SERMON - Compromised Christians Have Always Weaponized Government To Hinder Christian Advancement
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Length
1 hour and 14 minutes
Words per minute
154.89276
Harmful content
Misogyny
9
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9
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94
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Summary
In this episode, we continue our series of the book of Ezra, and we continue to cover the subject of "compromisers" and "complacent" in the Christian church. These are two groups of people who have one foot in and one foot out of the Christian faith, and they hate progress made in the name of Christ.
Transcript
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amen this morning we continue our series of the book of ezra our text for today is ezra chapter
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4 verse 17 through 24 would you join me in standing for the reading of god's word i'll
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read our text in its entirety when i finish reading the text i'm going to say this is the
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word of the lord at which point i would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying thanks be
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to God. One final time our text for today is Ezra chapter 4 verse 17 through 24. The Bible says this
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the king sent an answer to Rahim the commander in Shimshai the scribe and the rest of their
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associates who live in Samaria and in the rest of the province beyond the river greeting and now
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the letter that you sent to us has been plainly read before me and I made a decree and search has
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been made, and it has been found that this city from of old has risen against kings, and that
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rebellion and sedition have been made in it. And mighty kings have been over Jerusalem, who ruled
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over the whole province beyond the river, to whom tribute, custom, and toll were paid. Therefore
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make a decree that these men be made to cease, and that this city not be rebuilt, until the decree
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is made by me and take care not to be slack in this matter why should damage grow to the hurt
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of the king then when the copy of king artaxerxes letter was read before rehum and shimshai the scribe
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and their associates they went in haste to the jews at jerusalem and by force and power made
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them cease then the work on the house of god that is in jerusalem stopped and it ceased until the
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second year of the reign of darius king of persia this is the word of the lord all right please be
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seated let's go ahead and dive in three main points in the text today that by god's grace i hope to
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convey to you number one is this the compromised hate christian progress the compromised hate
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christian progress certainly our enemies those who are completely against the the christian church
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they don't want to see Christians progress.
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you know maybe it's a nominal church maybe it's even a false church that teaches heresy
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but one way or the other in in name at least in terms of how they present themselves
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they claim to be one of us they claim to be among the lord's people they claim to be christians
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those who are compromised not just on the outside overtly against the christian church but those who
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are on the borders with one foot in and one foot out those who claim to be christians but they are
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compromised christians always have possessed a unique hatred towards christian progress the
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second point is that the wicked are swift to do evil those who truly hate the church those who
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are compromised and and have this hatred against any progress that's made in the name of christ
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any true progress that would be labeled and measured as such according to right ultimate
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objective standards, that is the law of God, the word of God, any true progress according to what
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God's word would call progress will be hated by those who are compromised. And those who are
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compromised, not only will they hate true Christian progress, but they will be swift,
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Swift to impede it. Swift to do evil. And then lastly, the complacent. So a different group
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of individuals. It's not just the compromisers who have one foot in and one foot out of the
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Christian church, but they're also the complacent who very often are well within the borders of the
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Christian church. They don't have one foot in and one foot out, but they have both feet in.
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They are members in good standing in local Bible-preaching, gospel-believing churches.
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And in many regards, they have fruit to speak of and character in their lives and commitment to the church.
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But for whatever reason, in a particular area, they're complacent.
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it's not necessarily that they wish harm to the church it's not necessarily they hate christian
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progress but they just don't want to be the ones to bring it about it's too hard it's too much work
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or perhaps there's too much risk involved too much persecution that might be incurred if they
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actually put themselves you know behind a certain effort actually taking a public stand moving
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towards a particular direction. They know that this would paint a target on their chest, that it
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would bring upon them and their family a certain increased measure of spiritual warfare. And even
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in the practical and the physical realm, that there might be certain sanctions or certain penalties,
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legal or financial or relational. Some of their extended family members who are not Christians
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but the thing that I'll lose is time in the day.
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So it could be either a fear of risk, a fear of loss, or it could be just idolatry of comfort and convenience and pleasure.
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But there are some that, again, these are not on the borders of the Christian church, one foot in and one foot out.
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These are people with both feet in, oftentimes members in good standing in good biblical churches who are not the compromisers, but they are the complacent.
