providence but this soldier former soldier was reading My dad's book in Israel in the home of a rabbi, friend of his, and the rabbi asked him, What are you reading? And he told him and the rabbi looked at it and just went medieval on him. He took a black marker and he started blacking out Jesus everywhere he could. And he finally got in such a rage, he just threw the book away. Folks, that's the kind of hostility that Jesus dealt with, and still does. So nothing has really changed since the first century. Even though by God's grace, there are many Jewish people, including many rabbis coming to faith in Christ. So Jesus didn't seek any common ground, he just unleashed the truth on them. And of course, that was very offensive. It was countercultural. So he's saying again, that the external things like food and unwashed hands are not the source of defilement that offends God. The source is your fallen nature. It's the moral impurities in your heart. It's your your, your desires, your thoughts, your attitudes. That is what defiles the man verse 15. Now let's notice what happened next in verse 17, when he had left the crowd and entered the house, what happened? Now he probably went to Peter's house, he's probably in Capernaum. His disciples questioned him about the parable. So the disciples are saying, you know, we need to talk. I'm not sure I get all of this. Because again, they they've not understood these types of things. Before I tell you, what are we look at what Mark says, Let me see, see, or let's see what Matthew has to say about it. And Matthew 15, beginning in verse 12, here's what happens next. "Then the disciples came and said to him, do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard the statement?" You know, I would imagine Jesus is shaking his head saying, really? Yeah, I kind of knew that that would offend them. Because you see to the Jewish people, you never talk back to these guys. These guys have all the answers. But he answered and said, every plant which my heavenly father did not plant shall be uprooted, let them alone. In other words, because of their willful rejection of their Messiah, in light of full knowledge of who he is, God has abandoned them to the eternal consequences of their iniquities. And by the way, the same can be said of other false teachers that we have today. Just let them alone. God has given them over. He goes on to say they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit. "Peter said to Him, explain the parable to us. Jesus said, Are you still lacking an understanding also? Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth, passes into the stomach and is eliminated?" In other words, guys, let me give you biology and physiology 101 here. All right, things go in the mouth. They go into the stomach and they are eliminated. They don't somehow get into the heart and cause you to do bad things. Don't you understand that? He says, but the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man for out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, thefts, false witness, slanders, these are the things which defile the man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man. Now, Mark records essentially the same thing. Look at verse 18. "And he said to them, are you so lacking an understanding also, do you not understand that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him, because it does not go into his heart but into his stomach and is eliminated?" And then Mark offers kind of an explanatory comment. Here."He said "Thus He declared all foods clean." This was perhaps influenced by by Peter who understood this very well from his experience, you will recall and an Acts 10. He was in Joppa and a sheet filled with all kinds of animals were presented to him in a vision and he was commanded get up Peter kill and eat and then later on, we read what God has cleanse no longer consider unholy. And so there again here's Mark saying "Thus he declared all foods clean." And so a paraphrase of that verse 19. It could be something like this by saying these things, Jesus was ending all distinction between ceremonially clean and unclean foods. By the way, I also find great comfort that God was not a vegan, right? I'm sure the the disciples wore those shirts that says PETA, people enjoying tasty animals, right? So then we have a summary statement there in verse 20, "Jesus was saying that which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man."

And so now what he does is he shifts from an analogy from the physical to the spiritual. We've seen the source of moral corruption. Now we're going to see number two, examples of moral corruption, these things that occur within the realm of the spiritual the inner man. And here the Lord will provide a representative list of evil actions, there are six of them. And then evil attitudes, six of those as well. So six examples of wicked behaviors followed by six attitudes or drives or states of the heart. And he begins in verse 21, and says, "For from within, out of the heart of men, precede the evil thoughts," Dialogismos, in the original language, you get our word dialogue from that, it's really fascinating. It means deliberations in this case, within the mind, machinations in the mind, reflections, it refers to one's perceptions, one's ideas, one's motives, the content of what a person thinks. That's what he's referring to here with these evil thoughts. "For from within, out of the heart of man, precede the evil thoughts." It could be translated evil schemes or designs, or devising things. Literally, if you translate it from the Greek, those bad dialogue, musings, it's a really ridiculous way of saying it, but that's the idea. And think about I mean, we're constantly carrying out a dialogue in our mind conversation, discussions, and often it's sinful, it's self serving, selfish, no thought of doing even what is good for the glory of God. And what we say in our heart is far more revealing than what we say in public, right? I mean, there are lots of times when I don't want you to know what I'm thinking in my heart, and I'm even ashamed of it. I may be the only one in here that has that problem. But that's reality. Proverbs 23, verse seven, "for As a man thinks within himself, so is he." So think of this, the evil thoughts or the dialogues in the heart of the unregenerate is exceedingly more evil than those of us who have been born again. And then it flows out of the heart and to speech and actions. In fact, the Psalmist says in Psalm 14, verses one through three, "The fool has said in his heart, there is no God they are corrupt, they have committed abominable deeds, there is no one who does good. The Lord has looked down from heaven upon the sons of men to see if there are any who understand who seek after God, they have all turned aside together, they have become corrupt, there is no one who does good, not even one." And of course, this is some of what Paul quoted in Romans three. So again, in verse 21, Jesus begins "For from within out of the heart of man, precede the evil thoughts, these evil machinations and the phrase here evil, evil thoughts." Appears to be kind of an overarching caption, kind of an umbrella phrase that introduces the more specific vices to follow. Let's look at the six examples of evil actions. And I might also add that the first four are included in the second half of the 10 commandments, in Exodus 20, verses 13 through 17. And Jesus's disciples would have immediately recognized this, so within their heart, within our heart exists, first of all fornications. Porneia in the original language. You get our word pornography from that. It speaks of sexual sins, immoral sins, illicit sexual behavior of any description, whether it's inside or outside of, of marriage. To make it more practical, this is Spring Break debauchery. This is stuff that's just in people's hearts. This is premarital sexual intercourse. This is viewing pornography. This is telling and listening to off color jokes. This is women who dress seductively in order to entice men to lust this is the the type of thing that progresses to homosexuality and to the whole transgender insanity, you know the whole alphabet people thing you know the the all of the stuff that we just shake our heads at. This is what we see with stand up comics all the time, right? They're always twisting everything to give it some sexual innuendo and everybody snickers This is commercials on television now that promote homosexuality in the transgender perversions, lyrics in most music, political slogans, late night television, you can't even watch it. Filthy game show hosts that like to twist things. Even many political pundits are masters of twisting every word, every phrase, every joke, everything has some double meaning. This is fornications in the heart. This didn't come from eating something.

Than thefts. It's a form of a Greek term klope, we get the verb klepto. We get our word kleptomaniac from that. And it's description is descriptive of anybody that takes things from other people. I mean, this is, I was thinking about our politicians, it's the act of taking from other people of stealing things, cheating on your income tax, shoplifting, loafing on the job, withholding from God and so forth. He goes on and gives another one, murderers. Of course, this is the illicit killing of another human being. We have this all over the place and in our world today I think of abortion, which is the brutal dismemberment of of an unwanted inconvenient infant. Jesus said, By the way, in Matthew five and verse 21, and 22, that just to hate other people, is murder in the heart. Also, he adds adulteries. This would refer to sexual sins that violate the covenant of marriage. And Jesus again taught that a married man even even if he looks at another woman, lustfully has committed adultery in his heart. Matthew 5:28 deeds of coveting verse 22, this speaks of greed. This speaks of avarice, desires, and behaviors. You want what other people have. This fuels all kinds of things in our culture today, this is fueling the whole reparations debate, the insanity of the woke culture. Then he adds wickedness. This is just a kind of a catch all term that describes any malicious acts that violate the word and the will of God, a summary of all that has been mentioned, and many other forms of wickedness. By the way, there are many other lists of these types of sins and other places, especially in the New Testament. I might add that Matthew includes in this list, bearing false witness and slanders.

And then Jesus lists six attitudes or drives or states that exist within the heart. In verse 22, as well as deceit, this speaks of fraud, this speaks of being cunning and treacherous, trying to take advantage of other people. We could we could talk for an hour about all of the ways that we see this being manifested in our culture, people taking advantage of other people. Sensuality, that speaks of lewdness, or use a an old English word licentiousness, debauchery, wantonness, indecency, and has the kind of connotation of open and flagrant excess. Shameless, unrestricted unbridled immorality.This is the type of stunning immodesty that you see at the beach. And sadly, at Walmart. This is gay pride parade. This is drag shows, people that have no self control. They love to flaunt their perverse impulses. That's why Paul said in Romans 124, "therefore, God gave them over in the loss of their hearts." Literally the illicit cravings of their hearts," He gave them over to impurity that their bodies might be dishonored among them."

And then he adds envy. a foul most Canaris, we get our word ophthalmologist and so forth. It literally means an evil eye, or a sinister eye. Envy. I love what I read from one commentator by the name of Hendrickson. Quote, "jealousy and envy can be distinguished. Jealousy is the fear of losing what one has envy is the displeasure of seeing someone else have something." And he goes on to say "our English word envy comes from the Latin "invidia", meaning, quote, to look against, that is to look with ill will at another person because of what he has, or is. It was envy, he goes on to say, "that caused the murder of Abel, that through Joseph into a pit that caused Korah, Dathan and Abiram to rebel against Moses and Aaron, that made Saul pursue David, they gave rise to the bitter words which the" quote, "elder brother addressed to his father, in the parable of the prodigal son, and which crucified Christ," and then he closed by saying, "Love, never envies."

Admit it folks, this exists in our hearts right. And even though God has renewed our hearts, given us a new heart, there are still remnants of the flesh that are there. Then he adds, slander, of which is abusive speech, which would include just even the especially the untrue, exaggerated defamation of another person's character, pride, arrogance, haughtiness, insolence, an exaggerated sense of self importance, superiority that leads to habitual self promotion. By the way, this is much of what fuels social media, people are desperate for attention. They're desperate to flaunt themselves. These are the people that dominate conversations. These are the people that are the hero of their of every story and so forth. And the scribes and the Pharisees were the poster children for this. I mean, they were proud peacocks. And they made some of our pro athletes look humble. The disciples struggled with this as well, right? Did they not argue about who's going to be first in the kingdom? We all struggle with this, we have to admit it. He adds "and foolishness," which is just moral folly. In fact, the Old Testament fool is always associated with one who is wicked, who has a wrong attitude toward God. Remember, Jesus told the rich man in his parable in Luke 12, beginning in verse 20, he says, "you fool this very night, your soul is required of you and now who will own what you have prepared. So as the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." Paul said in Ephesians, five beginning of verse 17, "So then do not be foolish." In other words, do not be devoid of wisdom and good sense and sound judgment. "Do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is, do not get drunk with wine for that is dissapation but be filled with the Spirit." And as we look at this list, foolishness is basically a summarizing vice that encompasses the preceding five drives or words that Jesus used.

Then in verse 23, closes, "all these things proceed from within, and defile the man." These things don't happen because we ate something with dirty hands or we ate the wrong food. We're defiled because of what's in our heart. Charles Spurgeon said this, "The heart is the spring of action. The heart suggests, resolves, designs, and sets the whole train of life in motion. The heart gives the impulse and the force and yet out of the heart, thus initiating and working, proceeds all this mischief of sin. By the heart is meant mainly the affections, but it all often includes the understanding and the will. It is in fact, the man's vital self. Sin is not an extra that comes to us and afflicts us like robbers breaking into our house at night. But it is a tenet of the soul, dwelling within us, as in its own house. This evil worm has penetrated into the kernel of our being and there it abides. Sin has intertwisted itself with the warp and woof of our nature, and none can remove it but the Lord God himself. As long as the heart remains unchanged, out of it will precede that which is sinful, every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually." And finally, he adds, "If it is so that the nest in which sin is born and nurtured is the heart itself, we always carry about with us by nature, that which will surely be the cause of sin. Unless we look well to it, and cry daily for grace to conquer it. This evil nature of ours is an always present danger. It is a powder magazine, which at any moment may explode oh for grace, to keep our hearts with all diligence."

Beloved, as we close this morning, we can rejoice in the miracle of regeneration. Because of the Spirit's work that he has wrought within us. He has given us a new heart right? He's cleaned our heart no longer are we slaves to our sin. No longer does sin, still reign, but it still remains. And therefore we need to watch over our heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life. Proverbs tells us how do we do that Let me close with this thought. Out of Psalm 119. Beginning in verse nine. "How can a young man keep his way pure?" That's the question. Here's the answer. "By keeping it according to your word, with all my heart I have sought you do not let me wander from your commandments. Your word have I treasured in my heart that I may not sin against You. Blessed, are you oh Lord, teach me Your statutes. With my lips I have told of all the ordinances of your mouth. I have rejoiced in the way of your testimonies. As much as in all riches. I will meditate on your precepts and regard your ways I shall delight in your statutes I shall not forget your word." Oh dear friends for grace let's pray that our hearts would certainly be guarded by the word. Because that is the source of moral corruption. Yet it is that same heart that Christ has cleansed. What can wash wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh precious is the flow, that makes me white as snow no other found I know. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Father, we thank you for the blood of Jesus that is cleansed us. We rejoice in your saving grace. Take what we have learned today. Plant them deep within our hearts that they might grow and produce a great harvest to the praise of your glory. For it's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.

This morning, I would like to step away from our verse by verse exposition of the gospel of Mark. And I would like to share with you some things that are on my heart out of Romans chapter eight, if you will take your Bibles and turn there. Romans chapter eight. Our shepherds conference had, as you heard a theme, and it was called shepherding the remnant, the faithful few. And certainly, I have a sense of divine urgency to do just that with you, as our culture continues to descend into chaos and every imaginable form of wickedness. And so this morning, I want to help us express what the Scriptures describe as the inward groaning of the redeemed, but in the context of that, to provide for you great hope and encouragement, because indeed, that is there. Therefore, we will be looking at verses 19 through 25 of Romans eight under the heading our hopeful lament, let me read the text to you. "For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, and hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees. But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it."

Job tells us in chapter five, verse seven, "that man is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward." And we can all identify that with that, actually, when you think about it, we're born in trauma, and we live in conflict throughout the days of our life. And then we return once again to the earth. Solomon tells us as the preacher that life is vanity, all is vanity under the sun, life is a mere vapor. And ultimately, all that matters is what we do for Christ. So these days of our existence, while there's much joy, and much celebration, there's a lot of difficulty and we all understand that we all struggle to survive. In this world we face deadly viruses, bacteria, weeds choke out our crops. Pestilence eats what's leftover, mosquitoes. I think I've read that mosquitoes kill like 1 million people a year with malaria. We deal with devastating storms and earthquakes and famines and floods and tsunamis, hurricanes and human tragedies. And even today, we're dealing with all of the woke insanity, the LGBTQ perversions, corrupt governments. We experience violence and wars. And we all know what it's like to say goodbye to loved ones. This is the world in which we live. Despite man's best efforts, nothing ever really gets any better in this life, but we want to ask the question, Has it always been this way? Is there any real hope that all of this will one day change? And the answer is no, it hasn't always been this way. Once upon a time, there was a perfect world, a perfect paradise where man would never die. And yes, God has promised to once again restore that paradise for 1000 years, which will be the millennial kingdom, completing human history, and ushering in a state of eternal glory, and a totally new Heaven and Earth. And certainly this has been the confident hope of the redeemed down through history. And this is a worldview based upon divine revelation. This is a worldview that those without Christ find utterly foolish and ridiculous. To the natural man, the things of the Spirit are foolishness, and he cannot understand them. Their hope is only in themselves, not in the Creator. And unless they repent, the only change they will ever experiences from bad to worse, unimaginably worse, in an eternal hell. And here in Romans eight, verses 19 through 25. We will learn how and why things got this bad. And we will also learn how and why things will get so much better for those who have been justified by grace through faith in Christ. And here we have God's explanation for what I would call the Christians lamentation, the Christians lament, the Christian sorrow that is so pervasive in our life. This is why we grieve and struggle in this life. But here we will also see the certain hope that we have in Christ Jesus, that one day everything will be radically different, there will be a radical change in our existence, one that is inconceivably wonderful. And these truths are set forth, and two very stunning doctrines that emerge from this passage of scripture that I would like to look at this morning, first of all, in verses 19 through 22, we're going to see the creation, slavery to corruption. And then secondly, in verses 23 through 25, we're going to see the Christians perseverance and hope. Fantastic, magnificent doctrines that give clarity to all that we experience and that fuel the hope and the dreams of the redeemed based upon the eternal promises of a sovereign God who has ordained the end, from the beginning. These are magnificent truths that should stir our affections to praise. And so I pray that the Spirit will lead us into all truth.

Now, Paul has just encouraged his readers to be triumphant sufferers. In verse 18. He said, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed revealed to us." Obviously, this glory awaits us. And it's one that will replace the reality of suffering in this present age. And why is there suffering? Well, this is what he deals with next. And I've put this under the heading the creation, slavery to corruption. And Paul begins by personifying nature as being in distress; nature as earnestly expecting a particular event that is going to radically change its current state. And we see that beginning in verse 19. There we read, "For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God." And here God is referring to the animate and irrational inanimate creation. The animals, the plants, the mountains, the rivers, the plains, the seas, the heavenly bodies, they are personified as anxiously longing, the original language, the term describes a yearning desire. And the imagery here is, is waiting eagerly, with out-stretched, head and eyes on your tiptoes looking for something that you desperately longed to see happen. That's the idea, reminds me of military wives, watching for their husband to step down off of that airplane, after a long deployment.

Notice it says they wait eagerly. And this further adds to that notion of waiting with great anticipation, but also with confidence, patience. And what is creation waiting for? The revealing of the sons of God "apokalupsis" and the original language, the uncovering, the unveiling, the revelation, we might say, the full disclosure of that time when the curse will be removed, and when Christ will return in glory, and will renovate this cursed Earth and return it once again to Edenic glory. This will be the time of the revealing of the sons of God that we want to look at some this morning. Reminds me of what Paul said in Colossians, three beginning of verse three, and we have died and our life is hidden with Christ in God. And then he says, "When Christ who is our life is revealed, then we also will be revealed with Him in glory." Magnificent truth. It reminds me of what Peter said, in First Peter 1:13, that we are to "fix our hope completely on the grace to be brought to you that the revelation of Jesus Christ."

Now, what happened to God's perfect creation that resulted in such universal calamity? Well, the answer is here in verse 24, the creation "was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it." Now, we must remember that originally, according to Genesis 1:31, "God saw all that he made and behold, it was very good." It wasn't mediocre. It was perfect. Adam and Eve were perfect, physically perfect, spiritually capable of living forever in their perfect environment. At that time, there were no uninhabitable places upon the earth. There were no hurricanes, no tornadoes, no earthquakes, no natural disasters. There were no polar ice fields, no harmful bacteria or viruses or diseases, earthquakes. And at that point, there was no sin for a while. In Genesis 3:16, through 19, we see that God cursed Adam and Eve and all of mankind and his creation, because of their sin. There we read, "to the woman He said, I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you. Then to Adam He said, 'Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree, about which I commanded you saying, You shall not eat from it, cursed is the ground, because of you, in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life, both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you, and you shall eat the plants of the field, by the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, because from it, you were taken, for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.'"

Now mind you, this was no plan B. This did not catch God by surprise. God ordained these things, and allowed them to happen to ultimately reveal the glory of His person, even in his wrath and His mercy and His justice and so forth. And this helps us better understand Paul's statement in verse 20, "For the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will, but because of Him who subjected it. He subjected it to futility." The word in the original language means aimlessness uselessness, and in inability to reach a goal or fulfill a purpose. And what is that purpose? To bring glory to the Creator. And because of sin, the creator cursed his creation, including mankind, and all of his animate and non rational, inanimate creation. No longer would it exist as it was originally intended. And we see this, reflected in physics do we not? In the law of entropy, the second law of thermodynamics, that tells us that, that all matter and energy in the universe are in a constant state of entropy, an irreversible process of continual degradation and deterioration, which, by the way, is a law an inviolable law of physics that utterly refutes the theory of evolution. Because evolution requires just the opposite, that somehow, things go from nothing and become incredibly complex and beautiful. I can assure you, dear friends, if you take your pickup truck and put it out there in the field, and come back 10,000 years later, it will not be a stealth bomber.

So the Creator cursed his creation. Yet, it's interesting, even with the curse, we still witness the glory and majesty of God, but nothing like it was originally. And today we see this curse manifested in a very violent Earth. Much of the earth today is uninhabitable due to extreme cold or enormous bodies of water. And again, it's subjected to pestilence and weeds and drought and floods, in erosion, earthquakes all manner of natural disasters. But I want you to understand that all of these things are a result of sin, and God's curse upon it. And therefore, when you see all of these things, as you're pulling the weeds out of your garden, that grow much better than everything else in your garden, remember that these things are a perpetual reminder of how God's holiness has been offended. They remind us that this world is not a safe place. It is a home for which we are not suited. I hear people talk all the time about getting back to nature. Boy, dear friends, you want to be careful with that you get back to nature, you'll die. I've been in the mountains many times for 21 days at a time with a strip pack string of horses living in tents. And I'll tell you after about 21 days, I cannot wait to get back home not back to nature. Nature will kill you. I can't wait for hot, warm water, and electricity and so forth. So we were originally created for something radically different in the realm of our relationship with God, our relationship with fellow man and the world in which we live. But I want you to notice in verse 20, at the end, he subjected it in hope. What a magnificent truth underline that in your mind and in your Bible. He "subjected it in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery, to corruption, and to the freedom of the glory of the children of God." Again, someday all disease, all decay, all human suffering, all death, natural disasters, all of that will be over. All of those things brought on by the curse will cease to exist. And that will happen when the curse is lifted at the return of our Lord Jesus Christ in his establishment of his millennial kingdom, which will then eventually be uncreated and usher in a new heaven and a new earth and the eternal state. So eventually we have this promise that the curse is going to be reversed. But now notice creation remains in quote, "slavery to corruption," verse 21. This is the inevitable process of deterioration and degradation. The creation today remains in a state of futility, unable to bring glory to God as it was originally intended. And how long is this going to happen? The answer is here until the "freedom of the glory of the children of God." In other words, until Christ returns and liberates His creation from the bondage of sin. This is the hope that we have dear brothers and sisters in Christ.

But until that glorious day, notice verse 22. We know that the "whole creation groans." Groans comes from a Greek term "stenazo" it means to make a deep, inarticulate sound conveying pain and despair. I think we all know what that's like in our own lives. Life when something horrible has happened in our life, and we just automatically groan within ourselves. We know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. It says though all of creation is groaning in pain, like a mother travailing in the agonies of childbirth. What he's saying here is that creation is travailing in pain, as it prepares to give birth to a new life, to something radically different. It's anticipating the arrival of a new creation that will glorify God as it was intended to do originally, and oh what a blessed hope that we have.

So we learned here that God's curse upon his creation was not the result of something that it did, but rather the result of something that man did. God hates sin. Therefore, the restoration of creation is also inseparably linked to man's restoration. And that's what he's saying here the glory that is to be revealed to us that Paul spoke about in verse 18. And it's for this reason that creation is pictured now as standing on its tiptoes, if you will, straining in great anticipation for this unimaginably glorious ineffible reality, the revealing of the sons of God. This is a prospect that's so exceedingly glorious, that even again, in verse 23, "we ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves," but then he adds, "waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body." Now notice, again, this stunning statement in verse 19. "The anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God." This must speak of something incredibly marvelous. And what does this mean? What's he referring to, the revealing of the sons of God?

Well, let's examine this most more closely. In order to save time, I have to cover some large theological doctrines that I hope you're aware of because this puts it all together. And the first one is the fact that we are united to Christ in saving faith, we are in Christ. And so because we are united to Christ, because we are forever hidden in Him, we will one day be fully conformed into his glorious image. The whole process of sanctification is moving us towards that. Philippians three, verse 20, "we eagerly wait for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to Himself." And certainly we get a glimpse of this on the Mount of Transfiguration, do we not? When the Lord Jesus Christ, peeled back his flesh and the effulgence of His glory blazed forth, "His face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as light." Matthew 17 Two. And for this reason, Peter would later write in second, Peter 1:16, "We were eyewitnesses of his majesty." I love that term. There is nothing majestic on Earth, that would compare to the majesty of our Savior. And this will be the Majesty dear friends that we will share, because we are the adopted children of God. We are in Christ Jesus, Romans 8:17, "and if children, heirs also heirs of God and fellow heirs with Chris.," And for this reason, we will one day be glorified with Him we read in that text. In fact, Daniel described the glory of the reveaedl saints in Daniel 12:3 as, quote, "The brightness of the expanse of heaven, and as being like the stars forever and ever." John describes this in first John three, two, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we shall be," then he adds this we know that, "when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him just as He is." And Paul tells us in Second Thessalonians, chapter one and verse 10 of that day, quote, "when He comes to be glorified, In His saints on that day to be marveled at among all who have believed." And when He comes, he's coming to bring retribution and ruin to unbelievers, but also to bring glory to His saints and what an astonishing day that will be when the King of kings and the Lord of lords returns in all of his glory. And I might also add that according to Revelation, chapter 19, and verse 14, we are going to follow him. There we read "the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, we're following Him on white horses." If you study the other passages, you will see that the armies of heaven are composed of the church, the tribulation saints and the Old Testament believers and even angels. So this is the day that creation awaits, the revealing of the sons of God.

Now, today, to be sure, it is difficult for the world to distinguish believers from unbelievers. And I might also add that most people, Jesus tells us in Matthew seven, most people who claim to be believers are not believers. There are the few and there are the many, the wheat and the tares grow up together. But the world does not know us, according to First John three, one because it did not know him. But one day, the true sons of God, will be revealed. Let's stop and think about this. This will be a massive gathering of every tiny remnant of faithful followers of Christ. Even in the Old Testament days, they were saved on credit, right? They were saved by faith. It will consist of all of the remnants from every generation of the faithful few from every age. Revelation seven nine says that there will be a, "great multitude which no one could count from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues." These will be the ones beloved, that will be revealed and we will be among them. By God's grace alone, we will be put on display for the world to see. Now today, I believe that we are awaiting the snatching away of the church, in the rapture, where according to First Thessalonians 4:16, "The dead in Christ shall rise first, then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." And as we study prophetic history, and prophetic literature, we see that after he has translated his church into heaven, he will set into motion the final pre kingdom judgments that we see in Revelation six through 19, also known as Daniel's 70th week. Judgments upon Israel that will culminate in the physical return of the Lord Jesus Christ and finalize his plan to bring glory to himself, which will include the revealing of the sons of God. It will also include judgment upon the wicked upon the earth, He will temporarily bind Satan for 1000 years. And this will be a day when God will fulfill His covenant promises to his chosen nation Israel. And as we look at prophetic literature, we will see that in the hour of Israel's greatest peril, when all of the nations of the world will gather against Jerusalem, Zechariah 12:3. At that time, the Messiah King, the Lord Jesus Christ, will come and defend the remnant of His people Israel, and he will bring deliverance to Jerusalem and judgment to the nations, it will be an absolutely astounding day. We read in Scripture that he will ascend to the Mount of Olives, I should say descend to it, in unimaginable triumph, a great earthquake will split Jerusalem, creating a massive valley that will lead to the temple mount from the temple mount to the desert, a valley through which the final third of the remnant of Jewish people will be saved and Christ will establish His long promised earthly kingdom, His messianic kingdom, which will exist for 1000 years. We read about it in Revelation 20 A time when the earth will be renovated.

Let me take you to Zachariah 14 for a moment. Zachariah 14 beginning in verse two, here's what God says, "For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle." By the way, if we look at other prophecies, we will see that this will consist of an army of 200 million, and they will cover about 200 miles around Jerusalem, the staging area will area will be in the valley of Megiddo. "I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle and the city will be captured the houses plundered the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city, there is a remnant God is saving. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when he fights on a day of battle. In that day, his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley. So that half of the mountain will move toward the north, and the other half toward the south, you will flee by the Valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel, yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah, king of Judah, then the Lord, my God will come and all the holy ones with him!" Most likely a reference to the holy angels. And we know according to Bible prophecy that a remnant of Israel will be saved, two thirds will be killed, 1/3 will survive, and they will see the strong deliverance of Yahweh. They will then understand who he really is, because there was absolutely no way for them to defeat the armies that would surround them. And God will put His glory on display, and he will cause them to repent and believe in Him. And He will reconcile unto himself, a remnant Zechariah 12 beginning in verse 10, "I will pour out on the house of David on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him, as one mourns for an only son. And they will weep bitterly over Him like the bitter weeping over a firstborn." This is powerful imagery here, a firstborn is the one that always carries the family legacy, who would possibly, in a family, kill their firstborn son, it's unimaginable. And yet they will see that this is what they did with their Messiah. It goes on to say, "In that day, there will be great morning in Jerusalem, like the morning of Hadadrimmon in the plane of Megiddo." And we see that individually and corporately. Their hearts will be transformed by the Spirit of God. They will look with eyes of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And they will confess the words of Isaiah that was promised long ago in Isaiah 53 Five. "He was pierced through for our transgressions, and he was crushed for our iniquities." That time the curse upon the earth will be removed, and it will be returned to the pristine beauty of the Garden of Eden. In Acts 3:19, Peter called it the quote "times of refreshing that will come from the presence of the Lord." And then in verse 21, he described it as the "period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient time." Let me rehearse for you just a few things that we will experience during that time. Because again, this is a hopeful lament, right? A hopeful lament. As we look at Scripture, and I'm just going to give you a smattering of of passages to give you a flavor of what it will be like during the kingdom days. First of all, we see that waste places will become fruitful. Again, most of the Earth's surface today is not suited for cultivation and more airable land is disappearing, they tell us at a a frightening rate. But in the kingdom there is a promise of abundant rainfall, in Joel two verses 21 and 24, that will come at the proper times. Ezekiel 34:26, "I will cause the shower to come down in his season." And also we read that there will exist profuse streams of water in new and unlikely places. Isaiah 30, verse 25, "there shall be upon every high mountain and every high hill rivers and streams of waters." Isaiah 35, verse six and seven, "in the wilderness shall waters breakout and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool and the thirsty lands springs of water." By the way, this is hard for us to imagine, but you go to Israel, you go to that region of the world and you will see how wonderful it would be for these things to occur. Isaiah 41, verse 18, "I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys." Not only will waste places become fruitful, but secondly, there will be increased fertility and productiveness. We see in Isaiah 32, beginning in verse 13, that the wilderness will become, quote, "a fruitful field." Isaiah 35 verses one and two says that the "wilderness in the dry land shall be glad, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom is the rose, it shall blossom abundantly." This will eliminate all of the famines. Ezekiel tells us about this in Ezekiel 34, verse 29, "and even the mountains and the hills and the valleys will be restored to productiveness." You read about this in Ezekiel 36, verses four through 11. And the Lord describes this increase through his prophet Amos in Amos chapter nine verse 13. We read "Behold, days are coming declares the Lord, when the plow man will overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes, him who seeds sow seeds. When the mountains will drip sweet wine and all the hills will be dissolved." Thirdly, there will be changes in the animal world. We won't have to be careful not to lift something up and have a brown recluse bite us or a copperhead over there in the corner, or a cotton mouth coming up on our boat while we're fishing. Hosea two verse 18, "In that day, will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, and with the birds of heaven and with the creeping things of the ground...and will make them to lie down safely." Isaiah 11, beginning of verse six, "the wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid." He goes on to say "and a little child shall lead them...and the suckling child shall play on the whole of the asp. The lion shall eat straw like the ox." And then there will be also the disappearing of physical disease and deformity. All physical infirmity and deformity will be remedied. Isaiah 35, beginning in verse five, "then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the death shall be unstopped. Then the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb will shout for joy." Disease also will be controlled supernaturally. Perhaps through both prevention and cure, we're not exactly sure. Isaiah 33 Verse 24, "no resident will say I am sick." Can you imagine that? Ezekiel 47, verse 12, "The fruit thereof shall be for food and the leaf thereof for healing." In fact, during the kingdom age, long life will become the rule. Isaiah 65:22, "For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of my people. And my chosen shall enjoy the work of their hands." And of course, this will be a period when the nation of Israel will be restored to their promised land, the land that God promised to Abraham. It will be a time when they will finally enjoy a theocratic government with the Messiah King, reigning and we will be reigning with him. First Corinthians six two, "do you not know that the saints will judge the world?" Second Timothy two in verse 12, "we shall reign with Him." Revelation 226, we will be given, quote, "authority of the nations," chapter five, verse 10, "you have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they will reign upon the earth." Chapter 20 And verse six, we will be quote "priests of God, and of Christ and He will reign with him for 1000 years."

Moreover, this will be a time of restoration of the 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus promised this when he spoke of his apostles that would reign with Him in Matthew 19:28 He said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you who have followed me in the regeneration, When the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you also shall sit upon 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of his Israel." Jeremiah 23, beginning in verse five, "behold, days are coming declares the Lord, when I shall raise up for David a righteous branch, and he will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. And this his name, by which he will be called the Lord, our righteousness." And I love what the prophet Habakkuk tells us in Habakkuk two and verse 14, "for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea." Beloved, this will be a time when Jerusalem will become, quote, "the throne of the Lord." In fact, as we read the prophetic literature, we see that the topography of the temple mount will be raised significantly from its current height, and the Messiah himself will construct the millennial temple, and Jerusalem will become the center for universal worship and prayer, it will be the center of joy and rejoicing for the world, and the nations of the world will come to the Temple Mount, to seek justice and learn God's law. Moreover, we read about the New Jerusalem that detail in Revelation 21, it will be it will descend from heaven, and suspended above the earthly Jerusalem, possibly aligned with the earthly Holy of Holies in the millennial temple, in the magnificent light of the Shekinah of the Lord Jesus Christ will provide heavenly illumination in which the nations of the world will walk as they come to worship the Lord in the city. In fact, there will no longer be night as we know it, it will not get completely dark because the glory of the Lord will shine throughout the earth. And it will be a glorious time. And as I say, this will be the consummating bridge between human history and the eternal state. The prophet Zechariah tells us in chapter 14, verse nine, "Ad the LORD will be king over all the earth, in that day, the Lord will be the only one, and His name, the only one." No more political rancoring. Right? No more of this chaos that we see constantly, and corruption. And I might add that this is merely part one of what creation is anxiously longing for. Because at the end of the Messianic age, God is going to incinerate, totally purge and cleanse the existing universe that's been polluted by sin. We read this in a second Peter three and verse 10, "The heavens will pass away with a roar, and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up." And then John tells us in Revelation 21 in verse one, "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away." Jesus promised that Heaven and earth will pass away, right, Luke 21:33. And the psalmist reminds us in Psalm 102, beginning in verse 25, "of old you have founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands, even they will perish, but you endure, and all of them will wear out like a garment like clothing, you will change them and they will be changed." My how futile are the attempts of the environmentalists who tried to reverse creation's curse, right?

Well, as we wrap this up this morning, we also want to see beyond the creation slavery to corruption, but the Christians perseverance and hope. Indeed, we ourselves having the first fruits of the Spirit, verse 23, we groan within ourselves, we're waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons the redemption of our body. And we all understand this, like the natural creation. Every believer is fully aware of the corruption of sin in his or her life, as well as the staggering manifestations of sin that we see all around us. It's like, it's like we're swimming in a cesspool of sin, of wickedness. And certainly one of the marks of a believer as Jesus described in Matthew five as,"they will mourn over their sin, they will hunger and they will thirst for righteousness." And so we lament over with the reality that we are still incarcerated in this unredeemed humaneness. We long for an ultimate emancipation and Paul repeatedly acknowledged his frustration with indwelling sin. Remember, in Romans seven, like verse 14, he says, "I am a flesh sold into bondage to sin." Verse 18, "for I know that nothing good dwells in me that is in my flesh," verse 23, he described the quote "members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin, which is in my members," referring to his flesh. And then in verse 44, he says, "wretched man that I am, who will set me free from the body of this death." In other words, the clutches of my sinful nature. We can be glad knowing that all of those laments are going to come to an end. We're not left with hopeless despair, but with joy as deliverance. That's why he went on to say in verse 25, "Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord." And then he adds this, this Hallelujah chorus of forgiveness and grace and emancipated living. He breaks forth in Romans eight one and he says, "There is there for now," what? "no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ, Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death." Oh child of God, as his adopted children, we eagerly await for our inheritance, the full accomplishment of our redemption, the perfect freedom of a sinless universe in which the indwelling Spirit is our first fruit, right? He is our first fruit, he is the guarantee of God's promise, and that promise is the redemption of our body. Now, today, our souls, our inner being, are, are already perfectly outfitted for heaven. We're fully redeemed, we're a new creature, we have become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Second, Peter one, four, but not so our bodies right. Our our souls remain incarcerated in the shell of unredeemed humaneness. And earlier Paul explained that in Romans six beginning of verse five, he says, "If we believers have become united with him," referring to Christ, "in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, that our body of sin might be done away with that we should no longer be slaves to sin." Beloved, please understand, we are holy seeds. We are encased in an unholy shell. And we are awaiting that time when we will be freed and I cannot imagine, I cannot even begin to imagine how wonderful that will be, when the battle of sin is over. So until then, we ourselves grown within ourselves, we're waiting eagerly for the redemption of our body, our adoption of sons Philippians 3:20. For our citizenship is where? In heaven, from which we also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. There's the same concept, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform the body of our humble state, into the conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that he has even to subject all things to himself. Romans 8:24 Therefore we read, "For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope for who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance, we wait eagerly for it." Obviously, if we could see and experience our glorification right now, hoping for it would be absurd. But what is the basis, the surety of our hope?

Beloved, here it is. It's the promises of God that Paul has been declaring over and over again. It's the promises that belong to the redeemed. The certain hope of the things that we cannot fully see with our eyes. And we know that salvation is a work of God from beginning to end. But again, verse 25, "If we hope for what we do not see with perseverance," catch this now with perseverance, we're hoping now with perseverance. Not with frustration, wringing our hands, woe is me, oh look what a horrible thing, let's turn on the news and get depressed again. I just want to say no, no, no. If we hope for what we do not see, with perseverance in other words with steadfast endurance with confident and continual patience, "we wait eagerly for it." Beloved, I hope you're waiting, waiting eagerly for it. This is what Paul said in Titus 2:13, that we're looking for the blessed hope, right? And the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. John tells us in first John 3:3 "that everyone who has this hope fixed on him, purifies himself, just as He is pure." Well, I would like to close with a poem that I wrote that really summarizes my heart with all of this. It's really a poetic prayer that flows from this passage.

"Triumphant King Your glory bring, and don the victor's crown. Magnify Your glorious Name and cast your rivals down. With sovereign might in worlds full sight, complete your holy route, and raise your royal scepter high, that every knee may bow. Your kingdom come your will be done on earth as now in heaven. Exalted sit upon your throne that prays to you be given." For triumph great, our hearts do ache. Oh, David's house restore. Messiah come to judge and save with passion. We implore." Let's bow our heads together. Father, we thank you for the hope that is ours in Christ, oh yes, we lament, we groan within ourselves, but we do so with confident joy. Joy that's anchored in the promises that you have given to us in Your Holy Word. And therefore, as Paul has said, I pray that each one of us knowing that we have been raised up with Christ, that we will keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Father, help us to set our mind on the things above not all the things that are on the earth. For as you have said, we have died in our life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ who is our life is revealed, that we also will be revealed with Him in glory. May this be the song of our heart? I pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Our text this morning is in Mark's gospel. If you will take your Bibles and turn to Mark chapter seven, we will be looking at verses one through 13. Under the heading, confronting religious hypocrisy, let me read the texts to you. Mark seven beginning in verse one. "The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around Him when they had come from Jerusalem, and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders. And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves. And there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.) The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, 'Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but ether bred with impure hands.' And He said to them, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites. As it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. But in vain do they worship me teaching as doctrines, the precepts of men.' 'Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.' He was also saying to them, 'you are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother, and he who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death. But you say, If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have, that would help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God), you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother, thus invalidating the Word of God by your tradition, which you have handed down. And you do many things, such as that.'"

Religious hypocrisy is spiritual, make believe. And it's prevalent in evangelicalism today. It is costume Christianity. It is being a Christian in name only. Hypocrisy is basically external acts that thrive on errant doctrines. And together they provide the illusion of spirituality for the hypocrite that is deceived by his or her own actions. And the scribes and the Pharisees were actually the poster children for phony, self righteous, religious externalism. But I must say we must all guard our own heart in light of these things. In fact, Charles Spurgeon said, quote, "Beware of no man, more than yourself, we carry our worst enemies within us." Indeed, dear friends, we must all be suspect of our spirituality. The heart is deceitful, it is desperately wicked, and we are hopelessly biased in our own favor. But Jesus warned of the danger of hypocrisy, especially within the church, within professing Christendom, especially in Matthew seven, "Enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide, and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it." Then he adds this, "for the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few who find it." In verse 15, and following he went on to say, "Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles are they? So every good tree bears good fruit but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire so that you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and then your name, cast out demons and in your name, perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness."

Dear friends, self deception, and errant doctrine, work together to lead to hypocrisy. To pretend Christianity, to that Christianity, that's all sizzle, but no steak. I think of the tragic legacy of the flamboyant revivalist preacher, Charles Finney, he lived from 1792 to 1875, and he created the manipulative methods designed to get people to make a decision for Christ. Finney believed that human depravity is a voluntary condition, not that we're born with it, that is to say, "its continuance depends upon the choice of the human will," he said, "Let a man once decide for Christ and he will become a new man. So the evangelists is not simply to preach Christ and tell men of their duty to believe he has to help make that believing a reality by appointing some outward action to assist a change of will," end quote. He was the one that came up with the anxious bench and the altar calls, the practice of calling people up to a pretend altar and getting them to make a public decision for Christ and therefore having a visible display of regeneration. In fact, he said, quote, "God has found it necessary to take advantage of the excitability there is in mankind to produce powerful excitements among them before he can lead them to obey." Well, obviously, this method of evangelism is, is foreign to the gospel, the gospel that has no dependency upon man's will as much as it does God's sovereignty. And so often, that type of thing produces false converts. And that's much of what we have in evangelicalism today, sadly. In fact, in 1838, a man by the name of James Ivesfoot, a Presbyterian minister, who lived in that era and witnessefd the results of Finney's revival ministry, he wrote this quote, "during 10 years, hundreds and perhaps 1000s, were annually reported to be converted on all hands. But now it is admitted that Finney's real converts are comparatively few." It is declared even by himself that, quote, "the great body of them are a disgrace to religion." Now, there have been times in history where there has been a great outward outworking of the Holy Spirit of genuine revival, you think of what happened in Acts two. And that was the result of gospel preaching, and even the adherence to the great doctrines of grace that are part of the gospel message. There was another great outworking of the Holy Spirit in 1517 that ignited the Protestant Reformation. And then at about 1734 through 49, you have the Great Awakening and New England about 100 years later, you have a second Great Awakening. But there have been many, many counterfeit revivals, many of them and they continue on to this day ignited by false teachers. Think of the Pentecostal Azusa Street Revival in Los Angeles in 1906 through 1915, and then the Pentecostal Brownsville revival in 1995 through 2000. Maybe some of you remember that at the Brownsville Assembly of God and Pensacola, Florida, all of these things are shooting stars. They appear bright and glorious for a moment and then they disappear in the darkness from whence they came.

And now we are familiar with the presumed revival at Asbury University in Wilmore Kentucky. They of course, they've chronicled a number of revivals on their campus ever since 1970. And there's other colleges that are claiming the same thing. Others trying to replicate that. And I was thinking about this and I know some of you wanted me to address this. And I thought I would briefly in the context of what we're studying here this morning. But at Asbury, you have a school that hosts speakers like Preston Sprinkle, who's on the advisory board of, Revoice, an organization that teaches gay Christianity and promotes gay celibate marriage and same sex relationships. And when you look at what happened at Asbury, I mean, you want to be honest, but you have to say my some strange things with all of that. There are reports of students posting messages on Twitter, about queer students leading in the revival services. One of them said, "day eight and my seminary friends are still leading worship." He went on to add in another tweet. "Did you know that POC, People of Color, women and queer students have been leading worship all eight days, both student bodies have lended themselves into being us towards the throne of God." Dr. Josh Buice, the founder and president of G three ministries, and the pastor of Praise Mill Baptist church made this observation, quote, "another individual published a video of supposed exorcism taking place in the middle of the auditorium. I couldn't help but notice how calm people strolled by when demons were supposedly screaming from inside the body of a person in the auditorium." And to those reports, the fact that false teachers like Todd Bentley, spent a few days there and was raving about his experience on social media media stating, quote, "the holy spirit lingers and you feel tangible waves of his presence," end quote. The Asbury movement appears to bear corrupt fruit on several levels. And then there is the group called the new evangelicals, which is an openly liberal organization that is really the epitome of the woke church. That organization posted a tweet that stated quote, "just met with an openly queer student who said ultimately, they have seen progress at the school over the past four years and believe this revival is planting seeds that will do more good than harm," end quote. Beloved, emotional emotionalism, bereft of truth is counterfeit worship. And false doctrine thrives on the emotions of the naive and the ignorant. Like cancer thrives on sugar. And unrestrained emotion built on deception is highly contagious. Look at the whole Black Lives Matter movement, for example. And many other movements like this that we see happening around the globe periodically. There are hundreds of these so called revivals, special outpourings of the Holy Spirit, so to speak, that happen all the time, especially in third world countries, where you have faith healers and prosperity preachers, bringing 1000s and 1000s of people into these these massive arenas and everybody gets saved, you know, 1000s of people getting saved. And then a few weeks later, the next guy comes and they get saved again. And then a little bit later, they get saved again, they're all hoping that God will somehow make them prosperous, and heal their diseases and so forth. And people crying, falling down, carrying on speaking gibberish. It's kind of a religious version of World Wrestling, you know, it's, everybody knows it's fake, but it's entertaining. And this stuff happens all the time.

If I can, if I can digress for a bit more more on this, I think of what the Apostle Paul said in Titus two, beginning in verse 11, and we don't have this on the screen. He said, "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men." Then he adds what's going to happen when true salvation comes, he says, "instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires, and to live sensibly and righteously and godly in this present age, looking for the blessed hope and the glory of the peering of the appearing of our great God and Savior Christ Jesus, who redeemed us from every lawless deed, and is purifying for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds." Beloved, when you see an outworking of the Holy Spirit, that's what you're going to see. Let me put it real clearly, if this is truly an outworking of the Holy Spirit, you're not going to hear people bragging about how homosexuals are leading worship, you're going to hear homosexuals repenting publicly for leading false worship. And you're going to see schools, you're going to see organizations take a stand for Christ, against all of this wickedness that is so pervasive, the whole LGBTQ w x, y, z, insanity that's out there, the woke insanity, you're going to see people standing up against that. And you're going to see homosexuals, and lesbians and transgender people and everything in between, say, my look what God has done in my heart, He has delivered me from the bondage of my sins, and you're going to see churches filling up with people who take a stand for Christ. Moreover, and you must hear this, if a real work of the Spirit happens, you're going to see the rest of the world become apoplectic with rage. Because what they're going to hear is a complete refutation of all of the things that they hold dear, because you must remember that the Spirit of God came to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. He did not come to put on some big show. And he came to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ. And so when people truly come to saving faith in Christ, and if it's truly a work of the Spirit, what you're going to see are men and women, and boys and girls, broken over their sin, you're going to see people longing to know more of Christ, you're going to see a hunger for his word. You're going to see gospel preaching, you're going to see genuine repentance, you're going to see people hungry and thirsting for righteousness, you're going to see people mourning over their sin. And you're going to see people exalting Christ, while the rest of the world hurls insults at them. Because Jesus said, in Matthew 10 and verse 34, "I did not come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." Now folks, when I see those types of things, then I will say, Praise God, there's a great work of the Spirit. But until I see that, don't waste my time. And I pray that there are some genuine things going on with this and others like it. But folks, we must be discerning because Satan is a master counterfeiter and hypocrisy continues to be prevalent all around the globe, and it has been down through redemptive history. I might also add that, you know, when Peter came before the people, in Acts two, he didn't say, you know, why don't we get some of our gay young men to come and bring their lutes, liars and psalteries and lead us in some worship songs and share testimonies. That's not what happened. Instead, he unleashed the gospel by the power of the Holy Spirit, and 1000s were saved. And that's what we long for and we look for. So we need to test the spirits. By the way, I want to also add, that the church is never called to speak to seek some special work of the Spirit, it's never called to, to somehow conjure up some kind of revival. Instead, what we see is God always uses the normal means of grace in his church to accomplish his purposes. And so like the farmer, what we do is we continue to plow the field and plant the seeds and trust God for the increased.

Well, the point with all of that is to say that religious externalism wears many, many disguises, and it's subjected to many deceptions. And the apostate leaders of Israel. And their followers were notorious hypocrites. They did not worship God with a sincere heart, with a love and a passion for him to live for His glory. They did not live to be obedient to him from the heart. In fact, knowing this from personal experience as well was divine revelation. King David said this to his son Solomon, when he passed the kingdom on to him. First Chronicles 28:9, he said, "As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind, for the Lord searches all hearts and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find him. But if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever." And my friend, I must ask you, are you here today to worship the Lord with all of your heart? Or is this just kind of what you do on Sundays in the South? Because of Israel's heartless, religious externalism that led them to apostasy and eventually to judgment, God spoke through his prophet Joel, saying this in Joel two beginning in verse 12, "Yet even now declares the Lord returned to me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping and mourning, and rend your heart and not your garments. Now return to the Lord your God for He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness and relenting of evil." You see, God was not impressed with their external acts of sorrow, like rending their garments. He was interested in the attitude of the heart, and he sees each of our hearts. Even from ancient times, God's covenant people were fastidious at keeping the law at offering the right kind of sacrifices and keeping religious festivals and offering continual prayers that were nothing more than, than hollow words.

And it's for this reason that God spoke through his prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 29:13. "This people draw near with their words and honor me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from me. And the reverence for me consists of tradition, learned by rote." And that's what Jesus quotes in verses six and seven of our text, "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me, but in vain do they worship Me, teaching us doctrines the precepts of men." And think of all the garbage that is out there today, this whole movement for gay Christianity, for evangelicalism affirming abortion and women pastors and, and how soft they are on the prosperity cult, charlatans and sharing platforms with rank heretics. Sadly, most evangelicals today have had the discernment of an orangutan. And most pastors have the boldness of a fainting goat. It's absolutely pitiful. And that's what was going on in Jesus day. With the scribes and the Pharisees. People honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

Well, sadly, to give you a little historical historical background here, sadly, Israel's hypocritical, empty, kind of lifeless worship provided the context for the self righteous externalism of the scribes and the Pharisees. And a lot of that began back with the extra biblical regulations, the oral traditions, during the time of the Babylonian captivity and 605 BC through 535 BC. And that's what Jesus called in verse three, "the traditions of the elders." That's where a lot of that began. And, and this is what Jesus was contending with. And our text this morning, this, this legalistic, self righteous, rule keeping. To give you a summary, those oral traditions were recorded in the Mishnah. And that happened around the second century AD with the Jewish people, along with other other rabbinical teachings that they had like the Gamara. And when you put them all together, you have what's called the Talmud. And according to the Talmud, we see that God gave the law to Moses, and then Moses passed it on to other men and Israel. But in order to protect the people from violating the law, they began to build walls around the law with other extra biblical ideas and rules. And sadly, that wall of protection with all those extra biblical regulations that were supposedly going to protect the people, began to ensnare them and their religious hypocrisy. And those rabbinic rules actually undermined and obscured the law that they were trying to protect. And so over time, they weren't able to make a distinction between what God has said, and what the rabbinic traditions were saying. And so they really didn't understand how to interpret the Scriptures. And so this is the background now that we have here, and our texts before us, and I've divided it into three very simple categories. We're gonna see the Pharisaical ambush, the divine rebuke and the accusing illustration.

So notice this fascinating, fascinating story. First of all, the Pharisaical ambush. Here you see religious snobbery at its height. Verse one, "The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around Jesus when they had come from Jerusalem." Now they had probably been sent by the Sanhedrin, which was in Jerusalem being the Center for Jewish orthodoxy. And remember, now, the the Jewish leaders absolutely hated Jesus, because of his claims to deity, and how he exercised the divine prerogatives. Moreover, he did not respect their traditions. And if there's anything that will infuriate a legalist is don't respect something that they believe, especially regarding the Sabbath and the ceremonial cleansings and fasts, and all of those types of things. Legalists hate it when others don't abide by the rules. But hypocrites also hate anyone that intentionally or even unintentionally exposes their religious hypocrisy. And Jesus did this at every turn, not only with what he said, but with his character. I mean, stop and think about it. He was humble, they were arrogant. He was long suffering, they were rude, he was sincere, they saw his sincerity. And the people could also see the hypocrisy of the leaders. And his sympathy was a stark contrast to their cruelty. Jesus acted in the best interest of others, he acted to do the will of the Father. The Pharisees and the scribes acted for themselves. But they also hated Jesus because his approval ratings were much higher than theirs, right? Everybody was wanting to see Jesus and was ignoring them. So what happens is the Sanhedrin sends a hit squad, you might say, from headquarters to find reason to indict Jesus, and everyone in ministry knows that this type of thing is going to happen. I mean, I've had men digging their spurs into my life, as long as I've been a pastor. That's just kind of how it works. And you all know that as you try to serve Christ. But they wanted to kill Jesus from the very outset.

So verse two, "the scribes and Pharisees had seen that some of the disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is unwashed." And then you've got verses three and four a long parentheses, which was basically an explanation for Gentile readers. Remember, Mark's gospel is predominantly for Gentile readers. So we read "(For the Pharisees and all the Jews did not eat unless they carefully wash their hands thus observing the tradition of the elders and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves." By the way, the reason for that is if they accidentally brushed up against a Gentile they were defiled. So they had to cleanse themselves just in case they touched a Gentile. And it says, "and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe such as the washing of cups and pictures, and copper pots,)" and so forth. Then verse five, "the Pharisees and the scribes asked Jesus, 'Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?'" In other words, don't you realize that spiritual people always act in compliance to the rules that have been handed down to them from generation to generation, including the ritualistic cleansing of the hands before a meal, along with many other things as we read, which they received in order to observe washing cups, pitchers, copper pots, etc.?

Let me give you a little bit of background here from one of my favorite authors. Alfred Edersheim, In his book," The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah" was written back in 1883. If you don't have it in your library, you need to have it. Here's what he said about some of these dynamics. By the way, he was a Jewish convert to Christianity, brilliant scholar. He said this, "Now the Mosaic law requires certain ceremonial washings for priests, Leviticus 22, six through seven and so forth, but not for others even before eating." Then he went on to add this, "the purifications were so frequent, and care had to be taken that the water had not been used for other purposes or something falling into it that might discolor or defile it. Large vessels or jars were generally kept for that purpose. These might be of any material, although stone is especially mentioned. It was the practice to draw water out of these with what was called a natla, very often of glass, which must hold at least a quarter of a log, which is a measure equal to one and a half eggshells. For no less quantity than this might be used for the affusion, meaning the cleansing, he went on to add the water was poured on both hands, which must be free of anything covering them, such as gravel, mortar, etc. And the hands were lifted up so as to make the water run to the wrist in order to ensure that the whole hand was washed, and that the water polluted by the hand did not run down the fingers." By the way, if you've ever seen a surgeon scrubbing, you know that that's what they do, as well. Similarly, he went on to add, "each hand was rubbed with the other fist, provided the hand that rubbed had been affused, otherwise the rubbing might be done against the head, or even against a wall. But there was one point on which special stress was laid in the first affusion, which was all that originally was required when the hands were not Levitically defiled, the water had to run down to the wrist. If the water remained short of the wrist, the hands were not clean." By the way, aren't you thankful that we live under grace, rather than the law? Oh my word. John MacArthur adds this, "the Pharisees and scribes took their traditions very seriously, including handwashing. Some rabbis suggested that a demon named "shibta" sat on people's hands while they were sleeping. If the demon were not removed by ceremonial washing before eating, he would be transferred to the mouth and could enter the body. Other rabbis turned handwashing into a salvation issue. Add the Jerusalem Talmud, and the Jerusalem Talmud asserts, quote, 'whoever is firmly implanted in the land of Israel, who speaks the holy language, who eats his food and food and purity as required by handwashing rituals and recites the Shema morning and evening is assured of life in the world to come.'"

All right, so there you have it. So with this background, now, the Pharisees come to Jesus, why do you let your disciples do this? Why do your disciples not walk according to their Jewish tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands? So there we have the Pharisee vehicle ambush. All right, they were gunning for him. And now they found him and this moves us to our second little point. And that is the divine rebuke. And I want you to notice Jesus response. He did not try to find common ground to dialogue with them. He did not seek reproach. He did not in any way try to find a way to agree to disagree, but let's still continue to hold hands and sing kumbaya. Instead, he just let the light of divine truth shine directly on their wickedness. And it's interesting, too, that Jesus uses two Old Testament passages to do this. One is the one in Isaiah 29:13 and the other is an exodus 20 Verse 12, and similar texts, "Honor your father and your mother." So in other words, what Jesus is doing here is he's making a very compelling case based on reliable authorities, namely the law and the prophets. You see that the law and the prophets and he said to them, "Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of You hypocrites." The Greek term for hypocrite is hypokrites and it means a fraud, a deceiver, an actor, a pretender, a wolf in sheep's clothing that's pretending to be something that they are not. And he goes on to say "as it is written, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me, but in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines, the precepts of men." Then he adds this "neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men." In other words, you ignore divine revelation, and you prefer instead to embrace the traditions of men. Inconceivable. And if you've ever been around legalists, you will see they've got a rule for everything. And it will drive you crazy. And it will drive them crazy if you don't obey their rules. And of course, the Judaizers in the early church were notorious for this type of thing. Verse nine, he was also saying to them, and here by the way, he uses irony, "You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God, in order to keep your tradition." In other words, you guys are real pros at nullifying God's commands, so that you can somehow uphold your own man made rules. Can't you imagine the look on the faces of the Pharisees and scribes as they're dealing with the Son of God.

And this moves us now to our third point, and that is the accusing illustration. And this is a scathing example of their wickedness. Verse 10, Jesus says, "For Moses said," By the way, let me stop there. In verse 13, we see that, that what Moses said, is considered to be the word of God. All right. So in other words, this is what God said through Moses, for Moses said, "Honor your father and your mother, and he who speaks evil of father or mother, is to be put to death." So in other words, he's reminding them that the inner heart attitude of a child is to honor their father and their mother, to love them, to respect them, to obey them joyfully, to regard them highly with a spirit of appreciation and consideration. And by the way, if a child did not do that, it was the death penalty. All right, so God was serious about this, Exodus 21:17, "he who curses his father and his mother shall surely be put to death." Now he's not speaking here of some momentary outburst of rage or anger that can happen, nor is this referring to the, you might say, the appropriate rebellion of a child because of unfair treatment where, where a parent is provoking a child to anger or that type of thing. But what this is referring to is, is the settled defiance and disrespect of parental authority that God has placed over them, and a desire to do harm to the parents. And such a level of, of rebellion, God knew, betrayed a heart so wicked, that such a son or daughter could not be tolerated, to exist within the covenant community, an evil that not only mocks God's authority, but one that can spread quickly, like a virus among other children, and produce an entire culture of defiance against God and parents. I mean think about our culture today, right? Think about the vast number of defiant children in our culture that just live in constant rebellion, especially in child centered homes where the children are allowed to do whatever they want. A complete violation of Proverbs 22:15, where God says "Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline will remove it far from him." I mean, think of our culture today, the idea of physically spanking a child is completely anathema. No wonder kids grew up to not respect authority. By the way, physical discipline is appropriate, under the right guidelines, and if there is one area where I would willingly defy the government, it's when it comes to you telling me how to raise my children, rather than me obeying what God says. And a child has to learn early, when they first start arching their back on the changing table. Unacceptable, you don't do that. And they learn that very quickly. But we live in a country in a culture where there's absolutely no fear of God, no discipline, Proverbs 29:15, "the rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child who gets his own way bring shame to his mother." Not only is this a grievous embarrassment to a mother and to a father, but that child will produce more and more moral decay within the family and within the community. Verse 16, goes on to say "when the wicked increase, transgression increases." Welcome to America right? "But the righteous will see their fall. Correct your son and he will give you comfort he will also delight your soul." In Proverbs 13 Verse 17 describes the fate of a parent hater. It says, "the eye that mocks a father and scorns a mother, the Ravens of the valley will pick it out and the Young Eagles will eat it." This is a picture of an unburied corpse. The point is, when you have a child that rejects parental authority, and discipline, that life will lead to the rejection of God's authority and discipline. And as a result, that child will be prone to physical violence and probably die a violent death, which will lead to the second death in an eternal hell.

Now, I digress for a moment just to make sure you understand the dynamics here of the these commands, but Jesus is using this now to expose their hypocrisy. The text says verse 10, "you were to honor your father and your mother. And he who speaks evil to father a mother has to be put to death." But you say, here we go. Here's the exposure. "If a man says to his father, his mother, whatever I have, that would help you as Corban, that is to say, given to God, you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother, thus invalidating the Word of God by your tradition, which you have handed down and you do many things such as that." You see, the scribes and the Pharisees had concocted a very clever way of getting around the requirement that God has for honoring your parents, especially in their old age. And that clever way, was to just declare things to be Corban, which basically meant, oh, no, no, no, no. What I have is, is going to be offered to God, it's, it's a sacred gift for him, you I can't use this to help you. No, I can't do that. This is an offering set aside to him for religious use. And that way, you don't have to care for your parents, because you've dedicated it all to God. And this in their mind would presumably release the son or the daughter from the obligation of honoring their parents. I mean, this is Pharisaic sophistry at its highest. This is absolute wickedness. And yet this was customary. You see, not only was this a deliberate and detestable form of chicanery, but worse yet, the people that would do this would never give their money to God, they would keep it for themselves. So Jesus is exposing them, he is unmasking them. And I can only imagine what the look was on their faces. They probably just kind of had hung their heads down and gradually turned and walked away. Well, folks we must all examine our heart, right? We've got to be brutally honest with ourselves because the malignant cells of hypocrisy often remain concealed in the shadows of our own self deception. We have all kinds of ways of making the Scripture mean, and say things, that help us accomplish our agenda. And the most penetrating light of Scripture tends to be blocked by our own self deception. We've got to guard against that.

And by the way, the place where you would look for this most this is where you would begin is what about your love for Christ? Do you have a sincere love for Christ? Is that manifested in your heart, in the privacy of your own closet? Can others say my, when I'm around this person I can see in here, the love of Christ. And you will know you have that if indeed he is the preoccupation of your mind. Because it is the apprehension of the glory and the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ, that brings to us that soul satisfying joy of abiding in him. And folks, if that isn't there, all of your hymn singing and church going and all that other stuff is just externalism. I love what Thomas Brooks the great Puritan writer said in this regard. "The hypocrite," he said, "can never take up his full and everlasting rest, satisfaction and content in the person of Christ, in the merits of Christ, in the enjoyment of Christ alone. No hypocrite did ever long and mourn after the enjoyment of Christ as the best in all the world. No hypocrite did ever prize Christ for a sanctifier as well as the Savior. No hypocrite did ever look upon Christ, or long for Christ to deliver him from the power of his sins as much or as well as to deliver him from the wrath to come. No hypocrite can really love the person of Christ, or take the satisfaction in the person of Christ. The rays and beams of Christ's glory have never warmed his heart. He never knew what bosom communion with Christ meant. The hypocrite may love to be healed by Christ and to be pardoned by Christ, and to be saved by Christ and so forth. But he can never take any complacency in the person of Christ. His heart never seriously works after union with Christ. The love of a sincere Christian runs much out to the person of Christ. Heaven itself without Christ would be to such a soul but a poor thing, a low thing, a little thing and uncomfortable thing, an empty thing. It is the person of Christ, that is the sparkling diamond in the ring of glory."

Beloved, that's the stuff of genuine saving faith. At the dedication of the temple, Solomon, exhorted the nation of Israel to guard against externalism, to guard against hypocrisy, that will inevitably lead to apostasy. And he said this, "let your heart therefore be wholly devoted to the Lord". Holy means, what it means completely, not partially, but fully, not occasionally, not sporadically, but wholly "devoted to the Lord our God to walk in His statutes and to keep his commandments," as it says in First Kings 8:61. I trust that is the motto of your heart. The apostle Paul learned this well did he not on the road to Damascus? I mean, here was a fastidious lawkeeper, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, his confidence was in his own perceived self righteousness, Philippians three, verse four, we read, "If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh," Paul said, "I far more." And then he gives his bio, "Circumcised the eighth day of the nation of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews as to the law, a Pharisee, as to zeal, a persecutor of the church, as to the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. But whatever things were gained to me those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be lost, in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered, the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish, so that I may gain Christ."

And again, as I read earlier, Matthew seven, one of the most chilling statements in the Bible is that "not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom." What a, what a dire warning to the masses of people who named the name of Christ. And what a horrifying climax to a life of self defense, self deception, where you pretended to be that which you are not. Therefore, one day you will stand before the Lord Jesus Christ as your judge, and your executioner not as your Savior and not as your Lord. The day when, according to Acts 10:42, "the one who has been appointed by God as Judge of the living and the dead." Namely, Christ will strip away all of those external robes of hypocrisy andd expose you for who you really are.

Well, Jesus frightening prediction should cause us all to examine our hearts as the Apostle Paul warned in Second Corinthians 13 Five and I close with this. "Test yourself to see if you are in the faith, examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourself that Jesus Christ is in you--Unless, indeed, you failed the test?" Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for the sobering words that causes us all to look do deep into our own heart. And I pray that if there be one here today that is just playing some Christian game, that by Your grace you will overwhelm them with such conviction that they will indeed repent and be saved this day. And help us all to guard our hearts against those things that would cause us to pretend to be that which we are not. Because we know in so doing we forfeit divine blessing and power in our life. So, Lord, we thank you for your saving grace. And we thank you for the power of Your word. May it do its glorious work and each of us today, I pray in Jesus name and for his sake. Amen.

We return once again to Mark's gospel chapter six. If you will take your Bibles and turn there, we are going to be examining verses 45 through 56 as we continue to make our way through this inspired portion of Scripture. And I've entitled my discourse to you this morning, “Jesus Walking Upon the Sanctifying Storm.” And what we are going to see is that Jesus often uses trials to reveal his true character, to reveal his true nature, to reveal His purposes, so that we can understand more of who he is and how we should respond to him. And so we have a wonderful opportunity to once again immerse ourselves in the Word of God this morning. Let me read the text to you Mark six beginning with verse 45. "Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side to Bethsaida while he himself was sending the crowd away. After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray. When it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land. Seeing them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the fourth watch of the night He came to them walking on the sea; and he intended to pass by them. But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they supposed that it was a ghost, and cried out; for they all saw Him and were terrified. But immediately He spoke with them and said to them, 'Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid.' Then He got into the boat with them and the wind stopped; and they were utterly astonished, for they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened. When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore. When they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, and ran about that whole country and began to carry here in their on their pallets those who were sick, to the place they heard He was. Wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the sick in the marketplaces, and imploring Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it, were being cured."

Our passage this morning is filled with captivating history, practical insights, but most importantly, it provides for us an accurate portrait of the infinite perfections of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's so important that we as believers understand who he truly is, because there are so many distortions out there. Today, we're going to examine this passage under three categories, we're going to see first of all, a supplication of divine surrender. Secondly, a manifestation of divine glory. And then finally, a demonstration of divine compassion. And I trust that your hearts are tender to these truths and your mind is accessible to the spirit's eliminating grace this morning.

Now, let me remind you of the context. Jesus has just multiplied five loaves and two fishes to feed approximately 20,000 people. And of course, this was an astonishing display of his creative power, and undeniable proof of his deity that he is indeed the Son of God, the Messiah, deserving of worship. But you must understand that most of the people did not fully grasp this, at least savingly so. Even Jesus', His own disciples, had a deficient grasp of His deity. That's why, later on verse 52, again immediately after this miraculous feeding, we read that the disciples had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves but their heart was heartened. You see what was going on for them, as well as the crowd, was just an overwhelming sense of political fervor, false preconceptions, pride, magical thinking, unrestrained emotionalism, like we see today, in many parts of the world, including our own country. Religious giddiness and frivolity, groupthink all of these things are symptoms of a hard heart that does not fully grasp the reality of who Jesus is, and what he's trying to accomplish in redemption. Reality is so utterly astounding that it should drive us all to a place of absolute speechless adoration, ceaseless praise, and joyful submission to His Word and His will. But again, a few people, even today, even in many churches, grasp the true identity and redemptive purposes of Christ.

Now, notice the text, Mark six, beginning in verse four and 45. We read "Immediately Jesus made His disciples, get into the boat and go ahead of him." It's interesting, the verb "made" in the original language is a very forceful verb, it means to "compel by force." It suggests the disciples were averse to leaving. It's like what are you doing now? I want you I want you in the boat, come on, in the boat. That's the idea there. So there's an obvious sense of urgency in Jesus' actions, "I want you to leave at once, get in the boat." See, Jesus was up to something very important here. He was separating the disciples from the crowd and even from himself. Now the question is why? Well, the answer is to avoid losing control of the crowd that wanted to crown him king and start an insurrection. That was his concern. And sadly, the disciples were also caught up. And the political fervor, the euphoria, the excitement, that here he is, the King is here, the kingdom is here. How exciting. Let's crown him king, now get rid of Herod, get rid of Rome. And all of a sudden, all of the people could get swept up into a mob rule. John helps us understand this in John six beginning of verse 14. "Therefore, when the people saw the sign which he had performed," in other words, the feeding, "they said, 'This is truly the Prophet who has come into the world.' So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone." So like the fickle, self centered crowd, the disciples were exuberant because of what Jesus can do, rather than being filled with reverential awe because of who Jesus is. And there's a big difference. The former produces unrestrained emotion. The latter produces sincere worship. The former stimulates superficial euphoria. The ladder animates fear and trembling. Mindless emotionalism is always at the root of counterfeit religion. We see something similar with the make believers in counterfeit Christianity, where often emotive music is used to whip people up into an alternate state of consciousness. And you get people doing all of these things and then you know how it goes. You've seen it before. Maybe you've experienced it.

So like the unbridled emotionalism that dominates many pseudo Christian movements today, these people were filled with emotion. But they were not understanding truly who Jesus was and did not have an informed mind, their mind was responding to the rule of their emotions rather than the other way around. So they did not submit to the authority of His Word. Dear friends it's one thing to have the mind of man, it's another thing to have the mind of Christ.

So in our text here, in Mark 6, Jesus knew what was going on in the crowd, he knew that they were getting into an out of control, emotional frenzy. Again, as John says, "They were intending to come and take him by force to make Him king." And sadly, he also knew that the disciples were loving it. They're probably thinking, "Oh, I hope I get to sit in his right hand, or at least his left. Oh, how exciting. Look what's going on here. It's beginning." It's now kind of like the political theater that you see in election cycles. This is why Mark would later on say in verse 52 that "they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened." Beloved, I might put it this way here in is the difference between man centered worship and God centered worship. Man centered worship is all about manipulating God to satisfy your felt needs. God centered worship is all about submitting to God and living for His glory. The former is counterfeit, the latter is authentic. So again, verse 45, "Immediately Jesus made his disciples get into the boat and go ahead of him to the other side to Bethsaida, while He himself was sending the crowd away." Then we read, "After bidding them farewell, He left for the mountain to pray."

And this brings us to the first category of our little outline. Here we see a supplication of divine surrender. Here's why would say that. No doubt the Messianic contagion of the crowd was also an unwanted temptation to Jesus, and the groundswell of support for him to overthrow Rome and get rid of Herod and established his earthly kingdom was really reminiscent of Satan's temptation of Jesus, you will recall in the wilderness. Remember when he offered Jesus the kingdoms of the world as if they were his to give, "Only if you will worship me." And certainly to yield to that temptation would allow Jesus to avoid the horrors of the cross. But that was not the will of his Father. I find it interesting that Mark records Jesus praying on three occasions during His earthly ministry, each prayer was done at night in a secluded place, each on an occasion where he was removed from his disciples. Because they misunderstood his mission, they misunderstood all that he was up to on Earth and who He really was. And on each occasion, Jesus was in a crisis that required a very, very important decision. The first occasion we read about in Mark 1, you remember the crowds were gathering, from everywhere to be healed and to witnesses miraculous powers. And in verse 35, we read, "In the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went away to a secluded place, and was praying there." And you will recall the narrative, the disciples are looking all over for him when, when the sunrise came, you know, where everyone's looking for you. They said to Him, they finally found him, and he said to them, in verse 38, "Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may preach there also; for that is what I came for." As we read in Luke 19;10, Jesus said, "The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." He did not come to attract the crowds work them up into an emotional frenzy and get them to wow over him.

The second occasion is in Mark 6, that we're at here this morning. And the third and final occasion is in Mark 14 verses 35 through 39. And there you will recall, he prayed alone in the Garden of Gethsemane as he faced the horrors of the cross. Verse 36 of Mark 14, "He was saying Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what you will." So considering all of this, I believe that it is safe to assume that on the heels of the crowd preparing to forcibly make him king, the content of his prayer would be one of divine surrender. Father, the temptation is great to not go to the cross to establish the kingdom now, but not my will, but Thine be done. And no doubt he also prayed for the hearts of the the disciples that they might be softened, they might embrace Him fully, as the Son of God. The one that came to seek and to save and not embrace him merely as some miracle worker that is going to satisfy the desires of their hearts. So Jesus sends them away, disperses the crowd, and retreats them to a secluded mountain to pray. And I think my what a beautiful picture of our Savior's love, right? What a beautiful picture and an example of obedience to the will of the Father. Which by the way, is always the mark of genuine saving faith. You say you're a Christian, okay, great, do you will obey the will of the Father as it is revealed in his word? Matthew 7, verse 21, Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven." But, now catch this, "he who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven, will enter." And that will of the Father is that you confess Jesus as Lord and obey His Word and His will as revealed in Scripture.

So what we first see here is a supplication of divine surrender. But secondly, we're going to see a manifestation of divine glory. Notice what happened with the disciples after Jesus sent them away, verse 47, "When it was evening, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and He was alone on the land." And then it says, "Seeing them straining at the oars." Now let's stop here for a moment. We know from the narrative that Jesus is up on one of the mountains. And if you go there, you will see that there's mountains that jumped up from the shoreline all around. And I guess it might be possible that he could see the boat out in the middle of there, it might be possible, but it's, he knew precisely what they were doing. He knew exactly what they were thinking and what they were feeling. And by the way, that should be comforting to all of us. It should also be frightening to all of us. But isn't it great that He knows our thoughts from afar. You know, He not only sees all things, but beloved, he inhabits us, absolutely incomprehensible. What a magnificent mystery. In fact, Paul spoke of this in Colossians 1, verse 26and following, "the mystery, which has been hidden from the past ages, and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles," Here it is, "which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Galatians 2:20, "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me." And regarding His omniscience, oh my, this should cause us all to rejoice. Psalm 33, beginning of verse 13, "The Lord looks from heaven, he sees all the sons of men; from His dwelling place, he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth, He who fashions the hearts of them all, He who understands all their works." Don't think for a second you can hide from God. His knowledge is infinitely perfect, and requires no further information. There is never a time nor has there ever been a time when he lacked information. Romans 11 beginning of verse 34, "For who has known the mind of the Lord or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to him that it might be paid back to him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever, amen." Beloved, you must understand that his knowledge precedes all things outside of himself and its never obtained from anything that exists outside of himself. I know that's kind of a heavy statement.

Let me put this in a way that maybe would be relevant and more practical in your thinking. There was never a time, if you think about salvation and the doctrine of election, for example, there has never been a time when he lacked knowledge, when he was without knowledge and therefore had to look down the tunnel of time to see who would and who would not believe, and on that basis, decide who we was going to elect. Beloved, that is not only exegetically indefensible, that is something that impugns the character of God. Because it says that there was a time when he lacked knowledge, and he had to somehow gain knowledge. Let me ask you, is there anything right now that God does not know? Now, let me ask you another question Is God immutable? Meaning he never changes. Beloved, if there is nothing in the universe that he does not know right now, there has never been a time in the universe when he did not know all things. There has never been a time when he needed to gain knowledge outside of himself. Psalm 139, beginning of verse one, David described how God knows even the most minut details of his life, "Oh, Lord," He says," You have searched me and known me. You know, when I sit down and when I rise up, you understand my thought from afar. You scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Even before there's a word of my tongue, behold, oh, Lord, you know it all. You've enclosed me behind and before and laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is too high, I cannot attain it." Psalm 147. The Lord is praised as the one who heals the brokenhearted. And in verse four, we read that He is the one who "counts the number of the stars; He gives names to all of them. Great is the Lord and abundant in strength." And catch this, his understanding is infinite. Beloved, this is the great doctrine of divine omniscience. And it was in his omniscience that he could see not only what those disciples were doing, but he could see what they were thinking. He understood the hardness of their heart, and their distorted understanding of who he is. Beloved, there is nothing man can do or think that escapes his notice, including the tragedies and the atrocities that come into our life. You realize that? Job 31, verse four. He asked the question, "Does He," referring to the Lord, "not see my ways and number all my steps?" It's a rhetorical question, yes he does. Proverbs 5:21, "For the ways of a man are before the eyes of the Lord, and He watches all his paths." Proverbs 15, verse three,"The eyes of the Lord are in every place, watching the evil and the good." Isaiah 40, verse 28, "His understanding is inscrutable." Hebrews four, verse 13, "there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do." 1 John 3:19,"he knows everything." So verse 48, "Seeing them straining at the oars," even when he's on the mountain, "for the wind was against him that about the fourth watch of the night, He came to them walking on the sea; and He intended to pass them by." Now, this was the fourth watch of the night, this would would have been between three and six o'clock in the morning. So in other words, they had been rowing now for about nine hours. Think of that, if you've ever been out in open water with a hard headwind, especially when you're trying to row, that's what was going on. Remember, John six tells us beginning of verse 16, "Now when evening came, His disciples went down to the sea. All right, and it says, "and after getting into a boat, they started to cross the sea to Capernaum. It had already become dark and Jesus had not yet come to them." So that's when they got in the boat. And he goes on to say, "The sea began to be stirred up because a strong wind was blowing. Then when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near to the boat." Matthew records in Matthew 14:24. "The boat was already a long distance from the land, battered by the waves for the wind was contrary." I want you to notice something else that's fascinating in this text. In verse 48, Mark says at about the fourth watch of the night, he came to them. That means there was an instant transport. It's not like he had to take time and make his way down the mountain and finally get out there several miles walking across the sea. No, it was...Beloved, this is the Jesus I worship and love. And then it says, "walking on the sea, He intended to pass by them." Another possible translation, "he intended to come alongside them." That may be accurate. And I'm not going to start a new denomination about what I'm about to say, Okay, I'm not going to press it too hard. But I think there may be more going on here. Given the symbolism that is often used in Mark's gospel, this phrase, "passed by", is really reminiscent of God's gracious and compassionate self disclosure. On Mount Sinai recorded in Exodus 33:18, following when the Lord, quote, "passed by Moses", let me read that passage. "Moses says, 'I pray You, show me Your glory!' And He said, 'I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion on whom I will show compassion.' But He said, 'You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!' And the Lord said, 'Behold, there is a place by Me, and you shall stand there on the rock. And it will come about while My glory is passing by that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with My hand, until I have passed by. Then I will take My hand away, and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen." We know that God did the same thing, in terms of revealing his presence to Elijah, at Mount Horeb, 1 Kings 19:11, "So God said, 'Go forth and stand on the mountain before the Lord.'" And then we read, "And behold, the Lord was passing by! And a great strong wind was rending the mountains and breaking in pieces, the rocks before the Lord; but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake, a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire." And then we read, "And after the fire, a sound of gentle blowing." And then you will recall the story the Lord spoke to Elijah from whispering voice, the symbolizing how God was always at work even in Israel, though his ways might be imperceptible.

But perhaps the most important parallel to the Lord passing by his helpless and undiscerning disciples, by walking on the water, can be seen in Job nine, beginning in verse eight. There we read, "Who alone stretches out the heavens and tramples down the waves of the sea." And then verses 10 and 11, "Who does great things, unfathomable and wondrous works without number. Were he to pass by me, I would not see Him; were He to move past me, I would not perceive Him." Now, it's interesting in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew scripture, in the Old Testament, Job's inspired phrase, "tramples down the waves of the sea," has undeniable linguistic, as well as thematic similarities with Mark's phrase in chapter six, verse 48, "walking on the sea". If you look at the original language, you'll see that it's used in both places, the same similarities exist with Job's use of the phrase "passed by" in chapter nine in verse 10. And we see the same thing in Moses usage and Exodus 33:19 that I just read, and an Exodus 34:6, "then the Lord passed by in front of him". Furthermore, I want you to notice how Jesus responded to the terrified disciples in verse 50. He said, "Take courage, it is I do not be afraid."

"It is I" can be translated "ego emi". In Greek, this is "I am." In other words, he uses his covenant name, the covenant name of God, the identical name of self disclosure he gave to Moses. In Exodus three and verse 14, God said to Moses," I am who I am." And he said "Thus, you shall say to the sons of Israel, I am has sent me to you". And you will recall in John eight in verse 58, Jesus declared to the hostile Jews, "Truly, truly I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am." He referred to himself in the present continuous tense. Technically, that means that there is a stated action that remains in continuous progress. Why would he do that? It seems odd, because he wants to communicate that he has always and will always exist, he is indicating his self- existence, that there has never been a time where he did not exist. Beloved, He is indicating that he is the pre- existent, self-existent, uncreated Creator, sustainer, Redeemer and consummate author of all that he has created. That's who Jesus really is. To be sure, this is precisely what Jesus is trying to get the disciples and all of us to understand. I am the self-existent Eternal One, who always is and will be, worship Me, obey me. Jesus repeatedly used this title of himself in John's gospel, he says, "I am the bread of life", "I am the light of the world," "I am the door of the sheep," "I am the good shepherd," "I am the resurrection and the life," "I am the true and living way", "I am the true vine." The point, beloved, is simply this. In His infinite grace and compassion, the great I AM, chose to reveal His glory to His helpless and his hard hearted disciples, by coming to them in the storm. Why? So they could see and embrace his deity, and thereby strengthen their faith.

One scholar that I read by the name of James Edward says this, "The glory of the transcendent God, who reveals Himself in Jesus literally, quote, passed by the overconfident rationalistic theologians of a former generation, and those of our day who follow their lead, God, quote, performs wonders that cannot be found miracles that cannot be numbered in quote, job nine, verse 10. But when Jesus passes by the disciples on the lake, he does something differently from the revelation of God in the Old Testament. He intends to make the mysterious and enigmatic god of Job visible and palpable, as it had not been and could not have been to former generations." He goes on to say, "The God of Israel, majestic and awesome, but unknowable face to face, is now passing by believers in Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus walking on the water to His disciples, is a revelation of the glory that he shares with the Father and the compassion that he extends to his followers. It is a divine epiphany in answer to their earlier bafflement, when he calmed the storm. And they said, Who is this? Mark 4:41. In this respect," Edwards goes on to say, "Mark's Christology is no less sublime than is John's, although John has Jesus declaring that he is the Son of God, like John 10:36. Mark has him showing that he is the Son of God. In Mark, one must, like the disciples, be in the boat with Jesus and enter into the drama in order to behold who Jesus is. The one who calmed the storm is the one who now appears in the storm. The 'I Am' of God." Beloved, to have a distorted understanding of Jesus is both deadly and damning. He is not just some personal miracle worker, as the crowd and the disciples got caught up in. He is not some social justice warrior trying to bring about some egalitarian utopia. And he is not as this new, "he gets us" movement would portray him. He is not some gay affirming, trans affirming, abortion affirming woke Jesus of the "he gets us" movement. So many people today see him like that. Some pusillanimous, effeminate, Jesus, that winks at sin. If you look at that he gets us movement, you will see the tag that we need to be like Jesus who is quote, "radical, in his forgiveness, compassion and love." And you know, that's true. He was radical in his compassion, and his forgiveness and His love. But that will only be extended to those who repent of their sins and trust in Him as their only hope of salvation.You're not going to see that in this movement. He's not just somebody that loves everybody so much that they have no need to enter in to, and through, the narrow gate of genuine repentance. No, no, this is a broad gate Jesus. For so many people, this is the Jesus that just kind of somebody that you can buddy up to. You don't have to change anything, no need to place your faith in Him alone. Don't see him as the only one who can justify the wicked, and deliver them from the just wrath of God. They don't see him as their only hope of salvation, they don't see that they have offended a holy God and they cannot be reconciled to him apart from saving faith in Jesus. Beloved, what Jesus wants them to understand is that he is indeed the infinitely holy, second member of the Triune Godhead. He is the one that is also promised to judge all those who do not believe in Him. He is the one who will cast them into an eternal hell. Scriptures tell us that He is the judge of the living and the dead. You're not going to see this in some of these movements today. People don't want to hear that. But indeed, he is the Son of God that bore in his body, the sins of all who would believe upon him. He is the One True God that the world has hated and will continue to hate. And to somehow come along and portray him as a Jesus that everybody can enjoy, a Jesus that will wink at their sin. That is a blasphemous thing. Jesus said, ""Do not think that I came into the world to bring peace on the earth, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. I believe Matthew 10 Verse 34. And Jesus said this, in John 3:36, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life. But he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

So indeed, he is the pre-existent, I am. The self existent I am. The uncreated Creator, sustainer Redeemer, and consummator of his universe. And he is the one that has accomplished the redemption for all who will place their faith in Him by shedding His blood on a cross. A sacrificial death, that was voluntary, that was vicarious, that was substitutionary, that was propitiatory and was redemptive. And the efficacy of his death for the believing sinner is that he is the only one that can deliver us from the penalty and the power and one day, the very presence of sin. This is the Jesus that will one day return and snatch his church away. This is the Jesus who will then return with his church, the Jesus that will judge the nations. The Jesus that will establish his millennial kingdom, the Jesus that will judge unbelievers and cast them into an eternal hell and the Jesus that will reign as King of kings. Beloved, that is the true Jesus. And as such, he is to be worshipped and obeyed. He is not to be manipulated or ignored. He is to be trusted and glorified, in all that we do, you must understand that we exist for him. He does not exist for us. By the way, do you embrace these truths wholeheartedly? I hope you do. Because if you don't, you will perish in your sins. If not, you're living in rebellion to God. And how sad to see so many professing Christians get sucked up into all of this nonsense. They're absolutely indifferent to God's purposes in redemption through Christ. They're apathetic about his rule and their life, and they are consumed with just living for themselves, not for His glory. I hope you see that today.