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So the compromisers who hate Christian progress and are swift to stop it whenever they can,
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and the complacent who won't pull the trigger necessarily, they won't be the guy who writes
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the letter or goes and gets King Artaxerxes to write a letter that says, stop rebuilding the
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temple. Stop rebuilding a Christian city, Jerusalem. Stop seeking to make the nation
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Christians. Stop this. Stop. They won't. They won't be leading the cause towards impeding and
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stopping Christian progress. But when the compromisers stop it, the complacent, although
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they didn't make it stop, they're secretly glad it stopped. They're glad when Christian progress
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stops. Why? Because it means less work. It means that life is easier. This would be like the
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difference between a David French, right? Or a Francis Collins, guys who are Christian in name
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only. They claim to be Christian, but who three years ago, you know, with COVID and those kinds
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of things were adamantly working to persuade churches and pastors and Christians to shut down
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the church or to open the church, but not for worship on the Lord's day, but every other day
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in the week so that they can give vaccines and use the church as a medical building to put a
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foreign substance in people's arms that has a sample pattern of millions of people. Millions
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of people who have had it for 15 minutes, no long-term data, and for perfectly healthy people
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who are 25 years old, who are now dropping dead. But that's always happened, right? People, you know,
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25-year-old athletes have always on national television just killed over debt, right? That's
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always been a thing. That's not novel. That's not new. Of course not, right? Why believe your lying
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eyes when you could believe CNN? So my point is, there were guys who were compromisers. David
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French, Francis Collins, those kind of guys. But the reality is, and a lot of people don't want to
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admit this, but there was another group, not just the compromisers, but the complacent.
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The complacent would be the guys who, they didn't make it happen. They weren't, you know, trying to
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push a certain bill against churches or actually work towards, you know, legislation that would shut
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churches down or would mandate a vaccine for perfectly healthy people or the children of
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healthy people, you know, or this or that, the other. But when these rulings, these pseudo de
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facto rulings rolled down the line, the complacent, not the compromises, but the complacent
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were all too quick to abide by them and at some level were relieved maybe not happy maybe not
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joyous but a sense of this and maybe they couldn't even word it you know they couldn't even articulate
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what was going on and their motives and their heart but you know uncle sam said churches should
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stop meeting and some pastors they didn't say well i i i didn't advocate for that decision i
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don't want that necessarily or this that or the other and i would maybe never even verbally say
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this but it's kind of nice i don't have to you know i have less work like christian ministry is
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hard pastoral ministry is hard uh maybe you know maybe i just get to you know do remote recorded
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sermons for the next however many months or and you know and and nobody will you know i don't have
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to do a whole lot of pastoral counseling because everybody will be afraid to be you know within a
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physical proximity of me or this or that or the other like like my job just got easier
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that's the complacent right so the difference between the compromiser and the complacent
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think you know russell moore david french francis collins that's your compromiser claims to be a
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Christian? Absolutely not. Hates the church, hates Christian progress, hates Christ. Those men hate
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Christ. And then there's the complacent, who is a pastor or a member of a church. It may not,
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doesn't have to be a pastor, who loves Christ, really does, is regenerate, is born again. We're
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going to see them in heaven. But they were sinfully relieved. It is a sin. They're Christians, but
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Christian sin. And their sin is they were sinfully relieved in a situation like COVID. They were
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relieved to shut the church doors. They were relieved for the building project of Jerusalem
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and the temple to be paused. It went on pause and they're supposed to say, we love this. We're all
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about rebuilding Jerusalem and rebuilding the temple. And they would never verbalize it, but
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secretly, silently, when they get the letter from Artaxerxes that says, stop the Christian progress,
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stop building the christian city stop building the christian church the temple of the lord
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that's nice because it's been a lot of hard work nice to get a break and it's nice that i have a
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break and i don't have to explain to any of my you know any of my congress i don't have to say
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uh we're stopping because it's hard because that's not a good look you know in this case
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is that no we're stopping like we would we would never want to stop i'm really bummed and
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disappointed this is that we don't want to stop but we we have to you know romans 13 you know we
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have to so it's obviously covid is not the only case study or example but it just by golly i did
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it last week. I'm doing it again, but it really does fit. So compromisers and complacent. Compromisers
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think, hate Christian progress, want to put a stop to it. The complacent, they're in the church,
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both feet in. They are Christians. They are faithful in many regards, but at least in some
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regard, they're not trying to stop Christian progress, but they are secretly relieved when
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stopped. And when they get a letter from Artaxerxes, whatever it is, when the civil government
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is weaponized by the compromisers to impede Christian progress, the complacent are the ones
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who will be relieved with this pause, this stopping of Christian progress, and they won't put up a
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fight. They'll get the letter, says, you got to stop building the temple. And they'll immediately
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say okay okay instead of pushing back and say well wait a second who said that who said we have to
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stop our exerxes oh because he did his research our exerxes in the text he he called for an
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investigation he doesn't want misinformation so he went and looked at you know the annals of history
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and found that jerusalem was this city of sedition and a city that had other provinces paying tribute
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it was a rebellious city against kings and this and that okay uh-huh um well well why don't we do
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a little bit more research why don't we look because what you'll find if you look into other
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other other accounts of the history of Israel and Jerusalem is that you'll find well the reason why
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Jerusalem was was in opposition to some of these other kingdoms is because they were out of line
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those kings were tyrants and they were doing this and they were doing that Cyrus also has
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artaxerxes has he checked in with cyrus has he looked at his edict and his law and this and that
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um like my point is there could have been pushback there could have been pushback but the
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complacent don't push back because the complacent although they don't they don't cause the impeding
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of christian progress they are they like it they secretly like the impeding of christian progress
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they don't cause it but they accept it they willingly will receive it i think of again
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back to the covid thing there were pastors who were like well this is this is what the government
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said you know i'm not an epidemiologist well great you're not an epidemiologist and turns out
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neither were all the doctors at least not good ones you know if you had a high school degree
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iq of 90 maybe even 85 a little bit of common sense an open bible and a spine
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we don't have to do church church is a lot of work christian progress is hard we get to take
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a break those who were not complacent what they did was they pushed right back and said well wait
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a second who who made this ruling do you have the authority to make this ruling what does the
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constitution say more importantly what does the bible say the highest law of the land which is
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the word of god um no no we're not we're not going to they pushed back uh john macarthur i think he
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was late i'm going to say that a lot of people you know that you know like john macarthur and
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i'm grateful for john macarthur god bless him he was late no i'm just not gonna i because i i'm
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sorry this is the problem you you're stuck with me as a pastor one of my my great weaknesses
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is that i am by the grace of god i have a remarkable invulnerability to being gaslit
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so when everybody wants you to just forget the thing that happened like literally like four days
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ago you know that was right there and you have the letter and you have it recorded on your laptop
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you still have it in your email you know those guys and they just that never happened um i just
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i don't i don't play well with that um i like this never happened so i just i can't forget
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that all my pastoral friends were citing John MacArthur
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as the highest law in the land where he is in California,
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two weeks later to Christ, not Caesar, as head of the church.
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So I am glad that he pivoted, but he did pivot.
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we make mistakes and we correct them and praise God with men who will correct them. Now, ideally,
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I would like verbally the admission of I was wrong. And you might, because you're not stupid,
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you might notice that what I'm saying now is in 180 degrees, direct opposition to what I said
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to literally two weeks ago. Yeah. I mean, I would prefer that to just, you know, pretending like
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this has always been our position. I've never said otherwise. And anybody who has a memory,
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They can go back 14 days. You're you're insane and crazy. You know, I have certain preferences.
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So, again, I'm not a big fan of gaslighting. But all that being as it may, there's a disclaimer
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there. All that being as it may. My point is grateful in general, grateful for MacArthur,
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his pushback. Here's the deal. The complacent. We got a letter. Our exerces. He says, stop.
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And we're secretly glad the guy who's not complacent. He takes the letter and he pushes
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back. And eventually what happened with John MacArthur on the issue of COVID with Governor
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Nusolemi in California and these things like what happened was eventually MacArthur won
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and not just in the eyes of God, according to the scripture, which is always the highest law
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of the land, regardless of where you live and when you live, but even in the human courts,
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macarthur won a lawsuit which means everybody who was saying at the time when you know you got good
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macarthur bad macarthur it depends which day of the week but but when he came out and we had good
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macarthur all of a sudden christ not caesar's head of the church i was like yeah that's that's our
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macarthur there he is and we knew he'd get in there eventually we got him and so like once we
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got good macarthur and he pushed back and he leveraged the legal channels to push back in the
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courts against governor newsom and one he would be the question right to all the compromisers who
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said you're not obeying romans 13 you you are you're being rebellious you're being like jerusalem
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this rebellious city that uh that is uh harm to kings and and kingdoms and you know vigilante and
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blah blah blah you know all this stuff um well that that was the rhetoric rhetoric towards guys
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like john macarthur uh is you're not submitting to the civil magistrate you are not obeying the
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Bible. You're not obeying Romans 13. It says you need to submit to Caesar. Well, here's the thing.
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When John MacArthur pushed back, and then eventually the final decision in the courts was John MacArthur
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was right, and the state of California gets sued, right? Not Grace Community Church, but the state
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of California. Where are those guys to come back and say, oh, you know what? Romans 13, even with
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that narrow interpretation of it, you have to do what the civil magistrate says no matter what,
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even within that narrow interpretation of Romans 13, John MacArthur, the final verdict is that he's
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right. So he was the guy who was actually doing Romans 13 and everybody else was doing it wrong.