So back to our text here, we see a manifestation of His glory. Verse 49, I put myself in their place here, I'm exhausted, I'm rowing, I'm confused, I'm out of gas. You know that feeling? You're just completely done. Then it says, "But when they saw him walking on the sea, they supposed that it was a ghost." "Fantasma" in the original language. We get our word phantom from that. I guess that's what I would think to, "and cried out." Like my Cowboys would say, "cried out like a second grade girl." And I'm sure that's exactly what they did. By the way, in the original language, it means to "shriek in horror." It would have been absolutely terrifying. It says verse 50, "They all saw Him and were terrified." And certainly physical and spiritual fatigue combined, will always produce irrational fears. But to see a man walking on the water, would startle even the most intrepid sailor, right? Verse 50, the end, "But immediately He spoke to them and said to them, 'Take courage; it is I.'" There's the ""I Am,' "do not be afraid." My how often does he communicate to us in the same way, right? When we're spent, when we're exhausted, when we're out of resources, when we're confused. Imagine the comfort that this would have brought to the disciples. And if that wasn't enough to hear His voice, notice first 51, Then He got into the boat with them and the wind stopped. And they were utterly astonished." Well, that's an understatement. Can you imagine that? In verse 52, "they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves, but their heart was hardened". But you see now, talk about a manifestation of divine glory. That's what we have here. And whenever we see Jesus for who he really is, our sins are exposed, right? As we read earlier in Isaiah six. And then our fears melt away and joy floods our soul. Now, Mark does not include the account of Peter walking on the water at this point. And this omission may be attributed to the fact that that Mark was a close companion of the apostle Peter and Peter greatly influenced his writing of this gospel. Perhaps Peter didn't want the spotlight to be on himself, but to keep focused on Christ. We don't know. We don't know why it's omitted. But Matthew did record what happened. Let me read that to you. Matthew 14, verse 28. "Peter said to Him, 'Lord, if it is You, command me to come to You on the water.'" I'm not sure that's what I would have said, but that's what Peter said. Jesus said, "Come! And Peter got out of the boat walked on the water and came towards Jesus. But seeing the wind He became frightened and began to sink. He cried out, 'Lord, save me!' Immediately Jesus stretched out His hand took a hold of him and said to him, 'You of little faith, why did you doubt?'" By the way, that would have been a rebuke that was extended to all of the disciples, not just Peter. Then, "When they got into the boat, the wind stopped." Matthew says, "And those who were in the boat worshipped Him saying, 'You are certainly God's Son!'" That was the point of the sanctifying storm, right? We must understand, beloved, that ignorance of Christ will lead to doubt. Doubt is the great enemy of faith. Doubt assaults faith, especially when we focus on our problems, rather than the God who ordained them. It's so easy to do that. Too often we try to use God to solve our problems rather than using our problems, to glorify Him. And the disciples were learning this the hard way. I mean, the proper response would have been, Oh, dear God indeed, I pray that you will deliver us from the storm, but more importantly, importantly, I pray that you will give us faith to persevere in it, and to enjoy your presence in it, and to fulfill your purposes in it. Knowing that one day you will bring us to glory. Every time Jesus stretched out his hand and took hold of him, I can see myself when I take my eyes off of Christ. You can too and then what do we do? We cry out like Peter did "Lord save me!" Spurgeon said this, "Peter was soon made to doubt. But with what ease did he begin to pray. I like to think of the spontaneous character of Peters prayer, he begins to sink and he prays in a minute, he no sooner finds himself going down. Then he says, Lord save me. That shows what a living thing his faith was. It might not walk the water always, but it could always pray. And that is, the better thing of the two. Your faith may not always make you rejoice. But if your faith can always make you trust, the Precious Blood, that is all you need." Spurgeon went on to say, "Your faith may not always take you to the top of the mountain and bathe your forehead in the sunlight of God's countenance. But if your faith enables you to keep in the straight road that leads to eternal life, you may bless God for that. To walk the water is not an essential characteristic of faith, but to pray when you begin to sink is."

So the Lord revealed himself in these astonishing events, transports himself to the water, he walks on the water, he helps Peter do the same. He calms the sea when he enters the boat. But one more thing, John six tells us, verse 21, "So they were willing to receive Him into the boat," and catch this now, "immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going." As I read earlier, Matthew 14:33, as well, and those who were in the boat worshipped him, saying, "You are certainly God's Son." They're seeing all of these things, and they're overwhelmed. And that was his purpose, to overwhelm them with the reality of His deity so that they might worship Him and trust Him come what may. Again, because of verse 52, "they had not gained any insight from the incident of the loaves". They saw all of that. And rather than worshiping and serving Christ and being overwhelmed with his deity, they're all excited about the goodies he's gonna bring into their life. I mean, it's kind of like, the Democrats arrived, right? We're gonna bring you all of this free stuff. No longer were they merely fascinated with Jesus as a miracle worker that could satisfy their needs. And now they were consumed with the reality that he was indeed, the Messiah, the Son of God. We've seen a supplication of divine surrender, a manifestation of divine glory, and then I want to close with a demonstration of divine compassion. That's what we see next. Verse 53, "When they had crossed over, they came to a land at Gennesaret and moored to the shore." You see the storm had blown them off course a bit from Capernaum where they originally wanted to go to this plain, it's a plain there of Gennesaret. It's just southwest of Capernaum. Just a short distance away. Verse 54, "When they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized him." So what are the people going to do? They're going to spread the news. I mean, it's all over Facebook, first century version. They go tell everybody. Of course, Jesus and the disciples then would walk just a short ways to Capernaum. And I might add, it would be in the synagogue at Capernaum, where Jesus would preach a sermon on the bread of life, and John six that would offend everybody. Verse 55 "and ran about the whole country," that people recognize him and "ran about that whole country began to carry here and there on their pallets those who were sick, to the place they heard he was. Wherever he entered villages or cities or countryside, they were laying the sick in the marketplaces and imploring Him, that He might just touch the friends that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak. And as many as touched it were cured."

Why would he do that dear friends? To prove his deity, that they might hear his gospel message and be saved. He did these things to validate the message of repentance and faith in Him alone. May I ask you this morning, dear friends? Is this the Jesus that you believe? I hope it is. This is the true Jesus. Or do you believe some distortion of what you've heard this day. Because if you do that is a God of your own making, that cannot save. That is an idol. If you believe something different than what you've heard today, I would plead with you as a minister of the gospel that you repent, and believe in the true Jesus of the Bible. And rejoice in whatever sanctifying storm that he brings into your life because very often, it's in the midst of those storms, that He reveals Himself in ways that you have never seen before. And for those of us who know and love Christ, my, let's worship Him, let's obey him. What he wants us to do is to go into all the world. He wants us to preach the gospel. He wants us to make disciples. He wants us to teach them to observe all that He has commanded. I hope that is the priority of your life, that you live a gospel centered life. And as you do, he will be glorified and you will be blessed. What a joy it will be to see more people like us, debtors of His grace, come to faith in the living Christ. Let's pray together. Father, we're so thankful for the clarity of your word and how it speaks to the very core of our being. And if there be one within the sound of my voice that knows nothing of the true Jesus, I pray that you will break their heart this day that they will run to the foot of the cross and cry out for the mercy and the grace and the forgiveness. That can be there's so rich and so free. And for those of us who know and love you, Lord, use us mightily for the sake of the kingdom. Bless us, encourage us strengthen us and we will be careful to give you the praise. In Jesus name. Amen.

Once again, we come to the pinnacle of our worship service where we have the opportunity to look into the Word of the living God as He has revealed Himself to us. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark chapter six? We are making our way verse by verse through this gospel record. And this morning we will be in verses 30 through 44. And I've entitled my discourse to you this morning, “Common Grace Provided and Rejected.”

Before I read the text, and we look into it closely, may I remind you of this magnificent concept of common grace. Common Grace is God's kindness that's extended to all persons through his general providence. Its his universal goodness and benevolence that all people can experience, including those who will never receive salvation. In fact, the Lord Jesus said in Matthew five, verse 45, "He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." Donald Gray Barnhouse, a number of years ago, said this regarding common grace, quote, "you are not a believer in Christ, and yet you are still out of hell. That is the grace of God. You are not in hell, but you are on earth in good health and prosperity. That is the common grace of God. The vast majority of those who read these words are living in comfortable homes or apartments. That is common grace. You are not fleeing as refugees along the highways of a country desolated by war. That is common grace. You come home from your job and your child runs to meet you in good health and spirits. That is common grace, you're able to put your hand in your pocket and give the child a quarter or a half dollar for an allowance. It is common grace that you have such abundance. You go into your house and sit down to a good meal. That is common grace. On the day that you read these words, there are more than a billion and a half members of the human race who will go to sleep without enough to satisfy their hunger. The fact that you have enough is common grace. You do not deserve it. And if you think that you do deserve anything at all from God, beyond the wrath, which you have so richly earned, you merely show your ignorance of spiritual principles."

Now bear in mind common grace is not saving grace. There is no forgiveness of sins imparted in common grace, nor does it in any way regenerate unbelieving hearts. However it does reveal truths about the Creator, truths that the Spirit of God can use to bring conviction of wrongdoing. Moreover, it affords a sinner time to hear the gospel and be saved. Now many sinners will suppress the gospel, the truth of it all. They will suppress it in unrighteousness but common grace makes their rejection inexcusable. In fact, we read about this in Romans chapter one beginning in verse 19, "because that which is known about God is evident within within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse." And this morning in our text, we have a stunning example of common grace in Jesus feeding of the 5000 as we read in verse 44 of our text. Actually, Matthew 14:21 indicates that there were also many women and children with them. And so that number could have easily been 15 to 20,000 or more. Now as we look at the text I want you to not only see God's common grace, but there are some magnificent symbols in the text that are worthy of our consideration; much symbolism in this historical narrative pertaining to the person in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Here we're going to see at least three symbols of Christ. Number one, we're going to see that Jesus is the only source of spiritual rest. Secondly, he is the only source of spiritual truth. And finally, he is the only source of spiritual life. Now, I might add that this miracle is the climactic apex of Jesus' Galilean ministry. From here he is going to travel with his disciples into the Gentile regions of Tyre and Sidon, and then he's going to go on to the Decapolis. The Decapolis refers to a group of 10 Hellenistic cities on the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire. This would have been east and southeast of the Dead Sea and of Galilee, north of Perea. There were places where some of us have been like Beit Shean in modern Israel, and most of them are going to be in the region of Jordan today. But anyway, he will then go to Decapolis, and then from there with His disciples, He will begin to make his way to Judea, down to Jerusalem. Now bear in mind, he has deliberately avoided that area, because that would be the headquarters of those that would want to kill him. Moreover, he is demonstrating to them that he wants nothing to do with their apostasy, that he is bringing the Gospel message to those apart from that region, apart from the scribes and the Pharisees. So he will eventually then make his way south, to Judea into Jerusalem, and finally, make his way to the cross. So that's the context here.

Let me read the text to you Mark six, beginning in verse 30 , "The apostles gathered together with Jesus and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, 'Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.' (For there are many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves. The people saw them going, and many recognize them and ran there together on foot from all the cities, and got there ahead of them. When Jesus went ashore, he saw a large crowd, and he felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. When it was already quite late, his disciples came to him and said, 'This place is desolate and it is already quite late, send them away so that they may go into the surrounding countryside and villages, and by themselves something to eat.' But he answered them, 'You give them something to eat! 'And they said to him, 'Shall we go and spend 200 denarii on bread and give them something to eat?' And He said to them, 'How many loaves do you have? Go, look!' And when they found out they said, 'Five and two fish.' and He commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass. They sat down in groups of hundreds and 50s. He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves, and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all. They all ate, and were satisfied. And they picked up 12 baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish. There were 5000 men who ate the loaves."

Now bear in mind that like most people today who claim to be following Jesus, the first century Galileans that we're following him, were really doing so in order to gain temporal earthly blessings, not heavenly blessings, and Jesus knew this. They basically wanted free stuff, not forgiveness of sins. They wanted earthly pleasures, not heavenly pleasures, not heavenly reward. Many of them wanted physical healing. And that's understandable. A lot of them just wanted to be entertained. They wanted to see the next miracle. They were fascinated with his miraculous abilities. But most of them wanted temporal, physical blessings. They wanted a deliverer that would free them from the tyranny of Rome and bring the blessings of the Abrahamic and the Davidic covenants to bear upon them. But they weren't really wanting a Messiah, the Messiah, who he really was. These miracle seekers saw him as their meal ticket, not as the most high God that they should worship and obey. So instead of prostrating themselves, before him in humble adoration, and the fear of the Lord, they, they just wanted him to do something that would impress them, something that would benefit their needs, because they saw no need for a Savior of sin. They wanted a miracle working King that would bring in an earthly utopia. By the way, as I think about it, nothing has changed, right? It's exactly the same message that the enemy brings to us today through our politicians. So, instead of falling down and worshipping Him, they wanted to use him so that he would serve them. Because after all, God exists for us, right? No, we exist for him. In fact, most all of the crowds we know are going to reject Him. In short order, despite all of the miracles that he performed, that validated the fact that he was indeed, the Son of God, that validated His deity and therefore his message. And it's for this reason, that Jesus said in Matthew 12:39, "A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign." In fact, in John six, we have a very clear picture of the kind of thinking that was going on in the minds of the people that were following Jesus in this context, in fact, in verses 36 through 40 of John 6, we see how Jesus preached the magnificent truths of sovereign grace and salvation truths that are at the very heart of the gospel that so many people hate. Truths that summarize and clarify the truth of the gospel, the great truths, frankly, of the Reformation. Often it's headed under the category of Calvinism. John 6:65, we read and he was saying, "For this reason," referring to their unbelief," I have said to you that no one can come to me unless it has been granted him from the Father." Of course, Jesus is there reinforcing the tension between God's sovereignty and salvation, and man's responsibility to believe. Men are commanded to believe and yet they are held accountable for how they respond. Yet, they will never believe unless God causes something to happen; unless God takes the initiative and overpowers their sin nature.

And so there you have that inscrutable mystery that seems incompatible in our finite minds, but perfectly compatible to the mind of God. So Jesus is preaching this along with other things. And as a result, John 6:66, "As a result of this, many of His disciples withdrew, and we're not walking with Him anymore." It's been said that this was the greatest church split in history. Imagine taking 20,000 people down to just a handful. And that's what happened. And I might add that the same thing would happen in most churches today if the truth of the Gospel were really preached. We can either be faithful, or we can be popular, dear friends, but we can't be both. And in verse 67, of John six, we read, "So Jesus said to the twelve, 'You not want to go away also, do you?' Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life? We have believed and come to know that you are the Holy One of God.'" And of course, that is what we believe by God's grace.

Now let's look at the text closely, especially as it unveils the marvelous symbolism here, pertaining to the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And certainly that is why we study these things, not so that we can gain intellectual understanding, but so that we can gain a deeper and more intimate relationship with the lover of our soul. Amen? Amen. So first we're going to see pictured here, that Jesus is the only source of spiritual rest. Notice Mark six, verse 30, "The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught." Now remember, Jesus had sent them out, had sent the 12 out in pairs into the regions of Galilee, to preach repentance of sin, and faith in the Lord Jesus. And they had been empowered by God with miraculous abilities, and now, they've come back. They are exhausted, they've experienced enormous rejection, and persecution. But they also witnessed some that had come to faith in Christ. And the Lord now wanted to give them their first taste of ministry combat, because when you're serving Christ, that's what it will be, it will be combat. In fact, we know a little bit of what the Lord told them in Matthew 10:6, he said, "go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go preach, saying, 'The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give. Do not acquire gold or silver or copper, for your money belts, or a bag for your journey, or even two coats, or sandals or a staff for the worker is worthy of his support.'" In other words, I want you to go out and I want you to learn to trust me, all right. He went on to say in, "whatever city or village you enter, inquire who is worthy in it, and stay at his house until you leave that city. As you enter the house, give it your greeting. If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. Whoever does not receive you nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be shrewd as serpents, and innocent as doves." We learn in Matthew seven, verse 15, that this imagery of sheep and wolves, is used to describe the false prophets being the wolves that prey upon those who are vulnerable. And I might add that the greatest threat, as those disciples experienced, the greatest threat to genuine Christianity, the greatest threat to the gospel, will come from the corridors of religious people, many of them who claim to be Christians, and we see this today with false teachers. And there are unsaved sycophants that follow them. Satan prefers to join a church rather than attack it.

And the false prophets and teachers of Israel were Satan's servants. And this is what they experienced. And Jesus is calling them back now, for a time of rest. In fact, Jesus said of those false prophets and teachers of Israel, and John 8:44, "You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lives. But because I speak the truth, you do not believe Me." And we all have experienced that, you speak the truth, people do not want to hear it. Satan hates the truth. His followers hate the truth. Just look at the demonstrably false ideologies of both political and theological liberalism that continues to devastate our country, our churches, our schools, our families. These are purveyors of deceptions that destroy lives and damn men souls. In fact, most of the scribes and Pharisees of Israel were equally corrupt. They were self righteous, they were greedy. They were hypocrites. They were, as Jesus said, the blind, leading the blind. Matthew 15:14, "Let them alone;" Jesus said, "they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit." So he says, Let them alone. That's another illustration of God's wrath of divine abandonment. Just let them go. That's what the term means. Let them be, make no effort to even confront them. Don't debate them, don't cast pearls before swine. In fact, when you have such a person in a church, as we will encounter, as we have in this church from time to time, we are told in Titus 3:10, to "Reject a factious man after a first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted, and is sinning, and is self condemned." So this is what they have been experiencing now. And they're coming back and Jesus gathers them around himself. And according to John 6:4, all of this took place shortly before the Passover, which would have been sometime around March or April, and that would have been in about AD 29. So he brings them together. Now, the text doesn't say this, but I would imagine he brings them together around a cozy fire, right? It's going to be cool. It's wonderful to be able to come to a fire, isn't it interesting how a bonfire is so inviting to people, or even a fire out on your patio or in your home, is always inviting, it warms the body and it softens the heart. And so they're gathering together now with Jesus. And one of the things that I want us to see in this is how important fellowship is to a weary warrior of the faith.

Dear friend, if you are serving Christ, as you should be, you're going to be persecuted, you're going to be rejected. And when that happens, you will long to be in the presence of other people that know and love Christ, you're going to long to gather around the fire with them, to share what you've gone through both the good things and the bad, to share how people have rejected Christ, to be able to pray for them, but also to share how others have come to faith in Christ. And frankly, that's a time as I'm sure they experienced; it's a time when you weep together, when you mourn together when you encourage one another when you pray for one another, and so forth. And I might add that those who know nothing of evangelism, know nothing of genuine worship, and know nothing of the soul nourishing power of fellowship with Christ, and with those who belong to Him. So this was a great and blessed opportunity for them to experience this. So the 12 disciples get their first taste of spiritual warfare. And they begin to see very quickly that Jesus is their only source of spiritual rest. You will find no rest anywhere else in life, but in Christ. And that's why he sent them out in the first place, I might add, from this time forward, Jesus is going to be spending much less time in public ministry, and much more time in private ministry, encouraging and instructing his disciples. It will be an increased focus on private instruction. He's preparing them for ministry.

So notice what happens in verse 31. And he said to them, "Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while." "Secluded" could be translated, "quiet or solitary." Then he says, "For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat." By the way, seclusion is key. When you've been in battle for the Lord Jesus, you're going to want to come to a place that is quiet, you're not going to want to go to Disneyland. You want a time of relief and instruction. The demands of ministry are great, dear friends, and if you have no desire to come away in quiet solitude to be with the Lord, and to be with other believers, there's something terribly wrong with your heart attitude. You're probably not serving him. You know, most Christians are like most Americans who spend their life you know, sitting in front of a TV drinking a soda eating Cheetos off their chest, you know, as lazy as a as a sloth on Nyquil. I mean, that's what we see with so many people today in our country. And many Christians are that way. They just don't do anything. They don't ever exercise their faith, they come and they hear a sermon, and then they go home and they do their thing. I know today is the Super Bowl. Some of you may get into that type of thing. That's okay. But for a lot of people, they're not even having church today, because of the Super Bowl. It's astounding to me. So dear friends, don't be a spiritual sloth. There is no greater joy in life than serving Christ and enjoying sweet fellowship with Him. So verse 32, "They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves." Now Luke adds something very interesting in Luke 9, beginning of verse 10, we read, "When the apostles returned, they gave an account to him of all that they had done." And we read, "Taking them with Him, he withdrew by himself to a city called Bethsaida." So that means that he sailed east, along the northern coast of the Sea of Galilee. Those of you who were with me this last October, the same direction we went out in the Sea of Galilee, and this distance would have been about an hour and a half or so in the boat. So they had some time of fellowship there, but it's going to be short lived, as you are going to see. And here we have, again, a beautiful picture of how Christ is our refuge in life. Christ is our source of rest and relief, and he is mindful of our needs. He is aware of our limits, I think of Jeremiah 31:25, where God says to His prophet, "For I satisfy the weary ones, and refresh everyone who languishes." Isn't that a precious truth? And Jesus said in Matthew 11:28, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy laden." Weary and heavy laden are in the present tense, which means it's a continuous state of being burdened by life, "Come to Me, all of you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." You might recall the apostle Paul, when he was experiencing great strife as a result of the false teachers there in Corinth that was undermining his ministry, maligning him, turning people that he had led to Christ against him, and to believe things that were false. And we read in Second Corinthians 2 how, while he was in Troas, the Lord opened the door of ministry to him, but he was so depressed, he was so anxious, he was so distraught, he couldn't go through it. So in Second Corinthians two beginning in verse 12, we read, "Now when I came to Troas for the gospel of Christ and when a door was opened for me in the Lord, I had no rest for my spirit." Then he adds this, "not finding Titus my brother; but taking my leave of them, I went on to Macedonia." So he was alone, he was hurting. Later on in chapter 7, verse six, we read how God ministered to him.

There we read, "But God who comforts the depressed, comforted us by the coming of Titus; and not only by his coming, but also by the comfort with which he was comforted in you, as he reported to us your longing, your mourning, your zeal for me; so that I rejoiced even more." Dear friends, christian fellowship, is a tonic for the aching soul. It's a refreshing drink of water to the thirsty traveler. It is a glowing fire on a cold in a dark night. And please hear this, each and every one of you need to be cultivating Christian friends that you can spend time with when these difficulties come into your life. When you need someone to be with to pray with you, to weep with you, to comfort your soul and you need to cultivate these kinds of relationships. And you need to be that kind of person that is always ready and willing to invite those people into your home, into your life, that you might care for them and love them as Christ loves us. I think of 2 Corinthians 1:3, where the apostle Paul says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ." And this is vividly displayed here in Mark six, as Jesus calls his disciples away, to be with him in a secluded place for a time of rest, for time of fellowship and instruction.

So Jesus has not only the source, the only source of spiritual rest, but secondly, he is the only source of spiritual truth. Notice verse 33, of Mark 6, "Then people saw them going, and many recognized them and ran there together on foot from all the cities and got there ahead of them." Now, if you've been in this region, as some of you have, you are able to see the boat leaving the shore. And there are pathways all along the shores, the hills role, and you could travel those roadways as they did. And that day, it was elevated, a lot of those pathways are still there today. So many of these people see which way the vessel is going, and they start running ahead on the shore, to hopefully intersect with them. So many of them would have run. By the way, people were in far better shape back then, than we are today. So don't be shocked at that. They did not have processed foods, and fast foods and all the junk that we eat. Plus, they walked everywhere. And if you go to third world countries where they don't have vehicles, you see that people walk everywhere, for miles. I remember the first time I taught in Kenya, the pastors that came there, many of them had walked for three weeks to get there. And that's not at all uncommon. So these people were motivated, they wanted to see Jesus, and they were going to get there any way they could. And it was quite a crowd. Verse 34, "When Jesus went ashore, He saw a large crowd, and He felt compassion for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things." Luke adds this in Luke nine beginning in verse 11, "But the crowds were aware of this and followed him and welcoming them, He began speaking to them about the kingdom of God, and curing those who had need of healing." Well, so much for the rest and relaxation, right? It was ministry, head on once again.

Now stop and think about it. Jesus could have said, "Oh, no, look, you see all that crowd they're heading for where we're going, let's go south, or let's go back somewhere else. I don't want to deal with these people anymore." And I will confess that there are many times when I feel exactly that right? We all do. But no, he did not do that. It says that he felt compassion "splanchnizomai" in the original language is a interesting term. It means "to be deeply moved in one's bowels, in one's viscera, in one's entrails, in our inner being especially characterized by sympathy and compassion." May I ask you When was the last time you were deeply moved over people that did not know Christ? When was the last time your burden for these people was so great that you wept for them? Sadly, few Christians have deep feelings like this. Most Christians have what I would call a flat effect. They never get too high and they never get too low. They just kind of move along. It's a horrible thing. Having a spouse like this as some of you do. Or a parent like this. Everything is just matter of fact. Mechanical, cold. The kind of person that has never wept over their own sin, has never wept over an unsaved family member, nothing moves them. The lights are on but nobody's home. What a sad thing, no burden, no passion. Therefore no compassion, no real love for Christ. They're just superficial, shallow, heartless, unsympathetic, cold, indifferent. By the way, compassion is made up of love, patience, kindness, gentleness, fruit of the Spirit. And if that is missing in your life, it's because you are not walking by the Spirit. You are not surrendering yourself to the Spirit of God as He has revealed Himself in His Word. Because when you do that, the fruit of the Spirit is going to grow on the vine of your life. And certainly, one of the marks of walking by the Spirit will be to have a heart of compassion. And that's what we see in Jesus. Now, mind you, Jesus was exhausted, like the others, but still He felt compassion for them. And here's why, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Now, clearly, this was a slam against the religious leaders of Israel, they cared nothing about their sheep, the sheep of their pasture. Earlier in Jesus ministry, we see him expressing the same thing. We read about this in Matthew nine, verse 36. "Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them, because they were distressed and dispirited, like sheep without a shepherd." They were "distressed" a term that means they were grievously troubled. They were deeply affected. And if you read the context there, of course they were, they were being gaslighted by the Pharisees and the scribes. They're seeing with their own eyes, Jesus doing these miraculous things, casting out demons raising the dead, healing the sick, and then the Pharisees are coming along, said, no, no, no, no, no, no, all of that. And you know, that's, that's of the devil. Right? So what are they supposed to believe? Not only were they distressed, it says they were dispirited. So interesting term, it means they were feeling rejection. They were feeling as though they were just cast aside. And they were, they had no shepherd. And that's what Jesus saw. And it broke his heart. It motivated him to serve them and to love them. There in Matthew 9:36 goes on to say, "Then He said to His disciples, 'The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore, beseech the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.'"

Let me talk to you for a moment about sheep. I know from my cowboy and cattle days that cowboys and cattlemen hate shepherds and sheep. And so I've learned quite a bit about why that is the case. A lot of it has to do with how sheep, ruin grazing areas and so forth. But I've got some friends that are also shepherds, I've learned a little bit from them. One of the things that is certain is that wandering sheep are a danger to themselves. Sheep have the IQ, about the same IQ as cattle. I might add that they're not as smart as pigs. By the way, pigs are quite smart. They're kind of like bears. In fact, pigs and bears are in the same family. Interestingly enough, sheep do not have any ability to defend themselves. They're unable to find suitable pastures, they're unable to care for themselves to clean themselves. They're easily deceived, easily frightened. If you get around a sheep, and all of a sudden, one sheep gets scared of something the other see him get scared, and it's just a chain reaction, they all get scared and run off the cliff, you know, and they don't know why he's scared, but if he's scared, I'm scared. And that's kind of what they will do. In fact, I learned from shepherds that if you have all your your flock of sheep here, and you want to go from here to there, you don't just kind of march right straight through them, because that will spook them. They don't understand what's going on. So you kind of meander, and you talk with them. And you go back and forth. And finally, little by little you make your way over there. That's the gentleness of a shepherd. Well, the point is sheep need a shepherd. These people didn't have a shepherd. We see this metaphor Numbers chapter 27, beginning in verse 15, regarding Israel, and their wanderings in the wilderness, this happened at the close of Moses life, his leadership was coming to an end. And then we read in numbers 27, verse 15, "Then Moses spoke to the Lord saying,' May the Lord the God of the spirit of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation, who will go out and come in before them, and who will lead them out and bring them in, so that the congregation of the Lord will not be like sheep, which have no shepherd.'" And you will recall that God solved that problem by the appointment of Joshua.

So indeed, Israel was wandering alone in the wilderness of spiritual apostasy with shepherds that were really nothing more than wolves. They were desperate for a true shepherd. And even today, there is a difference between a sheep herder and a shepherd. A sheep herder uses fear to drive the sheep, especially through the use of dogs, and they get behind the sheep and drive them in fear. But a shepherd gets in front of the sheep. And because they trust him, and because they know him, they will follow him. That's what the people needed. Might add as well, research indicates that sheep can recognize up to 50 other sheep faces and remember them as much as two years. An amazing thing. They can also recognize human faces. I've seen this before, when several men came up to a large group of sheep, many of them turned away, but a lot of them saw his face. And when they heard His voice, they started coming to him. An amazing thing to watch. They will also follow the voice of their shepherd, because they have learned that that is the voice that has consistently protected them, and given them res,t brought them to good pastures, and freshwater. This helps us understand what Jesus said in John 10 and verse 27, "My sheep hear My voice and I know them and they want they follow Me." Those that are not His sheep, do not hear His voice. Nor does he know them and they therefore do not follow Him. By the way, every family, every church needs a godly shepherd. And how sad to see wives was languishing in a leaderless marriage. Children left unto their own devices. I've seen so many families and some even in this church, that languish in absolute misery and dysfunction. Not only because they are not following the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd, the Lord Jesus, but they don't have a shepherd in the house. Men, you need to be the shepherd of your wife, and of your children. And certainly, you need to be in a church, where you have shepherds that will care for you. So the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, he's aware of all of this going on with the crowd that is there. And the primary responsibility of a spiritual Shepherd is to lead and protect and provide for the flock primarily by catch this, teaching them. Teaching them, Mark 6:34. And he began giving them free stuff and promising their best life now is not what he says is it? "And He began to teach them many things."

So Jesus is not only the source of spiritual rest, he's the only source of spiritual truth. In fact, all truth is from God. He is the source of all truth. No truth ever originated from man. Whether it's the law of mathematics, the law of physics, spiritual truths, none of it came from any of us. We might know it, we might understand it, but we are not the source of it. Jesus is the source. In fact, in John 14:6, Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the Father but through me." So he began to teach them many things, because he knows that it is truth that will nourish their soul, that it truth that will protect them. It is truth that will guide them, it is truth that will provide for them eternal life. So he didn't teach them as people are teaching today, these ridiculous things like the social justice gospel. He didn't teach them diversity, equity and inclusion. All of the wokeus pocus nonsense that's out there. Boy, this stuff is going crazy, isn't it? I had a friend that lives out by me, tell me about a family from California that moved in next to them. Now, please. What I'm about to say, has no reflection on the people from California that continue to populate this church at CBC in record numbers, all right? But he said, You're not going to believe what happened to me. He said, I saw this guy pull up into my drive. And he said, I want to introduce myself, I'm your new neighbor moved here from California, blah, blah. They talked for a minute, and then the man said this to him. Sir, I would, I would like to ask you to sell your cows, and to clean up the manure out in your fields, because they give off methane gas.

Now, it would be inappropriate for me to share with you what he told him. But I'm quite confident that man from California will not be receiving a Christmas card this year. And it's interesting, the guy went to the other farmers and ranchers around and did the same thing. It's amazing how, how people are just completely given over to the insanity of our culture. Well, John, I'm sorry, Luke, chapter 9:11, tells us a little bit more about what Jesus did preach to them. It says, "He began speaking to them about the kingdom of God." That's what he taught them. They're all there, they want to see another miracle, they want to see something fascinating. And what does he do? He begin to give them what they need, not what they wanted. He began to teach them about the kingdom of God while he heals some of the people as well. Well, Jesus and his fore runner, John the Baptist, preached the same message right? You remember, Matthew 3:2 and chapter four, verse 17, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And certainly this was the kingdom proclaimed by the Old Testament prophets. He is proclaiming to them that He is the fulfillment of the promised Davidic covenant, He is the Davidic King that they expected. You will recall that the angel Gabriel informed Mary that she would have a son who would be great and sit on the throne of his father David and rule over Israel forever. In Luke chapter one, that he would establish this earthly kingdom and physically rule along with a restored Israel, a rule that would bless all of the nations. Matthew 19:28, A time that would ultimately be that consummating bridge between human history and the eternal kingdom of God for all of the redeemed, but you cannot enter the kingdom, apart from repentance, and saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. So repentance was the condition for entering this kingdom. This was and is today, the truth, wandering sheep must hear and must believe. You cannot enter the kingdom of God apart from genuine saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. John 18:37, you will remember Pilate said to Jesus, "'So you are a king?' Jesus answered, 'You say correctly, that I am a king. For this, I have been born, and for this I have come into the world to testify to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.'" So that's what happens. Jesus gets off the boat. They're all there. This is what he begins to teach them. So we see that Jesus is the only source of spiritual rest and spiritual truth.

But finally, he is the only source of spiritual life. Notice verse 35, "When it was already quite late, His disciples came to Him and said, 'This place is desolate, it's already quite late; send them away so that they may go into their surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves, something to eat.' But He answered them, 'You give them something to eat!' They said to Him, 'Shall we go and spend 200 denarii on bread and give them something to eat?'' In other words, are we supposed to spend what little we have in the kitty to buy food for all of these people? Well, obviously, Jesus was aware of the crowds need for food. I mean, in all of this is a providential setup right for what He's about to do. In fact, we read in John six beginning of verse five, "Therefore, Jesus lifting up his eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, 'Where are we to buy bread so that these may eat?' This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do. Philip answered Him, 'Two hundred denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them, for everyone to receive a little.'" So Jesus is aware of the great need, but he's also aware of the disciples great need for stronger faith, to really trust in Him. And you're not going to have a strong body unless you exercise it. Moreover, you will not have a strong faith unless you exercise it. And so that's what Jesus is doing here.

And now, not only is he preparing them for this astonishing miracle that will display his creative power and His divine nature, but he's also going to picture himself as the only source of spiritual life. Indeed, He is the bread of life, that eternally satisfies all who trust in Him. He alone can satisfy those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, a hunger that the Spirit of God places within the redeemed. That passionate longing to be right with God, to have a right standing before God, to be pleasing to Him. So verse 38, "He said to them, 'How many loaves do you have?'" Now loaves here, little flat loaves, they still have them over there. These are like little pitas, they call them lafas, I mean, they are kind of like a pancake or, or I guess in the Mexican restaurants, you have some things like that the little skinny things. Well, I forget what you call those things, but you've rolled them up, put your meat in there. This is a little bit, a little bit thicker than that. And I remember my Jewish friends when I was growing up, they would they would bring matzah to church or to school. Unleavened flatbread, so that's what's going on here. "How many loaves you have? Go, look!" And when they found out they said five and two fish." And John adds this in John six, beginning of verse eight, "One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to Him, 'There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish.'" Now this would have been pickled fish. That's how they did that, they used salt and would pickle the fish. And this was basically the little boys lunch. And then the little baskets, little lunch basket for a small boy, that's all they had. But he goes on to say, but what are these for so many people, verse 39, "And He commanded them all to sit down by groups on the green grass." Beloved, here is a magnificent picture of a shepherd leading his flock to green pastures, Psalm 23, in verse 2, remember that passage, "He makes me to lie down in green pastures." A place of abundant food, a place of rest, a place of protection. By the way, isn't that what we have in our church? What would we do if we didn't have a church to be able to come to, to be a part of? This is also a foreshadowing of the Messianic banquet in heaven, marriage supper of the Lamb, Revelation 9:9, that symbolic meal that will take place when at the establishment of the millennial kingdom and lasts throughout, that's also pictured in the Lord's Supper, remember, in Mark 14:25, Jesus said to His disciples, "Truly I say to you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God." So all of this is pictured here, verse 40, "They sat down in groups of hundreds and 50s." By the way, this would have been a miracle in and of itself, right? To get 15, 20, maybe 25,000 people to sit down in groups of hundreds and 50s. But that's what they did. You do the math. And I mean, even if there's 20,000 people and they did it, and with groups of 100. I mean, that's 200 groups. That's, that's a lot of groups. And it would have been necessary for orderly distribution. Verse 41, "And He took the the loaves and the two fish and looking up toward heaven, He blessed the food and broke the loaves, and He kept giving them to the disciples to set before them; and He divided up the two fish among them all." I can just see the disciples, maybe they had some help but you I know you guys are tired, but you're going to have to do a lot of running here to get this food distributed to all these people. And then we read in verse 42, "They all ate and we're satisfied." Reminds me of what Jesus said in Matthew five, verse six, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness," for they shall be what? "they shall be satisfied."

And then we read in verse 43, "and they picked up twelve full baskets of the broken pieces, and also of the fish." Twelve full baskets for twelve hungry disciples. The Lord did not forget his own right, he provided for them. And I thought to myself, Well, I wonder why it wasn't 13 I mean, the Lord needs some too. Well, I'm sure his disciples would have shared with him, maybe we'll find out someday in heaven. My what a miraculous display of God's creative power of His divinity. Surely He is our only source of spiritual rest and spiritual truth, and spiritual life. Now, we know that the people were so overwhelmed by what they had just experienced. And according to John six, beginning in verse 14, we read, "Therefore, when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, 'This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.' So Jesus perceiving that they were intending to come and take Him by force, to make Him king withdrew again to the mountain, by Himself alone."

And then we know if we were to read on that the next day, he reappears to them, he begins to teach them about the sovereign grace of God and salvation and all those amazing truths of the gospel. And we read that they heard this, wanted nothing to do with it, and they abandoned him. As a result of this, many of His disciples withdrew, and we're not walking with Him anymore. Dear friend, if you're here today, and you need rest for your weary soul, if you're here today, and you're confused about life, with all of the competing voices that are out there, if you're here today, and you're not sure what's going to happen to you when you die, I offer you the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only source of spiritual rest, spiritual truth, and spiritual life, eternal life. And for those of us who know these truths, well, let's know them even better. May I encourage you to meditate upon these truths? May I encourage you to celebrate these truths in your heart, and in your life and around the table with your family? And then may I encourage you to disseminate these truths in the proclamation of the gospel, that Christ might be glorified in your life. Common grace was provided but it was rejected. Don't be among those who reject God's common grace that can lead you to saving grace. Okay. Let's pray together. Father, your eternal truths are always so penetrating to each of our hearts. And I pray especially for the hardened heart, the rebellious heart. The heart that down deep doesn't want to believe any of these things. That heart that has conjured up their own ideas about life Lord only you can break through that type of recalcitrance. Only you can tear down that kind of a wall. Only you can give that person eyes to see and ears to hear. And to that end, I plead with you that you will do just that, even this day. And for those of us who know and love you, may we know and love you all the more as we meditate upon these great truths, and celebrate them in our lives, and proclaimed them with our lips. We pray all of this in the precious name of Jesus, our Savior, and coming King. Amen.

We now come to our time in our worship service when we can submit our lives to the scrutinizing Word of God. So will you take your bibles and turn to Mark's gospel chapter six, where we will examine verses 14 through 29. Under the heading, the beheading of John the Baptist, let me read the passage to you. Mark chapter six, beginning with verse 14, "And King Herod heard of it, for his name and become well known; and people were saying, John the Baptist has risen from the dead and that is why these miracle miraculous powers are at work in Him. But others were saying, 'He is Elijah.' And others were saying, 'He is a prophet, like one of the prophets of old.' When Herod heard of it, he kept saying, 'John, who am I beheaded, has risen!' For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip, because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, 'It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife.' Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so; for Herod was afraid of John knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him. A strategic day came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his lords, and military commanders and the leading men of Galilee; and when the daughter of her Herodias, herself came in and danced, she pleased Herod and his dinner guests. And the king said to the girl, 'Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it to you.' And he swore to her, 'whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you up to half of my kingdom.' And she went out and said to her mother, 'what shall I ask for?' And she said, ''The head of John the Baptist. Immediately she came in a hurry to the king and asked, saying, 'I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.' And although the king was very sorry, yet because of his oath, because of his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her. Immediately, the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went and had him beheaded in the prison and brought his head on a platter and gave it to the girl and the girl gave it to her mother. When his disciples heard about this, they came and took away his body and laid it in a tomb."

Here we have another example of unrestrained depravity. Here we have another example of militant unbelief. What goes through the mind of a person that could reject the gospel in such an alarming way, and perform these hideous barbaric acts. We are all aware of the escalating wickedness in our in our country and around the world. From the gross immorality of the LGBTQ perversions to the transgender insanity, from the brutal dismemberment of unborn children, to the demonstrably false ideologies of critical race theory, every pillar of society is cracking. Even many non believers see this. So much of what's happening today has now moved into the realm of the bizarre, the insane. Our President and his administration are godless people. They are immoral, they are corrupt. Much of what we see in the Democratic Party and even in many of the Republicans and independents is nothing more than sociopaths and psychopaths, ruling our nation And I don't say that to be mean. I'm saying that because that is the reality and we must face it. These people desperately need Christ. God has allowed these rulers to be put in place as part of his judgment upon America. But as God has promised, the world is moving inexorably towards a day of divine judgment. And right now the world is being prepared for the rule of the Antichrist.

We live in a fascinating period of time, where we see these things beginning to coalesce together, we see the prophetic signs, beginning to point towards a global ruler, a global economy, a global world system. But we also know that Christ is going to someday remedy all of that right. Paul spoke of this in 2 Thessalonians 2:7, "For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one who's coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason, God will send upon them a diluting influence, so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged, who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness." The rule of the Antichrist will one day be crushed by Christ Himself. When according to Second Thessalonians, one beginning of verse seven, "the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels and flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God, and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus."

And what we see in our text here this morning, is a vivid picture of the type of person that simply refuses to obey the Lord's command to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. But according to Scripture, from Herod to Hitler, from her Herodias to Hillary, God's judgment is coming upon the wicked with unimaginable majesty, and uncontested legal and regal authority. The Messiah, the warrior king, the king of kings and Lord of lords is going to return in power and great glory to exercise his judicial power to destroy the remaining Christ haters on Earth who have survived the pre kingdom judgments of the Tribulation. And that will be a time when man's long rebellion against God will be crushed and the Lord Jesus will establish his millennial kingdom, leading to the eternal and universal judgment of both the living and the dead. My friends, Jesus is coming again, we must remember that, we must rejoice in that. In his first coming, the world saw His love and His mercy and His grace. But in his second coming, they will see his justice, and his wrath, and his vengeance. And my heart breaks to know that some of my family members will experience that, some of my friends, perhaps even some of you. But one day the world will behold our holy God, the one that they mock. Holiness being the all encompassing attribute of God, portraying his utter transcendence His infinite perfections, it's the defining characteristic of his person, that holiness is the summation of all of who he is. Today the world mocks it but one day when they see him, they will not be able to escape his holiness; indeed the wages of sin is death, but there's eternal life to those who trust in Christ and eternal death to those who don't. So here we have a vivid example of rejection. Here we witness what goes on in the mind of the criminally depraved, insane person. Here we witness examples of pure evil.

Here we have a chance to get a glimpse into the mind of the ungodly, the type of people that will do everything they possibly can to silence their accusing conscience, to somehow suppress the truth of their own sin, and the glory and holiness of God. People that violently oppose the Word of God when it's proclaimed by His prophets. John 16, you will recall that Jesus promised that his father would send the helper one day referring to the Holy Spirit. Why would he do that? And well, according to John 16:8, the Helper will come to convict the world concerning sin, righteousness and judgment, the very things that the world simply does not want to hear. You must understand, because Satan is the god of this world that blinds the minds of unbelievers so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, people simply cannot rightly judge the truth concerning Jesus Christ and the Messiah. Unless God does something in his regenerating grace, their discernment is always false. It is always self serving, and they will come up with every excuse possible, to deny the truth of the gospel, and their need to respond to it in saving faith. And while the Gospel is the power of God unto salvation to all who believe it is also the power of God unto damnation to all those who do not. And for this reason, the apostle Paul tells us in Romans 1:18, that "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness." That is a wrath that first results in divine abandonment in a person's lifetime. When God according to verse 28, of Romans 1 gives them over to a "depraved mind, to do those things that are not proper." But also it is the wrath of divine abandonment for eternity. For the Lord Jesus said in John 3:18, "He who does not believe has been judged already." And then in verse 36, he went on to say," He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."

Now with this background, we look at this text. And here we witness at least three common reactions to the convicting power of the Word of God and the depraved heart reactions that maybe some of you are having even right now. To list them is real simple, we will see first of all ,guilt, then secondly, fear, and finally the reaction of anger. Now, remember, Mark is presenting a contrast. Here in this text from chapter five, you will recall Chapter Five is all about the gift of faith, you will remember Jarius the the prominent synagogue official and his 12 year old daughter that died. And he had faith and Jesus raised her from the dead. And also you have the the illustration of the unnamed woman who was a social outcast because of her persistent menstrual disorder that she had for 12 years. So you see the power of faith and what God does has in response to that, but here in chapter six, is the contrast of the power of unbelief, the shocking reality of it all. Now, we need some context here. Let's understand who this Herod Antipas really was. He was a regional monarch that ruled as a vassal of Rome over the territory that included the realm of Galilee and Perea and to better understand him, I want to tell you a little bit about his father, and then we'll talk more about him. His father, you will recall was Herod the Great that ruled Israel under Rome for 36 years. He was an enemy and he was he was not a Jew. He was a descendant from the rejected twin Esau, and although he was responsible for rebuilding the Jewish Temple, which he basically did to maintain order amongst the Jews, he hated The Jewish people and the Jewish people hated him. Jewish people, of course descended from Jacob not from Esau. He was a grossly immoral man, a brutal man, a paranoid megalomaniac. He was the one that ordered the execution of all of the male babies of Bethlehem to eliminate Jesus who he presumed may be a potential rival King. We know from history that he had 2000 bodyguards, and he killed hundreds of innocent people that he considered to be a threat to his throne, including three of his own sons, two of his brothers in law, one of his mothers in law, and his favorite wife. He had 10 wives by the way, his favorite wife wife was Mariamne had her killed as well. And on his deathbed, because he knew that none of the Jewish people would mourn his death, but rather celebrate his demise, he commanded that all of the Jewish nobles from all over Israel come and meet in Jericho, and when they arrived, he put them in Jericho's Hippodrome, a gigantic racetrack area, and ordered all of them to be killed upon his death. However, Herod's sister, Salome, the First, prevented the massacre by countermanding or that is, reversing the order right after his death. Now, how would you like to have a guy like that for your father? That was the father of Herod Antipas.

And certainly the apple did not fall far from the tree because Herod Antipas was equally barbaric and immoral and paranoid. Now, when Herod the Great, Herod Antipas, his father died in 4 BC his territory was divided, into three areas ruled by three of his surviving sons. The southern territories of Judea and Samaria, went to Archelaus, who was so incompetent that Rome finally deposed him and replaced him with various governors, one of whom, by the way, was Pontius Pilate. The region's of Iturea and Trachonitis, in the far north, went to Philip the Tetrarch, who was eventually succeeded by his nephew, Herod Agrippa. Read about that in Acts 12. But here's where the plot thickens aright? Herod Antipas, the third son, the subject of our text, was married to a gal named Phasaellis who was the daughter of King Erastus, who ruled down in the Nabateen, Arabia area, which is southeast of the Dead Sea, in modern day Jordan, capital city of Petra. We will be doing another tour to Israel this fall, and we're going to take a trip over to Petra this time. However, Herod Antipas decided that he was attracted to his half brother, Philip's wife, his sister in law, her name was Herodias. So he had an affair with her, but what's even more complicated is she also happened to be his niece. She was the daughter of Aristobulus, the half brother of Herod Antipas. Now, I know it's beginning to sound like the Jerry Springer show, and that's what you have here, okay? And Herod, we know pressured Herodias, to divorce her husband, Philip, and marry him. So he was guilty of adultery as well as incest. And of course, the rich and the powerful can get away with these things, they can pretty well do whatever they want. We see that all the time and the corrupt perverts or murderers that we have ruling our country. And by the way, Herod's father in law was so upset that he rejected his daughter, his father in law being King Aritus. He was so offended by all of this that he raised up an army against Herod and actually defeated him, although Herod Antipas was able to escape because the Roman forces came to his rescue. Now Herod Antipas and his wife Herodias, had a palace inTiberias there, on the western side of the Sea of Galilee, a city that he built in honor of the Roman ruler under whom he he served a ruler by the name of Tiberius Caesar. And there he lived in absolute luxury isolated from the rest of the Jewish people.

And they hated him, a lot. Along with all of the Romans, on whose behalf, he ruled, and like most all politicians, especially despotic rulers like Herod, he was completely out of touch with the needs of his people, he really didn't care. He just wanted to be left alone, and enjoy his opulent and immoral lifestyle. And then God decides to send John the Baptist. And my, you talk about throwing the cat in amongst the pigeons. That's what happened when John the Baptist came on the scene. John the Baptist, was the last of the Old Testament prophets, the forerunner of the Messiah, he was calling men and women to repentance, and he proclaimed Jesus to be the Lamb of God who takes the what? Takes away the sins of the world, you will recall in John 1:29. And evidently he used the wickedness of Herod and Herodias as examples of the type of people that need to repent. And obviously, this did not go well, when they heard of it. And also at the same time, John confronted the rest of the religious leaders of Israel for their hypocrisy.

Let me give you an example of that. And this, by the way, would have been an example of the types of things Herod and Herodias would have heard from the lips of John the Baptist. Matthew 3:7, "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees, coming for baptism, he said to them, 'You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore, bear fruit in keeping with repentance, and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham for our Father', for I say to you that from these stones, God is able to raise up children to Abraham. The axe is already laid at the root of the trees. Therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I and I am not fit to remove His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor and he will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.'" So, the news of John the Baptist preaching eventually reaches the ears of Herod along with his wife Herodias, they are furious, they're accusing conscience has been inflamed, they've been trying to silence it. They're trying to avoid more public embarrassment. But dear friends, when the Word of God is preached, it will unmask everyone who hears it, whether you like it or not. And so, being absolutely apoplectic over the prophets public renunciation of their character and their conduct, Herod sends soldiers to have John arrested. I might add that this took place shortly after Jesus' baptism and his immediate temptation into the wilderness. I would also add that he was probably thrown into a dungeon, we believe, at Herod's palace and fortress that's a top a stronghold, a vantage point and Machaerus in the Northeastern edge of the Dead Sea. You can see ruins of that today, if you go into Jordan. You can even see the opening to the dungeon and where that would have been. And due to John the Baptist's popularity and his wife's desire to have him killed, he probably had him incarcerated. Pretty good distance from Tiberius in Galilee. Now imagine what it would be like to be lowered into a damp, dark dungeon. It would be a hideous and slow death. But as we're going to see, God would rescue John from that slow death through death, and take him into glory.

With that, we come to verse 17, "For Herod himself had sent and had John arrested and bound in prison, on account of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip because he had married her. For John had been saying to Herod, it is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife." I love this. He's a fearless prophet. He speaking the absolute truth of the Word of God. He fears God more than man. And he's just saying what is true in Leviticus 18:16, "You shall not not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife. It is your brother's nakedness." Likewise, Leviticus 20:21,"If there is a man who takes his brother's wife, it is abhorrent. He has uncovered his brother's nakedness. They will be childless." Back to Mark 6:19, Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so. She was a first century Jezebel, Absolutely wicked to the core. Verse 20, "for Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and a holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him." This indicates that Herod was intrigued by John the Baptist's preaching, as offensive as it was to him, personally, obviously, he was a powerful communicator and powered by the Spirit of God. In fact, Jesus said of him in Matthew 11, verse 11, "Truly I say to you, among those born of women, there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist."

And so Herod would have John taken up out of the dungeon, brought before him and listened to him again. And then would send him back. And I'm sure there were times where he would say, "Listen, if you'll just tone it down, knock off all this stuff, we'll let this go, you can go back into the wilderness and eat your locusts and honey, just no more talk about God's judgment on us. I don't want to hear it." No, he wouldn't do it. And so he would go back into the dungeon.

Now notice the Lord's rescue of John the Baptist is quite an interesting tale. It begins in verse 21. "A strategic day came when Herod on his birthday gave a banquet for his lords and military commanders, and the leading men of Galilee." Now, we know from history that Roman birthday parties were like a bunch of drunken soldiers or frat boys getting together on spring break, going to a strip joint, getting involved in gluttony and drunkenness, and are watching the erotic dancing and all of the immoral debauchery that goes on in those places. Verse 22, "and when the daughter of Herodias herself came in, and danced," let me pause there for a moment. According to Josephus, this was Salome, the third, she would have been about anywhere from the age of 14 to 16 years old, so a young girl, and she was also the daughter of Herod Phillip the first, which was also known as Herod the second, and he was the son of Herod the Great, and she was the daughter of Herodias, Princess Herodias, granddaughter of Herod the Great, and step daughter of Herod Antipas. The text goes on to say "she pleased Herod and his dinner guests." The term "pleased" is a euphemism for sexually arousing someone. "And the king said to the girl, 'Ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it to you.'" So she did some kind of lewd, sexually titillating dance that appeal to the lusts of those ungodly men. And he says, "just ask me whatever you want, I'll give it to you." Verse 23, "And he swore to her whatever you ask of me, I will give it to you up to half my kingdom." Well, of course, this is pure bluster. This is just a drunken man showing off in front of, of all of his sycophants, by the way, he had no kingdom to give, right? I mean, he was just a vassal of Rome. So this is just unrestricted bravado and braggadocio. Verse 24, "And she went out and said to her mother, 'what shall I ask for?' She said, 'The head of John the Baptist.' Immediately she came in a hurry to the king." I would imagine she came in hurry because she didn't want him to sober up and say, you know, timeout, we need to talk for a second. So she comes back in very quickly, and says, I want you to give me at once the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

Now, this was fairly common in those days, and frankly, it's not at all uncommon in these days in the Near East. This would demonstrate the total annihilation of an enemy and also prove that execution had been fulfilled. And what's interesting, the fifth century church, Father Jerome suggested that Herodias took the head of John the Baptist and mutilated it in a fit of rage. She may well have done this because this was not without precedents. She may have followed the lead of Marc Anthony's wife Fulvia when she was presented the head of Cicero in 43 BC. According to the ancient Roman historian Cassius deo, we read, quote, "Fulvia took the head into her hands before it was removed, and after abusing it spitefully and spitting upon it, set it on her knees open to the mouth, and pulled out the tongue, which she pierced with the pins that she used for her hair, at the same time, uttering many brutal jests." We don't know for sure if this happened, but perhaps did. There's a famous 17th century painting by Peter Franz de Greber, depicting this macabre scene of Herodias pulling out John's tongue and stabbing it with a hairpin. So we don't know again if this happened, but it was certainly consistent with the barbarism of Roman nobility. Verse 26, "And although the king was very sorry, yet, because of his oaths, and because of his dinner guests, he was unwilling to refuse her." You see Ancient Near East oaths were absolutely inviolable. They could not be broken. And Herod was between a rock and a hard place. Now, pride comes before a fall, and his wife had outsmarted him. So verse 27, "Immediately the king sent an executioner and commanded him to bring back his head. And he went in and had him beheaded in the prison, and brought his head on a platter, and gave it to the girl and the girl gave it to her mother." And then we read this, this footnote here, "When his disciples heard about this, they came and took away his body, and laid it in a tomb." What a sad thing and yet, what a time of rejoicing knowing that now, their beloved brother in Christ was in glory. Now, with this historical background, I want us to examine just for a few minutes, the three common reactions to the convicting power of the Word of God that we find in depraved hearts, the first one is that of guilt. Again, notice verse 14. "And King Herod heard of it." What is it? Well, he hears of Jesus, he hears of all these miracles, that he claims to be the Messiah of Israel. Plus, he hears of how he has sent out his disciples, and He has empowered them to heal the sick, raise the dead and so forth. They're all preaching the same messages as John the Baptist. A message of repentance, turn from your sin, turn unto God, place your faith in Christ and so forth. So again, the text says, "And King Herod heard of it, for his name, referring to Jesus had become well known."

Now again Satan causes people to be blind to the truth. And because of man's depraved heart, we all hate what the Holy Spirit brings to bear upon our soul. When we hear the Gospel, his role is to convict us of sin, and righteousness and judgment of our sin and what it deserves; of the righteousness that we do not have and we cannot attain on our own, and the judgment that is inevitable, lest we place our faith in Christ. Sinners hate that. So they suppress that truth. I like to think of it as trying to keep a lid on a box that's trying to explode. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to experience these things. I don't want to deal with my conscience. By the way, in Romans 1:18, it speaks of this suppressing the truth in unrighteousness. You know, you cannot suppress the truth, if it is not already within you. Then every man, woman and child that rejects the gospel knows that down deep there is a God and they are responsible to him. And when they hear the truth of the gospel, they know it is true, no matter what they might do, to try to justify their unbelief. God makes it clear that he has placed a witness of himself in every one of us, for indeed, every man bears the very image of his Creator. In Romans 1:19 We read it's "Because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them." Now please understand, a man's sin and his condemnation before God is universal. It's made of all men. We see this for example, in Romans 3:9, the apostle Paul says, "What then are we better than they? Not at all; for we have already charged that both Jews and Greeks," catch this, "are all under sin.' Bear in mind, he's not saying that they've all sinned. He's not even saying that they are all sinners, though that is true. He's saying they are all under sin. "Under" in the original language "hupo" was a Greek term used to describe something more than just than just being beneath or lower than something. Rather, it's speaking of being subservient to something, to be under the rule, or under the power or under the jurisdiction of someone or some thing. And what he's saying is that all man, all men are sinners, all are under the jurisdiction of the master of sin. We are slaves to it. We live in sin's dominion, we cannot escape it apart from the power of God. Thus the whole world is under the sentence of divine condemnation. Man is guilty before a holy God. But he resents it. He fights it, he suppresses it and comes up with all kinds of excuses to say that that's just silly. Yet in his heart, his conscience continues to accuse him. Why do you think drug and alcohol addiction is so high? In our world, people are trying to suppress the truth and unrighteousness. They're trying to silence their accusing conscience. The conscience that causes them to experience guilt, and shame. With fear of God's judgment this is what sin produces. You will recall that after Adam and Eve sinned, they were ashamed. And they made themselves garments to somehow cover their shame and eliminate their guilt. "And when they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden," the text says that" they hid themselves." Why? Well Adam answered and said I "was afraid because I was naked. So I hid myself". And that's what sinners have been doing down through redemptive history.

You see, dear friends, the fruit of sin is shame and guilt. This is what Herod and Herodias was feeling. You will recall David after his sin, with Bathsheba and the killing of her husband, we read in Psalm 32:3, "When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer."" Then he says this, I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity, I did not hide. I said, I will confess my transgressions to the Lord, and you forgave the guilt of my sin." Oh, dear friends, there is the glory of the gospel. There is the power of the gospel.

Over the years, I've had the privilege of working with a number of homosexuals. And I've seen a number of them come to saving faith in Christ. And inevitably, when I talk with them, you hear that they are anything but gay, they are filled with guilt, they are filled with shame. That's why they are more apt to commit suicide than other people. That's why all of the data points to the fact that their behavior is associated with the shortening of their life by as much as two decades. And yet so many tried to silence their accusing conscience by demanding everyone to accept their immoral lifestyle. Not even get accepted, you have to absolutely celebrate it. And whenever you see these gay pride parades, you must understand that this is nothing more than a sinners, feeble attempt to somehow eradicate the terror of sin that is haunting their soul, oh how they need the gospel. Proverbs 13:15 says the way of transgressors is hard. Oh it is. Ask those that are addicted to drugs and pornography. Ask the habitual fornicator, an adulterer, an abusive husband or wife. Just ask the liar and the thief in prison. Ask the deadbeat dad, whose family has been destroyed because of his wickedness, a man trying to drown his sorrows in a bottle of booze. You ask the woman with multiple abortions. I was thinking of a woman that I worked with who came to faith in Christ. One of those great stories, always does not happen. But this was a very immoral, middle aged woman. I remember she had had four abortions, several failed marriages. She had some kids, they were all disasters. The beautiful flower of her youth was fading very quickly. When she was brokenhearted, her beauty had wilted. And that was the only way she found life, through her sexuality. And now that's gone. And she came and she and her broken heartedness was crying out for help. And by God's grace, I was able to point her to Christ and I remember reminding her of Psalm 147:3, "He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds." Isn't that a wonderful truth? Haven't we all been there? Maybe our situation looked different than hers. But we were all there. We were all guilty. Isaiah 42:3, "A bruised reed, he will not break and a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish."

Oh what hope, what power there is in the gospel. But Jesus took our guilt, took our shame upon himself. There is forgiveness, there is cleansing in the gospel of Christ. Whenever I think of this, my mind goes to I Corinthians 6:9, "Do you not know," Paul says, "that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revelers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." And then he has that magnificent statement. "Such were some of you." Such were some of you, but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God. In other words, by the blood of Christ, your sins were washed away. There was forgiveness, there was cleansing. Moreover, you're not just washed, your sanctified. Meaning you're set apart from sin unto God. Positionally, you are now justified, you are declared righteous, not because you are, but because Christ is. And you are forever hidden in him, clothed in his righteousness. Such were some of you. And I remember as a little boy, singing "What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, precious is the flow that makes me white as snow, no other fount I know, Nothing but the blood of Jesus." Well, this is what Herod is hearing. This is what Herodias was hearing. And their conscience was inflamed by John's preaching, but they are at war with the guilt that they are trying to suppress, the shame they're trying to suppress. They simply would not forsake the fleeting pleasures of sin.

William Grinnell great 17th century English Puritan wrote this, "The pleasures of sin must needs be short, because life cannot be long. And they both end together indeed many times the pleasure of sin dies before the man dies. Sinners live to bury their joy in this world. The worm breeds in their conscience before it breeds in their flesh by death. But be sure the pleasure of sin never survives this world. The word has gone out of God's mouth, every sinner shall lie down in sorrow and wake in sorrow."

So we'll go back to verse 14 of this text King Herod heard of Jesus, "His name had become well known people were saying, 'John the Baptist has risen from the dead, and that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.' But others are saying 'He is Elijah'". Now this is an interesting, why would they say he is Elijah? Because the Jews understood at the end of the Old Testament and Malachi 4:5, there is a prophecy," Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord." So they're thinking, Well, this must be, this must be Elijah. But Jesus tells us that John is Elijah, Matthew 11:14, "John himself is Elijah, who was to come." So they were confused with all of that, others, the text goes on to say, we're saying, "he is a prophet like one of the prophets of old". And then verse 16. "But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying, 'John, whom I beheaded has risen!'" It's John, the one that I beheaded, he has risen. Talk about a guilty conscience screaming at you. Well guilt also produces fear. Second, in our little point, Mark 16:16. "But when Herod heard of it, he kept saying", you see, he's haunted by what he has done. He knew that John was a righteous man, a terrifying thought. And what's interesting, you will find that the fear that is produced by guilt has a tendency to make people vulnerable to superstition, to irrational thinking, to feelings of confusion, to a sense of I just don't have resources to cope, what am I going to do? How can I fix this thing? That's when people typically turn to the anesthetizers of life. They fill stadiums every week, to somehow escape the reality of life. They put things in their blood in order to escape the guilt and the fear that sin produces a guilty conscience. And knowing that you've made many enemies will cause people to live in a perpetual state of anxiety and paranoia. That's what was going on. Proverbs 28:1, "The wicked flee when no one is pursuing, but the righteous are as bold as a lion." Right? Again, verse 20, under this heading of fear, "Herod was afraid of John knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was he was very perplexed." The terms means he was at a loss. It's like he didn't know what to say. He was overwhelmed with what he heard. But he used to enjoy listening to him. So it was kind of a form of entertainment for him. But he remained confused and undecided. Matthew gives further light on this in Matthew 14:5, "Although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd because they regarded John as a prophet." And of course, Herodias was feeling guilt and fear as well that was ruling her heart. Verse 19, "Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so." You see, people without Christ are haunted by their sin, and the reality that a Day of Judgment is coming, that they stand condemned before a holy God, but they do not want to think about it.

And of course, this is the power of the Word of God that is preached. That's why so few people want to come to a place like this and hear the truth. They're spending their whole life trying to avoid what I am saying today. We are told in Hebrews 4 verse 12, what the Word of God can do. "For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Then he says this, "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him, with whom we have to do." You see there is no hiding from the truth, there is no escaping the truth.

So the convicting power of the Word of God produced in these people, guilt and fear And then that depraved heart moves to the final reaction and that is one of anger. Again, verse 19, "Herodias had a grudge against him and wanted to put him to death and could not do so." Luke helps us understand more of this. Luke 9 beginning in verse 7, "Now Herod the Tetrarch, heard of all that was happening; and he was greatly perplexed, because it was said by some that John had risen from the dead and by some that Elijah had appeared and by others that one of the prophets of old had risen again. Herod said, 'I myself had John beheaded; but who is this man,' referring to Jesus, "about whom I hear such things?'" And then it says, "And he kept trying to see him?" Now why did he want to see him? Because he wanted to kill him. Luke 13:31 tells us that, "Just at that time, some Pharisees approached, saying to Jesus, 'Go away, leave here for Herod wants to kill you.'" Well, eventually, Herod got his audience with Jesus face to face. You remember the story, Jesus had gone to Pilate, Pilate couldn't find any guilt in him. So he sent him to Herod. Luke 23, we read about this beginning in verse eight. "Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus, for he had wanted to see him for a long time, because he had been hearing about him as was hoping to see some sign performed by Him." Again, so many of these people wanted to see him do something, do a miracle, entertain me. "And he questioned him at some length, but Jesus answered him nothing. And the chief priests and the scribes were standing there accusing Him vehemently. And Herod with his soldiers, after treating him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent Him back to Pilate."

Oh dear friend, the contempt of the wicked and the tragedy of unbelief, of rejecting the saving truths of the gospel. The unbelieving, depraved heart is filled with guilt, that just exacerbates fears, which inflames anger and resentment. And unless they repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, they will take that resentment into hell where there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, and they will blaspheme the one true and living God for eternity. May I challenge you? If any of this describes you, once you come to Christ today, he will provide forgiveness and cleansing. He will change everything about you. And for those of us who know and love Christ, may we be like John the Baptist, right? May we never be ashamed of the gospel. May we never capitulate to the culture. Maybe we never try to redefine the gospel, to try to make it more palatable to people that might reject it. Because as soon as you do that, you eviscerate the power of the gospel that the Spirit uses to convict people of sin, righteousness and judgment. Don't do that. Preach the gospel, live the gospel, and watch what God will do in your life, and in the lives of those that he will save by His grace. Let's pray together. Father, thank You for the eternal truths of your word. Thank you for this amazing story. One through which we gain much insight into the heart of the depraved, who reject the gospel. And I pray that if there be one within the sound of my voice that knows nothing of what it means to be in fellowship with you through faith in Christ, that you will bring overwhelming conviction to them. Open their eyes, open their ears, that they might see and that they might believe that they might come to faith in the living Christ. I ask this in the precious name of Jesus, and for his sake. Amen.

Would you take your Bibles and turn to Mark's gospel chapter six. We continue to make our way through this amazing historical narrative, verse by verse. By the way, I might add that we used to transcribe all of the sermons, it became rather onerous financially. So back in 2017, we stopped doing that in about the middle of the year. But thanks to artificial intelligence, I don't like that term, but you know what it means, right? We are going to catch up with all of those sermons and all sermons from here on out will be transcribed with about 99% accuracy. You know how it is, when you text something by voice, you better read what you said, because sometimes it records something very different. Little bit of that may be the same case here, but for the most part, it will be available to you because I understand, especially for those of you that have not sat under expositional preaching, it can be a bit overwhelming. And certainly for those that, that do not have a strong theological background. And so it's nice to be able to read these things. And a lot of our listeners, especially overseas really want the transcriptions because their internet isn't fast enough to stream what is being said, but they can get it and read it. And that's very helpful. And so I just wanted you to be aware of that. So that way you can go back and you can pick up things that was misstated or whatever, right? So we're gonna look at Mark six here in a moment under the heading “The First Generation Gospel Preachers.” This is a fascinating passage of scripture. Before I get to it, let me make a few comments. Some of you are aware of that, perhaps the most narcissistic, godless, super rich leaders in the planet gathered together last week in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum. And they spent five days discussing quote, "improving the state of the world." And it's really sad. What they fail to realize is that they are basically pawns in Satan's system on his chessboard, as Satan prepares the world for the rule of the Antichrist, the ultimate diabolical, globalist despot, that Christ will defeat. And certainly what they fail to realize, as does many other people, that the whole world that they want to improve lies in the power of the evil one. It's a frightening thought. 1 John 5:19. They failed to realize what Paul says in Second Corinthians four and verse four, that "the god of this world blinds the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." They failed to realize that the form of this world is passing away according to First Corinthians 7:29. They fail to realize that Jesus came to deliver us out of this world, that we are not of this world as believers. And one day, according to First Corinthians six two "the saints will judge the world." Of course, when they hear things like this they mock, they laugh, and we would to were it not for God's grace. So we need to love them enough to pray for them, to give them the gospel, but certainly not fall for their deceptions. I'm reminded of what Jesus said in First, or what John said in First, John, four beginning in verse five, "They are from the world therefore they speak us from the world and the world listens to them. We are from God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error."

So once again, we come together to hear from God, to understand his magnificent purposes, in this world, and certainly in our lives. And in this text today, we learn more about how God has come to deliver sinners from this evil world system. John 16:33 The Lord says "in this world, you will have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world." That wonderful, because we're united to Christ, we are also overcomers with him. In fact, in first John five, beginning of verse four, we read "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith, who was the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God." And so what we're going to see here in Mark six is what really happened when the first gospel preachers were sent out, to begin to present the magnificent truths of the gospel. So let's pick it up in verse seven, of Mark six, "And He," referring to Jesus, "summoned to the 12, and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. And He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a mere staff, no bread, no bag, no money in their belt, but to wear sandals. And He added, do not put on two tunics. And He said to them, wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave town. Any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet, for a testimony against them. They went out and preached that men should repent. And they were casting out many demons. And were anointing with oil, many sick people and healing them." And then dropping down to verse 30, "The apostles gathered together with Jesus and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, 'Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest for a while.' For there were many people coming and going and they did not even have time to eat. They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves."

Here we have a very fascinating and frankly a very instructive passage of scripture that speaks even to contemporary gospel ministry. Today, these things will apply to all of us, as you will see. And bear in mind that up to now, Jesus did all of the teaching, he did all of the healing, he did all of the bold rebuttals and rebukes etc. and his disciples were basically learning from him. He taught them verbally, but he also manifested before them how to effectively minister, so they had spent countless hours learning from Jesus through his teaching, through his actions. And as you probably are aware, many times, we learn more from what is caught than what is taught, right? And so this is what had been going on. Now it's time for the 12 men that he selected to be as apostles; to embark upon a short missionary journey there in the region of Galilee. So, bootcamp is over. Now it's time to actually go into combat. And I might add that pastors and church leaders will never be effective, until they have suffered for Christ in the context of real conflict. You need to know what it's like to be mocked, to be hated, to be challenged, to be forced in situations where you're completely without human resources. And you have to depend upon the Lord and His Word, to do what only He and His Word can do. I remember, in my doctoral training, it sometimes was brutal, because I had some liberal professors, and the ridicule from them and the peers, some of my peers, we would have reading forums where you would have to do position papers. And then you would have to go before 25 or 30 of your peers and maybe four or five professors in the back. I can still see them back there, and you would have to read your paper and then they would begin to dissect what you said. And oh my it could be brutal at times. I remember one professor from the University of Aberdeen just blistering me, because I kept using the phrase the Word of God. "You don't know that it's the word of God. That's just what you think it is. You can call it the sacred writings, or you can call it the Bible, but you can't call it the word of God, you lose all credibility. How do you know it's the word of God?" So it's this type of thing that you must deal with if you're going to ever be effective in ministry. Well, many young pastors today are ill suited and ill equipped. And frankly, I was. I didn't know how difficult it could be until I actually got into combat as a pastor. I hate to put it that way. But that's what it is like, sometimes, fortunately, it's not like that near as much today. have very little of that, but boy, we had it early on in this church, and every startup church will have that, to a great extent, some of the most wicked and divisive people I've ever known, call themselves Christians, and some of them have been a part of this church. So if you're ever going to be especially you, young men, if you're ever going to go into pastoral ministry, you need to ask yourself, How do I deal with bullies? How can I handle conflict? Am I a wilting lily? Or am I an oak? Will I depend upon the Lord? Will I be bold? Or will I cave to the pressure and capitulate so that everybody will like me, so that I won't lose my job?

Well, these are the types of things that Jesus had to instill in his first group of gospel ministers. So this was a, you might say, a short term evangelistic internship, to prepare them for ministry. And, and it's really interesting, when you think about it. The Holy Spirit hadn't fully and permanently equipped them and empowered them. That didn't happen later, until later on at Pentecost. Even though it was promised to them, you will recall an Acts one eight, we read, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses, both in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth." And we know that eventually he commissioned them, after his resurrection, just before his ascension, to go throughout the world. You're familiar with the Great Commission and Matthew 28, beginning in verse 19, "Lord Jesus said, Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."

Now, as we look at this text, I would like to do so under three categories that provide us some of the ministry principles that flow out of what the Lord would have them do, and what they actually did. These first generation gospel preachers were number one, summoned, sent and validated by God. Secondly, they were required to depend on God's provision and to be content with it. And thirdly, they were commanded to renounce gospel rejecters. The application of these principles in contemporary ministry will become even more obvious as we look closely at this passage and other passages that expand upon it.

So first of all, I want you to notice that they were summoned, sent and validated by God, verse seven, "And He summoned the 12 and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits." What's fascinating is we see in scripture that God specifically summoned or chose each man to accomplish his purposes. Even Judas Iscariot who would betray him, which is a fascinating thought. We know that that was a role that God ordained for this man before the foundation of the world. It's even prophesied in the Old Testament in Psalm 41, nine, Psalm 55, verses 12 through 14, Zachariah 11:12 through 13. And I know some are going to ask so let me just deal with it for a moment. Some will ask and rightfully so how can Judas be held responsible for his treachery? If it was prophesied and predetermined, well, frankly, the contradiction lies only in our mind not in the mind of God. It lies in our understanding of justice, which we don't fully understand. And what's interesting, God never makes any attempt to reconcile this perceived conflict. And we see this in Jesus affirmation of both God's sovereignty and man's responsibility. For example, in Luke 22:22, where Jesus says, "Truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!" And we know that Judas carried out his evil desires in his heart, apart from any divine influence, apart from any coercion, and God ordained all of these events that would ultimately lead Jesus to the cross. So God's perfect plan and Judas' evil plan concurred perfectly to accomplish God's purposes. And by the way, as soon as you try to explain God's sovereignty and man's responsibility, you cease to be biblical. Charles Spurgeon addressed this apparent contradiction between God's sovereignty and human choice by saying this, "If I find in one part of the Bible, that everything is for-ordained, that is true. And if I find in another scripture, that man is responsible for all his actions, that is true. And it is only my folly that leads me to imagine that these two truths can ever contradict each other. I do not believe they can ever be welded into one upon any earthly anvil, but they certainly shall be one in eternity. They are two lines that are so nearly parallel, that the human mind which pursues them far this will never discover that they converge, but they do converge, and they will meet somewhere in eternity, close to the throne of God, whence all truth doth spring."

Now, as we come to this text, we must understand that even as apostate Israel had 12 tribes, the Messiah now summons 12 men to be his spokesman, to give Israel the true way of salvation. And it's always interesting to me, that he joked that he chose common ordinary men, right? Just ordinary people, some fishermen, some common laborers, a tax collector, and a Jewish terrorist that absolutely hated Romans. Anxious to meet that guy, one of these days. And this was obviously intended to be a judgment against apostate Israel, because he didn't choose anyone from the scribes or the Pharisees or the Sadducees. No rabbis. And these men minus Judas Iscariot would later be replaced, who would later be replaced by Matthias would, would symbolize the new leaders, now, of the nation. Leaders that will eventually even be a part and functioning in the millennial kingdom, for which the nation was originally intended in fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant. In fact, in Matthew 19:28, Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you, that you have who have followed me in the regeneration," referring to the millennial kingdom, "When the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you also shall sit upon 12 thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel." And Luke 22, beginning of verse 29, "Just as my father has granted me a kingdom, I grant you, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel." So these men were summoned and then sent out in twos and the grammar indicates that they weren't just all lined up in a line and you know, the gun went off and they all went off at the same time, they probably went off, you know, at different intervals. Now, why to two by two? Well, for one reason in Deuteronomy 19:15, we read that "on the evidence of two or three witnesses, a matter shall be confirmed." But also ministry needs to be done in the context of other people. It was never designed to be a lone ranger. It's probably not a good analogy because he had Tonto with him, but I think you get the idea. Ministry requires mutual support. It requires fellowship and protection so it should never be done in isolation. And there's a multiplicity with gifts that we have in the body. And we all need to tap into those things. Plus you have all of the one another passages right? We're to love one another and pray for one another, encourage one another, even admonish one another, care for one another, serve one another, and so forth. So they went out in twos to preach the gospel throughout Galilee. And verse 12, it says, "They went out and preached that men should repent." So what is repentance? And therefore what should be the very heart of the gospel message? Well, true repentance is a god induced hatred of sin. True repentance is a turning from sin. It's a Spirit empowered, turning away from sin, forsaking sin and turning unto God. That's what they preached. While repentance should never be considered a condition for salvation, for there are no conditions to grace, it is a crucial element of the gift of grace as we read, in Ephesians, two eight, you see, belief in Christ and repentance are inseparably linked. And together, they will inevitably result in a life that changes direction. When we truly repent, and God saves us instead of going in this direction, we begin to go in a different direction in our life, as in the case of the Gentiles in Acts 11:21, where we read the Gentiles who believed and turn to the Lord. And we can also rejoice knowing that repentance is produced within us by the author of life who according to Acts 11:18 "gives the repentance that leads to life."

I want you to notice that what we read here is very different than much of what we see in evangelicalism today. They went out and preached repentance, and as we're gonna see, they preach the kingdom of God that we'll get into in a moment. But what they didn't preach was a prosperity gospel. They did not preach a social justice gospel that somehow promotes values borrowed from secular culture regarding race and manhood and womanhood, human sexuality. They did not go out with a big sign that says Jews lives matter. They did not go out with a rainbow flag, right? They went out and they preached repentance. To do otherwise would violate, for example, what Paul said in Colossians, two, eight, "See to it, that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ." No dear friends, they went out and they preached the pure unadulterated gospel of God, the good news that a infinitely Holy God has provided a way for we, as sinful people, to be reconciled to Him through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why Paul, when he came to Corinth, that was exceedingly wicked, he said in First Corinthians two beginning of verse 2:4, "I determined to know nothing among you, except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, and in fear and in much trembling. And my message and my preaching, were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God." So he sent them out in pairs, and he gave them authority over the unclean spirits. Luke nine adds to this in verse two, it says, "And he sent them out to proclaim the kingdom of God and to perform healing." Now, from time to time, people will ask, "Can you help me understand the kingdom of God?" Well, it would probably take months to get into all of it. But let me give you just a few moments, because it is important for you to have the basics.

There are essentially three aspects to the kingdom of God as revealed in Scripture. The kingdom of God consists of a universal kingdom, a mediatorial Kingdom and a spiritual kingdom. God's universal kingdom can be defined as God's eternal, sovereign rule over all that exists. You might recall in David's great song of majesty and love, he said in Psalm 145:13, "Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your domain endures throughout all generations." And God's mediatorial kingdom can be defined as God's sovereign rule over the earth, through divinely chosen human representatives, who speak on his behalf and who represent the people before him. Here God exercises absolute rule in his invisible spiritual kingdom on earth through the agency of divinely chosen men, and he gave them special revelation; they recorded that in Scripture. And therefore we can understand his kingdom purposes and how we as sinners can enter into the kingdom.

And then there's God's spiritual kingdom, which can be defined as an invisible kingdom that exists only in the hearts of those who have trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior and King. And I might add, that it is my firm belief that the kingdom of God is the all encompassing and unifying theme of Scripture. In fact, if you want a brief summary of the Bible, if somebody were to say, "Can you tell me what's in the Bible?" All right, that's a loaded question. Right? What's in the Bible? Well, you could summarize it in this way by saying, you know, it begins in Genesis, one of a creator King of the universe, that made man in His image to rule and subdue the earth to bring glory to the king. But he failed, he sinned, and God cursed man. Yet God promised that the seed of a woman would one day emerge, and would defeat the serpent that usurped the throne, and reverse the effects of the fall so that man could effectively rule over creation. And God in His mercy sent the Messiah King to bring redemption through His atoning work on the cross. And the cross then becomes the basis for reconciling both people and creation, to God. Acts three, verse 10, speaks of the restoration of all things. And we see in the Bible that God gave covenants, to ultimately carry out his promises, to accomplish his purposes in restoring his kingdom. The out workings of unilateral, unconditional, irreversible, irrevocable covenants, all of those are instruments that God uses to manifest his his kingdom. There's the covenant that he made with Noah, in Genesis 6 and Genesis 9, there's the covenant that he made with Abraham in Genesis 15, and Genesis 17. There's the covenant that he made with the priests, the priestly covenant in Numbers 25. And then you have the Davidic Covenant, the one that he made with David in Second Samuel 7. You have the new covenant in Jeremiah 31. So that's what's in the Bible. But then the very last chapter of the Bible, in Revelation 22 in verse three and verse five, we see the final rule of God, and the rule of the lamb and God's people, the revealed is ruling on a new earth, There we read, "There will no longer be any curse and the throne of God, and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond servants will serve Him...and they will reign forever and ever." So there's a little synopsis of what's in the Bible, right? And the amazing thing to me, beloved, is that all of this was ordained by a sovereign God in eternity past. And somehow we're a part of this. It's absolutely staggering to me. I might even add that David gives us a record of when God set all this into motion in Psalm two. And it was not according to some covenant or agreement rooted in theologically derived covenants as covenant theologians would assert. I'm very uncomfortable with that, but rather it's rooted in biblical covenants. God's Kingdom program was decreed by the Lord and in Psalm two beginning of verse seven we read, "I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord. Believe David writing here. And then we read, "He said to me, 'You are my son today I have begotten you.'" And this son language, by the way, parallels the son language that we read in the Davidic Covenant in Second Samuel seven in verse 14 in regards to the coming descendant of David. We go on to read "Ask of me and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance and the very ends of the earth as your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, you shall shatter them like earthenware. Now, therefore, oh kings, show discernment. Take warning, oh judges of the earth, worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling, do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in him!" Oh, how I wish I could have been in Davos last week, to read that passage, and preach that text. Beloved, this is the gospel. These are the types of things that the apostles preached.

Now back to the historical narrative, Matthew adds a little bit more as to what went on in Matthew 10, beginning of verse five, "These twelve Jesus sent out after instructing them, 'Do not go in the way of the Gentiles and do not enter any city of the Samaritans, but rather go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.'" We know that the gospel first, it was to the Jew first, then later to the Gentile. In fact, Paul's ministry was primarily to the Gentiles. So this is what they were to preach. This is what we must preach. So back to our text in Mark six, verse seven, "He summoned the twelve and he began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits." Luke adds to this saying, in chapter nine, verse two, "they performed healing." So what we see is that he gave them supernatural authority over the demons, and disease. And he did this in order to authenticate, or you might say, validate both the message and the messenger as being from God. And I might add that once the New Testament canon was complete, these miraculous sign gifts disappeared. And so anyone who speaks divine truth with divine authority must be validated not by miraculous signs that they do, but they must be validated or authenticated by their faithfulness to the text of Scripture. That's how we measure if a person is speaking on God's behalf, on the basis of the inspired, inerrant, authoritative and fallible, all sufficient Word of the living God. Sorry, Professor. That, by the way, it was a lot of my rebuke. I'll never forget that day. And many others like it. But folks, if you don't believe in the inspiration of Scripture, which by the way, several of those professors did not, you don't have anything, and there's going to be conflict galore. So no one today has authority over unclean spirits. Though I might add unclean spirits or demons are very, very active in countless people today, we aren't able to always discern that. And it's not up to us to do that we just unleash the gospel. As I say, we are not to exorcise we are to evangelize and the Spirit of God does the rest. And no one can heal or raise the dead. So every pastor, every teacher, must be tested by comparing what they say, and do by what God has said and what He requires. So we are to preach the word, for example, we're to contend earnestly for the faith, it was once and for all delivered to the saints, we are to shepherd the flock of God, and so forth. First, John four, one, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world." So when you hear some of this crazy stuff that's out there, you have to say, "All right, let's look at scripture and and let's just see, what does the word of God say about what you're teaching?"

So they were summoned, sent and validated by God, but secondly, I want you to notice, they were required to depend on God's provision and be content with it. Verse eight in Mark six "and he instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey except a mere staff." Staffs were used somewhat as a walking stick, but also for self protection. There were animals or crazy people like we have today. And he said, no bread, no bag, no money in their belt, but to wear sandals. And he added do not put on two tunics. In other words, he's basically saying, Look, guys, I want you to travel light with only the clothes on your back sandals in your feet. Bring no provisions, I want you to learn to depend upon me, I want you to trust in me. And he said to them wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave town. That seems a little bit odd unless you understand the context of that day, where false teachers who were in it for the money would go in and, and they would begin to teach and they would begin to get better offers and they're making money off of people. And certainly this is what Jesus knew would happen with them. But they weren't careful. Because you think about it, all of a sudden, you come to town and you're healing people. Well, people are gonna line up to say, hey, come and stay at my place. You know, my place is bigger and better. In fact, I will give you... and here we go. Don't do that. Because you're not in this for the money. It isn't about you and your needs. It's about God and His glory. And what a stark contrast to the false teachers of that day. And frankly, of this day. In fact, Paul addressed this in Second Timothy three, six, they were the type of characters that would "enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins." I remember in 1995, we sold our house, getting ready to go teach at Masters on the Bible faculty. And a guy came with his wife and said, We'll take it, we'll buy the house. Got to talking with him, I found out that he was the primary fundraiser for a couple of the most notorious prosperity preachers. In fact, you would know who they were. They're still in existence today. And I said, How can you possibly raise money for these guys, you've got to know that they're con artists. These are charlatans. And I remember because it really angered me. And I remember he just kind of laughed it off. And he said, and this is almost a direct quote, he said, well, people are going to give it somewhere. It might as well be us. And then he went on to tell me that they primarily targeted middle aged women who read romance novels, watch soap operas and listen to Oprah Winfrey. So that was their target audience. So Jesus forbade these men from using their abilities in their ministry to make money. Remember what he said in Matthew 10, verse eight, "Freely you received, freely give, do not acquire gold or silver or copper for your money belts." You see true missionaries, true gospel preachers, pastors, must depend upon God's provision and be content with what he provides. We can all tell countless stories of how he has fulfilled those things in our lives. Jesus wanted to teach them from firsthand experience. In fact Matthew six verse 31, he wanted them to learn what he said, "Do not worry then saying 'What will we eat? or What will we drink? Or what will we wear for clothing?' For the Gentiles, eagerly seek all these things' for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things, But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be added to you." The apostle Paul certainly understood this. That's why he told the church in Philipi in Philippians, four beginning of verse 11, "Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content and whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need, I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." And so God's man will be content with what God provides and he'll not desire, material gain. I remember having a discussion with a family they were insiders with a very popular, charismatic ministry and broadcast network. And they were telling me how there are rooms that they have, that are filled with boxes of various expensive items that people have given to them so that they can buy a miracle. Described boxes of very expensive watches, boxes of expensive cameras, boxes of expensive jewelry and so on and so forth. Folks, that's always the mark of a charlatan, I think you realize that. I mean, Jesus had virtually no earthly possessions, right. In fact, he said in Matthew 8:20, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." You never saw Jesus or the apostles, doing big fundraisers so that they could have a jet to fly around for their ministry, right? I know they didn't have jets back in those days, I don't know fancy chariots or whatever. You never saw any of that type of thing. No lavish ministry estates, no entourage carrying their bags. Sadly, many churches today are pastored by entrepreneurs, people trying to make a buck. Paul said this in First Timothy six beginning in verse six, "But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment, For we brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. If we have food and covering with these, we shall be content. But those who want to get rich, fall into temptation, and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. But flee from these things, you man of God, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness." Now, I might also add that later on, Jesus lifted some of these austere requirements. He wanted them to learn the lesson of dependence from the outset, but he wasn't somehow advocating a vow of poverty as some might teach. In fact, in Luke 22, we learn whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one." It's a very complicated passage, not exactly sure what it means. Some will argue that was a first century version of concealed carry, you know that you need to have a sword to protect yourself. It might be and maybe, I leaned towards this, that it's more of a figurative expression, used to describe the perilous nature of the gospel ministry. We can't say for sure. But he went on to say "For I tell you that this which is written must be fulfilled in me. And he has he was numbered with transgressors for that which refers to me has its fulfillment. Then they said, 'Lord, look, here are two swords,' and he said to them, 'It is enough.'" In other words, enough of that kind of talk. I want you to trust in me even for your protection. So they were required to depend upon him. Let me pause for a moment. Ask yourself, do I depend upon the Lord for my needs, especially as I minister the gospel? Maybe we need to back up? Are you ministering the gospel in your life? Or are you kind of a chameleon Christian that just kind of blends in so that nobody would be offended with your position? Your faith in Christ? Is it your priority to serve Christ? Or to serve self? Do you depend upon God's provision in your life? Are you content with what you have? Are you obsessed with material wealth rather than his glory?

Well, again, they were summoned, sent, validated by God, secondly, required to depend upon God's provision and be content with it. And finally, they were commanded to renounce gospel rejecters. Now, what we are about to examine here is utterly antithetical to evangelical pragmatism today that believes that friendship with the world is a better strategy for evangelism than preaching the gospel. That you've got to be seeker sensitive, make sure everybody likes you, let's don't offend anybody. Verse 11, "'Any place that does not receive you,' Jesus said, "or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them." Now to be sure they were going to run into many Nazareth's remember how they were treated, Jesus was treated in Nazareth, we all experienced this. And when this would happen, Jesus didn't want them to just keep preaching in a vicious audience that's scoffing at them, and at the Lord, those who oppose the gospel. In fact, he said in Matthew seven, six, "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces." But also, Jesus didn't want them to just kind of throw up their hands and just kind of quietly walk away and go to another town. He wanted them to publicly renounce them, to pronounce judgment upon their unholy heads. Now, Jews understood the symbolism of shaking the dust off your feet. It was a visible expression of scorn and contempt for Gentiles and all of their paganism. So whenever they were in a pagan area, and they walked back in to the Jewish territory, they would visibly take the their feet and shake off the dust. And it symbolizes the uncleanliness, the filth, the contamination of Gentile paganism. And likewise, you must understand, when the emissaries of Christ would encounter, shall we say, spiritual dogs and pigs of apostate Jews who mocked Christ and reject the gospel, they were to shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them. Luke expands upon this in Luke 10, beginning in verse 10, "But whatever city you enter, and they do not receive you, go out into its streets and say." Let me stop there a second. This was to be a public renunciation, all right. It's not like, Hey, do this when nobody's looking. No, this was probably, go out into the streets and say, "Even the dust of your city which clings to our feet, we will wipe off in protest against you; yet be sure of this, that the kingdom of God has come near." He went on to say, "I say to you, it will be more tolerable in that day for Sodom than for that for that city. Woe to you, Chorzin! Woe to you Bethsaida! For if the miracles had been performed, and Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago sitting in sackcloth and ashes. But it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you." In other words, I want you people who have rejected the Gospel and made a mockery of Christ, to know this, that even as there was no hope for Sodom, there is no hope for you, unless you repent and believe in Christ.

On many occasions, I've had to communicate these types of things to smug vicious people, gospel rejecters, where I've had to say, you know, we need to stop right here, I can tell that you are completely dominated by unbelief. And I'm not going to continue to be berated by you, but you must understand that unless you repent, you will perish in your sins. And one day you will bow before the Lord Jesus Christ. But you will bow before him in terror, not in triumph, and God will judge you. And I can only pray that He will have mercy on your soul. Then you leave. So what happened? Verse 12, "They went out and preached that men should repent." And oh the opposition they faced, right? As we do today, we want to ask ourselves, how, how is he using me? Have any of you ever really suffered for Christ because you stood for him in some way? I'm not saying go out and pick a fight. But I mean, you know, just stand up at the watercooler and say, you know, I don't agree with that. That's not what God has said in his word. What about Facebook. Well, there's a great forum. You know, the good news is folks he uses common ordinary people like you and me. I think what Paul said in First Corinthians 1:20 and following "Where is the wise man? Where is the scribe? Where's the debater of this age Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world. For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not come to know God, God was well pleased through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. For indeed, Jews asked for signs and Greeks search for wisdom. We preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block into Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are the called both Jews and Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God, because the foolishness of God is wiser than men. And the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling brother, and that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise. God has chosen the weak things of the world, to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that he may nullify the things that are, so that no man may boast before God. But by his doing, you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, so that just as it is written, let him who boasts, boast in the Lord."

So they went out and they preached repentance, verse 13, "And they were casting out many demons that were anointing with oil, many sick people, and healing them." Now, I might add, that the people of that day would have understood the symbolism of the anointing of oil. It wasn't like they had to have oil, to somehow heal people. You know, it's not like they came and somebody needed healing and they say, Hey, I forgot my oil, anybody got any oil? You know, we can't heal them unless we get some oil. You know, that's not what's going on. Rather, they understood that in the Old Testament, the anointing of olive oil was something that demonstrated how God was investing in an individual's power, it was a symbol of consecration for service, to set people apart for service, and it symbolizes God's presence and His power and His authority upon a person. And the apostles did this to symbolize their power and their authority that God had given to them. That was the point. I remember one of the rodeos I went to when I lived in California, there was this cowboy preacher, pastor, that, sadly, was just a total heretic. I had spent time with him on a number of occasions, but at that, at that rodeo, one of the bull riders was hurt pretty bad and, and people went out and they kind of gathered around and they wheeled him off and in the little cart thing that they use, and I remember, he went running to his truck, and he pulled out his dipstick and got some oil on his fingers. And then he came running back and he started making a big scene that he was going to pray for this man and anoint him with oil. And he started doing the whole tongues things, you know, and, and a couple others joined in. It was quite a show, and then he put oil on the guy's forehead and you know, the rest of the story, folks, that's unbiblical. Anyway, as we think about all that happened with these dear people, these dear men that went out originally, what an amazing thing it is to see how God used them to begin to build his church, and to see how these ministry principles apply to us.

And in closing, what happened? Well, later on in the chapter in verse 30, we read that, "The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught." Let me pause there for a second, folks, this is so important to do. We need to get together on a regular basis with one another, and kind of report to each other. What God has been doing in our lives, in our ministry, to be able to share, Hey, I'm going to tell you I've been praying for this person and I had an opportunity to speak truth into this person's life and we need to pray that this will happen, and please help me because I'm facing this horrible opposition in my family with this person. I mean, we need to do that. How encouraging it is, to hear these things from one another so that we can pray for one another, so that we can see that we're not alone. And it's also some accountability, isn't it? You don't want to be the only one sitting there thinking man, all I did last week was watch TV. You know? Well, that's what they did. They gathered together with Jesus reported to Him all that they had done all that they had taught. And often when I get together with people, and they share what they did and what they taught, sometimes I have to say, "You know what your teaching there isn't quite accurate. Can I humbly suggest to you that this is what the text says?" "Oh, I didn't realize that." That's what we need folks. "And He said to them, 'Come away by yourselves to a secluded place, and rest for a while.' (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat.) Well, anybody that has been in ministry understands that it can be very draining. And the Lord knew that they were exhausted. Plus, they would have learned about John the Baptist's beheading at the hand of Herod. Something that we'll talk about next week, Lord willing. And then we read that, "They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves." Luke tells us in Luke nine, verse 10, that they "sailed across the northern tip of the Sea of Galilee, near the town of Bethsaida." Bethsaida means house of fish. So it was probably a small fishing village. By the way, that's where Peter and Andrew were originally from. So they go there to get some rest and relaxation, and to get their batteries charged once again to go back into ministry. Well, folks, may I challenge you get serious about your witness for Christ, speak up, be bold. The fear of man is the snare, don't get caught in that snare. Worship the Most High God, don't be afraid of these people. Love them enough to give them the gospel. "Oh, but I might lose my job." Oh, boy, I hope that doesn't happen. But you know what, I kind of think that the God of the universe can handle that, you know? Publicly express your faith. "Well, I don't really know what to say." Oh, come on. If you know Christ, you know the basics of the gospel. Just tell them that. Give them your testimony. Beloved, never underestimate the power of your testimony, tell people what Christ has done, is doing and will do in your life. And watch what the Spirit of God can do with that. And then when times are difficult, you will find that God will minister to you in ways that you can't imagine. And then, by the way, you will long to be in the presence of other brothers and sisters in Christ, to share what God is doing. Because you're gonna long to hear from them. You're gonna want to pray with them, pray for them, and just learn from one another and do all of the one another things. I mean, that's just a part of what it is to be in the body of Christ. Right? So there's a little sample of what happened with those first generation preachers. May we continue in that same vein, for our good and for God's glory. Amen. Father, thank you for the amazing truths that emerge from these historical narratives. We learn so much from them and we find ourselves feeling at times embarrassed for our lack of boldness, our lack of witness, for our lack of intentionality. Lord, bring conviction to each of our hearts that we might truly be salt and light, that many will come to faith in Christ through our witness, through our lives, through our mouth. We pray in Christ's name and for His glory. Amen.

As we continue our verse by verse examination of Mark's gospel, we find ourselves this morning in Mark chapter six. So if you will take your Bibles and turn there, let me read the passage that we will look at closely this morning, under the heading, “The Shocking Reality of Unbelief.” Mark 6 beginning in verse one, "Jesus went out from there and came into His home town, and His disciples followed Him. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, 'Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to him, and such miracles as these performed by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses, and Judas and Simon, are not His sisters here with us. And they took offense at Him. Jesus said to them, 'A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown, and among his own relatives, and in his own household.' And he could do no miracle there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he wondered at their unbelief, and he was going around the villages teaching."

Last week, we examined Mark chapter five and there we witnessed Jesus power over disease and over death, a power that validated His deity and his power to save and to sanctify sinners. And therefore, if Jesus is God very God, as he says, he is and as he proved to be, then he should be obeyed. And when we behold the perfections, and the power of Jesus, in these historical narratives, we must do far more than just marvel at who he is and what he did and continues to do. We must also bow before him in humble obedience to His word, because Jesus is Lord, but remarkably, most people in the first century and frankly, most people today, refuse to do that. And here in we have the shocking reality of unbelief. It was so shocking that you will notice in verse six, Jesus, quote, "wondered at their unbelief," their refusal to believe and obey Him as their Messiah. The term "wondered" from the verb "thaumazo," in the original language means to Marvel, it means to be amazed. The only other time Jesus wondered at something was when quote, "he marveled at the faith of the centurion." You will recall in Matthew 8:10, "and he said to those who were following 'Truly I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel.'" He marveled at the faith of a Gentile, but now he's marveling at the unbelief of his own people. And here in Mark 6, we see the opposite therefore, in their unbelief. Later on, we will see the same thing with Herod. And there's a fascinating contrast as well and Mark does a lot of this in his Gospel in chapter five Mark emphasized the gift of faith to if you will recall Jairus who was the prominent official of the synagogue. He had a 12 year old daughter that was sick and then she died and the Lord raised her from the dead. And also the faith of the unnamed woman, the social outcast, who struggled with a persistent menstrual disorder for 12 years, and her faith was evident. So we see that dominant theme of faith in chapter five.

And now we have the direct opposite of that. We have the shocking reality of unbelief in chapter six. And as we look at this passage before us this morning, I want to emphasize three concepts that need to be understood, so that we can understand biblically this whole issue of the shocking reality of unbelief. We're going to look at the cause, the characteristics and the consequences of unbelief. But I have much to say before we get there, let me give you some context here, historically.

The first century Jewish people, for the most part, worshipped God of their own making, one that they thought they could impress by their fastidious rule keeping. And they were an exceedingly arrogant people. They were self righteous, and they hated Jesus because He exposed their hypocrisy as he does for all of us when we approach the Word of God, right? You will recall, in Acts:7, remember the story of Stephen. The text there says that he was full of faith and the Holy Spirit full of grace and power. He was performing signs and wonders, and many priests were coming to faith in Christ. And yet, the synagogue leaders said that they were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Holy Spirit. And so what do you do? Rather than bow down and believe and worship the Lord Jesus, they get mad. And they ended up stoning Steven, but in Acts chapter seven, part of his message to them reads this way, beginning of verse 51, "You men who are stiff necked and uncircumcised in heart, and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit. You are doing just as your fathers did, which one of the prophets did. Which one of the prophets did your father's not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the Righteous One who is betrayers and murderers, you have now become; you who received the law as ordained by angels, and yet did not keep it. Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and they began gnashing their teeth at him." Gnashing literally means to grind to the teeth. It was a sign of rage. And so they took him out and they stoned him, you will recall. And there was also a young man there with him by the name of Saul, that held the clothes of those that were doing the killing. And Saul later became the Apostle Paul . Stephen's ministry and others in that day really infuriated, especially the Jewish leadership. But what Jesus did took it to a whole new level. Jesus ministry fanned the flames of their fury into a raging inferno. And so the the leaders in particular were scheming to kill him and what made it worse for them is his popularity because everybody is flocking to come to Jesus. And again, there are priests that are being saved. Many people were being saved. But most people were in awe of him outside of Nazareth, because the people in Nazareth knew Jesus. They knew that he grew up there. You will recall that his family had moved there; Joseph and Mary after returning from Egypt where they had fled from Herod. And so the people there knew who Jesus was. Nazareth, by the way is about 25 miles southwest of Capernaum. Those of you that were with me in Israel, this last year, we went there. It's nestled up in some fairly steep mountains there on the North Ridge of the Jezrell Valley. It was founded in 2200 BC, and in Jesus day, there was only about 500 people that lived there. Interesting, today, it is still there in the Northern District of Israel and it's known as the Arab capital of Israel, there's about 80,000 people that live there. About 70% of them are Muslim 30% are Christian. And it's really sad like in most of the Arab villages, the streets and the roadways, literally are landfills. It's just, it's just filthy. There's just junk everywhere. But the residents of Nazareth knew Jesus, he lived there for about 30 years. They knew the whole family. We see from scripture that Mary had given birth to at least six children after Jesus was born. They called him a carpenter, which is true, a "tekton", which would be a construction worker, it could be translated "a builder," it was used to describe a stone maker, a sculptor, metal smith, and so forth. And of course, this is one of the main reasons why they rejected his claim as Messiah. From their perspective, this is just Jesus that you know, the builder that lived here with Joseph and Mary, it be the Messiah. Now, this event in Mark 6, you must understand is the second and last time Jesus would visit his hometown. After commencing his public ministry, I want to remind you of what happened the first time, he went to Nazareth. That happened at the end of the temptation that he experienced in the wilderness with the devil, Luke chapter four. And this visit almost cost him his life, as it was customary in those days the rabbis would be asked to teach in the synagogue and certainly in your hometown. And undoubtedly, the hometown folks were fascinated, Jesus is coming. And we're hearing about these miracles and, and his astonishing ability to teach with such clarity and authority. So here's what happened in his first visit, Luke chapter four, beginning of verse 14, "Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and as was His custom, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. And he opened the book and found the place where it was written, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.' And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down."

Now you must understand, a rabbi would stand up to read the Scripture and then he would sit down to teach. It's not like he came up here and read the Scripture and went back over there to sit down with the rest of everyone, no, he sat down now he's ready to teach. Well, the text goes on to say "and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. And he began to say to them, 'Today the scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.'" In other words, he told them that "I am the fulfillment of that prophecy." I am your Messiah. Verse 22, it says, "And all were speaking well of him, and wondering at the gracious words which were falling from his lips;" in other words, at first until he said this, everything was rose petals and daffodils, right? Everything was wonderful, oh my... until he claimed to be God. And of course, that went over like a pork chop at a bar mitzvah. Right? Only much greater. And they were saying, is this not Joseph son? Really? You claim to be the Messiah? You're Joseph, son? You gotta be kidding me. It was fascinating. Rather than trying to douse the fire, he pours more fuel on it. He says to them, No doubt you will quote this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself!' Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum, do here in your hometown as well." In other words, he knew their mind, he knew they wanted to see him do some ,iracles, they wanted to be entertained. And he said, "Truly I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown". And if that wasn't bad enough, by the way, this was before we understood how important it is to be seeker sensitive, right? He rubs salt into the wound, verse 25, "But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land." By the way, why did that happen? God was judging Israel for their apostasy, for their wickedness, for their paganism, for their idolatry. He goes on to say, "and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, none of them in Israel, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." See, you must understand, what they understood, the woman of Zarephath, and Naaman the Syrian, were Gentiles. God withheld His blessing from Israel and went to the Gentiles.

Jesus point was simply this, even as Elijah and Elijah were rejected by Israel, so too, I am experiencing the same kind of hard hearted unbelief. So God is going to withhold His blessing from you, and extend His grace to the Gentiles. Verse 28, "and all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the city, and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city has been built, in order to throw Him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, He went his way." Many of you have been with me at the brow, that cliff is an amazing place. And somehow miraculously, Jesus went through their midst, whatever that means. Folks, this is what happened on his first visit. And now in Mark six, he's going to return uninvited. He's rather brave, right? And that's why we read "Jesus went out from there, referring to Capernaum, and came into his hometown and his disciples followed Him."

By the way, that's an important statement, his disciples are with him. They need to see what it's like to be around people that absolutely hate Christ, hate the gospel. Those of you that want to serve Christ, don't even think of doing that until you get a sample of what it's like to be absolutely hated for your stand for Christ. Because you must learn to endure that. If you ever expect to be faithful in ministry, and that's what was going on here.

So we read that when the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue, and many listeners were astonished, the term means they were utterly amazed. They were flabbergasted, saying, "Where did this man get these things? And what is this wisdom given to him as such miracles as these performed by his hands?" Now, I might add that this this was a common reaction wherever Jesus went. For example, you will recall in Mark 1:22, those hearing him in the synagogue at Capernaum, we read, "they were amazed at His teaching." By the way, I love that they were amazed at His teaching, not his cultural relevance, not his political correctness, not his hairstyle, not his wardrobe, not his band, not his Hollywood savvy. They were amazed at his preaching the Word. And he went on, it's to say, for "he was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes." You will recall the scribes were the main teachers of Israel. That's what the people were used to. The scribes emerged on the religious scene of Israel in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. They would get up and they would read and explain the law. And that was very important because ordinary people didn't have access to the Scriptures. They were very expensive to have copies of the Scripture, so they depended upon the scribes. And the scribes were also called rabbis or honored ones, because they taught the scriptures. But by the first century, the scribes didn't exposit the scriptures anymore. They primarily quoted the convoluted and obscure musings, and far fetched mystical allegories of other rabbis. So they didn't speak with authority. So when Jesus comes along and explains the Word, therein is the authority and the people are amazed. They're astonished. It's like I didn't know that's what the word said, I didn't even know that was there. He spoke the truth with such supernatural clarity, and authority and power and precision. We even read later on in Luke chapter 19 and Jesus ministry beginning of verse 47, "and He was teaching daily in the temple; but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people were trying to destroy Him, and they could not find anything that they might do, for all the people were hanging on to every word H said." You will recall that Jesus teachings and his miracles were so astonishing that the greatest teacher of Israel, by the name of Nicodemus comes to him in secret, and says in John 3:2, "Rabbi, we know that you have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do the signs that You do unless God is with him." So this is how people perceived Jesus in the first century, even those who hated him. Now back to Mark 6:3, "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James," by the way, James later became the the leader of the church in Jerusalem in Acts 15, he wrote the epistle of James. "and Joses, and Judas," who could also be translated Jude, he wrote, the little epistle of Jude, "and Simon, are not His sisters here with us? And they took offense at Him". Verse four, "Jesus said to them, 'A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown, and among his own relatives and in his own household.'" You see, at this point, even a lot of his own household didn't believe him. "And he could do no miracle there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them." Now, that's not because he lacked the power but because the people were already sealed in the vault of their hard hearted unbelief and additional miracles would only increase their condemnation. I might add that withholding miracles was also a sign of judgment. Jesus said this and, for example, in Matthew 7:6, "do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces." So back to Mark 6:6, "And he wondered," he was amazed, at their unbelief. And he was going around the villages teaching."

Now that we understand the text let's talk for a moment about this whole issue of unbelief. Let me address the issue of its cause. And just real simply the cause of unbelief is because people are blinded by sin and satanic deception. It's interesting in I John 3:4 we read sin is lawlessness. And that's a description of the inner state or disposition of the sinner, not so much the wicked behaviors that he commits Sin is lawlessness and unbelief arises from the sin nature. Man is depraved, from birth. And sin is that innate inability to conform to the moral character and desires of God. When we look at the center, we see that sin is not so much what he does, but who he is. All that man does, all that man is, is fundamentally offensive to a holy God. Now, that's not the God that most people like to think of. But that is the God of the Bible, the one true God. And we know that Satan's world system appeals to man's sinful nature. Remember, the whole world lies in the power of the evil one, I John 5:19. And until Christ comes again, we must endure the diabolical schemes of the kingdom of darkness and its ability to appeal to the innate depravity of sinners. For indeed, according to Ecclesiastes 9:3, "the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil, and insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives." And it's for this reason that the Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:3, that "the gospel is veiled to those who are perishing, in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so they saw that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ." So we must understand with this whole issue of unbelief. Unbelief is not an intellectual problem. Unbelief is rooted in an evil heart and the depraved nature and the defiant will of man who is in love with Satan's world system that appeals to the lusts of his flesh. Jesus made this clear when he said in Matthew 15:19, "out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adultery, fornication, thefts, false witness, slanders," you see, humankind is hopelessly prone to evil and unbelievers live in a state of alienation, and hostility toward God described in Ephesians4 , where they are described as those who quote, "walk in the futility of their mind being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart." By the way, this explains the staggering inability of unbelievers to understand and savingly embrace the truths in the Bible. Every conversation is consistent with 1 Corinthians 2:14, "a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for their foolishness to him; and he cannot cannot understand them, because he is spiritually appraised." In other words, he has no capacity to savingly embrace spiritual truths. He cannot do that. Well, what about the free will of man people say. Well, yeah, everybody's got a free will. That's not an issue. The problem is the desire. We have the free will to choose Christ. But we have no desire to do that, unless God does the work of grace within us. I believe it was Finley that said that unbelievers are like, quote, "deaf men judging music." It's a good way of putting it. You see, because of their sin nature, and the religious deceptions that they embraced, the Jewish people of the first century, most of them that is, especially those in Nazareth, simply could not believe And dear friends, none of us would ever be able to believe apart from regenerating grace, the miracle of being raised from spiritual death to spiritual life.

So the cause of unbelief is the blindness that occurs within us because of our sin nature. And then the double blinding that occurs because of Satan's deceptions. What are the characteristics of unbelief? Well, we've seen it here in this passage, and many others. It's open hostility, as well as what I would call logical fallacies. Now you will remember, Jesus authority, and his supernatural abilities were indisputable, yet people still rejected him. Empowered by Satan, they tried to kill him the first time when he goes to Nazareth. We're not sure it doesn't say why they didn't try to kill him the second time, maybe they did. It just doesn't say, they were probably too afraid of him. So he simply departed. And as we will see, just left them in their unbelief. But like all unbelievers, those people used logical fallacies to justify their unbelief. There's a lot of logical fallacies. I won't get into all of that, but you're familiar with them. You've heard of red herring, you've heard of a straw man argument, you've heard of the slippery slope or begging the question or an ad hoc or post hoc argument. Politicians are masters at this, you know, you give them a question, and they skirt all around it and before you know it, you're off in lala land in order to distract you or communicates their own agenda or whatever. Well what they did here in Nazareth would be what we would call a red herring, a logical fallacy of irrelevance. In other words, using an irrelevant issue, or argument, as a diversionary tactic to distract them from the real issue, and that is of the deity of Christ. And that red herring simply went like this, he can't be the Messiah, because his family is so ordinary. That's like saying for Frederick Chopin, who was one of the greatest pianists and composers that ever lived, couldn't have been one of the greatest composers and pianists that ever lived, because after all, his father was a French immigrant to Poland, who was merely a tutor. Well, yeah, but haven't you heard him? No, it doesn't matter. He can't be because look who his dad was. You know, the specifics relating to his family weren't germane to the question of his Messiahship. Especially in light of the Old Testament, Messianic prophecies, which understandably, because of the scribes, they were unfamiliar with, because they hadn't been taught. They should have known that the Messiah would come from the seed of Abraham, Genesis 12:3; that he would be of the tribe of Judah, Genesis 49; 10, that he would be born of a virgin, Isaiah7, verse 14, so many other passages. He would be full of wisdom and power, Isaiah 11, 1-10, he would be a light to the Gentiles, Isaiah 49:6, he would be hated without reason. Psalm 69, for he would be a rock of offense, Isaiah 8:14, and 15. And on it goes, but their pride and their jealousy and their prejudice against Gentiles, not to mention their self righteousness, prevented them from seeing Jesus for who He really was. And the more Jesus tried to expose them, the more they dug in. You see what the people couldn't stand was Jesus claimed a deity and the gospel that he preached. Let me show this to you from another passage, you will recall in Romans 1:18, we see more about this issue of unbelief, we see that people suppress the truth in ungodliness. Ungodliness just really describes one who does not worship the one true God. It can refer to an idolatry or a false worship or hypocrites, phonies, those who worship false gods, and those who think they are worshiping the one true God, but they do so falsely. Which just describes the majority of evangelicalism today. They suppress the truth in ungodliness. Suppress "katecho" that verb it means to, to restrain or to hinder the course or progress of something. And this is the progress of truth. It could be rendered, people who are constantly attempting to suppress the truth by their unrighteousness. And Paul went on to describe how despite the irrefutable evidence of God, through reason and through conscience, those in rebellion to God continue to suppress the truth of who he is and how they should respond to him. The very nature of the unregenerate is opposed to God, they prefer their sin, over worshipping Him and people will contrive the most ridiculous reasons to justify their unbelief. And again, as we look at Romans one, we see how the reality of the truth of who God is, as the creator, is something that everybody can see. Moreover, we have a conscience and everyone is made in the image of God and that conscience bears witness to the fact that God is and we are responsible to him, that we have an obligation to obey Him. Yet people rejected all. That's why Paul said in Romans 1:19, "that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen." By the way, think how much more clearly we see it today with the advent of microscopes, and these telescopes that now are out In the universe. "It's clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened." Reminds me of what Jesus said in John 12:35, "Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness may not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes."

And sadly, dear friends that describes some of you. You're walking in the darkness and you're being exposed to the light of the gospel today and I beseech you, as a minister of the gospel, you need to get right with God, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ while there is still light, or you will perish in your sin. And the darkness that you love will become your permanent habitation forever. Men prefer darkness rather than light, right? Why? Because their deeds are evil. Their whole life is what you might call Gothic. You see kids today wearing all this stuff. What a manifestation of a dark heart. You see, darkness replaces light. And this is the darkness of those that are spiritually blind and dead. And they're doubly blinded by Satan. They are spiritual cadavers. They are corpses incarcerated in a tomb of spiritual pitch blackness, utterly bereft of any light, and again, dear friends that is a foretaste of hell, which Jesus called outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, Matthew 22:13. These are like the ones Jesus described in Matthew 6, verse 23, whose whole nature is so corrupt, that we read darkness actually emanates from within them, and thereby characterizes their whole being that text reads, "If the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness?" For those of you that might be here without Christ and you don't believe in Christ, you don't believe in the gospel, what type of excuses have you contrived to justify your unbelief? Oh, I've heard them all. Well, the Bible is full of mistakes. Oh, really? You know, I've studied it all my life. I've never seen that. Would you please enlighten me? There are 1817 prophecies in the Bible. 351 Old Testament prophecies have been fulfilled precisely in the person in the work of Jesus Christ. So, can you help me understand how that can be true if the Bible is full of mistakes? Well, the church is full of hypocrites. Absolutely. It is. Jesus warned that that would happen. And the world is full of murderers. Are you one? Oh, you're not? Neither is the church full of hypocrites. Well, I can't believe in a god that would send someone to hell. Well, of course. And I say this with all respect, you are spiritually dead and you have no capacity to understand the holiness of God. You have no ability to see your own sin. And until you humble yourself, you will continue to live in darkness. And you will never understand the holiness of God that is so repulsed by sin, that hell is the only holy and righteous remedy. Well, unbelief again at its core is rooted in an evil heart, one that resents God and exalts self. This is why people hate Christ. This is why people hate the gospel. This is why people hate the true church. So what are the consequences of unbelief? Well, if I could put it simply, divine abandonment and eternal wrath. We see a little sample of this even in Mark 6:5, "And he could do no miracle there except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he wondered if their unbelief. And he was going around the villages teaching." In other words, he just stopped performing the miracles, stopped pouring out His love and His grace on those stiff neck people and he just walked away and left them in their darness. For instance, unbelief is a sobering reality, and it has devastating results in this life and damning results in eternity. Think of what Jesus said in John 3: 18, "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already." Why? "Because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." Oh, well, well, I believe, I believe won't do you. If that is true, then those who know you best will say that your life reflects the virtues of Christ. Is that true of you? You come up here and you take communion, if people see you and the rest of the week when you're not here, would they say oh my, there is evidence of a new creature in Christ right there. Jesus said in Matthew 5 that believers will mourn over their sin. You mourn over your sin? He said they will hunger and thirst for righteousness is that you? He says that they will serve me and be persecuted but they will persevere in the midst of persecution. Does that describe you? Peter says that a true believer will long for the sincere life giving milk of the word. They will gladly obey it and they will grow into Christ's likeness because of that. Do you have that kind of appetite for the Word of God? Are you growing in Christ? You say you believe? Can you say that these things are true? Dear friends, if not, you're still in the state of unbelief. I don't care how many aisles you have walked, or how many sinners prayers you have prayed. The proof is going to be in the pudding. Right? John 10:27, Jesus said, "My sheep hear my voice. And I know them and they follow Me." Does that describe you? I hope it does. Sadly, there are many professing Christians that live in a world of self deception. They claim Christ but they live as if Christ doesn't exist because ultimately down deep they don't believe Christ is who He says He is and therefore shouldn't be obeyed and worshipped gladly from the heart. Matthew 7:18 Jesus said, "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit nor can a bad tree produce good fruit." If you're a good tree, we should see good fruit, right? John 12:48 Jesus said, "He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings, has one who judges him. The word I spoke is what will judge him on the last day."

Apostle Paul tells us in Galatians 5:19, that unbelievers manifest the deeds of the flesh, which includes things like "immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing and things like these." It goes on to say those who practice such things shall "not inherit the kingdom of God." Folks, this is the fruit of unbelief. And if that characterizes you, don't kid yourself. And it's this kind of unbelief that destroys marriages and destroys families and destroys communities and destroys countries. 2 Peter 2:10, we read that the unregenerate man is one who seeks to, "indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires." And Paul said in Philippians, 3:19, that they are those "whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things." So, the point is simply this, we experience the horror of unbelief, all the time, and in the world in which we live, some of you even in your own families, man simply refuses to believe who God is, and what he has said, and what he has done, and therefore you call God a liar. And you scoff at his authority, this is what happened in Nazareth. The Light of Christ simply disappeared and left them in the darkness they loved, which was a foretaste of hell. So again, Jesus said in John 3:18, "He who believes in Him is not judged; He who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God." In other words, you do not believe in who he really is that is encompassed in his name. And then Jesus went on to warn in verse 19, "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world and men loved the darkness rather than the light for their deeds were evil." My you're gonna see this in the story of Herod as it plays out. "For everyone who does evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light, for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God."

You see, because sinful man stands guilty, and therefore condemned before a holy God and a righteous God, it's God's wrath that is poured out upon the one who suppresses the truth of the gospel in unrighteousness. In ungodliness, again, Romans 1:18, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven." That's a synonym from for God's throne, "is revealed from God's throne against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppressed in unrighteous." The word "wrath" comes from the Greek word "orge" and it refers to "anger, vengeance, passionate, rage, righteous indignation." Oh, but God loves the sinner but hates the sin. How many times have you heard that? It's a common saying. Folks, be very careful with that, because that is not true. Let me explain this. Biblically, we see that God hates the sinner. His wrath abides upon the sinner, and he hates the sin that the sinner commits. Psalm five beginning of verse four, "For you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; No evil dwells with You. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes, you hate all who do iniquity. You destroy those who speak falsehood; The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit." Psalm 7 beginning in verse 11, "God is a righteous judge and a God who has indignation every day. If a man does not repent, he will sharpen His sword; He has bent his bow and made it ready. He has also prepared for himself deadly weapons; He makes his arrows, fiery shafts." In other words, he's prepared to judge the sinner. Psalm 11, beginning of verse four, The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. The Lord test the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence, his soul hates."

Everybody wants a God that winks at sin, kind of puts his arm around us, hey, ya know, you messed up, no big deal, everything will be okay. Grace covers it all. That's not what Scripture teaches. However, there is a contrast. And here's the glorious truth of the gospel. Yes, God hates the sinner and he hates the sin. "But God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. For by grace, you have been saved," Ephesians 2:4-5. Beloved, there's the glorious truth of the gospel. Because of his holiness, He hates those who sin and the sin that we commit, but he chooses to love us enough to provide a way for us to be reconciled unto Him. And God always acts justly even in his anger. Exodus 34 beginning in verse six describes how God's wrath is always in perfect harmony with his compassion, with his mercy, with his eagerness to forgive his grace, his love, his faithfulness, there we read, "the Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness and truth; who keeps loving kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished." Paul said in Romans 2:3, that people apart from Christ will not escape the judgment of God. Those who according to verse four, who quote, "think lightly of the riches of His kindness, and forbearance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads to repentance?" But because of their stubbornness and unrepentant heart they are storing up wrath for themselves in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. And Paul warned the Colossians about God's judgment upon sin, according to Colossians, three beginning in verse five that because of quote "immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed which amounts to idolatry." He goes on to say the wrath of God will come Ephesians 5:6, "Let no one deceive you with empty words." Which is a reference in this context to the hollow apologies for sin, that a lot of people say are just mistakes rather than offenses to a holy God. "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things." In other words, those sinful acts of rebellion, "the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience." Beloved, apart from God's grace, all believers would still be slaves to sin, and under the wrath of God, but Paul makes this clear, in his words to the Ephesians that prior to salvation, we quote, "all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh." Boy those of us who know love Christ, we can all say that is so true, right? Before we came to Christ, we lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind. And we're, catch this, by nature, children of wrath, even as the rest. Beloved, unbelief is the settled position of a fool, one who lives in a fool's paradise, and who will perish and their sin. But this judgment upon the wicked begins even in this life, you will recall, as we've studied before, in Romans 1:24-32, the sobering and terrifying passage in that epistle, where we see that God rejects man, when man rejects him, he removes all restraint, even in a society. When a culture reaches that stage of depravity there is the wrath of divine abandonment. We see a lot of this even in a small way in Nazareth. We certainly see it in our country. Collectively, a culture will be given over to three things progressively, first, to sorted immorality, second to shameless homosexuality, and then finally to shocking depravity. Well we see this today in our culture, don't we? I mean, our jaws absolutely drop when we witness the threats posed by, for example, our progressive public school systems that indoctrinate our children with Neo-Marxist propaganda ideologies such as the brutal murder of the unborn, the demonstrably false hoax of critical race theory, and systemic racism, the lunacy of wokeism, the gross immorality of the LGBTQ, whatever else, revolutionaries, the biological absurdities of transgender ideology. And, of course, I think one of the most most profound, most sickening displays of this depravity today are these painted up pedophile pervert drag queens, that we see even in churches. God's word is clear, dear friends unbelief is the proud stand of the ungodly.

Jude warns of this in verses 14 and 15 where he speaks of, of Enochs prophecy when God will one day quote, "execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him." Dear friends, do you believe who Jesus is? And what he has said? Reminds me of Isaiah 53:1 where the prophet says, "Who has believed our message? And to whom, as the arm of the Lord been revealed?" And we must remember, dear Christian, that when it comes to unbelief, we are absolutely at the mercy of a sovereign God and His Holy Spirit. There is no human key that can unlock the gates of unbelief. There is no compelling apologetic that can breach its walls. There is no irrefutable logic that can render it powerless. Unbelief is far too powerful. Clever argumentation is like shooting a pea shooter at a battleship. Some of you young people may not know what peashooters are, but some of us older people remember them.

Beloved, God must do a work in the human heart through the preaching of the gospel. And I close with this. What Paul said in 2 Corinthians 10, beginning in verse three, "for though we walk in the flesh," in other words, that we have human limitations, "we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ." Indeed, Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of Christ so we must yield the sword of the Spirit effectively, and watch him do his work. In closing, if you're here today without Christ, you know, as well as I do, that your life is a train wreck. And you don't want to admit it. But in the darkness of the night, when all is quiet, your conscience is accusing you. And you know you stand guilty before a holy God, even though you're trying to suppress the truth of all of that in your unrighteousness. And I plead with you again as a minister of the gospel, that you will humble yourself and you will cry out to the Lord our God for forgiveness, that you will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. Your sins will be forgiven. You will be made a new creature in Christ. You will receive the imputed righteousness of Christ as well as the imparted righteousness of Christ and your life will change radically. That's the power of the gospel. Amen. Father, thank You for the eternal truths of your word. And as always, I pray that your spirit will make our hearts receptive to what we have heard today. That's sinners might be saved. And that saints might be sanctified to the praise of the glory of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name I pray. Amen.

Once again, we have a privilege that we never want to want to take for granted to open up the Word of the living God. So will you take your bibles turn to Mark's gospel chapter five. And if you've not been with us in the past, we go verse by verse, through specific passages, primarily books of the Bible. And we come now to Mark chapter five, beginning in verse 21. And we're going to look at verses 21 - 43.

"When Jesus had crossed over again, in the boat to the other side, a large crowd gathered around him; and so he stayed by the seashore. One of the synagogue officials named Jairus came up and on seeing him fell at his feet and implored Him earnestly saying, "My little daughter is at the point of death; please come and lay Your hands on her, so that she will get well and live. And He went off with him; and a large crowd was following him and pressing in on him. A woman who had a hemorrhage for 12 years, and had endured much at the hands of many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse- after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind him, and touched his cloak. For she thought, "if I just touch His garments, I will get well." Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction. Immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that the power preceding from him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd and said, "Who touched my garments?" And his disciples said to Him, "You see the crowd pressing in on You, and You say, 'Who touched Me?'" And he looked around to see the woman who had done this. But the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole truth. And He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your affliction." While He was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue official, saying, "Your daughter has died; why trouble the Teacher anymore?" But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, "Do not be afraid any longer, only believe." And he allowed no one to accompany Him, except Peter and James and John and the brother of James. They came to the house of the synagogue official; and He saw a commotion, people loudly weeping and wailing. And entering in, He said to them, "Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep." They began laughing at Him. But putting them all out, He took along the child's father and mother and His own companions, and entered the room where the child was. Taking the child by the hand, He said to her "Talitha kum!" (which translated means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!") Immediately, the girl got up and began to walk, for she was 12 years old. And immediately they were completely astounded. And He gave them strict orders that no one should know about this, and He said that something should be given her to eat.”

We all know what it feels like to be afraid, right? Sometimes to be terrified, we know what it feels like even to be helpless. In fact, Job called death, the king of terrors in Job 18:14. We all have our stories to tell. And I know some of you are in the midst of these types of difficulties right now feelings of, of helplessness. You feel overwhelmed. And then when I think about it, all I can say is, oh, the sorrows of a sin cursed world, right? But oh dear friends, the help that is ours in Christ, and the hope that is ours in Christ, and this is what we see here. I'm reminded of Isaiah 12 in verse 2 where the prophet said, "Behold, God is my salvation. I will trust and not be afraid; For the Lord God is my strength and song, and he has become my salvation." There's a great text to meditate upon the next time you find yourself drowning in fear. Also, Isaiah 41:10, "Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not anxiously look about for I am your God, I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand." And then the psalmist tells us in Psalm 121, beginning in verse 1, "I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where shall my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep." Dear friends, only an omnipotent sovereign, can be such a helper. Psalm 18, verse two we read, "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." And in Psalm 62, verse two, "He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be greatly shaken." Dear friends, what we must remember is that the Lord Jesus Christ, has conquered Satan, sin and death. And one day we will experience the full implications of that in glory. Indeed, Jesus said in John 11, verse 25, " I am the resurrection and the life, He who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" And certainly I would ask you that, do you believe this.

And in Mark's historical narrative before us, we have two miracles. And here we see in a very vivid way, Jesus displaying his miraculous power over both disease as well as death, which is absolutely astounding. And you must understand that here the Holy Spirit puts on display the deity of Christ. Furthermore, he puts on display the great compassion of Christ, for both our physical as well as our spiritual welfare. And then, of course, we see His infinite ability to help. And so in this passage, we can find comfort and strength and peace and hope. But you must understand that we not we must not marvel at what Christ has done solely for the purpose of marveling at his infinite power, as infinite as it is, because that is not the purpose of the text. Rather, His miracles point to His deity, and therefore, if He is God, very God, He must be obeyed. And He commands every man and every woman to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, to be saved. His authoritative commands in His Word, have a divine origin, and that's what's emphasized here, and therefore, His word should never be questioned. It should never be ignored. It should never be distorted. It should never be adapted to somehow fit our understanding of who we think God is or how He needs to function, or how He needs to operate in our culture.

No, the authority of Scripture is based upon the authority of God. And this is the power of God that we see here in this passage. Therefore, for example, when God says He made everything in a literal six days, that's the end of discussion. That is the truth. That's what we must believe, end of discussion. When He says all scripture is inspired by God end of discussion, when He says that women are not to be pastors end of discussion, when He says homosexuality is an abomination before God end of discussion. When He says marriage has to be between one man and one woman end of discussion, because an infinitely powerful, omnipotent, omniscient, God has declared this to be the truth, and we are to obey it. When He says that abortion is murder, end of discussion , when He says hell is a real place, that's the end of the discussion. When He speaks of the doctrine of salvation, with all that is a part of that, including the severity and the scope of man's depravity, the imputation of sin when He speaks of grace and election and predestination, when He speaks of the significance of, and the efficacy of the Atonement when He speaks of faith and repentance, and union with Christ and justification and sanctification, regeneration, perseverance, glorification, when He speaks of those things in his word, that's the end of the discussion. Because the one that wrote it is the one that has power over disease, and over death. And so when we come to these passages, that's what we must look to, not just the fact of oh, look what Jesus did, look what He can do, no friends, that's just a means to a greater end. These passages should point us to the divine origin of His word that we might be obedient to it. Therefore, when you hear things like a social justice gospel, or a prosperity gospel, that's not the real gospel, that's a false gospel. So we reject it. When we hear about, I don't know the Roman Catholic gospel, that is not the true gospel. Hebrews 10:28 says there is a much severe judgment for those who distort and deny the gospel. To make it real practically, this would apply to the Pope. This would apply to Mother Teresa, who believed and taught a false gospel, a pantheistic gospel that saves even those who have never heard of the gospel, a humanitarian gospel that somehow saves people that do great works of charity, in the name of Jesus. According to Jesus words, in Matthew 10:15, it will be more tolerable for the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for her and countless others like her that teach and promote a false gospel.

Now, why can I be so dogmatic? Because this is what God has said in His Word, and the one who said it has the power over disease and death. Hebrews 10:29, "how much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has insulted the Spirit of grace?" So dear friends, when we behold the power and the perfections of the Lord Jesus Christ and these historical narratives, and we find ourselves completely overwhelmed at what he did and what he can do, Yes, let's rejoice in that. Let's worship him for that. But let that drive us to the ultimate reality that Jesus is God, and He is to be obeyed. All right. I'm reminded of Isaiah 66:2 when God says, "but to this one will I look, to Him who is humble and contrite of heart and who trembles at my word." So, yes, let's at marvel at his power. But let's remember that we are to worship and obey him, because his word has a divine origin. And his commands and promises are true.

Now that said, we're going to behold the wonder of Christ's unchanging character under three categories, each of which have two characteristics, we're going to see that Christ was number one, available and approachable. Secondly, he was and still is omnipotent and omniscient. And then thirdly, He was compassionate, and calm. Now, it's important that we see the inspired contrasts that are at play. And these two miracles that are linked together in the gospel record. Jesus is attending here to two very different people. You have a wealthy and a prominent man and you also have the opposite, an impoverished and scorned woman. You have a highly esteemed synagogue official, versus a woman who was a social outcast, because she was ceremonially unclean. Considered to be exceedingly sinful, because of her sickness, and therefore excommunicated. From the synagogue, you have a husband and a father that had contact with his family. But yet here you also have a woman that is required to live at a distance from her family. She was socially and religiously isolated, a woman that would have been treated like a leper. You have a man who experienced 12 years of joy and happiness with his daughter versus a woman who had experienced 12 years of sorrow and misery, while living in isolation. Not to mention dealing with the physical weakness that would be the inevitable consequence of perpetual hemorrhaging. But dear friends, what they both had in common was a desperate need for a Savior. They needed a remedy for the debilitating fear and utter helplessness that they were experiencing. They were out of resources, they had nowhere to turn, they were powerless. They were beyond human help. Their only hope and help was in Christ. And this did not catch him by surprise. This was part of his sovereign plan, to bring glory to himself. And in the inscrutable miracle of divine providence, whereby he orchestrates all of the events of history and their lives in particular. We see him doing this to manifest His power in order to prove his deity, that he might be worshipped and obeyed, so that we can all see his mercy, his grace, his love, and his power on display, the perfections of his glorious person, that all of us will, as I said earlier, one day experience in all of their fullness in glory. Yes, weeping may last for the night, right? Psalm 30, verse five, "weeping may last for the night, but a shout of joy comes in the morning" and regardless of the trial, God is in it, for our good and his glory, never forget that. And his purposes are always just, His love is everlasting. For this reason, Jesus said in John 16:33, "in the world, you will have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world." Let me give you the context of what is going on here.

In this narrative, Jesus has been on the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, some of you have been there with me. And there, he cast out, remember, a legion of demons out of these guys and, and sent them into the swine, and the people of the area were terrified at what they saw with Jesus and his presence, his power. They begged him to leave. All right, so that's what has happened. And that brings us to verse 21, of Mark 5, "when Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side." In other words, he's going back to the Capernaum, which was about six miles across the water, back to Capernaum, his headquarters. When Jesus had crossed over again in the boat to the other side, "a large crowd gathered around him, and so he stayed by the seashore." So in other words, they see him coming. They know his headquarters is Capernaum. And people are coming from everywhere with all of their diseases. And they're basically camped out waiting for him to arrive. So they're looking for him and ah, here he comes in the boat, and he has to basically stay on the seashore. Luke 8, verse 40, says, " And as Jesus returned, the people welcomed Him, for they had all been waiting for Him." And then in verse 22, we read of the synagogue official named Jairus, he comes up and on seeing him fell at his feet. Now, you can imagine all of the crowd all around Jesus, but they would have made a way for the prominent man to come and speak to Jesus. So that's what would have happened here. Now, I might add that synagogues typically had three to seven officials. And they were responsible for all of the activities of worship and education and so forth. In Matthew chapter 9, in verse 18, we read that he comes and it says, "he bowed down before him" "Prosekyneo", in the original language, which is a term that means to worship. So perhaps it would appear that he was a believer, probably a Pharisee. We're not sure, but probably, but certainly, he would have co labored with that large contingency of Pharisees that were there in Capernaum. And he would have been fully aware of their hatred for Jesus. And therefore, he would have realized that it would have been a great risk for him to approach Jesus as he did. But he was certainly aware of Jesus miracles, everybody knew about that. Verse 23. So he comes in, "he implored Him earnestly saying, My little daughter is at the point of death, please come and lay your hands on her so that she will get well and live. And he went off with him. And a large crowd was following him and pressing in on him." The original language indicates that that pressing in on him means that they were basically touching him on all sides. Perhaps you've been in large cities, the first time I really experienced that was in Moscow. And you go to the train station, and there are people touching every part of you as you walk along. And you see the whole crowd kind of going like this as you gradually make your way to the train. And once you get on, and my job was to make sure that our group, I was the last one, you My job was to push everybody in before the door slammed. And as you're hanging on to things you see a head here and somebody's there, and you got to make sure you don't have things in your pockets that somebody can steal. That's the idea. There's people everywhere. That's what was going on with Jesus. By the way, Tokyo is the same way. We don't like that type of thing here. And where we live, you know, you just kind of keep your distance, we kind of know how we operate right? But first, I want you to notice that Jesus was available and approachable. I want you to think about this. What we have here is the creator of the universe. This is the Lord of Glory. This is the Lord of hosts. This is the great I AM. This is the Son of God, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, and he is mingling with the crowd. People are reaching out, they're touching him. What a picture. They're begging him for help because of their diseases, or their daughter's disease or their son's disease or their mother's disease or whatever. By the way, each of us should be equally approachable. Especially pastors, church leaders, pastors and elders or shepherds. As we say, a shepherd needs to smell like sheep. All right. We must always be available and approachable. We're not celebrities, we are lowly shepherds called to love and to lead and to protect the sheep. That means you have to be with them. And yes, there are some VDPs in the world. I understand. VDP stands for very draining people. There are some of those people and sometimes you have to put up boundaries. And sometimes you can see some people coming you think, oh boy. You've heard the beep, beep beep when a dump truck is backing up. You know, that's what's about to happen. They're about to dump their load on on you. And you get kind of used to that, but you love them enough to do what you can. And certainly Jesus is dealing with this in ways that that are unimaginable. So Jesus begins to make his way to Jarius his house. And then suddenly the narrative shifts, something happens. And this is very important. We, we begin to see now this contrast between two helpless sinners as well as is Jesus deity, over all of this. Verse 25, "a woman who had had a hemorrhage for 12 years," it says, By the way, this was, this would have been some kind of menstrual disorder. We don't really know what it was, but according to Leviticus 15:19-33, menstrual discharge would render a woman ceremonially unclean for a period of time. And according to the ancient historian Josephus, "the temple was closed to women during their menstruation." This means that this particular Torah ruling would have been fully observed in Jesus day. Accordingly, whoever touched a menstruating woman was banished from the community until purification occurred. So for this woman, this woman, to have a need that was just physical is not accurate, because it was way beyond that. She basically had no friends and family that she could be around. Not to mention verse 26, "she endured much at the hands of many physicians and had spent all that she had, and was not helped at all, but rather had grown worse."

Let me give you a little flavor of what the doctors would have told her back in those days, because we get a good sense of that, from the Talmud, which means "study" in the Babylonian Talmud. Which is, again the sacred teachings by Jews and here we can read of 11 treatments for excessive menstrual bleeding, so you want to know what the doctors would have told her? I can tell you, and I'm quoting here, some other scholars. "Most of these treatments involve boiling various things in wine, such as Persian onions, cumin, saffron, fenugreek, or a fern. Having the woman hold it and declaring to her, 'cease you discharge.' She may be told to sit at a crossroads holding a cup of wine, while a man comes from behind and frightens her shouting 'cease you discharge.' One cure calls her to rub flour on the lower half of her body. She may be told to burn thistles or an ostrich egg and wrap it in cloth." The strangest is the last that is "to fetch barley grain found in the dung of a white mule and hold it in her hand. If she holds it for one day, her bleeding will cease for one day. If she holds him for three days the bleeding will cease forever." And on it goes. That's why they call it the practice of medicine. Right?

Verse 27, "after hearing about Jesus, she came up in the crowd behind Him and touched his cloak." Now obviously she wanted to avoid detection. So she's trying to kind of slither through the crowd. "For she thought, 'if I just touch his garments I will get well.'" Luke says in chapter 8:44, " she came up behind him and touched the fringe of His cloak." Fringe is "kraspedon", in Greek it means it can be translated "the edge or the hem of His garment, the border." It's even used to describe the ceremonial tassels that many of the Jewish people wore. In fact, Israelites were instructed to sew tassels on the bottom of their cloaks. And when you see Orthodox Jews today, you will see those tassels hanging down. And they were to do that as a visible symbol that they belonged to God you can read about that in Numbers 15 And that they according to numbers, 15, verses 37 to 41, "they should remember all the commandments of the Lord to do them." So that's why they would put the tassels on there. But you may recall in Matthew 23 and verse five, Jesus said that the Pharisees would lengthen their tassels in order to be noticed by men, so that became a sign of superior spirituality with how long my tassels are. So the tassels would be up higher on their garment. And whereas Jesus would have worn just a simple robe, maybe with the traditional tassels attached to the bottom hem, we're not sure. By the way, I find it interesting. The ostentatious tassels of the Pharisees had zero power, right. But the hem of Jesus garment had infinite power. The former display the hypocrite full of selfish pride, and deception. The latter displayed the one true God, full of grace and truth. I might add that in that day, people believe that rulers possessed power, and if you touch them somehow, you could, you could be blessed in a special way. When an ancient historian said that Alexander the Great was often mobbed by crowds who ran to him from all sides, some touching his hand, some his knees, some his garment, in hopes of being baptized with his aura and power. So this was not at all something out of the ordinary. But according to verse 27, it appears that this woman manifested all of the elements of saving faith. I mean, think about it, it says that she heard, she came and she touched the Messiah and faith believing. Verse 29, we see that "immediately the flow of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction." My, what a contrast to the worthless, superstitious treatments of the physicians that actually made her worse, which by the way, I think we can all identify with with some of the medicines and treatments that we have experienced.

Mark will later on say in chapter six, verse 56, "Jesus entered villages or cities or countryside, they were laying the sick in the marketplaces and imploring Him, that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak, and as many as touched it were being cured." So amazing what happened in those days. In fact, people were even healed by Peter's shadow, you remember in Acts 5:15, and Paul's clothing, in Acts 19, "miraculous power given them to God," for what purpose, "to validate both the message and the messenger of God." This is amazing then to see what happens here in verse 30. "Immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that the power preceding from him had gone forth, turned around in the crowd, and said, 'Who touched my garments?'" As if he didn't know who touched my garments? Beloved, not only was he available and approachable, but here we see number two, he was omnipotent and omniscient. Verse 31, "and his disciples said to him, 'You see the crowd pressing in on you?'" "Synthlibo", pressing in interesting term, it means to squash in and around on all sides. I mean, people are everywhere touching you. And you say, Who touched me? But here we have supernatural insight, do we not? We have an omniscient God. He knew exactly who touched him. Because in his providence, he orchestrated that touch.

Now evidently, she tried to disappear. She wanted to avoid embarrassment, and she probably feared that her uninvited touch would have rendered Jesus ceremonially unclean. So she was probably moving away. What is what's remarkable here is again, many people are pressing in on Jesus, but somehow, many people were touching him but somehow, this touch was different. It was a humble believing faith touch from a person that was longing for not only physical, but spiritual, spiritual healing, the work of regenerating grace and this dear woman, that we will someday meet in glory. You know Jesus knew this. That's why later on in verse 34, he said, "daughter your faith has made you well." But you must understand that something beyond physical contact occurred here. There was a, an inscrutable, mysterious transaction that happened at far deeper level than we could even begin to comprehend. I like what John MacArthur said, quote, "divine power is not an impersonal cosmic force somehow detached from its sovereign source. Rather, God is personally engaged in every act of power, from creation to redemption, to the providential sustaining of the universe." He feels it all. How true. And what's interesting here is that she came to Jesus incognito, and she planned to just kind of secretly slip away. She was thinking of a one way contact. But that was not Jesus' plan. Nor is it ever when we come to Jesus and saving faith. It's not like he's impersonal, and we get saved, and we go on our way. No, no, no, no, we are forever united to the living God through faith in Christ. And in his great love and compassion, Jesus confronts her temerity. He exposes her fear, and unnecessary fear, and he publicly draws her out. He publicly acknowledges something that's very important, and that is her obedient faith. Her total forgiveness. Not to mention, folks, she is healed now. She's pure, she's not defiled. So to be sure, Jesus knew her physical needs. But he also wanted to heal her spiritual needs. Verse 32, "he looked around to see the woman who had done this, but the woman fearing and trembling, aware of what had happened to her, came and fell down before him and told him the whole truth." Whenever you're confronted with the living God, there's nothing you can hide, right? So she just lays it all out. Wouldn't you have loved to have heard that confession and all that was a part of that. Not necessary for us to know, the Spirit of God doesn't tell us that. What he does say, as Jesus said to her in verse 34, "Daughter, your faith has made you well go in peace and be healed of your affliction." You must understand that Jesus use of the term daughter here, extends far beyond the fact that she was somehow a physical daughter of Abraham, an Israelite. No, no, no, it was far more than that. Now she is the spiritual daughter of God Himself. Moreover, notice the phrase "made you well" in verse 33, "your faith has made you well." What's really interesting here is rather than using the common Greek word for physical healing, like "iaomai"..."therapeuo", what we see is that Matthew, Mark and Luke use the Greek term "sozo" and that's used elsewhere in the New Testament to describe being saved from sin. Your faith has made you well. You've been saved from your sin. Now Jesus healed diseases of lots of people. And most of them didn't possess genuine saving faith, but not this woman. And for this reason, Jesus could say to her, "Go in peace." Go in peace. You see, friends, when you're saved from your sins, you are reconciled to a holy God through faith in Christ, and the long war is over. You have been justified, you have been declared righteous. the imputed righteousness of Christ is now yours, you're forever hidden in him. So you can go in peace.

I ask you, Are you at peace with God today? If not, his wrath abides upon you. And unless you do business with God, you'll experience that wrath for eternity. And therein is the good news of the gospel. Romans 5:1, "having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." To be justified, it means to be declared righteous. What a magnificent testimony. Jesus was available. He's approachable. He's omnipotent, omniscient, and he's the savior of sin right? Now, there's a sudden shift here. Jesus delay in dealing with this poor woman appeared to have a devastating result. Notice verse 35, "while he was still speaking, they came from the house of the synagogue official saying, 'Your daughter has died. Why trouble the teacher anymore?'" Don't you know the father must have been devastated. He's probably thinking to himself, if, if this woman hadn't have interrupted, maybe she could have been saved? Isn't it easy for helplessness to turn into utter despair. By the way, the implication of the statement, "Why trouble the teacher anymore?" Is that somehow people were thinking, Well, Jesus is powerless over death. I mean, he might could have saved her while she's still alive, but now she's dead. So you know, that's it. But that's not at all true. Jesus was available, approachable, omnipotent, omniscient. And then thirdly, He was compassionate and calm. I want you to notice this.

Verse 36, "But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official." By the way, it doesn't say this, but I can just imagine, he puts his arm around him, draws him into him, gets down into his ear, with all of the commotion and he says, "Do not be afraid any longer only believe." "Do not be afraid any longer only believe." Here Jesus demonstrates his great love for those in need. Here, Jesus calmly administers the soothing balm of hope on the bleeding wounds of despair and doubt. "Do not be afraid any longer only believe," literally can be translated, "stop being afraid and keep believing," in fact, and Luke 8:50. We read, "do not be afraid any longer Only believe and she will be made well." Verse 37, "and he allowed no one to accompany him, except Peter and James and John, the brother of James. They came to the house of the synagogue official and he saw commotion, and people loudly weeping and wailing." You see Jesus delay was long enough, we don't know how long it was, but it was long enough for mourners to assemble and to start doing what mourners would do in that day. And frankly, today, they do a lot of the same thing. And that's that they start weeping and wailing. I mean, they had professional mourners. They would howl and scream and moan sounds like some of the histrionics that you would hear in some of the charismatic services I've been in with women back in the back room screaming and carrying on. I remember the first time I heard that I asked a guy "what is going on in there?" "Oh, they're in intercession.' So that's what was happening here. By the way, in those days, they would hire professional mourners skilled in these histrionics. They will, you might say "professional drama queens", primarily women. I'll say no more on that. And they would also hire musicians, primarily flute players. And the flutist would play very loudly in very dissonant tones, to somehow reflect the great dissonance within the heart of the family that had lost a loved one. And I might add that even the poor were required to have at least two flute players and one wailing woman at a funeral or when someone died, not so much the funeral, but when they died. Moreover, first century Jews would tear their clothes when a loved one died, but you'd have to tear it in a very specific way. For relatives, they had to tear their clothes around the heart. And that's what they would do. They would rip it and they would also mend it very loosely for everybody to see and they would wear it that way for 30 days to show their grief. But Jesus is unflappable. Okay, you got all this chaos going on. Jesus is unflappable, as I say, he's compassionate and he's calm. We read in verse 39, "and entering he said to them, 'Why make a commotion and weep?'' By the way, he knew that this was all show. I mean, this is all sizzle and no steak. That's what's going on here. In Luke 8:52. He says, "Stop weeping." Matthew 9:24, we read that, he says, Leave, leave, get out. He knew the mourning was superficial. Then he says "the child has not died, but is asleep." And of course, this is a metaphor for death that he could easily overpower. You might recall the same type of dynamic when Lazarus died. Remember that Jesus told the disciples in John 11:11, "our friend Lazarus has fallen," what? asleep, "fallen asleep, but I go that I may awaken him out of sleep."You see the concept of the body, being asleep at death is used throughout the New Testament. In fact, it was a metaphor that reminds us that death is just temporary. Yes, the body is asleep. But the soul is with the Lord, to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord, right? 2 Corinthians 5:8, and for this reason, Jesus told the thief on the cross next to him, "Truly, truly I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise." But the body awaits a Day of Resurrection. There's a resurrection of the just and a resurrection of the unjust.

Jesus spoke of this in John 5 beginning in verse 28, he warned "an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice, and will come forth, those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment." So he comes in now and he says, "Why make a commotion and weep? The child has not died, but is asleep." And then verse 40, " they began laughing at him." The idea is they began to mock him. Beloved, you never want to mock the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet people do it all the time, don't they using His name in vain? And then we read something interesting, it says, "But putting them all out." Now that sounds like folks, would you mind? No, that's not what he did. The Greek term is "ekballo". And it means "to throw out or to cast out, to drive out forcibly." Yes, he was compassionate and calm, but he was forthright and he was very much in charge. He's basically putting an end to all of this emotional chicanery and chaos and mockery. Then we read, "He took along the child's father and mother and his own companions and enter the room where the child was." And then we have this precious statement "taking the child by the hand." Can't you just see that? This is the creator of the universe. "Taking the child by the hand, he said to her 'Talitha Kum'" which translated means a little girl, "I say to you get up." My what tender compassion. I mean think about it. When Jesus was down the road with all of the crowd and that father came up, he could have just said, "hey no problem, she's healed, go back and see her." No, no. He wants the intimate contact. And this is what he demonstrates here. Later on he's even going to tell the parents to give her some nourishment. She was probably sick for a long time. Oh, dear Christian, this is our Savior. This is my Jesus, I hope it's yours. This is the only Jesus the true JESUS.

I'm reminded of Isaiah's words in Isaiah 42:3 where Isaiah pictured the Messiah as tender compassion when he would come. He says "A bruised reed he will not break in a dimly burning wick he will not extinguish." Indeed Jesus is the one that comes and he brings comfort and healing and encouragement to the weak and to the oppressed. Isaiah 40:11, "like a shepherd, he will tend his flock" and that's what we see here." Like a shepherd, he will tend his flock. In his arm, he will gather the lambs and carry them in his bosom. He will gently lead the nursing ewes." And we see the Messiah's testimony, the testimony of the anointed one and its transforming work in Isaiah 61, 700 years before this happened, beginning in verse one. The Lord says, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God to comfort all who mourn, to grant those who mourn in Zion, giving them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a spirit of fainting. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified." And certainly, that's why he does these things. So he takes her by the hand, "Little girl, I say to you get up!" Verse 42, "Immediately the girl got up and began to walk, for she was 12 years old. And immediately, they were completely astounded." That's an understatement. Unlike the phony faith healers of our day, dear friends, the effects of Jesus healing were always instant, thorough, and irrefutable. Now, he says in verse 43, something very curious, "and he gave them strict orders that no one should know about this and he said that something should be given her to eat." By the way, that last phrase, just quickly, not only did she need food for her nourishment, but perhaps he wanted to underscore the reality to the family that she is really alive because dead people don't eat right, ghosts don't eat.

Now, why did he give them strict orders not to tell anyone? Well, I'm sure that partially it was to prevent further chaos. Because remember, the people of that day were longing for the Messiah. And many of them are thinking, "well, this is him annd guess what the Messiah is going to do? He's going to free us from Rome. This is the miracle worker, and he's going to bring in the kingdom, we're all going to be healthy, wealthy, and wise." But dear friends, had that happened, they would have forced him to be king and that's not what Jesus was ultimately all about. His primary reason for being there with them in His incarnation was not for people to see him as the great miracle worker, or as the great social justice warrior who had come to defeat Rome. He wanted to be seen as the Son of God who came to save sinners. And he knew that that would not be possible until he fulfilled His work of atonement on the cross and was raised again from the dead. Mark underscores this later in Mark 8:30, "And he warned them to tell no one about Him." And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed. And after three days rise again." You see dear friends, his messianic mission could not be understood apart from His death and His resurrection. He did not come to temporarily heal the sick or temporarily raised the dead. He did not come to promote social justice. He did not come to make us healthy and wealthy. He came to save us from our sins. What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Jesus came to save sinners, Luke 19:10, "for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Dear Christian this is the heart of the gospel.

As we wrap this up this morning, this should be the theme of our song. This is the message of the church. And for this reason, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:1, "Now I make known to you brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand by which also ye are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance, what I also received that Christ died for our sins, according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried and that he was raised on the third day, according to the Scriptures." Dear friends, I challenge you to examine your own heart, and make sure that you know who Jesus is, and that you have submitted your life to Him and saving faith. And if so, one day you will experience the fullness of all that he has done, can do and will do in glory. That is my prayer for you. "Oh, what a glorious Savior divine what marvelous grace and peace are now mine. Oh, what wonders await the redeemed when the light of the lamb will endlessly beam?" Let's pray together. Father, we give you praise for the glory of our Savior, our coming King. And I pray as your servant, that your Word will bear much fruit in every heart that has heard it because we know that your Word will either harden or soften hearts. And we plead with you for the latter. We thank you. We give you praise. In Jesus name.

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Additional Keywords: Jesus, verse, God, people, tassels, touched, woman, Gospel, saved, power, Christ, weeping, healed, lord, faith, speaks, isaiah, approachable, death, crowd

The first day of every year, or I should say the first Sunday of every year is always an exciting time. And I must say that the first Sunday of this year, which obviously is today, is also a very sobering time. I am aware of very distinct attacks of the enemy on my life and this church, and they will continue this coming year. And so I have a very sobering message for you this morning. It's one of warning, but it's also one of hope and encouragement. To that end, I would like to address our Lord's words in Matthew 24. If you will take your Bibles and turn they're beginning in verse 37. And I've entitled my discourse to you this morning, "As in the days of Noah." Let me read the text. Jesus said in Matthew 24:37, "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away. So will the coming of the Son of man be." My goal this morning is to both warn and encourage. And to be sure, these are very oppressive dark days in which we live. Satan is alive and well. And yet, that blackness gives great contrast to the glorious light of Christ as at night. We see him more brilliantly against the darkness. Jesus words that I just read come from His Olivet Discourse that we read about, for example, in Matthew 24, and 25, which is a deep detailed examination of impending judgment upon the earth and those who dwell upon it, and a sobering harbinger of eternal hell. And to be sure, as we read the Word of God, we find him saying very clearly that the world is moving inexorably towards a day of divine judgment, a day of divine retribution. But also, we see very clearly that God is in control of all things. And we rest and relax in His sovereignty. But there is a tension between those two things; judgment is coming, yet God is in control. And we want to maintain that tension. And this morning, my outline is very simple words of warning and words of encouragement to points. All right. Let me begin with the words of warning. Notice again, what the Word of God says here, "for the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah." What were those days like? There's really two characteristics that define those days that we need to be aware of. First of all, they were days of number one unmitigated evil and rebellion against God. But secondly, they were days of granite indifference, and apathy concerning God's judgment. And we see both of these features in the world in which we live. We see it as well and many ostensibly, evangelical churches, many of which are Christian in name only and thoroughly apostate. We talk first of all about the days of Noah regarding number one, the days of unmitigated evil and rebellion against God. There we would go to Genesis 6:5. And we learn about what was going on then. Powerful text. It says, "Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil, continually." In other words, the inner compulsions that dominated their thought life plotted evil continually, every inclination of their heart was to satisfy their own lusts and mock God at every level. And their sins were so abhorrent to a holy God. That judgment was both just as well as inevitable. Verse six, "The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth and He was grieved in His heart. The Lord said, I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals, to creeping things, and to birds of the sky, for I am sorry that I have made them." In other words, sin had so corrupted his created order, a violence beyond restoration and reconciliation. It was so severe that he would destroy it in the worldwide flood, a harbinger of a future judgment that is coming not by water, but by fire. So they were days of unmitigated evil and rebellion against God. But secondly, they were days of granite indifference and apathy concerning the judgment of God. And this gets to the heart of Jesus warning, when He said in Matthew 24:37, "For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away, so will the coming of the Son of man be." In other words, they were living in a fool's paradise, enjoying the ordinary rhythms of life, eat, drink, marry, have family, kids have families, on and on, it goes an endless cycle. Life as usual, with no thought of God, no thought of judgment, no thought of eternity. And that's the world in which we live right now. In fact, some of you could be characterized by these very things. They utterly disregarded Noah's warnings. They even ignore the testimony of creation and conscience in their own heart that points man to God and renders them without excuse, as you will recall in Romans. Romans 1:18 and following. In fact, there we read, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who," catch this now, "suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them." Furthermore, because they experienced no consequences, in their sinful behavior, no divine retribution, they just continue to live for themselves, and in utter rebellion against God. This is typical of man's fallen nature. In fact we read about this in Ecclesiastes 8:11, "Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed quickly, therefore the hearts of the sons of men among them are given fully to do evil." Jesus went on to say in Matthew 24 and verse 39, "and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be." Verse 40, he goes on to say that "there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one will be left." You see, as in the days of Noah, when the Lord returns again, people will be doing the mundane things of life, the ordinary daily activities of life. And some suddenly will be taken into judgment, and others will be left to live for God and with God. So Jesus finally says, "Therefore, be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming." Again, to be sure, this text gives a vivid description of the culture and even the world in which we live. Days of unmitigated evil and rebellion against God, days of granite indifference and apathy concerning God's judgment. Now often people will ask me, "Well, Pastor, do you think that we are living in the last days just prior to the Lord's return?" And the answer is, "Well, absolutely." Because if you understand Scripture, the last days began at Christ's ascension, basically. And so you might say, "Do you believe we're living in the Last of the last days and to that end," I would have to say, "I really do" for a number of reasons.

And this text along with many others, I believe can support the veracity of my answers. Allow me to explain this in a more detailed way by drawing your attention to some important biblical and theological historical background. First, I must say that no one knows when the Lord will return. But it is imminent, meaning it could happen at any time and as Christians, throughout Scripture, we're told that we are to be ready, we are to be watching. We are to be alert, Titus 2:13. We are to be "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus who gave Himself for us." The apostle Paul was clearly convinced even in his own mind, that he himself might be among those who would be caught up alive to meet the Lord in the air. In I Thessalonians 4:15, as well as 17 He uses the personal pronouns "we" which includes himself, "we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord," he went on to say, "we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with him in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air." And the imminence of our Lord's return can be seen all through Scripture. For example, in James 5:7, "Therefore, be patient brethren, until the coming of the Lord. The farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient, strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near, do not complain brother and against one another, so that you yourselves may not be judged. Behold, the Judge is standing right at the door." 1 Peter 4:7, "The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer." And Hebrews chapter 10, beginning in verse 24, "let us consider how to stimulate one another, to love and good deeds, not forsaking for our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near." I John 2:18, "Children, it is the last hour and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now, many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour." Of course, people will say, what a hoax. The last hour has been 2000 years. I mean, how many more years before the Lord comes. But what they don't understand is that God is not bound by time nor space. Eons of time are mere minutes in God's economy. Peter address this in 2 Peter 3, beginning in verse three, "Know this first of all, that in the last days, mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For ever, since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation." But the inspired apostle goes on to say in verse eight, "do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like 1000 years and 1000 years like one day, the Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance." So he delays because he is merciful. But that does not mean he is not coming as he is promised. So indeed, we await the imminent return of the Lord. We don't know when it will be. But we can discern the signs of the times in which we live. We can look at the constellation of prophetic signs that we see in Scripture. And by the way, these signs have been there throughout the church age. But as we look at them, they appear to be escalating very rapidly. And to that end, it would appear that the stage is set for the Lord's return. That the drum roll has begun and the curtains are about to be pulled back. Now please understand, we have been again living in the last days since the time Jesus was ascended into heaven, since the days of the apostle, the entire church age is the last days. Hebrews 1:1, "God after he spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets, in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son." But there are some that will ask and rightfully so, what are some of the signs of the times of these last days? Beyond being just like the days of Noah that we've already discussed? Well, I'll give you a few. And I'm going to go over these just kind of in general, without a lot of commentary. Because I just want you to get a sense of what I believe will continue to escalate in this year, and do so very rapidly. What we have to look forward to and fight against. In the last days, of course, there are going to be scoffers as we've just read. 2 Peter 3:3, that scoffing is getting louder and louder, to the point of absolute mockery. 2 Timothy 3:1, Paul said, "But realize this, that in the last days, difficult times will come," literally perilous times. "For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revelers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self control, brutal haters of good treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure, rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power." Then he went on to say avoid such men as these. For among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth." Beloved, we're experiencing these things in our day, as if it were a tsunami of these forms of wickedness. We also know that before the Lord comes, all the nations of the earth will be gathered against Jerusalem. Zechariah 12:3. We look around, we see anti semitism continuing to grow around the world, the entire Muslim world is allied against them. The Temple Mount remains the most disputed piece of real estate in the world, because it is the epicenter of two opposing kingdoms, the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. And again, these categories of evil have always existed in the last days, the church age in which we live, however, they have risen to unprecedented levels in our day. And I believe this will continue. But in Matthew 24, the Lord Jesus offers some very specific signs of the times. Let me give you the context there. And we'll look at a few of these. In that day, with their messianic hopes dashed, their beloved temple and nation being doomed, the disciples ask Jesus in Matthew 24:3, "Tell us, when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" And as they sat there on the Mount of Olives, Jesus gave the longest answer to any question posed to him in the New Testament. The disciples thought all of the mysterious events that he spoke about would happen shortly and in quick sucession culminating in the promised messianic kingdom, but they had no idea that Jesus was soon going to leave. So they certainly had no comprehension of the church age that would intervene between that time and His Second Coming is "parousia" Jesus used the term "parousia" to denote His Second Coming. It's the idea of His presence, His appearing. So beginning in verse four of Matthew 24, Jesus begins to answer their questions in the reverse order. And he begins by addressing the signs of His coming in verses four through 14. He describes six very specific signs and there's some others in there as well beyond that, and, again, I'm going to hit the highlights of these, but they were called birth pains, birth pangs, verse eight, that will occur just prior to His coming. In other words, these will be a sequence of events analogous to a woman entering into labor events that will increase in severity and rapidity until the Messianic Kingdom is birthed.

Verses four and five. The first one he talks about is false messiahs. In other words, self appointed prophets, Priests, kings, deceivers leading to the worship of the ultimate false messiah the Antichrist. Secondly, in verses six through seven, there will be nations at war, verses seven and eight natural disasters of epic proportions. Verse nine, persecution of saints, verses 10 through 13, defection of and betrayal by false believers. And in verse 14, it will be mass evangelism. These will find their final fulfillment during the time of the seven year Tribulation. And again, these events are consistent with the prophecies that we read about in Daniel 9:24. Daniel's 70th week is consistent with the pre kingdom judgments of Revelation, chapter six through 19. All of these things will ultimately come to a head just prior to the establishment of the Kingdom when the Lord returns. And I might add as a footnote, although God's economy and dealing with Israel finds numerous fulfillments, in the church, nevertheless, Daniel's 70th week, a distinctly Jewish context, pertaining to God's covenant with Israel, those things cannot be describing anything in the Church Age, when Israel enters into, quote, "the time of Jacob's trouble," Jeremiah 30, and verse seven, it will be a period of unprecedented oppression on Israel, ethnic Israel. And that context describes her final restoration just before the Messiah returns. And we see the same descriptions in Revelation, chapter six through 19. And Jesus clearly indicates in Matthew 24, verses 15 and 16, as well as Mark 13:14, that the 78th week of Daniel prophecy, is to be the template for the chronological sequence of the beginning of the birth pains. These are pre kingdom judgments, consistent with God's purposes and plan for Israel, not the church. Let me read this to you, Daniel 9:24, "70 weeks had been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place." You can go back and listen to my expositions on the book of Daniel, and understand these things in much greater detail. So while the nation of Israel has been set aside, as a nation temporarily, as we read in Romans 11, verse 11, through 15, the normal reading of scripture would help us understand that these things are clearly going to emerge with respect to Israel, will be the object of divine attention at that point. And I might also add for many reasons, I believe the church will be translated, snatched away, raptured, before the seven years, that's often called the tribulation, which is synonymous with Daniel's 70th week. And we await that glorious event. If you want to know more about those, or that concept of the rapture and so forth, go back to, I forget when it was, 2006, when I went through the Gospel of Matthew, you can listen to the exposition. So Matthew 24, and so forth. Now all six signs of His coming, that Jesus describes in Matthew 24. Again, they've existed in the church age all along, but because of the internet, and because of television, and because of social media, these things are exploding exponentially. Jesus warned, for example, that just prior to His coming in Matthew 24, six, you will be hearing of wars and rumors of wars. I thought about that this week did a little bit of research. Once again, Serbia and Kosovo are on the brink of war. It has been reported that the President of Serbia has just raised the alert level of his military to quote the highest level of combat readiness. Look at the high tensions that continue to exist and mount between India and Pakistan as they continue to fight over the fiercely contested Kashmir region. We are now witnessing Turkish forces advancing along its border with Syria in their attempt to defeat the Kurds. Tensions have never been higher between North and South Korea. North Korea continues to threaten South Korea by sending Drones into their airspace. In fact, Major General Li Sing Yo spokesman for the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said this in a recent briefing, quote, "our military will thoroughly and resolutely respond to this kind of North Korean provocation." And in Pyongyang, North Korea has launched a record number of ballistic and other missiles this year. I understand over 90 of them this last year, including a pair fired last week towards Japan. We can look at China. And most of us are aware that China continues to flex its muscle in the South China Sea, continues to threaten to take over Taiwan. This week, they sent 71 planes and seven ships toward Taiwan in a 24 hour period. Look at Israel and Iran. Benjamin Netanyahu has just been reelected Prime Minister of Israel, and he is pledged that he will never allow the Iranians to build their own nuclear weapons. Yet, the IAEA claims that the Iranians are now quote "one technical step away from enriching weapons grade uranium." And Iran promises to level Tel Aviv to the ground. They have this in a chilling video explaining how they would respond to an Israeli airstrike on its nuclear plant. Look at Russia and Ukraine. They continue to fight which could possibly spill over into a war that would trigger the United States and NATO getting involved. I read an article recently, quote, "the Russians continue to try to frame this conflict as a great battle between good and evil." In fact, a commercial has just been released that portrays Vladimir Putin as a Santa Claus figure that is delivering a boy, catch this from the twisted values of the Western world. Goes on to say Russian President Vladimir Putin has been portrayed as Santa in an anti Western propaganda video released on the country social media the film, made by a production company called "Signal" depicts Santa Putin swapping a photograph of a child's same sex parents for one of a mother and father and gifting the boy being raised as a girl of football, toy cars and a drum kit. In other words, they're making a mockery of what should be a mockery, and that is the degradation and immorality of the United States. The video feeds into Russian prejudices about Europe and the United States. The article goes on to say, which had been fueled by proclivity and Kremlin propagandist during the war in Ukraine to frame the conflict as a, quote, "clash of values between Russia and Ukraine's Western allies." Beloved, the world is a powder keg. And what's the response? In fact, most of this you don't hear on the news? If you do, it's kind of in passing. The response with most of the people in our country is simply this well, yeah, okay. We'll be alright. But by the way, who are the Titans playing today? You see, that's the bigger issue. Why? As in the days of Noah. Jesus also warned in verse 24, false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead if possible, even the elect. Dear friends, the wholesale acceptance of the satanically inspired social justice and prosperity Gospels is a living illustration of this. It is absolutely heartbreaking to see what these people teach and believe and how churches have embraced this stuff. There is unparalleled apostasy in the Church. We have painted up pedophile perverts, aka drag queens reading Bible stories to children in worship services. I can't think of anything perhaps more blasphemous than that. We have sodomites and lesbians and transgendered lunatics pretending to be pastors. Man, you can't make this stuff up.