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And how do we know? Not only because in the court of heaven, because of God's eternal word,
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you don't shut down the church, but also even in the human courts, they still also determined in
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line with the scripture that the pastor was right and the politician was wrong. But nobody came
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back and said, so my point is this, if you're not complacent, you go through certain avenues. And
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what we see in our text today, hone in your attention real quick on verse 23, says, then when
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the copy of King Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rahim and Shemshai, the scribe and their
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associates they went in haste to the jews at jerusalem so these are the bad guys the compromisers
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but now they're going to the jews in jerusalem and by force and power made them cease now verse 24
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then the work on the house of god that is in jerusalem stopped and it ceased until the second
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year of the reign of darius king of persia the samaritans they come they're the compromisers
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they come with this letter that they're the ones who induce this letter they wrote to artaxerxes
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in the first place and try to get this political order to stop the Christian progress, stop the
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building project of the temple in Jerusalem. And so they finally get that. They get that letter
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from Artaxerxes. Immediately, the Samaritans, the compromisers, then go to the Jews who are
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complacent and say, stop. And the Jews' response is, okay. And that's the end. Until the second
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year of King Darius of the Persians. That last little line there, verse 24, that's the indictment,
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right? In terms of the Samaritans, it's real clear their moral failure. It's real clear
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their sin. They're compromised. They hate the church. They hate the Jews. They hate Jerusalem.
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They hate the temple. They don't want to see any of it rebuilt. They don't want to see any progress.
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They don't want to see the people of God prosper. They don't want to see Yahweh worshipped rightly
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in this land. They don't want to see any Christian progress. They're easy. They're easy to detect,
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identify the moral failures, the sin, right? The compromisers, the Samaritans there. But the Jews,
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it's harder. But the Jews, we might be tempted to say, well, yeah, it wasn't their fault. You know,
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these compromises, they went, they got the king in their back pocket, got him with misinformation,
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giving him only a piece of the puzzle and not these other edicts and this other history
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of Israel to write a specific letter to stop the progress. And then the Jews had no choice
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because once the king said stop, then they had to stop. And the implicit part of the text,
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it's not explicit, it's not black and white in writing, but I think what we're meant to assume,
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this is Matthew, Henry, and other guys, their interpretation of the text is that although it's
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not explicitly said, implicitly, we should see that as a failure. Verse 24 is not saying, and
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this is what happened because there was nothing they could do about it. The king said stop, and so
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the Jews had to stop. No, implicitly, I think what's there is the king said stop, and the Jews
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did stop, and that was a mistake. That was a mistake. Why did they stop? They didn't have to
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stop. Sometimes the king gives an order, and the proper Christian response is pound Sam. King,
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you're wrong. I'm sorry. Who do you think you are? No, we're not going to stop the work. God has told
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us to do something and in his sovereignty through the last king he said that we could do this
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you're operating under a narrow truncated piece of the puzzle you don't have the whole story
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you think you know but you don't you've been lied to by guys who are bought and paid for
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they're on the king's payroll they eat from the king's table these samaritans the compromise
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and they're twisting things in order to get you to tell us to stop because they don't want to see
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God's kingdom advance. Because every time true Christians work towards true progress with a
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Christian faith, it makes the compromisers, it makes it that much more apparent and obvious by
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way of contrast and comparison that the compromisers are sold out. Compromisers don't
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like when others succeed, right? So if you're at work and you've got a fellow employee who is,
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just does bad work, they're always cutting corners, they're always, you know, lying about
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certain things, they're cheating with this and cheating with that. If you want that guy to be
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against you, that compromised employee, you want him to be against you, you know what you do?
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You do good work. He'll hate you for it. Because your hard work and good work and honest work
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with honest means is a glaring indictment of him. Because his compromise becomes all the more
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visible on the backdrop of those who are not compromised. So if you're wondering, what's the
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incentive here? What's the motive? Why do the compromise, why do they care so much? Why are
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they so adamantly, I mean, trying to get the king to come up with an edict and to do this and do
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why are those who are compromised? I get it. You're compromised because you want an easy life.
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You want to eat from the king's salt and his table and be on the payroll and have this and
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have that. That's fine. Whatever. You're lazy. You're this, you're that, and the other. I get
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that. I get why you've made this decision for yourself, but why are you adamantly opposed to
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those who are not compromised. That's why I'm confused. I don't understand what's the driving
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force. I see why you would choose compromise your easy life, but why would you be at enmity and
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actively oppose my choice to not compromise? And the answer is because your choice to not
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compromise makes their choice to compromise apparent. It makes it visible because before
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they got to have their cake and eat it too. They got to compromise. And with that comes an easy
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life. And in terms of the narrative, they got to say, I'm not compromised. I'm a faithful Christian.