Maybe you've all seen the clip of this, of this bearded guy with long black hair with all the makeup on, and he's got the homo speech and and the mannerisms that signal his perversion. And he's talking about how his pronouns are they and them. And what's equally, if not more appalling, is there are people who will hyperventilate on their yoga mats and choke on their Starbucks, if you misgender some of these people. This is a level of insanity that begs language. I've counseled a number of homosexuals and lesbians over the years. And I've seen some of them come to saving faith in Christ, I've seen God radically change them, change the desires of their heart. It's a wonderful thing to see the power of the gospel. But I have to say that I wish I didn't even know what I know about what goes on in that community. Homosexuals, in particular, do things that are so vile, so filthy, so bizarre that they can only be described as demonic. In Jude 7 it's called gross immorality. Paul speaks of all manner of wickedness, which would include this in Ephesians five beginning in verse 11, he says, "Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead, even expose them; for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret." The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that male homosexuals experienced a 4,000% higher risk of cancer than the rest of the population. Male homosexuals with long term partners live on average 30 years shorter than heterosexual men. And yet we live in a culture that accepts this, not just accepts it, but celebrates it. And although God is clear when he warns in I Corinthians 6:9 that neither the effeminate nor homosexuals will inherit the kingdom of God. We have many so called Christian churches that celebrate these perversions and even allow these people to be their pastors. And we're going to see more of this. It's coming at us like a freight train. Some of you have asked Pastor, how long are you going to continue to pastor of Calvary Bible Church, and my response is, as long as the Lord gives me strength. But I have to tell you in my heart, I believe that things are mounting so quickly that I will eventually be imprisoned. And some of you will be there as well. That's how serious this is. According to the Family Research Institute, the median age of death for homosexuals was virtually the same nationwide and overall, about 2% survived to old age. If AIDS was the listed cause of disease of death, I'm sorry, the median age was 39. For the 829 gays who were listed as dying of something other than age, the median age of death was 42, and 9% died old. The 163 Lesbians had a median age of death of 44 and 20% died old. Even when age was apparently not involved, homosexuals frequently met an early demise, 3% of gays died violently. They were 116 times more apt to be murdered, compared to national murder rates, much more apt to commit suicide and had high traffic accident death rates, heart attacks, cancer and liver failure were exceptionally common. 18% of lesbians died of murder, suicide or accidents, a rate 456 times higher than that of white females aged 25 to 44. Age distributions of samples of homosexuals in the scientific literature from 1858 to 1997, suggest a similarly shortened lifespan. It went on to say follow up studies of homosexual longevity have confirmed these general results. Comparison of gay obituaries who died of AIDS to official US HIV AIDS surveillance data demonstrated very close agreement between the estimated median ages of death as well as the 25th and 75th percentiles of the age at death distribution. Another study looked at multiple lines of evidence including more recent US obituaries, and patterns of homosexual partnerships in Scandinavia. Again, finding that homosexual behavior was associated with a shortening of life of probably two decades. Dear friends, it is obvious to any unbiased observer that the inevitable temporal penalty of homosexuality is the consequences of the perversion itself. Paul spoke of this in Romans, "men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons, the due penalty of their error." Despite all of this our culture continues to praise these perversions and to cancel and even criminalize those who don't. For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like in the days of Noah, days of unmitigated evil and rebellion against God, days of granted indifference and apathy concerning God's judgment. May I remind you, according to Romans 1:1 when when man rejects God, God rejects man, it's real simple. And he gives them over to as you look at that text, to sordid immorality, shameless homosexuality. And in the final stage of shocking depravity in verse 28, we read, "and just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper." Paul's use of the term depraved is most telling, because it basically explains the utter irrationality and insanity that is now so pervasive in American culture. The Greek term translated depraved means unapproved, it means worthless, useless, and it was originally used to describe worthless metals rejected by refiners due to their impurity. And in this context, it highlights the frightening reality that when man ignores all of the evidence of nature, God's creation, as well as ignores his conscience and approve of refuses to approve of God, he will be given over to an unapproved, a worthless, a depraved mind. A disposition of godless corruption and that's where we're at. And it's going to get worse. This is similarly stated in Titus 1:15, "to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure, but both their mind and their conscience are defiled. They profess to know God but by their deeds they deny Him being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed." Our culture's obsession with transgenderism is a prime example of this kind of depraved, worthless mind. This stuff is absolutely appalling. It's insane. I mean, what lunatic would encourage children to explore gender options, because their biological gender doesn't match their perceived identity? What kind of monster would promote irreversible physical mutilation and chemical castration. So a child could pretend to be what they could never be? The opposite gender. This is the position of our president. This is the position of many of our government officials. This is the position of those that teach your children in most of the public schools, your colleges or universities. I was reading an article Fox News quote, "the massive 1.7 trillion omnibus bill that was made public by federal lawmakers Tuesday includes the 750,000 earmark for a Los Angeles based gender transgender Latino group" that wants to quote "dismantle the US criminal justice system and Immigration and Customs Enforcement." That's ice and inject, quote, "transgender history and discourse into elementary schools, among other progressive initiatives" end quote. That's what our tax dollars are paying for. You want to know where we're headed in 2023 This is it, folks. We're not just heading there, we're there, but it's gonna get worse.

According to another article in The Lion, quote, the latest text of the spending bill released Tuesday includes 4155 pages of items, with 7510 earmarks, totaling 1.7 trillion and stuffed inside the bill are earmarked to set aside millions for different initiatives such as an American LGBTQ Museum and an LGBTQ Support Center and growth of quote, equity incubator. Worse yet, folks, there are people that actually vote to put these people in office. That's what scary. Something authentic Christians would never do. They elect officials that legalize and promote and protect all manner of perversions. We live in a culture that worships actors and authors and athletes and comedians who advance all of these wicked perversions. What should be considered, and shameful is exalted under the banner of a rainbow, and they call it pride. It is pride. It's an arrogance that shakes his fist in the face of a holy God. This is insanity. Just like the days of Noah. Moreover, this is the wrath of divine abandonment, isn't it? When God just gives people over, all right, you're gonna reject me, I will reject you and let you experience the consequences of your iniquities, and they will destroy you. The Psalmist speaks of this in Psalm 81, beginning in verse 11, "but my people did not listen to my voice. And Israel did not obey me. So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart to walk in their own devices." And through Hosea, God lamented saying and chapter four, verse 17, Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone. That will be the judgment. Sadly, this is the state of the United States of America. I might also add that like the antediluvian civilization, that God judged through the worldwide flood, because of their wickedness, because it was so great that every intent of their thoughts of his heart was continually evil. The Canaanites were the same way. And they also deserve to be exterminated. And it was for this reason that God commanded his covenant people Israel, in Deuteronomy 20, beginning of verse 17, "I want you to utterly destroy them, the Hittite and the Amorite, the Canaanite and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may not teach so that they may not teach you to do according to all their detestable things, which they have done for their gods, so that you would sin against the LORD your God." Certainly God has not called us to destroy people, vengeance is his not ours. We're here to give them the gospel and to love them, but we also have to call things for what they are. Yet today, we see all of those forms of wickedness in our culture, the gross abominations of the LGBTQIA whatever community, the unspeakable perversion of bestiality, the growing acceptance of pedophilia, that's what all this drag queen stuff is all about. These are perverts of the worst order, the multibillion dollar pornography industry, the sacrifice of unborn children on the altar of convenience, Satan worship, divination, fortune telling necromancy, you name it, we do it and like the Canaanites, Americans have been given over to a depraved mind to pursue the most vile forms of wickedness. And they also delight in those who join them as we read in Romans 1:28- 32. For indeed, according to Titus 1:15, that I just mentioned, to those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. But both their mind and their conscience are defiled. Yet in His grace, isn't it amazing that God continues to stay his hand of judgment, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance, Second Peter three, nine, but judgment is coming dear friends. May I remind you that at His first coming according to John 12:47, Jesus said, "I did not come to judge the world but to save the world." But that's not the way it's going to be in His Second Coming. Because he went on to say in verse 48, "He who rejects Me and does not receive My sayings has one who judges him. The word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day." So the truth, my friends, is Jesus is coming again, the world is moving inexorably towards the day of judgment. And this same Jesus that was meek and lowly, is also the eternal judge to whom God has given all authority to judge the living and the dead. Hebrews 9:27, It is appointed for men to die once, but after this what? The Judgment. Acts 10:42 "The Lord Jesus has been ordained by God to be the judge of the living and the dead." And Jesus said in John 5:22, "The Father judges no one but has committed all judgment to the Son," verse 27, "and has given him authority to execute judgment." And on that day, no one will be able to deny the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every knee will bow every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord. Well, there's the warning. Let me close with the encouragement, with the hope, now that you're all thoroughly depressed. I've got two points here. Number one, Jesus still saves, Jesus still saves, He forgives sinners, those who will humble themselves before Him and confess their sin. I'm always fascinated with that passage in First Corinthians 6:9, "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revelers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." Then He says this "such were some of you." What a precious statement. You were washed, you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. You see, dear friends, here's the good news. In the midst of all this darkness, Jesus saves, he washes our sins away with his precious blood. And He sanctifies. He sets us apart from sin unto himself. We're no longer his enemies, we become his friends, his children, and he justifies. He declares us righteous. Justification is that divine gift, whereby God through His grace imputes, the righteousness of Christ, to believers. Legally declares them to be righteous in His sight, and then treats them as such. What an amazing thing, Jesus still saves. Secondly, here's another piece of hope for you, to encourage you, Jesus is coming again. He is faithful to His promises. Nothing can thwart his purposes. And because we don't know when that coming will be, we must be on the alert, right? We must live in a state of eagerness, a state of readiness and holiness. That's why John tells us in I John 3:3, "And everyone who has this hope fixed on him, purifies himself, just as He is pure." Unlike the spiritually dead that are at enmity with God and bereft of spiritual understanding, people who are living today as they did in the days of Noah, unlike that our lives are not characterized by unmitigated evil and rebellion against God, but rather they're characterized by faith and hope and love and joy, the fruits of the Spirit, characterized by a passion to live for God's glory, burden for the last. Were not marked by granite indifference or apathy concerning the coming judgment. No, no, no, we know it is coming. And we also know we deserve it right? And yet we celebrate God's grace, because we are debtors of that grace. And we preach that grace to those who are lost, who are going to perish in their sins, unless they come to a place of genuine saving repentant faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And, beloved, that needs to be our challenge for this new year, that this will be the priority of our heart.

Romans 13 Paul said this beginning in verse 11, "Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone and the day is near. Therefore, let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife. In jealousy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh in regards to its lust." Oh dear friends, may this be the motivation of our heart. This coming year may we live in light of His return. And then we can sing with the psalmist, I should say the hymnist, who wrote this "creation groans beneath the curse rebellions just reward, we long to see the fall reverse and Eden's joy's restored. Come quickly, Lord, make all things new. Redeem the church, your bride. With longing eyes we look for you, for home is at your side. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, thank You for these eternal truths. They they bear much fruit in each of our hearts. May we have a deep compassion for the lost who are utterly blinded by the evil one. And I pray that if there be such a person here, within the sound of my voice, that you would overwhelm them with conviction, that today would be the day that they come and bow before the cross in repented faith and trust Christ as their only hope of salvation. Use us mightily this coming year, to be salt and light that many might come to faith in Christ. Give us hearts of compassion, hearts that are burdened for the lost hearts that are filled with love for you and for one another. That in all things Christ might have the preeminence for. It's in his name that I pray. Amen.

Isaiah chapter nine, will you take your Bibles and turn there for a few minutes? A familiar passage beginning in verse six, "For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us. And the government will rest on his shoulders and his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace, there will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on, and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this."

God has given us these words pertaining to the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ that we might understand more fully, who he is. And of course, this is pure folly to the world. If you were to ask the average person, do you believe that Jesus came to this earth? And that's what we celebrate on Christmas, well, many people would say, "Yeah, I believe that." Okay. Well, do you also believe that the increase of a government is going to be on his shoulders? One day? Wow. No, I don't know about that. You know, I buy into this whole Jesus thing that, that yeah, maybe he was God, but I don't buy the whole government thing. But do you believe that Jesus was the Prince of Peace? Oh, yes. I'm all for peace. And certainly Jesus was the greatest example of non violent resistance against tyranny. Well, do you believe that He was the creator of all things? And all things hold together by the Word of His power? Oh, no, that's ridiculous. Do you believe he was God incarnate? That He came to save sinners? On his death? In his death on the cross? Well, no, I don't believe that. Do you believe, according to Ephesians, 1:20, that the Father "raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand and the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age, but also in the one to come." Do you believe that? No. Those are silly myths in the Bible. Do you believe his words when he said that all authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth in Matthew 28? I don't believe that. You believe him when he said that the Father has given all judgment to the Son? And that he gave Him authority to execute judgment because he is the Son of Man? Do you believe that? No, people don't really believe that. Do you believe that his wrath currently abides upon you because of your unbelief? No, I don't believe that. Do you believe what Jesus said when he says, He who believes in the Son has eternal life? But he who does not obey the Son will not see life but the wrath of God abides on him? No. Most people do not believe any of those things. How sad. And it is typical of people apart from Christ a mock these great truths. In fact, we read in 2 Corinthians that 4, that "the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves," The apostle Paul said, "but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond servants, for Jesus sake. For God who said 'light shall shine out of darkness is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.'" Indeed, the one who spoke light into existence is the one that has spoken into our hearts, that we might see the light of the glory of Christ and be saved. AW Tozer once said, quote, "The gravest question before the church is always God Himself. And the most pretentious fact about any man is not wit what he at any given time may say or do, but what he in his deep heart conceives God to be like."

You see, folks, our God, or our view of God, our understanding of God, our apprehension of who he is, is the basis of everything in our life. It determines who we will worship, how we will worship, if we will worship at all. It determines what kind of church we will attend. And Satan is a diabolical genius when it comes to deceiving people. And he does this primarily through false teachers who distort the Word of God and offer up a God that we can somehow control or impress a God that winks at our sin, that just accepts everybody the way they are, that dances to our beat, that really requires nothing of us so that we can live our life any way we want. And then on our deathbed when we stand on the brink of eternity, we will be able to sing with Frank Sinatra, "I've lived a life that's full, I've traveled each and every highway, and more, much more I did it, I did it my way." And for those who live according to that folly, you will have an eternity to regret, your unbelief and your rebellion before a holy God. The Christmas season is a perfect time to elevate Christ to His rightful position, his proper place, and behold, the excellency in the glory of who he is, so that we can not live in our way but live it his way, right? And what a blessing that is.

And this morning, I want to examine this ancient prophecy for a few minutes that God gave to Isaiah, one that reveals much of the great truths of who Jesus is. A text that speaks prophetically of his birth that we celebrate here today, the birth of the Incarnate Son of God and a text that also really details the steadfast love that God extends towards those who fear him. And it also reminds us of the judgment that God has upon those who do not fear him. Now, Isaiah 9:6-7 here is a is an aspect of the Christmas story that typically isn't talked about very much. But it was revealed to the Prophet to preach to the people of Judah during a period of spiritual darkness. One that is not all that dissimilar to the spiritual darkness that we see in our land today. It was revealed to the Prophet about 700 years before Christ during the divided kingdom. And he prophesied, Isaiah prophesied that is, for at least 34 years during the reign of four kings beginning at the death of Messiah. And he prophesied through the reign of Jotham, of Ahaz, of Hezekiah. And finally Manassah. And when we look back at ancient Judah, we see some amazing parallels to the United States of America today. During the 52 year reign of King Uzziah, Judah had prospered greatly. They had a strong economy, they were wealthy. They had developed into a very powerful commercial country, powerful military state, they were very proud. In fact, in that day, they were considered to be militarily invincible.

But as you look at scripture and history, you see that they were materialistic to the core. They are governed by crooked politicians. Their spiritual leaders were phony apostates. They were a very religious people, but they were a people that were really dominated by hypocrisy by idolatry and by gross immorality. So God promised judgment upon this people we read about this, for example, in Isaiah 5. Now at the end of his reign Uzziah, in his pride, violated God's command and attempted to pursue and assume the role of high priest, and he desired to burn incense on the altar. You may recall the story in the Old Testament. And the consequences were devastating. God struck him with leprosy, which soon caused his death. And it was then according to Isaiah 6, that God called Isaiah to prophesy in the year of whose ideas death, which was 739 BCE. Now, the vast majority of the people, like today rejected his warnings, people today reject the gospel, they think it's foolish, and only a small remnant believed. But finally, according to tradition, King Manassah had enough of Isaiah, and had him cut asunder with a wooden saw. So it was against this blackness, this darkness in the land, that God promised the light of salvation through a child that would one day be born. And here we learn much of who God is, and how his steadfast love is manifested toward those who fear him. My outline is going to be rather brief this morning, and it's rather simple, we're going to look first at the promise of His birth. Secondly, the description of his titles, thirdly, the nature of his kingdom, and finally, the zeal of his determination. And frankly, these are great truths that we need to shout from the rooftops, especially on Christmas.

So first, will you notice that God reveals these amazing truths to Isaiah, with no explanation as to the interval of time, this was 700 years now, before the child would come. But people didn't know if it was going to be next week or next year or when it was going to happen, nor does he offer any measure of the span of time between when the child would be born and when the government will rest upon his shoulders. In other words, there is no time period of how long it's going to be between his first and his second coming. We know when the first coming was, we're still awaiting the Second Coming. Now this, by the way, is a common prophetic device that we see. In Scripture, it's known as "prophetic forshortening". When a prophet reveals various truths with no idea of, of what is going to intervene in between the time the prophets would look ahead, and they would envision two Advents of Christ as two mountain peaks, with a valley in between. I often use the analogy when you head towards Denver, from this side of Denver, you get into Colorado, and all of a sudden, you can begin to see the mountains and you see all of these peaks, and they look like they're all lined up. But there's many miles between some peaks and others in the background. And that's what we have here. They had no idea of the size of the valley in between the first and the second coming. Peak one would be Jesus birth, peak two would be his second coming, speaking of the government being on his shoulders, and so forth. Now, don't think here that there's a double meaning, but rather, one of them is simply the harbinger of the next even greater and more climactic event. And from our perspective, again, we can look back and see the time interval in the valley between the first and the second coming, and we're living there today. And we're awaiting that next peak, if you will.

So 700 years before Christ, Isaiah, by the power of the Spirit is revealed. The Spirit reveals to him these two mountain peaks of precious hope, a child is going to be born one day, and he would someday rule from the throne of David on an everlasting or in an everlasting kingdom. So first let's notice for a moment the promise of His birth a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us. Now notice it does not say that a child will be born from us, nor does it say we will produce from ourselves a son. You will recall when Jesus talked with Nicodemus, we read God so loved the world that he what? He gave His only begotten Son. Begotten in the original language, "monogenes" says a term that means "unique or radically distinctive, something in a category, all of its own without equal." God gave His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and indeed he was born but he was conceived by the Holy Spirit. He was God's only begotten son, his only unique one of a kind, son spawned from God the Father, Consubstantial in every way of his very essence possessing His very nature. Moreover, it says, this child will be born to us, his son will be given to us. Now please understand, this child was not made, he was not created. He already existed, he was given. Again, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ is the pre existent, self existent, uncreated Creator of the Universe. Yes, he was a child, but he was also the eternal Son. He was the greater son of David, but more importantly, he was the Son of God, a son of a virgin according to the flesh, but God with us according to the Spirit, but we must realize that this gift of Christ was promised before time began. By a God who cannot lie. We read this in Titus 1:2, think of this the next time you think of Jesus in the manger, that he was promised, before time began before God created time before he created anything. 2 Timothy 1:9, we read, "He has saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity." "From all eternity" can be translated "before time began." "But now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior, Christ Jesus who abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." And notice what else is promised concerning that child that was born to us the son who was given to us in verse six, "and the government will rest on his shoulders." Now, obviously, that hasn't happened yet. But it will. The promised fulfillment of this verse verse can be found in a number of passages. For example, in Psalm 2 beginning in verse 8, the father describes the sons kingship and he says, "Ask of me, and I will surely give the nations as thine inheritance and the very ends of the earth as your possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt shatter them, like earthenware." And I don't know about you, actually, I do know about most of you, but I cannot wait until the King comes. I am so tired of being ruled by godless people, that are buffoons, that are fools, in desperate need of God's saving grace. Man may remove Christ from Christmas, but he cannot remove him from his throne. So someday, the wicked rulers that are endemic to world history will surrender to the righteous reign of Christ. We know that in Bible prophecy, Jerusalem will be the capital of the world, Christ will rule from the throne of David. And during that millennial kingdom, the Lord Jesus Christ will enforce his standards of righteousness with a rod of righteousness, He will protect his sheep, the sheep of his fold with the scepter of iron and we will rule with Him. Revelation 2 beginning in verse 26, and "He who overcomes and keeps my works until the end to him I will give power over the nations, he shall rule them with a rod of iron and they shall be dashed to pieces, like the potter's vessels."

So in Isaiah's prophecy, we see not only the promise of His birth, but the description of his titles. If you will notice there are four pairs of names and each name foreshadows his coming rule upon the earth during his millennial reign. The first two names are linked to an earlier name that of "Immanuel" which means "God with us" that Isaiah revealed and chapter 7:14, there you will recall He says, "Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son and we will call his name Immanuel." And then the second two names denote the glorious conditions of that time that he will bring about. So first of all, notice in verse six, "and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor." Literally, Wonder Counselor, the original language. It denotes a supernatural counselor, one with supernatural counsel. And this would have been great news to the believing remnant of that day that were absolutely fed up with the bad counsel they were receiving from their false shepherds, and their political leaders. They're the people like we experienced today. So a kingdom will rise and it will fall basically upon the council of its rulers, and that's going to change someday and certainly an everlasting kingdom requires the wisdom of an eternal, omniscient and holy God. So this child would be a supernatural counselor for he would be God incarnate. And we're waiting for that day. And this was the first hope of Zion that God gave through Isaiah. A divine promise that that would occur during this time of his reign upon the earth and millennial restoration after the pre kingdom judgments. And in chapter one and verse 26, we read, "Then I will restore your judges as at the first and your counselors as at the beginning. After that you will be called the city of righteousness of faithful city." Isaiah then prophesied in verse 27 of chapter one, "Zion will be redeemed with justice and her repentant ones with righteousness, but transgressors and sinners will be crushed together and those who forsake the LORD shall come to an end." So one day dear friends, the Lord Jesus that we celebrate today, the one who came and died in our stead and was raised again from the dead, the Wonder Counselor will return as the absolute monarch over all of the earth. Now, let's think more deeply for a moment about what this means as a wonderful counselor.

As I reflected upon this, I thought my he was a supernatural counselor, number one, in eternity past. Again before time began, and space was created, the triune godhead, counseled together to determine and decree a plan as to how they would put their glory on display. Romans 11:36, "For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things to Him be the glory forever. Amen." So to be sure, the eternal Son was part of that council, working on a perfect plan in perfect oneness with the Father and the Spirit. Together they deliberated, think about this, on creation. This vast universe, the galaxies the stars, including our sun and moon in the earth, they counseled together as to what would be the laws of physics, the essence and purpose of every angel, the unfathomable intricacies of every strand of DNA. Together, they counseled concerning man, what he would be and woman, his and her body, his and her mind. Thought about all of us, the color of our eyes, our hair, shape of our face, the sound of our voice. The Bible even speaks of how our days are determined, our length of days. Psalm 139:15, the Psalmist says" My frame was not hidden from the when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth," referring to the mother's womb, "thine eyes have seen my unformed substance, and in thy book, they were all written the days that were ordained for me." So our beloved Christ was the counselor for all the wondrous works of God. And as our wonderful counselor, he even deliberated with the Father and the Son as to how to allow sin and evil to enter into their perfect universe that they would create. This is evident in God's testimony of himself when he said in Isaiah 45:7, "I form the light and create darkness I make peace and create evil. I the LORD do all of these things." And we know biblically that he ordained evil to enter his perfect universe through the voluntary choices of moral creatures. And he did this to dramatically display his glory through his holiness, through his wrath, through his mercy, through His grace and love and power. And our wonderful counselor also helped craft that plan of redemption whereby we have been saved, including the uninfluenced choice of those that he would save. Ephesians 1:5, the father "predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself." Verse 11, "we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to His purpose, who works all things after the counsel of his will." Indeed, all of his elective purposes were ordained from eternity, 2 Timothy 1:9 and Titus 1:2. Again, as I said earlier, before time began, which would by implication, include his divine decree for Satan, and the angels to rebel, for Adam and Eve to sin, and by imputation, all men to sin and Adam, thus requiring according to Revelation 13:8, "the lamb to be slain" When? "from the foundation of the world." We can therefore conclude that God's elective, eternal purposes were decreed and set into motion before creation. And this would include the incarnation of the Son, the Lord Jesus, that would come to Earth. It would include His atoning work, his defeat of Satan and sin. All of these amazing realities, I'm just hitting the highlights. As we think about baby Jesus in the manger, he was indeed a wonderful counselor, with the Father and the Spirit in eternity past. And for this reason, Isaiah said in chapter 25:1, "Oh, Lord, thou art my god, I will exalt thee, I will give thanks to thy name, for thou hast worked wonders, plans formed long ago, with perfect faithfulness." So he was a counselor in eternal eternity past but also a supernatural counselor in the present. He counsels us according to His providence, does he not? As he orchestrates all things to accomplish his purposes in our lives, including the events and actions of all that we do. Ephesians 1:11, He accomplishes or brings about all things "according to the counsel of his will." Proverbs 19:21. "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord it will stand." And in Act 17 Verse 28, "In Him, we live and move and have our being. "And Romans 8:28, that you're all familiar with, "We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose."

So dear friends, nothing happens in our life that was not first determined in eternity. Concepts that are beyond our imagination. All of those things that would endure to our eternal benefit and his eternal glory, He counsels not only through His providence, but through His Word. He is the eternal Logos, the word, the incarnation of the word, who reveals the very mind and heart of God, and we hear His voice and learn from him whenever we read His Word. Indeed, Jesus said, "My sheep," what? "hear my voice," and they do what? "And they follow Me." Those that aren't a sheep, don't hear His voice, and think it's ridiculous to follow him. He counsels us through his presence in our lives. He remains to this very day Immanuel, God with us. Again, He has redeemed us that he might inhabit us, He dwells within us. He promised "lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." And because of this, he is a wise and a sympathetic counselor. Hebrews 4:15, "for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted at all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need." Indeed, according to Proverbs 8:31, he rejoices in his inhabited world and delights in the children of men and Proverbs 8:14 says, "Counsel is mine and sound wisdom; I am understanding."

Oh, dear Christian, what a foolish thing it is to neglect the counsel of the Lord our God that is revealed to us in His Word. So we can see his supernatural counsel in the past and the present. But finally, counsel pertaining to the future. You know, man is incurably curious about the future and foolishly, he resorts to all of the crazy things that the enemy has provided that would hopefully help him understand the future. Things like horoscopes and zodiac signs and tarot cards, and even Chinese fortune cookies, and so forth. But our wonderful counselor has revealed enormous amounts of information in His Word; the destiny of the nations, the destiny of the world, the destiny of people who love Him and worship Him versus those who don't, and so forth. And because in those those eternal councils of the triune godhead, we know that he participated in determining the course of human history, and indeed, history, shall we say, is his story. It's the story of Christ, our Creator, and our redeemer and our coming King, and His Word is filled with prophecies. Scholars estimate that there are 1817 prophecies in the Bible. And we know that over 300 of them were fulfilled perfectly, literally, at His first advent. Hundreds more are waiting to be fulfilled in the future. So do you want to know what the future is? Consult with the wonderful counselor right? The book of Revelation, we get a little sample of this. Revelation one beginning in verse one. It says, "The Revelation of Jesus Christ:, in Greek, it's the "Apokalypsis lesou Christou", the apocalypse this means "the unveiling," the unveiling of Jesus Christ, "which God gave Him to show to his bondservants the things which must soon take place." And then he went on to say in verse three, "Blessed is he who reads, and those who hear the words of the prophecy and heed the things which are written in it, for the time is near," or the season is near.

So back to Isaiah is prophecy. Indeed, he was and is the Mighty Counselor, The Wonderful Counselor, but secondly, Isaiah said he will be called Mighty God. "El gibbor" in Hebrew it's a term that refers to a mighty military leader with great power, literally a warrior. So this child who would be born, this child who would be given to us, upon whose shoulders the government will someday rest is, shall we say, a warrior God. This is who Jesus is. The one who will fulfill the military references that we read about in verses 3-5, for example, he is the mighty God, The warrior God who will liberate his people Israel from the bondage of their sin, reconcile them unto himself, conquer their enemies, once and for all. And again, this is where people get confused, as the child we see his humanity, but as the Mighty God, we see His deity. And that's what we want to focus on, especially in the Christmas season. This will be the one to whom penitent Israel will one day turn. And this is the one to whom we in the church age have turned, not a mere human that lived and died, but this is the second person of the Triune Godhead. This is the omnipotent, all powerful, God; able to do all that He desires, able to accomplish all that he has decreed, all of his promises. In fact, the Psalmist calls us to worship saying in Psalm 24:8, "Who is the King of Glory, the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle."

But will you notice the third in this quartet of predicted preeminent titles, he is also called Eternal Father, literally, Father of eternity. And this is an amazing concept. This child who would be born, the son who would be given will also be the Father of eternity. If that is the promise, and Isaiah's words would have certainly been of great comfort to the people who were agonizing, who were languishing in the idolatrous country in which they lived, awaiting divine judgment. And the title of Father points to his concern for the helpless, a concern that will dominate his rule in the kingdom age, a concept that speaks of how he cares for his children, even to the point of disciplining his children, Proverbs 3:12, "For who the Lord loves, he reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights." And Isaiah speaks of the Redeemer as father in Isaiah 63:16, "For thou art our Father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not recognize us, Thou, O Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer from of old is thy name". In the chapter 64:8, "But now oh Lord, thou art our Father, we are the clay, and thou our Potter, and all of us are the work of thy hand." Again dear friends, think of this when you gaze upon the baby in the manger.

So it's Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father. And then finally, the fourth preeminent title given to the future child who would be king is Prince of Peace. You see, the one who will come will be the embodiment of peace when he returns as King of Kings and Lord of lords. Isaiah 2:4, the Spirit of God speaks to the Prophet and says, "And he will judge between the nations, and will render decisions for many peoples; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war." We long for those days in the kingdom age that is coming. But we must understand that this peace that he will eventually secure for the nations of the world when he returns and reigns upon the throne of his father, David, in the millennial kingdom, this, this peace begins first, with the peace that he secures between sinful man and a holy God. There must be a reconciliation. We are a sinful people. God is infinitely holy, we can never enter into His presence unless God does something. We must be reconciled to Him. And that reconciliation comes through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who bore our sins. In fact, in Romans 5:1, we read and "having been justified, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." So when we come to saving faith in Christ, suddenly we're clothed in his righteousness, and God no longer looks upon our sin, but sees the righteousness of Christ. And on the basis of that imputed righteousness, we can enter into the presence of a holy God.

That is the essence of the gospel. And therein is the peace. That Christ alone can be the Prince of Peace, but you will have no peace until you are reconciled to God through faith in Christ. And once that happens, the war is over. We are no longer his enemy. We are no longer at enmity with him. We are now his children, his redeemed. You will recall, in Luke 2 when the angel appeared to the shepherds, the glory of the Lord shined around them, they were terrified, they announced the birth of the Savior. And there we read in verse 13, of Luke 2, "suddenly there appeared with the angel, a multitude of the heavenly hosts praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased." Now, be careful, this does not mean that he's offering peace to those who are pleasing to Him. This is not some kind of reward for meritorious behavior, as if we could somehow be good enough to enter into the presence of God through our own righteousness. But literally, he's saying peace among men of his good pleasure, or peace toward men, on whom God's sovereign pleasure rests. You see, this is the goodwill that God grants to His elect. So they're saying, in essence, Glory to God in the highest to those who are the sovereignly chosen recipients of His grace of His good pleasure. Those who now have peace with God through faith in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior, the Prince of Peace.

So in this great prophecy, we see the promise of His birth, the description of his titles. Number three, the nature of his kingdom, "There will be no end," verse 7, "to the increase of His government or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice, and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this." And you see, this point says now to the Davidic kingdom, the Davidic dynasty, the future home of the Son, the millennial kingdom, which is repeatedly promised in the Old Testament, and it will be inaugurated, when the Lord returns again at His second coming. This will be a kingdom of peace on earth when he reigns, with a rod of righteousness, when he wields a scepter of iron. This will be in fulfillment of Abrahamic covenant that we read about in Genesis 12 and 15 and 17, as well as the Davidic Covenant and 2 Samuel 7, this will be a time when David's fallen tent will be restored according to Amos 9:11. "In that day, I will restore David's fallen tent I will repair its broken places restore its ruins and build it as it used to be." Zechariah 9:10, "He will proclaim peace to the nations his rule will extend from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth." You see, this will be a time of great blessing not only to ethnic Israel, but to Gentiles. All because the child was born, all because a son would be given. But how can this possibly be accomplished? Well, he tells us in verse seven, "the zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this." So again, in this great prophecy, we see the promise of His birth, a description of his titles, the nature of his kingdom, that I'm just hitting on very lightly. And finally, we see the zeal of his determination. The term zeal means ardor, or, or passion, or even jealousy. It's a term derived from an Arabic verb meaning to become "intensely read". And it carries the idea of a man's face, becoming red with deep emotion. We all understand what that looks like. And it was used to describe, for example, a husband's jealousy for the love of his wife in Proverbs 6:34. So this is describing even the explosion of love that bursts into full flame in the heart of a bride and a groom as we read about in Song of Solomon 6:8, and Isaiah uses the term in chapter 63:15, to describe God's, quote, "zeal and mighty deeds, the stirrings of his inner parts to act". And the Psalmist tells us in Psalm 79:5, that his zeal can be compared to a quote, "burning fire." This is the zeal of the Lord. And to be sure, our God is according to Deuteronomy 4:24, "a consuming fire, a jealous God." It was Jesus, you will recall in John 2:13-17, it was Jesus zeal for his father's house that consumed him when he cleansed the temple. Make no mistake, dear friends, the burning passion of the Lord Jesus Christ will motivate him to return once again as he has promised. And he will return again as the Lord of hosts to accomplish all that he has ordained and eternity past because he is a consuming fire, because he is the Lord of Glory, because he is a jealous God, and because he is faithful to his covenant promises. And even right now you must understand that he is ordering and directing all of the events of human history, moving them toward the Messianic Kingdom, and even now we're seeing the world being prepared for the rule of the Antichrist, which must occur before Christ returns, and then eventually he will establish His kingdom which is consistent with all of these great prophecies. And that kingdom will be the consummating bridge between human history and the eternal state. This is the triumph of his zealous grace. This is what we await as we reflect upon all that baby Jesus is and will do. Well, today the world's hatred of Christ and His Word is mounting. But according to the prophet Isaiah, 14:24, we can know this quote, "the Lord of hosts has sworn, saying, Surely, just as I have intended, so it has happened, and just as I have planned, so it will stand."

So dear friends think upon this, especially on Christmas Day, think about who Jesus is the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. The Prince of Peace, who will be king, who ultimately is king, because my friends, and please hear this, a day will soon come when his nostrils will flare, and he will rise from his sovereign throne. And in the consuming fire of His righteous indignation, he will return and bring glory to himself and bring judgment upon the nations and He will establish His kingdom as he has promised. He will break the seals of the pre kingdom judgments and unleash his wrath upon a world that has for millennia, mocked him. But then he will return according to Revelation 19:15, "and smite the nations and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and he will tread the blind press of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty."

So indeed, and I leave you, with this great text, "There will be no end to the increase of His government, or of peace, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, to establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness from then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this." And then my friends, we will see this with our own eyes. I trust that you all know Christ. And when I say know him, that you have been absolutely broken over your sin, and that you have come to him in repentant faith and ask for forgiveness, that you have committed yourself to Him, that you believe that he is who he says he is. I pray that that has happened because unless it has, some day, when you see him when you bow before him, as we all will, you will either do it in triumph or in terror. The good news of the gospel that we celebrate here today is that there is hope for sinful man. And if you're here today, without Christ, you can laugh at everything that I have said, you can mock his word all you want to but you know in your heart that you are suppressing the truth in unrighteousness, and the wrath of God abides upon you. And I pray that you will have no sleep on your pillow, until you come to a place of genuine saving faith and be saved.

Your life is a train wreck apart from Christ. But with Christ, everything changes. Not that everything becomes perfect and wonderful. But certainly even in the midst of our storms, we have the great peace that passes all comprehension, because we are in Christ Jesus. And we have the hope of all that He has promised. And we live consistently in that hope, and rejoice in it. Folks, this is the glory that emanates from a manger, right? The glory of Christ. This is the one we celebrate this day. Let's pray together. Father, thank You for these eternal truths. I pray that you will speak to every heart especially those that perhaps are living in rebellion against you. Father, we know that only you can cause them by the power of your Spirit, to see the truth of their own sin and the glory of Christ, the holiness of God. And so I pray that by the power of your Spirit, you will bring great conviction to every heart that is here today. And for those that that know and love you Lord, may this be a time where we are deeply encouraged and deeply edified. As we contemplate the perfections of the glory of Christ, may we live to the praise of that glory and enjoy all of the fullness of what it means to be in Christ Jesus. We thank you, we give you praise in Jesus name. Amen.

What a privilege we have to be able to open up the Word of the living God, amen? And to look into his great truths to understand more of who he is and more of who we are in Him. So will you take your Bibles and turn to Luke's Gospel? We're going to be looking at Luke chapter two, verses one through seven. We began looking at this last week, we'll finish this up this week. And we do so under the heading "Jesus' Birth a Providential Appointment." May I remind you, before we read the text, and look closely into it, that God's providence not only controls the entirety of his creation, which is sometimes called general providence. But it also encompasses the details of history, including the details of the lives of individuals, especially his elect, as we would read, for example, in Ephesians 1-12. And often this is called special or specific providence. And what a blessing it is to know that he governs all of his works, past, present, and future, that nothing is left to chance. Even those things which may seem so trivial. Jesus mentioned this in Matthew 10, beginning in verse 29, and he said, " Are not two sparrows sold for a cent? And yet, not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows."

Although the world is in a moral freefall, and although many of us struggle in our life feeling as though we're just being tossed about like a little vessel in a turbulent ocean, often filled with difficulty and pain and sorrow, and even death. Despite all of that we can say with Paul, in Philippians 1:6-4, "I am confident of this very thing that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." And we see this miracle of divine providence at work here in the birth of Christ. As I say it is a providential appointment. And we can see this clearly in our text this morning in Luke chapter two. So let me read it to you beginning in verse one. "Now, in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited Earth. This was the first census taken well, Cornelius was a governor of Syria. And everyone was on his way to register for the census each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register, along with Mary who was engaged to him, and was with child. While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in cloths, and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them in the inn."

I love the angelic announcement that was made to the terrified shepherds, and if I put myself in their place, I'm sure I would have been equally as terrified when the angel proclaimed those magnificent words recorded in verses 10 and 11 of our text, "Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord." Dear friends, the gospel is indeed tidings of good joy because of Christ, who will will cause us to one day stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy. Not, guilty with great dread, but blameless with great joy. The Lord of Glory will not treat us as a sentencing judge but as a loving father. Moreover, as the angel Gabriel told Mary, he will be our king. Don't you long for a godly king, a righteous king, a righteous ruler. And he will sit upon the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. Oh dear friends, I pray that we will never lose the wonder of these great truths. And this morning, I wish to direct your attention again to the birth of the Messiah King, which is consistent with many Old Testament prophecies. And many times in the Christmas story, these Old Testament prophecies get overlooked. For example, 650 years before the birth of Christ, the prophet Jeremiah announced the final king in the line of David, referring to Christ. We read about this in chapter 23 of Jeremiah beginning in verse five. "Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. And this is His name by which He will be called the Lord our Righteousness."

In a world where greed, corruption, shameless and frankly bizarre immorality. A world in which we are governed by godless leaders, imagine what it will be like. During the kingdom age during the millennium, when the Lord our Righteousness reigns upon the earth. Let's ponder Jeremiah's prophecy together for a moment. And this will help frame a bit of what I would like to share with you as we look closely at Luke two. After focusing on the judgment of Judah, and the hopeless conditions of the Babylonian siege, Jeremiah predicted the eventual salvation and restoration of Israel, according to the conditions of the New Covenant, that are recorded in Jeremiah 30 through 33, which as we look at it today seems rather unlikely given Israel's unbelief. Today Israel is experiencing the temporary and partial hardening as God saves many Gentiles. Paul spoke of this in Romans 11:25. Only a remnant of believing Israelites exists today, even though more and more are coming to faith in Christ. And of course, this is a reminder that the nation as a whole will one day be saved. As we read in Romans 11, verses 16 and verse 26. However, during a coming day of the Lord, Israel's unbelief is going to be reversed. We know that from what Scripture tells us, and God will save and restore Israel when the Messiah returns according to Zechariah 12:10. We read, "I will pour out on the house of David, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication, so that they will look on Me whom they have pierced."

And at that time, the earthly phase of the kingdom will be established. And Israel ethnic Israel will enter the blessings of the kingdom and lead many other nations in worshipping the Messiah. Jeremiah 30, actually begins with the promise of Israel's restoration. In verse three we read, "For behold, 'days are coming', declares the Lord, 'when I will restore the fortunes of My people, Israel and Judah.' The Lord says, 'I will also bring them back to the land that I gave to their forefathers and they shall possess it.'" He goes on to describe the conditions of the Kingdom. In verse 10. He speaks of how the offspring of Israel will return from captivity, verse 11, the nations that oppressed Israel will be punished. Verse 17, Israel's health will be restored wounds will be cured. Verse 18, Jerusalem will be rebuilt. Verse 18, as well the palace will stand on its rightful place, verse 22, ethnic Israel will be the people of God. And in chapter 31, the promises of the New Covenant continue, according to verse one, there will be a unified Israel and they will be the people of God, Israel will be rebuilt. In verse four through six, the nation will be filled with joy, verse eight, be gathered from the remote parts of the earth. Culture and livestock will prosper, verse 13, the young and old and Israel will be joyful. Verse 16, sorrow, over heartbreaking oppression will cease and on it goes. Then in chapters 32 and 33, he details even the physical and spiritual blessings of the kingdom, all because of God's faithfulness to his covenant promises that he originally gave to Abraham. In fact, in Jeremiah 33, all God's promises to restore the nation Israel, and place his Messiah King upon his rightful throne, are actually linked to five unconditional covenants of Old Testament scripture. Let me give them to you briefly.

First, it was the covenant that God made to Noah in Genesis eight, where God promised the stability of nature, as part of his plan, enable to enabling him to carry out his kingdom purposes. And then, of course, the covenant that he gave to Abraham beginning in Genesis 12, that Abraham would be the father of a great nation, Israel, who will therefore be the divine conduit, if you will, to bring blessings to all of the nations. And then there was the priestly covenant given in numbers 25, the promise of a perpetual priesthood that will continue on even into the millennial reign of Christ, and then the Davidic Covenant of Second Samuel seven, the promise that the ultimate King will be a descendant of David, the righteous branch of David, who, according to chapter 33, in verse 15, will execute justice and righteousness on the earth. And He will rule and bless the entire world from Israel. And then there's finally the New Covenant in Jeremiah 31, the promise of how God will change the hearts of his people and grant His Holy Spirit. So they will always obey Him. And as I read earlier, this will be a time according to Jeremiah 23, verse five, "When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign as king and act wisely and do justice and righteousness in the land." So folks, we can all be encouraged with these great prophecies. All of these things have been promised by a sovereign God who is absolutely omnipotent, there is nothing that can thwart his purposes. And therefore, even in the midst of catastrophic judgment upon the earth there is life sustaining hope that we find in Scripture. And as Gentiles, we can rejoice because we have been grafted into the rich root of Abrahamic blessing. And today, the church is the temporary custodian of gospel truth until Jesus returns and Israel finally rises up and fulfills its original role as a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Exodus 19:6. So today God is saving, and he is preparing in the church, the members of the royal family who are destined to reign with Him during the kingdom age, as we read in 2 Timothy 2:12, for example. And I must add that there is a great parallel in the career of King David, with that of the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about it, when David was chosen of God and was anointed as King of Israel, He did not immediately occupy the throne. He was despised. He was rejected. For a time he was a fugitive in the wilderness. He was pursued by Saul, whose regal rights had been abrogated, yet he maintained the throne as a usurper. You remember those stories? And during that time men who were debtors and in distress, gathered themselves unto David as his loyal followers. And eventually, when Saul was defeated, the kingdom of David was established over Israel, and he was anointed the king. Well, similarly, Jesus, the greater son of David, was exalted to be both Lord and Messiah King at His first coming. But not until His Second Coming when he establishes His kingdom on earth as the rightful successo, will he be the one to take the throne of his father, David. And in the interim, he is gathering to himself a body of people who are likewise in distress, and debtors to His grace, all because of our sin, a royal family, that's who we are, destined to reign with Him. And yet even now, from His throne in heaven, the king is, is bestowing upon us, his regal blessings, even before the arrival of the kingdom. And oh, I think about just the marvels of Scripture, and the intricacies of the Word of God, how none of it is just put there, just to kind of fill up space. It is all connected in ways that are absolutely unimaginable. And I'm just skimming the surface with some of these great trues and all the wonders of saving grace, that we are somehow a part of his plan.

Now, back to God's faithfulness to his covenants. We saw last week, some of these promises were fulfilled and in stunning detail in the Christmas story. And what I like to do when we talk about the Christmas story is take you beyond Hallmark Cards, right? Beyond yard decorations, where a lot of people get their theology unfortunately. And take you into the Word of God and see some of the amazing concepts that emerge, especially from this historical narrative. Now, by way of quick review, last week, we looked at Bethlehem's destiny. There we examine the significance of Bethlehem, why it was the royal city where King David was born and why it was therefore, the appropriate fitting city for the greater son of David, the divine king of Israel, the Lord Jesus to be born in that same village. And all of that was consistent with the prophecy of Micah that we read in chapter five and verse two, "But as for you, Bethlehem , Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you, One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel." And so Jesus birth and Bethlehem was another piece in the puzzle of God's unconditional covenant with David, in 2 Samuel 7, a covenant made 1000 years before Jesus was born, promising David that God would raise up for him a descendant, the Messiah King, who would establish David's kingdom forever, a dynasty that would ultimately dominate the world when the King of Kings returns when he judges the nations and establishes His kingdom and rules in righteousness. So through a divinely orchestrated and complex saga of political machinations, God moves upon the heart of Caesar Augustus, to take a census in Palestine. And in the context of all of that Joseph and Mary traveled 85 miles from their home and Nazareth, to Bethlehem to register and their official stamp of the Roman Empire would verify that Jesus Christ was indeed the Son of God.

Even though they didn't know they were doing that, that he indeed was the rightful heir of the throne of David, that he was the one fulfilling God's covenant promises to David and 2 Samuel 7 that required the Messiah to descend from his loins. And in Bethlehem, Micah's prophecy was fulfilled literally, which I might add, will be the case for the rest of Micah's predictions, as well as all the inspired prophecies. Beloved, if I could put it this way, upon the fulfillments of the jots and tittles of His Word, rest the veracity of God. And so when God says something is going to happen, don't just allegorize it, spiritualize it and come up with what you think it might mean. Take God at His Word. Joseph, Mary knew the prophecy of Micah and even as a 13 year old young woman, Mary was well versed in Old Testament theology. Her heart was saturated with the Word of God, something that is very rare these days in young people. In fact, Luke, one that we read earlier, records her prayer of praise before the Lord. She understood that her child would be the Son of God, the Messiah. And you can just see the richness of theology coming out in her praise before the Lord.

So last week, we examined Bethlehem's destiny. Now today, we want to examine as well, number two Bethlehem's child. Notice in verse six now, says, "And it came about that while they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son". So who is this firstborn son of Mary? In Luke 2:11, the angel announced that he was, quote, "a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." So it's important for us to understand what Christ means. And what does Lord mean? It's important for you to understand as well what it means to you as an individual, because your eternal destiny depends upon it. Christ, the word Christ is used 500 times in the New Testament, and it translates the Hebrew word "Messiah." Is he your Messiah? And what does that term mean? Lord, the original language in Greek is "kurios". A title that means ruler or master; one who commands,one who exercises supernatural authority. So what do these two terms really say about Jesus? And what difference should this make in your life? Let me give you a little historical context.

Mary and Joseph, as well as Zacharias and Elizabeth, the father and mother of John the Baptist, and the shepherds all knew that the infant child was the Messiah. John 1:41, we know that Andrew finds his brother Simon Peter, what does he say? "We have found the Messiah, (which translated means Christ)." The Samaritans also believed in the coming Messiah. In John 4 you will recall, Jesus met a Samaritan woman and exposed her bondage to sexual sin. And in verse 19, "The woman said to Him, 'Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet," then in verse 25 she says, "I know that Messiah is coming, (He who is called Christ), when that Oe comes, He will declare all things to us.' Jesus said to her, 'I who speak to you, am He.'" And as Jesus went on to preach to the Samaritans, beginning in verse 41, "Many more believed because of His word. And they were saying to the woman, 'It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.'" My friend's, baby Jesus in the manger was and is the Messiah. But what did that really mean to the Jewish mind? And what should it mean to us? Messiah actually comes from a Hebrew verb which means to "spread liquid over." And it came to be used symbolically to mean to anoint someone with oil. So Messiah literally means "the anointed one." "Christos" in Greek. In the Old Testament, we see that there were three offices in the theocratic kingdom that God designed for his covenant people. And each one of these offices required that the man be anointed with oil, that he'd be consecrated, that he'd be set apart by God for the respective offices. And all of them would be mediators between God and man, they would all be "messiahs" small m. Those three offices were prophets, priests, and kings. Prophets spoke God's truth to man. The priests brought man's burdens and sins to God and interceded between God and man provided sacrifices and so forth. And then the kings ruled man for God. They were the mediatorial rulers in the theocratic kingdom. But because of our sin, God knew that we needed all three offices. We need a prophet to reveal to us God's truth. We need a priest to sympathize with our weakness, to be a mediator between God and man and intercede with him on our behalf. But we also need a king to rule over us according to God's standard of righteousness and justice. A king that could help subdue the enemy of our soul.

And all of this was pictured in the Old Testament "messiahs." Men anointed to function in the three offices of Prophet, Priest and King. Now very important, there were three things that were always true about God's messiah, those three important criteria had to be met. Number one, they had to be chosen by God. No prophet, priest or king was to be chosen by the people. None were self appointed None were to volunteer. In fact, it's interesting in the verb form, Messiah is in the passive voice, which means "Messiah is one who has been anointed." So they had to be chosen by God. Secondly, they were given divine authority to speak for God and act on his behalf. And then finally, they had to be empowered by God to do his bidding. Beloved, each of these three offices, Prophet, Priest, and King are merged together in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Messiah, the Anointed One. He is the perfect embodiment of all three. Was he not chosen and sent by the Father? Indeed, he was. Quoting from Isaiah 42:1 Jesus spoke of the Father's choosing him when he said, "Behold, my servant whom I have chosen, My beloved in who My soul is well pleased." Matthew 12:18, John 6:38, "I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." And in John 8:54, he said, "It is my father who glorifies me." Hebrews 5 Verse five, "Christ did not glorify himself so as to become a high priest, but He who said to Him, Thou art my Son, today I have begotten Thee." He's quoting Psalm 2 verse seven. Jesus was chosen by God, He is the King priest. But did he not also receive define authority from God Himself? Indeed he did. Jesus said in Matthew 28:18, "All authority has been given to me, in heaven and on earth." He has authority over men, He has authority over Satan, He has authority over demons, over nature over disease over death. John 5, Verse 22, "the father," he says, "has given all judgment to the Son." And in verse 27, he went on to say, "He gave Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man." Moreover, he was empowered by the Holy Spirit, not only chosen and sent by the Father, not only given divine authority, but he was empowered by the Holy Spirit.

In Matthew 12:18, he quotes Isaiah 42:1, "I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles." And then in John 1:32, John testified, saying, "I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He remained upon Him." And many, many passages speak of the supremacy of Christ, that God chose him and gave him all authority, and gave him power in all three of these offices. Ephesians one verse 20, "The Father raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And He put all things in subject under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all." Dear friends, this is the Messiah. This is the infant Jesus in the manger. Don't forget it. Colossians 1:15, we read more of who Jesus is. "He is the image of the invisible God, the first born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things have been created by Him, and for Him, and He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church, and he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he himself might come to have first place and everything, for it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in him, and through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross. Through him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven."

Again, dear friends, this was the infant Jesus in the manger. This is the Lord our God, this is the Messiah. The divinely chosen King of Kings and Lord of Lords, to whom God has given all authority, and all power. And for this reason, according to Philippians 2 beginning in verse nine, "God highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."

Dear friends when you think of Jesus at Christmas, you simply must understand that He is the Creator, the Sustainer, the Redeemer, and the consummater of all things, that he is the uncreated Creator of the universe, that he is the pre existent, self existent God of the universe. He alone is the quintessential, all righteous and eternal, perfect and broad embodiment of Prophet, Priest and King. As Prophet he is the one chosen and empowered by God, to speak truth to the people. Hebrews one beginning in verse one, "God after He spoke long ago to the fathers and the prophets, in many portions, and in many ways, in these last days, has spoken to us in His Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, through him also he made the world." He is the very Word of God, according to John 1:14, that "became flesh and dwelt among us," that we might behold His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

So indeed, he is the perfect embodiment of a prophet, but also he is the quintessential, all righteous and eternal priest, the one who actually bore our burdens and our sin in his body, and became our substitute, the final sacrifice for sin. And he now sits at the right hand of the Father interceding on our behalf. First Timothy 2:5, "For there is one God and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom." Hebrews 2 beginning in verse 17, "He had to be made like His brethren in all things that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make propitiation for the sins of the people for sins, He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted." And we go on to read in Hebrews chapter seven, beginning in verse 22, "Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant," which I might add, is unlike the former priests who were mortal and died, goes on to say he abides, "forever holds his priesthood permanently. Hence, also He is able to save forever, those who draw near to God through Him since He always lives to make intercession for them. For it was fitting that we should have such a high priest holy, innocent and undefiled, separated from sinners and exalted above the heavens; who does not need daily, like those high priests to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the sins of the people because this He did once for all when he offered up himself." And then Hebrews chapter nine, verse 11, "But when Christ appeared as a high priest of good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle," referring to heaven, the dwelling place of God. So indeed, this is the Messiah. Furthermore, he alone is the all righteous, eternal King, the King of kings and Lord of lords. And because of these great truths pertaining to these three offices of the Old Testament theocracy. Unlike all of the messiahs of the Old Testament before him, only the child conceived by the Spirit and born of Mary can have the titles Lord, Savior, and Messiah, Messiah with a capital M. It's fascinating, we can see three different colors of thread woven into all of the accounts of the gospel pertaining to the birth of Christ. And each thread speaks of these three messianic offices. Do you remember that the Messiah's coming was announced by the angel Gabriel. The office of priest, telling him that the ultimate and final priest of priests was coming. Also, the angelic messenger told his barren wife that she would conceive and bear a son named John. And he was to be a prophet, a divinely chosen, empowered, authoritative spokesman of God that would herald the coming of the Messiah, and the truth, of how to enter the kingdom. And finally, and this one is almost comical, through the Persian king makers who came to worship the Lord Jesus, the Christ Child, God spoke to Herod, who was a man appointed king of Israel and no king at all, and warned him and all of Israel that the true King was coming. For this reason we read a Matthew two beginning of verse three, "Herod, the king, was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the term of the people, he began to inquire of them were the Christ, that is the Messiah was to be born." Beloved this was Bethlehem's child. This was Mary's firstborn son. And I must ask you, do you trust him? as your Savior? Do you OBEY Him as your Lord and King? Do you long to see him? Too many Christians these days, I fear are captured by the fear of man. They're ruled by the fear of man rather than the fear of God. And they fear these painted up pedophile perverts that are running around in our government and in our school systems. Christians afraid of these people. They're afraid of these Birkenstock Bolsheviks that run around, you know, calling themselves Antifa and threatening to tear down the church and all of these types of things, you're really going to be afraid of them? When this is the Lord our God. What is wrong? Are you really going to be afraid of these latte sipping liberal lunatics that are absolutely totally at enmity with God, that worship their father, the devil, you're going to be afraid of them? It reminds me of some of my cowboy buddies, they would say, these people, if brains were the leather, these people wouldn't have enough to saddle a bug. They say a lot of other things. I can't repeat, but you get the point.

In other words, where I'm going with all of this is dear friends, as Christians, we need to know who Jesus is. And when you know who he is, you're not afraid of all this other silliness that's out there. What can they do to us? Well, they can take away our jobs, they can take away even our life. But ultimately, we know where we're going. We know the one who is ultimately in control, because the battle was won at the cross.

Well, we've looked at Bethlehem's destiny and Bethlehem's child. And therefore, we need to, as God told Joshua, Be strong and courageous, do not tremble or be dismayed, right? For the Lord your God is with you. wherever you go. And finally, this morning, I want to close with Bethlehem's manger, because we see that in this text, notice verse seven, "and she wrapped him in cloths," they would do that too and I think we still do that to give the baby a sense of security, "wrapped him in cloths laid him in a manger, because there was not room for them in the inn." By the way, inns in those days were very crude public shelters for travelers. And they were often caves. And many times they would have animals in part of the caves. If you go to that region of the country, you'll see the geography, you can see how easy it would have been for people to stay in places like that. And so often people would sleep on the hay, mangers were for feeding livestock. It's important to feed horses and cattle, and in these mangers to keep dust from getting in their nostrils and, and it can cause respiratory problems and cause a twisted gut and all kinds of things. So they were mangers. And because of the census of that day, all of the places to stay were full. So Mary and Joseph stay with the animals. And you have to think why, why a manger? I've pondered this. Why would the Messiah the Son of God, enter the world in such utter obscurity? And, frankly, in such utter filth, I think there's three reasons at least, that we could perhaps consider. First of all, he was born in a manger to picture the Messiah as rejection. Perfect place to begin his days of humiliation as Prophet, Priest and King right? As Prophet he came as the living Word of God to save sinners, to tell sinners how they can be made righteous. And for this reason, according to Philippians, 2:7, "He emptied himself taking the form of a bondservant. And being made in the likeness of men and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross." And in John one, beginning in verse nine, we read that "He was the true light, which coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own and those who were His own did not receive Him." Think about it, How could Christ be our faithful high priest, who is able to sympathize with all of our infirmities unless he had experienced a life, of, of pain, even of poverty and persecution? For this reason, we can rejoice with what the writer tells us in Hebrews 4:15, "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." You know, had the Messiah come to sinful man in the splendor of His glory for all of the people to see, like he will in a second coming, man would have instantly worshipped him, but all for the wrong reasons, right? We have a glimpse of this later in his mock coronation, His triumphal entry as is commonly referred to, when he first came to Jerusalem, riding on donkey, they thought, oh, great, the Messiah is here. He is going to defeat Rome. We're all going to be exalted. Free food, free work, or I should say no more work and great pay. I mean, this is a liberal utopia, right? I mean, I mean, this whole liberal thing began a long time ago. Let me tell you, Hosanna, to the son of David blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, for He has come to exalt me. That was the idea. Heal our diseases eliminate poverty make me rich and on and on it goes. But knowing how prone man is to be enamored with the spectacle of anything spectacular. The King of Glory is born in a lowly stable, not in a palace. A picture of the poverty of spirit as well it is necessary to enter into the spiritual kingdom as well as a description of the world's rejection of his terms. I mean, think about it. He's born in a cave. Later he will be laid to rest in a tomb. He was laid in a manger and later on, he will hang on a cross. He would be twice wrapped in cloths, the first time at his birth, the second time at his death. And he would be homeless in birth, as well as in death. Indeed, the Lord himself said in Matthew 8:20, "the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." He was born the first time being born along in his mother's womb on a donkey when he came. And he was attended by two humble teens dressed in peasants garb. But all the difference when it comes again, according to Revelation 19:14, when He comes again, He will be attended by quote, "the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean." A reference to his glorious Church. First time he came, he was wearing swaddling clothes but when he returns, according to Revelation 19:16, he will be clothed with a robe dipped in blood, "on and His robe and on His thigh He has a name written KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS."

So I believe that the manger not only depicts the Messiah as rejection, but it secondly speaks of the Messiah's humanity. Remember, sinful man could never atone for his own sins. God's holy justice had to be satisfied by a holy ransom. And only God could provide that ransom in his son. Only then could that remedy be accomplished and this required a virgin birth. The work of redemption demanded a theanthropos, a god man, one fully God and one fully man, one who could supernaturally fuse the human nature with the divine to form this mystical, supernatural, indissoluble bond. So Jesus had to take upon himself the nature of man, in order to be punished for our sin as our substitute. But he also had to be God, very God, in order to live a sinless life, to be a holy ransom that would satisfy God's justice, the one that could be the propitiation for our sins, the satisfaction, the appeasement of divine justice. And he would also have to be God in order to endure the sufferings of all that the Father had given to him to redeem them. So both the human and the divine natures had to be supernaturally woven together. Jesus had to be conceived by God, and born of a virgin in order for him to be both the Son of Man and The Son of God. Emmanuel, God with us, a son of a virgin according to the flesh, but God with us, according to the Spirit. And what better way for God to establish the humanity of his son, than to have him born of a virgin, and born in a stable, a place of such obscurity and humiliation? Hebrews two verse nine, "But we do see Him who has been made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone." This doesn't mean that he came just to die, but to die for us as a man, he became our substitute. But finally, the manger scene, pictured the Messiah's subjects. I mean, you look around in that scene, in that dusty stable and you know what you don't see? You don't see any great emperors. You don't see great kings and queens or princes and nobleman. You don't see generals with vast armies. you don't see business moguls or celebrities, you don't see any of that. No Pharisees or scribes or Sadducees. None of the Sanhedrin. no vast crowds clamoring to somehow get a glimpse of him vowing their allegiance. No self serving sycophants seeking a place of prominence, you don't see any of that. No, you just see too little, shall we say, Galilean rednecks from Nazareth. That's what you see. Poor, uneducated, common folk. But people who had been given the gift of faith, the recipients of sovereign grace, that's what you see. These were the subjects of the King of glory. And they were assumed to be joined by some of the peasant shepherds, and then later on the Persian king makers. And then we read that they were joined by, quote, "a great multitude that no one can number from every nation from all tribes and peoples and languages." We read that in Revelation. So there's a great crescendo coming right? Beloved, Jesus is the Savior, and the Lord of the meek and the lowly, not the proud in the mighty. He is the Prophet, Priest and King of the broken, of the bowed down not the self willed, not the self exalted. First Corinthians 1:26. "For consider your calling brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise and God has chosen the weak things of the world, to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that he might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God."

Dear friends, don't miss these great truths that are typically eclipsed by all of the materialistic and immoral clutter of Christmas in our modern day. And for those of you that perhaps are within the sound of my voice, and you're just living for yourself, you've really never bowed the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, I plead with you, as a minister of the gospel, that you get serious about your own sinful condition. Because one day you will either bow before him in triumph or in terror. You will bow before him as the judge of the living in the dead, or you will be cut off from him for ever. So once you place your faith in Him today, and every believer, I pray that you will think upon these things meditate upon these great truths, especially during this Christmas season. Fathers in particular, hear me, teach these things to your children. If you don't know them, learn them. Grow up. Take responsibility. Teach these things to your children, live them out. Teach them that Christmas is about the King of kings. Not some sappy Hallmark dribble, where Hollywood celebrates the magic of the season, I get so sick of that the magic of the season, or some predictable romance. You know, after 30 seconds of Hallmark, we will you know exactly what's going to happen. I mean, that's kind of where our culture has gone. I mean, if they were to hear the things that I said today, they would say I mean, this guy is a knuckle dragging Neanderthal that needs to live in a cave and eat raw meat. I mean, this guy's nuts. That's because they don't know God. And we would neither were it not for his mercy. Christmas is about the incarnation of the Son of God, the perfect embodiment of Prophet, Priest and King, the Messiah who will one day again set upon the throne of his father David, who will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will have no end. And this is a truth that the great German British composer George Frederick Handel understood well, and he captured it. In that great oratorio the Messiah, especially in the Hallelujah chorus, you remember it? We're not going to sing it all right, but you remember it. He goes, Hey, you know, hallelujah, hallelujah, and it just keeps going and everybody stands up. And the lyrics go on and to say "for the Lord God, omnipotence, reigneth hallelujah. The kingdom of this world is becoming the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. King of Kings forever and ever. Hallelujah, hallelujah. AND LORD OF LORDS forever and ever. Hallelujah. Hallelujah." I pray that that is the passion of your heart. And I pray that you long for his return. So let's celebrate his first as well as his Second Coming this Christmas season. Amen. Father, thank You for these eternal truths. May they bear much fruit and every heart that has been given the ability to receive them. And we pray that because of your word, we will be forever changed even this day, to the praise of your glory. For it's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.

As always, it is my great joy, and indeed, an honor, to be able to open up the Word of God to you. And this morning, I fear I'm going to do a little bit of rambling as we talk about some issues pertaining to the incarnation of Christ. We will land on a particular passage, in a few minutes, but if you will just follow along, I want to take you deep into some of the great truths with respect to God's providence; the miracle of his sovereign ability to orchestrate all things to accomplish His good pleasure in redemption, to the praise of his glory. And I believe that you're like me, at this Christmas season, you really need some encouragement. These are dark days in which we live. I have never experienced anything like this. The mounting hostility towards all that God deems holy, not to mention the militant unbelief that absolutely resents the gospel. All of that is so discouraging, isn't it? It's down heartening. It's even frightening. It's not surprising, though, right? Because we know according to John 15, beginning in verse 18, Jesus said, "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you." We witnessed this hatred in so many ways. Our culture's love affair with the killing of the unborn and their demand for legal protection. We see it daily with the LGBTQ-IA sexual anarchist that not only demand legal protection, but ultimately demand the complete elimination of all of those who refuse to celebrate their gross immoralities.

As Christians, we find ourselves identifying with Lot. You remember in 2 Peter 2:7. We read that he, "was oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men," referring to the homosexuals of Sodom and Gomorrah, Sodom where he lived. He goes on to say, "For by what he saw and heard, that righteous man while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day, by their lawless deeds." And I know that a number of you are dreading this Christmas season, because you have to be with unsaved family members. I've already heard from probably four or five of you. It's hard, you love your family, but they hate Christ, and they hate you for it. And there's just not a lot you have in common. And many of you will experience yet again, the mocking, and the ridicule. Most of all, most all of us have experienced what Jesus warned you will recall in Matthew 10:34, he says, "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter in law against her mother in law and a man's enemies will be the members of his household." Of course, some will say, "But wait a minute, I thought when the angels announced Jesus's birth to the shepherds in Luke two verse 14, they said Glory to be God be to God and the highest and on earth peace, goodwill toward men?" It's a bit of an unfortunate translation in the King James Version. New American Standard puts it this way, "Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace among men with whom He is pleased."

Many misinterpret this text, they use it out of context. You see it in yard decorations from time to time, peace on earth, which is kind of this idea that let's all have absence of conflict and no more wars. And that's typical of our naive, theologically ignorant society. Because in truth because of sin, the wrath of God abides upon the ungodly. They are his rebellious enemies, those apart from Christ are alienated from God. And they're destined to pay for their sins and an eternal hell,unless they repent and trust in Christ as their only hope of salvation. That's the truth. But because of Christ, we can be reconciled to God and have peace with him. That's what that text is talking about. So the angels are saying Glory to God and the highest. Why? Because he has provided a way for sinful man to be at peace with the holy God. That's the good news of Christmas.

Many also misunderstand the other phrase, and the New King James as well as the King James, it says, goodwill toward men. And you see this in a lot of Christmas cards. People naively think, well, that means that because of Jesus, I guess we're going to all show kindness to one another. And there is something about Christmas where people tend to be a little bit nicer. I have noticed that, but that's not at all what this text is talking about. It literally says, "Peace among men of his good pleasure." Or as the New American Standard, says, "on earth peace among men with whom he is pleased." Or the ESV "on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased." Beloved, when the angel said "Glory to God, in the highest," the reason they were giving him giving him glory, is because those who are their sovereignly chosen recipients of His Divine Grace, are so solely because of his good pleasure. Now they can have peace with God, so all who have received the gift of salvation received it solely on the basis of his good pleasure through no merit of their own. So all the glory belongs to Him, we share in none of it. Therefore, the angels are saying, Glory to God, in the highest. This was the theology. This was the reality that evoked the angelic praise.

So this Sunday, and next, I wish to encourage every believer by reminding you that God is in control of history. Indeed, it is his story, the story of Christ, never forget that. Even when they seem dark and out of control, our God reigns, he is still on his throne, and he is accomplishing all that he has ordained to accomplish to the praise of his glory. May I remind you that the incarnation of Jesus Christ, when He came and took on human flesh, was ordained in eternity past, and we're going to see more of that in a moment through the prophetic Scriptures. Moreover, his crucifixion, was ordained in eternity past. We read in Acts 2:23, that he was "delivered up" or crucified "by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God." I might also add that his physical return for which we await was also I should say, is also promised, it is ordained. You will recall when Jesus ascended back into heaven, the angel said in Acts 1:11, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven." Jesus spoke of this in his Olivet discourse in Matthew 24 Verse 29, he says," But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory." Beloved, either that will happen or Jesus Christ was a liar.

Revelation 1:7 If we read, "Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, even those who pierced Him, and all of the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. So it is to be a men." So indeed, even as his first coming was by providential appointments, so two will be his second coming. And of course, this has been the blessed hope of the saints down through the ages. And Titus 2:13, you will recall that we are "looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds."

So Christmas is a time when we can remind the world that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah, and King, once came to save sinners, but we can also remind them that he is also going to come again, to judge those who reject Him, and to establish His earthly kingdom, a time when ethnic Israel will finally worship their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, and experience the prosperity and security of their promised land as promised in the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants. When David's greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ will fulfill God's promise to David, that his quote, "house and kingdom shall endure before me forever, and his throne, shall be established forever." You will remember that the angel Gabriel told Mary in Luke 1:32, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end."

Now, this brings us to the text I'd like to camp on for a bit here this morning, as well as next week. And it's found in Luke 2 if you'd like to take your Bibles and turn there. And here we see the miracle of divine providence at work in a very unique way. Let me read the passage to you beginning in verse one of Luke two. "Now, in those days, a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited Earth. This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary who was engaged to him, and was with child. While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth, and she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn."

Now, I wish to introduce this passage in Luke's Gospel by first examining one of many, prophecies pertaining to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. One in particular, written 700 years before that birth that was written by the inspired prophet Micah. And what he prophesied was literally fulfilled in the text that we just read. So go with me for a moment, at least in your mind. And let's go back to the days in which Micah lived some 700 years before Christ. Those were days of impending doom for Judah because of their sin, their rebellion against God, but not at the hands of the Assyrians, who were in the process of conquering the northern kingdom of Israel, but at the hands of the Babylonians. And in those days since the Babylonians were currently under the rule of Assyria, the people thought that Micah's prophecy was utterly ridiculous. Of course, all prophecies seem ridiculous to people who do not have faith in what God has said in His Word. Back in that day Judah's economic prosperity and military might made them feel invincible. But all of that only masked the widespread social corruption and religious syncretism. That was a part of their culture, which by the way, parallels the phony religiosity that we see in the United States of America. And all of the corruption that is here; we are not a Christian country by any means. This country is Christian in name only, although many believers live here. Well with their religious syncretism in that day, they integrated the worship of Baal with their Old Testament sacrificial system. And of course, this was exceedingly offensive to God. But Micah's warning of judgment was followed by a message of hope, a promise of future blessing for the faithful, all because of God's unchanging covenant made to their forefathers, when he would restore Israel both spiritually as well as physically. In Micah 2:12 we read, "I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold, like a flock in the midst of its pasture, they will be noisy with men." In other words, in that day, there will be great commotion due to the throng of people a time of bustling activity and commerce. And the mention of both Jacob and Israel indicates a United Kingdom of Israel where the Lord himself will be their shepherd, and He will protect and bless them. If we go to Micah chapters three through five, the prophet speaks of great blessings that will come after a season of judgment, namely, a blessing of a kingdom for Israel that will bless all of the nations, chapter 4:1, "And it will come about in the last days," that by the way, is an Old Testament phrase, referring to a future time period when God restores the nation of Israel, where Jerusalem will be its temple, it will be the capital city of the kingdom. He says, "and it will come about in the last days that the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains." That's referring to Mount Zion, where Jerusalem sits. "It will be raised above the hills," not only spiritually, but physically in some magnificent way. "The peoples will stream to it. Many nations will come and say, 'Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD unto the house of the God of Jacob, and he for into the Lord may teach us about his ways, and that we may walk in his paths.' For from Zion will go forth the law, even the word of the LORD from Jerusalem." In chapter four, we see several key pieces of information about God's coming earthly kingdom, Israel is going to be reunited, united and restored after judgment in captivity. It will be a time when God establishes His earthly kingdom, with Jerusalem, and its temple functioning in the capital, Israel's former enemies will come to Jerusalem to learn about Israel's God and worship the Messiah King. And the Lord will rule over all of the nation's ,warfare will cease peace and prosperity will prevail. But in the context of these prophecies, Micah tells us something very important. He tells us, I should say he told them and through them, we read about where the Messiah would be born. Micah five and verse two, "But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah." By the way, indeed, it is a an insignificant little village. "From you, One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago from the days of eternity." Now, Ephrathah, is merely the ancient name for Bethlehem, used to distinguish it from from other towns. But this refers to the Bethlehem where David was born, as we read in First Samuel 17, verse 12. Now we could ask, Why, of all places would the Son of God choose to be born in such an insignificant little village? A few miles south of Jerusalem. Why there? I mean, why not Jerusalem? Why not Rome?

I think there's a couple of reasons. First of all, because Bethlehem was a royal city in ancient days, this is all part of God's providence, all part of his plan. Since Jesus was born the King of Israel, it was only fitting that he be born in the city where Israel's great King David had been born. Now you will recall, over 1000 years before Jesus was born, God made an unconditional covenant with David in 2 Samuel 7, promising him that God would raise up for him a descendant, the Messiah King, who would establish David's kingdom forever and eternal Kingdom, whereby the whole world would be blessed through the coming seed of David. So Bethlehem is the right place, for that reason. But I think there's a second reason. Bethlehem's history is a picture of it's coming Messiah King. Bethlehem literally means "house or place of bread." And bread is the symbol of life and scripture. You will recall the manna that came from heaven, that God used to supply his people in the wilderness. And did not Jesus say in John six, the that he is the bread of God, the bread of God is that which comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. He went on to say I'm the bread of life He who comes to Me shall not hunger. In fact, both life and death are part of Bethlehem's history. They literally mark Bethlehem's history. Back in Genesis 35, God changed Jacob's name to Israel and said to him, in verse 10, "I am God Almighty be fruitful and multiply, a nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from you. The land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give it to you and I will give the land to your descendants after you." And on the heels of that covenant, Jacob's beloved wife, Rachel died in childbirth, and she was buried in Bethlehem. Where he set up a pillar, the text says, over her grave, and the child's name, the son's name was Benjamin. Now as Benjamin, or as Rachel was about to die, she named him Ben oni which means son of my trouble. And, of course, that was a divine harbinger of even greater trouble that would be inflicted upon many mothers and their sons in the days of Herod in the region of Bethlehem where she died. And Rachel's Benjamin was one of Jacob's 12 sons. And eventually, from Jacob's son, Judah, came King David, and ultimately through him the greater King, the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. So it was in Bethlehem where Rachel agonized in the birth of Benjamin, that David was born and eventually Jesus was born, that was a place that later became a symbol of painful and patient waiting for the sons of Israel as they anticipated, their coming Messiah. In fact, Rachel was the ancestress of the Northern tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, through Joseph and Benjamin, in the south. And when the Babylonians later came to carry them off into exile, the Lord spoke through Jeremiah, and he said in Jeremiah 31:15, "A voice is heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping, Rachel is weeping for her children; She refuses to be comforted for her children, because they are no more" Furthermore, it was later in Bethlehem where the enraged Herod slaughtered all of the male children in Matthew 2, Then according to verse 17, we read, "Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled," saying, here it is, "A voice was heard and Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and she refused to be comforted because they were no more."

When we move forward in the history of Bethlehem, we see even more of the amazing realities of the providence of God at work. We discover more reasons for its royal greatness and its symbolism about 900 years after the days of Rachel. A Moabitis journeyed to Bethlehem, and her name was Ruth. There she became a servant and a wealthy man named Boaz found her and took her unto himself as his wife. I remember getting in trouble in Sunday school when I was a little boy because I thought it was cute to call him Bozo, but is Boaz. Boaz was a type of Christ, the One who became Ruth's kinsman redeemer, you remember the story. And Ruth was included even in the physical lineage of the coming Messiah in Matthew 1:5. And Boaz and Ruth had a son whose name was Obed, who became the father of Jesse, who lived elsewhere in Bethlehem, and he had a son named David. So it should be no surprise that the Son of David the Messiah King, be born in that royal village as Micah prophesied. Therefore, it should be no surprise that in the providence of God, Caesar Augustus, would demand a census to be taken, one that would require citizens to register in the city of their birth. Therefore, it should be no surprise, therefore, that Mary and Joseph would embark upon an 85 mile journey through the treacherous terrain of that region, especially in her advanced state of pregnancy, to make their way to Bethlehem their tribal home in Judea. And I'm sure Mary and Joseph reflected upon Micah's prophecy as they made their way to Bethlehem. And wouldn't this have been the theme of Mary's pondering when the shepherds made the announcement to her "today in the city of David, there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." Now back to Micah 5:2, notice Micah prophesied, "From you, one will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel." And indeed, that's a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ, "the Father sent forth his Son." Jesus spoke of this, you will recall in John 5:36, Jesus said, "the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish--the very works that I do--testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me." John 7:28, "Jesus cried out in the temple teaching and saying," verse 29, "I have not come with myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. I know Him because I am from Him, and He sent Me." And we can see that indeed, the Father sent His Son to be the ruler of Israel as Micah prophesied.

Now critics might say, Well, okay, wait a minute, where is he certainly not reigning in Israel today. Israel is largely apostate. "He came onto His own and His own received Him not." They crucified him. Well, that's true. Israel rejected their king, they crucified the Son of Man, but this was precisely according to God's plan. This didn't surprise him. This wasn't some plan B, our God is a sovereign God, not a contingent God. And therefore we understand the words of Peter, when he preached at Pentecost in Acts 2:23, he said, "This man," referring to Jesus, "delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death." See, critics failed to understand that the Messiah King was also the Passover lamb. He was the final and the perfect sacrifice that came to make atonement for sin. Atonement always requires two things, satisfaction and substitution. From the beginning of His earthly ministry, Jesus preached, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Matthew 4:17. Did not Pilate say to him in John 18:37 "So you are a king?

Jesus answered, 'You say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth." But also did not John the Baptist that divinely appointed herald of the King say in John 1:29, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." This he accomplished at His first coming. But in his millennial reign on earth, that awaits a future fulfillment, we will see the king return in all of his glory. So the full manifestation of the King and His Kingdom is yet to be fully realized. And during the interregnum. Interregnum is just a big word that that means an interval between a king's first and second coming. During that time, the Kingdom has taken on a form that is called in Scripture "the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 13:11, referring to the doctrinal truths not disclosed in the Old Testament, but now being disclosed in the new and referring to the gospel and the church and those things. But make no mistake, dear friends, and I believe this with all of my heart, Christ will be the king of Israel, as the prophets have foretold. A time when according to Romans 11:26, "all Israel will be saved. Just as it is written, THE DELIVERER WILL COME FROM ZION, HE WILL REMOVE UNGODLINESS FROM JACOB and this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins."

Now I want you to notice what else the prophet Micah said about the one whom the Father would send forth. Again, chapter five, verse two, "His goings forth are from long ago from the days of eternity." And scripture bears this out. The pre Incarnate Christ appeared in the Old Testament as the angel of the Lord on a number of occasions. In Genesis 16, he appeared to Hagar near a spring in the desert and commanded her to return to Sarah, and Genesis 18, he appeared to Abraham where he promised him and his elderly wife, Sarah, a son. And he promised that out of Abraham, a great and powerful nation would arise and all the nations on the earth would be blessed through him. In Genesis 31, he came to Jacob in a dream, and in chapter 32 we read how Jacob wrestled with him all that night, after which the Lord blessed him, and then changed his name to Israel. In Exodus, to Moses in the burning bush. Joshua 5 he appeared to Joshua near Jericho. Remember with a sword drawn in his hand, he appeared to Gideon in Judges 6, and said, "The Lord is with you mighty warrior." And I love that great passage in Daniel 3 where he appeared to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, in the fires of torture.

And now beloved, in Bethlehem, he appears again, the Son of God, who willingly laid aside His glory to take on the form of a Jewish peasant child from Galilee. And of course, from Bethlehem, he would eventually go to Jerusalem. He would eventually go up the Mount of Olives, to Gethsemane, and ultimately to Calvary, where he would purchase our redemption and then he would ascend into glory, where he now awaits to descend again, in power and great glory. The wonder after Jesus's birth, the angel of the Lord announced his birth to a group of shepherds taking care of sheep, that were destined to be sacrificed in the temple, shepherds on a Bethlehem hillside. Now, with this prophetic background, we come back to Luke 2 for just a few minutes.

As I say, we're just going to look at some of this morning. I want to show you three intriguing concepts eventually, that emerge from this narrative. We're going to see Bethany's destiny, Bethany's child, and Bethany's manger. And today, we're just going to look at Bethany's destiny. Notice that beginning in verse one. "Now, it came about in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited Earth." And again, remember now this is all according to God's plan. God caused certain things to happen and had he not done so, Jesus would not have been born in Bethlehem and Micah's prophecy would be unfulfilled, and it would be false and the Word of God would be discredited. But that is not the case. Now, "it came about in those days," what does that mean? Well, every good Bible student is going to say, Whoa, I need to check into this what was going on in those days? Well, the covenant people of God were scattered all over the Roman Empire. They were being persecuted. They were basically owned by the Romans. They were dejected, discouraged. They had been deceived by their religious leaders, they were longing for the Messiah to come and to deliver them from Rome, not from their sin, but from Rome. And because of the rebellion, the rebellion of their ancestors, God had not directly spoken to the covenant people of Israel for 400 years. In fact, the dazzling light of God's presence called the Shekinah that once hovered between the cherubim above the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies had departed from that temple area. We read about that in Ezekiel 10, verse 18. In fact, it departed, went over and hovered over the east gate, the gate Jesus would have entered earlier. It's like Jesus comes and now we look back in ancient Israel, we see how that the Glory had departed. Fact in Ezekiel 11:23, we read that the glory of the Lord went up from the midst of the city, and stood over the mountain which is east of the city. By the way, may I remind you that as we look at Scripture, we see that when Jesus returns, his return will be westward through the Eastern Gate, Ezekiel 43:9, and he will return to the Mount of Olives, the opposite direction from which the Glory had departed in the Old Testament. We read about the Mount of Olives descent in Zechariah 14:4. So for 400 years, the Jewish people had floundered around in ritualistic Judaism filled with legalism and hypocrisy and sorrow still awaiting their Messiah while they were the subjects of Rome. And only a remnant of faithful people really worshipped Yahweh. Only a few remained; those who truly loved the Lord their God, with all their heart, that's what was going on, "in those days." There was also days of Roman occupation, where the Jews had to see all of the vile idolatry and all of the sexual immorality that went along with it. That's why they would have no contact with them. There was also days when the insanely jealous king by the name of Herod was the vassal King appointed by Rome to rule Judea in which Bethlehem existed. He was an Edomian, which means he was an Edomite. And they were the perennial enemies of God that hated the Israelites. We read about that all through their history. And Herod would later slaughter the babies in that region, in hopes to eliminate the rival to his throne. Especially when he heard the Persian king makers had come to town, looking for the King of the Jews.

Let me tell you about what was going on there, because it was "in those days" that all of this is going on. Just briefly the Parthian Empire, which was the land of the Medes and the Persians, which the Romans greatly feared, had deposed their king, his name is Phraates, the fourth. The story is, that history tells us, that one of his Italian concubines had born him a son, and she wanted her son to take his place. So she poisoned him. And of course, this is all part of God's providential plan all of this work. So the Parthian Empire, were looking for a new king that could help them conquer Rome. They hated Rome, Rome hated them. But kings of the Parthian Empire had to be chosen by the magistony called the Magi, which was the priestly line from among the Medes, the ancient meads, and the wisdom of the Magi was called the law of the Medes and Persians, Esther 1:19 and Daniel 6:15. And they specialized in dream interpretation. The Magi rose to power through their demonic,, cultic astrological abilities. They used sorcery and divination and astronomy. And they became the great advisors of all of the kings of the East. And thus they were called the wise men. And they can be traced all the way back to the court of Nebuchadnezzar. Remember in Daniel 2 they were called the Chaldeans. They were also called the magicians. And you will recall there that they were unable to interpret the king's dream so he sentenced them to death, but Daniel came along and interpreted the dream, and Daniel pleaded with the king in Daniel 2:24 "do not destroy the wise men of Babylon." It says," I will declare the interpretation of the king." Chapter five, verse 11, we read that Nebuchadnezzar then made Daniel master over the Magi, "the king appointed him chief of the magician's, conjurers, Chaldeans, and diviners."

Now, because of all of this, obviously, Daniel had their undivided attention, he had saved their life and undoubtedly he began to teach them about Yahweh, Jehovah God and the coming Messiah and Old Testament prophecy. It's astounding, isn't it that 600 years before Jesus was born, the sovereign grace of God reached into the hearts of at least some of these Magi in Nebuchadnezzar's court through Daniel and they heard a message of forgiveness and hope of a Messiah that would one day come, Emmanuel, God with us. That the glorious presence of God would again appear upon the world. That according to Numbers 24:17, "a star" Hebrew a "kochav", "will come forth from Jacob and a sceptre shall arise from Israel." By the way that was prophesied 1400 years before Christ was born. Daniel would have explained that to them. Obviously, they were looking for that blazing force of the Shekinah of God's glory. And when they saw it, many years later, they knew just what to do. So in the miracle of divine providence, 600 years later, the Magi, the king makers, in the Parthian Empire looking for a king, see a blazing light. It wasn't a star like you see on Christmas cards, there's a blazing light that would appear, some could see it, some couldn't, and then it would disappear, then it would appear again. Jumping ahead for a moment to build further context in Matthew 2:1, as we read earlier, "Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, Magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem." So this would have been a large contingency of these kingmakers accompanied by Persian troops, and a massive caravan of supplies. That's how they traveled in those days. And they were asking, verse 2, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star," aster" in Greek, we saw the his "blazing forth" in the East. And when "Herod the king heard it, he was troubled." By the way, that's an understatement. In Greek, it means that he trembled, he shook, he was terrified. Not only was he troubled, it says, and "all Jerusalem with him." And what's funny, we know that historically, Herod's troops were out on a mission and so they were quite vulnerable. So here comes all of these characters into town. Terrified by all of this, Herod schemed against God and consulted with his emissaries of Satan that served him, the chief priests and the scribes, and we read in verse four and, "Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he began to inquire of them where the Christ was to be born. And they said to him, 'In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it was written by the prophet,'" and he quotes Micah or they quote, Micah 5:2. Verse four says, he began to "inquire." Grammatically, the original language, it means he was constantly asking, I mean, this was this was high priority. He was on a search and destroy mission. He's got to find that child and get rid of that child. I'm sure there were hourly briefings. So he was in a panic.

Beloved, can't you see the marvel of the providence of God? And I'm just hitting the highlights. Can't you see that we serve a sovereign God who has ordained the end from the beginning? Oh, I hope you find comfort in all of this. So Luke says in Luke 2:1, "Now it came about in those days." Now you know what those days were all about, right? "It came about in those days that a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that a census be taken of all the inhabited Earth," referring to the Roman Empire. And the census, of course, would provide a record for the purpose of collecting taxes and they were taken every 14 years. But notice in verse two, this was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor. That means the leader, the person of authority, the governor of Syria. Isn't it interesting, Luke is very specific. This was the first census taken, the first 14 years cycle while Quirinius was governor, we know this historically. Now why is this important? Because we know that the second census that was taken while he was governor, resulted in a giant Jewish rebellion. Luke mentions this in Acts 5:37, where he quotes Gamaliel. And also the great Jewish historian Josephus describes this uprising. So when did that second census occur? Well, we know that it occurred in AD six to nine, about a decade after Herod's death in four BC. So since we know a census was taken every 14 years and we know that the second census was taken in AD 6-9, we simply backup 14 years to determine the date of the first census that Luke specifies, which would have been about 8 BC. And it would appear that it was finally carried out and completed in Palestine, about two to four years later. Those that were living in Luke's day would have had a very accurate understanding of all this. In fact, archeologists have discovered a fragment of a stone. It was it was discovered near Rome in 1764 that contains strong evidence that Quirinius was governor of Syria twice, which would confirm Luke's account. So here's the bottom line with this rabbit trail that's probably boring you out of your mind, okay. Somewhere between six and four BCE, the Son of God was born in Bethlehem, not zero ad. Back to Luke, verse three, chapter two, "and all we're proceeding to register for the census, everyone in his own city." It's fascinating isn't it? The Jews despise being taxed, normally, the Romans would allow their citizens to register wherever they currently resided. For reasons that we don't understand apart from the providence of God, Mary and Joseph travelled 85 miles to register in Bethlehem. Why? Don't know. There's some compelling hypotheses. One would be that the Jews highly honored their ancestry and kept scrupulous records. We know, for example, that when they entered into the Promised Land, every tribe, and every family was was allotted a specific region of land and each family was linked to that tribe. And each one had their own portion of the lot. They kept meticulous, genealogical records, and every seven years, the land would be returned to the original owner to maintain the ancestral ownership and perhaps this is what motivated Mary and Joseph to return. Perhaps this was required by Herod so he could keep track of the families. Perhaps they owned land in Bethlehem, we don't really know. But whatever the reason that is what happened.

Verse four, "and Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was the house and family of David, in order to register along with Mary who was with child." Beloved, this is so fascinating. In the genealogy of Jesus that Luke supplies in Luke chapter three, we learned that Mary was the physical descendant of David thus her ancestry was linked to the city of David where the Savior was born. And because of his physical connection to Mary, Jesus had therefore, a legitimate right to the throne. But in Matthew's genealogy, Jesus legal, not physical, claim to the royal throne had to come through the royal bloodline, which would have come through Joseph, who was Jesus' legal, not natural, father. And all of this links him all the way back to the Abrahamic covenant and to David. And therefore Jesus Christ is described as the son of David. Well, this is probably a good place to stop. I hope this has been encouraging to you because what I want you to see, I know you're not going to remember all of these details, but what I want you to see and what I want you to marvel at, is how God, in his infinite wisdom, and omnipotent power, is accomplishing absolutely everything down to the very person, down to the very second, that he has ordained to accomplish. And I want you to realize that that includes what's going on in your life right now. Right? And so I trust that as you contemplate all that we've examined here today, you will rejoice that in his infinite love for you, he has a plan for all of those who placed their faith in Him. And so let's rejoice in that, remembering that he is going to come again someday and take us unto himself. And according to 1 John 3:2, "when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on him, purifies himself just as He is pure." And I pray that that will be our heart's desire this Christmas season.

Let's pray together. Father, as we contemplate the astounding truths of your sovereign work down through redemptive history, we once again find ourselves overwhelmed. And in this, we rejoice knowing that you have set your love upon us even in eternity past, and that you have saved us. You have begun a good work in us and that you're going to accomplish that. And that one day you are going to bring us unto yourself. And I pray that these great truths will encourage each one of us this day, during this Christmas season. For its in the name of Jesus that I pray. Amen.

This morning, we continue our examination of Mark's gospel and I would invite you to turn to Mark chapter four, we will be looking at verses 35 through 41. And I've entitled my discourse to you, "Jesus Calms the Sea." A very familiar story filled with magnificent truths that are applicable to each of our lives. Perhaps the greatest threat to the church today is its pathetically low view of the person and the work of Jesus Christ. In Psalm 145, verses one and two, the Psalmist says, "I will extol you, my God, oh, King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day, I will bless you and I will praise your name forever and ever." To be sure there is no greater joy in the Christian life than to contemplate the glory and the grace of the person and the work of Christ. And frankly, we would all do well, to learn from the angels who according to First Peter 1:12, "long to look upon the mystery of the incarnation of Christ." Do you long to look at all of that? I hope you do. That's why we're here today. We see this illustrated, for example, in the position of the cherubim in the Holy of Holies in the temple, who, with outstretched wings, stood over the Ark of the Covenant, and beheld the mercy seat. Theirs was a position and a posture of reverential awe as they gazed upon that golden lid that separated the violated law within from the holy presence that was hovering above. That place where the just wrath of God was symbolically propitiated; the Mercy Seat being a type of Christ, in the discharge of his priestly duties. Would that we all be like the cherubim, amen? Looking upon the glory of Christ and all that he has done, especially during this Thanksgiving and Christmas season, that we might Behold, as we're told in John 1:14, his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace, and truth. May we all be like the apostle Paul, who said that he, he "counted all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ, my Lord, for whom I have suffered, the loss of all things and count them, but rubbish so that I may gain Christ." Again, dear friends, that is why we're here this morning, that we might know Christ and enjoy him. And certainly the constant beholding of the glory of Christ is the habit of the mature believer that loves him, and it is also the greatest tonic to soothe an aching soul in time of need. May we all be disciplined to this end? Beloved, let me be abundantly clear Jesus Christ is the third person of the Triune Godhead. He is the one who possesses all of the Divine excellencies of the Father and the Spirit. He is coequal and consubstantial, and coeternal with the father and the Spirit. And in his incarnation, he represented humanity, as well as deity in an indivisible oneness. In fact, in Colossians, two nine Paul says, "For in him all the fullness of the Deity dwells in bodily form." And we know that 700 years before he was born, the prophet Isaiah declared of the Messiah in Isaiah nine, six, that "His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." That's who Jesus is. In Matthew one, beginning in verse 20, and following when the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, he said this, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit, she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." And then, he goes on to say, "Now all of this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bear a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which translated means 'God with us.'" Repeatedly throughout Scripture, Jesus declared his deity, often referring to himself, as the Son of man, a messianic title that's derived from Daniel seven verses 13 and 14. He also described himself as the Son of God. He said in Matthew 11:27, "All things have been handed over to me by my father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal him. Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Now, when Jesus was on earth, his claims to deity was considered blasphemy by the leaders of Israel, the religious elite, despite the clear teachings that spoke of him in the Old Testament that they would have been aware of, despite all of the undeniable miracles that he performed. And we've been given just a few in Scripture. He turned water into wine, he cast out demons,he healed sickness and disease and withered hands and people crippled with polio, paralysis, blindness, deafness, leprosy. He created food to feed 1000s, he walked on water, he caused a coin you will recall to appear in a fish's mouth. He reattached a severed ear. He even raised the dead and on it goes. However, John tells us in chapter 21, verse 25, "And there are also many other things which did Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written." But dear friends, no one witnessed anything on the scale of what takes place in this passage of Scripture, when Jesus calms a ferocious storm with a word. Certainly Jesus wanted to put an exclamation mark on his claims to deity. He wanted to reveal himself in a way to his disciples that they would never forget something that would be carved in the granite of their mind, which indeed was hard, at many times, like granite. But this would be something that they would never forget with respect to his power, and his authority.

Now, let me give you the context here. Before we look at the text, Jesus has been speaking in parables. He's been on the northwestern tip of the Sea of Galilee, in the region of Capernaum. Huge crowds are following him. They're coming from everywhere just to get a glimpse of him or to be healed. But most of them because of their persistent, willful unbelief, even in the face of irrefutable evidence, most of them refused to believe that he was really the Son of God, the Messiah. Consequently, Jesus judged them by concealing truth from them through the use of parables. We studied this in Mark chapter four, verses nine through 13. Although he did give detailed explanations of what he was saying to His disciples, by the way, all of that was part of God's sovereign plan. It wasn't like he just came up with this, on the spur of the moment. This was all decreed in eternity past. Matthew 13:35 explains that Jesus spoke in parables, quote, "to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet, 'I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden since the foundation of the world.'" That was written by the way by the prophet Asaph, recorded in Second Chronicles 29:30.

So, we come to the text, Mark four beginning of verse 35. Jesus is utterly exhausted by the crowds. And we read, "On that day when evening came, He said to them, "Let us go over to the other side." Now, the other side would have meant would have meant going over to the eastern side of the Sea of Galilee, where there would be no major cities. Not a lot of population there, it's that way to this very day. It would be a great place to rest from the massive crowds. Any of you who have been in ministry know how exhausting it is to constantly be answering theological questions, and hearing everybody's problems, and trying to help them and make it a Hallmark movie where it'll all come to a happy ending within just a few minutes. Obviously, that doesn't work that way, but it is exhausting. And here we see Jesus, being exhausted along with the others. They needed rest desperately. So verse 36, "Leaving the crowd, they took him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with him." Now, these were probably one of the fishing vessels that had belonged to Peter and Andrew or maybe James and John, we know that they kept them even after they left their fishing career, even after Christ's resurrection. And when he appeared to the seven disciples, they, they went fishing in their own boat, according to John 21, three. And we also know according to Mark three and verse nine, that Jesus told them to keep their boats handy, kind of on standby in case they needed to use them to have a safe place to go. So that's what happens here. They, they get one of their boats, or maybe a couple of them. And these boats wouldn't be large enough to hold all 12 of the disciples plus Jesus. So there was a little flotilla here, a little armada of boats, and some people had their own boats and they're going to follow along with Jesus and according to Luke's account, in Luke 9:23, we read that they were "sailing along" which denotes calm seas, pleasant journeys, a steady breeze. But suddenly, everything changed. And drastically. So verse 37, "And there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boats so much that the boat was already filling up." Now you must understand the geography here of the Sea of Galilee. The Sea of Galilee is a freshwater lake that 690 feet below sea level. It's about 13 miles long, seven miles wide. And it's located about 30 miles east of the Mediterranean Sea. And if you look at it, it's in a basin, there's large cliffs and, and almost like mountains around the whole thing. And so it is vulnerable to cold air masses that can suddenly sweep over those ridges and come down into that basin where there would be warm air. And often that would happen coming off the Golan Heights. And to the north, you have Mount Hermon, which towers above the landscape about 9200 feet, and many times, strong northerly winds can suddenly and frequently descend upon the warm air in the Galilee basin and get trapped there in the cliffs and then come down, causing violent winds to occur very, very quickly. So it can be a dangerous place. The waters of course begin to turn into a ferocious tempest. I want you to put yourself in that boat with Jesus. Imagine the terror of the disciples. Have you ever been in a situation where you're horrified or you're helpless? And that would have been the situation that they were in in this storm. And yet as we are going to see Jesus is going to demonstrate to them in undeniable ways that he is the creator and the sustainer of all things. Jesus, as we see is asleep in his humaneness. But dear friends make no mistake, he is wide awake in his deity. He knew exactly what was occurring. In fact, he had orchestrated the whole thing. The one who never slumbers nor sleeps, deliberately brought them to a place that we all despise. And that is that place of utter helplessness, where we are completely out of resources. We don't know which way to turn, we don't know what to do, we feel like we are going to die in our state of utter desperation and helplessness. God provides for us an opportunity for him, to prove himself powerful on our behalf, and to reveal Himself to us that we might worship Him all the more, and that our faith might be strengthened. Well, we've all been there, haven't we, if we haven't, we will be. I know some of you are there right now. Nowhere to turn, nowhere to hide, out of human resources. But again, this is where God loves to take us many times. Because it is there that He reveals Himself to us. When we are weak, he is what? He is strong. So as that cold air rushed down those canyons and, and valleys adjacent to the upper Jordan Valley, and swooped down into the warm air on the sea, there was great turbulence that occurred to the point where it was about to capsize the vessel. By the way, if you're in a vessel like that, the first thing you would have to do very quickly, is fold your sails in, then you have to seize oars to somehow get the bow of the vessel pointed into the wind rather than sideways. And, and there has been evidence of waves as high as 10 feet on the Sea of Galilee. And so if your boat is sideways, it's just it's just going to be capsized. So they're literally fighting for their life here. Luke says in Luke 8:23, "a fierce gale of wind descended on the lake, and they began to be swamped and to be in danger." Matthew 8:24 "The boat was being covered with the waves." Matthew said and again Luke 8:23, "They began to be swamped and to be in danger."

Now look at our text here in Mark four verse 38. "Jesus Himself was in the stern," that's at the back of the ship, "asleep on the cushion." Now these vessels we know had a raised section at the stern. Jesus was obviously exhausted, but he would have been up out of the water that is beginning to fill the vessel. And the stern in a storm will be kind of the best place so you're not being tossed about hardly as much, that's where Jesus was. And then we read, "and they woke Him and said to Him, 'Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?' We've been there, haven't we? Lord, where are you? This isn't fair. What I'm experiencing right now is absolutely overwhelming. Where are you? Why don't you do something? Luke 8:24, "They came to Jesus and woke Him up saying 'Master, Master, we are perishing.'" Inevitably, dear friends, fear and frustration can betray a heart that has a superficial understanding of the character of God. And that's why he oftens puts us in these scenarios where all of a sudden in our flesh, we begin to wonder if God is insensitive to our needs, if he is indifferent. Maybe he just doesn't care. Versus being able to say, God right now I'm in desperate need. I think I am going to die. And unless you do something, I probably will but I know that you were in charge. And I will trust you no matter what.

Maybe you would even quote Psalm 139 verse nine, "For if I dwell in the remotest part of the sea, even there Your hand will lead me and Your right hand will lay hold of me." So father right now i cry out to you for help. But if you choose to let me perish, I'm okay with that. Because I know that immediately I will be in your presence, I will trust you, come what may and remain steadfast in your love. Well, many of us have experienced the power of God in our lives. There are those times where there are limits to our faith, I've been there, you probably have to. And God loves us, loves to take us to those limits. And when we're in those situations, what an amazing thing it is to experience not only the power of God, but the presence of God in our life. This is what he wanted to teach his disciples. Let me give you a very real and practical illustration that's close to my heart. My father was a Marine, stationed aboard the USS Indianapolis in World War II, After they had delivered the components to the atomic bombs to the Indian at the BT 29 Base that were later dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, they went on to towards the Philippines for the main invasion of Japan. A Japanese sub launched a spread of six torpedoes to have the torpedoes hit the ship. It went down in 12 minutes, and it was the greatest catastrophe at sea in the history of the United States Navy. 1195 men were on board. They estimated that maybe 800 of them got off. The Navy lost them out there in the waters and almost five days later, they accidentally found them. And they rescued 316, my father was one of them. Most of the men died of dehydration, saltwater poisoning, hyperthermia, and the sharks. I had the privilege of recording my father's testimony in the book, "Out of the Depths," many of you have read it. But I want to quote to you a little of what my father said, with respect to all of this and you will see another example of the power and the presence of God in His redeemed. Dad said this quote, "The scene around me on that second day can only be likened to a nightmare. Human remains and corpses floated around our dwindling group." By the way, the groups went off as the ship continued to move forward, guys were abandoning ship. When they finally found them. There were little groups of people scattered about 75 miles apart. Dads group started at about 75 on the first day and it was dwindled in half by the second day. When they picked him up it was just him and one other Navy Lieutenant. He went on to say, "The sharks were never far away lingering in the distance. Basically, stragglers suddenly swim towards us for no apparent reason. Those of us who could still see because they didn't have the oil in their eyes, remember, with horror, those black dorsal fins slicing through the water. When they would swim through our ranks, hysteria and panic would naturally overwhelm us. On numerous occasions, I recall seeing a large fin coming straight at me. In horror, I would take what I thought would be my last breath, bend my knees up to my chest, draw up my feet to my buttocks, and cry out to God. 'Oh God help!' Sometimes I could feel their fin brushed my body. Other times I would merely feel the wake of the massive beast streaking through the water just underneath me." He went on to say, "Excruciating body cramps would often follow these episodes. Every muscle fiber in my body would tense up to make me as small as a target as I could possibly become. When the sharks would become active, my weakened body would finally get to a point where I could no longer draw my knees up to my chest. My abdominal muscles would become completely exhausted, leaving my legs to helplessly dangle in the path of the mighty predator." I remember asking dad, "Dad, what went through your mind when these types of things happen?" I mean obviously there was there was horror. I remember him saying, "Son it's hard to describe, but it was a mixture of terror and peace," a mixture of terror and peace, "because I knew that the worst thing that could possibly happen to me is that I would be killed and go into glory," which would certainly have been a relief, given what he was enduring. He went on to say this in another section, "Bobbing in the middle of the Pacific, I was reassured that even if the Lord chose to let me perish, I knew his sweet Providence was ultimately in charge. In fact, it was a welcome thought to consider that he might decide to take me to my heavenly home and relieve me from my distress. But somehow, I knew that he had plans for me and wanted me to survive. Had it not been for the strength and incomprehensible peace of the Lord, I fear the ordeal would have destroyed me. I had already seen and experienced enough anguish and suffering to last me a lifetime. The inescapable bloody carnage alone was almost unbearable, not to mention my own physical challenges plus the fear of the unknown. Yet through it all, God remained my close companion. His faithful presence gave me great strength and resolve. As the terror surrounded me, my heart ran frequently to the Lord in prayer. The Holy Spirit would help me think of Scripture. When this happened, I would lay hold of his promises and pray them back to Him with an attitude of awe and great joy." He went on to add, "I remember quoting the 23rd Psalm, giving special emphasis to the source of my strength, and hope, the Lord himself and to my Shepherd's, personal care for me. And I would often quote, especially Psalm 23, 'For even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for Thou art with me, Thy rod, and thy staff, they comfort me." What a testimony of God's grace, what a testimony of the power of the indwelling Spirit in the redeemed.

Now, back to our disciples, the Spirit of God did not dwell in them as yet. And they had much to learn about their trust in God, their faith, it was fledgling at this point, a faith that needed to be strengthened. And whenever we find ourselves paralyzed in fear, paralyzed in fear, not afraid, but paralyzed in fear. We betray the weakness of our faith or unwillingness to really acknowledge the resources that are ours in Christ, the perfection and goodness of his plan for us. Now, being afraid is natural, even appropriate, but being paralyzed, to the point of panic, unable to function in a crisis betrays our lack of trust and confidence in the Lord our God. And beloved, now is the time to understand these things and lay hold of them in your heart. Not when you're in a storm. Many people today are gripped with irrational fears, you see it all the time, often resulting in bizarre behaviors. I still see people driving along in their car wearing masks, or people wearing two masks. It's interesting, isn't it? To date, as I understand it, there's not one single peer review white paper that indicates that those masks are effective in preventing the Coronavirus spread. The people are terrified of so many things. And I feel sorry for them because they don't know the Lord. But the more we TRUST and OBEY Him, the more opportunities we have to witness his power, to experience his goodness. And this was the lesson that the disciples were about to learn the hard way. So in their terror, they awakened Jesus verse 39, "And He got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Hush, be still.' And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm." Beloved, this is absolutely incomprehensible, is it not? And what an understatement. He just said "Hush, be still."

Dear Christian, I want you to understand that the Lord Jesus Christ is the preexistent, self-existent, uncreated Creator of the universe. That is the God that we worship. That is the one who has given his life for us. And unless you allow those great truths to grip your soul, you're going to find yourself terrified when the storms come your way. And this was the lesson that they were learning. Verse 40, "And he said to them, 'Why are you afraid? How is it that you have no faith?'" Now, I'm sure there were other things that he said but his point is certainly understood. It's as if he's saying, after all of the miracles that you've seen me perform, after all, the demonstrations of my divine love and mercy, my tender compassion, do you really think that I'm going to ignore you? You certainly can't believe that. Even if I let you drown in the sea, and allow you to pass through the veil of this wicked world and enter into paradise, do you not think that I'm still caring for you? Don't you remember the words of the psalmist in Psalm 89, beginning of verse eight, "Oh Lord God of hosts, who is like the Almighty Lord, thy waves rise, Thou dost steal them." Are these words meaningless to you? Have you not quoted them and sung them before? Time and time again? What about the Psalm you've sung in days past? Psalm 46, beginning of verse one, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth should change, the mountain is slipping to the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride." Don't you believe that? That's the point. Why are you afraid? How is it that you have no faith?

Dave Harrell

Now what is stated next is hard to grasp. And it's hard to even explain. But we read in verse 41, "They became very much afraid, and said to one another, 'Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?'" As I examined the Greek texts, when it says "they became very much afraid," it can literally be translated, "they feared with great fear." In other words, the fear of the storm is at this level, but now all of a sudden, their fear is at this level, if you can imagine that. And what is it that they're afraid of? It's not the storm, but it's the one that calmed the storm. Can you imagine the look on their faces? As they stood there soaking wet, trembling in terror of the storm, but now they are legitimately overwhelmed as they witnessed the power of the Creator. Oh, dear Christian, we cannot even begin to imagine the power of the Most High, but to experience it? In this kind of a scenario? It's astonishing. Their response, by the way, is the only appropriate response when someone experiences the power of God. For example, when Jesus cast out the demons in the man from the tombs in the country of the Gerasene’s, remember when he sent them into the swine we read in Mark 5:15, "The people came to Jesus and observe the man who had been demon possessed, sitting down." By the way, this is the guy that they had tried to chain and he would break the chains. They're used to hearing this guy scream and do all this and now they see him sitting down closed in his right mind, the very man who had the Legion, referring to all of the demons, and it says, "And they became frightened." The concept of terrified, that's what happens when you witnessed the power of God. There was another storm in which Jesus walked on the water. Remember, in Mark six beginning in verse 48. We read, "Seeing them straining at the oars, for the wind was against them, at about the fourth watch of the night, Jesus came to them walking on the sea, and he intended to pass by them." In other words, he wanted them to see him. "But when they saw Him walking on the sea, they suppose that it was a ghost, and cried out;" "Anekraxen" in the original language, it means to scream in horror. They cried out, "for they all saw Him and were terrified. But immediately He spoke with them, and said to them, 'Take courage; it is I, do not be afraid.' Then He got into the boat with them and the wind stopped, and they were utterly astonished". The term astonished means to be so utterly amazed that you're on the very brink of losing your mental composure. In Mark nine, you will recall when Peter James and John saw the effulgence of the glory of God emanating from Christ, the text says that they "became terrified." In Mark 16, verse eight, when the women went to the tomb and saw that it was empty, then they saw and heard an angel tell them that he is not here "He is risen." The text says, "they went out and fled from the tomb for trembling and astonishment had gripped them. And they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid." Oh, dear Christian, never underestimate the power of God. And never lose the wonder of the exertion of that power on your behalf. Would that we all have the heart of the words that are expressed by the psalmist in Psalm 65, verse five. "By awesome deeds, You answer us in righteousness, O God of our salvation. You are the trust of all the ends of the earth and of the farther sea; Who establishes the mountains by His strength, being girded with might. Who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves and the tumult of the peoples." Will that we have the same testimony of the solace in Psalm 107, beginning in verse 23, "Those who go down to the sea and ships, who do business on great waters; They have seen the works of the Lord and His wonders in the deep. For He spoke and raised up a stormy wind, which lifted up the waves of the sea. They rose up to the heavens, they went down to the depths, their soul melted away in their misery. They reeled nd staggered like a drunken man, and were at their wit's end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble. And he brought them out of their distresses. He caused the storm to be still, so that the waves of the sea were hushed, then they were glad because they were quiet. So he guided them to their desired Haven. Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness, and for His wonders to the sons of men!" It is so sad that even many Christians only see Jesus in His humiliation. Rather than beholding him as he really is in his glorification. Again, he is the creator, and the sustainer and the Redeemer as well as the concentrator of all things. John, one three, we read that, "through him all things were made. Without him, nothing was made that was made." Paul tells us or the writer of Hebrews tells us, we're not sure that it was Paul, chapter one and verse three, "that he upholds all things by the Word of His power." That's how all of the atoms stay together by the Word of His power.

Think about it, he maintains the gravitation necessary to keep our solar system in orbit. I was reading how the Earth spins on its axis at 1000 miles an hour at the equator, it travels in a 580 million mile orbit around the sun at about 1000 miles a minute. Who is causing all that to happen? Beloved, it was that Babe in the manger. In fact, while he was still a fetus in Mary's womb, He was holding all things together by the Word of His power. From the macro to the micro, Jesus reigns over all of His creation. I was thinking about this again, many bacteria like Salmonella and streptococci propel themselves with miniature motors, I was reading about this. And I've spoken on this before, I'm just, my mind goes back to it, just to once again get lost in the wonder of who Christ really is. And these little miniature motors are equivalent to a car traveling 150 miles per hour in liquid. These motors rotate up to 100,000 revolutions per minute. And they operate through electrical charges from a flow of protons. Each shaft rotates a bundle of whip-like flagella, that acts as a propeller. And these motors have intricate sensors, and control mechanisms so that they can start and stop and reverse and change directions, and do so instantly. There are 8 million of these motors, or they said 8 million of these motors would fit the circular cross section of a human hair. And evolutionists tell us that bacteria were one of the first forms of life to evolve, because they are so simple. Out of foolishness the beginning of wisdom is the fear of the Lord but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Again, Jesus is our Creator, our Sustainer. He has made every human being with staggering complexity that scientists are just beginning to understand. Again, I was reading, there are 100 trillion cells in the human body. Now how they know that I can't vouch but that's what they say. Let's just say there's a whole bunch of human cells, right 100 trillion cells in the human body 46 segments of DNA exist in most cells. And there are 23 that come from the mother, and 23 that come from the Father, which by the way, underscores the fact and I know this is hard for some to believe, but there are only two genders.

If the DNA in one of your cells were uncoiled, if they were connected and stretched out, it would be about seven feet long. And the info of just one of those cells would fill a library of about 4000 books. And if you do the math, if the DNA of the whole body were stretched out and placed into end, it would go here to the moon more than 500,000 times. Indeed, we are fearfully and wonderfully made, right. And if you put all of it in book form, someone calculated that it would fill the Grand Canyon 75 times. Beloved, this same Jesus that has made us and has and continues to sustain us is the one who has redeemed us that he might inhabit us; this is the one who died for us that we might be reconciled to God through faith in him. And what a glorious thought it is. To know that this is the one that we love and serve. And beloved, no matter how violent the storm. Jesus is always there to answer our cry. And the issue, by the way, is never the size of the storm. That's not the big deal. Nor is it the fact that he somehow doesn't hear or he doesn't care, or that he doesn't have the power to act, the issue is always our humble faith. To be able to say, God, I don't understand what you're up to here. And quite frankly, I'm terrified and it breaks my heart, but I will trust you. Because you are good and you are glorious, and you are gracious. I think of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. Remember back in Daniel three, they refused to bow, to worship the golden image. And in his rage Nebuchadnezzar basically cast them into the furnace of blazing fire to see if there is a God that can deliver them out of his hands and so forth. And I love their response. In Daniel three, beginning in verse 17, "If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the furnace of blazing fire." Boy, there's confident faith right. "And He will deliver us out of your hand Oh, King, but," and I love this, "even if he does not, let it be known to you, oh king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up." Oh Child of God, may I remind you that the Lord calls the storms into existence in our lives that he might reveal Himself to us? Was it not in the context of some great storm in your life, that you first understood the glory of the cross? You remember that? How often he initiates his elective purposes to save some soul, when that soul is utterly consumed in some kind of great trouble. Isaiah 48 Verse 10, says, "Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver, I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction." Spurgeon says, "It is when we are down to the very lowest, when we are brought to bankruptcy, and beggary, spiritually. When we lie at Christ's feet as though we were dead, it is then he puts his hand upon us and says, Fear not, I am the First and the Last. It is then he anoints us with the oil of joy, it is then He clothes us with the garments of salvation. It is then when we hear the voice of eternal love, saying, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness, I have drawn thee." Indeed, this is the marvelous love of the Savior. To not only meet us in that hour of desperation but love us enough to bring that hour into our life. Behold, the majesty and the glory of Christ should produce a holy fear in us all and drive us to our faces in humble worship. And when we do this, our hearts will be filled with praise. Such was the inspiration of Charles Wesley when he wrote that great hymn, "Oh, for 1000 tongues to sing, my great Redeemers praise, The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace. Jesus, the name that charms our fears that bids our sorrows cease to his music in the sinners ear. Tis life and health and peace." Oh what glorious truths, Amen. All these things should ignite our hearts praise and motivate us to faithful obedience and service to the one who has delivered us. I want to close with a personal reflection that I wrote a number of years ago actually, when I preached on Matthew 14 "Life is filled with gale force winds that cause the waves to roar. And like the men of Galilee, we strain against the oar. With billows high we cry aloud, Oh, Lord, where have you gone? Then he whispers through the squall, I've been here all along. Oh, we of little faith, why doubt? Like give our hearts to fear. For when the tempest trials blow tis then we must Draw near. For in the wind of every storm a Sovereign I doth see, the waning faith and broken hearts of those like you and me. And with his outstretched hand of love, he reaches down to save. All who trust in Him alone, for us his life he gave. So when the tumults or us roll, let's thank him for the gale. For in His love, He caused the storm towards he that set the sail." Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for these comforting truths. Indeed, what peace fills our heart when we consider that you are the mighty sovereign, that set your love upon us and eternity past that nothing can separate us from Your love and that you will bring us safely home. Even though now, in this life, between that time when we are ultimately healed and completely away from the presence of sin, we experienced great difficulties. And we would cry out to you to help us with our weak faith. But we thank you for the power of your word, the power of your indwelling Spirit. And I pray especially this morning as your servant that for each one within the sound of my voice. You might speak in such a way that these truths become the passion and the power of their heart. That each of us will give you praise. No matter what our condition no matter what our lot knowing that you love us with an everlasting love. And because of this, we give you our praise in Jesus name. Amen.

Will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark's gospel chapter four. We continue to examine every word, every verse, to glean all that the Spirit of God has for us through His inspired record. This morning, I've entitled my discourse to you "Three Fruits of Genuine Christians." Let me read the text to you Mark chapter four, beginning with verse 21, through verse 34. "And Jesus was saying to them, 'A lamp is not brought to be put under a basket is it? Or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lamp stand? For nothing is hidden except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.' And He was saying to them, 'Take care of which you listen to, by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you, and more will be given you besides. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and whoever does not have even what he has shall be taken away from him. And He was saying,' The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day in the seed sprouts and grows--how he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself, first the blade than the head than the mature grain in the head. But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.' And He said, How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil, yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches so that the birds of the air can nest under its shade.'" With many such parables, He was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it. And he did not speak to them without a parable. But he was explaining everything privately to His own disciples."

Now this comes at the conclusion of his parable of the soils. And you will recall in Mark chapter four and verse nine, once again, he says, "He who has ears, let him hear." And only the redeemed will be able to understand and interpret and apply the great truths that Jesus is speaking. And it's a joy to preach the Word to those who have ears to hear. And certainly that is true of you or you would not be here. I often laugh, I would last about five minutes in many churches. But you continue to tolerate me because I just give you the Word, right? And you have a hunger for the Word, you have a passion to be obedient to it. And that is one of the most powerful indicators of genuine saving faith, a hunger for the Word and a desire to obey it. In John 8:32, Jesus said, "You will know the truth and the truth will make you free." And that's what has happened in your life and in mine, those of us who know Christ, and in First Peter, two two, we were told that we should be, "like newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the word, so that by it you may grow in respect to salvation." I want to add that Calvary Bible Church is one of the most dangerous places on earth for those who sit under the teaching of the Word, and hear it week in, and week out, and yet refuse to obey it. Persistent rejection will permanently harden a person's heart, resulting in permanent blinding. And we've seen this in our study thus far. People tend to love darkness rather than light, right? In fact, in John 3:19, Jesus said, "This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil."

Beloved, please understand Scripture is very clear that when a man willfully rejects the Son of God, with full knowledge of the gospel, God will reject Him. You will recall in Mark 4:11, Jesus said, "To you has been given the mystery of the Kingdom of God, but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that while seeing they may see and not perceive, and while hearing they may hear, and not understand otherwise, they might return and be forgiven." So again, there we have an example of what happens when there is willful, persistent and tractable unbelief in the face of full disclosure. It will result in divine judgment, Romans 1:26, we read and just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind to do those things, which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil and so forth. God will simply leave that kind of a person in a state of permanent blindness, that is the darkness that they love. And somewhere along the line in their life, he will remove any possibility of them understanding or embracing the gospel. And certainly, Jesus parables are a testimony to this very thing, as he has stated, parables left them in the darkness that they love. I might add that parables were also an act of divine mercy. Because the more light they reject, the greater their eternal condemnation. John 12, verse 48, "He who rejects me," Jesus says, "and does not receive My sayings has one who judges him; The word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day." In other words, the degree of punishment will be commensurate with the degree to which the rejection was willful. Is that you? I hope not. Examine your heart dear friends. Jesus clarified this even more in Luke chapter 12, beginning in verse 47. He says, "And that servant which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to His will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not and did not commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given of him, shall be much required, and to whom men have committed much of him, they will ask the more." I must confess that it is a great burden of my heart to know that some of you sit under the teaching of the word again every Sunday, and yet you choose to continue to live in blatant disobedience proving that you're unsaved. Though you claim to follow Christ, though you claim him to be your Savior, you really want nothing to do with him. You live your life for yourself in a fool's paradise. Ruled by your lusts, wandering further and further and further away from the safety of his saving grace. What a heartbreaking reality that is for some of you. Hebrews chapter six, verse six says for those who have, "fallen away," referring to unbelievers who have fallen away from the full light of divine revelation, and the offer of salvation, those who fall away, "it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame." In other words, the greater the rejection, the greater the judgment, chronic rejection of the truth, which by the way, includes persistent indecisiveness, will gradually produce hardness of heart. The writer of Hebrews warns of this in Hebrews three and verse 12, he says, "Take care that there not be any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day as long as it is still called 'Today,' so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." In other words, the deceitfulness of sin that causes unbelief, and unbelief, with full knowledge of the truth, will turn your heart to stone. Yours will be the greater punishment. Matthew 11, verse 24, makes it real clear that the wickedness of Sodom wasn't anything to be compared to the wickedness of Bethsaida. Because Sodom never saw Jesus, and yet, those in Bethsaida saw him, they experienced His miracles, they heard him teach, and in full knowledge and experience of the truth, they rejected him. Remember, all sinners, who have never trusted in Christ as Savior, will pay for their sins in eternal torment. That's the reality of divine judgment, including those who have rejected natural revelation that is in creation, and thus were never given the truth of Christ to be saved. But that person's torment will be less severe than those who hear the Gospel, constantly know the truth, and yet want nothing to do with it. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 29, "How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve, who was trampled underfoot the Son of God and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? We know Him who said, 'VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY.'' And again, 'The Lord will judge His people.'" And then the Spirit of God moved upon the heart of his inspired writer to say, "It is a terrifying thing, to fall into the hands of the living God." But oh dear friends, the wonderful grace of Jesus in the gospel. God has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness that we loved, he has transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved son, as we read in Colossians one, He has adopted us as His children, He's caused us to delight in His Word, to actually hunger for his word, to joyfully obey His Word. Moreover, he causes us to bear fruit in our life. And part of that fruit is spreading the seed of the gospel that others might come to saving faith.

And that is what Jesus is talking about here in this text. As he addresses his disciples and by extension, all of us with three additional, parables, three further illustrations that identify three fruits of true believers. In other words, those who heard the gospel and now bear the fruit of that seed that he was previously talking about. I have labeled these three fruits as follows. Hopefully, this will give you a little outline to hang these concepts on. First, fruit will be a passion to faithfully proclaim the gospel, secondly, an expectation of eternal reward for evangelistic efforts. And then finally, an unwavering confidence that God will build His kingdom. And I might add that if these characteristics are missing in your life, there is something terribly wrong with your faith, assuming it is genuine, saving faith. Every true believer will bear spiritual fruit. That's what happens. It will be like the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians chapter five, verses 22 through 23. But some will bear more than others. Therefore we are commanded in Colossians 1:10, "walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him, in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God." And that's what we are endeavoring to do here this morning.

So let's look at the first fruit. Jesus identifies and I'm calling it a passion to faithfully proclaim the gospel. Now bear in mind, Jesus is preparing his disciples for the evangelistic enterprise that they would soon embark upon, after he ascended into glory. And the concept here is that the seed of saving faith has germinated in their hearts. It's producing therefore, the fruit of gospel witness, a desire to share the gospel with others, and all true believers are going to have that desire in varying levels. John 8:31, "if you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of mine." So it doesn't matter what you profess to believe the proof is in the pudding, if you will, right? John 13:35, "By this, all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have a love for one another." Matthew seven, verse 20, and following, "So then you will know them by their fruits." Jesus adds, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father, who is in heaven will enter." In other words, what's going to happen, because of what has happened in your heart, is that others are going to see Christ in your life. Jesus said, that you will know that you are my disciples if you keep my commandments, and so forth. And one of the primary marks of genuine saving faith is that you will have a passion to faithfully proclaim the gospel; you won't be ashamed of it, you will want to share it with others. And Jesus is here, preparing them for this very thing. In fact, in Mark six and later on, in Luke nine, the Lord is going to send them out. And parties of two, as you will recall, moreover, later, he's going to commission them to do more of the same and in the Great Commission in Matthew 28.

So with this background, let's look at the text more closely in verse 21 of Mark four, "And Jesus was saying to them, a lamp is not brought to be put under a basket is it, or under a bed? Is it not brought to be put on the lampstand? For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light." And of course, that's going to be happening through the preaching of the Gospel. "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear." Now, excavations have revealed many, many 1000s of the little hard baked lamps that the people used in that day, for light, they had a little handle a little spout, I have some, and in my home that I brought back from Israel, they would pour olive oil in there and have a little, little floating wick, and they would place those on stands in their homes, they didn't have electricity like we do. They would place them on stands, or there would be protruding shelves in the walls where they would place that so that the light would be able to beam throughout their dark little dwellings. And so this would have been a very familiar illustration to them. And light is used in Scripture as a metaphor for truth, the Light of the gospel, the light of Christ, as well as the spiritual, the spiritual life that we have in Christ. The Psalmist tells us that the word is a lamp unto our feet and a light into our path. In Ephesians, five, and beginning in verse eight, the apostle Paul says, "You were formerly darkness;" not just in darkness, you were darkness, right? "You were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord." So he goes on to say, "walk as children of Light, (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord." And in Matthew's Gospel, in chapter five, beginning in verse 14, we have a little sample of Jesus Sermon on the Mount and there he says, "You are the light of the world, a city on a hill, nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house." So he goes on to say, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven."

Now, I might add, dear friends to make this very practical. This includes far more than just giving a little money for Operation Christmas Child, as wonderful as that is. This is more than just going over there and packing some boxes as wonderful as that is. What he's referring to here is a lifestyle that reflects the living Christ. Even the moon reflects the sun, but I might say that our lives don't just reflect Christ. They actually emanate the light of Christ because He dwells in us. This is what he's talking about. And practically speaking, whenever you come into a room, you need to light up that room with the glory of Christ. People need to know very quickly, as they watch your lifestyle as they listen to you talk. As they watch how you behave, as they watch how you love your wife, or you love your husband or your children, they need to say, wow, there's something different. And then when you have opportunity, you let the light shine even more, and you share with them the glory of the gospel. This is very different than those who walk in darkness. Right? When you get around those kinds of people. It's creepy. You know, you just listen to the way they talk and, and the vulgarity that comes out of their mouths because it's in their heart. Their souls are dark, they belong to the kingdom of darkness. They are living out the deeds of the flesh, not the fruits of the Spirit, which Paul describes in Galatians 5:19" Now the deeds of the flesh are evident," which are and by the way, as I read these just think, this is what we see in the ungodly that have never come to faith in Christ, "The deeds of the flesh are evident which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will never inherit the kingdom of God." And this is the type of stuff that is the basis of virtually every movie and every television show that we watch. When I was a little boy, we used to sing a song, "This little light of mine," any of you used to sing that? Or am I just that... Oh, good. I'm not completely in the dark here, "this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, oh, this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine all the time, let it shine," and so forth. I sang that with all my heart when I was a little boy having no real idea of what it meant. But I know what it means now. And I trust you do as well. So the first fruit of one upon whom the gospel seed has fallen, will be a passion to faithfully proclaim the gospel. "If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."

The second fruit will be an expectation of eternal rewards for their evangelistic efforts. Notice verse 24. "And Jesus was saying to them, 'Take care what you listen to,' it could be translated, pay attention, or consider carefully what you hear. I'm gonna say something very important here. I watch my son, with his little granddaughter, or my little granddaughter and their grandson. And a lot of times, I will see him get right in the face. And he will say, focus, focus. Listen to what I'm telling you. And that's basically what Jesus is saying here. Pay attention, focus. And then he says this, here's what you're supposed to focus on. "By your standard of measure, it will be measured to you, and more will be given you besides." This is the concept of reaping what you sow, and then some. Now, this was a proverbial maxim, the Lord used in other contexts to communicate a great principle of, of divine administration. This is how God functions. For example, in Matthew seven in verse two, we read, "For in the way you judge, you will be judged and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you." But here in Mark four it's used in connection with evangelism. God is going to reward our evangelistic service in proportion to the level of effort that we exert. He is watching, he will reward and that's Jesus point. He is underscoring the promise of eternal rewards for those who are earnestly devoted to sharing the good news of the gospel to the lost. I'm curious, does that describe you? Is that a passion of your heart? Now we know that in agriculture, if a farmer sows very little, he's going to reap very little. If he sows a lot more, he's going to reap a lot more, everybody understands that. In fact, the Lord uses this through His inspired writer Paul in Second Corinthians nine six in the context of financial giving. He says "he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully." So in this context in verse 24, Jesus is saying, "By your standard of measure, it will be measured to you, and more will be given you besides." And you want to ask yourself, what is my standard of measure? What is my degree of effort when it comes to evangelism? Is sharing the gospel with those that God is placed in my sphere of influence, is that something that I'm committed to? Am I devoted to that? Is that a passion of my heart? Or do I just leave it to others and feel good because I put a little money in the offering box so that other people, the pastor and missionaries, and folks like that will handle that for me? Are you motivated not only out of your love for Christ, not only out of a desire to be pleasing to Him, not only out of a passion for His glory, and a burden for the loss, but are you also motivated by an expectation of eternal rewards for your efforts? That's what Jesus wants you to hear.

And I might add, that these rewards actually begin in this life. I'm sure you can join me in attesting to the exhilarating joy of seeing loved ones and friends come to faith in Christ. What an incredible thing that is, to see sinners saved, and to see them sanctified to see them grow in the grace of knowledge of Christ. I mean, when this happens, God fills our hearts with with an overwhelming sense of of praise and excitement and joy, and it animates our will to stay in the fight, does it not? We rejoice not only over the extent by which the Lord exerts himself, to seek and to save the lost, but also over the one who has been rescued, sometimes one that we have prayed for, for years, and they finally come to Christ. Oh, what a reward that is. But we all know that the celebratory joy is just a temporal reward, but it is a sample of the ultimate joy and a reward that we will receive in glory. We all know that evangelism requires effort. It's difficult, requires compassion requires boldness. Most people don't want to hear it right. We all know that. And so often we suffer for our witness. But Jesus also promised that those who suffer for his namesake will be rewarded, right? Luke 6:21, "Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven." So again, what is your standard of measure when it comes to evangelism, because it will be measured to you. And more, besides. And it's important to understand that the rewards we're talking about here, as we look at it biblically, is not that we're pursuing some reward so that we can elevate ourselves to some superior perceived, superior status in heaven, but rather, to exalt the lover of our soul and enlarge our enjoyment of him forever. And of course, this will, in effect, increase the enjoyment of all of the redeemed. And dear friends if none of this resonates in your heart, if none of this is characteristic of you, then there there is something terribly wrong with your faith. Don't kid yourself.

This is evidence of one who has genuinely been transformed by the power of God. Jesus went on to add in verse 25, "For whoever has, to him more shall be given." The parallel passage is in Matthew 13, verse 12, "and he will have an abundance." I like what John MacArthur says, quote, "As believers dispense truth to others, God blesses them with more power, joy, satisfaction and reward." Well, isn't that true? Absolutely it's true. But notice, Jesus uses this as a stark contrast to the lack of fruit in the life of an unbeliever. At the end of verse 25, Jesus says, "and whoever does not have," referring to not having God through saving faith in Christ, "even what he has shall be taken away from him." In other words, one day their superficial faith will be exposed and their self deception will be uncovered. Again, we read about this in Matthew seven, beginning of verse 22. I mentioned it earlier, "Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name, perform many miracles?'" And yet, despite their supernatural works, that were empowered by demons, Jesus says that "I will declare to them, 'I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'" Earlier in verse 18, he said, "A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit." Very clear. John 15, verse six, Jesus says, "If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." And dear friends, evangelical Christianity is filled with people that do not know Christ. The landscape of Christianity is littered with corpses down through history of people who profess Christ, but they do not possess him. Churches that are utterly bereft of sound doctrine, without even a modicum of personal holiness. And we're all aware of this. And many of these churches now embrace even the most vile forms of perversion, things that are literally unspeakable. Hell is going to be filled with religious people who were Christian in name only. So again, in Mark four, verse 25. At the end, he says, "Whoever does not have,” referring to saving faith, "even what he has shall be taken away from him." Jesus words in Luke 18 clarifies this even further. He says, "Whoever does not have even what he thinks he has, shall be taken away from him." Jesus elaborates on this concept again, in Matthew seven, verse 24. "Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock, and the rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against the house. And yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock." But then he contrasts that by saying, "Everyone who hears these words of Mine, and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house, and it fell, and great was his fall." Oh, dear friends, the inevitable tragedy of divine judgment that will fall upon those who built their life on the shifting sands of some false religion or built their life on the assumption that, hey, I'm a good person and my good outweighs the bad, so certainly, God will save me. That person that has a perceived sense of self righteousness, rather than the person who will say that I am a sinner, saved by grace, and my only hope is in Christ.

So what true believers will have, those that heard the gospel and now bear the fruit of that seed, they will have number one a passion to faithfully proclaim the gospel and an expectation of eternal reward for evangelistic efforts. And then finally, they will have an unwavering confidence that God will build His kingdom. Notice verse 26. "And He was saying the kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; and he goes to bed at night and gets up by day and the seed sprouts and grows, how he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself, first the blade than the head than the mature grain in the head. When the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle because the harvest has come."

Now, it was a long time since I went through with my biology courses in college, so I wanted to look up the process of germination, all right? Now I'm gonna sound very erudite, but quite honestly, I don't have a clue. What most of this is saying, but I want you to just understand a little bit of what the scientists have discovered. In the miracle of the seed germination process, there's basically five different steps First, it's called imbibition, when water fills the seed when it's in the soil. Secondly, the water activates enzymes that begin the plant's growth. And then thirdly, the seed grows a route to access water underground, and the seed grows, shoots that grow towards the sun, and then the shoots grow leaves and begin photo morphogenesis. Now, I wanted to understand a little bit more what photo morphogenesis was. And here's what the textbooks say, "In developmental biology photomorphogenesis is light mediated development, where plant growth patterns respond to the light spectrum. This is a completely separate process from photosynthesis, where light is used as a source of energy phytochromes, cryptochromes and photo troponins are photochromic sensory receptors that restrict the photomorphogenic effect of light to the UVA, the UVB, blue and red portions of the electromagnetic spectrum." All of that to say is, folks, this is really amazing, right? It is amazing. And this is what happens when a seed lodges is in good soil. I just can't fathom the evolutionary process that would bring this all about, can you? I mean, this is a process that boggles the mind. This is an example of the hand of the Creator. An example of the creative genius and power of God. You will recall that on the third day of creation, according to Genesis one in verse 11, "God said, Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit in them, and it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them after their kind. And God saw that it was good." And later, he speaks to Adam and Eve in verse 29. "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed, that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree, which has fruit yielding seed, it shall be food for you." This Psalmist tells us in Psalm 85, verse 12, indeed, the Lord will give what is good, and our land will yield its produce. And what's fascinating is, the farmer cannot create the seed, right? You can't create the seed God had to do. Nor can he cause it to germinate and grow. That's something that just happens by the power of God, all he can do is sow the seed, maybe put a little fertilizer and water on the ground, and then harvest it. So he who gets the glory, that God gets the glory.

Oh, dear friends. But the contrast here is so stark. Compare that to the miracle of regeneration. When the seed of the gospel lodges in the heart, of one of God's elect, and supernaturally, suddenly, instantaneously, there's the impartation of spiritual life, spiritually dead. Suddenly, a nature is changed. Suddenly, a person is made a new creature in Christ. The old things pass away, the new things come, that person has changed so that now their entire disposition is moving in a radically different direction than what it was. You begin to love what God loves and you hate what God hates. This is the power of regeneration. It's a spiritual resurrection, from spiritual death to spiritual life characterized by both washing and renewal.

Paul used the term and Titus three five, the term regeneration "paliggneseia." By the way, "he saved us not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to his mercy by the washing of," here it is, "regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out upon us so richly through Jesus Christ, our Savior so that being justified by his grace, we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." I love the way JI Packer defines regeneration he says "It is the spiritual change right in the heart of man by the Holy Spirit in which his or her inherently sinful nature is changed so that he or she can respond to God in faith and live in accordance with His will. It extends to the whole nature of man, altering his governing disposition, illuminating his mind, freeing his will and renewing his nature." And we're told in first Peter 1:23, that you have been born again, that's regeneration, "you have been born again not of seed, which is perishable, but imperishable, that is, through the living and enduring word of God. For all flesh is like grass and all its glory, like the flower of grass, the grass withers, and the flower falls off, but the word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word which was preached to you." And so the point of all of this is simply God in his infinite grace has provided this, this gospel seed, and he has prepared the soil of His elect, that were chosen before the foundations of the world, the good soil upon which that seed would one day fall and germinate. And in that germination process, there would be the miracle of regeneration. And it was as a result of that change nature, a person will begin to manifest the fruits of Christ like this. Paul spoke of this in First Corinthians three, verse six, he said, "I planted," and he said, "Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth," right. "So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God causes the growth. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, but each will receive his own reward according to his own labor." There it is, again.

So back to what Jesus says Mark four 26. "The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil, and he goes to bed at night, gets up by day and the seed sprouts and grows, how he himself does not know. The soil produces crops by itself, first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. But when the crop permits, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come." The point is simply this. Guys, I want you to sow the seed. Ladies, I want you to sow this gospel seed. But I want you to do this with the unwavering confidence that God is going to build His kingdom through those seeds. I've been privileged to witness this over and over again over the 30 plus years of my gospel ministry. I've seen the seed fall by the road on the rocky ground among the thorns and among good soil. And I've seen how it can bear much fruit. I look at many of you. Look at some of you young people, I remember when I went to the hospital, to welcome you in to this wicked old world. And now I'm seeing you bring glory to God through your faithful witness. It's an amazing thing. And to know that someday when the Lord calls me home, there will be others. I believe some young men in this church right now that God is going to raise up, maybe even to fill this pulpit. We don't know. But that's what God does. And he wants us to be encouraged with this.

And notice how Jesus uses another parable here to illustrate this third fruit that will grow on the vine of the redeemed this unwavering confidence that God will build His kingdom. And by the way, this would have been so encouraging to His disciples who were faced with the daunting task of preaching the gospel, knowing all of the rejection that is out there. He says in verse 30, he said, "How shall we picture the kingdom of God or by what parable shall we present it? He said, it's like a mustard seed which, when sown upon the soil, though it is smaller than all the seeds that are upon the soil, yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and forms large branches so that the birds of the air can nest under its shade." Now, listeners would have understood this they knew the tiny mustard seed, they planted it in their gardens. The tree would grow to roughly 15 feet or so, it was probably a reference to the black mustard tree which was grown for its oil, and to be used as a condiment. And though its size originally is very, very small, it grew to an impressive size. And of course, that is the purpose of the simile here. And Jesus point is simply this, though the kingdom right now is very small, speaking back at the first century, though, it's very small. Don't underestimate its humble beginnings. Don't underestimate my power to grow it. Don't be impatient. And think how much it has grown since the first century. Look what God continues to do. And in its branches, it will provide shade and shelter for countless saints from all over the world.

I might add that the imagery of a tree was used to illustrate mighty kingdoms in the Old Testament, we see this, for example, in Ezekiel 31, with reference to the Assyrian kingdom and the Babylonian kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar. Daniel speaks of this in Daniel four beginning in verse 10. "Now these were the visions in my mind, as I lay on my bed I was looking at behold, there was a tree in the midst of the earth, and its height was great, the tree grew large became strong, and its height reach to the sky, and it was visible to the end of the whole earth, its foliage was beautiful, and its fruit abundant. And it was food for all the beasts of the field found shade under it, and the birds of the sky dwelt in its branches, and all living creatures fed themselves from it." So now here in Mark four, again, Jesus makes it clear that the kingdom is going to start out small, it may seem insignificant, but it is going to grow. And beloved, this should be an encouragement to all of us. As we spread the gospel seed, I think of the profound influence that Christianity has had on our world, culturally, economically, morally. Contrast this to the devastating influence of theological and political liberalism, and Marxism and communism. I mean, as we look at America, we know that it is the product of the Protestant Reformation that began with Luther back in 1570. And we can see how God used so many of the principles of Scripture to build this great nation. And yet now you look at people, especially those in power today. I mean, the political platform of the Democratic Party is, is just a satanically inspired bunch of beliefs designed to oppose the righteousness and the justice of God. And many Republicans and independents doesn't matter what strike many of these people believe this stuff, because they're lost. They have created a cultural and an economic and a moral freefall from which I don't think our country will ever recover.

But oh, dear friends, don't be deceived. Don't lose heart. God is building his kingdom. I think what the psalmist said in Psalm two, beginning of verse two, "The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, 'Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us.'" You know, I can hear this in the White House. I can hear this in Congress, I can hear this in the United Nations, I can hear this in the European Union, I can hear this with the communist rulers of the world and the socialist rulers of the world and the World Economic Forum and on and on it goes. But that text goes on to say "The Lord sits in the heavens and laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in his anger and terrify them in his fury saying, 'But as for me, I have installed My King upon Zion, my holy mountain.'" Christ has promised to build his church right? The gates of Hades will not overpower it. The day is coming, beloved, as the prophets foretold when the glory of the Lord will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. And all genuine believers know this full well. Therefore, when you look at the life of someone that truly loves Christ, you will see a passion to faithfully proclaim the gospel, you will see an expectation of eternal reward for their evangelistic efforts and you will see in them an unwavering confidence that God is going to build His kingdom. Jesus then closed in verse 33. "With many such parables" or the writer closes by saying, "With many such parables, Jesus was speaking the word to them, so far as they were able to hear it. And He did not speak to them without a parable, but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples." And that by extension, is what I am doing with you here today, explaining the Word of God to you, that you might know it, might be changed by it, that you might obey it, and enjoy the fullness of all that Christ has for you, because of you being united to him, What a glorious truth right? What an amazing God we serve. Let's pray together. Father, we are so thankful for the many ways you manifest your love for us and I pray that each of us will be challenged to be serious about our evangelistic efforts to ask you for opportunities to ask you for boldness that we might so abundantly and reap abundantly. Because we know that you were able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us. To you be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to every generation forever and ever. Amen.

This morning we come again to the exposition of God's Word. And we are in Mark's gospel chapter four, we will be looking at verses one through 20 this morning. And I've been entitled my discourse to you "Why People Reject the Gospel." Bear in mind that despite the overwhelming and irrefutable evidence that Jesus was Israel's long-awaited Messiah, they still rejected him. How can that be? Vast crowds followed Him. At first, they were convinced that he was the Messiah that would now defeat Rome and restore Israel to her former glory, consistent with the covenant promises that God gave to Abraham, and to David as well. And after all, they watched what he did he, he healed the sick, he gave sight to the blind. He restored withered limbs, He cast out demons, even raised the dead. He even had power over nature. But he was a threat to the ruling class of Israel, the Scribes, the Pharisees. In fact, you will recall in Mark 3:22 Despite all that he was doing, they said, "He is possessed by Beelzebul, and He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons." You see, they were insulted because he exposed their hypocrisy. He undermined their works righteousness system of apostate Judaism, he claimed to be God, who forgave sins. He preached the gospel, that salvation was by faith alone, by grace alone, in Christ alone. But of course, self-righteous hypocrites never see their need for saving. And we're it not for the Spirit's work in our life, we would have never seen it either. They wanted personal prosperity. That's what people vote for. Right? I don't care who you are, what you believe, as long as you give me stuff, you got my vote. That's how the world works. That's the way it was back then. In fact, they were convinced Jesus could deliver these things to them. John speaks of this in John 6:14, for example. We read this "Therefore, when the people saw the sign which he had performed, they said, 'This is truly the prophet who is come into the world. So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take him by force to make Him king withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone." Later in verse 26, Jesus exposed their motives, "Jesus answered them and said, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.'" You see their self-interest blinded them to the truth of who Jesus was. And instead of falling down and worshipping Him as the Lord of Glory, they wanted to use him, to serve them. In fact, they resented everything about Jesus as time went on. John six goes on to describe that they really hated his theology, his doctrine of salvation. In fact, in John six, all five points of Calvinism that's typically summarized by the acronym TULIP, can be seen in what Jesus told the multitude, who wanted yet another sign before they would believe in Him. In verse 36, of that text, Jesus said, "But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe," there's total depravity, the "T" in tulip. Total inability, man is so ruined by sin, that it is impossible for him to respond to the gospel apart from regenerating grace, the very next verse 37, "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out." There is Unconditional election and Irresistible grace. In fact, in Ephesians, one four we are reminded that "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world," very clear. God chose his elect according to the kind intention of his uninfluenced will, verse 36, he goes on to say, "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." Beloved, there is Limited atonement, or sometimes called particular or specific redemption, what was the will of the Father that sent him? Well, to actually, not potentially, but to actually atone for the sins of those whom the Father had chosen and given to him in eternity past. In fact, this is repeated in John 17, as Jesus prepared to die, you will recall that he prayed for all whom the Father had given him. He said in verse 24, "Father, I desire that they also whom Thou hast given Me, be with me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory which thou has given Me, for thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world." Jesus went on to expand upon this theme in verse 39. He says, and "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him upon the last day." There is the P in the TULIP, perseverance of the saints, or better the perseverance of God with his saints, we are eternally secure in Christ. Also in verse 44, he says, "No one can come to me, unless the Father draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day." Again, this sinful man is powerless to change his nature, and by nature, he has no desire to follow Christ, he is hostile to God. He is spiritually blind, spiritually deaf, is incapable of embracing spiritual truth, he is powerless to come to Christ, on the basis of his own free will. Scripture is filled with these truths, but people resent it.

So how can a man be saved? Well, the father must draw him to Christ. And here Jesus makes it clear that God must take the initiative in salvation. And notice how he does this in verse 45, "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught of God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to Me." So in other words, the father's drawing is a result of his teaching. It includes teaching, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And as a result of the Word of God and the Spirit's power, there is a supernatural thing that happens. Internal illumination causes the sinner to run into the outstretched arms of the Savior. Again, that's the irresistible drawing of sovereign grace. He went on to say in verse 63, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing." In other words, the will of man has nothing to do with it. John 1:13 expressly declares that the new birth is, quote, "Not of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God." Jesus went on to say in verse 63, of John six, "the words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and are life," verse 65, "And He was saying,' For this reason," referring to their unbelief. "For this reason, I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father. As a result of this, many of His disciples withdrew, and we're not walking with Him anymore. “Indeed, most people reject the true gospel. There you have the greatest church split in history, right? But 20,000 people suddenly, who wanted to make him king one day, now reject Him.

So most people who experienced Jesus heard the message of the gospel, but they resented it, they rejected it. In fact, John one in verse 11, says, “He came to His own and those who were His own did not receive him." Once again, bear in mind they were looking for political deliverance, consistent with what was promised in the Old Testament, and they ignored the Old Testament prophecies that foretold how the Messiah must first suffer and die, as we would read in in Psalm 202 and Isaiah 52 and 53, and Zechariah, 12:10, and so forth.

Now back to Mark, what's going on here with all of that context, Jesus is going to present a parable to explain the various kinds of soil that exist, speaking of people's hearts so that his disciples could understand Israel's growing rejection. This would help him or help his disciples, and by, by extension, all of us, every believer to understand why people reject the gospel of saving grace. And I might add that I'm sure in an audience this size, there are those of you who are in that category. You reject the gospel. You have never been broken over your sin, you have never cried out to God for saving grace. You're just kind of part of churchianity, it's a very dangerous thing. Your life therefore, bears no real fruit of repentance. If you're honest about your life, you have no sincere love for Christ. You have no hunger for his word. You have no hungry and thirsting for righteousness. You never grieve or mourn over your own sin. There's no transformation of the desires of your life. Your life is not devoted to the glory of God. There is no obedience to the Word and will of God, no aspiration to commune with God and prayer, no burden for the lost. But you call yourself a Christian. This is churchianity. This is priceless Christianity. May God grant you ears to hear today, what the Spirit of God has to say through his servant and His Word.

Now as we come to Mark four, let me give you the context you will remember earlier that same day, the unbelieving Pharisees witnessed Jesus heal a blind and mute demoniac. But they claimed that the power that he had, he received from Satan, Mark 3:22, casting out the demons by the ruler of the demons and so forth. So let's pick up the narrative here. In Mark four, verse one. Jesus, “began to teach again by the sea. And such a large crowd gathered to Him that he got into a boat in the sea and sat down. And the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables." By the way, this will become his primary method of disseminating truth from here on out and his ministry, and I'll explain why from the text in a moment. "He was teaching them many things in parables and was saying to them in His teaching, 'Listen to this! Behold, the Sower went out to sow, as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up, and increased they yielded a crop and produced 30, 60 and 100 fold.' And He was saying, 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear.'"

In other words, this is an invitation to believers, who are able to hear the truth and respond to it. And the clear implication here is that there are some who do not have ears to hear and will refuse to hear. The Pharisees and many of the lay people, at that time rejected Jesus message, despite the Holy Spirit's clear revelation of who Jesus was through His miracles, through His Word, and of course, this was the unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, described in chapter three and verse 29. Beloved, please understand that persistent unbelief in the face of full revelation will cause a person to cross a line where God's saving grace is no longer available to them. We don't know where that is, but God does. And eventually, divine judgment is all that awaits them. I think of Second Timothy four beginning in verse three. These are the ones that, "will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickle, they will accumulate for themselves, teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." In other words, they refuse to hear the truth, because it conflicts with their desires, with how they see the world with how they see themselves. So they unwittingly begin to wander into false religious systems that will eventually overtake them because they appeal to the lust of their flesh. They will believe spiritual and theological absurdities with all their heart and they will perish in their sins because of it. How can anyone possibly claim to be a Christian and yet approve of those things that God abhors? Like the LGBTQiA plus agenda, like homosexual, pastors, transgender pastors, drag queen story hours in churches? How can they believe the perversions of the prosperity or social justice gospels? How can they believe that God actually speaks to them, and on and on it goes. Many today are like the Israelites of that day that were so ruled by the sins they loved. And so enslaved by years of false teaching and corruption that they were like the Israelites in the Old Testament. Hosea described it this way. In chapter five and verse four, "Their deeds will not allow them to return to their God, for a spirit of harlotry is within them. And they do not know the Lord." Into verse 12, he goes on to say, "for a spirit of harlotry, has led them astray. And they have played the harlot departing from their God."

Now back to Mark four, and verse 10. "As soon as He was alone, His followers along with the 12, began asking Him about the parables." Matthew sheds more light on this in chapter 13 and verse 10, "The disciples came and said to Him, 'Why do you speak to them in parables?'" Jesus, what you're saying here, these analogies, they're hard to understand they, they are spiritual, ethnic myths that people just don't get. Why are you speaking this way? Well, he answers it in Mark 4:11. "And He was saying to them, 'To you has been given the mystery of the Kingdom of God.'" Now let's stop there for a moment. What is this mystery of the Kingdom of God? Well, this refers to spiritual truths in the New Testament, that would have remained hidden, had God not chosen to reveal them. Think of what Paul said in Colossians one, beginning in verse 25, he said of this church, "I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God, that is," here it is, "the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God will to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory," referring to the surpassing riches of the indwelling Christ by the Holy Spirit. We read about this more in John 14, Romans eight and so forth, I might add, that these mysteries also include the mystery of the gospel Ephesians 6:19, the mystery of Christ, Ephesians three eight through 12, the great mystery concerning Christ in the church, Ephesians 5:22 through 33, the mystery that we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed, First Corinthians 15:51, as well as First Thessalonians 4:13 through 18, the mystery of lawlessness that Paul spoke of in Second Thessalonians two verse seven and nine, the mystery that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, as Paul described in Romans 11:25 through 36. And finally, in Revelation 17 Five, the mystery Pre Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the abominations of the earth. In fact, Paul expands upon his responsibility further, in his letter to the Corinthians in First Corinthians two seven, "but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory." It's interesting here, if we look at the original language, he is using the strong adversative of conjunction, but or "alla" in Greek, which underscores the extreme contrast between man's wisdom and God's wisdom. In fact, in the original language, it is in the emphatic position in the Greek text emphasizing both supernatural possession as well as source. In other words, this wisdom belongs to him, and it comes from Him. This is what we preach. This is what Jesus preached. Paul also calls it the hidden wisdom of God, because it is the secret wisdom that God intentionally conceals to the natural man. First Corinthians 2:14, The natural man, the unsaved man who prefers earthly wisdom to God's wisdom.

And again, beloved, it is this wisdom, God's wisdom, that we preach with confidence, knowing it was ordained before the ages for our glory, verse seven says, so again, back to Mark four verse 10. "As soon as He was alone, His followers along with the 12 began asking Him about the parables and He was saying to them, 'To you has been given the mystery of the Kingdom of God but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that while seeing they may see and not perceive, and while hearing they may hear and not understand, otherwise, they might return and be forgiven.'" It's interesting here, fascinating text. Here Jesus is quoting Isaiah six nine through 10, which was a passage that originally described the hard-hearted Israelites whose consciences were so seared by willful self-deception, that their persistent unbelief sealed their fate, and God judged them. As a result, God used the invading hordes of the Babylonians or the rule of Nebuchadnezzar to destroy them. And likewise, in Jesus day, the same and tractable. Unbelief sealed the fate of divine judgment upon Israel. Countless millions today are doomed to that same judgment, because of their persistent, willful unbelief. Paul speaks about this, you will recall in Romans one, beginning in verse 18, he says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who," catch this now, "suppress the truth in unrighteousness." I don't want to hear it, I reject it. He goes on to say, "because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world is His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools." He goes on to say, "Therefore, God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurities, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them." In other words, he just gives them over to the consequences of their lusts, so that they will commit all manner of immorality. He goes on to say beyond that, "God gave them over to degrading passions." And he goes on to describe the degrading passions of homosexuality. And if that isn't enough, he finally gives, "them over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper." He went on to say, "And although they know the ordinances of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."

Beloved, please understand, when man knowingly, persistently, with full knowledge, rejects the truth of who God is, God will reject Him. Historically, Israel's apostasy we know was judged in AD 70 when the Romans invaded. The apostates were killed and enslaved and today they languish in the solitary confinement of an eternal hell. The same fate awaits all who refuse to come to Christ, in repentant faith. But their judgment begins on earth because of their persistent unbelief. God leaves them in their state of spiritual blindness and removes any possibility of them understanding or embracing the gospel. This is why Jesus began to speak in parables, as he stated.

Now, next, Jesus explains the parable of the soils to his disciples. There's four different kinds of soils that we are going to see. And it was crucial for his disciples to understand these things, so that they had some idea of why so many people reject the gospel. And any of us who have walked with Christ, anytime at all know full well, that the vast majority of people who hear the truth of saving grace and the glories of Christ will laugh in your face and reject it. But some, by God's grace, will repent and believe. I did. Hopefully all of you have. "And He said to them, 'Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables?'" In other words, he's saying this is, this is the key guys, this is the key to interpreting future parables. But more importantly, this parable is foundational to your understanding of the doctrine of salvation and evangelism, you've got to get this. That's what he's saying here. And I might say, personally, this is one of the most instructive and encouraging passages in all of Scripture regarding the doctrine of salvation. And regarding my role in evangelism, what he's asking me to do, and frankly, what he's asked you to do is real simple. Just sow the seed, right? I'll take care of the rest, you just sow the seed. And by the way, don't spend your time trying to cultivate the soil so that the seed will get in there. And don't tinker with the seed to somehow alter it genetically, so that somehow it will grow in any environment, even through concrete. Don't tinker with the seed. I've given you the seed, you sow my seed, the seed of the Gospel, the same seed that Jesus sowed, and then trust God with the rest. Beloved, never take responsibility for things beyond your control, right? Let God be God. And that's what he's saying here. And he's helping us to understand that most seeds will never take root. Most seeds will never bear spiritual fruit, but a few will.

I was thinking about this, the apostle John was allowed to see what the few would look like in future glory. Revelation seven, verse nine, this is so encouraging. He says, "I looked and behold a great multitude, which no one could count from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne. and before the Lamb clothed in white robes and palm branches were in their hands, and they cry out with a loud voice saying 'Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.'" Oh, dear friend, I pray that you and your household will be among the number of the redeemed.

Dave Harrell

So verse 14, Jesus says, "The sower sows the word." We know this is a reference to the Gospel, the message of salvation, through faith and the finished work of Christ on the cross. And again, there's four different kinds of soil upon which the seed is going to fall, depicting four different kinds of heart responses to the gospel. I have named them thusly, the first soil I call the impenetrable heart of hardened unbelief. Secondly, the shallow heart of temporary belief. Thirdly, the worldly heart of double minded belief and finally, the receptive heart of fruit bearing belief. Now, I might add that the first three hearts will hear, but refuse to wholeheartedly embrace the gospel, and sadly, we all know people in this category. In fact I might add that many ostensibly evangelical churches actually cater to the shallow heart of temporary belief. They appeal to the emotions rather than to the mind producing phony kind of drama queen Christians that are all hyped up on emotion. But they're spiritual substances like cotton candy that will instantly melt under the heat of persecution. And then there's the worldly heart of double minded belief that churches will cater to, especially an evangelical pragmatism that believes that friendship with the world is a better strategy of evangelism than preaching the gospel, that somehow we become like the world in order to win it. And as a result, priceless Christians that cannot be distinguished from the world they love, make up these churches. Now, notice the first soil, the impenetrable heart of hardened unbelief, verse 15, these are the ones Jesus said, "who were beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear immediately, Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them." Now, if you go to the paths, the roads in the Middle East, especially in Israel, you will see very quickly that they are as hard as concrete. They're beaten down by 1000s of footsteps, from people and from animals in the scorching sun that bakes it, kind of like the clay that we have here in Tennessee, that can get extremely hard. And this is the perfect analogy of religion of the religious elite of Israel, who even in the face of irrefutable evidence, deny Jesus to be the Son of God, Israel's Messiah, even attributing His miracles to the power of Satan. And we all know people like this, whose animosity toward the gospel is so callous that the truth of saving grace is like what he says here, "when they hear immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them." And I've heard all the excuses. Well, they hold to some other false religious system and so they don't buy what the Bible has to say, after all, it's a bunch of myths. And it's for the feeble minded, so I'm not going to believe that, and the Bible is full of all kinds of, of inconsistencies and so forth. And they'll reject God on the basis of some philosophy that they believe the wisdom of man, so no matter what you say, two plus two is going to be five. And when confronted with the truth, they are going to reject it and sometimes militantly. I'll never forget the first time in a group that I was leading in in Nashville probably had 12, or 15 men in the group. When I went to explain the gospel in man's depravity, I had a guy get up and walk over to me and spit in my face and walk out, last I ever saw him. People don't want to hear that. I think of a pastor in Israel, converted Jewish man, I was able to go in with some others, in a forest, they were in an underground church because the, ultra-orthodox that are Hasidim, the ones with the big fur hats, you've heard me talk about them before; they hated them, wouldn't allow them to own land, wouldn't allow them to build a church and he was telling how one day he was with his little boy walking down the street of this one town and one of those men came up with his little boy and spit at him, and then told his little boy, I want you to spit at him. I want to teach you what we do to Christians. That's the level of hatred that exists even today. Beloved, this is what was going on in the days of Jesus.

By the way, some might ask, what do you do when you encounter this kind of person? Jesus said in Matthew seven six, "Do not give what is holy to dogs. And do not throw your pearls before swine or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces." Remember, most dogs in those days were filthy wild scavengers. They were diseased and they were vicious. They weren't like our little poodle sitting up on the couch right. And swine were considered by the Jews to be the epitome of uncleanness. They were animals that foraged in garbage dumps, they were also vicious. So together Jesus use these animals to depict the ungodly, who reject the gospel, but also viciously attack all that God deems holy, viciously attacks his people blaspheme his name. And when this happens, we must walk away. Paul even speaks of this in Titus three and verse 10. He says that we are to, "Reject a factious man after the first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and as sinning, being self-condemned.' It's time as Jesus said in Matthew 10, verse 14, to shake off the dust of your feet. Perhaps these are ones that God has utterly abandoned and unbelief, by the way, we don't know. We don't know. So we continue to pray for them. But when they mock God's Holy Word, don't give them the precious pearls of his truth. They may be like those in Hebrews six, six who have fallen away from the gospel that they've heard they've, they're rejecting it. And he says, "It is impossible to renew them again to repentance." So we walk away from them, we pray that God will soften their heart. And sometimes he does. He did the apostle Paul didn't he? And he did a lot of the Pharisees that eventually came to saving faith.

So first, Jesus speaks of the impenetrable heart of hardened unbelief. Secondly, the shallow heart of temporary belief. He says, "In a similar way, these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word immediately receive it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves but are only temporary; then when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately, they fall away." These are the people who will respond very favorably, very quickly to the gospel. They can be enthusiastic; they can be absolutely giddy with joy. Many times lots of drama, lots of emotion. They seem to be on fire for Christ, which you begin to see that it's all sizzle and no steak. It's all show no substance. Because the seed of the gospel is merely fallen upon the shallow topsoil of emotion that conceals right under the surface, a bedrock of selfishness and unbelief. We all understand this. There are places where you can plant a seed, and it will quickly sprout but its roots cannot penetrate the bedrock that might be just under the surface. And here in Tennessee, we really understand that it's hard to find a foot of topsoil in places. I've seen this however, 1000 times in the lives of people. I regret that I've seen this, especially amongst our youth here at Calvary Bible Church. I've seen young people who respond very enthusiastically to, to the gospel, and they seem to be on fire for Christ, they want to be baptized, but as soon as they have to take a stand for their faith, you see a very different person and gradually they disappear. They're not even a part of the church anymore. I've seen adults the same way. They have some superficial desperation to come to Christ, maybe to be able to be a part of the group, who knows what all is going on in their mind, but they have never been broken over their sin, to the point where they would cry out to a holy God, in utter desperation, and say, What must I do to be saved? But rather than make some superficial external profession of faith, and again, as soon as they experienced the high cost of discipleship, you see a very different person, they abandoned Christ. They're like wilting lilies, not mighty oaks. So superficial Christians who love themselves more than Christ, live by sight, not by faith. And there is a dead faith, therefore that cannot save, it will not endure the inevitable persecution that will come upon all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus. I think again, of youth that forsake Christ just as soon as they're outside of the house, they get about 17 or 18, and they leave the house and they don't follow Christ anymore. What's going on there? This is what's going on, they leave solid Bible teaching churches to attend some church that will cater to their flesh. Their faith had no firm roots So their faith is only temporary as Jesus says "then when affliction or persecution arises, because of the word immediately they fall away." As soon as their friends think they're cornering for some of the things they believe, okay, I'll not believe that anymore. Think of all the professing Christians today, professing Christians not necessarily possessing Christian, but those who profess Christ and yet they bow their knee to the godless woke cult in our culture. Or they embrace the vile perversions of the LGBTQIA plus agenda. Immoral abominations in the eyes of God, that blaspheme his holy name. I just can't believe this demonic drag queens reading the Bible to children in worship services. And yet these people claimed to be Christians. Dear friends, the atrocities of the wicked knows no bounds. For the wicked to call themselves Christians, is a blasphemy that exceeds the evils of Sodom and Gomorrah. These are the ones that have a shallow heart of temporary belief. Contrast this with true Christians that Jesus described and Luke 9:23 "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it for what does a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself."

In the 19th century, Charles Finney mastered the manipulative techniques he believed that would bring sinners to conversion. He believed man's only problem was no deeper than his will. And like all palladiums, he denied the reality of man's ruined nature of his of his utter inability, because of the depths of his depraved nature. He denied all of that as many do today. He believed that all men need to do is to resolve to become a Christian. And all the preacher needs to do is to persuade him to do so. He believed that any outward act like standing, or kneeling, or walking an aisle to an anxious bench, with some altar call, any of those kinds of things were signs of genuine conversion, and many people, 1000s of people, responded to those types of manipulative techniques, as many do today. But as we look at history, permanent change was virtually nonexistent. In his excellent work, "Revival and Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism, 1750 to 1858" Ian Murray, one of my favorite authors, records the words of Joseph Ives Foot, a Presbyterian minister, who wrote this in 1838, in response to what he was seeing with all of Finney's, and others revivals, here's what he said, quote, "During 10 years, hundreds and perhaps 1000s were annually reported to be converted on all hands. But now it is admitted that Finney's real converts are comparatively few. It is declared even by Finney himself that quote, 'The great body of them are a disgrace to religion.'" End quote. I think of the Church at Laodicea remember that, Revelation three, the lukewarm church that made God vomit? The term lukewarm, doesn't mean that they were mediocre Christians, as some people tend to think, that's not what it's speaking of. It means they fit neither category of hot, which would be a true Christian or cold, a person that rejected Christ. They don't fit either one of those categories. Although they were unregenerate, they did not openly reject Christ. And you have lots of churches that are that way. They don't openly reject Christ, but they are hypocrites. They are pretenders that make a mockery of the gospel. Beloved, a lukewarm Christian is no Christian at all. The Laodiceans were financially prosperous, they were smug, self-righteous hypocrites, as lost as the most depraved atheist. And for this reason the Lord warned them in Revelation 3:19 and 20, to, "Be zealous and repent, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him and he with Me."

So again, this type of a Christian, the shallow heart of temporary belief, may profess Christ, but because their nature has never truly been changed, because they've never truly been born again, because they have never truly become a new creature in Christ, when persecution and temptation come their way, they have nothing to restrain the flesh, no indwelling Spirit. And so their flesh will continue to rule them. They will wilt like grass growing on a dusty sidewalk when the hot sun beats down upon it.

Well, thirdly, there is the worldly heart of double minded belief, Jesus said, "And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns." "Akantha" in the original language, "akantha," a thorn bush that used in Matthew 27:29, to describe the thorns, even that was placed on Jesus head at his crucifixion. And even in good soil, at least what you would think would be good, that's been cultivated, that maybe everything's been burned off, the seeds and root system of these predatory thorn bushes are still there, and they will emerge. So when seed falls their roots begin to grow, and they deprive the other good seed of water and nutrition and choke them out. That's the analogy, it's a perfect analogy, isn't it? It describes the worldly heart of the double minded; those who claim to love Christ, but down deep, they really love the world and all that the world has to offer. Jesus said, these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things enter in and choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. James one, verse eight, we read, "a double minded is unstable in all of his ways." In other words, he is the man that has divided loyalties between God and all the material things that the world has to offer. Jesus said in Matthew 19:24, that, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Why is that? Because they love all of their wealth. For a number of years, I counseled primarily very wealthy celebrities and wealthy people down on the south side of Nashville. And I can attest to those realities. People with a lot of money really don't see their need for Christ. Matthew six, verse 21, Jesus said, "Where your treasure is there, your heart will be also right." He went on to say in verse 24, "No one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other." You cannot serve God and wealth. And of course, greedy materialism is the great idol of America today. If you want to see the worship centers of America, go to all of the malls that exist in every city. So when the gospel seed is a sowed sown among the thorns, it simply will not germinate and bear fruit. The pull of the world is too powerful for these people to believe. I've heard people say before that they don't want anything to do with Christianity because if I do, I have to change my lifestyle. What they don't understand is you get to change your lifestyle. You now have the power and the desire to change your lifestyle.

So we've seen the impenetrable heart of hardened unbelief, the shallow heart of temporary belief, the worldly heart of double minded belief, and then finally here we go, the receptive heart of fruit bearing belief. Jesus said, "And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil, they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit 30,60, and a hundredfold." Oh, dear friends, is it a blessing to see someone come to saving faith in Christ, to see our children, our grandchildren, or loved ones or friends, when they hear the word they accept it. And you see, that's a demonstration of regenerating grace, where the Spirit of God breathes life into a spiritual cadaver, raises that person from spiritual death to spiritual life. Paul spoke of this in first Thessalonians two verse 13. He said to the church there "For this reason, we also constantly thank God, that when you receive the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe." Now, I want you to notice something here. There is no indication anywhere in this text, where Jesus says that, you know, if you're going to be a good sower, you need to tinker with the seed so that it will grow in every kind of soil. Alright, I want to re emphasize this, no, you don't read that anywhere. There's no indication that the sower even has to cultivate the ground. What he's simply saying, as I said earlier, is, look, I've supplied the seed, it is my word, it is the gospel. I want you to sow that seed. And trust me for the increase. For indeed, dear friends, genuine repentance and saving faith are a supernatural work of God, not of man. Second, Timothy two verse 24, Paul says, "The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition." Now underscore this, "if perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will." I also think of what Paul said in Ephesians, two, magnificent passage beginning in verse one, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins." Now, let that sink in for a minute. You were "dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formally walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them, we to all formally lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest, but God," oh, here we go, not but you, "But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions," he is the one that, "made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved." And finally, I want you to notice the end of verse 20 in Mark for these are the ones that will hear the word and accept it and bear fruit 30,60 and 100 fold. Folks, you got to realize this is this is inconceivable to the people of that day. I mean, they were thrilled, if they could get a five or six fold increase, eight would be wonderful, 10 would be practically unheard of. But here you have three or six or 10,000%. This is beyond anything that they could imagine. But when it is a work of the Holy Spirit, this is what will happen. It is the Holy Spirit who produces the fruit of Christ's likeness. It is the Holy Spirit that will produce the fruit of the Spirit love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. That's what you're going to see manifested. In the life of a true believer. These are the fruits in keeping with repentance, Matthew three eight, the fruit of righteousness, Philippians 1:1, and so forth.

And in closing, when this happens, the opposite of what I said earlier, will be manifested in your life, you will have a sincere love for Christ. You will have a hunger for his word. You will have a hungering and thirsting for righteousness, you will have a mourning over your own sin, there will be a radical transformation in your desires, your entire disposition will be different. It will produce a devotion to God's glory, and obedience to His Word and His will give you a yearning and aspiration to spend time with God and commune with Him in prayer, and you will have a burden for the lost. Folks, this is the stuff of genuine saving faith. This is authentic Christianity. So I pray that you will celebrate the power of the gospel here today and scatter the seed wherever you can and then trust God for the increase, knowing that it will fall on fertile soil, and it will germinate and bear much fruit to the praise of his glory. Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank You for these eternal truths. Thank you that you make them so clear to us. But I would cry out to you that you would move upon the hearts of those that may be deceived with their own religiosity, Lord, whatever it might be. I pray that you will speak to the heart of those who do not believe that today they will be saved. And for those of us who know and love you, may we rejoice in your saving grace, and be committed to doing all that we can by the power of the Spirit to bear much fruit to the praise of his glory. For it's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.

This morning we come again to the exposition of God's Word. And we are in Mark's gospel chapter four, we will be looking at verses one through 20 this morning. And I've been entitled my discourse to you "Why People Reject the Gospel." Bear in mind that despite the overwhelming and irrefutable evidence that Jesus was Israel's long-awaited Messiah, they still rejected him. How can that be? Vast crowds followed Him. At first, they were convinced that he was the Messiah that would now defeat Rome and restore Israel to her former glory, consistent with the covenant promises that God gave to Abraham, and to David as well. And after all, they watched what he did he, he healed the sick, he gave sight to the blind. He restored withered limbs, He cast out demons, even raised the dead. He even had power over nature. But he was a threat to the ruling class of Israel, the Scribes, the Pharisees. In fact, you will recall in Mark 3:22 Despite all that he was doing, they said, "He is possessed by Beelzebul, and He casts out the demons by the ruler of the demons." You see, they were insulted because he exposed their hypocrisy. He undermined their works righteousness system of apostate Judaism, he claimed to be God, who forgave sins. He preached the gospel, that salvation was by faith alone, by grace alone, in Christ alone. But of course, self-righteous hypocrites never see their need for saving. And we're it not for the Spirit's work in our life, we would have never seen it either. They wanted personal prosperity. That's what people vote for. Right? I don't care who you are, what you believe, as long as you give me stuff, you got my vote. That's how the world works. That's the way it was back then. In fact, they were convinced Jesus could deliver these things to them. John speaks of this in John 6:14, for example. We read this "Therefore, when the people saw the sign which he had performed, they said, 'This is truly the prophet who is come into the world. So Jesus, perceiving that they were intending to come and take him by force to make Him king withdrew again to the mountain by Himself alone." Later in verse 26, Jesus exposed their motives, "Jesus answered them and said, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.'" You see their self-interest blinded them to the truth of who Jesus was. And instead of falling down and worshipping Him as the Lord of Glory, they wanted to use him, to serve them. In fact, they resented everything about Jesus as time went on. John six goes on to describe that they really hated his theology, his doctrine of salvation. In fact, in John six, all five points of Calvinism that's typically summarized by the acronym TULIP, can be seen in what Jesus told the multitude, who wanted yet another sign before they would believe in Him. In verse 36, of that text, Jesus said, "But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe," there's total depravity, the "T" in tulip. Total inability, man is so ruined by sin, that it is impossible for him to respond to the gospel apart from regenerating grace, the very next verse 37, "All that the Father gives Me shall come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out." There is Unconditional election and Irresistible grace. In fact, in Ephesians, one four we are reminded that "He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world," very clear. God chose his elect according to the kind intention of his uninfluenced will, verse 36, he goes on to say, "For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me." Beloved, there is Limited atonement, or sometimes called particular or specific redemption, what was the will of the Father that sent him? Well, to actually, not potentially, but to actually atone for the sins of those whom the Father had chosen and given to him in eternity past. In fact, this is repeated in John 17, as Jesus prepared to die, you will recall that he prayed for all whom the Father had given him. He said in verse 24, "Father, I desire that they also whom Thou hast given Me, be with me where I am, in order that they may behold My glory which thou has given Me, for thou didst love Me before the foundation of the world." Jesus went on to expand upon this theme in verse 39. He says, and "This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him upon the last day." There is the P in the TULIP, perseverance of the saints, or better the perseverance of God with his saints, we are eternally secure in Christ. Also in verse 44, he says, "No one can come to me, unless the Father draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day." Again, this sinful man is powerless to change his nature, and by nature, he has no desire to follow Christ, he is hostile to God. He is spiritually blind, spiritually deaf, is incapable of embracing spiritual truth, he is powerless to come to Christ, on the basis of his own free will. Scripture is filled with these truths, but people resent it.