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Right? Francis Collins wants his cake and eat it too. He wants to compromise, eat from the king's
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table, and be heralded as a good, moral, upstanding Christian. And those who don't compromise say,
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you can't have both. You can have your compromise. And in this life, temporarily, you can have the
00:27:24.800
comfort and the benefits and temporal advantages that come with that compromise. But there's one
00:27:31.240
thing you can't, you can't have both. You can have compromise and an easy life, but you can't have
00:27:36.040
the label, the narrative that says, I have compromised, I have an easy life, and I'm a
00:27:43.340
great Christian. Now that part, we won't let you have. We just won't. So you get to eat from the
00:27:49.020
king's table. You get the easy life. You've sold out your brothers and sisters in Christ. At least
00:27:53.440
you claim to be a Christian. So you're claiming your brother. You've turned on churches. You've
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00:27:58.220
turned on this, turned on that. And you can have all that. You can sell out the faithful. You can
00:28:03.920
turn against the church, work towards husbands losing their jobs, closing schools, closing
00:28:08.960
churches, all these different things. The one thing we won't let you have those. You don't get
00:28:14.940
to do that and call yourself a faithful christian that's why the compromised hate those who are not
00:28:24.880
compromised because those who are not compromised their life their example is a a resounding
00:28:34.780
indictment and accusation against because if everyone compromised then a lot of times if
00:28:41.140
everyone compromises, you can't see it. If it's compromised across the table, across the board,
00:28:49.000
if everyone is compromised, then it does really begin to look like this is the Christian life.
0.74
00:28:54.200
Nobody's really doing anything wrong. It's only when somebody comes and does what's right
00:29:00.980
that all of a sudden all of your sin becomes so obvious. One of the things that becomes obvious
00:29:07.740
is not only the sin itself, but the very real fact that you didn't have to do it. You didn't
00:29:13.080
have to sin, right? Another example, okay? So you got Francis Collins. He's a bad example of COVID.
00:29:19.100
Here's another example. I think it's a helpful one. You might want to hold on to it. Jesus.
00:29:26.820
You know, Jesus, you know, people like, well, Jesus said, love your neighbor. Jesus was loving.
00:29:31.900
Jesus was loving. That's true. But somebody didn't like him, right? It's not like Jesus
00:29:39.780
died of old age in a nursing home or, you know, surrounded by all of his adoring followers.
00:29:49.280
Like Jesus was crucified. You don't crucify nice guys. You crucify public enemies,
00:29:58.220
whether they are in the objective sense really a public enemy or not they still by the public
00:30:05.860
have to be labeled as such in order to merit crucifixion you crucify threats
00:30:13.700
and that's how jesus was viewed by the jews isaiah says he came to his own but they received him not
00:30:21.240
The Jews viewed Jesus as a radical who was upsetting the delicate balance that the Jewish
00:30:28.780
people had underneath as a province underneath the overarching empire of Rome. That yeah, sure,
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00:30:36.800
they didn't have some of the freedoms and the benefits that they had under David and Solomon
00:30:41.700
and Israel's heyday when they were autonomous and independent in their own kingdom. So they're not
00:30:48.000
their own kingdom. But under the overarching empire of Rome, Israel was still afforded by Rome
00:30:57.060
a lot of benefits and a lot of privileges. Were they overtaxed? But they still got to have their
00:31:03.320
temple. They still got to have a lot of their laws. They still got to have their feasts and
00:31:10.420
rituals and all these different things in their own court. Now their court had to be checked
00:31:15.660
ultimately by the roman courts right but they still at least got to have the sanhedrin which
00:31:21.520
were not just religious rulers the sanhedrin was the equivalent of the supreme court it was like
00:31:25.760
religion plus the judicial system so they were afforded a lot of these things and they knew that
00:31:31.200
if you know if some zealot if some radical came on the scene claiming not just to be a religious
00:31:37.740
teacher or a priest but claiming to be a political king saying that he had a kingdom well kings
00:31:45.520
are threats to kings. Rome was not threatened by the religion of the Jews, but Rome was threatened
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00:31:53.860
by the political promises of Christ. Christ said, I have a kingdom that is not of this world.
0.76
00:32:02.560
But Pilate understood better than most evangelical Christians today. He knew that when Jesus says
00:32:07.140
it's not of this world, Jesus did not mean that his kingdom was not in this world. Of course,
00:32:12.940
his kingdoms in this world. When Jesus says his kingdom is not of this world, all he means
00:32:17.660
is that the source and the power and the operating methods of his kingdom are otherworldly. Jesus
00:32:24.120
derives his power, his authority for his kingdom and the expanse of his kingdom, not from worldly
00:32:31.000
powers, but from heavenly powers. But this heavenly kingdom is present and advancing in the earth.
00:32:39.500
so his kingdom is not of the world but it is in fact in the world and because jesus claimed to be
00:32:46.160
a king not not just a priest or a teacher but because he claimed to be a king remember what
00:32:53.880
is written on the cross here is a religious teacher who preached some sermons about ethereal
00:33:01.060
doctrines that only apply in the spiritual realm, but we didn't like. No. Nobody cares about that.
00:33:11.780
Nobody cares that you're a complementarian in theory. Nobody cares.
00:33:19.120
Nobody cares that you support Christians in government.
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00:33:22.840
right nobody cares that you're conservative when it comes to theology what people care about
00:33:33.600
is the world you know who cares about the world progressives socialists communists aka democrats
00:33:42.160
they care about the world they don't care about your advancements in your spiritual realm of the
00:33:48.280
17th dimension they don't care they care about the world but you know who else cares about the
00:33:52.080
world? God. For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever should believe in him
00:34:00.160
shall not perish, but have eternal life. And it's not just for individual Christians when it comes
00:34:06.720
to salvation. When the Bible says that God cares about the world, it's talking about God's love for
00:34:11.660
humanity. But there is also a sense from other scriptures, not just John 3 16, this cosmic sense
00:34:17.760
of the word world being used in the scripture, that God cares about the cosmos. So not just God
00:34:23.980
cares about humanity, a universal sense of love for humanity, his image-bearing creatures.
00:34:29.620
Certainly that's true. It's not less than that, but it's more than that. God also cares for
00:34:35.200
the cosmos, the whole created order. The Psalms say that the Lord has compassion on all he has
00:34:43.320
made. Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount that God cares. He takes notice even when one sparrow
00:34:49.940
falls to the ground. Now, does God love sparrows more than he loves people? No. Does he love them
00:34:55.400
equally to loving people? No. But does God love sparrows at all? Yes. Does God have care for the
00:35:04.000
natural order, for this physical world? Or does God only care like Plato with the true forms that
00:35:11.540
exist somewhere in a higher plane and everything else down here really at the end of the day means
00:35:16.660
nothing. That's not Christianity. That's not Christianity. That is Gnosticism that has been
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00:35:26.180
condemned for 2,000 years as heresy, as an enemy of Christian faith. Christian faith cares about
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00:35:34.480
the natural order. Did you know that your eternal existence with God in heaven will not merely or
00:35:43.760
exclusively be a spiritual existence? You will go to be with the Lord. To be absent in the body is
00:35:51.740
to be present with the Lord. The moment that you breathe your last breath, you will be with God
00:35:56.400
in eternity in your soul. Your body will be buried somewhere here on earth. But that's not the end of
00:36:03.900
the story. You will be with God in spirit while your body is dead and buried. But that is temporary.
00:36:14.160
Eventually, Christ will return. And he will return to judge both the living and the dead.
00:36:24.660
And the bodily resurrection, Christ was raised as a first fruits, a guarantee promising that we too
00:36:31.260
would be raised in Christ and when he finally returns at the final culmination of human history
00:36:36.860
one thing that will take place is the resurrection of our physical bodies the damned they will be
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00:36:43.840
raised as well their bodies will be raised and their body will be custom fit to be tormented
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00:36:50.920
not just metaphorically not just spiritually but physically tormented with their physical
0.75
00:36:56.960
body in hell forever. And for the righteous, we will be raised, resurrected, glorified bodies
00:37:05.680
to never experience pain or sickness or disease ever again, to have fullness of joy and bliss
00:37:12.140
with God in perfect communion with him forever. Both are true. For the damned, physical resurrection
00:37:19.560
and their final eternal existence will be a physical existence in a physical place with
00:37:25.640
physical torment and pain. And for the righteous, physical existence with physical bodies, bodies
00:37:32.240
made new, but they will be still these bodies. It's not just that we're floating on clouds
00:37:38.660
like Casper the ghost. That's not Christian doctrine. That is an enemy of the Christian
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00:37:45.800
faith. And if you want to upset people today, whether it be the liberals, you know, the
0.99
00:37:52.200
progressives, or sadly, and this is sad, whether it be people who are Christians and claim even to be
00:37:59.920
conservative Christians. All you have to do, this is the formula. You're like, man, everybody lost
00:38:05.460
their mind about this, and then everybody lost their mind about that, and then everybody lost
00:38:10.140
their mind. There's one common denominator, right? You want to know why people get upset when,
00:38:14.060
you know, all of a sudden you've got, you know, pastors saying, hey, maybe men should work out,
00:38:25.400
and maybe they spend a little bit more time at home,
00:38:33.080
Women, you know, guys are saying sourdough
1.00
00:38:41.120
and they have a right to protect their citizens.
00:38:45.820
there's one clear common denominator, nature, the natural order. You can be conservative and
00:38:54.940
really, relatively speaking, sure, you'll get some pushback, some controversy, but relatively
00:38:59.740
speaking, you will upset no one. Not really. So long as you hold your deeply, you know,
00:39:06.380
conservative theological values, but you never, ever provide a practical example.
00:39:13.280
just don't provide an example husband is the head of his wife okay great pastor but i my wife and i
00:39:19.780
are trying to live that out in our marriage and we're wondering um practically on a day-to-day
00:39:23.780
basis the headship of a husband with authority over his wife what does that look like we don't
00:39:28.680
go there we don't talk about that but i you won't get in trouble for saying the husband is that
00:39:37.860
because here's the thing. Nobody cares as long as you promise that it's not real.