So how can a man be saved? Well, the father must draw him to Christ. And here Jesus makes it clear that God must take the initiative in salvation. And notice how he does this in verse 45, "It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught of God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the father comes to Me." So in other words, the father's drawing is a result of his teaching. It includes teaching, faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. And as a result of the Word of God and the Spirit's power, there is a supernatural thing that happens. Internal illumination causes the sinner to run into the outstretched arms of the Savior. Again, that's the irresistible drawing of sovereign grace. He went on to say in verse 63, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing." In other words, the will of man has nothing to do with it. John 1:13 expressly declares that the new birth is, quote, "Not of the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God." Jesus went on to say in verse 63, of John six, "the words that I have spoken to you, are spirit and are life," verse 65, "And He was saying,' For this reason," referring to their unbelief. "For this reason, I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father. As a result of this, many of His disciples withdrew, and we're not walking with Him anymore. “Indeed, most people reject the true gospel. There you have the greatest church split in history, right? But 20,000 people suddenly, who wanted to make him king one day, now reject Him.

So most people who experienced Jesus heard the message of the gospel, but they resented it, they rejected it. In fact, John one in verse 11, says, “He came to His own and those who were His own did not receive him." Once again, bear in mind they were looking for political deliverance, consistent with what was promised in the Old Testament, and they ignored the Old Testament prophecies that foretold how the Messiah must first suffer and die, as we would read in in Psalm 202 and Isaiah 52 and 53, and Zechariah, 12:10, and so forth.

Now back to Mark, what's going on here with all of that context, Jesus is going to present a parable to explain the various kinds of soil that exist, speaking of people's hearts so that his disciples could understand Israel's growing rejection. This would help him or help his disciples, and by, by extension, all of us, every believer to understand why people reject the gospel of saving grace. And I might add that I'm sure in an audience this size, there are those of you who are in that category. You reject the gospel. You have never been broken over your sin, you have never cried out to God for saving grace. You're just kind of part of churchianity, it's a very dangerous thing. Your life therefore, bears no real fruit of repentance. If you're honest about your life, you have no sincere love for Christ. You have no hunger for his word. You have no hungry and thirsting for righteousness. You never grieve or mourn over your own sin. There's no transformation of the desires of your life. Your life is not devoted to the glory of God. There is no obedience to the Word and will of God, no aspiration to commune with God and prayer, no burden for the lost. But you call yourself a Christian. This is churchianity. This is priceless Christianity. May God grant you ears to hear today, what the Spirit of God has to say through his servant and His Word.

Now as we come to Mark four, let me give you the context you will remember earlier that same day, the unbelieving Pharisees witnessed Jesus heal a blind and mute demoniac. But they claimed that the power that he had, he received from Satan, Mark 3:22, casting out the demons by the ruler of the demons and so forth. So let's pick up the narrative here. In Mark four, verse one. Jesus, “began to teach again by the sea. And such a large crowd gathered to Him that he got into a boat in the sea and sat down. And the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. And he was teaching them many things in parables." By the way, this will become his primary method of disseminating truth from here on out and his ministry, and I'll explain why from the text in a moment. "He was teaching them many things in parables and was saying to them in His teaching, 'Listen to this! Behold, the Sower went out to sow, as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. Other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. And after the sun had risen, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. Other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no crop. Other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up, and increased they yielded a crop and produced 30, 60 and 100 fold.' And He was saying, 'He who has ears to hear, let him hear.'"

In other words, this is an invitation to believers, who are able to hear the truth and respond to it. And the clear implication here is that there are some who do not have ears to hear and will refuse to hear. The Pharisees and many of the lay people, at that time rejected Jesus message, despite the Holy Spirit's clear revelation of who Jesus was through His miracles, through His Word, and of course, this was the unpardonable sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, described in chapter three and verse 29. Beloved, please understand that persistent unbelief in the face of full revelation will cause a person to cross a line where God's saving grace is no longer available to them. We don't know where that is, but God does. And eventually, divine judgment is all that awaits them. I think of Second Timothy four beginning in verse three. These are the ones that, "will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickle, they will accumulate for themselves, teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." In other words, they refuse to hear the truth, because it conflicts with their desires, with how they see the world with how they see themselves. So they unwittingly begin to wander into false religious systems that will eventually overtake them because they appeal to the lust of their flesh. They will believe spiritual and theological absurdities with all their heart and they will perish in their sins because of it. How can anyone possibly claim to be a Christian and yet approve of those things that God abhors? Like the LGBTQiA plus agenda, like homosexual, pastors, transgender pastors, drag queen story hours in churches? How can they believe the perversions of the prosperity or social justice gospels? How can they believe that God actually speaks to them, and on and on it goes. Many today are like the Israelites of that day that were so ruled by the sins they loved. And so enslaved by years of false teaching and corruption that they were like the Israelites in the Old Testament. Hosea described it this way. In chapter five and verse four, "Their deeds will not allow them to return to their God, for a spirit of harlotry is within them. And they do not know the Lord." Into verse 12, he goes on to say, "for a spirit of harlotry, has led them astray. And they have played the harlot departing from their God."

Now back to Mark four, and verse 10. "As soon as He was alone, His followers along with the 12, began asking Him about the parables." Matthew sheds more light on this in chapter 13 and verse 10, "The disciples came and said to Him, 'Why do you speak to them in parables?'" Jesus, what you're saying here, these analogies, they're hard to understand they, they are spiritual, ethnic myths that people just don't get. Why are you speaking this way? Well, he answers it in Mark 4:11. "And He was saying to them, 'To you has been given the mystery of the Kingdom of God.'" Now let's stop there for a moment. What is this mystery of the Kingdom of God? Well, this refers to spiritual truths in the New Testament, that would have remained hidden, had God not chosen to reveal them. Think of what Paul said in Colossians one, beginning in verse 25, he said of this church, "I was made a minister according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, so that I might fully carry out the preaching of the Word of God, that is," here it is, "the mystery which has been hidden from the past ages and generations, but has now been manifested to His saints, to whom God will to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you the hope of glory," referring to the surpassing riches of the indwelling Christ by the Holy Spirit. We read about this more in John 14, Romans eight and so forth, I might add, that these mysteries also include the mystery of the gospel Ephesians 6:19, the mystery of Christ, Ephesians three eight through 12, the great mystery concerning Christ in the church, Ephesians 5:22 through 33, the mystery that we shall not all sleep but we shall all be changed, First Corinthians 15:51, as well as First Thessalonians 4:13 through 18, the mystery of lawlessness that Paul spoke of in Second Thessalonians two verse seven and nine, the mystery that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, as Paul described in Romans 11:25 through 36. And finally, in Revelation 17 Five, the mystery Pre Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and of the abominations of the earth. In fact, Paul expands upon his responsibility further, in his letter to the Corinthians in First Corinthians two seven, "but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory." It's interesting here, if we look at the original language, he is using the strong adversative of conjunction, but or "alla" in Greek, which underscores the extreme contrast between man's wisdom and God's wisdom. In fact, in the original language, it is in the emphatic position in the Greek text emphasizing both supernatural possession as well as source. In other words, this wisdom belongs to him, and it comes from Him. This is what we preach. This is what Jesus preached. Paul also calls it the hidden wisdom of God, because it is the secret wisdom that God intentionally conceals to the natural man. First Corinthians 2:14, The natural man, the unsaved man who prefers earthly wisdom to God's wisdom.

And again, beloved, it is this wisdom, God's wisdom, that we preach with confidence, knowing it was ordained before the ages for our glory, verse seven says, so again, back to Mark four verse 10. "As soon as He was alone, His followers along with the 12 began asking Him about the parables and He was saying to them, 'To you has been given the mystery of the Kingdom of God but those who are outside get everything in parables, so that while seeing they may see and not perceive, and while hearing they may hear and not understand, otherwise, they might return and be forgiven.'" It's interesting here, fascinating text. Here Jesus is quoting Isaiah six nine through 10, which was a passage that originally described the hard-hearted Israelites whose consciences were so seared by willful self-deception, that their persistent unbelief sealed their fate, and God judged them. As a result, God used the invading hordes of the Babylonians or the rule of Nebuchadnezzar to destroy them. And likewise, in Jesus day, the same and tractable. Unbelief sealed the fate of divine judgment upon Israel. Countless millions today are doomed to that same judgment, because of their persistent, willful unbelief. Paul speaks about this, you will recall in Romans one, beginning in verse 18, he says, "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who," catch this now, "suppress the truth in unrighteousness." I don't want to hear it, I reject it. He goes on to say, "because that which is known about God is evident within them, for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world is His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse. For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks but they became futile in their speculations and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools." He goes on to say, "Therefore, God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurities, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them." In other words, he just gives them over to the consequences of their lusts, so that they will commit all manner of immorality. He goes on to say beyond that, "God gave them over to degrading passions." And he goes on to describe the degrading passions of homosexuality. And if that isn't enough, he finally gives, "them over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper." He went on to say, "And although they know the ordinances of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them."

Beloved, please understand, when man knowingly, persistently, with full knowledge, rejects the truth of who God is, God will reject Him. Historically, Israel's apostasy we know was judged in AD 70 when the Romans invaded. The apostates were killed and enslaved and today they languish in the solitary confinement of an eternal hell. The same fate awaits all who refuse to come to Christ, in repentant faith. But their judgment begins on earth because of their persistent unbelief. God leaves them in their state of spiritual blindness and removes any possibility of them understanding or embracing the gospel. This is why Jesus began to speak in parables, as he stated.

Now, next, Jesus explains the parable of the soils to his disciples. There's four different kinds of soils that we are going to see. And it was crucial for his disciples to understand these things, so that they had some idea of why so many people reject the gospel. And any of us who have walked with Christ, anytime at all know full well, that the vast majority of people who hear the truth of saving grace and the glories of Christ will laugh in your face and reject it. But some, by God's grace, will repent and believe. I did. Hopefully all of you have. "And He said to them, 'Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables?'" In other words, he's saying this is, this is the key guys, this is the key to interpreting future parables. But more importantly, this parable is foundational to your understanding of the doctrine of salvation and evangelism, you've got to get this. That's what he's saying here. And I might say, personally, this is one of the most instructive and encouraging passages in all of Scripture regarding the doctrine of salvation. And regarding my role in evangelism, what he's asking me to do, and frankly, what he's asked you to do is real simple. Just sow the seed, right? I'll take care of the rest, you just sow the seed. And by the way, don't spend your time trying to cultivate the soil so that the seed will get in there. And don't tinker with the seed to somehow alter it genetically, so that somehow it will grow in any environment, even through concrete. Don't tinker with the seed. I've given you the seed, you sow my seed, the seed of the Gospel, the same seed that Jesus sowed, and then trust God with the rest. Beloved, never take responsibility for things beyond your control, right? Let God be God. And that's what he's saying here. And he's helping us to understand that most seeds will never take root. Most seeds will never bear spiritual fruit, but a few will.

I was thinking about this, the apostle John was allowed to see what the few would look like in future glory. Revelation seven, verse nine, this is so encouraging. He says, "I looked and behold a great multitude, which no one could count from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne. and before the Lamb clothed in white robes and palm branches were in their hands, and they cry out with a loud voice saying 'Salvation to our God, who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.'" Oh, dear friend, I pray that you and your household will be among the number of the redeemed.

Dave Harrell

So verse 14, Jesus says, "The sower sows the word." We know this is a reference to the Gospel, the message of salvation, through faith and the finished work of Christ on the cross. And again, there's four different kinds of soil upon which the seed is going to fall, depicting four different kinds of heart responses to the gospel. I have named them thusly, the first soil I call the impenetrable heart of hardened unbelief. Secondly, the shallow heart of temporary belief. Thirdly, the worldly heart of double minded belief and finally, the receptive heart of fruit bearing belief. Now, I might add that the first three hearts will hear, but refuse to wholeheartedly embrace the gospel, and sadly, we all know people in this category. In fact I might add that many ostensibly evangelical churches actually cater to the shallow heart of temporary belief. They appeal to the emotions rather than to the mind producing phony kind of drama queen Christians that are all hyped up on emotion. But they're spiritual substances like cotton candy that will instantly melt under the heat of persecution. And then there's the worldly heart of double minded belief that churches will cater to, especially an evangelical pragmatism that believes that friendship with the world is a better strategy of evangelism than preaching the gospel, that somehow we become like the world in order to win it. And as a result, priceless Christians that cannot be distinguished from the world they love, make up these churches. Now, notice the first soil, the impenetrable heart of hardened unbelief, verse 15, these are the ones Jesus said, "who were beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear immediately, Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them." Now, if you go to the paths, the roads in the Middle East, especially in Israel, you will see very quickly that they are as hard as concrete. They're beaten down by 1000s of footsteps, from people and from animals in the scorching sun that bakes it, kind of like the clay that we have here in Tennessee, that can get extremely hard. And this is the perfect analogy of religion of the religious elite of Israel, who even in the face of irrefutable evidence, deny Jesus to be the Son of God, Israel's Messiah, even attributing His miracles to the power of Satan. And we all know people like this, whose animosity toward the gospel is so callous that the truth of saving grace is like what he says here, "when they hear immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them." And I've heard all the excuses. Well, they hold to some other false religious system and so they don't buy what the Bible has to say, after all, it's a bunch of myths. And it's for the feeble minded, so I'm not going to believe that, and the Bible is full of all kinds of, of inconsistencies and so forth. And they'll reject God on the basis of some philosophy that they believe the wisdom of man, so no matter what you say, two plus two is going to be five. And when confronted with the truth, they are going to reject it and sometimes militantly. I'll never forget the first time in a group that I was leading in in Nashville probably had 12, or 15 men in the group. When I went to explain the gospel in man's depravity, I had a guy get up and walk over to me and spit in my face and walk out, last I ever saw him. People don't want to hear that. I think of a pastor in Israel, converted Jewish man, I was able to go in with some others, in a forest, they were in an underground church because the, ultra-orthodox that are Hasidim, the ones with the big fur hats, you've heard me talk about them before; they hated them, wouldn't allow them to own land, wouldn't allow them to build a church and he was telling how one day he was with his little boy walking down the street of this one town and one of those men came up with his little boy and spit at him, and then told his little boy, I want you to spit at him. I want to teach you what we do to Christians. That's the level of hatred that exists even today. Beloved, this is what was going on in the days of Jesus.

By the way, some might ask, what do you do when you encounter this kind of person? Jesus said in Matthew seven six, "Do not give what is holy to dogs. And do not throw your pearls before swine or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces." Remember, most dogs in those days were filthy wild scavengers. They were diseased and they were vicious. They weren't like our little poodle sitting up on the couch right. And swine were considered by the Jews to be the epitome of uncleanness. They were animals that foraged in garbage dumps, they were also vicious. So together Jesus use these animals to depict the ungodly, who reject the gospel, but also viciously attack all that God deems holy, viciously attacks his people blaspheme his name. And when this happens, we must walk away. Paul even speaks of this in Titus three and verse 10. He says that we are to, "Reject a factious man after the first and second warning, knowing that such a man is perverted and as sinning, being self-condemned.' It's time as Jesus said in Matthew 10, verse 14, to shake off the dust of your feet. Perhaps these are ones that God has utterly abandoned and unbelief, by the way, we don't know. We don't know. So we continue to pray for them. But when they mock God's Holy Word, don't give them the precious pearls of his truth. They may be like those in Hebrews six, six who have fallen away from the gospel that they've heard they've, they're rejecting it. And he says, "It is impossible to renew them again to repentance." So we walk away from them, we pray that God will soften their heart. And sometimes he does. He did the apostle Paul didn't he? And he did a lot of the Pharisees that eventually came to saving faith.

So first, Jesus speaks of the impenetrable heart of hardened unbelief. Secondly, the shallow heart of temporary belief. He says, "In a similar way, these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word immediately receive it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves but are only temporary; then when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately, they fall away." These are the people who will respond very favorably, very quickly to the gospel. They can be enthusiastic; they can be absolutely giddy with joy. Many times lots of drama, lots of emotion. They seem to be on fire for Christ, which you begin to see that it's all sizzle and no steak. It's all show no substance. Because the seed of the gospel is merely fallen upon the shallow topsoil of emotion that conceals right under the surface, a bedrock of selfishness and unbelief. We all understand this. There are places where you can plant a seed, and it will quickly sprout but its roots cannot penetrate the bedrock that might be just under the surface. And here in Tennessee, we really understand that it's hard to find a foot of topsoil in places. I've seen this however, 1000 times in the lives of people. I regret that I've seen this, especially amongst our youth here at Calvary Bible Church. I've seen young people who respond very enthusiastically to, to the gospel, and they seem to be on fire for Christ, they want to be baptized, but as soon as they have to take a stand for their faith, you see a very different person and gradually they disappear. They're not even a part of the church anymore. I've seen adults the same way. They have some superficial desperation to come to Christ, maybe to be able to be a part of the group, who knows what all is going on in their mind, but they have never been broken over their sin, to the point where they would cry out to a holy God, in utter desperation, and say, What must I do to be saved? But rather than make some superficial external profession of faith, and again, as soon as they experienced the high cost of discipleship, you see a very different person, they abandoned Christ. They're like wilting lilies, not mighty oaks. So superficial Christians who love themselves more than Christ, live by sight, not by faith. And there is a dead faith, therefore that cannot save, it will not endure the inevitable persecution that will come upon all those who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus. I think again, of youth that forsake Christ just as soon as they're outside of the house, they get about 17 or 18, and they leave the house and they don't follow Christ anymore. What's going on there? This is what's going on, they leave solid Bible teaching churches to attend some church that will cater to their flesh. Their faith had no firm roots So their faith is only temporary as Jesus says "then when affliction or persecution arises, because of the word immediately they fall away." As soon as their friends think they're cornering for some of the things they believe, okay, I'll not believe that anymore. Think of all the professing Christians today, professing Christians not necessarily possessing Christian, but those who profess Christ and yet they bow their knee to the godless woke cult in our culture. Or they embrace the vile perversions of the LGBTQIA plus agenda. Immoral abominations in the eyes of God, that blaspheme his holy name. I just can't believe this demonic drag queens reading the Bible to children in worship services. And yet these people claimed to be Christians. Dear friends, the atrocities of the wicked knows no bounds. For the wicked to call themselves Christians, is a blasphemy that exceeds the evils of Sodom and Gomorrah. These are the ones that have a shallow heart of temporary belief. Contrast this with true Christians that Jesus described and Luke 9:23 "If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it for what does a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself."

In the 19th century, Charles Finney mastered the manipulative techniques he believed that would bring sinners to conversion. He believed man's only problem was no deeper than his will. And like all palladiums, he denied the reality of man's ruined nature of his of his utter inability, because of the depths of his depraved nature. He denied all of that as many do today. He believed that all men need to do is to resolve to become a Christian. And all the preacher needs to do is to persuade him to do so. He believed that any outward act like standing, or kneeling, or walking an aisle to an anxious bench, with some altar call, any of those kinds of things were signs of genuine conversion, and many people, 1000s of people, responded to those types of manipulative techniques, as many do today. But as we look at history, permanent change was virtually nonexistent. In his excellent work, "Revival and Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism, 1750 to 1858" Ian Murray, one of my favorite authors, records the words of Joseph Ives Foot, a Presbyterian minister, who wrote this in 1838, in response to what he was seeing with all of Finney's, and others revivals, here's what he said, quote, "During 10 years, hundreds and perhaps 1000s were annually reported to be converted on all hands. But now it is admitted that Finney's real converts are comparatively few. It is declared even by Finney himself that quote, 'The great body of them are a disgrace to religion.'" End quote. I think of the Church at Laodicea remember that, Revelation three, the lukewarm church that made God vomit? The term lukewarm, doesn't mean that they were mediocre Christians, as some people tend to think, that's not what it's speaking of. It means they fit neither category of hot, which would be a true Christian or cold, a person that rejected Christ. They don't fit either one of those categories. Although they were unregenerate, they did not openly reject Christ. And you have lots of churches that are that way. They don't openly reject Christ, but they are hypocrites. They are pretenders that make a mockery of the gospel. Beloved, a lukewarm Christian is no Christian at all. The Laodiceans were financially prosperous, they were smug, self-righteous hypocrites, as lost as the most depraved atheist. And for this reason the Lord warned them in Revelation 3:19 and 20, to, "Be zealous and repent, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him, and will dine with him and he with Me."

So again, this type of a Christian, the shallow heart of temporary belief, may profess Christ, but because their nature has never truly been changed, because they've never truly been born again, because they have never truly become a new creature in Christ, when persecution and temptation come their way, they have nothing to restrain the flesh, no indwelling Spirit. And so their flesh will continue to rule them. They will wilt like grass growing on a dusty sidewalk when the hot sun beats down upon it.

Well, thirdly, there is the worldly heart of double minded belief, Jesus said, "And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns." "Akantha" in the original language, "akantha," a thorn bush that used in Matthew 27:29, to describe the thorns, even that was placed on Jesus head at his crucifixion. And even in good soil, at least what you would think would be good, that's been cultivated, that maybe everything's been burned off, the seeds and root system of these predatory thorn bushes are still there, and they will emerge. So when seed falls their roots begin to grow, and they deprive the other good seed of water and nutrition and choke them out. That's the analogy, it's a perfect analogy, isn't it? It describes the worldly heart of the double minded; those who claim to love Christ, but down deep, they really love the world and all that the world has to offer. Jesus said, these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world the deceitfulness of riches, and the desire for other things enter in and choke the word and it becomes unfruitful. James one, verse eight, we read, "a double minded is unstable in all of his ways." In other words, he is the man that has divided loyalties between God and all the material things that the world has to offer. Jesus said in Matthew 19:24, that, “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Why is that? Because they love all of their wealth. For a number of years, I counseled primarily very wealthy celebrities and wealthy people down on the south side of Nashville. And I can attest to those realities. People with a lot of money really don't see their need for Christ. Matthew six, verse 21, Jesus said, "Where your treasure is there, your heart will be also right." He went on to say in verse 24, "No one can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will be devoted to one and despise the other." You cannot serve God and wealth. And of course, greedy materialism is the great idol of America today. If you want to see the worship centers of America, go to all of the malls that exist in every city. So when the gospel seed is a sowed sown among the thorns, it simply will not germinate and bear fruit. The pull of the world is too powerful for these people to believe. I've heard people say before that they don't want anything to do with Christianity because if I do, I have to change my lifestyle. What they don't understand is you get to change your lifestyle. You now have the power and the desire to change your lifestyle.

So we've seen the impenetrable heart of hardened unbelief, the shallow heart of temporary belief, the worldly heart of double minded belief, and then finally here we go, the receptive heart of fruit bearing belief. Jesus said, "And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil, they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit 30,60, and a hundredfold." Oh, dear friends, is it a blessing to see someone come to saving faith in Christ, to see our children, our grandchildren, or loved ones or friends, when they hear the word they accept it. And you see, that's a demonstration of regenerating grace, where the Spirit of God breathes life into a spiritual cadaver, raises that person from spiritual death to spiritual life. Paul spoke of this in first Thessalonians two verse 13. He said to the church there "For this reason, we also constantly thank God, that when you receive the Word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but for what it really is, the word of God, which also performs its work in you who believe." Now, I want you to notice something here. There is no indication anywhere in this text, where Jesus says that, you know, if you're going to be a good sower, you need to tinker with the seed so that it will grow in every kind of soil. Alright, I want to re emphasize this, no, you don't read that anywhere. There's no indication that the sower even has to cultivate the ground. What he's simply saying, as I said earlier, is, look, I've supplied the seed, it is my word, it is the gospel. I want you to sow that seed. And trust me for the increase. For indeed, dear friends, genuine repentance and saving faith are a supernatural work of God, not of man. Second, Timothy two verse 24, Paul says, "The Lord's bondservant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition." Now underscore this, "if perhaps God may grant them repentance, leading to the knowledge of the truth and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will." I also think of what Paul said in Ephesians, two, magnificent passage beginning in verse one, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins." Now, let that sink in for a minute. You were "dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formally walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them, we to all formally lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest, but God," oh, here we go, not but you, "But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions," he is the one that, "made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved." And finally, I want you to notice the end of verse 20 in Mark for these are the ones that will hear the word and accept it and bear fruit 30,60 and 100 fold. Folks, you got to realize this is this is inconceivable to the people of that day. I mean, they were thrilled, if they could get a five or six fold increase, eight would be wonderful, 10 would be practically unheard of. But here you have three or six or 10,000%. This is beyond anything that they could imagine. But when it is a work of the Holy Spirit, this is what will happen. It is the Holy Spirit who produces the fruit of Christ's likeness. It is the Holy Spirit that will produce the fruit of the Spirit love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. That's what you're going to see manifested. In the life of a true believer. These are the fruits in keeping with repentance, Matthew three eight, the fruit of righteousness, Philippians 1:1, and so forth.

And in closing, when this happens, the opposite of what I said earlier, will be manifested in your life, you will have a sincere love for Christ. You will have a hunger for his word. You will have a hungering and thirsting for righteousness, you will have a mourning over your own sin, there will be a radical transformation in your desires, your entire disposition will be different. It will produce a devotion to God's glory, and obedience to His Word and His will give you a yearning and aspiration to spend time with God and commune with Him in prayer, and you will have a burden for the lost. Folks, this is the stuff of genuine saving faith. This is authentic Christianity. So I pray that you will celebrate the power of the gospel here today and scatter the seed wherever you can and then trust God for the increase, knowing that it will fall on fertile soil, and it will germinate and bear much fruit to the praise of his glory. Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank You for these eternal truths. Thank you that you make them so clear to us. But I would cry out to you that you would move upon the hearts of those that may be deceived with their own religiosity, Lord, whatever it might be. I pray that you will speak to the heart of those who do not believe that today they will be saved. And for those of us who know and love you, may we rejoice in your saving grace, and be committed to doing all that we can by the power of the Spirit to bear much fruit to the praise of his glory. For it's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.

This morning we come to the end of our little series on understanding the apostles that Jesus chose; the final part of appointing of the 12, as I have labeled this. This morning, we will look at Judas Iscariot. Before we look at several passages, I want to remind you of something out of Matthew seven. In Matthew seven, Jesus warned about the few, and the many, that there will only be few who truly follow Christ, who truly know Him and love Him. But the majority will be self deceived, even though they will say they follow Christ. They are Christian in name only. More people who claim to be Christians will call Jesus Lord, but they will never enter the kingdom. It's a terrifying thought, one that burdens my heart for each of you. Because perhaps, someone within the sound of my voice is in that category. You claim that you know Christ that you follow Christ. But in reality, you are self deceived. You have never truly been broken over your sin. You have never truly come before him begging for forgiveness. You've never truly been born again and therefore you don't truly love Him. Christianity is just a tradition. In Matthew seven, beginning of verse 21, Jesus says, "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name and in your name, cast out demons in Your name, perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'" Earlier in that passage, Jesus pressed his followers to choose between two options. Both options claim this way to heaven. First, he asked them to choose between two gates, the narrow and the wide, and then he commands them in verse 13, to, "enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide in the way as broad that leads to destruction." Narrow, comes from a Greek word "stenos", which comes from a root word meaning to groan, and is used to describe a compressed or a restrictive gate, that is difficult to enter in, to with ease. Matthew has probably chosen the imagery of narrowness to describe the construction of one's choices when they come to saving faith in Christ. Taking the challenge of Jesus teaching that there is therefore a very sharply defined mode of entry. The narrow gate throws up images of the need to make a choice, which is not obvious. And it is certainly a gate that the crowd is not going through. It carries the idea of being attentive to where the gate is located, perhaps to experience even the discomfort of squeezing through this gate. This is the gate of course of authentic saving faith, which requires to someone to squeeze through shall we say, without the excess baggage of self righteousness. It requires the recognition of, of spiritual bankruptcy, of being overwhelmed with the horror of their sin fully aware of the Judgment they have, they deserve because they have violated God's holy law. And when a person truly comes to saving faith, he or she will truly experience the intense pressure of a conscious choice which will renounce the old self and will put on the Lord Jesus Christ the speaks of a determined, purposeful decision, requiring strenuous effort. This is the opposite of the easy believeism that is so common in evangelicalism today. This decision "ism," idea, altar call evangelism where calculated and emotionally induced outward acts like walking an aisle or repeating some prayer are considered to be evidence of regeneration rather than a changed, a radically changed life. We see the same emphasis in Jesus response to the question in Luke 13:23, "Lord, are there just a few who are being saved? And He answered, 'Strive to enter the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able." Strive comes from a Greek word, "agonizomai" and it means to fight or contend. And it signifies an intense exertion of effort, even conflict indicating that this is not a gate that a person just kind of wanders through with the rest of the crowd. Nor will it be a wide gate that is attractive to the masses. No, no, no, this is a different gate. It's the gate of genuine saving faith. It will be a gate that one must enter deliberately, and with determined effort. And all along this is the gate of genuine conversion. It's entered by the overwhelmed the helpless, the hopeless. The ones that cry out like the Publican all have mercy upon me, the sinner. As we read in Luke 18. This is the gate of self denial, not the gate of self fulfillment. It's a gate that requires a man to count the cost of discipleship to discard self will, to jettison self righteousness, to reject selfish ambitions and to come before Christ and say I am willing to be your slave, for what you have done for me, and because I love you, and you love me, Jesus put it this way in Matthew 16, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life shall lose it but whoever loses his life, for my sake shall find it." To deny literally carries the idea of renouncing oneself, being absolutely repulsed by your sin, being willing to repent and move in a different direction because you're so overwhelmed by your inequities. Because of all of the ways that it is corrupted your life and made God your enemy. That's what it is to deny yourself and follow Christ; a radical departure from the man centered gospel of self fulfillment, and self indulgence where you come to Jesus to somehow help you make more money or get rid of all of your diseases, or whatever. And it's certainly different than this heretical, social justice gospel that focuses on how to be delivered from the social injustices of man, rather than how to be delivered from the righteous justice of a holy God. Central to entering the narrow gate, therefore is, is a terrifying conviction of sin. And a clear understanding of the message that we read in Acts 4:12, that there is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven that is given, has been given among men by which we must be saved. And in addition to this, Jesus says in Matthew 7:14, "For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and few are those who find it." And the reason why so few find it, it's not only because they don't understand the gospel, but because that's not the gate they're looking for. And it's certainly not the gate the masses choose to enter.

Jesus went on to contrast the narrow and the wide gate saying in verse 13, "For the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter by it." So the imagery here is very obvious, both the narrow and the wide gate have a sign on top of them that say this way to heaven. But unlike the narrow gate that is restrictive, the wide gate is gaping, it is inclusive, it is attractive. The idea of striving is wholly unnecessary. With the wide gate there's no need for conscious strenuous effort. There's no need to examine your heart and be overwhelmed by your sin. There's no need for any groaning for any crying out for mercy. In the wide way is the way that many modern day pastors who are bent on attracting seekers have learned how to market the wide gate by redefining sin in such a way that virtually no one could be offended and thus eliminate the need for a Savior; eliminate the need for genuine repentance, eliminate the need for regeneration. The essence of their definition of sin these days is that sin basically includes all those things that we think and that we do that rob us from fellowship with God and steal away the happiness that he wants us to enjoy. The good news of the gospel has been reduced to nothing more than God loving us so much, that He sent His Son to save us from our unhappiness. But describing sin apart from the offended righteousness of God, dear friends is not only irresponsible, it is damning. Apart from an understanding of man's condemnation, before a righteous God that evokes the wrath of God, there is no gospel. Because the wrath of God abides on him, Jesus says, in John 3:36. However, many people are going to hear the true gospel like some of you and still not be honest in their heart and still refuse to truly embrace Christ and repentant faith.

And such a man was Judas Iscariot. Like Judas, many people follow Jesus for selfish reasons. They want nothing to do with Jesus as the savior of their sins. They want a Jesus that is the meeter of their needs. Nothing about Jesus being the lord of their life; rather they want, shall we say, a cosmic butler that will do what they need, a smiley face Jesus that will wink at their sin and be there to help them out. And they have problems. Judas Iscariot was such a man he was the quintessential hypocrite, a man with unprecedented opportunity to spend time with Jesus, the incarnate Christ, sit at the feet of Christ himself, to witness all of the miracles. He squandered it all because he refused to humble his heart in genuine contrition. He, dear friends, followed Jesus for all of the wrong reasons. What about you? It is fitting that God would have chosen him knowing full well, the treachery of his heart. Why did he do that? Because God wanted to provide a vivid illustration of the power and the process of hypocrisy that will exist in the church, and thus be a warning to each of us. Beginning with the apostles who'd couldn't see any of this. He wants to warn us of the deceitfulness of the human heart. The church of Christ has been and always will be plagued with hypocrites, with people that profess Christ but don't possess Christ. Much of evangelicalism today is just country club Christianity. It's crisis Christianity, it has no power. Jesus described them as branches that attach themselves to the true vine in some superficial way in John 15. They claim to follow Christ and you see external conformity, but they deceive themselves into really believing that they are Christians when in fact, they are not. The reason you know that is because they bear no fruit. Therefore, Jesus says they are cut off and thrown into the fire. There's no real love for Christ. It's just churchianity.

Well, today we look at the life of such a man, Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed the Son of God, a man who refused to allow Jesus to shape his heart, and consequently, his heart became hardened to the deceitfulness of his own sin. And certainly this is a warning to all of us, we all must examine our our life here. Because hypocrisy is a slippery slope, and here in his life, we're going to see some of the telltale signs of a phony Christian, the marks of a hypocrite. Judas Iscariot, that name reveals the region from which he came in Hebrew "Is" is the word for man and "cariot" means that he was a man of Cariot, a little town in southern Judea. He wasn't from Galilee like the others so the others didn't know him. They had no background on who he was. But yet he was another ordinary man, no, no special credentials whatsoever. And as we examine his life, we see that he followed Jesus for purely earthly selfish reasons, not for any heavenly benefit. Like the others, he was a Jew that anticipated the Messiah coming and establishing his kingdom, getting rid of Rome, and he wanted to cash in on the deal. He wanted a place of prominence. In fact, the other apostles were dealing with the same issue, as you will recall, who's going to be first in the kingdom, right? We know nothing of his family or social background. All we know is that Jesus chose him John 15:16. Not for salvation, but Jesus chose him for betrayal. None of this caught Jesus by surprise; betrayal that was a treachery that was frankly ordained before the foundation of the world. It was one that was clearly prophesied in the Old Testament and Psalm 52, beginning in verse 12. The Spirit of God foretells to us the eventual betrayal of Judas There we read, "For it is not an enemy who reproaches me, then I could bear it, nor is it one who hates me, who has exalted himself against me, then I could hide from him, but it was you a man my equal my companion in my acquaintance, we took sweet council together and walk to the house of God in the throng." Certainly a picture of Judas. Jesus described this further in John 13:18. And here he quotes a messianic prophecy found in Psalm 41 Nine, that speaks of a friend's betrayal, says "Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread has lifted up his heel against me." And if we go to Matthew chapter 27, verses nine through 10, we see there that Matthew refers to the prophet Zechariah chapter 11, verses 12 through 13. And this is a prophet see that gives even even greater detail concerning the Lord's betrayal. There in Zechariah, Zechariah symbolically asked the covenant people what their Messiah is worth. A picture of the price they eventually paid Judas, There we read, "They weighed out for my wages, 30 pieces of silver. And the Lord said to me throw it to the potter that princely priced, they sat on me. So I took the 30 pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, for the potter Potter." So indeed, Judas betrayed the Lord, returned the money, as we know, to the chief priests threw it down. But since it was blood money, money illegitimately paid, and then returned to falsely convict an innocent man that would be sentenced to death and the perverted and calloused hearts of the Pharisees, who were deceived by every imaginable form of hypocrisy. Isn't it interesting, they could not bring themselves to return that money and put it in the treasury, because that would be dishonoring to God. So they purchased, quote," a potter's field." It was a defiled place, where they buried travelers, and the indigent, the ungodly, the very field where as we will read Judas hanged himself, later known as the field of blood.

The predetermined purposes of God never cease to amaze me to think that He decrees what he will and he does it even in regard to Judas, Jesus said in Luke 22:22, "Truly the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, But woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!" And it's fascinating to think that Jesus knew all about Judas, his wicked heart, and yet he chose him. We read about this in John six beginning in verse 70, "'Did I, myself not choose you, the 12, and yet one of you is a devil?' Now he meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he one of the 12 was going to betray Him." It's beyond our ability to comprehend that even the wicked machinations of a hypocrite are preordained by a sovereign God. Jesus came to earth to live and to die and to be raised from the dead. And Judas, though fully responsible for his choices, merely played into God's sovereign plan of redemption, and to think about it, there was never a time where Jesus spoke an unkind word to him. The Good Shepherd never offered him anything but love and forgiveness and mercy and grace. And yet look what he did. Jesus knew his heart of greed, because he was skimming money out of their literal little treasury. Jesus knew about his selfish ambition to cash in on the kingdom. And he knew precisely the diabolical nature of this apostate. He knew Satan's plans for him. Yet, isn't it interesting, he maintained an attitude of perfect love for his enemy. It's hard to believe, isn't it? Jesus never gave him a reason to hate him. Yet he continues to be the most hated person in all of history.

Well, the text reveals much about Judas. So I want you to think with me again, the master hypocrite, no doubt he had convinced himself of his own self-righteousness. After all, he was a Jew. And only those who are seasoned in their own self-righteousness, make good hypocrites. And as we study the passages that speak of Judas, we see again that No one suspected that he was dipping into the pot that he was skimming money, nobody suspected him of being a traitor. Not even after he left the upper room to strike his deal with the Sanhedrin to betray Jesus in the garden, did anybody suspect anything, mo one knew. As I said earlier, in that day of heightened messianic expectations, Judas saw his chance to cash in. He wanted to be on the inside track, he wanted some kind of a political appointment. And obviously, Jesus was the Messiah. I mean, he knew that he could see all of the miracles. He saw all of these things. But as we examine the text we begin to see how Judas' patience, was wearing thin. Three years with Jesus and all he sees is humility, and love, and compassion, and servitude. When's he going to attack the Romans? When's he going to get on with this thing? I mean, I'm getting tired of all of this. Let's see some heads roll. I want to receive my reward, but all I hear are parables about forgiveness, money and sin, the sin of which the sin of pride, I'm getting tired of it. Hearing all this stuff about eating flesh and drinking his blood. I mean, come on, let's eliminate the Romans and establish the kingdom. So by the time Jesus and the 12, head to Jerusalem for the last time, you might say Judas has lost his sense of humor. He was becoming impatient. His spiritual masquerade is about to be over. He's getting increasingly frustrated. By the way, I've noticed over the years that hypocrites cannot stand it if their agenda is being ignored or thwarted in any way. Eventually, they're going to explode. Remember, life is all about their needs, not God's glory. Now I want you to notice how this plays out and we're gonna land on John 12 for a few minutes. Remember the context, Jesus has just raised Lazarus from the dead, the 12 are having a meal in the home of Simon the leper, along with Lazarus and Mary and Martha. And in John 12, beginning in verse two we read, "So they made Him a supper there and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said, 'Why was this perfume not sold for 300 denarii, then given to poor people?'" See, Judas is at his wit's end here. A denarii, by the way, was one day's wages. So 300 denarii would have been about a year salary. I mean, that's a lot of money, right? Would have been a lot of money for him to dip into and put in his pocket. And of course, he hides his true motives. And he offers some phony rationale, one that sounds noble, compassionate, keep up his godly image. In fact, Matthew tells us in chapter 26, and verse eight, that all of the rest of the apostles agreed with him. Yeah. That really would have been nice. I mean, why waste all this money? And it was only sometime later that the inspired apostle John then comments on what Judas was really up to. And he does this in verses six through eight, he says, "Now, he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it. Therefore, Jesus said, 'Let her alone so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.'" Well, this incident must have been the straw that broke the camel's back for Judas, because immediately after this incident, Matthew's gospel tells us in Matthew 26, beginning in verse 14, "Then one of the 12, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, 'What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you,' and they counted out to him 30 pieces of silver. So from that time, he sought opportunity to betray him." Now, originally, his unrestrained and unsatisfied lusts energized his hypocrisy, causing him to attach himself to Jesus. But now things are a bit different. Those same unrestrained and unsatisfied lusts are inflamed with resentment, which motivates him now to do the unthinkable and what a tragedy it is. His wicked heart could have been pardoned. But now instead, it has been hardened. He must now take the wine cup of divine fury from the hand whom he has betrayed and drink all of it. And he, like all of the wicked, who hate God, according to Jeremiah 25:15, will drink and stagger and go mad. So he has been given over to completely experience all of the consequences of his wickedness. And we see this clearly in the account of what happened in the upper room. And later that night at the arrest of Jesus, and it's amazing again, to think about this, the cloak of hypocrisy can be worn with such ease, right? I mean, Judas has his precious 30 pieces of silver. And yet what does he do? He goes back and he joins his unwitting friends and Jesus in the upper room. No one suspects anything. But Jesus knows precisely what is going on. And if I can say this with all love, some of you are no different. You come here every Sunday, and you sing with the saints, and you hear the sermon, and you are unmoved. And throughout the rest of the week, you live in a fool's paradise. Enjoying your sin thinking all the time, that when you die, you're going to heaven, and yet you have no basis to make that claim. That's the power of self deception and hypocrisy. No one suspected anything. John 13 verse two, "During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon to betray Him," the text says, and yet knowing this, by the way, in verses three through five, what does Jesus do? Jesus washes his feet. Verses 10 and following Jesus said to him, "He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but it's completely clean and you are clean, but not all of you. For He knew the one who was betraying Him for this reason, He said, 'Not all of you are clean.'" By the way, bathing is symbolic of salvation. And that's why he says, "but not all of you," referring to Judas. And again, this is another mark of a hypocrite, just their astounding callousness of heart. To allow the incarnate Son of God to wash your feet, to display just such inconceivable humility, knowing in your heart you're about to betray him. That's the power of hypocrisy and sin. And yet Judas just sits there and allows the Lord to serve Him, as if he expects it. Peter, on the other hand, you will remember was overwhelmed by his unworthiness, but not so the hypocrite. Dear friends, never underestimate the power of the flesh to join forces with the devil. Never underestimate that, for therein lies a force that is so diabolically wicked as to justify the betrayal of God Himself. I've seen this before, the self-deception of hypocrisy, it is so exceedingly powerful. That hypocrite can justify any act any thought, any action, as Paul said, of them, and First Timothy four two, "Their conscience has been seared as with a branding iron," so there's nothing you can do or say to reach them. I find it interesting, psychologists who are ignorant of the scriptures, ignorant of biblical truth, describe many people as having a narcissistic personality disorder. People that see themselves as better than everyone else, they deserve more, the rules don't apply to them. And of course, this is pandemic in the powerful and the wealthy, especially corporate executives, politicians, Hollywood stars, athletes, Christian entertainers, but the Bible just calls this foolish pride. They're just hypocrites seared in their conscience. Proverbs 26:12, "Do you see a man wise in his own eyes, there is more hope for a fool than for him." Isaiah 65, five Hypocrites say, "Keep to yourself, do not come near me for I am holier than you! These are smoke in My nostrils. A fire that burns all the day." God is referring to the phony burnt offerings, that the people would sacrifice to him. There's a stench to his nose, one that will result in judgment.

Well, back to John 13. Jesus now gets more specific about the betrayal. Verses 18 and following. He says, "I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen, but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled. He who eats my bread has lifted up his heel against me. From now on, I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He." And then we get a glimpse of Jesus heart, the enormous emotional turmoil that was eating at him. Knowing that Satan now has entered this man, Satan, you might say, has now entered the room through Judas. Verse 21, "When Jesus had said this, he became troubled in spirit and testified and said 'Truly, truly I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.'" Boy to be troubled in spirit. That's an understatement for Judas to know that Satan is in the room with him through Judas. So Jesus now, is mentally he is spiritually agitated and I might add that there is nothing more toxic in Christian fellowship than having a known hypocrite in the midst. We go on to read in verses 22 and following, "The disciples began looking at one another at a loss to know of which one He was speaking." There was reclining on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples whom Jesus loved. So Simon Peter gestured to Him and said to Him, 'Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.' He, leaning back thus on Jesus bosom said to Him, 'Lord, who is it?' Jesus then answered, 'That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.' So when He had dipped the morsel He took, and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. After the morsel Satan then entered into him. Therefore, Jesus said to him, 'What you do, do quickly.' Now, no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him. For some, were supposing because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, 'Buy the things we have needed for the feast,' or else that he should give something to the poor. So after receiving the morsel, he went out immediately, and it was night." So Judas keeps up the act all the way to the end. He had been planning this for days. But by the way, because he was a coward, according to Luke 22, six, he was waiting for the right opportunity to betray Jesus, quote, "in the absence of the multitude, he didn't want the crowds coming down on him." And it's important to note here that Jesus is making sure that his first Lord's supper would not be polluted by hypocrisy, so he excuses Judas, who is now possessed by Satan.

Before they begin, you remember the rest of the story knowing where Jesus was going to pray, along with the others in the Garden of Gethsemane, we read in John 18, three, "Then Judas having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons," a cohort of Roman soldiers would be 600. So probably 600 soldiers and verse 12, we read about that. And according to John 18, four, we see that Jesus now goes out to greet them, Jesus, therefore, "knowing all the things that were coming upon Him, went forth and said to them, 'Whom do you seek?' They answered him, 'Jesus, the Nazarene.' He said to them, 'I am He.' And Judas also, who was betraying him, was standing with them. When therefore He had said to them, 'I am He', they drew back and fell to the ground."

John's Gospel is filled with irony, and this is certainly one of them. They speak of Jesus the Nazarene. That was a way of demeaning Him. And He answered by saying, "I am He," the absolute opposite, "Ego eimi" in the original language, a term that Jesus used repeatedly to declare His deity. We're looking for Jesus that Nazarene. When he says, "I am He," "I am the great I AM," "I am Jesus," "I am the Messiah," "I am the Son of God," Dear friends, don't miss what Jesus did in this extraordinary, remarkable scenario. Here he revealed himself to his enemies, and to the world, that he is who he claims to be, the Son of God. Here he uses the covenant name of God. The title he used to describe himself you'll recall in John 8:58, where he told the unbelieving Jews before Abraham was born, "I am."

You see, he referred to himself in the present continuous tense. And why I mean, that seems really odd. Why would he do that? Because inherent in his name, is the fact that he always was and he always will be God. The speaks of self-existence, but that it was never a time there has never been a time that he did not exist. You remember, in Exodus three, Moses asked what what should I tell the people? When they ask what is your name, and in verse 14 of Exodus three, "and God said to Moses, 'I am who I am.' And he said, 'Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, I am, has sent me.'"

Dave Harrell

That the preexistent, self-existent uncreated Creator of the universe, the one who always is, who always has been, and who always will be, is the one that is speaking to you. This is the title he used to respond to Judas and his all of the enemies that came to arrest him in the garden. Again, back to verse six. "And when He said to them, 'I am He', they drew back and fell to the ground." By the way, this is the testimony of an eyewitness account. And John would have written this about 50 years later. I mean, certainly, that would be something you would never forget, Jesus coming out and saying, "I am He," and they all just fall to the ground, talk about power. And you would think at that point, they would get up and they would fall on their faces and worship Him. But that's not what happened. Maybe some of them did later. But there's no account of that. Oh, dear friends, what a glorious manifestation of the both His power and His mercy and what a foretaste of the next appearance that we will see when he comes in glory. Remember, in Isaiah 11, four, "And he will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips, he will slay the wicked." And yet, with such miraculous display of His omnipotence, they continue to arrest the Son of God. It reminds me of the homosexuals remember, the homosexuals of Sodom and Gomorrah who were judicially blinded, because of the depths of their depravity. And yet they continue to weary themselves to get to the door and so too, Judas and the soldiers weary themselves now to do evil. Judas is it's just the most colossal failure in the history of the world. Now he's fully empowered by Satan. He steps forward to betray Jesus with a kiss Matthew 26, verse 49. "And immediately he went to Jesus and said, 'Hail, Rabbi' and kissed him." Luke 22, verse 48, "Jesus said to him, 'Judas, Are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?'" Indeed, that's what happened. In other words, Jesus is saying, Judas, does your hypocrisy, know no bounds. You're going to betray Me with a kiss? You're going to betray this Passover night with such diabolical treachery? That's what you're going to do? Will you betray your Creator God with an act of love? Will you pay homage to your king with a kiss of death? Obviously, the answer was yes.

Dear friends, please hear me, there is a line that a hypocrite will one day cross when God will judicially seal that person in the insanity of their sin. When a man's self-worship fills the cup of divine forbearance to the brim, it will overflow with the wrath of divine abandonment and God will give them over to the full consequences of their depravity, Romans 1:28, "God will give them over to a depraved mind to do those things which are not proper." In other words, their reasoning faculties have been destroyed, and they will go mad in the pursuit of their sin. That's what's happening here with Judas. After the betrayal, he found himself incarcerated in the torments of the hell that he had created for himself here on Earth, a hell he had foolishly chosen. And in utter agony, now he's experiencing the wrath of divine abandonment. Matthew 27 Verse three He says "Then Judas, his betrayer, seeing that he had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders saying, 'I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.'" Now, some unfortunately say, Well, this means that he got saved. Where do you get that? Well, the term remorseful is translated repented, in the King James Version, and that's produced some understandable confusion. The King James Version translation of repented, is a really a misleading, rendering causing some to erroneously believe that he repented of his sin and thereby he was born again. But this is most unfortunate. The New King James is a better translation, it translates the term remorseful. Let me explain this briefly to you. The Greek term "rendered remorseful" or "repentant" in Matthew 27 three, is "metamelomai" and this merely connotes regret or remorse or sorrow, not genuine repentance prompted by God in the heart of the redeemed. That's not what that term expresses. Had Matthew intended to convey the idea of genuine repentance prompted by God, which would be a sincere brokenness of heart over sin, he would have used another term, "metanoeo." Metanoeo speaks of a deep spiritual brokenness, a a penitence that one would, would experience when they realize they have offended a holy God, a God that loved them, prompting them therefore to confess their offense to him. In this case, it would have been to Christ Himself and ask for forgiveness, it would include a decisive change of mind a change of direction. The point is simply this, Judas did not experience a genuine contrition, "metanoeo", but rather a mere remorse, "metamelomai" Matthew 27, three. And this was prompted by his own excruciating guilt over what he had done.

These are two very different kinds of repentance as you read about this, for example, In Second Corinthians seven, verses nine through 11. By the way, Judas would have been terrified to truly repent and thereby admit that he had borne false witness against an innocent man, because that crime, according to Deuteronomy 19:16, through 19, was punishable by the penalty imposed upon the one he had falsely convicted, and the punishment was crucifixion. So he didn't want to say that, at the horrors of what he had done, drove him to actually murder himself. Matthew 27 Five "He went out and hanged himself." In Acts one verses 18 and following, it adds even more graphic details. Evidently the limb upon which the rope had been hung broke and we read "and falling headlong he burst open in the middle in his entrails gushed out." What a tragic end. This is the final word we hear of Judas Iscariot in Scripture. And this is so symbolic of the powerful essence of sin in the human heart, because sin will destroy the inner man. He falls headlong. The text tells us that he's literally split in two forcing his wicked entrails to spew forth from his torso onto the earth that he so dearly loves. Judas never sought forgiveness from God, he never cried out for undeserved mercy or grace. Had he done so he would have received it instantly. Jesus had made that clear in John 6:37, "And the one who comes to Me, I will certainly not cast out."

Well, as we close this morning, I want to remind you a bit of some of the things we see here in the heart of hypocrisy. We see how people can superficially attach themselves to the body of Christ, superficially become part of a church begin to say all of the Christian things that they're used to hearing. James 1:15 says "They're drawn away by their desires." That was true for Judas. His selfish ambition is avarice. That is his insatiable greed for riches. Other people are going to attach themselves to the church because they're lonely. They're looking for friendship. Some are looking to network their business. Some are looking for physical healing. Some are looking for some personal miracle or some way to manipulate God so that they can become prosperous. Some like to be in control and so they will join a church to see if they can be a big fish in a little pond, to receive glory, to get in a position of leadership, to be able to get on stage and play their instruments or whatever. Some are sexual predators. Some make their money off of naive Christians, and this is much of what we see happening in contemporary Christian music. Some are unsuccessful in every area of life and so they pump the ball and hope it lands in some place where they can become a missionary or a pastor. How many churches do you see pop up all the time? Some new man is the new pastor. And for a lot of people, it's just a cultural traditional thing to do, right? That's what it is, for the most part in the South. You don't want to be out of sync with the rest of the culture. Of course, some people attach themselves to the church because they're looking for a handout, they are looking for benevolence, they need financial help, so they hop from church to church. And on it goes.

Well, as we close, let me just give you just four things that really define the slippery slope of hypocrisy that it begins with religiosity, religious affiliation that gives people the illusion of spirituality. They attend the services they adopt the lingo, they adopt the customs, they externally act like Christians and perhaps there even some personal reform but like the Pharisees, described in Luke 11, "they clean the outside of the cup and of the platter but inside of you, you are full of robbery and wickedness." Second Corinthians 5:12, 'they glory and appearance only." Paul spoke of this in Second Timothy three in verse five, "They hold to a form of godliness, though they have denied its power." And Jesus spoke of this in Matthew 15, seven "'Hypocrites, He says, "rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you saying, This people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.'" The religiosity then begins to move towards resentment, because gradually that begins to build. They're watching other people grow in Christ but they're still struggling with besetting sins with internal turmoil, with guilt with broken relationships. They even feel some sense of guilt, they begin to despise those who truly love Christ. They begin to run from the light of Scripture. They love the darkness rather than the light so they find a church where they can feel at home with other people that are spiritually dead like them. The religiosity, moves to resentment and then thirdly to rancor. They become angry, they become divisive. They garner support from other people. First Corinthians 11. Paul speaks of this beginning in verse 18, he says, "I hear that divisions exist among you and in part I believe it. For there must also be factions among you," in other words, here's the reason why. Here's the reason why I'm going to allow the tears to exist with the wheat in the church, the sheep with the goats, in order that "those who were approved may have become evident among you." In other words, the dissensions are going to become the test to separate the wheat from the chaff. And ultimately, these people because they are willfully blind, God will harden their heart, producing the final stage and that is ruin. Starts with religiosity moves to resentment, turns to rancor and then to ruin. Jesus summarized the ruin of Judas his life with these poignant words, in Mark 14, verse 21, "It would have been good for that man, if he had never been born." Oh dear friend, I hope this is not describing you. But I fear that in some cases it is. And may I say to you that you are unable to see the light of truth because of the inner corruption of your very nature that emanates darkness from within. And it causes you to walk in darkness and you love it so. And I can only pray that God in his infinite mercy will bring such conviction to your heart, that you will see this and if you do see it is it is because of his work of grace. And that you will repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, dear friends, examine your heart. You cannot fool God, he sees it all. And if you're a hypocrite, repent before it's too late. And for those of us who know and love Christ, and we know it is so because the Spirit bears witness in our heart that it is so and because we see the fruits of that in our life. For those of us who truly love Him, let's rejoice together in his saving grace. Because without it, we would never be saved. Let's pray together. Father, thank you. For the clarity of your word. There is no way that anyone could miss what you have done and this whole situation. Lord, I pray that Your Word will bring great conviction to those that may fall into that category. And for those of us who have truly been born again, by your infinite grace, I pray that you will cause us to celebrate that grace all the more and live our lives to the praise of your glory. I pray in Jesus name. Amen.

Well, would you take your Bible and turn to chapter three. I understand that we're not going to have the verses on the screens today. So you will need to get out your Bibles or your little devices, whatever you use to open up the Word of God. We are actually in the sixth part of our study of Jesus appointing the 12. We will look at three more of these today and finish. Starting in verse 13, "And Jesus went up on the mountain and summoned those whom He Himself wanted and they came to Him. And He appointed 12 so that they would be with Him. And that he could send them out to preach and to have authority to cast out the demons. And He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom He gave the name Peter) and James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James, (to them, he gave the name Boanerges, which means ," Sons of Thunder"); and Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew, and Matthew and Thomas and James, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Zealot. and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him." As we have studied these men, they have been a encouragement to our hearts because in them we see ourselves and this is as we see ours, their besetting sin. But what I find really fascinating is that scripture really doesn't highlight anything about their lives, their accomplishments, rather, it focuses primarily on their weaknesses and power, his humility, his compassion, His mercy. Jesus said that He would send the Holy Spirit and John says righteousness and judgment, He is the one who will guide us into all truth. He is the one that puts the glory of Christ on display. Here's the one that transforms believers. So Scripture makes much of Christ, not of them. It's interesting, isn't it? Their lives. Their accomplishments, for the most part are never documented. They're always in the background, and rightfully so; Christ is in the forefront. They are supporting actors to God's grand and glorious stage here of redemption. And he is center stage, not them. So it's much about their weaknesses, their stubbornness, sometimes their stupidity. And then then we can all see ourselves. But what is also interesting, if you think about it, they all lived and they died in obscurity, yet they were the divinely chosen emissaries of God, the apostles of Christ, the men that laid the foundation stones of the church, of which Christ is the cornerstone. And this is contrary to the world's mindset, isn't it? I mean, considering their prestige, his position as apostles, the world would have written scripture very differently. The world would have pointed to their incredible successes in establishing churches, their noble accomplishments. And you would think that somewhere we would read about these massive numbers of especially after penance, sure, of their heroic sacrifices, necessarily, just bits and pieces here and there. Oh, and I might add, there's no place in scripture where we read about some kind of Dove Awards for the musicians. No, God alone deserves the glory. These men were servants of the Most High, the King of glory. I'm reminded of First Peter five, Peter understood this. And there we read what he said, "Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for God is opposed to the proud but he gives grace to the humble." He went on to say, "humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you at the proper time." And make no mistake, He is exalted these men in glory as he has so many others, down through redemptive history as they are clothed in the robes of righteousness. Well, today, I want to elaborate upon the need for humility in Christian service. And we see this as we look at the lives of the men that we're going to examine today. And this humility manifests itself primarily in three ways in their service to the Lord. They are people that serve in obscurity, in love and in faith. And we're going to see this as we look at the men that are before us in the text. First, we're going to look at James, the son of Alphaeus. A very obscure character, right? Most of you are probably thinking, Yeah, I think I heard that name, but I don't really know who that is. He was one of the apostles. Well, let's, let's see what Scripture tells us. And from there, we can extrapolate some things that at least would be a tentative hypothesis about who he really was. He is listed, interestingly enough with Simon the Zealot, and Judas, the son of James also called Thaddeus, and we will look at all three of these men today, but we know nothing really, of his father Alpheus, it could be the Alpheus as was Matthew's Father, that we would read about in Mark two 14, making him the brother of Matthew, but we really don't know that for sure. We can't say that. We do know that his mother's name was Mary. We read about that in Matthew 27 verse 56. She was a follower of Christ and eyewitness of the crucifixion, She assisted in preparing Jesus's body for burial. And we know according to Mark 15:40 that he is called "James the Less," "Lakobos ho mikros" in Greek. "Mikros" we get micro, and it literally means little one. "Mikros," little James is what he was, reminds me of Little Joe Cartwright on Bonanza, right? So little in this context could mean small in stature, we're not real sure, meaning that he was a little man. Or it could denote someone who is young and age perhaps distinguishing him from James the son of Zebedee. Or it could be a reference to his position, even though that's stretching it a little bit. Certainly he was a man of little influence, a man of small prominence among the other apostles. And he was not a prominent member of, shall we say, the inner circle of the Lord. And that's no indictment against the Lord. The Lord can only disciple closely, so many. And he did that primarily with Peter, James and John. But positionally, they were all equally even though functionally, there was a hierarchy among the apostles, Peter was the leader, Peter, James and John were, as I say, part of the Lord's inner circle, and the other seem to be of lesser rank. So here we hear he is James the son of Alphaeus, or little James, a man, lesser in size, perhaps in influence, but there's no hint of him trying to be superior or demand respect. This, I think about it, this is another one of those unsung heroes of the faith, right? Someone that served the Lord faithfully and obscurity, in many ways. He's just a footnote to human history on the page of human history, and yet he was a valiant warrior of Christ, that was used mightily for the sake of the kingdom and he will be remembered in heaven throughout eternity. You know, this is hard for many people in the body of Christ today, because the emphasis so much in our culture is on bigger and better right? Focusing on some grandiose, you know, church ministry or church empire. I mean, can you imagine Jesus hosting the Dove Awards? For example? I'm very familiar with that because years ago, I counseled with lots of celebrities and artists and lots of the people that were in part of the music industry, and so I know that intimately. Praising musicians who have achieved star status so that they can boost the profits of the record labels; heaping praise upon people who for the most part, want to praise of men. But contrast that to the unsung heroes of the faith. Like James the Less, or like the apostle Paul, who we read about, for example, in Second Corinthians four when he spoke of this glorious treasure of the gospel contained in earthen vessels, clay pots. And why was that, so that the surpassing greatness of the power may be from God and not not of ourselves. We're mere clay pots, which is a reference to those parts that were used for garbage even for human waste; lowly, common, unattractive, expendable. You see, it is the content of the message that is to be exalted, not the container. So there will never be in a pastor awards, nor should there be righ?. Imagine how all of this now has been distorted in our culture. Sermon of the Year goes to... female preacher of the Year goes to, or I don't know, entertaining pastor of the Year goes to... you see how silly it is. And yet this is kind of where we've come. And certainly there is no clay pot awards. Ridiculous right? By the way, only the proud crave rewards for men. Paul tells us in second Corinthians 10, beginning of verse 17, "But he who boasts, let him boast," in what? "In the Lord. For not he who commendss himself that is approved, but he whom the Lord commends." I want to camp on this just for a minute before we look more into these characters, because this idea of seeking the praise of men is really disastrous in the church today. And it manifests itself in a variety of ways, but certainly one of the most powerful ways. And one that is so subtle that many people tend to ignore is in the preaching of a man centered gospel, to receive the praise of men. I can imagine Satan instructing his demonic commanders to carry out his deceptive schemes. And he would probably say something like this to them. And here I'm quoting from something that I have written. "He would tell them mislead pastors into believing man's only problem is His will. Therefore, a sinner can be induced into making a decision for Christ by argumentation, delude him into believing that regeneration can be proven by physical effects, like approaching an imaginary altar and repeating a sinners prayer. Make him believe that the Spirits work and regeneration is to merely persuade the sinner to resolve to become a Christian. Make him skilled in manipulative techniques to get unbelievers to make a decision to accept Jesus into their heart. But to do this, you must make him reject the biblical doctrine of total depravity. That man's nature is so corrupt that God must first renew a sinner's mind in nature before he can even respond to the gospel in repentant faith. Convince him that fallen man is not spiritually dead, but only sick, and he is therefore able on his own to cooperate with God and salvation. Fool him into thinking regeneration is not the sole work of the Spirit that raises a sinner from spiritual death to life, but a combined effort of the sinner and the Spirit, he must be convinced that God's will to save is ultimately subject to man's will to believe. Therefore, man, not God, is sovereign over salvation. This will prevent God from being accurately depicted as the omnipotent sovereign, actively drawing unto himself sinners, he is elected by His grace to worship Him forever. Instead, God will be portrayed as a frustrated and helpless deity, pacing the throne room of heaven, biting his nails hoping sinners will hear him knocking on the door of their heart and let him in. Through decisionism, he will trivialize heartfelt repentance and replace the Spirits work of regeneration. This will then widen the narrow gate and broaden the narrow road with an easy believeism gospel that bears no resemblance to genuine repentance and saving faith. Moreover, by confusing emotionalism and mere professions of faith as works of God, false professions will be the norm. And without genuine saving faith, churches will be populated with people who are Christian in name only incapable of truly understanding the Word of God or living for His glory. Better yet, they will perish in their sin. For this reason, Paul said this in Galatians, one beginning in verse nine, "If any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed. For am I now seeking the favor of men or of God? Or am I striving to please men, if I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond servant of Christ." Dear friends, may I remind you that the Gospel must begin with an accurate view of God, that he is infinitely holy, beyond anything that we could imagine. And in contrast, all that we are and all that we do is fundamentally offensive to God. Because of our sinful nature, we have an innate inability to conform to the moral character and desires of God. And unless God does something, we will never be reconciled to Him in saving faith. And so what we have to present is the good news, in the context of the bad news. We have to help people understand how God can justify the ungodly. What a dilemma that is, all sin must be punished. He can't just say, well, you're forgiven, and let's forget about it. He had to do something. And what is that something? Well, he had to provide a sacrifice, to pay for the penalty of sin. And that sacrifice, of course, is the Lord Jesus Christ, who was our substitute, the propitiation, the one that satisfied the righteous demands of God. This is the gospel, no gimmicks, no manipulation, just unleash the truth of the gospel. For it is the Spirit that gives life right? John 6:63. Dear professing Christian, examine yourself, test yourself, to see if you be in the faith. Second Peter one, beginning of verse 10. Peter addresses this issue, he says, "Be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing you. For as long as you practice these things you will never stumble for in this way, the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ will be abundantly applied to you." So what does that mean "for as long as you practice these things?" In other words, what are these some of these tasks of genuine saving faith? Well he addressed that in the verses just before that, in verses four through eight he talks about how, "We become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust. Now, for this reason, also," he says, "applying all diligence, in your faith supply, moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge and in your knowledge, self control, and in your self control, perseverance and in your perseverance godliness, and in your godliness brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours, and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ." Beloved, this is the stuff of genuine saving faith. You say you're a Christian, and these things aren't manifested in your life, you deceive yourself. And I warn you as a minister of the gospel, unless you get serious about your heart attitude before the living God, you will someday stand before Him and He will be your judge, not your Savior. So people can preach a distorted gospel to seek the praise of men. Certainly the apostles didn't do this. There's of course, the sins of spiritual elitism. It's so rampant in the body of Christ today, elevating personal preferences to the status of divine fiat, pretending to have miraculous sign gifts like speaking in tongues or healing or some special word from God that you're supposed to share with other people. Ways of elevating yourself is something more spiritual than you are, seeking some spiritual spotlight, like the Pharisees, whom Jesus said in John 12, verse 43, "love the praise of men more than the praise of God." So, beloved, ask yourself, Am I willing to serve the Lord in obscurity? As James the Less? Are you satisfied with your station and Christian service? Even though it may be insignificant in the eyes of the world, it's not in the eyes of God. I fear too often we long for bigger and better, right. And when we become consumed with the breadth of our ministry, we will inevitably neglect its depth. Jesus went deep with a few, not shallow with the many. Think of the unnamed heroes who have gone on before us. Think of those Sunday school teachers that you had when you were a child that ministered to you and presented to you the great truths of scripture. You may not remember what they said but you will remember their character, their love for Christ and it impacted you. Remember godly parents, godly pastors, choir directors, musicians, nursery workers, even, right? Janitors, whatever it was, I can think of a whole host of these people that God put in my life. Think of all the unsung heroes that have gone on before us, I think of what we read in Hebrews 11, beginning in verse 35, where the writer describes, quote, "Women received back their dead by resurrection; and others were tortured, not accepting their release, so that they might obtain a better resurrection and others experience markings and scourging. Yes, also chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn and two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword. They went about and sheep skins in goat skins being destitute, afflicted ill treated men of whom the world is not worthy, wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. And all these having gained approval through their faith did not receive what was promised. Because God provided something better for us. So that apart from us, they would not be made perfect." And certainly they're experiencing the reward now, as we all will, but such was James the less, little James. It's believed that he took the gospel to Syria, and to Persia and accounts vary about how he died. Some say he was stoned. Others say he was beaten to death. Others say he was crucified. But we can be assured that he was empowered by the Spirit of God to accomplish all that he was called to do. Even though he served in obscurity, and now he's receiving his reward, and one day we will talk with him. Beloved, remember, all servants of Christ will be rewarded. Paul reminds us of this in Colossians three, verse 24, "Knowing that from the Lord, you will receive the reward of the inheritance for you serve the Lord Christ." Well, Jesus also called another man, a very different man. His name was Simon the Zealot, also called Simon the Canaanite. It's from the Hebrew word "qinah", which means to be zealous. And apparently, he was a member of a Jewish sect known as the zealots. And this was a political group, basically, Jewish terrorists that absolutely hated the Romans, and hated all Jews that sided with them. So Jesus calls a terrorist to be one of his apostles. Very interesting. This man, of course, was like so many, he was waiting for the appearance of the Messiah, for the Messiah to come and to somehow do away with Rome and return the kingdom to Solomonic glory; soften up the enemy a little bit, was his role. He thought, you know, I need to kind of help the Lord out here. The zealots were also called "sicarii", which means dagger men. They were secret assassins. They carried concealed daggers and they would, they were very skilled at slipping up behind a Roman soldier and sticking the knife up in the ribcage and cutting out the heart and then moving away very quickly. And it is said that they had a reputation for being willing to suffer any torture, suffer any amount of pain they were impervious to at all, even when their families were tortured in front of them. They would attack and then they would go hide in the Galilee in the northern part of Israel. Simon probably followed Christ for the wrong reasons at first, until the Lord softened his heart. I find it fascinating that God chooses a terrorist here to be his servant, a man who was filled with hate and rage and violence. And here we see another great, great virtue in Christian ministry. And that's the virtue of love, that we have to serve and love. Not only to serve in obscurity, but in love, especially love for those we once hated and those who hate us. And again, I think it's interesting that Simon the Zealot is mentioned and he's kind of thrown in with Matthew, the tax collector. Isn't that interesting? A public con, a Jewish Roman tax collector, that to the Jews, remember, Matthew was considered a traitor, a liar, a thief, a murderer. They were barred from the synagogue, he, they were unclean. You weren't able to even touch them as like touching swine. They were forbidden to give testimony in the court. But this is just the kind of man Simon the Zealot would love to meet in a dark alley, right. And the Lord puts them together. I'm reminded of a dog I once had, his name was Otis, he was a boxer weighed about 100 pounds, His neck was 24 inches around, he was a massive beast. But Otis absolutely hated cats. That may be why I love that dog so much, I'm not sure. But if he saw a cat, he would lose his mind. I could tell you stories of taking him to the vet nad they had some cats that they would let run around until the first time Otis came there. And they never let the cats out again when we came to the vet. But imagine taking Otis and a cat and putting them in a room and locking the door. So think about it, it would be catastrophic, right? Well, my point is simply this. Simon the Zealot was Otis and Matthew was the cat. And God had to do a mighty work of grace to get those two, to love each other and serve Him. And isn't that exactly what he has done with us? One, an amazing picture of the love of God and His people and by great by god's grace they serve side by side. Another lesson we would do well to learn here is that it's tragic when there are brothers and sisters in Christ even in a church that can't live in harmony with one another. I mean, we should all love one another. We know that but we've got to remember that we're committed to the same common goal and of course pride is always the culprit in that and it can lead to slander, malicious gossip and jealousy and strife. The Lord hates according to Proverbs 6:19, "a false witness who utters lies and one who spreads strife among brethren." And I want to remind you of one such person who would have been the opposite, you might say, of what happened with Simon the Zealot. This man's name was Diotrephes. If you want to turn to Third John, you read about him. This was a guy that refused to live in obscurity he refused to serve in love and humility, he refused to serve the brethren. And third John nine we read that Diotrephes is the one who "loves to be first among the brethren does not accept what we say" and so on. The New King James says, "he loves to have the preeminence among them." In Greek, the preeminence means to be fond of the first position to be the first person, the most prominent person, the leader of everyone else, and it's a term that really underscored selfish ambition, pride, to be first place and everything. And you know, the apostle struggled with this, right? Remember, they were always fighting about who's going to be first in the kingdom. And so they struggled with these things, and the grammar and the text there inthird, John indicates that Diotrephes did this habitually. He hated obscurity, demand and preeminence. And in verses 10 and 11, we read for this reason, John says, "If I come I will call attention to his deeds which he does, unjustly accusing us with wicked words; and not satisfied with this, he himself does not receive the brethren either, and he forbids those who desire to do so and puts them out of the church." So this guy was the keeper of the gate, right? By the way, wouldn't you have loved to been there when the church read this letter and Diotrephes is sitting there, that would have been interesting. He goes on to say, "Beloved, do not imitate what is evil, but what is good, the one who does good is of God, the one who does evil has not seen God." So again, this was some pathological antagonist, he found fault with everybody. And this type of thing is so destructive in the body of Christ and yet it happens routinely. Contrast that to what Paul tells us in Ephesians. And certainly this would have been the heart of the apostles, even Simon the Zealot. There, Paul says in Ephesians, four beginning in verse one, that we, "are to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit, and the bond of peace." Well, obviously, Simon the Zealot learned to love, he learned to set aside his foolish pursuit of politics and all of the things that he was doing and to serve Christ instead. And we want to make sure that we model that in our lives. Remember, Paul was even concerned about the saints at Galatia remember, he said that they were bickering with one another, and so forth in Galatians, five, and he reminded them to control their, their flesh in verse 13. He said, "But but through love, serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word in the statement, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another." So we want to guard ourselves against becoming a Diotrephes. And certainly, if we see them in the church, we confront them and deal with them, because it is so contrary to the way we should conduct ourselves. Instead, we have to become like Simon the Zealot. Well, I probably owe him a great debt of gratitude, because he went to the British Isles took the gospel up there, that would have been the place of my ancestry. And the gospel went forth in the British Isles and through his ministry, we don't know what happened, there's no real reliable record, but if you look at the different records, it's obvious that he was killed for his testimony for Christ. One more man that we'll look at here this morning, as we learn to serve in obscurity and love, and that is Judas, the son of James and here we see how we need to learn to serve also in faith. Here we look at John 14. It's the only source in the New Testament that gives us any inkling about him. This was Judas, not Iscariot, and he really had three names. In Matthew 10 three he is called Lebbaeus, whose surname was Thaddeus Lebbaeus is from a Hebrew root word meaning heart. So Lebbaeus literally means heart child. Lebbaeus, is one name. But he had another one, Thaddeus, which interestingly enough means breast child, which evokes the imagery of of a nursing baby, and perhaps communicates even a ridicule, derisive idea of being a mama's boy, but we can't say that for sure. Perhaps he was the cherished baby of the family, as some are, we don't know. But all of this gives us the idea that this was probably a very innocent, quiet, soft, spoken, warm hearted sort of a fellow, which is the opposite of the sons of thunder, right? But Judas was the name given to him at birth. Judas means "Jehovah leads." And again, I'm intrigued at how the Lord puts people together, of all things, he puts him in with, with these thunderous fishermen, a former tax collector and a terrorist. Well, it's a great group to go on a missionary trip with right. But isn't that a microcosm of the Body of Christ. I mean, when we look at the body of Christ, I mean, it's a kaleidoscope of personalities, a mixed bag of preferences and backgrounds. And we've got people in this worship center from all over the world with all different kinds of backgrounds. And yet we have a common calling. And we must love to each other and serve Christ, but in John 14, we learn a little bit more about Judas, Lebbaeus and Thaddaeus. The context there is Jesus just is describing the events in the upper room. And in verse 21, and following, he says, "He who has My commandments and keeps them as the one who loves Me, and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father. And I will love him and will disclose Myself to him." Then it says, "Judas, (not Iscariot), said to Him, 'Lord, what then has happened, that you are going to disclose Yourself to us, and not to the world?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word. And my Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.'" So here we see something about this dear man. Here, Judas reveals real tenderness and real humility of heart. Isn't it interesting, he's struck with the reality that Jesus and God His Father would love them and disclose himself to them. I mean, Judas knew his own heart. He knew what the rest of the guys were like. He was aware of all the bickering to be first. He was aware of all of the pride and the prejudices, all the jealousies, the brashness, the cowardness. The weak faith. The idea is, Lord, with all of that, with who we really are, you still love us, and you're willing to reveal yourself to usT? his is inconceivable. We are so undeserving. And isn't this the stuff of genuine saving faith? To be very aware of our own sin, our own depravity, to be aware of our own wretchedness and the undeserved love that is ours because of Christ. And with that in mind, he struggles with this issue of fairness, you know, it seems unfair to disclose or to manifest or to reveal yourself to us given who we are, and not the rest of the world. But Jesus doesn't rebuke him. There is no hostility here, Jesus knows thiw, it's just a humble question from a humble heart. And we know that all of the apostles were struggling with their eschatology. You know, they, they thought that he was here to establish the kingdom, to reveal himself to the whole world to be the Promised Messiah, the deliverer of Israel. Remember Matthew 24, when he's leaving, Jesus is leaving the temple with the disciples, and he said in verse two, Jesus said, "Do you not see all these things? Truly, I say to you, not one stone here shall be left upon another, which will not be torn down." And of course, that happened in AD 70, when the Romans came in, but all of this was so confusing to them. You know, Jesus, what's going on here? Verse three of Matthew 24. We read, "As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately saying, 'Tell us, when will these things be and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?'" Coming is the "Parousia" the revealing of your presence as Messiah and King? When is this going to happen? We're waiting. That was the mentality. They didn't realize that the parousia will be at the Second Coming. So back to Judas, he is humbled, he's confused. And he tenderly asks Jesus and John 14:22, "Lord, what then has happened, that you are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the world?" Jesus answered in verses 23 and 24 is basically we were to paraphrase it, it basically goes like this. He says, Trust me, Judas. I will disclose Myself to all those that I have drawn unto myself and saving faith. All of those who habitually love Me and keep My word. You see, that's always the hallmark of real Christianity. Loving obedience is what validates genuine saving faith, not some mere profession of faith. Jesus is saying to him, Look, I know you don't fully understand all of this But you will, in the Holy Spirit enters you at Pentecost, he will reveal these things. So trust me, there is nothing unfair in my redemptive purposes or plans. Trust me, all who love me will be saved, those who don't, won't. But for those who do love me, demonstrated by their faithful obedience, we, the triune godhead, will make our abode with them in them. Literally, it's the idea of the parousia first taking place in the hearts of men and women who love me. And then the physical parousia, the appearance of the Messiah will come when he comes back, to establish His kingdom at the second coming, trust me, serve me in faith. Peter understood this, First Peter four 19, we read, "Those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator, in doing what is right." Beloved, the real key to effective and joyful ministry is to place your faith solely in the Word of God, to believe what he has said, even though there are things you cannot understand that none of us can understand, but to trust him, The just shall live by what? By faith, and someday faith will become sight. We will rejoice when that happens. We look forward to it now. Well, it's well documented Judas, the son of James, spread the gospel into the northern regions of, of what is now Turkey, even into Edessa, which was a royal city of Mesopotamia, there's numerous accounts that he even led Agbar of Edessa, the king, that he healed him. Later, we learned that he was clubbed to death, because of his boldness in proclaiming the gospel, the truth of the gospel. In fact, the traditional apostolic symbol, Judas Lebbaeus Thaddeus in that part of the world, to this very day, is a club, reminding us of all of the potential sacrifice that we might pay for the cause of Christ. So I close this morning by encouraging all of you to examine your heart, to not only make sure that you truly know and love the Lord, and therefore he's at work in you, but that you are serving Him, even if it's in obscurity, doing it in love and in faith. And to know that God is always at work in us, right? He's always at work in us, even though we can always see it. I think of a mighty oak tree, you look at the oak tree, and you can't tell what's happening, but it's still growing right? Even in the storms. Paul said, "For I'm confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." And one other challenge here. Be willing to find ways to serve Christ, even in the context of your family, don't necessarily look for something in the church. I mean, that's great, and there's places where you can do that. But there are a myriad of opportunities to serve Christ all around you. And if you're having a hard time finding them, make it a matter of prayer. And I will assure you, that the Lord will make it very clear where you can serve Him in your sphere of influence. We serve a wonderful, good and glorious God, don't we? Let's pray together. Father, thank you, for these men and for what we can learn from what little we know about their lives. But certainly, we know from your word, what you would have us to do as your People Living out our lives, even in obscurity, loving one another, loving those that would even hate us, loving them for the sake of the gospel. And trusting you come what may so we thank you, we give you praise in Jesus name. Amen.

We are going to learn more about Matthew and Thomas in a few minutes. But I was thinking, even this morning, as I was spending time alone with the Lord, where would we be without His Word? We would be in complete darkness, wouldn't we? I'm sure you've all experienced complete darkness when you've been in a cave, and they turn out all the lights and you can't see anything. That's basically what we see in our culture today. It's an immoral freefall. People are gleefully frolicking in the sewage of woke ideology. We see the gross immoralities of the LGBTQIA agenda, the racist deceptions of critical race theory. These things that just mock God, mock his word, deceive people. The very foundations of our once great Republic are crumbling before our eyes. Of course, I believe all of this is part of God's wrath of abandonment on this country. As we see in Romans one in particular. Someone sent me some photos from San Francisco and also from Phoenix to show the massive tent cities of homeless people living in squalor. Feces all over the sidewalks, urine, needles, are a picture of human depravity. Of course, all of this is championed by Democrat politicians and their liberal sycophants in the media who gaslight Americans every day, telling us that what we see with our own eyes is not true. Friends, the sins of the United States of America really parallel those of ancient Judah described in Isaiah five. If we had time we would go there and we could see that their sins included greedy materialism, drunken dissipation, defiant debauchery. They called evil good and good evil, they substituted light for darkness and darkness for light. God said He was going to curse them for this. They were cursed because of their haughty humanism, where men were wise in their own eyes because of corrupt leadership. Isaiah Five, Verse 23, says that they "justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the rights of the ones who are in the right." And in that passage, God describes how he planted Israel like a choice vine in the perfect place, and did all of these wonderful things for them to bless them. And in Isaiah five, seven, he says, "And the men of Judah His delightful plant " Then he said this, "Thus he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness and behold, a cry of distress." In Hebrew, justice and bloodshed and righteousness and distress, sound very much alike. It's a play on words. He basically said I, I looked for "mispat" and I got "mishaps." I looked for "tzedaqah" and I got "tzeaqah." So God pronounces judgment upon them through Isaiah. Judgment that would come at the hands of the Assyrians in 722 BCE, and then again later at the hands of the Babylonians in 586. And he said in verse 29, of that text, concerning the judgment that was going to come upon them, "It's roaring as like a lioness and it roars like young lions, it growls as it seizes the prey and carries it off with no one to deliver it. And it will growl over it in that day like the roaring of the sea. If one looks to the land, behold, there is darkness and distress; Even the light is darkened by its clouds. “The imagery there is like a sailor who is hopelessly tossed about in an angry sea, longing to get to shore. The problem is when they get to shore, it's as bad there as it was in the sea. There's nothing but darkness and distress. You see, dear friends, when man has thoroughly rejected the light of God's grace, all that is left is darkness. And that's what we're seeing in our country. That's what we're seeing being perpetrated upon our children. Darkness and distress is all that is left. And of course, the light has gone out in America, and now we're experiencing just the beginnings of judgment that's going to be far worse. He has eliminated all light and he is allowing sinners to flounder, in the darkness of depravity, so that they will ultimately experience the consequences of their rebellion. But as in the case of Judah, against the dark backdrop of their sin, and that judgment, there still existed light beyond the darkness, there was still hope. And that light was that of Christ. For Judah and all sinners, the rejection of God's grace did not mean nor does it today that grace has been extinguished. You see, it still exists in Christ. In fact, Isaiah went on to point out to them, about the dawning of a great light that would blaze forth in the day's future, in the coming Messiah. Isaiah chapter nine, verse two, he said, "The people who walk in darkness will see a great light, those who live in a dark land, the light will shine on them." In chapter 42, in verse 16, he says, "I will lead the blind by a way they do not know, in paths they do not know I will guide them. I will make darkness into light before them and rugged places into plains. These are the things I will do and I will not leave them undone." Chapter 58 In verse 10, he says, "Then your light will rise in darkness, and your gloom will become like midday." And eventually Jesus came. And we read in John 8:12, when he said, "I am the light of the world, he who follows Me, will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." Beloved, indeed, it is true today, as the Apostle Paul tells us in second Corinthians chapter four and following verse four, that, "the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who was the image of God." But then he added this, "For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord and ourselves as your bond servants for Jesus sake. For God who said, 'Light shall shine out of darkness,' is the One who has shone in our hearts, to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ." In other words, the very one that spoke light into existence is the one that has helped us to see the light, the light of the glory of Christ, and the Bible makes it clear that the nations are going to continue to rebel against the Most High, that the nations of the world will continually to march inexorably towards a day of divine judgment, known as the Day of the Lord. And of course, God will pour out His judgment during the pre-kingdom judgments, known also as the tribulation, just prior to his return. And we see this for example, in Isaiah 60, the first three verses where the Lord promises a future day of restoration even for Israel, and for Gentiles who have been grafted into the vine of Abrahamic blessing. There he describes the glory of Jerusalem that will come one day in the millennial kingdom. And I want to give you this hope in Isaiah 60, beginning in verse one, he says, "Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth and deep darkness the peoples; but the Lord will rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising. So again, a light will eventually cover the earth as the Lord returns, consistent with his promises. And we too as Gentiles, being, as Paul said, that "wild olive branch that was grafted in amongst the Jews to become partakers with them of the rich root of the olive tree", Romans 11:17, and following the rich tree of Abrahamic covenant of blessing, we too will enjoy that ultimate light one day.