00:39:45.940
Just promise it's not real. Male head show, in theory, great, right? That's great. We like to
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00:39:55.100
pretend too, right? Everybody enjoys Halloween, dress up like Peter Pan, you know, the complimentarians,
00:40:00.400
you know, are prancing around pretending, you know, male head show. That's great. Nobody's bothered by
00:40:04.740
that peter pan on halloween complementarians it's the same picture right corporate needs you to
00:40:10.800
identify the different same picture but say that the husband might actually have authority in
00:40:18.340
practical tangible ways even over what his wife reads
00:40:23.440
right and if you're wanting to build a ministry and get 750 000 views that'll do it
00:40:42.700
And whenever you have Christians caring about nature,
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00:40:59.440
he cares about the world he's not super concerned about the 17th dimension in fact
00:41:06.420
he's fine he actually likes and not only is it permissible he likes meta he's rooting for
00:41:14.080
zuckerberg he's rooting for apple he wants you to be uh using all your ambition young men listen to
00:41:22.960
me the the civil magistrate the politicians of our world they want you to expend your resources your
00:41:29.040
energy your time your ambition in claiming land in a virtual world that's not real
00:41:35.820
they love that that's great but if you start buying up acres in the real world
00:41:45.480
and you won't send your kids to the state school
00:41:53.700
and you're not reliant on the king's coin and when the king artaxerxes writes a letter
00:42:01.860
and the compromisers come to you and say king says to stop and you say the king
00:42:07.700
can pound sand now the king is mad and that's why jesus was crucified
0.51
00:42:17.420
the Jews were underneath Roman rule but still underneath Roman rule Rome was being at least
00:42:25.460
somewhat kind they still had a long leash a certain measure of allowances they were still
00:42:35.200
allowed to for the most part practice the Jewish religion and have their courts and have their
00:42:40.500
rulers and have but Jesus when Jesus came although he was not actually planning a political
00:42:46.900
uprising against rome he did though however claim to be a king and what was written all the way back
00:42:52.700
to the point i was making 10 minutes ago what was written on the cross was not here is a guy who
00:42:57.800
holds theoretical doctrines that we find to be controversial in our age today no in three
00:43:04.860
different languages it was written jesus king of the jews not not not messiah not teacher
00:43:14.800
not pastor king and the reason it was written in three different languages was to speak
00:43:22.120
prophetically i don't think pilot meant this but prophetically god who's sovereign over all things
00:43:27.900
he ensured that this would happen is that the reason why jesus king of the jews is written
00:43:31.920
in three different languages is because his kingship is universal it wasn't just over the
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00:43:37.960
Jews. And it wasn't just over Rome, but over all the earth. So that every tribe and tongue and
00:43:45.880
nation would one day know of the increase of his government, there shall be no end.
00:43:53.460
That his kingdom is not of this world, but it is in this world. And it has been expanding and
00:44:00.000
growing like a little mustard seed growing into a tree or like a little leaven working through
00:44:04.500
a whole batch of dough for 2,000 years. And Pilate got that. Herod understood that when Jesus was
00:44:12.980
born. Herod instinctively understood a king has been born. He is a threat. He's in opposition.
00:44:22.420
So Herod tried to kill Jesus before he ever grew up. Herod killed all the baby boys in Bethlehem.
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00:44:29.620
Why? Because Herod was concerned that Jesus might one day, you know, on social media, teach,
00:44:37.840
you know, ethereal, theoretical, conservative doctrines. No. He was worried that Jesus would
00:44:45.580
be a real king in the real world and take power. That was the concern. That's always the concern.
00:44:54.040
And when Christian faith, when Christian faith or the application of our Christian faith
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00:45:00.740
begins to become physical and tangible, visible, practical, that's when there'll be a problem.
0.82
00:45:11.320
Husband is head of his wife. And that means something on a day-to-day basis. And here's
00:45:18.180
a few ideas. It doesn't exclusively mean one thing, but it does mean this and that and this
00:45:24.960
and that and a myriad of applications. But all these applications, one thing they have in common
00:45:30.680
is they are practical applications. The husband's authority is not a theoretical authority.
00:45:37.940
It is a real authority. And the same way you Christian women, you know, card-carrying
1.00
00:45:43.980
complimentarians that are truly at the end of the day feminist and you know it. You know it.