Well, all of that to say, Dear Christian, our only hope is in Christ. Without Christ, we would wander in the darkness, like so many of our friends, and loved ones that continue to break my heart and yours, and we must pray for them, that God would be merciful to them, as he has been to us. So once again, we come to the Word of God, it is a lamp unto our feet and what? A light unto our path. Every word of scripture is inspired by God. We're told that it is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work and so forth. So we come to the word again after that little introduction to look at some of the characteristics of men that God chose to be his closest companions when Jesus was here on Earth. These emissaries of the kingdom, 12 common, unremarkable, ordinary men, each of them fraught with besetting sins. Let me remind you of the text, it's in Mark three. This is a good launching off place. Let me remind you of what we see in the gospel here, beginning of verse 13, Jesus, "Went up on the mountains and summoned those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him. And H appointed 12, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach and to have authority to cast out the demons. And He appointed the 12: Simon, (to whom he gave the name Peter), and James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James (to them, He gave the name Boanerges, which means 'Sons of Thunder'), and Andrew, and Philip and Bartholomew, and Matthew and Thomas, and James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon, the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him." So we've been looking at each of these individually over the past several weeks. And now we come to Matthew and Thomas.

So let's think about Matthew. I've talked about him before, in our exposition through the Gospel of Mark. Matthew was his Greek name, his Hebrew name was Levi. And were first introduced to him, you may recall and Mark chapter two in verse 13, we read, "And H went out again by the seashore;" referring to Jesus, "and all the people were coming to Him, and He was teaching them." So let's get this in our mind. He's at Capernaum, on the north end of the Sea of Galilee, where much of his ministry was conducted when he was in Galilee, that was the main thoroughfare through that whole region. In fact, Josephus, the ancient historian tells us that there were villages all along the shore. So Jesus was doing open air preaching, and people were coming to faith in him. The Sermon on the Mount took place in this region. And we read a little snippet of what he was preaching in Mark one, beginning in verse 14, "Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.'" So that's the scene here. That's what's going on. You've got Jesus preaching crowds everywhere. And in verse 14, back to Mark three, we read, or Mark two, we read, "As He passed by, He saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting in the tax booth, and He said to him, 'Follow Me!' and he got up and followed Him." Now, you may recall when we discussed this before, the context here with respect to tax collecting, in the first century, first of all, you must think of tax collectors in those days as a cross between the IRS and the mafia. I don't think things have changed all that much. Right? It was basically legalized extortion, tax collectors and the criminal elements that protected them, included people like corrupt politicians, businessmen, prostitutes associated with them; it was the underworld. And the tax collectors were the most hated people in the whole society. Herod Antipas was the Roman Tetrarch. Tetrarch means a ruler of a quarter. And he was over Galilee and Perea, he was like the governor at that time, and he collected taxes for Rome. And he had to meet a quota for Rome. But he also had the authority to levy other taxes as he saw fit. We all smile because we know exactly what that's like. And he had the power to do whatever he wanted to do to get that to happen. And so what he did is he sold tax collecting franchises to the highest bidder, and then he would split the profits. And so this was a very lucrative business to buy into a tax franchise. Now, there was a customary poll tax, they also had an income tax that was about 1%, they had property tax, which was 1/10 of all their grain, and then 1/5 of all their wine and fruit and so forth. Fish processors, and distributors, which was the main industry there, we're required to pay taxes on the fish that they caught and sold, and for transporting them. And we know historically that they had taxes on roads, taxes on crossing bridges, they had assortments of duties and tariffs on imports, exports, merchants that would come to buy and to sell there in Israel. And of course, it was easily to inflate the taxes. And if you didn't comply, there was the threat of bodily harm. They were also willing to make loans...haha. They were loan sharks. And that was very common. Now there existed a network of tax collectors in that day, but they were essentially divided into two categories. The Jewish Talmud helps us understand this, there were the "Gabba'i," and the "Mokhes." The Gabba'i were kind of like the IRS agents today. And they collected the basic taxes like the poll and the land and income tax and so forth. And then the Mokhes collected all of the specialized taxes. But there were two kinds of Mokhes tax collectors. There were the Great Mokhes who owned a taxed booth in a specific location. And then the Little Mokhes that worked for them. And they were actually the people, people that manned the toll booths. That's what Levi did. I should say, That's what Matthew did. And everyone in the region would have known him, they would have had constant contact with him. They would have hated them with every corpuscle in their body. I'm not sure what a corpuscle is, but I've heard that term and you all get the idea. His booth was near the shore because he's collecting tolls and tariffs relating to the fishing industry there in Capernaum. One commentator, David Garland, describe the scene this way. Quote, "Levi is no tax baron but one who is stationed at an intersection of trade routes to collect tolls, tariffs, imposts, which is compulsory payment and customs probably for Herod Antipas. Toll collectors were renowned for their dishonesty and extortion. They habitually collected more than were due, did not always post up the regulations and may spread false valuations and accusations (see Luke 3:12 through 13.)" He went on to say, "Tax officials were hardly choice candidates for discipleship since most Jews in Jesus day would dismiss them as those who craved money more than respectability or righteousness." If you look into the Mishnah, and the Talmud that was written later, you'll see all kinds of scathing judgments against these people, lumping them together with thieves and murderers.

Those who collected taxes weren't allowed to be a witness in court, they couldn't judge in a court. They brought disgrace to their family, they couldn't go into the synagogue. They were basically the lowest of the low life. That's what Matthew was. But guess what? God sent his love upon Matthew, and saved him by his grace. In fact, there are three tax collectors that are specifically mentioned in the gospels, and each of them were saved by God's grace, I might add that there were many others that evidently came to Christ as well. But the three that are mentioned, there's first the Publican described in the parable of Luke 18, that was probably a real person, then you have little Zacchaeus in Luke 19. And then, of course, Matthew that we see here. Jesus tells us in Luke seven, he's extolling the character of John the Baptist. And in that context, he says this, beginning in verse 28, "I say to you, among those more, among those born of women, there is no one greater than John, yet he who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he." And then there's this phrase, "When all the people and the tax collectors heard this, they acknowledged God's justice, having been baptized with the baptism of John." So there must have been a revival amongst the IRS agents of that day. You may recall Jesus attack on the Pharisees in Matthew chapter 21, beginning in verse 31. He says, "'Which of the two did the will of his father?' and they said, 'The first.' and Jesus said to them, 'Truly I say to you that the tax collectors and prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you. For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but the tax collectors and prostitutes did believe him; and you, seeing this, did not even feel remorse afterwards, so as to believe him.'" So there must have been a number of tax collectors and others of that ilk that came to saving faith in Christ.

Now back to the scene of Matthew's conversion. Imagine this now, hundreds of people were swarming around Jesus. And in Mark two, verse 14, we read, "As He passed by He saw Levi, the son of Alphaeus, sitting in the tax booth, and said to him, 'Follow me!'" That's an imperative. It's a command. You follow me. "And he got up and followed Him." Now, obviously, this would have left the people speechless. Not only because Jesus spoke to him, but he asked him to follow him. And if that isn't bad enough, Matthew actually gets up and follows him. So you can imagine they're just shaking their head in absolute dismay, oh, what a scene, the power of saving grace. Now, obviously, Matthew had already been under conviction. It wasn't like he didn't know who this guy was. He knew who Jesus was. He was a student of Old Testament scripture. In fact, he quotes the Old Testament 99 times in his Gospel, more than Mark, Luke and John combined. And so he was very aware of the promises of a coming Messiah, and the forgiveness that would come through him and the restoration and so forth. In fact, if you go to Matthew nine, and read his description of his conversion, you will see all manner of things that he describes with respect to forgiveness. So the Holy Spirit had already been working in his heart. And in the miracle of regeneration, the Spirit of God convicts him and helps him to see who Jesus really is in light of his own sin. And then supernaturally he imparts to him, the imputed righteousness of Christ makes him a new creature in Christ and so forth, forgives his sin, and he follows Jesus. In fact, Luke 5:28 says that Matthew, quote, "Left everything behind to follow Jesus."

Now back to Mark Two beginning of verse 15. "And it happened, that He was reclining at the table in his house, and many tax collectors and sinners were dining with Jesus and his disciples, for there were many of them and they were following Him." That's pretty exciting to see what's going on here; this is an incredible scene. I mean, Levi, "Matthew" was a wealthy tax collector. He had a big house. lots of friends, Mark says that many tax collectors and sinners were with him. Now stop and think about it. When a person truly comes to saving faith in Christ, and you understand what God has done for you in his infinite mercy, that he has forgiven your sins and imputed unto you a righteousness that is foreign to your own so that now you are declared righteous and treated as such, what do you want to do? You want to go tell other people. And that's what Matthew has done. He's basically sent out the word to all of his outcasts, loser friends, hey, come over to my place. Come over to my place, I need to announce a career change here. I want to introduce you to this Jesus that everyone was aware of. And they're thrilled to be there. They want to see who Jesus is. By this time, if you can think of it in, in our present context, by this time, what Jesus had been doing was all over the internet, right? Okay. I mean, the fact t that Matthew was following Jesus, that's all over Facebook. All right, so everybody is aware of this. And of course, the Pharisees are all over this story because they're trying to find a reason to condemn Jesus. And this is exactly what Jesus wants to see happen. So they learn about the Capernaum mafia meeting at Levi's house with Jesus. And they're thinking, we've got him now and the paparazzi is everywhere. The story has gone viral all over fake news. And so Jesus is in big trouble. Now, let's go inside verse 15 again, "And it happened, that Jesus was reclining at the table in his house." Now in that culture that was a sign of friendship, or being in relationship with someone as it is in our house, or in our culture, and in our houses when people come. This is appalling to the Pharisees. But what they didn't realize is they were witnessing the pursuit of saving grace upon sinners, something they could not understand. Now, imagine if you had been there. And I can't wait to see the Lord face to face someday, but wouldn't it have been amazing to be able to talk with him, to hear him? And that's what's going on here. And in his great love, now he has, he has pursued the lowest of the low, the social outcast, the criminal element, the prostitutes, the unclean reprobates, that were considered the dogs of society, and he offers himself to them. Now, of course, to the Pharisees, this is a scandalous display of impropriety. This is this is high handed defilement, no self-respecting rabbi would commit such wickedness, such blasphemy. In verse 16, we read, "When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors. They said to His disciples, 'Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?'" You see, self righteous legalists always have their own code of conduct, and they expect everybody else to follow along with them. Moralism, legalism, those types of things give, give these people the illusion of spirituality. And if you don't do what they say, then you're not as spiritual as me, but you need to do what I do and so forth. And that's what's going on here. And of course, the Pharisees were world class at rulemaking, and world class when it came to ostentatious displays of religiosity and they expected Jesus and the disciples to obey their rules and their tradition. So again, verse 16, "They said to his disciples," let me pause there.

Jesus is probably still inside, the disciples may be outside, they probably don't want to talk with Jesus face to face a little bit intimidated with this guy that can raise the dead and read your mind and do all these other things. So they talk with the disciples, and they say, "Why is He eating and drinking with the tax collectors and sinners?" Again, they're eating and drinking. They're defiling themselves. You're eating the wrong foods, you're in the wrong place. Verse 17, "And hearing this," Isn't that great? Jesus hears this whole thing, he knows what's going on. "And hearing this, Jesus said to them," and here he has a proverb in the third person, he says, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician but those who are sick;" Sick being a metaphor for sin. He said, "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Luke adds in Luke 5:32, "sinners to repentance." So Jesus defends his involvement here with these people because of their spiritual need. This is something the Pharisees could not see, even in themselves.

So indeed, Matthew left everything to follow Christ, what a magnificent picture of God's saving grace. We know obviously, that he became one of the 12 apostles and in his own list of the 12, when he described himself with the others, he explicitly called himself a tax collector. As we would see, for example, in Matthew 10 three, one a marvelous picture of humility. Well, God inspired Matthew to write the gospel that bears his name and tradition indicates that he, he ministered primarily to the Jews in Israel. There is no reliable record of how he died. But earliest traditions indicate that he was burned at the stake because of his faith in Christ. And someday we will be able to talk with him.

So that's a little bit about Matthew, what about Thomas? He was nicknamed "Doubting Thomas." I don't think that is totally fair as I will demonstrate to you even though I don't want to start a new denomination based on that. We don't know a whole lot about Thomas. He was also called Didymus in John 11:16, Didymus means "double" or "twin." So he had a twin brother or twin sister. And the first time we get a snapshot of his character is in John 11. Let me give you the background there, you probably remember it. It's the context of Lazarus who lived in Bethany, that that is a suburb of Jerusalem. In fact, from that region, even to this day, you're within eyesight of the Temple Mount. And so Jesus is now in this context. He's about 60 miles away, he's enjoying a fruitful time of ministry. But according to John 10:39, we know that the Jewish leaders are furious with him. We read in in that text, John 10:39, "Therefore they were seeking to seize Him, and He eluded their grasp, and He went away again, beyond the Jordan to the place where John was baptizing at first and there He stayed." So this is where Jesus is, about 60 miles away, and during this time his dear friend Lazarus dies and Mary and Martha summon the Lord's help, wants him to come to Bethany, but obviously, Jesus and his disciples know that that is the lion's lair. So there's enormous hostility in Jerusalem and, and Jesus and the apostles obviously knew this, including Thomas. Now let's pick it up.

Let me just read you a little bit of the, of the narrative here in John 11, beginning in verse one. "Now a certain man was sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister, Martha. It was the Mary who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, 'Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.' But when Jesus heard this, He said, 'This sickness is not to end in death, but for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.' Now, Jesus loved Martha and her sister, and Lazarus. So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was." It seems like it doesn't fit right? Why would he do that? "Then after this, He said to the disciples, 'Let us go to Judea again.' The disciples said to Him, 'Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking to stone You, and you're going there again?' Jesus answered, 'Are there not 12 hours in the day? If anyone walks in the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if anyone walks in the night, he stumbles because the light is not in him.'" That's just a way of him saying, Look, I'm doing the Father's will, it's like, nothing's going to happen to me until it's time so we're doing things in the day. Eventually, though, we know that his death would be his stumbling into darkness and so forth. So that's, in essence what he's saying there. "This He said, and after that, He said to them, 'Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go so that I may awaken him out of sleep.' The disciples said to Him, 'Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.' Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that he was speaking of literal sleep. So Jesus then said to them plainly, 'Lazarus is dead, and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there. So that you may believe; but let us go to him.'"

Now, this brings us to verse 16, where we can understand a little bit more about Thomas. There we read "Thomas, therefore, who is called Didymus said to his fellow disciples, 'Let us also go that we may die with Him.'" I love the guy. This statement combined with others that we're going to examine, give us a little sense of who Thomas may have been, and we can surmise, I think, four character traits that would perhaps give us an idea about this brother. First, we can surmise that Thomas was a pessimist. You know, the type, they expect the worst, they're bleak, they're cynical. They're often dark and dejected and depressed and their attitude is typically fatalistic, foreboding, gloomy, hopeless. They're not a lot of fun to be around because they tend to be a bit morose and morbid, sullen, troubled, worried. We will see this again in his attitude when he received word of the risen Christ. Now, Thomas knew of the potential danger, okay? Now that's being realistic, not pessimistic. But he jumped to the automatic conclusion that well, we're all going to die. All right? So that's what's going to happen here. And his knee jerk response to life was probably like many people, maybe some of you... that we just need to always assume the worst. My wife tends to tell me I'm a bit that way. I always tell her I'm a realist, not a pessimist. And so, but his favorite Bible verse was Murphy's Law, right? If anything bad might happen, it will happen. Now these kinds of folks are, can be hard to be around. I used to tease my mother about this, I'll never forget, first time I went to Africa, all she started giving me all these articles about all of the diseases that you can get, and Africa and how al Qaeda cells were there in Kenya, where I was going, I get, you know, articles on this and she warned me about the water and then about the snakes. We had missionaries in our house all the time when I was growing up and one of these dear ladies, I forget her name, but I remember she was from Assam, India, and a cobra went into their house, her little cabin and she saw it and they went in they couldn't find it. And so my mom's relaying "remember that story." And it was about three weeks later, she opened up a drawer, and it was there and it spit venom in her face. And fortunately, she had her glasses on. So I'm getting this story, you know, from my pessimistic mother, and armies of man eating ants, you know, and lions and water buffalo and crocodiles. And, of course, for me, I'm thinking, Man, that's exciting. I can't wait to go on an adventure. I love that kind of thing. Well, Thomas may have been a pessimist. But friends he was also secondly, courageous. "Let us go that we may die with Him." I mean he's addressing his fellow apostles here. And he may have been a pessimist but he was no coward. And how pathetic to see people scared to death of everything. Even Christians today, scared to death of cancel culture, really. I mean, these poor people are dead and lost in their sins and you're going to be afraid of them. We worship the Most High God. I mean, I know a lot of pastors that have the courage of a fainting goat. You know, as soon as anybody says something bad about them, they panic. Oh my goodness. That's not how we need to be. But friends courage is bred from the stock of conviction and he knew the stakes were high but he trusted in Jesus. Cowards trust in themselves, not the Almighty. A lot of times people are like, remember the spies that went into Canaan and they feared the Giants more than the omnipotent God who created them" Many Christians are that way. We're not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we read about a Numbers 1. We are like grasshoppers. And they fear the lunatics that are out there like many people fear cancel culture and the woke dung beetles that constantly are attacking everybody. I mean come on, but not Thomas. He, the people in the day of Joshua says, Oh, let us let us return to Egypt, where we can find comfort. You remember, Joshua and Caleb tore their clothes in the presence of the assembly in Numbers 14 eight we read, "If the Lord delights in us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us--a land that which flows with milk and honey, only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land for they are our prey. Their protection has departed for them. And the Lord is with us do not fear them." It's like an old statement that I learned from my cowboy buddies years ago. I eat people like you for breakfast. That's the attitude.

Beloved, let me pause for a second do you fear man more than you fear God? It's easy to be that way. And we typically fear man so much because we fear God so little. Well, not Thomas, Thomas turns to his brothers. And as I think about it, he echoes the battle cry of the of the great hymn that says "Rise up, Oh men of God have done with lesser things, Give heart and mind and soul and strength to serve the King of kings." So come on, guys, let's go with Jesus, even though we're gonna die. By the way, thinking of Joshua, later, he reminded the men of Israel to be courageous. And the key to that was obeying God. And then that was great reward Joshua one seven, he says, "Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go." That was Thomas.

So he was probably a pessimist, certainly courageous, but also thirdly, he was devoted, he was devoted to the Lord whom he loved. Beloved, we will never offer ourselves for Christ unless we love Him with an undying devotion. And that's what we see with Thomas. He was committed to the Lord, even if it cost him his life, he was loyal to the end. Paul reminds us in Second Timothy 2:21, that we can be useful to the Lord, as His servants, regardless of who we are, as long as we are pursuing holiness, purity of heart. And he says that person, quote, "will be a vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the master prepared for every good work." Does that describe you? Are you devoted to the Lord because you love him, and you trust him? And you fear God more than you fear man? I think of Second Chronicles 16 nine, it's not, I didn't give this to the people to put on the board. But it says that, “the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth, that He might strongly support those whose heart are completely His." That's the people that we need to be and that's who Thomas was. We see another example of Thomas's loving devotion in John 14, beginning in verse one, we read the words of Jesus, "Do not let your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in Me, In my Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going." And this brings us to Thomas once again. "Thomas said to him, 'Lord, we do not know where you are going, how do we know the way?' Jesus said to him, 'I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father but through Me." I mean, you get a sense of his loving devotion as you read this. It's almost like his voice is quivering and his eyes are filling with tears. Don't talk about leaving us. We don't know where you're going. We don't want you to leave. We don't understand what's going on here. And you know, they didn't fully understand as you will recall. Like all of us, people today tend to believe what they want to believe. That's what was going on. Then they were convinced that the Messiah had come, he was getting ready to establish his kingdom on earth, that he was going to whip up on Rome, that all was going to be well, my goodness, they were still fighting over who's going to be first in the kingdom at this point. So this was their mindset. But Thomas has developed such a deep love for Jesus, what's all this talk about you leaving.

So I was thinking about this, I thought, My what a wonderful thing it is to desperately long to be with the Lord, I hope that is your heart. Don't you just long to be with him. That's what was going on. But beloved, our love and devotion to Christ is directly proportional to our perspective of our own sin, and therefore what Christ has done on our behalf. Thomas was aware of this. Most love Christ little because they love their sin so much. We fail to grasp the infinite horrors of our sin, and the consequences that it deserves. Then our gratitude for our Savior sacrifice will be abated. But when you really see what Christ has done for you, then you can sing full, with a full throat "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me." He who loves little has no sense of being loved so greatly. Charles Spurgeon said, quote, "When our thoughts of Jesus are expanded and elevated, we obtained right ideas about other matters. In the light of His love and atoning sacrifice, we see the depth of the degradation from which such a redeemer has uplifted us, and we hate with all our hearts, the sins, which pierced such an altogether lovely one, and made it needful for the Lord of life to die. Forming some adequate estimate of what Jesus has done for us. Our gratitude grows, and with our gratitude, our love, while love compels us to consecration and consecration suggests heroic self denying actions." He went on to say, "Then are we bold to speak for him, and ready if need be to suffer for him. While we feel we could give up all we have to increase his glory without so much as dreaming that it would have been a sacrifice. But our thoughts of Christ be high," Spurgeon says, "and your delight in him will be high too, your sense of security will be strong, and with that sense of security will come the sacred joy and peace, which always keeps the heart which confidently reposes in the mediators hands."

So indeed, Thomas loved the Lord and his devotion to him, could not bear the thought of separation. But he was also probably prone to what we would call melancholy, to depression, John 20, gives us a hint of this. Remember the scene, Jesus has been taken from the disciples, he has been tortured, he's been crucified. I might also add at this point, there was no indwelling Holy Spirit, they lacked the comforter, therefore they lacked comfort, they lacked boldness, the source of power was not in them. They lack the clarity that comes from the indwelling work of the Spirit. So they're in a state of mourning, they are grief stricken. John 20 and verse 19. We read, "It was evening on that day, the first day of the week, goes on to say the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews." And let me pause here this was Thomas's worst nightmare. Jesus has gone, he feels alone, he feels abandoned, confused, and he's probably thinking to himself, my life is over. I'm ruined. All is last. So while the disciples were sequestered in this home back to verse 19, we read, "Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, 'Peace be with you.'" Can you imagine that scene? But notice who was not there with them? Verse 24, we read "But Thomas, one of the 12, called Didymus was not with them when Jesus came." Now, where was he? Scripture doesn't say, but knowing his pessimism, knowing his devotion to Christ. He's probably alone somewhere. Who knows he may have gone to the Garden of Gethsemane to Golgotha, he might be wandering around somewhere. But he's in no mood to be around his friends. Now I understand some of this is personality. We don't want to make too much about this. I know when great difficulties come into my life. I don't want people around me, I want to be left alone. Or I want to be with my wife, maybe my family. Other people are much more multi-relational, and they want to be around a lot of people. But I would imagine that he was overwhelmed with grief. And instead of searching the scriptures and being encouraged by prophetic truth, he's probably mourning someplace. For example, He could have read in Isaiah 26:19 "Your dead shall live together with my dead body they shall arise awake and sing. You who dwell in dust for your dew is like to dew of herbs and the earth shall cast out the dead," and so forth. People can be prone to melancholy and be sad, depressed, dejected. To use a word you don't hear much they can be lugubrious; down in the dumps a lot, despondent, dismal. Sometimes this is because they don't know Christ. Many people are that way. And the suicide rates today are going through the roof, especially among young people. You read all of this stuff about fentanyl? Why do people take that stuff? They're trying to escape from the reality of life? You remember Cain in the Bible due to self styled worship and his resentment of God of God's revealed will? Remember how God rejected him in Genesis four five we read, "Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell." And of course, that led to murder and judgment. Remember Elijah after great victory, what did he do? He ran and hid under a juniper tree and prayed to die. Sometimes melancholy is due to fear. We can become overwhelmed with exaggerated fears. I think of David, his depression was so great that he said that his body was wasting away. Why, due to unconfessed sin. Job was overwhelmed with grief. He lost everything. Why was he down? Well, it was due to testing. Habakkuk was burdened. Remember how he complained against God, manner of judgment against his covenant people by bringing the wicked to judge them. He had to learn to trust in God's goodness and His sovereignty and his ultimate justice. I think of the apostle Paul, we read how he had no rest for his spirit due to great sorrows associated with ministry. But what did he choose to do? He chooses, he chose to focus on the eternal, not to the temporal, to look beyond what was going on here into what God was ultimately up to. And in Second Corinthians 2:13, he said, Thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ. So he chose to change his perspective, which changed his emotions.

Well, regardless of the cause, the effect of melancholy can be devastating. Notice John 20, verse 25, "So the other disciples were saying to him, 'We have seen the Lord!' but he said to them, 'Unless I see in His hands, the imprint of the nails and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."" So the disciples tell him the good news. But the truth wasn't able to penetrate his pessimism, his bent for depression. And here's where he gets the nickname "Doubting Thomas." And I don't necessarily agree with that appellation, as I mentioned to you earlier, I don't think it was so much that he didn't believe and that he needed more proof, and he was basically saying to the guys that, Listen, you've been deceived. I believe that it was more because of certainly his pessimism, his melancholy combined with his overwhelming love and devotion to Christ. All of that had exploded to a point where he was now in despair, you know, if somebody were to tell me that, after I have lost my precious wife in death, that she has been risen from the dead. I think my reaction would be driven more by grief than it would doubt. I think that's probably what was going on. But notice the love of Jesus. I mean, Jesus knows. He knows all of the workings of our imagination, our personalities, our sins, all of those types of things. Here's what he says to Thomas in John 20, beginning in verse 26, "After eight days, his disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut and stood in their midst and said, 'Peace be with you.'" And I love this, he says, "Then He said to Thomas, 'Reach here with your finger, and see My hands and reach here, your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.'" In other words, Jesus knew what Peter or what Thomas had said. And he's addressing that here, I want you to do exactly what you said, you would do before you would believe. So here's your chance. And, "Thomas answered and said to Him, 'My Lord, and my God!'" "My Lord, and my God!" Which by the way, is a statement that underscores the deity of Christ. And if anyone wants to deny the deity of Christ, I would like for you to explain that text to me, along with hundreds of others, what a tender act of love from the Savior to once again reveal himself to the one who needed such an encounter.

Well, history documents Thomas's ministry in the land of India, in fact, he's buried on a small hill near the airport in Chennai, and Madras, India. And evidently, he did die for the Master. It is said that he was impaled by a spear, As one writer put it, quote, "a fitting form of martyrdom for one whose faith came of age when he saw the spear mark in his master's side, and for one who longed to be reunited with his Lord," end quote. Folks, I hope you long to be reunited with the Lord. And I trust that you will rejoice knowing that he knows everything about you. All of our little quirks, all of our besetting sins, but his grace has covered them all. Despite of who we are he can use us mightily for his sake, as he did Matthew, and as he did, Thomas, isn't that encouraging? Indeed it is. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your great love for us. Thank you for your saving grace, for the transforming work of regeneration that changes everything about us, how we long to see you but until that time, encourage our hearts strengthen our resolve to serve you come what may. And Father there'll be one here within the sound of my voice that does not know you as Savior, how I pray that you will overwhelm them with conviction that they will have no sleep until they humble themselves before you and cry out for the mercy that you will give them so rich and so free. We thank you We give you praise in Jesus name. Amen.

It is always a privilege, a great privilege, that we have to be able to open up the Word of God together. And in a moment, we're going to continue our examination of some of the apostles, we're going to look at Bartholomew, whose name was also called Nathaniel. And so we're going to launch out of Mark chapter three, verses 13, and following. But actually before we get there, I wanted to share just a few thoughts out of Hebrews 13 in verse seven. And this I think, will help frame our minds as we endeavor to look yet again at one of the other men that the Lord chose to be his representatives. In Hebrews 13 Seven, we're exhorted to do something that is most fascinating, something we seldom consider. Yet something that is very, very important in helping us run the race that God has set before us. And in that text, we read, "Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you, and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith." Three, present tense verbs, three actions that must be done in the present, but also must continue, we need to remember to consider, and we need to imitate all three being a part of the biblical concept of remembering. And this would have been a profound, a profoundly important concept for the early Jewish believers, who were tempted to fall back into Judaism because of all of the persecution that they were experience, to fall back into the old covenant, back into legalism. And how easy it is for all of us to fall back into the old ways of the world that were once so appealing to our flesh. So he's asking them, and he's asking us, to remember the unnamed ordinary people who lead you and who spoke the word of God to you. And one of the most amazing miracles of God's providence is how he, over the course of our lives will use ordinary people that the world will never know that the world will never applaud, to speak the Word of God to us, and through that bring us to a place of genuine saving faith. Those who have spoken the Word of God to you in the past, and then also those who lived a life of faith so that we could see the fruit of their conduct. We can examine it. And in the context of Hebrews 13, these are primarily those who had died in the faith, who finished well, some of them had been imprisoned, others had been martyred for their faith; leaders who established the church, who led the church, lay people within the church, moms, dads, grandparents, and so forth, who spoke the truths of divine revelation that they had received from Christ Himself and from the apostles. And through that, the Spirit of God saved them and oh dear friends, the power of godly examples. So often more is caught than taught. And he says, "Consider the result of their character, “or their "conduct." This is so precious to me. I mean, think about this, not only are we to remember those who brought us to a place of saving faith in Christ, by their proclamation of the Word to us, but also we are to carefully consider the outcome of their life, the result of their conduct, to literally meditate upon the effect of their manner of life, the lasting fruit of their faith. Consider how they ran their race without fading without wavering and how they finished well. Once again, we see the tremendous power of enduring faith and the profound influence it has on the next generation.

Think about this, the Old Testament, men and women, the apostles in the New Testament, the church fathers. Think of Martin Luther and John Calvin and John Owen and George Whitfield and John Bunyan, Richard Baxter. Think of John Knox and Charles Spurgeon. Think of Jonathan Edwards and David Brainerd and David Livingstone, William Carey, Jim Elliot, Martyn Lloyd Jones. Think of your parents if you had godly parents as I did, and godly grandparents, godly Sunday school teachers, youth leaders, pastors and so forth, men and women whose message and whose life pointed you to Jesus. And they finished well. You know, a lot of believers start out well, but they finish poorly. By the way, I might add, if you know nothing of church history, you live in a state of spiritual kindergarten at best. I attribute much of the superficiality and the doctrinal ignorance that we see in evangelicalism today to a shameful and even willful ignorance of not only sound doctrine, but also of church history, of familiarity with church history. So we're told here in this text to remember to consider an imitate their faith, I think of Paul in First Corinthians four, you will remember he described how he had worked to the point of just utter exhaustion, and how he had been slandered, how he had become the scum of the world, the dregs of all things, he said, even until now. And you just hurt with him as you hear his testimony. And then he talks about how he had become a, a spiritual father to the Corinthians. And then he said this in First Corinthians 4:16, "I exhort you, therefore, be imitators of me." Can you say that? To others? First Corinthians 11:1, "Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ." Can you say this moms and dads, Sunday school teachers, church leaders, whoever you are, grandparents? Can the next generation emulate your deep love for Christ? Can they look at your life and say, "My, I want to be like that person who had such an insatiable appetite for the Word of God. I want to be like that person who loved Christ supremely who had such a profound burden for the lost who loved other people who gave their life sacrificially in every way imaginable to bring glory to God." Can you say that? Can your children emulate your deep burden for the lost? Your personal pursuit of holiness? Your priority of prayer and perseverance come what may? Can they emulate the joy that they see in you even in the midst of sorrow? Can they look at you and see your faith in the midst of great adversity? Can they see your hope that is unwavering even in seasons of tragedy? Can they see that? Can they copy that? Can they imitate that? Can they see your love in the midst of oppressions? Is this what others are seeing in you? Dads if I can address you specifically, your children are watching and they need you desperately. What is your example to your children? I believe that your example is even more important than the mother's example. Are you the spiritual leader of your family or are you merely a follower? What kind of example are you leaving for your children? You know people ask what is wrong with this country? Well, obviously, Satan is at work, he's alive and he's wreaking havoc; havoc upon the country, but my the reason is because we have too few men who fear God. Men who know how to lead and speak the word of God, men whose message and whose life is gospel centered, men whose faith is exemplary, and worthy of imitation. Remember those who lead you he says, who spoke the word of God to you, and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.

Well, that's what we're doing as we remember the lives of the apostles that the Lord chose. Let me remind you of the context here. We're in Mark chapter three, beginning in verse 13, we read that Jesus, "went up on the mountain and summoned those who He Himself wanted, and they came to him. And He appointed 12, so that they would be with Him, and that He could send them out to preach and to have authority to cast out the demons. And He appointed the twelve: Simon, (to whom he gave the name Peter), and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means "Sons of Thunder"); and Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew," that we will look at today, "and Matthew and Thomas and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot; and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him. Twelve very common, unremarkable ordinary men. They all had their besetting sins as we all do. They were impetuous, they were hard hearted at times. They were proud, they were cowardly. At times, they were unreliable. Some were hot headed spiritually immature, prejudiced, prone to depression, many times just downright stupid. I always love those examples because I can feel much more at home there. Yet, in each case, save Judas Iscariot, Jesus patiently and lovingly shaped them, these unlikely men, into the great pillars of the church. As we read in First Corinthians one "God has chosen the foolish things of the world, to shame the wise and the weak things of the world to shame, things which are strong." So we can find encouragement here, as we look at God's marvelous work in the lives of these men.

So today, we get to know Bartholomew. That was his Hebrew surname, meaning son of Ptolemy. He was also called Nathaniel, in the Gospel of John, Nathaniel means "God has given." And since the synoptic gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, by the way, synoptic means a similar synopses of the same issues. Since Matthew, Mark and Luke, as well as the book of Acts only list him in the list of 12, we can only learn about Bartholomew in two passages in the Gospel of John, we see this in John one and John 21, where he is called Nathaniel. Now, while this information is sketchy, it's enough to draw a reasonably clear picture of his character. First of all, in the list of the apostles found in John 21 and verse two, we see that he was from Cana in Galilee, this would have been a town very close to where Jesus was from in Nazareth. Cana, where Jesus performed his first miracle, as you will recall, where he turned water into wine. But then in John one, and if you'd like to turn there, that's where we're going to look for a few minutes beginning in verse 43. In John one, we discover some helpful insights about this beloved apostle. I've categorized these insights into three simple statements. We see first of all, that he sought after God, secondly, he was prone to prejudice, and finally, he was without deceit. So let's look at this closely. John one beginning in verse 43. "The next day Jesus purpose to go into Galilee and He found Philip. And Jesus said to him, 'Follow me.' Now Philip was from Bethsaida of the city of Andrew and Peter, and Philip found Nathaniel and said to him, 'We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.' Nathaniel said to him, 'Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?' Philip said to him, 'Come and see.' Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to Him and said of him, 'Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there is no deceit!' Nathaniel said to him, 'How do You know me?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.' Nathaniel answered him, 'Rabbi, You are the Son of God; You are the King of Israel.' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe? You will see greater things than these.' And He said to him, 'Truly, truly I say to you, you will see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.'"

So here we discover from the text that Nathaniel was a man that sought after God. Now remember, first of all, Philip the kind of obsessive hyper organized person that he was, He follows Jesus. And then in verse 45, he goes in, he finds Nathaniel, they were, obviously best of friends, and their names are always listed together. In the Gospels, and early church legends depict them as being buddies being companions. And Nathaniel was probably in here, I'm speculating a bit, but he was probably the counterpart to Philip, probably more easygoing, kind and patient, you have to be that way in order to be friends with a person that goes by the book on everything, you know, because perfectionist tend to drive themselves and everyone else crazy. And Philip was bent in that direction. So Nathaniel probably brought a little bit of balance and perspectives to his buddy's life. But notice, in verse 45, it goes on to say, Philip speaking, We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law, and also the Prophets wrote." "We" here would have been a reference to others that Nathaniel would have also known, other fellow Jews, men, godly men looking for their Messiah would have included, certainly, Andrew and Peter, James and John who found him when, as we read in what John the Baptist said in verse 36, "Behold the Lamb of God." So he says, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law, and also the Prophets wrote." By the way, can you imagine saying that to someone today? Imagine going to Vanderbilt University, and getting a large group of the people, the students together and saying to them, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law, and also the Prophets wrote," people think you're crazy. What are you talking about? But obviously, this tells us that Nathaniel was a man that was seeking the Messiah, he was looking for the Savior. He was not guided by human wisdom or the philosophies of the world, he was guided by the revealed word of God. And such the things of God are foolishness to unbelievers. We have every reason to believe that he was searching for divine truth and I believe this would indicate that Nathaniel was a man that had been justified by faith. He would have been like Abraham, whose faith was reckoned to him as righteousness. Remember, in Romans four nine, "reckoned..." "logizomai" a term that that denotes an economic and a legal indication of something being credited to someone else, to another person's account. And like Abraham, his faith would have been imperfect but Nathaniel, I believe, was a recipient of divine grace, he was justified by his faith in God's saving mercy. And remember, faith in itself has no power to save. Faith is never the basis or the reason of salvation. It is a gift from God that provides the channel of redeeming grace to be bestowed. And so God has infused Nathaniel with his own righteousness, because Nathaniel knew that his own righteousness could never save him. Remember what Paul said in Romans four beginning of verse four, "Now to the one who works, his wage not reckoned as a favor, but as what is due. But to the one who does not work but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is," here it is again, "reckoned as righteousness." Now remember the Jews living under the old covenant, the Mosaic Covenant, we're waiting for, as Hebrews 11:40 says, quote "something better." They were waiting for something better, which was the New Covenant of God's grace that was promised. For example, in Jeremiah 31. They were looking for the great Menahem, which means the great consoler, the rest giver, the Comforter, the Messiah to come, the one pictured in the symbols of all of the sacrificial system. So the righteousness of Christ was imputed to them, even before the Lamb was slain. Prior to the cross a believer's sin was paid in anticipation of Christ's atoning work even though they didn't fully understand all of that. You might say they were saved on credit. Well, obviously Nathaniel longed to see his Savior. He longed to see his Messiah and King; he was looking for him through Scripture. He was a seeker Psalm 69:32 recognizes that salvation comes only from the Lord but David acknowledges that, quote, "the hearts of those who seek God shall live." He understood Psalm 40, verse 16, "Let all who seek Thee rejoice and be glad in Thee. Let those who love Thy salvation say continually, the Lord be magnified. Since I'm afflicted and needy, Let the LORD be mindful of me. Thou art my help and my deliverer. Do not delay Oh, my God." Indeed, as the writer of Hebrews reminds us pertaining to the reward of saving grace that Enoch sought in Hebrews 11, verse, "He who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him."

Dave Harrell

Now, why didn't Nathaniel seek him? What was going on in his heart? What was that spirit wrought grace that caused him to seek after God? What was he thinking about? Let me digress for a moment. You know, one of Satan's greatest lies is to get people to believe that they are not lost in their sins, and therefore they don't really need a savior. Right? The raging fires of apostasy in contemporary evangelical evangelicalism are fueled by these kinds of false teachers that would have you believe that Jesus is much more of a blesser than a banker, than a Savior and Lord, and others, like the incredibly popular and dangerous seeker sensitive movement that is still quite prevalent today. They preach a watered down gospel to attract crowds, utterly oblivious to God's sovereign work in salvation. They wrongly assume that, that the gospel of Jesus Christ needs to be repackaged, so that somehow it can be more relevant and more attractive to sinners. But they failed to realize that these so called seekers are not seeking salvation. They're seeking vindication, something very, very different. They're not seeking salvation from sin. They're not saying "what must I do to be saved? I understand that God is holy, and I am not. And I understand that I must be reconciled to Him by faith. What must I do?" That's not what they're seeking? What they're seeking is, I want to feel good about myself, I want to feel good about my life. I want to go to a church that is sensitive to my felt needs. Don't offend me by exposing my so called sin and telling me that I'm going to hell unless I repent. I don't want to hear that stuff. And so as a result, what you have in these churches is entertainment rather than exposition. The gospel is watered down to be more palatable, and through the use of clever gimmicks, once you see the felt needs of the people are constantly addressed, methodology takes precedence over theology. The entire worship service centers around that. The idea is we've got to become like the world in order to win it. A better strategy for evangelism is being more worldly than just preaching the truth of the gospel. And so worship services are centered around man and his needs rather than God and his glory. We saw this for example, in The Purpose Driven Life. Remember that book that came out? It sold way over a million copies. It was kind of like a shooting star, you know, everybody saw it there for a little while. And now it's disappeared because there was no substance to it. I remember when I first read it I, you've heard me say this before, I thought to myself, my goodness, this is one of the most dangerous deceptions that I have ever read. It is a counterfeit of counterfeits. It is wide gate, broad way theology, many are going to be deceived by this. It's filled with bad theology, verses taken out of context, unbiblical promises offered to people who are never distinguished between believers and non believers. No discussion of the very heart of the gospel. You read nothing in there about the holiness of God, the holiness of his law, how we have violated his law, the wages of sin, you read nothing about the need to be reconciled to God, nothing about our fallen flesh. Nothing about the power of regeneration, the cost of discipleship, the sovereignty of God, living for His glory. The reader is merely asked to quote "Whisper the prayer that will change your eternity" and here it is, "Jesus I believe in you and I receive you." Okay, well what's wrong with that? Well this issue is believe in what? And receive what? He goes on to say quote, "If you sincerely meant that prayer, congratulations, welcome to the family of God." Frightening. This is easy believeism at its worst, and this is how you fill churches with tares more than wheat. The emphasis is on the love of God, a good self image, a successful marriage, spiritual success, unity, personal fulfillment, and so forth. Remember, the author Rick Warren's gives the advice and his advice centers around quote, "Refocusing your thoughts and joining a support group." The patterns of sin and our life are, are redefined and reduced to quote, "A repeating cycle of good intention, failure guilt, in which people need to be healed because they are sick." Warren admits that three of the four intended results of this book The Purpose Driven Life are and here they are, "To reduce your stress, simplify your decisions, and increase your satisfaction." Folks, that's not why I came to Christ. I came to Christ because I was a sinner in desperate need of saving grace. And likewise with Nathaniel, he was not a seeker of God to somehow reduce his stress, simplify his decisions and increase satisfaction and therefore find purpose in life. He sought after the Lord because he knew he was lost in his sins. He sought after the Lord because he was hopeless and desperate in his condition. He sought the Lord because he knew he was lost. He knew he had violated God's holy law that he deserved death. And he knew that he could not save himself. He was desperate for a Savior. So he sought after God for undeserved mercy for pardon. You know Philip did not come to Nathaniel and say we have found him who will give us a good self image, happy family, spiritual success, unity and personal fulfillment, etcetera. He didn't say that.

Now, some will say and rightfully so, well, Romans 3:11-12 says "There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside together they have become useless; There is no one who does good, there is not even one." Certainly that is true. Man is utterly unwilling and incapable of seeking after God unless the Father draws him, John 6:44 and many other passages, the human will, possesses no inherent inclination to holiness. Man is utterly depraved. His eyes are blind, his ears are deaf. He is a spiritual cadaver in every sense, you can't throw him a lifeline as he's sinking in the ocean of his sin and he's got to somehow reach up and grab it. Because he's dead. He's just floating there. God's got to do something. God has to initiate that by the Holy Spirit who sovereignly determined in eternity past to save sinners. I might add theologically that regeneration is monotheistic, it's not synergistic. Salvation is all of grace. We don't share in the glory of our salvation. The new birth regeneration must both precede and elicit saving faith in Christ and this is what had happened to Nathaniel. The Spirit of God had breathed life into the rotting corpse of his sin by the power of in grace of the Spirit of God. He had been miraculously born again. Regeneration is that instantaneous, supernatural impartation of spiritual life to the spiritually dead. And simultaneous with his new birth, he saw the sort of divine justice looming over his unholy head. And in desperation, he cried out to God, to have mercy upon him as a sinner. And God saved him and he was delivered from the kingdom of darkness in the wrath to come. He was redeemed by the blood of the lamb that had been symbolized and all that Judaism had done in their sacrificial system, and their feasts and in their convocations, and all of the rituals. And now, his buddy Philip comes to him, and says, "We have found Him of whom Moses in the Law and also the Prophets wrote," then he says, "Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." Now that would have really shocked him, "Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." I mean, this is like the most unlikely candidate here. Jesus, there are more Aramaic form of Yeshua, Joshua, the Old Testament, meaning Yahweh is Salvation. Now this was a name that undoubtedly struck a nerve with Nathaniel, because he knew the Old Testament promises. He had previously responded to the Savior's invitation to repent given through the Prophet Zephaniah, you remember in Zephaniah two, beginning of verse two, we read this "Before the Lord's fierce anger comes upon you, before the day of the Lord's anger comes upon you seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth." Boy, try saying that to a massive crowd of seekers, right? That's not what they want to hear. I'm not signing up for that deal. Well, Nathaniel was looking for his Messiah, he was a seeker of God, because God in His grace had moved upon his heart and transformed him and justified him. And he's now eager to know who his Messiah is.

But secondly, he was prone to prejudice, verse 46. And now Nathaniel said to him, Can any good thing come out of Nazareth? You know, we've all got our biases, right? I mean, let's face it, we all have them; prejudices that are typically fueled by pride, a sense of superiority, we all we all struggle with that a certain way. And I find it rather interesting, Nathaniel comes out of Cana, which wasn't even as prestigious as Nazareth. But he looks down on Nazareth, you know, if you will, it's like somebody from Adams making fun of people from Joelton. You know, it's come on, remember now most all of the Jews scoffed at people that lived in the Galilee. They thought that was the place where the uneducated rednecks lived. And they were not the political and religious elite of Jerusalem and throughout the New Testament, the apostles as well as Jesus, were constantly ridiculed because they were from Galilee. Remember, the Pharisees tease Nicodemus in John 7:52? Saying, "are you also from Galilee? Search and look for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee?" Certainly we have to all guard ourselves against prejudice, whether it's race or culture, education, I mean, there can be all kinds of things. By the way, there's absolutely no place for racial prejudice in the church. You know, there's only one race folks, don't forget that is one race is called the human race. Act 17:26. He made from one man, every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth. Genetics is going to make us look a little bit different in various ways. But well, that's another topic. However, we are told to discriminate against false doctrine to discriminate against false teachers, grievous sin that can demean others in the church; we're to look upon that and discriminate with that. But the poisonous waters of prejudice are always drawn from the well of ignorance and pride. But notice how Philip responded to his friends, knee jerk bias, verse 46, he says, "Come and see." You know, don't laugh here why don't you come see, why don't you come meet him? Don't judge a book by its cover, read it. So he hates his friends advice and he sets aside his prejudice and he thinks, Okay, I'll honestly evaluate the validity of this claim that you have found the Messiah and he is "Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth."

This moves us to the third point that we see about him, he was without deceit. In other words, he was without duplicity, without hypocrisy. Verse 47, "Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to Him." And let me stop there for a moment. You know that's an incredible thought. He saw him coming to him. Even though he was a great distance away there speaks of something more than Oh, that looks like Nathaniel coming here. Beloved, a sovereign God had decreed in eternity past that Nathaniel would come to him. So he had seen this all along. He loved him with an everlasting love with all of his fault. Just like he's loved us, and continues to love us, the very Messiah that sought him by his irresistible grace, the force of his saving grace, was now looking at his adopted son, coming towards him. He was seeing him through incarnate eyes, the lover of his soul sees his searching child walking towards him. I'm always amazed at the intimate love, and the intimate involvement of our Savior in our lives, to know that he sees everything, and even as Jesus gazed upon Nathaniel coming towards him. He has seen all of us before time began, and all throughout our lives, isn't that amazing thought? He sees us when we come to Him. And He also sees us when we walk away. Psalm 139, beginning in verse one, "Oh Lord, Thou has searched me and known me, Thou does know when I sit down and when I rise up, Thou dost understand my thought from afar, Thou dost scrutinize my path and my lying down and are intimately acquainted with all my ways." An amazing thought, I'm reminded of Hagar's response to God's promised to her regarding her unborn son Ishmael. Genesis 16:13, she says, "Thou art a God who sees." Friends realize that a myriad of eyes watch us every moment of our life. Spiritually that are both holy, as well as unholy, are dispatched to observe our character and conduct. Their eyes are riveted upon us. They see what we do what we do in our family, how our church conducts itself. It hears these messages, on and on it goes. And the Holy Angels not only rejoice in every sinner that repents, but those angels, by God's decree, remain forever vigilant to minister to protect, to provide. Indeed, untold hosts of invisible creatures attend to our needs all the time in ways that we can't ever imagine. I often think that when I get to heaven, there's going to be some frustrated guardian angels that say, "Man, you gave us a run for our money." They hear our conversations, our prayers, our songs. They observe our deeds both good and bad. Beloved, we don't walk upon this world undetected. Others are watching. We are seen by devils and angels alike. But let me tell you this. All of that pales into utter insignificance in comparison to the omniscient gaze of our holy God that sees into the very core, the very inner resources of our imagination. He sees it all.

Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him, a gaze that began an eternity past. What an astounding testimony into the Savior's sight into the souls of His chosen one. So Nathaniel eventually locks eyes with his creator, something that I long to do one day, as you do, to see him face to face. Notice what Jesus says, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." My what a remarkable tribute. And I might add what an anomaly in the Jewish culture that was filled with self righteous, religiosity, external religion, hypocrisy. So he was a genuine worshipper of Yahweh. He was not one of the self righteous hypocrites, he was not a religious phony. He didn't merely have the trappings of spirituality, as we say, or at least as I say, he wasn't like those that are all sizzle, but no steak. This was the real deal and the omniscient Christ peers into his soul and sees that integrity. Still a sinner? Oh, yes, but a man who longed for Christ for the Messiah, to worship God in spirit and in truth. Can people say that of you? Can the Lord Jesus say that of you? Because he sees what we can't see, and often what you can't see.

Nathaniel's character is illustrated well by Paul's commentary on Jewish hypocrisy in Romans two, beginning in verse 28, we read this, "He is not a Jew who was one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew, who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not by the letter, whose praise is not from men, but from God." So stunned at Jesus statement, and no doubt, skeptical, Nathaniel says, verse 48, "'How do you know me?' Jesus answered and said to him, 'Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree I saw.'" You know, folks here, Jesus displays once again, His deity. He displays His omniscience, and thus validates yet again, his Messiahship. Now, it's really important that you see this, Jesus could have said, well, you know, I saw you in your house earlier today. Or he could have said, I saw you in the marketplace, or I saw you walking alongside the road, or I saw you in some private place of no significance. But he said to him, I saw you under the fig tree. And Nathaniel's response indicates the profound significance of Jesus choice of observations. I believe it was under the cool shade of a fig tree where Nathaniel routinely met with God, as was the custom of many of the Jewish men in that day. It was under the fig tree where he searched the scriptures, where he was able to discern all of the things that were necessary for him to be a true seeker of God and be justified by faith alone. A place where Nathaniel communed with God and prayer this was his secret chamber, if you will, where he did business with the lover of his soul, report out his confessions to the Lord, where he cried out for mercy, where the doxologies of his heart continued to flow from within, as he longed for that time when his Messiah would come, and take him unto himself. This was the place where he rejoiced in undeserved grace. And now suddenly, he realizes he standing in the presence of his glory.

Notice what he says, verse 49, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God, You are the king of Israel." By the way, both of those statements indicate his familiarity with the Old Testament Messianic prophecies which spoke of the coming messiah in these very terms. Remember, the primary emphasis of John's gospel is to exalt the deity of Christ, and we see this once again here, over and over again, he demonstrates the fact that Jesus was and is the son of God. And now once again, the inspired author indicates this glorious truth, "Rabbi, You are the Son of God, You are the king of Israel." Verse 50, "Jesus answered and said to him, 'Because I said to you that I saw you under the fig tree, do you believe?'" By the way this is more of a promise than a question. It's as if he's saying "Nathaniel, this sample of my omniscience that has convinced you of who I really am is merely the beginning of what I'm going to show you in the days to come." Verse 50, he goes on to say, "You shall see greater things than these." Nathaniel, I'm gonna show you things beyond your wildest imagination. Miracles that demonstrate my power over sin, and Satan and disease and death and over nature itself. When all of these things are going to strengthen your faith. These things will strengthen your resolve to trust in me come what may. And he goes on to say in verse 51, "Truly, truly I say to you, you shall see the heavens opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man." Now here we have a reference to Genesis 28. You remember the story, Jacob was a lonely traveler leaving the land of Canaan, he was in need of divine comfort. He was in need of God, helping him understand that he was going to be with him. The son said he had a stone for a pillow, he has a dream. And he sees a stairway going up from heaven to earth, and angels were ascending and descending. And in that dream, God was trying to encourage Jacob. He was reminding Jacob that he would indeed be faithful to his covenantal promises, to the covenant that he had made with Abraham, the Abrahamic covenant, that indeed, he would give Jacob's descendants the land and the promised seed and the blessing that he had promised. That's the reference. And then, and his angelic servants were tirelessly involved in that glorious process. So knowing Nathaniel's theological and biblical understanding, he uses this Old Testament event in the life of Jacob to simply say, Nathaniel, even as I allow Jacob to see a vision of my supernatural involvement in the affairs of men, so to I am going to accomplish my sovereign will, in you. I am going to reveal myself to you. I want you to notice there is no ladder or stairway in this text, like there is in Genesis 21, only the ascending and descending angels have the Son of Man, why is that? Because, beloved, the bridge between heaven and earth now is the son of man alone. He alone is our access to God, He alone is our stairway to heaven. What a thrilling moment that must have been in the life of Nathaniel, a man who had by divine grace sought after God, still human, struggling with prejudice and who knows what else. You had a man of integrity, not a hypocrite.

Well, apart from this, we know nothing about this dear apostle and early church records indicate that he served the Lord in India and Persia, which is modern day Iran and spread the gospel, possibly as far as Armenia. And there's conflicting traditions about the way he died. Some say that he was tied up in a sack and drowned in the sea. Others say that he was crucified. But there's high probability that he was martyred for his faith in Christ. Like all of the apostles, except John. So there we get to know another brother in Christ that we will get to know much better someday. And I would challenge you to ponder these great truths. I would challenge you to celebrate the omniscience of God who can peer into your very soul and examine you. I would challenge you to celebrate the intimacy of God, the One who knows all about you and continues to love you, continues to conform you into the image of Christ. I would challenge you to celebrate God's grace even as we've seen it, displayed here with Nathaniel. And then I would also challenge you to remember, consider and imitate those who gave the Word of God to you, that you would be like them, that others could one day remember you and consider you and imitate you. Let's pray together. Father, thank You for the eternal truths of your word. Thank you for Nathaniel and for the others that you've set your love upon that you use in such a powerful way to be the foundations of the church. And Lord, we pray that even as you use them, you will use each of us men and women, boys and girls, who love you, who are committed to you, Oh, Father, may we be godly, in our heart. May we be Christ like in our actions, that many will see the magnificent truths of the gospel, and be saved, be radically transformed. And I pray that even this day, that there'll be one within the sound of my voice that knows nothing of what it really means to be in relationship with the living Christ through faith. I pray that today will break their heart to a place to a point where they will cry out for the mercy that you will so readily grant them that today will be the day they will experience the miracle of the new birth. We thank you We give you praise for all that you are and all that you do. In Jesus name. Amen.

It is always a great joy to be able to express the doxologies of our heart and song and what a blessing it is to have music that God has given us music. And thank you musicians for leading us so well. Will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark three, we will continue our study of the gospel of Mark. But we're taking several Sundays to look specifically at the apostles that Jesus chose. And so this will be kind of a jumping off point to other passages that we will look at. It's been fascinating to get to know those that Jesus appointed to be his closest companions, his emissaries of the kingdom. And in Mark Three, beginning of verse 13, we read this, "And Jesus went up to on the mountain and summoned to those whom He Himself wanted and they came to Him. And He appointed 12, so that they would be with Him, and that He could send them out to preach, and to have authority to cast out the demons." And, of course, we are all beneficiaries of these men that God called and gifted. And they are indeed the foundation of the church. But we've also seen that these are men whose only remarkable qualifications is their lack of remarkable qualifications. And as you've heard me say before, that gives me great hope. Isn't it wonderful to know how God can use us. And remember now, his choice of these ordinary men, was basically a rebuke against the elitist that were in charge of the Jews, the elitist of Judaism, the religious leaders, the scholars, the lawyers, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, scribes, and so forth. These were religious phonies, that wanted to be first in the kingdom, fools who really had no fear of God. And of course, as scripture says, fools, reject instruction, they despise wisdom and instruction. And these were the kind of men that God was using, or that Satan was using to thwart the purposes of God. And so God bypasses them, and he chooses ordinary men. And we see this, in our culture is well, and I know some of you have talked with me about some of the horrors that you have had to endure even this week. And I, I agree with you all of the woke things that are being perpetrated upon you in the workplace and at school. And just want to remind you that what they were dealing with in the first century, even though the issues were different, the dynamics were the same. This was the philosophy of the day in rejection of who God was. And we see this of course in the progressive Neo Marxist politicians and their sycophants in Hollywood and, and in the media. We have our own version of the Pharisees today, the Harvard Ivy League East Coast snobs and the West Coast know it alls and the liberal woke people that are in evangelicalism now, just wreaking havoc in the church. In fact, the level of depravity is so profound right now that even some of the secularists are beginning to throw up their hands and wonder, I was listening to one lady describe it this way. In a video that was sent to me, she said, "I never dreamed that I would have to face the prospect of not living in the United States of America. At least not the one I've known all my life. I've never wished to live anywhere else. This is my home and I was privileged to be born here. But today, I woke up and as I had my morning coffee, I realized that everything is about to change. No matter how I vote, no matter what I see something evil has invaded our nation, and our lives are never going to be the same. I've been confused by the hostility of family and friends. I look at people I've known all my life, so hate filled that they agree with opinions they would never express on their own. I think I may have well entered the Twilight Zone. We've become a nation that is lost its collective mind. You can't justify this insanity. If a guy pretends to be a woman, you're required to pretend with him. Somehow it's unAmerican for the census to count how many Americans are in America. Russians influencing our elections are bad but illegals voting in our elections are good. People who've never owned slaves should pay slavery reparations to people who have never been slaves. People who have never been to college should pay the debts of college students who took out huge loans for their degrees. Immigrants with tuberculosis and polio are welcome but you'd better be able to prove your dog is vaccinated. Irish doctors and German engineers who want to immigrate to the EU, United States must go through a rigorous vetting process, but any illiterate gangbangers who jumped the southern fence are welcome. $5 billion for border security is too expensive, but 1.5 trillion for free health care is not. If you cheat to get into college, you go to prison. But if you cheat to get into the country, you go to college for free. People who say there is no such thing as gender are demanding a female president. We see other countries going socialist and collapsing, but it seems like a great plan to us. Criminals are caught and released to hurt more people but stopping them is bad because it's a violation of their rights. And pointing out all this hypocrisy somehow makes us racist. Nothing makes sense anymore. No values, no morals, no civility. People are dying of a Chinese virus but it's racist to refer to it as Chinese even though it began in China. We're clearly living in an upside down world where right is wrong and rwong is right. Where moral is immoral and immoral is moral. Where good as evil and evil is good, where killing murderers is wrong, but killing unborn babies is a okay. Wake up America. The great unsinkable ship. Titanic America has hit an iceberg. It is taking on water and it is sinking fast." Pretty observant. And that's from a secular mindset. Indeed, God has given America over to the consequences of her iniquity. And this ship will sink like all other empires have sunk because of their rebellion against the Most High God. This country has sown the wind it is now reaping the whirlwind. And we've not seen anything yet.

I was reminded of what JC Ryle said, he was a 19th century English clergyman said this quote, "Scripture teaches plainly that God rules everything in this world, that he deals with nations as they deal with him, that national prosperity and national decline are ordered by him, and that without his blessing, no nation can prosper. Whether men like to see it or not, I believe it is the first duty of a state to honor and recognize God. The government which ignores religion, and coolly declares that it does not care whether its subjects are Christians or not, is guilty of an act of suicidal folly. Your religion, even in a temporal point of view is the worst enemy of a nation in what manner God would punish England. If English governments cast off all connection with religion, I cannot tell whether he would punish us by some sudden blows, such as the defeated war and the occupation of our territory by a foreign power, whether he would waste us away gradually and slowly by placing a worm at the roots of our commercial prosperity, or whether he would break us in pieces by letting fools rule over us and allowing Parliament's to obey them, and permitting us like the Midianites to destroy one another. Whether he would ruin us by sending a dearth of wise statesmen in the upper ranks and giving the reins of power to communists, socialists and mob leaders. All these are points which I have no prophetical eye to see. And I do not pretend to determine God's sorest judgments. The ancient said, quote, are like millstones. They grind very slowly, but they grind very fine. The thing that I fear most he said, for my country is gradual and sensible dry rot and decay. But one thing I am very sure, the state that begins by sowing the seed of national neglect of God will sooner or later reap a harvest of national disaster and national ruin." End quote.

Folks, aren't you're thankful we're citizens of another kingdom. We serve the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords and we await his arrival. So to be sure, the elite of the first century share the same kind of foolishness that we see in the elite of our day. As government and academia and so forth. So Jesus bypassed those proud fools of Israel and instead chose 12, just ordinary men, utter foolishness to the world; only 12, not the really religious elite, not the celebrities, not the politicians, just some fishermen, tax collector, a Jewish terrorist that hated Rome, and some other nondescript men. And you have to think, God, what were you thinking? Well, Paul tells us what he was thinking in First Corinthians one. You remember the passage in verse 25, and following, "The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world, to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that he might nullify the things that are, so that no man should boast before God. But by His doing, you are in Christ Jesus." And as we study the lives of these men, we see that it's a great encouragement, because what God wants is our availability, not our abilities. He will give us all we need to accomplish, all that He wants us to accomplish, for His glory. Through the indwelling Spirit, He empowers us. And we rejoice in that. Beloved, never underestimate your capacity to be used by God. Okay? Never underestimate that. Regardless of your lot in life, regardless of your education, your experience, your gender, your socio economic condition, whatever it is, even your spiritual condition. All of these factors are meaningless because what God looks for is a person that is repentant, that is humble, that is teachable, and that is available. Most Christians fail to live up to their potential. And as a result, they forfeit blessing in their life, and they become ineffective with respect to the kingdom, God's Kingdom purposes. There's really three reasons for this. The first one, real simply and very shortly, I just want to briefly hit this. The first reason why they don't live up to their potential is habitual sinfulness. Life dominating sin. They refuse to examine their life and repentance. So therefore, the Spirit of God is grieved and quenched and they cannot be used. The second reason people don't live up to their potential is habitual laziness. There's just no self discipline, no desire to really understand the word. And as Paul told Timothy, to discipline yourself, for the sake of godliness. Instead, people are ignorant, undiscerning and self absorbed. And the third reason, people don't live up to their potential, his habitual powerlessness. And the reason for that is people refuse to serve Christ as a good soldier. And if you're not in the battle, you're not going to experience the difficulties of the conflict. And therefore, you're not going to cry out for the only help available to you in Christ, the divine provisions that will carry you through. Moreover, you won't have a sense of a divine urgency to be engaged in the battle. Well, not so the 11 out of the 12 apostles. And today, we're going to look at Philip, who is the second leader, I should say, the leader of the second set of four apostles. So let's look at Philip here for a minute.

Scripture doesn't tell us his Jewish name. His Greek name was Philip, which means lover of horses. So I've got something in common with this guy growing up with horses and loving horses. We'll have some great conversation, some day I'm sure. Probably, he was a guy from a Hellenistic family. These were Jews that had adopted the Greek culture and the Greek language. And what's interesting is he's always the fifth man listed on every list of the 12 found in the New Testament. What which indicates that he was the leader of the second group of four apostles. Now, by the way, don't don't confuse him with Philip the deacon, the evangelist out of Acts 6 that met with the Ethiopian and so forth, this is a different guy here. John 1:44 says that Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. So he was also a fisherman, along with two others in his little group. And those other two would be Bartholomew, who was also called Nathaniel, as well as Thomas. And he, of course, he was friends with Peter and Andrew, and James and John, all God fearing Jews who would have attended the same synagogue, they would have been out of the same church. Basically, it's interesting that Jesus chose the team, where over half the men were already close friends, they shared the same cultural values, they were not diverse as people want us all to be today. That is, that is a recipe for disaster. When you get people from all different cultures, and so forth. I've served on a number of boards in the year over the years, and I've consulted with Christian organizations, I've mediated great conflicts in churches and denominations and mission boards. And I can tell you firsthand that when you mix cultures, and you mix socio economic backgrounds, doctrinal perspectives, and you get a wide disparity of opinion on all manner of things, it's going to be a disaster. You take a opossum and a coon, and a dog and you put them in a small cage, there's going to be problems. And sometimes that's what happens with people.

Well also, it's interesting that God chose uneducated men whose minds had not previously been shaped by error. Nor had they convinced themselves of their own omniscience, as many times is the case in academia, especially upper Appa academia. I've been there, I know it firsthand. I know the temptations myself. And it's much easier to train a man that is uneducated and teachable than to try to teach an educated man that is not teachable. And I might hasten to add that not all educated people are unteachable, the apostle Paul was a brilliant scholar, and look what God did with him. Moreover, not all uneducated, people are teachable. Sometimes people are too ignorant to know they're ignorant. And that can be a problem as well with those type of people. Logic and exegesis and even common sense, never come into play. Two plus two is going to be five no matter how you put it. And so even though you have mountains of evidence to the contrary, they're going to believe what they want to believe. So those can be problematic.

So before the foundation of the world, what is interesting, is God chose these men. In fact, John 15:16, we read that Jesus told them, "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you." So God, in his infinite wisdom, set his love upon these men who were as common as a fencepost. And sometimes equally as dense. But men, who loved him, all except Judas, they were available, though uneducated, they were teachable. And they shared the same basic values and experiences. Now Phillip is a fascinating character. We don't find a whole lot in Scripture. And we don't want to press this too far. But there is enough that we can begin to get some idea of who he was of his interpersonal style of relating his character. And I've known many men who share his personality. And sometimes they can be difficult to be around. Let me kind of paint a general picture here. To give you a sense of who he was. And again, I don't want to press this too far. But this is kind of the general category. He was what we would call a bean counter. He was a type of guy that would track every penny. He was consumed with process and protocol. Sometimes we call these people the administrative control freaks, all right, they can be difficult to be around. They have, they always have 40 reasons why what you want to do won't work. And that's kind of what we see there. The corporate killjoys, I've seen them in business. We used to call them the deal killers. They're proud to wear the badge cynic. And so this is the chronically pessimistic type of person that's it's very, very analytical and, and terrified of adventure. The word risk is a four letter word to these kinds of people because of weak faith, they tend to be consumed with self protection, they simply can't function without guarantees. They have kind of a spirit of control. And they get nervous when things kind of get outside the boundaries of what is written down and what the operating manual says you're supposed to do everything that needs to be by the book. And all of the policies and procedures need to be in place, you might say they were, or they are, rigid, obsessed with organization, not flexible. And many times they are fastidious and proud of it, excessively particular, can be very critical. And in extreme forms, you can see this take on what we call today, or what the secularists call OCD. And that's basically biblically, it's the idolatry of self obsessive compulsive disorder rather than living a gospel informed life, rather than relaxing in God's sovereignty and his love and trusting him rather than taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and letting his word fill you. Rather than that, everything's got to be perfect. That can't be, the mistakes, I've got to make sure everybody likes me, I don't want to do anything that will cause anybody to dislike me, I can't be seen as incompetent, I can't be seen as deficient in any way. I've worked with them before dear people, and it's great to see them come out of this, as they begin to see how they're functioning. But in these extreme forms, they can be obsessed with germs and bacteria. And, and they live in perpetual fear. I always like to tell them, do you realize there are 700 species of bacteria in your mouth. They estimate there 6 billion bacteria in your mouth. So it's kind of hard to run from all that. But so what happens is people begin to have ungodly introspection, they reevaluate everything, every thought, every action, and then those thoughts become obsessive and reoccurring, and they begin to consume them. And all of that causes stress in the body, it causes anxiety. So in order to find relief, they begin to pursue habitual ritual types of behaviors, all designed to somehow alleviate the stress and, and the fear and the obsessions that the obsessions produce. So they're always organizing or avoiding germs or avoiding other things, et cetera, et cetera. It's a hopeless cycle.

Well, I'm not saying Philip was that way. I'm not saying that. But just to give you an example of this, is this is where these types of sinful thoughts and attitudes can take a person. And it can be devastating. But as we will see, Phillip was the typical kind of by the book, facts and figures, pessimistic process kind of person. So for these kinds of people, words, like "improvise" are just not in their vocabulary. All right, entrepreneur, nah, no, no, no, no, can't do that. And they have a hard time seeing the big picture, and so forth. They are the type of people I might say if you're kind of in this category, they're the type of people that will, the first thing they're going to say is, well, we've never done that before. We're not no, no, we can't do that. Rather than saying, boy, wouldn't that be great? You know, what do we need to make that happen? Wouldn't it be great to see what God can do? I mean, it's a radically different perspective. And I remember, and some of you are here today that were with us when this church started down the street and a little storefront, and we had run out of room. Some of you are smiling. You remember those days, don't you? And we had run out of room. It was just it was awful. And we needed to do something and we decided to purchase some property, this piece of property and, and build a church versus rent. And we had some people say, Oh, no, no, no, no, we can't do that. I mean, we, we don't have the money. There's just no way we can do that. And of course, others were saying, wouldn't it be great to see what God could do? We need to trust him to to see what see what he could do. Oh, no, we can't do that. Because that would mean for example, you have to borrow money. When the Bible says you're not supposed to borrow money. And I had to explain to them that the Bible does not say that and I had to explain to them the passages that they misunderstood and misinterpreted. So seven families signed a note and collateralize their homes. We found a banker that loves us, a man that I had known for many years and they gave us the money, and we trusted God. And here we are today. And we rejoice in that. And so there's always a balance, though, you know, we need those people along with the more visionary type of people that to balance this out, but, but whatever our interpersonal style relating, we have to be careful that we don't let the pendulum go too far in one direction or the other. So Philip struggled with some of these kinds of things. He had his own proclivities as we all do. Proclivity is just a negative tendency in his personality. And we're going to see this as we examine a couple of passages here today.

The first one is in John six. You remember, all the crowd is coming to us to see Jesus. And there, we read in John six and verse 10, that there were 5000 men, if you had the kids and the women , probably 15 to 20,000 people, they're gathering outside of Tiberius, kind of in a remote area to see Jesus. In fact, the context is, we can see a little more about this, forgive me for this. I'm jumping around with different passages. But in Matthew 14, we read how Jesus had compassion on this magnificent multitude that was coming towards him, and he's healing, they're sick and casting out demons. And it's late in the evening, and apostles were getting hungry, it's dinnertime, I understand that. And they know that they can't eat in front of all these people. Like, Hey, folks, hang on a minute, we need to have dinner here, while you guys don't have anything, they can't do that. So in Matthew 14, verse 15, we read in "When it was evening, the disciples came to Him saying, 'The place is desolate, and the time has already passed. so send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.' But Jesus said to them, 'They do not need to go away, you give them something to eat!'" Really interesting, by the way, when these types of things come into your life, and you're kind of overwhelmed, and and you think, Oh, my, now what am I going to do? You need to smile and say, Lord, thank you, you're up to something here in my life. I don't know what it is, but I rejoice in it, and I'm going to trust you. And Father, I'm just going to cry out to you to help me understand how you want me to navigate, this is beyond me, this is your deal. And all I want to do is be available, I want to honor you, help me make the right decisions helped me to understand what the Bible says about this, help me to talk to godly people, I want to honor you, and so I'm going to cry out to you. And I know that you have brought this disaster into my life for a purpose. And that's what was going on here. Now back to John. He had some more insight into this momentous occasion, and John six and verse five, "Jesus, therefore lifting up His eyes, and seeing that a great multitude was coming to him, said to Philip, 'Where are we to buy bread that these may eat?'" Now, let's stop for a second. Obviously, we're going to need to ask why did he single out Philip? And why did he ask him that? Because Jesus didn't need the information. He was already way ahead of the whole scenario. And so if I can put it this way, this was a loving setup for Phillip. And evidently, Phillip was the chief operating officer of the group. He was kind of the administrator, the logistics specialist that bought and distributed food, he probably was the one that helped secure their lodging, arranged meetings, interviews with Jesus and so forth as we look at the various passages. But it's interesting that Jesus singled out Phillip, well, why did he do that? Well, verse six of John six tells us and this Jesus was saying, "to test him, for he himself knew what he was intending to do."

I have to smile because my has the Lord done this to me more times than I can count. The word test is a neutral term, there's two options, you either pass it or you fail it, right. It's real simple. And when God tests, he's giving us an opportunity to either respond in faith and obedience, or to respond in skepticism and rebellion. And that's what's going on here with Philip, because he knew who Philip was. He knew the holes in his program, and he's gonna love him enough to put him in a situation where Philip has to have faith and depend upon God and not his own resources. This was a teachable moment. But this was Philips worst nightmare, right? He was overwhelmed with the whole thing. It doesn't say this, but I would imagine, Jesus had a bit of a smile on his face and a little glimmer in his eye as he asked Philip, you know, what are you going to do with this? Now, it's interesting what, what Philip's predictable response was in verse seven, "Philip answered him, '200 denarii worth of bread is not sufficient for them for everyone to receive a little.'" I mean, Philip had already done the math in his head, he, he knew that he was the guy that was going to have to do something with all of this. I mean, that, by the way, is eight months wages of a single day laborer, one denarius was one day's wages. And he knew that this would absolutely exhaust all of the resources, if they spent everything they had to get some food when there's no place to even buy it. And then they wouldn't have anything and it still wouldn't feed a fraction of the people. Now, Jesus knew Phillip's, faith is weak. Philip is like many of us who tend to depend upon our own abilities, our own resources to make life work. And I would imagine, when Jesus said to him, "Where are you to buy bread that these may eat?" I would imagine he pulled out the checkbook said, look, here's all we got, insufficient funds. That's kind of what's going on here. And Jesus knew that this, this would frustrate Philip. Because it wasn't part of the protocol. It wasn't part of the organized way that we do things. And to feed 20,000 unexpected guests, guests around the campfire is going to be impossible. But it was the perfect scenario, to put Phillip in a position of panic, so that he might grow in Christ. Again, faith was something that he was uncomfortable with and the idea of improvise, I doubt if that word was in his vocabulary, that must be avoided at all cost. And often, God puts us in those positions where it's like, I don't know what to do, I'm gonna have to trust you. I can't help but remember the first time I went rappelling if you've ever done that before, and I had a couple of friends from church, they was one guy was a Navy SEAL. And I'd never done it before we had about about a 200 foot cliff. And about the first 100 feet, you could go down in the cliff, you were kind of close to the cliff, and then it opened up into the mouth of a cave, and it was just a freefall. And I remember, okay, you know, I'm not afraid of anything, you know, I've done just about everything. And I'll be fine with this. And when they put that rope on me, and I started to back off, I found myself hesitating. And I remember the Navy SEAL guy saying, Dave, you've got to have faith in the rope. If it was gonna break, it would have already broken. And so as I let it back a little bit more, I looked between my legs, and I couldn't see anything but a blur. And so I finally took off. And what was interesting is I went about 100 feet down, and all of a sudden, I realized the rope was hung in some of the brush up in the trees, and now I'm just dangling in midair, we finally got the rope down. But the Lord taught me a lesson about faith. But my faith was much more on him than it was the rope, believe me. But the point is, we all have those situations in life. And Jesus is saying in effect to Philip, "Philip, how are you going to feed all of these people?" And what he wanted Philip to say, and what I'm sure Philip would say later on would be something like this. "Lord Jesus, the answer is real simple. I have no way of feeding feeding them but you do. I'm going to trust you to do what only you can do. And I'm going to ask you to do this because I have seen the glory and the majesty of your power. I've seen you heal the sick, your power over disease over demons. I've seen you make the lame to walk and the blind to see and the deaf to hear, withered limbs made whole. I've seen your power over nature. Dear Jesus, you are my King. You are my God. You have put me in a situation all I know to do is cry out to you to do what only you can do. And I'm going to plead with you to make yourself powerful on my behalf, on behalf of all these people that you might receive all the glory;" that's what he wanted Philip to say. But no Philip was still pretty consumed with his own needs and making his world work on his own. Does that ring a bell to any of you? Thanks, God, but I'll handle this. I'm not sure that your way and your resource sources are enough. So I'm going to depend upon myself in my own resources to make my world work. And God many times says, okay.

So it's evening, it's dusk, the apostles are hungry. I can only imagine that some of the other apostles come up to him. Hey, Philip, what's going on with supper, man? We're, I mean, we're hungry. Dude, we got to eat right? And he's probably saying, Get out of here. I don't know we don't have, we don't have any food. So this is what's happening. Peter is nervous about the whole thing. And then we read this. Going back to John six. Let's look at verse nine. It says, "One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother," remember now Andrew's kind of the quiet, sensitive guy behind the scenes guy. He says to Jesus, "There's a lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are these people for so many?" So maybe there's a glimmer of hope here for Andrew, maybe there's a little bit of faith, or we got something here. I don't know what you can do with this. But Well, "Jesus said to him," and to all of them. I love this. He says, "Have the people sit down." And think about that, folks, we want all of you to sit down with the idea that we're going to feed you and you're looking around, you've got just a little bit, you know, have all the people sit down, then we read. "Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, giving thanks." And it says, "He distributed to those who were seated, likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted. When they were filled, He said to His disciples, 'Gather up the leftover fragments so that nothing will be lost.' So they gathered them up and filled 12 baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves which were left over by those who had eaten. Therefore, when the people saw the sign which he had performed, they said, 'This is truly the prophet who has come into the world.'" My what a great lesson, can you imagine Philip helping to pick up all of the excess looking at all the things and all the other, all of the extra baskets full of food? What a lesson for him. And for all of us, God is saying, I want you to learn to trust me and to not trust in your in yourself. Beloved, it's impossible to prepare for every conceivable contingency in life. And you do the best you can. But at some level, you're going to have to trust the Lord with things that are very difficult. You're going to have to go to his word and go to other people and understand how God would have you function. And then to say, Lord, for Your glory, this is what I'm going to do. All of us have at times been put in those positions. And we need to look forward to them with great anticipation. Because beloved, those are scenarios where God has an opportunity, as I say, to prove himself powerful for you to trust in Him in my we were with some friends last night, just reminiscing on the ways God has done just incredible things in our life. That can't be explained any other way than we just had faith. And we prayed and cried out to God and he answered our prayers. What a joy that is. Beloved, faith is like a muscle. If you don't use it, it will atrophy. And God gives us plenty of opportunities to exercise our faith.

I recall the passage and Mark 9, I remember the father that had the demon possessed son, the disciples lack the necessary faith to deliver him and in utter desperation, the father pleads with Jesus to deliver his son. If you can do anything, take pity on us and help us and Jesus responds that, that, that if you if you can believe all things are possible to him who believes. Verse 24 says, "Immediately the boy's father cried out and began saying, 'I do believe, help my unbelief.'" Boy I can identify with that, can't you? This man had for so long considered this whole situation helpless. Certainly, he confessed, Lord, I believe. The text tells us that he does this in great earnestness, and with tears yet at the same time, that lingering unbelief is there. Beloved, we all struggle with it. And so we need to pray the same thing. "Lord, help my unbelief." You know, there's a special weakness inherent, especially in newborn faith. The man I just described in Mark nine had that, certainly Philip at some level, perhaps us well, and that always makes us susceptible to those difficulties that God brings into our life, where all of a sudden, we're out of resources. We don't know what to do. So many times, we come up with things that we think will make life work or we escape, to try to somehow run from the problem, rather than saying, Thank you, God. What a wonderful opportunity for me to learn how to trust you in some new and unique way. And I pray that you will give me an understanding of what you want me to do in the midst of this great trial, because I am at a loss.

I was thinking of Pilgrim's Progress, Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, you remember, the Prince of Darkness is enraged. We know whenever a soul is delivered from the dungeon of his dominion and then when that happens, he quickly assaults especially new and immature believers as they they flee from the city of destruction than they run towards the celestial city. And what's interesting, as you will recall, is that Bunyan very appropriately placed the slew of despond at the very outset of the spiritual journey, knowing it is then that Satan seizes upon our vulnerability, our untested faith in the wicked fiend, tries to sink us in the quicksand of discouragement and doubt, and cause us to run to other resources that will never work long term. Well, like the man in Mark nine, Philip believed, yet not completely. His faith would never grow to the degree that God wanted it to grow, unless he began to have his faith tested. And beloved, we must learn to spot those things in our own hearts. The enemy is so cunning and we can fail the test, and never really grow in Christ and enjoy the blessings that are associated with walking in faithful obedience. So Jesus tested Philip to expose his radical commitment to self protection and to demonstrate the foolishness of his obsession. And he knew he needed to strengthen him put him into this impossible situation. And he wanted him to enjoy what I call the euphoric adventure of walking with Christ in faith. My what a blessing that is, so that we could experience the one, "who is able to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us." Ephesians 3:20.

Well, it's hard for Philip to learn as it is for us. So let me give you another example here of what he dealt with. It's, this one's in John 14. Let me give you the context here. It was the eve of Jesus crucifixion. He knew the agony that was going to be his as he faced the cross and ready to walk inexorably towards a time where he had to appease the just wrath of God, bear the sins of those that God had given him and the apostle mentoring was about to end. And yet, they're still confused about what was really going on. I always have to laugh at them, but I know if I was with them, I'd been right there with them. They're still trying to understand what's really happening here. Luke 24:25, Jesus called them foolish and slow of heart to believe. I mean, folks, they are still arguing about who's going to be greatest in the kingdom. So that's what's going on with them. Many rough edges still needed to be honed away, filed off of their sinful hearts. So they're in the upper room. Jesus has washed their feet Judas now has has left to betrayed Jesus and Jesus then comforts them in John 14 Verse one we read, "'Do not let your heart be troubled, believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father's house are many dwelling places if it were not, so I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself. And where I am there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.' Thomas said to Him, 'Lord, we do not know where you are going, how do we know the way?’ Jesus said to Him, 'I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father, but through Me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also, from now on, you know Him and have seen Him.'" So Jesus here, once again, emphatically underscores His deity, that he is their God, that to know him is to know the Father. But notice what Philip says, in verse eight. "Philip said to him, 'Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.'" Say what?. After what I just said, after all that you have seen, you want more guarantees. I mean, that's literally what's going on here. This is just inconceivable ignorance and insensitivity. I mean, how incredibly sad. This is, this is just the heartbreaking response of weak faith. It's as if Philip is saying, Yes, Lord Jesus, I have seen all of your miracles. I've stood in at your teaching. I've been humbled by your love. And yes, I've confessed you as my Lord and Savior. But I'm sorry, I've still got some reservations here. There's still a bit of skepticism, lingering in the secret recesses of my imagination. So will you please, I just want you to jump through one more hoop of mine. I mean, I want to make certain, absolutely certain. I hate risk. I need guarantees. Before I relinquish my well chiseled strategies of self protection, and really turn my life over completely to you, if you would just show us the Father. How sad. So many times we can be the same way, right? We've seen all that Jesus has done all that he said in His Word. And yet we miss the big picture. We never fully trust in Him, oh we say we do. But there's that lingering doubt. Yes, I will believe in you and have faith in you as my Savior, but I'm not sure I can trust you to be my Lord, so that I obey all that you have commanded. I'm not sure I can go that far. I mean, that's okay. I've got this. I mean, I can handle my life on my own. I think of my precious little, seven year old granddaughter. How many times there will be something that needs to be done? I know she can't do it. But she will say no pop, I can do it. I can do it. And I know in my mind, you can't, but okay. And then after a few minutes, sometimes 10 minutes, sometimes 30 minutes. Papa, can you help me?

And I think you know, that's exactly what the Lord does; puts us in those situations. Beloved, unless you live consistently with what you believe about Christ, you will never enjoy the fullness of all that is yours in Christ. You will always be weak and deficient and just have minimal usefulness for the sake of the kingdom, and you will never enjoy the riches of his grace that are available to those who trust him completely. You'll never fully enjoy his blessing in your life. Notice what happens back to John 14. Again, verse eight, "Philip said to him, 'Lord, show us the Father and it's enough for us,' and Jesus said to him, 'Have I been so long with you? And yet you have not come to know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father, how can you say show us the Father'? 'Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative but the Father abiding in Me does His works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves. Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes in Me the works that I do, he will do also and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father.'" And then he says, "Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it." By the way, praying in Jesus name doesn't mean that at end of your prayer, you say, "and in Jesus name" or whatever, that's not the point. The point is that your prayer is motivated out of a heartfelt desire to advance the Kingdom purposes of Christ and give Him glory. And when we pray in that way, he's going to answer those prayers, and do mighty things in your life. In other words, help me honor you and trust in you, is what he's wanting Peter or Phillip to say.

Well, let me give you some exciting news as we close this morning, the Lord knew what Philip was like, isn't it great? He knew what he was like, chose him anyway. I'm just glad I don't have to preach about my background, right? You know, I don't want to do that. Too many of you already know. But Jesus knew that his strength would be made perfect in weakness. By the way, my personality is like the extreme opposite of Phillip. And I've got to be careful, or I'll ride the horse right off the cliff. How thankful I am, according to Second Thessalonians 2:14, "God has chosen you from the beginning, for salvation, through sanctification, by the Spirit and faith and truth. And it was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ." Well, God made Philip into a great preacher of the gospel. We know that Philip is going to rule one day in the millennial kingdom, he was, he's now enjoying the glories of heaven. And I look forward to meeting him some day. Tradition says that he served faithfully in Asia Minor. Many came to Christ because of his availability to Christ. And he was probably one of the first apostles to be martyred. It's estimated that he was martyred about eight years after James. And evidence indicates that he was stoned to death in Heliopolis in Phrygia. Oh child of God. Let's learn to trust in Him in new ways today, all right? Don't allow the fears of the world and the fear of man and your own ridiculous self confidence in all of your resources, to rob you of the need to trust in Christ in ways that you never have before. Either he is who he says he is, or you believe a lie. But he is who he says he is. Don't erect those idols of self protection in your heart. As First John five four says, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world and this is the victory that overcomes the world." What is it? Our faith Is God testing you right now? Is he pushing you out of your comfort zone? Oh, Thank you, God. Thank You, God, this is miserable. I hate it. I don't know what to do. But thank you. You're at work in my life. And I'm crying out to you right now, to do what only you can do. And I don't even really know what that is. But I trust you. Whatever the outcome, and I rejoice in your intimate love for me. Thank you, Father, for the power of your word that speaks so directly to our lives, Lord, we can all see ourselves and in these apostles, some of us even in Philip and, Lord, I just pray that by the power of your Spirit, you will bring conviction where appropriate, bring encouragement, bring joy, but Lord through it all. Help us with our unbelief, strengthen our faith, because we long to experience all that is available to us in Christ Jesus. For it's in his name that I pray. Amen.

Once again, we come to this time where we can open up the Word of God. And I would invite you, if you will, to turn to Mark chapter three, we'll use this as a launching pad. Once again, we're looking at the appointing of the 12 apostles. This is the second part of that study. And in a few minutes, we're going to read that text, let me just say, it's important for us to get to know the apostles. That's why I'm taking some time over a few weeks here to remind you of who these men were. There's at least two reasons why I would say that, first of all, according to Ephesians, two, verses 19. And following, we read that the church has been, "built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple and the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." And the second reason why it's important is because when we look at the lives of the apostles, we see the miracle of regeneration and sanctification being played out in their lives. And they are frankly, an example to all of us. And as I look at their lives, as I look at the difficulties they dealt with, as I look at the flaws in their lives, or as we say, in the horse training world, as we look at the holes in their program, I have hope that the Lord can continue to work with me, right? And with us. Well, I'm reminded in John 15, remember, Jesus uses that great metaphor of the vine and the branches, the vine being the source and, and sustenance of life are the branches, referring to Jesus giving life to believers, and he speaks of, of fruit bearing vines, which refers to Christians, and those who are truly born again, and then also fruitless ones that are unbelievers non believers. By the way, there's no such thing as a Christian that does not bear fruit. And the vine, of course, is Christ, the vine dresser, is the father in that great illustration that the Lord gives us. And he speaks of, of fruit bearing branches, and there were 11 of them with the apostles 11 that bore fruit. And there was one that did no,t referring to Judas. And of course, all of that was to help them see that not everybody who calls themselves a Christian truly is one. And Jesus said in John 15, to have every every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. And the original language, the term prune carries the idea of, of cleansing. It was a farming term, it was used to speaking of cleansing, the husks of grain or, or even cleaning the soil before crops. But in this metaphor of the vine, it refers to cleaning shoots off of the branches. And the key method that we see in that text that the Lord uses is suffering, and trials. And we know that whom the Lord loves, according to Hebrews 12, six, He chastens, and He scourges every son whom he receives. So we know that the pruning of the vine in our lives can be difficult. And we see this in the lives of the apostles. He went on to say in verse 10, of Hebrews 12, for thy referring to our earthly fathers, indeed, for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. And, of course, the tool of the vinedresser is the word of God by the power of the Spirit. And we see all through Scripture, certainly in the lives of the apostles, and in our lives as well, that the father uses the tool of the Word of God, and adversity and affliction, to really sharpen our sensitivity to the truth of Scripture. Charles Spurgeon said quote,"The word is often the knife with which the great husbandman prunes the vine. And brothers and sisters, if we were more willing to feel the edge of the word, and to let it cut away something that may be very dear to us, we should not need so much pruning by affliction. It is because that first knife does not always produce the desired result that another sharper tool is used by which we are effectually pruned," emd quote. And I think we can all identify with that. As my dad used to say, "Now son, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way." I preferred the easy way. And of course, as we look at the lives of the apostles, and we see what the Father did in their life, and how they bore more fruit as time went on, we want to ask ourselves, Am I bearing fruit for the glory of Christ? Is that what people see in my life? Do I find strength and nourishment in Christ? And am I responding to the Father's pruning?

So, we come to this fascinating account. Let me read it to you again. Mark Three, I'm going to begin in verse 13. I'll just read the the section here that Mark gives us. He says, "When Jesus went up on the mountain and summoned to those whom He Himself wanted, and they came to Him, and Happointed 12, so that they would be with Him, and that He could send them out to preach, and to have authority to cast out the demons. And He appointed the 12, Simon, (to whom He gave the name Peter), and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them, he gave the name Boanerges, which means 'Sons of Thunder'), and Andrew, and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas and James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him."

Now, last week we looked at the sanctifying work that occurred in the life of Simon whose name was changed to Peter, which means rock, and how God took his exaggerated self-confidence and turn it in to a man that was humble. How he took his impetuosity and his hot temper and, and turned it into something where he was filled with, with the real spirit led constraint, if you will, and how he transformed that brash, hot tempered mouth of his into a wise, fearless preacher of the gospel. And then we also looked at James, one of the sons of thunder, He was impatient, he was outspoken, he was very much like Peter, as I say, he was another ready fire aim kind of guy and he had to learn to rule his emotions, rather than his emotions ruling him. He had to harness his passions, tone down his fiery rhetoric, and replace his selfish ambition with servanthood. And today, we want to look then at John again, Mark 3:17. He speaks of John, the brother of James. And that's what we're looking at here today. First of all, so John was the younger brother of James, he was the second part of the Dynamic Duo, okay, the other son of thunder, who shared the same traits as his big brother. So they were cut out of the same bolt of cloth. It's interesting that he was the human author of the Gospel of John and the three epistles that bear his name, as well as the book of Revelation. And as we look at Scripture, we see that next to Luke, and the apostle Paul, the Holy Spirit inspired John to write more of the New Testament than anyone else. And of course, this provides us with much information as to how we can accurately assess how Jesus shaped his life. And as we examine his life, as we examine his ministry and the gospel of accounts, were able to see this this transformation begin to occur the spiritual maturation he went from being zealous for truth without love, to having a proper balance for both. He went from being narrow minded, kind of a sectarian bigot, hothead, and tolerant of anyone else outside of his little group, to being a patient, compassionate, loving, apostle of Christ. He went from being just absolutely black and white to being comfortable with some shades of grey. He went from being self-promoting, from being personally ambitious, impetuous, reckless, to being selfless, self-controlled, a real servant of Christ. And he learned the hard way what it meant really to love his enemies and love them enough to speak the truth in love, and what it means to love one another. He commonly referred to himself as, quote, "The disciple whom Jesus loved." Isn't that interesting, giving Christ the glory for loving such a man. It's like, I can't believe it, but I'm a disciple that Jesus loved. That was the idea. And even in his gospel, he never mentioned himself by name. He never exalted himself. Unlike many self-seeking servants, we see that John never drew attention to himself. The first reference he made of himself is in John 13:23. There we read, "Now there was leaning on Jesus bosom, one of his disciples whom Jesus loved." It's interesting in medieval art, you see how they picked up on this tender side of John which is appropriate, often portraying him as kind of a docile, even an effeminate sissy type of guy, as they would typically do, staring at Jesus with some sentimental self-effacing dove-eyed type of a gaze, but nothing could have been further from the truth if you understand who this man was. I mean, like all fishermen of that day, he was a rugged outdoorsman. He was not some scrawny pusillanimous wimp. He was a man's man. Sadly, anytime you see men blurring the distinctions between maleness and femaleness, you're violating God's purposes in manhood and such a caricature of John is most unfortunate. In fact, in First Corinthians six, nine, we read how that the "effeminate and homosexuals shall not inherit the kingdom of God." So indeed, John was a son of thunder, a robust, vigorous man of the sea. And he was a man that, interestingly enough, outlived all of the other apostles. And he was not a passive man, but an aggressive man. He was zealous, he was ambitious, unyielding, self-assertive. But those were all traits that kind of went a little too far at times, the pendulum was a little bit too far out here. And you know how Jesus does in our lives, he kind of has to bring them back to where they need to be. And that's what we see God bringing balance to this man, for his glory. And our sin nature can cause us to get out of balance very, very quickly. And we see how sin can manifest itself in so many ways, sometimes our greatest virtues can become our greatest vice, right? And that's what we see here.

So, as we look at his life, we, we want to remember that the power of sin and the human heart can manifest itself in many, many ways. And also, we never want to underestimate that; how it can manifest, especially it manifests itself, especially in our interpersonal style of relating, and how we come across to other people. So never underestimate the power of sin, dear friends in your heart, but also never underestimate the power of the Word of God and the Spirit of God to change you. And he can either do it the easy way, or the hard way, that by His grace, he's going to do it because He loves us. And he wants to conform us into the image of Christ, that we might enjoy all that is ours in him. So like his brother, the Lord had to shape John. He had to help him learn how to ruler his emotions. Remember, he was, like his brother, he wanted to call down fire on the inhospitable Samaritans. Remember in Luke nine, you know, Lord, let's just smoke 'em, lets just nuke them. I mean, really, we're going to put up, let's be like Elijah, and he also had to replace his selfish ambition with humility. It's one thing to want to honor the Lord and lead, if that's what he would have you do, but it's another thing to demand that. And remember the whole incident with his mother where they were seeking, you know which one's going to be on the right and on the left now, the scriptures provide for us some remarkable insight into this tenderizing process that occurred in John's heart.

So first turn to Mark chapter nine. The context there in Mark nine is Peter, James and John witness the miracle of the Transfiguration of Christ. In verse two, we read, "And He," referring to Jesus, "was transfigured before them, and His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on Earth can whiten them." And so somehow Jesus peels back his flesh in a way that we can't even imagine, and the effulgence of his Shekinah Glory blazes forth, and they see this, and they're absolutely terrified. Right before they close their eyes, they see the glory of the Messiah. And to think that somehow he allowed them to witness His Majesty and His power and His glory, a little foretaste of heavenly glory. But of course, they're thinking in their mind, oh, the kingdom, it's about to happen. And we're right here, we're in the inner circle. We know what you would think, you know, you're the only three, Mark nine, four; even "Elijah appeared with them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus." And in verse six, it even tells us that Peter, James and John, were so terrified that they were unable to speak. Now, that was a rare moment, right? They're unable to speak and then a cloud envelops them and God thunders from heaven. "This is My beloved Son, listen to Him." Now, such an experience would certainly be terrifying. But it would also be exhilarating, beyond anything that we could even express. I mean, it would make you want to explode with excitement, wouldn't it? It would make you want to just run and tell everybody. But God had different plans, Mark nine, verse nine, we read and, "As they were coming down from the mountain, He gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man should rise from the dead. And they seized upon that statement, discussing with one another what rising from the dead might mean." Obviously, none of that fit into their scheme of what they were planning on happening.

Now, we all know that people tend to believe what they want to believe, right? I mean, we can all fall into that trap, even when it bears no resemblance to the truth. And they thought his earthly kingdom was about to be established. And they were absolutely convinced of it. And like all of us would be, they wanted cheap seats in the kingdom. One to sit on the right one to sit on the left. But there's three of them. So you can imagine what begins to happen in their mind. They began to fuel the debate, who's the greatest amongst us, right? And certainly the fact that Jesus would do this before these three men, and no one else would naturally cause these three men to think more highly of themselves than they should. By the way, just as an aside, I was thinking about this because I've seen this in my life. There's a principle here that you want to bear in mind, every spiritual mountaintop experience has the potential to breed pride, and elitism. Be very, very careful with that. Great blessings tends to incite great arrogance, much easier than great humility. And certainly that was what was going on with these men. Now notice what happens in Mark nine, beginning of verse 33, "They came to Capernaum; and when He was in the house, He began to question them, 'What were you discussing on the way?'" Now, let me pause for a moment. Jesus knew exactly what they were discussing on the way because he knew all things. And these guys knew they were toast because they knew he knew all things. It's kind of like the parent would say after they already know what you did. They ask you, "So tell me what did you do this afternoon that I saw on video?" You know, so that's what's going on here and Jesus asked him, "What were you discussing on the way?" And then I love this, "But they kept silent." Of course they did. "For on the way they had discussed with one another, which of them was the greatest." So obviously, they're embarrassed, and Jesus in his patience and in his love, and in His grace just kind of throws that out, kind of get them thinking, and boy, it worked. And look what he said. Then it says, "Sitting down," in other words, when Jesus sat down, it was time for everybody else to sit down. It's kind of like when I would call even some of my grandkids on the porch, you know, son, come here, Papa wants to talk to you, let's go sit out on the porch well immediately their eyes are big, they know that something's up here. And it's not like I'm gonna be unkind to them, but it's like, we need to talk about something. Well that's what was going on here. "Sitting down, He called the 12 and said to them, 'If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.'" Then it says, "Taking a child," perhaps they were probably in Peter's home, probably one of Peter's kids. He takes a child, "He set him before them and taking him in His arms, He said to them, 'Whoever receives one child like this,'" not referring to children, but a metaphor of speaking about believers. "Whoever receives one child like this, in My name receives Me. And whoever receives Me and does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me." So in other words, he's saying you need to humble yourself here, like trusting little children. And that's how children are, they humble themselves, and we hold them and they trust us. And obviously, Jesus words had a deep impact on John's heart. Because notice verse 38. And by the way, it's interesting, what I'm about to read here is the only time in the synoptic gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, where John is recorded to speak alone. All right.

So something remarkable is happening here in this context, in John's heart, as he just finished hearing this gentle rebuke, verse 38. "John said to Him, 'Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name. And we tried to prevent him because he was not following us.'" Now, if you're not thinking, you would think, my goodness, why is he changing the subject? You know, this is a non sequitur. I mean, where's this coming from? Well, not at all. You see, he understood the implications of what Jesus was saying. And his heart was under conviction, he was moved. This is like confessing his sin. In other words, John was so convicted over what Jesus said that He, immediately his mind went back to this act of elitism that he and others had committed. And remember, again, he had just witnessed the manifestation of the glory of the king, and thought that for sure, I'm in the inner circle here. But now he recognizes his ungodly proclivity to sectarianism, to elitism, to his own arrogance, to his narrow-minded intolerance. "Us four, no more bar, the door," and boy, folks, it's easy to fall into that trap, as believers. Jesus answered in verse 39 and following, "But Jesus said, do not hinder him." In other words, that man casting out the demons in my name, "Do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in My name, and be able to soon afterward to speak evil of Me. For He who is not against us is for us." So here, John learns, and the others as well, as they're listening, here, John learns that the only legitimate test of a person's ministry and Christianity is basically doctrinal as well as the fruit that they bear. And we should never reject people simply because they're not in our group.

As an aside, we can have fellowship with all believers unless they violate a couple of things. If they have disregard for the authority of Scripture, there is no fellowship, no fellowship, or if they pervert the gospel, you can't have fellowship there. Later John would write interestingly enough in First John four one following, he says, "test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world." You see, there's the doctrinal test, you've got to be careful. I get this all the time, I would say at least two or three times a week, people that listen, people that aren't a part of this church, or some that are a part of the church that want to know, hey, is this a good church? My friend is moving to this area. Is this a good church? Well, you know, the first thing I have to do is look at the doctrinal statement. And that gives you some idea. That's not the whole story, but at least it gives you some idea of where they are biblically. First, John two beginning of verse four, you have the kind of the character test, “The one who says I have come to know Him, and does not keep his commandments, he is a liar. And the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps His word in Him, the love of God has truly been perfected. By this, we know that we are in Him, the one who says he abides in Him, ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked." So in other words, just because a person claims to be a Christian doesn't mean that they are, you look at their life. And if their life is one that is filled with sin, the person conducts themselves in a way that is unchristian, then they have no basis to claim genuine saving faith. And as you read the inspired writings, you will quickly see that John was absolutely passionate for the truth. But the pendulum was a little bit too far on the black and white. All right, it needed to come back. And you know, sometimes there are some gray areas. Sometimes we have to be careful that we present the truth also in love. Notice how he writes in first John three beginning in verse eight that we read earlier, "the one who practices sin is of the devil." Well, I mean, that's, that's real forthright, okay? You say you're a Christian, but you're constantly living in sin, you're of the devil. All right, well, that's true. And he goes on later, and he says, "No one who's born of God practices sin, because his seat abides in Him and he cannot sin because He is born of gods." So he's real black and white. He's passionate for the truth. He goes on first John two verse 15. Just as another example, he says, "Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him." In other words, you say you're a believer, but you love the culture, and you want to be a part of all of the culture and do and act like all of the people that absolutely hate Christ, then don't call yourself a Christian; very black and white. First John four, another example, beginning in verse seven, through verse, eight, "Beloved, let us love one another." There you see the love, tempered with the truth, "for love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God, the One who does not love does not know God, for God is love." Verses 19 and 21. "We love because He first loved us. If someone says I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen." So there's the truth, there is black and white, but then it's also tempered with love and this commandment we have from him that the one who loves God should love his brother. Also, another example, Second John, in verses one and two, to the elect, lady, he writes, "and her children whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, for the sake of the truth which abides in us, and will be with us forever." And in verse six, he says, "And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments." One final example of how truth is tempered with love with John, we see this developing. Third John, verse four, "I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth." And isn't that true parents, grandparents? I have no greater joy as your pastor to see you walking in the truth and so forth. You know, folks, truth without love is oppression. Right? And love without truth is just sentimentality, is just superficiality it's nothing more than the saccharin, Jesus is my boyfriend garbage, that you see some of these phony teachers preaching and speaking about.

So John learned to speak the truth in love. And we see over the course of his life how he had to have repented of his selfish ambition and his desire to pursue a place of prominence. And he learned that well at the feet of Jesus, especially, and think of this, especially when he stood at the foot of the cross, and watched his precious Savior, suffer and die. He's the only apostle recorded to have been there. He learned well, but Jesus said in Luke 18:14, "Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." So originally John and his selfishness and his arrogance, wanted a place of prominence to exalt himself. And you know what? God gave him a position of prominence, but in a way that John would have never imagined. The Lord allowed him to be banished to a small island, off of the coast of Turkey, an island called Patmos. He was sent there by the Roman emperor Domitian. And there he quietly suffered as he lived in a cave, slept on a rock stone for his pillow. But there was the place of prominence that God gave him this side of glory an exalted position before Almighty God and the heavenly hosts. And here's why I would say that because it was there when the Lord Jesus Christ, came to him and revealed to him his coming glory. In the book of Revelation, the "Apokalypsis lesou Christos" the revealing, the unveiling of the Lord Jesus Christ. Revelation one beginning in verse 10. Here's what he said, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like the sound of the trumpet, saying, 'Write in a book what you see,' verse 12, and "I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands and in the middle of the lampstands was one like a Son of man clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His breast with a golden girdle. And His head and His hair were white, like white wool, like snow. And His eyes were like a flame of fire, and His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been caused to glow in a furnace. And His voice was like the sound of many waters." Verse 17, "And when I saw Him, I fell at his feet as a dead man. And He laid his right hand upon me saying, 'Do not be afraid, I am the First and the Last.'" Yes, it was Jesus once again, appearing to the disciple whom Jesus loved. What an indescribable joy must have filled his heart. Tradition says that John became the pastor of the church at Ephesus, years later, the church that Paul had founded and in his commentary on Galatians Jerome, who was one of the early church fathers, tells us of John's final days, he was so weak and frail, we read that he had to be carried into the church. And there was one phrase that was constantly on his lips, and it was this "My little children love one another." And when asked why he said this so often, he replied, quote, "It is the Lord's command. And if this alone be done, it is enough." And John died around AD 98 to 100. We're not exactly sure during the reign of Trajan. He was approximately 94 to 96 years old. What an amazing testimony of a man that God shaped in ways that were so difficult.

Well, today I'd like to also look at Andrew, are you open for one more today, this morning, one more? Isn't it wonderful to see how God works in the lives of others? This is like testimony time, right? I love to hear testimonies. Love to see them. Verse 18 of Mark three, we just read him, he says "and Andrew," by the way it means "manly." He was a fisherman from Bethsaida. We're not real sure we know really, in terms of where it was. Generally, I don't think they've been able to excavate it completely, but it was real close to the Capernaum and he was a godly Jew looking for his Messiah. But very little is said about Andrew, his name is not even mentioned in the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, except in the list of the 12 disciples. And John's gospel gives us just a little bit of information about him that we will see now. Andrew was never as intimate with the Lord as Peter, James, and John and he's usually referred to simply as Peter's brother. We know that he shared a house with Peter in in Capernaum, and they owned a fishing business together, there at the north end of the Sea of Galilee. But we never see him in a public role. We always see him in the background. He was a quiet, faithful, humble, steady kind of guy behind the scenes kind of man. John's Gospel reports how Andrew first was a disciple of John the Baptist. And so you can glean from that, that he was a guy that was comfortable living out in the wilderness, another outdoorsman, just like all the fishermen would be, a man comfortable living an austere type of life like John the Baptist would have done, as he lived and ministered primarily in the wilderness. Who knows he may have, he may have liked locusts and wild honey like John the Baptist, the text doesn't say. But he first went to his brother, we read, and tells Peter that "I found the Messiah," and he introduces him to the Lord. And as we look at the little things that we can see in Scripture about his life, we see that he had just a fearless enthusiasm, to introduce others to Jesus, and that became really characteristic of this apostle. Now, let's look at John one beginning of verse 35. The context here is Jesus has just been baptized and we read in verse 35, of John one, "Again the next day, John was standing with two of his disciples and he looked at Jesus as He walked and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus." Now, traditionally, the identification of the two disciples was John the Evangelist, the beloved disciple that we've just talked about. And we know the other one for sure was Andrew, according to verse 40. So obviously, they wanted to know more. From the very lips of Jesus, they wanted to engage Jesus naturally, if somebody says, there's the Lamb of God, there's the Messiah. It's like, okay, let's go talk to the Messiah. That's what's going on here. And remember, again, the messianic expectations at this time was at a fever pitch. And we read "And Jesus turned and saw them following Him and said to them, 'What do you seek?' They said to Him, 'Rabbi, (which translated means teacher), where are you staying?'" In other words, let's don't talk here. We want to follow you. We want to go no, let's share a cup of coffee here. "And He said to them, 'Come, and you will see.' So they came and saw where He was staying. And they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the 10th hour." So Jesus was probably staying in some kind of a shelter in the wilderness. They didn't have, you know, Hiltons in those days. Sometimes they would rent places from other people, who knows where they stayed. But it was someplace obviously, where they could sit together and talk. You know, whenever I read these things, I just I, my imagination goes wild. What would that be like? To be able to sit down and talk with Jesus? Absolutely astounding. I mean, if it would have happened today, you know, the phones would be out, we'll be taking selfies, it'd be all over Facebook, right?

By the way, we'll know what it's like to talk with Jesus one of these days, won't we? Verse 40, says, "One of the two who heard John speak and followed Him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother." And then we read in verse 41. "He found first his own brother Simon, and said to him, 'We have found the Messiah,' (which translated means the Christ).

By the way, this is such a great test of genuine saving faith, isn't it? The first thing that people want to do when they truly come to saving faith in Christ is tell other people about Christ. Not about me, but what Christ has done for me and what he can do for you. By the way, just think about how you were introduced to Christ. Somebody had to tell you, right, somebody had to communicate to you. I remember growing up as a little boy, it was the constant conversation in my, in our house. My parents were always talking to me about Jesus. I remember when Dad bought a series of books about this wide, it was called the Book of Life. It was all kinds of age-appropriate Bible stories. And it started, you know, one for little kids, and then it got increasingly more difficult. And we read through those books and so it was just part of our family life, to talk about Jesus. And I had great Sunday school teachers and youth leaders and people that discipled me, and you all could tell the same story. And beloved, don't ever think that the only way you can be effective and serving Christ is by having some kind of a public teaching or preaching ministry, because that is just not true. We read with Andrew, there was never any indication that he never preached anybody, any of the multitudes, he never taught anybody, but he was always there introducing people to Christ as we will see. I remember I grew up with Nancy in a little, it's actually the first Swedish Baptist Church in the United States there in Moline, Illinois, a lot of the Swedes came to work for John Deere and so forth. Bethany Baptist Church, and I was trained by primarily godly little Swedish women with a Swedish accent. I remember one of my Sunday school teachers, Sallie Mae Land, and she was about probably five feet tall, I could probably pick her up with one arm. And I could still see her with the flannel graph board, teaching me about Jesus. I can think of Nancy and I, Mike Rutherford, if he was here. He's couldn't be here today. But he remembers some of these people, Francis and Ethel Becker and Ethel Peterson, Margaret Peterson, Ethel Pearson, and so on and so forth. I remember these godly Sunday school teachers that taught us that poured their lives into us. Now, I can't remember everything they taught me, but the Spirit of God uses that right? Little by little to bring us to a place of genuine saving faith and my how I thank God for you parents, and you, Sunday school teachers and youth leaders and all of you that are pouring your lives into other people. And that's what we see with Andrew and we need to take every added advantage of every opportunity to do that.

Verse 42, we read that Andrew "brought him to Jesus" and I love this. Andrew literally led his brother to Christ, right? That's what happens here. Andrew brought him to Jesus. And then I love this. "Jesus looked at him and said, 'You are Simon, the son of John, you shall be called Cephas', (which is translated Peter). Well, that's a great way to be introduced, right? I mean, I'm sure there were some other things that were said. But that's what is recorded. And then it was several months later, after Jesus had gone to Jerusalem and cleansed the temple and stirred up the hornet's nest with all of the Jewish leaders that Jesus went back up to the north end of the Sea of Galilee up to Capernaum and called Peter, Andrew, James and John to leave their fishing career and follow Him as we read in Matthew four. And in Luke's account recorded in Luke five, Andrew's name was never ever even mentioned, and yet he was there. So he was the behind the scenes kind of guy. It's interesting, too, that he's always bringing people to Jesus. Another example, the feeding of the 5000, which is really about 25,000, if you included all of the rest that were there beyond just the men, everything was stressed. If you read the account, everything was chaotic. You got people everywhere. You're kind of out in the middle of no place, there's nothing to eat. You know, there's no food trucks pulling up, no place to go. Philip is in a panic. And he says in Matthew 14:15 "This is a deserted place and the hour is already late. Send the multitudes away Jesus that they may go into the villages and buy themselves food." I love Jesus reply, they don't need to go away. You give them something to eat. Okay, and then we read in John six, nine what happened? Andrew comes on the scene. And he responds. "There is a lad here who has five barley loaves and two small fish." In other words, let's just take what the Lord has provided and see what he does, right? This is all we got so let's go from here. You see a guy that's just got this settled confidence in the Lord this, just a faithful servant that trust the Lord and believes in his omniscience and his omnipotence to do what only He can do. I like to think of Andrew as the steady Eddy as we call them. The steady Eddy, that calm, decisive poised guy. He's always relaxed in God's sovereign care, doesn't get flustered; he just exudes strength and stability. He is the opposite of a person that gets panicked and flustered and running around like a chicken with their head cut off, you know, John 12, beginning of verse 20, we read of, of some Greeks, Gentiles, and they come to Philip and they ask Philip, to have him bring them to meet Jesus. And you can almost see if you read the account, Philip basically say, Oh my, these are Gentiles. Oh my, what are we going to do? Oh, my, what should I do? So what does Philip do? He goes to, you guessed it, Andrew. Verse 21, "Philip came and told Andrew, and in turn, Andrew and Philip, told Jesus. You know, as you think about it, ministry is filled with uncertainties, you never know what's going to happen. When the phone rings, I never know what's going to be on the other line. And it can be very stressful. And boy, it's so great to have people in the church that are calm, that are collected that are steady. You know, a steady hand at the helm of the ship, when the storm is blowing things every which way. And that was Andrew. I think of Apollo 13. Houston, we have a problem. And if Andrew was there, he would have said, I'll handle it. That's kind of who he was. We never see him complain about his position, his role. He's never tried to run under the spotlight. No indication that he wanted to make a name for himself. He you know, he's the type of servant that every pastor in every church longs to have. And by the way, we've got so many of you here at Calvary, I am so blessed, we are so blessed. He lived in the shadow of his brother, Peter. But yeah, he was a bold, decisive man. And he is to the church what stone is to a foundation. You cannot build without it. But you never know it's there. That's who Andrew was. I found that some of the most devastating forces in a church can be a person that is ambitious, that wants to make a name for themselves, that wants to be affirmed and promoted and so on and so forth. Spiritual bullies, rather than gentle shepherds. Those people will drive the sheep and not lead them and scatter them in every direction. Very, very dangerous. Oh, Andrew was the opposite of that. By the way, you show me a man or a woman who is willing to serve the Lord in obscurity, and I'll show you a man or a woman that God will use to change the world. And that's what we see here.

Andrew became the patron saint of Scotland. And one Scotsman Daniel McLean wrote this of him, "Gathering together the traces of character found in Scripture about Andrew, we find neither the writer of an epistle nor the founder of a church nor a leading figure in the apostolic age, but simply an intimate disciple of Jesus Christ, ever anxious that others should know the spring of spiritual joy and share the blessing he so highly prized. A man of very moderate endowment, who scarcely redeemed his early promise, simply minded and sympathetic without either dramatic power, or heroic spirit, yet with that clinging confidence in Christ, that brought him into that inner circle of the 12. A man of deep religious feeling, with little power of expression, magnetic more than electric, better suited for the quiet walks of life than the stirring thoroughfares. Andrew is the apostle of the private life, the disciple of the hearth." He's the type of man you want to sit around the fire with you know, build that fire in the mountains when the horses had been put away and you want to talk with Andrew. There's no record of him again preaching or founding a church never even mentioned in the book of Acts or the the epistles, but I praise God for all of the Andrews in my life and all of the Andrews here in this church, Sunday school teachers, youth leaders, just so many people that serve in so many ways. By the way, what a contrast to his brother, right? Peter versus Andrew, what a contrast, yet what a team, a team that God used to change the world. I hope this gives you hope in what God can do in your life. Well In closing, tradition tells us that Andrew took the gospel north as far as Scythia. According to Eusebius, ancient historian, he was considered not only the patron saint of Scotland, but also of Russia. And he was eventually crucified in Achaia which is southern Greece, that would be somewhere near Athens. According to one account, quote, "he led the wife of a provincial Roman governor to Christ. And that infuriated her husband. He demanded that his wife recant her devotion to Jesus Christ, and she refused. So the governor had Andrew crucified. By the governor's orders, those who crucified Him lashed him to his cross instead of nailing him in order to prolong his sufferings." Tradition says it was a Saltire that's an X shape crossed, sometimes now it's called the Cross of St. Andrew. "By most accounts, he hung on the cross for two days, exhorting passer buys, to turn to Christ for salvation." Be fun to talk with Andrew someday won't it? What a legacy of godliness, a faithful soldier of the cross, that fought many, many battles that no one would ever even know anything about, except the all-seeing eye of his general. And now his reward is great beyond comprehension. Beloved, even as Jesus shaped these two men, he shaping us and we need to humble ourselves before his word and submit to His cleansing work in our lives. Amen? I wrote a little poem reflecting upon this and I'll close with this thought.

I stand in all of all my sin. Selfish lusts reside within, Nare does a new day dawn, but what my heart more sin doth spawn. Yet by His grace and gift of faith, my sins forgiven, the dead erased and slowly still, my life he shapes until like him, my soul, he makes. Let's pray together. Father, we rejoice in the miracle of regeneration. And that ongoing work of sanctification whereby you can form us evermore into the likeness of your precious son, our Savior. Thank you for the testimonies of these dear men that you called to be your apostles. And I pray that we like them will submit to your pruning work in our lives, that we might bear much fruit, to the praise of your glory, and for our eternal joy. And Father, if there be one here today that's living a life of ungodliness, a life of hypoxia, see, a life that is well known for its wickedness. I pray that you will break that heart and cause them to run to the foot of the cross and cry out for forgiveness for mercy, that you will grant so quickly and so freely to those who are truly broken over their sin. May today be the day that they will experience the miracle of the new birth. Thank you for your word. Thank you for its power in our lives changes evermore for the glory of Christ. For it's in his name that I pray. Amen.

We come now to our exposition of the Word of God and we find ourselves in Mark's gospel. So will you take your Bibles and turn there? Today we are in Mark chapter three. In the section between verses 13 and 19, we're not going to be able to look at all of them, but we will look at some of them. So if you will turn to Mark three, we will look at that text in a few minutes. But before we learn more about the apostles, I know that from phone calls I've received, and emails of a lot of you, have your hair on fire, because of all that's happened in our country. Here this this last week, you're stunned by the weaponization of the FBI and the Department of Justice and targeting political opponents with the uni-party that's a part of Washington now and the Biden regime and all of these things. And I know it's difficult, I understand that. But, you know, it's just a reminder that we live in a fallen world. And folks, America, as many of us have known it, certainly those of us who have grown up in the 60s and the 70s, in particular, it's over, it will never be what it once was. Sin is metastasizing in ways that are exponential at this point. And Satan is the god of this world, and this country is under divine judgment, the wrath of divine abandonment continues to manifest itself in a country that literally mocks God at levels that are now incomprehensible. So we need to understand that and be excited about the fact that these are great days for the gospel. The darker the night, the more brilliant the light, right? And I want to remind you that God has ordained to allow evil to exist in his universe in order to display his glorious perfections and accomplish his purposes and, but even in his permissive providence, when he allows these things to happen, just rest assured that he retains his sovereign control over all things, and his inherent goodness, never forget that. According to Isaiah 46, and verse 10, he declares, "the end from the beginning, and from ancient times, things which have not been done, saying, 'My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all my good pleasure.' That includes all of the chaos and wickedness that we see right now in our country. Ephesians 1:11, "He works all things after the counsel of His will." And I also want to remind you of Psalm two, a few verses there beginning in verse one, "Why are the nations in an uproar and the people's devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His anointed, saying, 'Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!' He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury saying, 'But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.' He goes on to say, "Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence and rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way for His wrath may soon be kindles. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him." Beloved, we are aliens in this world. We are citizens of another kingdom. And the Lord is going to come and he is going to judge the nations of the world, He will establish His kingdom. I believe it will be a millennial kingdom on earth, which will be the consummating bridge between human history and the eternal state and the eternal kingdom. And yes, we should be righteously indignant over all forms of wickedness that we see in the world and yes, we should expose evil. And yes, we need to vote. You know, all of those things are a part of what God would have us do as Christians. But we're also told to "be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." And here's what we should be thinking about. He says, "Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence in anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me practice these things." And I love this last statement, "and the God of peace will be with you."

Alright, with this in mind, let's focus our attention on the glorious truths of God's word on the person in the work of Christ, our Savior, our coming King. Let me read the text to you here in Mark Three, beginning in verse 13. Jesus, "went up on the mountain and summoned those whom He Himself wanted and they came to Him. And he appointed 12, so that they would be with Him and that He could send them out to preach, and to have authority to cast out the demons. And He appointed the 12: Simon, (to whom he gave the name Peter) and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them, he gave the name Bonerges, which means 'Sons of Thunder'), and Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew, and Matthew and Thomas and James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him." Now, may I remind you that what we're seeing here in Mark's gospel is a transition from Jesus public ministry, to his more private ministry, a private ministry whereby he is going to pour himself into the 12 apostles, and primarily just three of them. There's a fascinating ministry principle that we could glean here, let me touch upon it for a moment. And that is concentration produces multiplication, concentration produces multiplication; go deep with a few not shallow with the many. If you want to do great things with for God, you go deep, you don't go wide and shallow. And you focus primarily on key people. Jesus poured his life into 12 Men, three of them, in particular, Peter, James, and John. And then later on also the Apostle Paul. In fact, in Galatians, 1:16, and following, we read how Paul, after his conversion, the text says, "did not immediately consult with flesh and blood." In other words, he was not taught by other apostles or the disciples who were in Damascus during that time, where the he encountered persecution. You read about that in Acts nine. But he says, "I went away to Arabia," which is interesting, that's the same region where Moses and Elijah had communion with God centuries earlier. And then in verse 18, he says, "then three years later, I went up to Jerusalem to become acquainted with Cephas, the apostle Peter, and stayed with him for 15 days. So it would appear that Paul was alone with the Lord Jesus, he was learning, he was meditating. He was studying the Old Testament, and he was serving during that time as well. And he did this for three years before he went up to Jerusalem, which is interesting, because three years was the same amount of time that our Lord spent with his other apostles, and teaching them in the context of ministry and so forth. So it would appear that he was with the Lord Jesus during that time. So again, there's a great principle here, those who have had the greatest impact for the sake of the kingdom in the history of the world or those who went deep, not wide. And by the way, when I say deep, I'm not talking about depth in terms of theological acumen, necessarily, it's more depth in godliness. Men who committed to the pursuit of holiness, to enjoying God, levels of their being a life of worship and service and frankly, this must be the priority of every biblical, authentic Christian church. And I trust that as your priority. And as we examine these men that God ordained to serve as his apostles, we're gonna see many parallels in us, in terms of the bad things in particular, I mean, we're gonna see how that some of us shared their same temperaments, their character flaws, their habitual sins that become evident in their personalities, the way they react, and yet, we see also how God pruned the branches of their character, so that they would be able to bear more fruit as he continues to do in my life, and in yours by his loving grace.

So let's look at the text a little more closely, Mark three, verse 16. "And he appointed the 12." Now, bear in mind, now Jesus is always committed to doing the Father's will. And Jesus chose these 12 men only after a long season of prayer. Again, Luke 6:12 says, "And it was as at this time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God," verse 13, "He called His disciples to Him and chose 12 of them," that'd be 12 out of the many, "whom He also named apostles." I might remind you that the issue at stake was not so much who to choose, but he prayed for the men who were chosen. Very important distinction, and the Greek term, "dianuktereuo" in verse 12, which it says he spent the whole night, that term means to to endure a task throughout the night. And it's interesting, 12 men, 12 hours, I find that fascinating. He was praying for their mutual spiritual growth, their development, he was mediating on their behalf as their divine advocate. And here we see, frankly, a marvelous blending of Christ's humanity as well as his deity. So let's get to know these ordinary men, with an extraordinary calling. We're going to be able to look at two of them here this morning, not all of them.

So in verse 16, he says, "And he appointed the 12: Simon, (to whom he gave the name, Peter). Now, I want you to remember that Mark is just giving kind of a brief synopsis of Jesus's ministry here, and he tends to do this a lot, he's not going to go into great detail at this point. And so we're going to look at some of the snippets of information and use them as a launching pad, to look at some other passages of Scripture that help us understand more of who these men were and what was going on. So let's look first of all, at Peter in Matthew's gospel in chapter 10, verse two, we read, "Now the names of the 12 apostles are these: The first Simon, who is called Peter." Now, first of all, Simon Peter was a native of Bethsaida. He later moved to Capernaum, which is just kind of right down the road. He was a fisherman along with his father, John, who was also called Jonas and his brother Andrew. We know that he was married when Jesus called him. Paul comments in First Corinthians nine, five that indicated that Peter's wife traveled with him. And here in this text, and Matthew 10:2, it says, "The first," the "protos", the "protos" indicates foremost in rank. Now they were all equal in position, all except Judas Iscariot, they all have the same commission, they all have the same authority, they will all have power in the millennial kingdom. They will all judge the 12 tribes of Israel as we read in Matthew 19, and so on. But Peter was first or foremost in rank. In other words, Peter was the leader. No group can function without a leader. Whether it's a marriage, whether it's a company, a government, board of directors, even elders, in church, elders in the church, there needs to be a plurality of elders, but there will always be a leader, the pastor teacher will have the dominant voice. Sheep follow one shepherd. Primarily, they listen to one shepherd. They look to one shepherd, the dominant voice and frankly, anything in nature that has two heads is considered a freak. Churches with multiple pastors with ministry teams that lead the church, multiple men, constantly sharing the preaching and so forth. Those types of churches are inevitably weak, and sheep without a shepherd, and the sheep will tend to splinter off and follow different ones and it will cause factions and so forth. So, I mean, bottom line, if everybody's in charge, nobody's in charge. And so God put Peter as the leader.

Now, Peter's very name gives us a little bit of insight into his character, his common name given to him by his parents, was Simon bar Jonah, which means Simon, son of Jonah. But we know that in Matthew 16, verse 18, when Simon correctly answered Jesus question concerning his identification and said that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God, at that point, Jesus changed his name to Peter, which by the way, is Cephas in Aramaic. Jesus said, "I also say to you, that you are Peter, and upon this rock," that is the truth of your confession, not upon you as the person as the Roman Catholics falsely believed. But upon the truth of your confession, "I will build my church." And Peter means rock, or stone. So from the beginning, the Lord clearly made him the leader, the spokesman of the 12, even though, even though the Lord saw all of his flaws, especially his instability, his cowardice, and so forth. I always laugh when I think of this when the Lord saved me, he knew all of my flaws. He knew all the stupid and sinful things that I would do and yet he still saved me and continues to work in my life as he does you. Well, that's what was going on here with Peter. And perhaps this is why the Lord gave him such a name. To give him some some confidence to become something strong and, and unwavering. I mean, even as parents, I mean, we don't nickname our kids silly names. I remember this one kid, his mama called him sweet thing all the time. Sweet thing, I thought my poor guy, by the way, he kind of grew up to be a sweet thing. I mean, you know, there's, there's something about that name. And, you know, you don't call your kid bonehead or Buttercup or, I mean you want to give them a name that's good. And I think that's what was going on with, with what the Lord did. And it's amazing to read the various scenarios involving Peter found in the New Testament, you know, when you look at the scenarios, you would think this would be the last guy that Jesus would want to pick to be the leader of his apostles. I mean, he was overly confident, he was unloving, he was impetuous, proud, domineering, he was ignorant and in terms of just being dense, and cowardly, unstable. Think about it. He was the only apostle that Jesus rebuked by calling him Satan. It's pretty strong. He was a ready fire aim, kind of guy. His mind was always trying to catch up with his mouth. Someone said he had a foot shaped mouth, I can understand that. And the other disciples must have been dumbfounded when Jesus named him Peter, you know, rock, really? I mean, I can see maybe horseradish, you know? Because that's kind of how he would come across a lot of times like horseradish and hothead, loose cannon, but stone really? okay. And no other apostle was reproved as often as Peter, or as sternly as Peter. In fact, when the Lord would rebuke him, he would call him Simon, not Peter. In fact, in John's gospel, John calls him Simon Peter 17 times perhaps this was a way to reflect the old character and of his dear friend with the new. But over time, Peter's, exaggerated self confidence was turned into humble dependence. "I will never forsake you, Lord". Well, we know what happened and the Lord changed him through that. His vacillating cowardice would eventually be transformed into steadfast, bold love that would cause him to, to even go to a cross for the Savior. And his impetuosity was eventually transformed into Christ like restraint. I mean, for a guy to stand in front of 600 men and a Roman cohort and take a sword and cut off one of their ears. I mean, that's kind of stupid, right? Well, the Lord changed all of that, and gave him self control; that domineering hutzpah that he had, I mean, he would actually rebuke the Lord. Can you imagine that? Well, the Lord melted all of that into a man with a tender, humble submission to the master will washed his feet. And that loud kind of brash mouth of his was transformed into a fearless preacher of the gospel. And his ignorance about spiritual things was replaced by the marvelous revelations that came from the incarnate Christ himself. But I might also add that the Lord did not change, Peter, without Peter's own contribution to that change in the sense that he didn't just let go and let God as you hear people say at time, that's a very dangerous statement. We are told to walk by the Spirit, right? We're told to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly, we're told to flee from sexual immorality. We're told that Paul told Timothy to pursue righteousness, and we are to cleanse ourselves from every defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of the Lord, Second Corinthians seven, one, and so forth. So we are to put to death, the deeds of the body were to mordify the flesh. And so by God's working in us, we also obey his commands. Romans 8:13, Paul said, "I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest when I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified." So the process of sanctification also requires our involvement to be obedient to the to the Word and the will of God to faithfully obey what he has commanded, and then he faithfully blesses us. Passive Christians never really produce the type of fruit in their life that they should, because they're just not engaged in the whole process of sanctification. Philippians two, verse 12, you're familiar with this, we are to "work out our salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure." In other words, the work that we do is the effect of what God is doing in us. In fact, the term "work out" literally means to continually, the Greek grammar, means to continually work to bring something to fulfillment or something to completion. And so because God works, we work. It's an amazing mystery. And we do it in fear and trembling, in other words, with an attitude of legitimate fear of offending our holy God, combined with a sense of awe and respect for who he is, and all that he has done, is doing and will do.

Now, Peter's spiritual growth, as I thought about it, really revolved around three commitments. I want to share these with you, because I think they can be beneficial to all of us, as we grow in Christ, first of all, and this is so obvious that it's easy to overlook it. He was a follower of Christ. He was a follower of Christ, Matthew four 19. Remember Jesus, He comes, He sees Peter and Andrew, they're casting the net and into the Sea of Galilee. And he says, "Follow me and I will make you fishers of men." And we read that they "immediately left their nets and they followed him." Luke 5:11, "they forsook all and followed him." I mean, that's commitment. Today, many people will follow culture, they will follow tradition, but they're not really following Christ. They show up for church, but they're kind of fairweather Christians. It's kind of Sunday in the South. When the battle gets difficult, they're nowhere to be found. When their sin gets exposed, when they're confronted in some way, they find another church or they stop going all together and they follow their flesh. Now beloved, our number one priority, as believers to become a faithful follower of Christ, not a casual observer, not a spectator, but one who knows him intimately, and who obeys Him completely. So we need to position ourselves in the middle of kingdom activity. And watch what God will do. It's interesting Paul wanted to be near the master, or I should say Peter wanted to be near the master. He wanted to be on the front line of the battle. He wanted to be shall we say the tip of the spear This is what makes a good leader you can't lead troops from the rear. You can't lead troops into battle if your way back in the back. You must stand in front, remain in the fray. You must be the last one standing when the dust settles and the smoke clears and for Peter, everything else in life had to be submitted to this commitment. He gave up his career, his pleasures, his personal dreams and aspirations. And he understood the cost of discipleship that it might take him to a cross and eventually it did. So he was a follower of Christ. Are you?

Secondly, he was a searcher of truth. If you study his life, you'll see that he's always asking questions many times they were self centered questions. Many times they were immature questions. Seldom did he receive the answer that he wanted. But he was always asking questions always learning. I'm reminded of Proverbs one five "A wise man will hear and increase in learning and a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel," verse 20 goes on to say, "Wisdom shouts in the street." Verse 22, she utters her saying, "How long O naive ones will you love being simple minded, and scoffers delight themselves and scoffing and fools hate knowledge." He goes on to say in verse 32, of Proverbs one, "For the waywardness of the naive will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them, but he who listens to me shall live securely, and will be at ease from the dread of evil." Beloved, you will never be useful for the sake of the kingdom unless you sit at the Master's feet, unless you immerse yourselves in the Word of God. And you'll certainly never be a leader. The spiritual self discipline of learning and applying the Word of God in your life has to be a priority. And that is the pathway that is the prerequisite to godliness, and especially all that want to be involved in, in some kind of activities. We all need to be involved in ministry, but especially if you're going to be involved in leadership, you need to apply yourself and discipline yourself to that end. That's why I tell every one of you you need to have a MacArthur Study Bible. I mean, if you don't have that, that's like a real priority, because that will give you the great doctrinal explanations of those passages, along with other things that you can use. I have a well equipped gym at my place that our family and friends will use, my grandson's in particular, and I have told them on a number of occasions, guys, make sure you're spending as much time working on your mind and your heart as you are your body, which is going to get old and deteriorate and pass away. All right? You need to grow mentally, spiritually and physically, don't get out of balance. And how sad to see great athletes who have spent their life training their body but they neglect their mind and their heart and the great doctrines of godliness and blessing. First Timothy four remember what Paul told Timothy in beginning in verse six, "Be a good servant of Christ, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine, which you have been following." I mean, there's your priority, "but have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women," which by the way, was an epithet denoting the aberrant beliefs. Today, it would be you know, the silly things like urban legends and blogs and websites and conspiracy theories and enneagrams, you know, those types of goofy things that people get caught up in, going out into the woods with a pen and paper and waiting to have some word come to you and writing it down as if that's somehow God speaking to you, man, talk about neglecting the authority and the sufficiency of Scripture, or being involved in silly things like, you know, the channeling of what's her name, Sarah Young and Jesus calling and all of those ridiculous things that people get caught up in. So he says, "Have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women." But then he says, "On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline," could be translated exercise, "is only a little profit." By the way, I want to add it's of some profit All right. So you know you do you need to have some physical exercise. But it's a little profit, "but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise to the present life and also for the life to come." Well, Peter learned to do this over the course of his life. You know, growing and the grace and the knowledge of Christ your friends has to be just the number one priority of your life and you have to do everything you can to do that. Remember what Jesus told Martha in Luke 10:41, "Martha, Martha you are worried and bothered about so many things, but only a few things are necessary, really only one." Then he says, "For Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her." And the good part was listening to the words of Jesus with an open heart and mind. Peter we know, longed for divine revelation. He fed upon it, he never assumed he knew at all. That's why he said in First Peter two two that we are, "to be like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word that by it you may grow in respect to salvation." And certainly, an infant's milk from Mama's breast as a matter of life and breath are life and death. And the child needs it just like we need the word of God. In fact, Peter's last words in his second epistle, second, Peter 3"18. He says, "Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forevermore. Amen." And I think of the apostle Paul, he's about to be executed. He is in a Roman prison and what did he ask for? In Second Timothy 4:13. He said, "Bring me my cloak," because he was cold, "and the books especially the parchments." In other words, bring me my Bible. The books is reference to the Old Testament papyrus the scrolls and the parchments were the the vellum sheets, made of treated animal hides, probably copies of letters that he had written, maybe even blank sheets for writing other letters, that was his priority, all the way to the end. So Peter was a follower of Christ. He was a searcher for truth.

And he was also a joyful sufferer number three, John 21. If we go there, we would read how Jesus promised him that someday he would die on a cross. And yet for 40 years he faithfully ministered knowing that that would be how he would finish his life. And in light of that, he said in First Peter, four beginning of verse 13, "To the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also with the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation. If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you." He goes on to say in verse 16, "If anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not feel ashamed, but in that name, let him glorify God....Therefore, let those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls, to a faithful Creator and doing what is right." I love to think about this. I mean, despite his failures, despite the Lord's loving rebukes, despite the relentless criticism and personal attacks, when he preached, he never gave up. And he never complained, he continued to follow Christ. And he did so with joy because he never lost his fellowship with Christ. The early church father Eusebius, in his what's called the Ecclesiastical History, describes Peters crucifixion. There we read that he was forced to watch his wife being crucified, and he was at the foot of her cross, constantly repeating, "Remember the Lord, Remember the Lord, Remember the Lord," until she died. And it is said that Peter felt unworthy to be crucified as the Lord. So he asked to be crucified, upside down. Now only the Spirit of God can do that kind of a work in a human being. So he was a joyful sufferer. And what a marvelous testimony of God's transforming power. And this should be a great comfort to all of us Simon's in the world, right? To see what God can do. In the guy like Peter, I can't wait to talk with him someday. I can't wait. I mean, God can and will use anyone who submits to him completely.

Next, Mark three verse 16. Again, and we read, "He appointed the 12: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter) and James, the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James (to them He gave the name Boanerges, which means "Sons of Thunder"). Now again, Peter, James and John, were the three most intimate companions of the Lord during His earthly ministry, they were in his inner circle. And they were the ones in whom the Lord invested most of his time shaping them into his glorious image. Examples to all of us. So as we think of James and John, we think of, I don't know the dynamic duo here. I mean, they were the sons of thunder. They came from the sons of Zebedee, they are a prominent family. Some evidence in early church records indicates that Zebedee may have been a Levite and closely related to the family of the high priest. James was the elder brother. Perhaps he thought he should have been the leader of the group. But Scripture would indicate that he was second in command to Peter. And while James, like all of us had many sinful issues to deal with, we see that God just continued to work in his life. And most of his issues fell under a couple of broad categories in his life that the Lord had to change. First of all, he had to learn to rule his emotions rather than them ruling him. I can't identify with that at all. Maybe you can. But this was certainly an issue for him. If you look at lots of passages in Scripture, you see that James and his brother John, were both hard charging, in your face kind of guys. They were passionate. They were zealous, they were fiery, fervent. They were hot blooded guys. That's why Jesus nicknamed them Sons of Thunder. They were the go ahead and make my day kind of guys. All right, that's kind of who they were. Remember, Jesus gave Simon the name Peter, referring to "rock" to shape his personality, and keep it from vacillating towards cowardice and to be steadfast in the faith. Well, perhaps he did the same thing here with with James and John calling them Sons of Thunder. Maybe he did this humorously to gently and perhaps get them to harness their passions, tone down their rhetoric a little bit. We can't say for sure. But we know as we study the life of James that he was very outspoken, He was impatient. He was very similar to Peter. He was a ready fire than aim kind of guy. He would shoot first and ask questions later, as we're going to see, this is a very dangerous and sinful aspect of, of his character that God had to change. We go to Luke nine for example, we read how the Jesus and the guys were traveling through Samaria region, a pagan idolatry, just so that you remember the Jews intermarried with the pagans after the Assyrian captivity, and they embraced that ecumenical spirit that mixed Judaism with mysticism and paganism, and kind of created a mongrel race and religion that the Jews despise. They call us, we'll call them unclean, they would walk many miles around Samaria to get to where they were going. And so there was this mutual disdain and hatred that the Samaritans had for the Jews and vice versa. And scripture records many examples of, of the wickedness that existed in this region. Remember, Ahab and Jezebel had a wicked son, Hosea. And he tried on a couple of occasions to kill his nemesis, Elijah, who would call down fire and killed Elijah did that two times remember? Well, James and John, they remembered this, okay. He wanted to well, Elijah wanted to consume his captors, and, and instantly incinerating them and, you know, reducing them to ashes. You read about this in Second Kings one. But Jesus loved these people. He wanted them to come to faith in Christ. And so he's going through the region, the Samaritans offered him no hospitality. And so, James and John remembering the Old Testament, and the precedent of Elijah thought that they had a remedy for that blasphemy. So we read in Luke 9:54, "Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elijah did?" In other words, Lord, can we nuke them? You know, that's what he wanted to do. But Jesus "turned and rebuked him and said, 'You do not know what kind of spirit you are of; for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them." And it says, "and they went on to another village." Now James and John must have been shocked with this whole deal. I mean, is this how you handle unfair treatment, you just kind of move on and wait for something else to happen? There was such profound wisdom in Jesus words and how easy it is, by the way, for us to let some unkind, acrimonious remark from someone, or some unfair, hurtful situation, turn us into just an angry revengeful type of a person and look for a beachhead for revenge and then call it righteous indignation. When in fact, it's just wounded pride, our agenda has been derailed. And that was the case with them. So we all have to examine our motives. And as I say, don't throw your dog in every fight saving for the big ones, right? But that's not how they were, I've had to learn this the hard way. You know, I seldom get really angry. But when I must, I want to make sure that it's for the Lord's sake and not for mine. So even when defending the honor of Christ we have to be careful to measure our emotions.

Well, the point is, the Sons of Thunder needed to learn the priority of love and patience, especially when presenting the gospel. They needed to learn how to rule their passions, their emotions, rather than letting them rule them. They needed to learn how to bridle their emotions and harness their zeal and their wisdom. And that was not a time for judgment, however, the time would come. But now Jesus had come to seek and to save sinners. In John 12:46, we read "I have come as a Light into the world that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him, for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world." Now, as a footnote, several years later, we know according to Acts eight five that Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them. Certainly many of those who had rejected Jesus earlier would have heard his preaching would have been in his audience. And then we read this, "The multitudes with one accord, he did the thing spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. For unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many who were possessed, and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city." James and John had to learn a lesson the hard way, didn't they? We cannot despise our mission field. God's timing is always perfect. So Jesus helped James to rule his emotions, to temper, his zeal and passion give him tenderness. He had to learn the meaning of Exodus 34, six, "God is merciful and gracious, long suffering and abounding and goodness and truth." And Ezekiel 33:11, we read that he has, "no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather the wicked turn away from his way and live." And as we see, James, and the Sons of Thunder, began to learn this, as the master gently shaped their self centered religious zeal and help them control their passions. So not only did he have to deal with his emotions, but secondly, you had to replace selfish ambition with humility. He had to learn what is meant in Luke 18:14 "everyone who exalts himself will be humbled and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Now, here, I would take you back in the New Testament, remember the story, in Matthew 20. And we're going to come to it eventually in Mark 10. And there James and John enlist their mother to secretly ask Jesus, if her sons could sit on his right and left sides when He ascended the throne in the kingdom. All right, a little politicking going on in the background. And because of their affluence, they were able to follow after Jesus, they were able to minister to him and so because of that, they were in the inner circle. They I mean, after all, they witnessed the transfiguration. They're on the mound with Jesus. And mom was a faithful follower, faithful servant, come from this prominent family, the Zebedees, so it would be easy to assume that this would be an appropriate request. The problem was their motives were selfish. And so they sought to exalt themselves and Jesus of course saw right through it. So we read Matthew 20, beginning of verse 20. "Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with their sons bowing down and making a request of Him. And He said to her, 'What do you wish?' She said to Him, 'Command that in Your kingdom, these two sons of mine might sit, one on your right and one on your left.' But Jesus answered, 'You do not know what you are asking, are you able to drink the cup that I'm about to drink?' They said to Him, 'We are able.' He said to them, 'My cup you shall drink, but to sit at My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My father.' And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers." So the other guys heard about this. And, you know, they were upset. And I would imagine they were upset because they were thinking the same things about themselves right, as that's probably what was going on, so their displeasure was probably fueled by jealousy. I mean wherever you see strife, you can back up and you can see jealousy and pride. In fact, often in Scripture, we see jealousy and strife mentioned together. In fact, this was the same silly debate that they were having at the Last Supper, remember the same type of thing. Verse 25, of Matthew 20, goes on to say, "But Jesus called them to Himself and said, 'You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not this way among you. But whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come, to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.'" Beloved, we must all guard ourselves against selfish ambition, against jealousy, trying to seek a place of prominence, whether it's in the church or trying to be the star of the Sunday school class, or whatever it is, you have to guard against that, you know, guard against positioning yourself to be seen or to be heard. I mean, all this Facebook, I mean, that's what Facebook does, primarily, it preys upon people who are desperate for affirmation and so forth. And eventually, if you feel like you're underappreciated, eventually your secret resentment will become public. And it will cause divisions within a fellowship, as was the case with James and John again, Matthew 20:24. "And hearing this the 10 became indignant with the two brothers." If we look at First Peter five, in verse five, Peter warned the persecuted saints of this very thing and he focuses on the younger men. Because we tend to be this way, I should say, you I'm not in the younger man anymore, but I am in the man category. "You younger man, likewise be subject to your elders. And all of you clothe yourselves with humility", in the original language, it carries the idea of tying on something with a knot as a slave would his apron, in other words, put on humble service, "clothe yourselves with humility toward one another for God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble, humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him because He cares for you." So by the Lord's gentle hand of discipline, he continued to work in his life. And James was gradually conformed more into the image of his master. He learned to control his emotions, he learned to replace selfish ambition with humble service, in fact, in Acts 12, in the final chapter of James's life, we read this beginning in verse one. "Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some from the church. Then he killed James, the brother of John with the sword." In other words, he was beheaded. "Because he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to sieze Peter also." And of course, we know that angel came and delivered Peter and that didn't happen. But James was the first of the 12 to be killed for his faith.

Herod Agrippa, the first the nephew and successor of Herod Antipas, who killed John the Baptist, put Jesus on a trial. I mean, that's kind of the whole group there that we're talking about. And you will recall how the Lord took out his vengeance later on. In fact, those of you who go with me to Israel, we're going to be in this very amphitheater there in Caesarea. But you will recall how Herod arrayed himself, the text says, and royal apparel and he sat on his throne and he gave an oration to all of them while he was in the amphitheater, in Acts 12:22, "The people kept shouting 'The voice of a god and not of a man! And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give glory to God, and he was eaten by worms and died." Folks never take the sword of God's vengeance out of his hand. Vengeance is Mine, saith the LORD. And God is far more creative in the way that he brings about vengeance than you could ever imagine. And certainly, this is what happened. It's fascinating, as we think of the radical change that took place in James and his brother as well. Eusebius, who's one of the early church historians gives us an account of James's execution that came from Clement of Alexandria. Let me read this to you as we draw this to a close this morning. Quote, "Clement says that one who led James to the judgment seat, when he saw him bearing his testimony was moved, and confessed that he was himself also a Christian. They were both therefore," he says, "lead away together. And on the way he begged James to forgive him. And James, after considering a little said, 'Peace be with you' and kissed him. And thus they were both beheaded at the same time."

Well, dear friends, it's amazing to see the power of God work in the redeemed, regardless of how dysfunctional, sinful, whatever we might be, God can take us and he can mold us into men and women that can be used mightily for the sake of the kingdom. John MacArthur summarize James's life so poignantly, he said "James wanted a crown of glory, Jesus gave him a cup of suffering. He wanted power, Jesus gave him servanthood, he wanted a place of prominence, Jesus gave him a martyr's grave. He wanted to rule, Jesus gave him a sword not to wield, but to the be the instrument of his own execution." So my friends, we can rejoice that God is working in all of us in ways that we can't even imagine as he continues to conform us into the image of Christ, we must all be deeply moved by this. And we must do all that we can to submit ourselves to the Spirit's work in our heart, that we might become more conformed into the likeness of Christ. And to be able to enjoy all that is ours in him to the praise of his glory, amen. Amen. Let's pray. Father, thank you for these reminders of your work and in these men that you chose to be the foundations of the church. I pray that we will learn much as we look at their lives and rejoice in the ways that you worked in them knowing that you are at work in us in the same way. To this end, we rejoice we give you thanks. In Jesus name. Amen.

Will you take your Bibles and turn to Second Corinthians chapter one. This is the second part of a little series on "God of All Comfort." And we will read verses one through 11 here in a moment. I must say, my heart is increasingly burdened for you, and certainly for our children, as I watch what's happening to our country, as I just witness the vile nature of so many of our presidential candidates and people in government. And as I watch just the tsunami of satanic sewage that is engulfing our nation. I found myself weeping over this this morning, as I prayed for my children, as I prayed for yours. And so it's important that we prepare ourselves for the mounting persecution that is coming. I'm confident that it is mounting, and we're so thankful that God has given us his Word, to comfort us, to teach us, to prepare us and how thankful we can be that our God reigns, amen? And in the end, he reigns victoriously. You know, unless you've been in pastoral ministry, or you've been in some kind of mission work, or you've been in some ministry, where you have really gotten into the lives of people and experienced the hostility that most people have towards the gospel, you would never be able to know the level of trauma that the apostle Paul endured in his ministry, especially in Ephesus, a place where he said it was filled with many adversaries; First Corinthians 6:9. He warned Timothy of an exceedingly wicked man named Alexander the coppersmith. In Second Timothy four, he said that he had severely opposed him and as he says, in verse 14, through 17, he says, "Alexander the Coppersmith, did me much harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. Be on guard against him yourself, for he vigorously opposed our teaching." As he dealt with men and women that were infuriated with him, he said that it was like being torn to pieces, the opposition so violent that he referred to it as, quote, "fighting with wild beasts" in first Corinthians 15:32. He likened his work as an apostle as those condemned to die in a Roman arena; "as men condemned to death," he said, "because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men," First Corinthians four nine. Second Corinthians one where we will be in a minute, he was quite certain that he would ultimately lose his life because of his faith and his message, which he considered frankly a wonderful deliverance from a merciful God. In Romans 16 five he said that Priscilla and Aquila, quote, "risked their own next for his life," which probably occurred either in Ephesus or perhaps in Corinth. And later in Second Corinthians 11, beginning in verse 23, you will recall he, he catalogues the the horrific forms of physical and, and mental torture that he endured. As you think about it, the 39 lashes administered by the unlawful Jewish ecclesiastical court, which was probably in Laodicea would have been a flogging that would have almost killed him, and that's what happened; almost took his life. Add to this, all of his imprisonments, his stonings, his illnesses, false apostles slandering him, the bitter humiliation of the painful visit, as you will recall that he had to the Corinthian believers who had bought into the lies told about him by the false apostles; their disloyalty. Add to that friends and colleagues that abandoned him, all of the pressures from all of the churches that he had planted. And he was trying to shepherd the persecution from the legalist as well as the libertines, it just goes on and on. It's hard to even fathom the sorrow that he experienced and the anguish of soul. Yet he acknowledged that by the grace of God, he was able to find strength in weakness. And he was able to be comforted even in his sorrow.

And that brings us to the passage here, the beginning of Second Corinthians, beginning in verse one, he says, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy, our brother, To the church of God, which is at Corinth, with all the saints who are throughout a Achaia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also, you are sharers of our comfort. For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction, which came to us in Asia, that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life; indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us, you also joining in helping us through your prayers, so that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf, for the favor bestowed on us through the prayers of many."

Last week in our introduction, we were reminded of several things from this passage and from other passages. First of all, we were reminded that God has ordained our afflictions, for our good and for His glory, we were reminded that every trial is an opportunity for us to experience strength and to have our faith strengthened, as well as to experience the power in the presence of Christ. We also were reminded that every trial is an opportunity for us to grow in obedience to the Lord Jesus through His Word, and also that the great distresses of our life are short lived. And when we embrace them with the confident assurance that God is in them, they will bring even joy to our soul. But there are three important concepts that emerged from these 11 verses. We're only going to be able to look at the first one this morning. But let me give all three of them to you. First of all, we're going to see that God comforts the afflicted. Secondly, believers are comforted to comfort others and finally, prayer unleashes the power of God. Now, I trust that this will be both instructive as well as comforting to each one of you, to prepare you for whatever might come in the days of head.

So first of all, look at verse one, "Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of Godt." Now mind you, he begins with a very clear refutation of those who denied his apostolic credentials and authority. Right out of the gate, he starts with that. He also says, "and Timothy, our brother. Of course, Timothy was his protege, and personal emissary who was with Paul when the Church was founded. He goes on to say, "To the church of God which is at Corinth with all the saints who are throughout Achaia: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." By the way, the syntax is very important here, that single preposition the word "from," which can mean, "that comes from" belongs to both grace and peace, which indicates that God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, together, form the singular source of divine grace that is offered to us, and in this we can rejoice. Obviously, this is also another affirmation of the deity of the Lord Jesus.

He goes on in verse three, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort." It could be translated "the compassionate father" and "the God who always gives comfort." Boy, we can all say amen to that who have experienced it. Right? Absolutely. Verse four, "who comforts us in all our affliction, for just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also, our comfort is abundant through Christ."

And so here we come to this first point in my little outline, that God comforts the afflicted. I want you to notice, dear ones, that Paul begins with something very interesting. He begins this whole epistle, by bursting forth from his heart, with a doxology of praise. Here we see that Paul, like Job was not crushed by his afflictions. He was not tempted "to curse God and die" like Job's wife told him to do. That didn't happen. Instead, with Job he could say "the Lord gave, the Lord has taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." Job even went on to say, "though he slay me, I will hope in Him." So think about it, despite the violent schemes of the adversary, his faith was not shaken. Nor was his spirit vanquished, there is no hint of bitterness, no white flag of surrender, there is no agony of defeat. Instead, he offers testimony to the comforting power of God who sustained him and strengthened him in the battle, and I hope this is your testimony as well. If you're engaged in the battle for the gospel, you experience a real fight, right? You experienced persecution. But those who seek their own comfort will know little of God's comfort. In fact, when the self-centered coward is afflicted his heart will be filled with bitterness and anger, rather than praise and confidence. I remember a woman not too long ago who lost an adult son in an untimely way. She said something like this, I cannot bring myself to forgive God for this. And then she rehearsed all the good things that she had done and all the good things that he had done. And basically was saying, Where is the fairness in this? So sad to see that? By the way, folks, we don't want fair. We want mercy. While we must never deny the real pain, that we suffer when there is a great loss, we must also never deny the goodness and the grace of God in the midst of it, knowing that he's accomplishing his purposes in ways that we can't even understand. In fact, I have learned over the years that those who nurse their grief will give rise to the monster of contempt and will not find comfort that God offers so freely. And haven't we all marveled at how God responds to our deepest praise with deepest blessing, especially when that praise is offered in the midst of our pain, and in our sorrow. Charles Spurgeon said, quote, "When a man blesses God for the bitter, the Lord often sends him the sweet." He went on to say "if he can praise God in the night, the daylight is not far off. There never was a heart that waited and wanted to praise God, but the Lord soon gave it opportunities of lifting up psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to Him. It shall never be said that we were ready to praise God but that God was not ready to bless us."

Now, notice more closely how the apostle begins his doxology verse three, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Folks, this is a magnificent summary description of our glorious Redeemer and King. The term "Lord" denotes his sovereign rule over all of his creation. The term "Jesus" which is actually the Greek version of the Hebrew Yeshua. Yeshua is a term that means God saves. And this is what we see in Jesus, a name of his humanity, that he is the substitute who died on our behalf. And then Christ, of course, means Messiah or the "Anointed One." And he is the King of kings, the Lord of lords, the one that is coming, the one that will rule over his redeemed and renovated earth, and eventually over a recreated heavens and earth in the eternal state. And so folks, this is the one that brings comfort to the afflicted. That is Paul's point. In fact, you will recall that there was the symbol of the fish that was given the ichthus; and I've provided a little of that for you here. In Greek, it was an acrostic, that spelled "fish" that became the sacred symbol of Christianity. "Lesous" is for Jesus, "Christos" for Christ, "Theos" is for God, we get our word theology from that, "Huios" is Son, and "Soter is Savior, we get our word soteriology. From that, and the first letter of each of those, the Iota, the Chi, the Theta, the Upsilon, and the Sigma put together in Greek spell fish. What a magnificent summary of our glorious Redeemer and King. And that was the symbol that they used in those days, and we still see it today. And it's a good symbol.

So Paul, praises "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and God of all comfort," literally, the compassionate father and the God who always gives comfort. And what a magnificent reality this is, knowing that is like having a lighthouse on a distant shore when you're in a ship, and the storm is blowing you all over the place and suddenly you see the hope that is there that can guide you to a safe harbor. And it does bring comfort to every sinner who is struggling with guilt, desperate for undeserved mercy. Psalm 103, verse eight. The psalmist says "the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness." Verse 14, "just as a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him." Then beginning in verse 17, through 18, he really describes three kinds of believers, recipients of God's unfailing love, he says, "but the loving kindness of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him," a reference to believers, "and His righteousness to children's children. To those who keep His covenant," there's a reference to faithful believers. And then finally, "and remember His precepts to do them," there's obedient believers. And the prophet Micah speaks of God's mercy, and his compassion as well. Chapter Seven, beginning of verse 18, he says, "Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever because He delights in unchanging love. He will again have compassion on us; He will tread our iniquities under foot. Yes, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea."

Well, Paul continues in verse four in his description, he says, "He is the God who comforts us in all our affliction." "Affliction," a Greek term "thlipsis," it means pressing or pressure. It speaks of trouble that inflicts, great distress, and oppression, and tribulation. And some of you might be experiencing that right now. But be comforted knowing that God is the God of all comfort, who meets us in the midst of that pressure. If you fear him, and if you are faithful and obedient to him, the writer of Hebrews reminds us of this promise in Hebrews 13 five, he says, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you." So that we confidently say "the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid what will man do to me?"

Every one of you here today, who has rendered praise to God in the midst of some anguish of soul, can attest to the inexplicable comfort that comes often in unexpected ways. A passage of scripture that suddenly leaps off the page at you that maybe you've read 100 times before, or perhaps a forgotten picture that you stumble across, and it ignites your heart once again, with memories of God's faithfulness in your life. Or maybe it's the lyrics of a familiar hymn that suddenly grips your soul like never before. Or maybe it's something that said in a sermon that transports your heart into the very presence of the lover of your soul. Who knows how it happens? Indeed, we never know from where or when the wind of the Spirit might blow. It might blow in a comforting breeze in the midst of our pain, but he does that. And we never know how long a trial might last. Nor do we know what he's up to and all of it, but we trust in Him. But have you noticed that the very act of heartfelt praise in the midst of a storm lifts your spirit and it causes you to just soar far above it? I was meditating upon this and suddenly it came to my mind, an illustration. I was hunting in the Kluane Lake region in southwest Yukon on the Alaskan border. I was riding one of my favorite little horses, his name was Banjo. I guess it was because he was tightly strong, I'm not sure. Black stout mountain horse. And we'd been riding a high mountain ridge for a couple of hours and, and I was able to look down and those of you from the mountains, you know that sometimes you can look down and see a thunderstorm beneath you, below you. It's an amazing experience. And so I was looking at this thunderstorm and enjoying the sunny skies. And it was exhilarating. But I could see that it was kind of coming up. And lightning is very dangerous in the mountains, especially when you're on a top ridge. So I thought I better take cover. But as I was looking at the foreboding clouds, and I could see lightning, all of a sudden my eye caught a little black speck. And as I watched it, it started coming towards me and then I could make it out. It was a magnificent bald eagle who had set his wings and the updrafts were taking him out of the storm. And suddenly, within about 50 yards, I saw him and I could tell he saw me and he just kept on going up into the clouds. And you know, I believe that the Lord wanted me to witness that. To prepare me for the difficult storms that I would experience someday in ministry. That I didn't know at the time, I had no idea I would ever be in ministry. I thought I would just be a cowboy, I guess. But you know, folks, I've learned that there's always a divine updraft in every storm that will lift us high into the tranquil presence of our God. And when we set our wings in faith, believing, than the updrafts of his promises will lift us up into His very presence.

And of course, the words of the prophet Isaiah, ring true with this illustration, remember in Isaiah 40, beginning of verse 29, actually, he says, "He gives power to the faint, and to them that have no might, he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young man shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, They shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and faint not." Beloved, if you're here today, and you're struggling with some dark cloud in your life, if the fierce winds and rain is pelting you, and you don't know which way to turn, I would encourage you to just set your wings in faith and thanksgiving and say, "Father, thank you, that you have saved me by your grace, even though I don't understand all that's going on. And even though I'm pleading with you to give me relief, nevertheless, I will trust you. I will honor you, I will serve you, I will bless you. Because I know that ultimately you are working things in my life, for my good and ultimately for your glory. And therein I will rejoice." And folks, I assure you if that's the attitude of your heart, you will experience comfort in ways that you cannot imagine. Hebrews chapter four, verse 15, the writer says "For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Well, the apostle Paul describes such a storm in his life, one in which he experienced divine comfort. And as a result of that, it ignited his heart with this doxology of gratitude and praise. Notice verse eight, he describes the storm. "For we do not want you to be unaware, brethren, of our affliction, which came to us in Asia that we were burdened excessively, beyond our strength, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves, so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a peril of death, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope, and He will yet deliver us." Here he is undoubtedly making a reference to the afflictions that he experienced in Asia. And the incapacitating trauma that he experienced in Troas and Macedonia, especially at Ephesus, as we read in chapter two and chapter seven. You will recall there he waited anxiously for the news as to whether or not the Corinthians had repented and had finally turned back to him in loyalty. Again, folks, remember enduring slander is hard enough, but when those you love, embrace those lies, and turn against you, the pain can be unbearable. Verse eight, he says, "we despaired of life." The term despair is interesting in the original language, "exaporeo." We get our word porous from that, "ex" means without any, it literally means without any pores. It's not porous, something that's not permeable, not penetrable. In other words, there was no passage, there was no way through, there was no way out, no exit. So to be in despair means to be in utter loss, as to a way of escape. This is how he felt. He thought the only escape was going to be death. You will recall later on Second Corinthians four eight he says we "are afflicted in every way but not crushed; perplexed, but not despairing." There's the same word. We're not despairing. We're not without the understanding that there is a way through. Though at times, it may not seem like there is. Don't we find comfort in what he said in First Corinthians 10, verse 13, that "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it." And I think of when Jesus promised to pray for his father to send the Holy Spirit to take his place as he ascended into glory. Remember, he told his disciples in John 14:18, very precious statement, he says, "I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you." What a magnificent promise. And every faithful believer who has ever experienced the sole exhilarating joy of God's presence, especially in their pain, will attest to this truth.

Well, we see this in Paul's testimony, for example of how Alexander the coppersmith, who was one of the idol makers in Ephesus; viciously attacked him and had him arrested, remember, and he records this in Second Timothy 4:16, he says "At my first defense no one supported me." Well, that's comforting, right? You're falsely accused, and you come in, nobody's there to support you. You're all alone; "but all deserted me." And then he says, "May it not be counted against them." But notice this "But the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the Gentiles might hear; and I was rescued out of the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and will bring me safely to His heavenly kingdom; to Him be the glory forever and ever. Amen." Dear friends, we must all hold to these promises. That's why I'm rehearsing them for you once again, especially as we see the increased hatred mounting against Christians in our country. You know, as persecution comes, many people say, oh my what's going to happen to all of the churches? I'll tell you what will happen, most of them will thrive like they never have before. Because our greatest enemies are not people outside the church, but people inside the church; it will be other churches. And that's what we're seeing today. And especially if any of the Marxist socialists get elected, they seek to impose a government run utopia that creates a classless, homogeneous society, where wealth is distributed equally and everyone gives selflessly to the collective whole.

By the way, I hope you understand, and I'm going to digress just for a moment, I usually don't get too political. But folks, this is absolutely terrifying. What we're seeing happening, wherever this type of governmental model has been implemented, and I've been in these countries, economies have collapsed, societies have turned into war zones, and Christians had been persecuted, because you must understand that socialism and Christianity are mutually exclusive. Marxism is an atheistic philosophy, the s- called democratic socialism of Bernie Sanders and a lot of these other leftists...it's just utterly incompatible with biblical Christianity. Cultural Christianity, oh, it's fine, it'll work great. But it won't work great with people who really know and love Christ.

If I can digress for a moment, in this model, it is the state, not God that becomes the provider, the sustainer, the protector and the law giver. In fact, Karl Marx said, quote, "The first requites of the happiness of the people is the abolition of religion." End quote. You see, for the socialists, there can be no higher authority than the state. The state will tell you what to believe, what to think, what to teach your kids, how to live. It denies the depravity of man, who is in desperate need of reconciliation to a holy God, through faith in Christ. To the socialists, you must understand, man is deprived, he is not depraved. They will tell you to depend upon the state we will take care of you. And yet as Christians we are commanded not to, quote "worry about your life, what you will eat or drink or about your body what you will wear. Is not life more than food,'" Jesus said, "'and the body more than clothes... Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,'" Matthew six.

Socialism is not just wealth redistribution, it is wealth confiscation. That violates the eighth commandment where we are told "Thou shalt not steal." It destroys accountability to the biblical work ethic where we are told in Scripture that if a man doesn't work he doesn't eat. It prohibits our responsibility to serve God with our resources, as Jesus taught in the Matthew, or in Matthew 25, and the parable of the talents, and it foolishly believes that it can bring about a man-made Utopia on Earth; which obviously makes the establishment of the Messianic Kingdom, a ridiculous dream. And yet, this satanic philosophy is gaining strength, gaining strength, and it's soon going to overtake even our country I fear as the world is being prepared for the rule of the Antichrist.

Now, my purpose is not to promote any kind of political agenda, but to simply warn you of what's coming. Folks, this is the city of man as Augustine called it. This is not the City of God and regardless of political party, most all of the people in authority over us are unregenerate men and women--they know know nothing of who Christ is. They have no fear of God, no love for Christ, no longing for his return, no understanding of the word of God. They need our love, and they need the gospel. But by grace, God's grace alone, we are citizens of another kingdom. And so a lot of all of the hubbub that goes on, I just kind of ignore, I'm kind of like, hopefully you're the same way--like the eagle, you just kind of set your wings and rise above it all. Because I know that our God reigns. And our King is the King of kings and Lord of lords and he will one day put all of his enemies under his feet.

But until he returns, things are going to get worse and worse, not better and better. Second Timothy three verse one "that in the last days, difficult times will come literally." Savage, perilous times will come. "For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power; avoid such men as these." Again, I care little about politics other than to vote my conscience for the unregenerate candidate who is the closest to biblical truth. But other than that, the priority has to be the gospel, not politics. And I refuse to even listen to, especially the leftist politicians and the media pundits who advocate the killing of unwanted babies, and all of the gross immoralities that they applaud, I will love them, I will, I will pray for them. I will proclaim the gospel boldly to them, but I refuse to debate with the spiritually dead. For them, two plus two is always going to be five, they have no capacity to understand divine truth.

My mind goes to Proverbs 14 seven where it says, "Leave the presence of a fool, or you will not discern words of knowledge." Beloved, think of this, as Paul said, in Colossians, three one, since you "have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of the Father. Set your mind on things above, not on the things that are on earth." In other words, be preoccupied with his purposes, be preoccupied with his plan, his provisions, his power. At some level, I don't really care who Satan puts in next as the next president, or the next Congress, man or woman or any of that type of thing. Because once again, I know that my God reigns. And Jesus is coming again. And in this we find great comfort, like Abraham, as we read in Hebrews 11:10, I'm looking "for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God." I desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called My God, for He has prepared a city for me and for you. O, dear Christian, hold on to the great promises that we've been given in His Word.

As we see the forces of Satan being amassed against the kingdom of God. And for too many Christians today, I feel, they have been lulled to sleep in the cradle of American prosperity. And they're dreaming this American dream of material wealth, and prosperity and pleasure. And dear friend, if that is the preoccupation of your heart, you're going to be so sorely disappointed someday. You are on a fool's errand and you are living in a fool's paradise. So I would plead with you as a messenger of the gospel. Wake up. Be on the alert, be vigilant. Don't be people of the night, be people of the day, set your mind on things above, not on the things of this earth, live for Christ. All that really matters is what you do for Christ. Life is short, make the best of it. Because Jesus is coming again.

So Paul lived in a season of enormous persecution against Christians. And he confessed in verse eight, the end he said, "we despaired even of life." Again, he saw no way through. In verse nine, "indeed, we had the sentence of death within ourselves so that we would not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises the dead." The term "sentence" in the original language refers to an official, authoritative sentence or judgment, a legal judgment. And what we see here is that his suffering was so severe that he had a subjective awareness of the sentence of death upon him, that that would be his fate. So all he could do and all he should do was to cast himself upon the mercies of a good and faithful and loving God. And this needs to be our perspective as well. He knew also that, that trial, utterly obliterated every hint of self-reliance he harbored in his heart. And folks, you must remember that the roots of self-sufficiency grow deep, and they are not easily uprooted. Reflecting upon this reality, John Calvin said, quote, "We are not brought to real submission until we have been laid low by the crushing hand of God." Now, I would submit to you if you're a believer, and you have no real walk with Christ, you just kind of play church, the cultural Christianity that's typical of our culture; if you're a believer that can go for days without being in the word to find nourishment for your soul, if you have no appetite for the Word of God, if you have no personal pursuit of holiness, no desire to honor Christ in your life. Let me go even further. If you have no disciplined prayer life, if you have no desire to be in intimate communion with God, the God you claim to love, then you have no real love for Christ, no real desire to know Him. And one day, you're going to be brought low. Because the father disciplines those that he loves. And even as tobacco produces disease, arrogance produces idolatry. And what happens is, when we find greater joy and greater fulfillment and greater satisfaction for our soul in things other than Christ, it's not long that before we will begin to see and taste those forbidden fruits that are all around us in this world, and like Eve they will be pleasant to our eyes. And we will crave them like a junkie craves dope. And like eating a dozen Krispy Kreme Doughnuts before supper, you will ruin your appetite for God and His Word and for his people. And imperceptibly you will forsake your first love, and you will pursue other things you will embrace other lovers that will eventually destroy you.

I think of Eve, remember Eve there in the garden, who in her pride and self-sufficiency, she left her husband's protection. She usurped his leadership, his headship; she was deceived by the cunning serpent, to partake the forbidden fruit that she believed would provide her for something more than what God had already provided. That somehow God was not really being totally fair. And that she needed more. Folks, like her, we too can be deceived into believing that God is not enough and that we must have something more and that we can find it on our own. And then the day will come when you realize that you are out of resources. What a blessing a gift that is when that day comes. But oh, it can be painful. Paul had learned this lesson well, and he was prepared. And I find it interesting that God in His mercy kept reminding Paul of his inadequacies, and boy, can I see myself here. Remember in Second Corinthians three five, he says, Paul says, "Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything is coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from what is from God."

So Paul's crushing affliction served a divine purpose, namely, to remove every vestige of hope in his own resources and help him to realize that he had to depend solely upon the one who could raise the dead. And in this context, and in particularly, especially at this particular time in his life, God came to his rescue. Notice verse 10. He said that he "delivered us from so great a peril, and will deliver us, He on whom we have set our hope. And He will yet deliver us." Oh, what confidence we have in the God of all comfort. To know that we have a loving Heavenly Father. And what loving father would not come to the aid of his child? None. No wonder Paul would say, "He will deliver us he on whom we have set our hope." O dear friends, I pray that this is the attitude of your heart this morning. If not, you will forfeit divine comfort when that day comes when you need it most.

Charles Spurgeon once again, said something that struck a real note in my heart, he said, "Do you not think dear friends, that sometimes when you are very heavy of heart, it would be the best possible thing, if you were to say with Martin Luther, 'Come, let us sing a song and startle the devil.'" He went on to say, "If you sit down and groan and complain against God, your groans will be music to Satan's malevolent heart, but you will vex and grieve Him if instead of doing so, you say 'no foul fiend!' You shall never persuade me to rob God of his glory, He shall have his full revenue of praise from me whether I am on my bed, sick or able to be up and actively engaged in the duties of my calling, whether I stand well with my fellow men, or my name has an ill savor to them. God's name has not an ill savor. And therefore I will praise and bless him, even though nobody will praise me."

Friends, again, if you're here today, without Christ, I plead with you, to examine your heart and trust in Him. Ask God to save you and commit yourself to Him. And for those of us who know and love Christ, I want to leave you with the words of Jeremiah in Lamentations three, beginning in verse 21. Remember, he was the weeping prophet, and he said this, "This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope." And here's what he recalled. "The Lord's loving kindness is indeed never cease, for his compassion is never fail. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness. The Lord is my portion says my soul. Therefore I have hope in Him. The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the person who seeks Him. It is good that he waits silently for the salvation of the Lord." Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the comforting truths of your word that brings such solace to our souls, especially in times of difficulty, and even though we experience persecution in various ways, we, we see how it is mounting. And we know it's already there in full force in other parts of the world. But Lord, our confidence is in you. Because you are the God of all comfort, you are the God of all hope. And we trust in you. So meet us, even now, by preparing our hearts for whatever you bring our way that we might remain faithful, steadfast, immovable. We thank you for your word. Thank you for this time. Grow us in the grace in the knowledge of Christ I pray. Amen.