1.00
00:45:49.640
In the same way that you're not bothered when your employer has a dress code, you're fine with a man
00:45:54.620
telling you what to do. Any man except for your husband. Your male employer can tell you what to
00:45:59.800
wear. He can tell you what time to show up, where to sit, what to do. The male civil magistrate
00:46:07.820
within the government, not just within markets and economy, but within the government, he can
00:46:13.020
tell you what to do? If he says, wear a dirty diaper on your face, you'll say, yes, sir. But
00:46:19.820
if your husband says, I don't think you should wear yoga pants in public, you're going to rage?
00:46:27.900
Well, you're perfectly fine with authority. You've just demonstrated that. You're perfectly
00:46:33.960
fine with authority and with authority giving practical commands. So it's not that you have
00:46:39.600
a problem with male headship or you have a you just you have a problem with one authority
00:46:44.260
your husband and here's the irony and it's a tragic irony it's the one man that that has
00:46:51.200
been explicitly commanded by God himself to have authority over you but also be willing to die for
00:46:58.140
you as Christ gave himself up and died for the church and to love you and provide for you and
00:47:04.040
protect you. There is one man that God has commanded that he should love you through
00:47:10.000
protection and provision at the cost of his very life. But that man, if he gives a command,
00:47:18.300
you hate it. But the other man who doesn't care, he won't even be at your funeral if you get hit
00:47:22.980
by a truck. He'll actually be gritting his teeth angry that he has to pay out some kind of severance
00:47:29.200
at work. That man gives a command. Yes, sir. You're not moaning about it. You're not complaining
00:47:37.540
about it. And that's fine. You disagree. But let's just be honest. Let's not say we're
00:47:45.760
complementarians. We're conservative. No, just say we're feminists and we hate male headship.
00:47:51.440
Just say it. Just say we hate Ephesians 5. We hate 1 Timothy 2 and 3. We hate Titus 2.
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00:47:59.200
We are feminists, and we hate God's design for men and women.
00:48:19.460
Because the faithful will actually build towards Christian progress
00:48:24.140
in a natural, practical, physical, tangible, visible way.
00:48:45.480
And the compromises will then go to those kings
00:48:50.860
make him stop rebuilding jerusalem make him stop rebuilding the city
00:48:57.160
stop rebuilding the walls stop rebuilding the temple
00:49:00.680
and all the while these compromises they'll try to make it stop while claiming
00:49:11.840
and you just you keep wondering and it took me years of my life to figure this out
00:49:17.940
keep wondering where's where's the difference where's the rub i don't understand
00:49:21.600
because you say you believe this i say i believe this but then but then i i do one thing over here
00:49:27.780
and boom all hell breaks loose and rages down and i and finally by god's grace he helped me
00:49:34.660
provided the wisdom i finally figured it out a few years ago the one difference is practical
00:49:42.020
practice versus theory. That's the difference. It's nature versus spiritual. It's the true
00:49:47.940
Christian faith versus pietism. It's, that's the difference. That's all it is, right? So just
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00:49:54.020
Christians as a faithful presence and witness in the political, civil realm, that's fine. It's fine.
00:50:00.520
But if you're a Christian nationalist and think that the law of the land should be God's word,
00:50:09.140
male headship and the husband lays down his life for the wife and the wife should submit to her
00:50:15.700
husband and we're fine with that because we've never put a fine point on it we're fine with the
0.69
00:50:20.220
wife submitting to her husband because because really what does she have to submit to absolutely
00:50:26.040
nothing complementarianism what is it good for absolutely nothing that's i mean that is
00:50:33.600
complementarianism. She doesn't submit to anything. Well, what if her husband is concerned about her
00:50:41.160
dress? Uh-uh. He's a misogynist. What if he has something to say about what she's reading? Uh-uh.
00:50:46.600
Misogynist. What if this? What if this? You can go through a million examples. It'll be, nope,
00:50:50.460
nope, nope, nope, nope, nope. Or at best, it'll be, oh, you and your husband disagree. So first,
00:50:54.800
you should fast and pray for six months. You know, and if you can, form a study committee
00:51:01.200
with certain members and make sure that there are both men and women on this committee within the
00:51:04.980
church. You need to have an elder or two or a part of it and go and seek counsel from a third party.
00:51:09.820
You know, so that the church now, the husbands, the elders of the church, what you really want
00:51:13.340
as you're trying to please the Lord is you want to get the pastors involved in helping you usurp
00:51:18.800
the authority of your husband because that really pleases Christ. Do you know how many men won't
00:51:25.020
come and get counsel from a pastor in their church because they know statistically it's a 99
0.71
00:51:31.780
percent chance regardless of the details regardless of the scenario he will always side with the woman
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00:51:38.140
it's just a fact he will always side with the wife
00:51:43.300
and he knows that even the church is against him the courts are against him
00:52:21.400
you expect that but the pushback is not just from the rainbow jihad
00:52:26.360
the pushback is from the complementarian card-carrying conservative christian
00:52:33.880
if you say god's word it actually has physical outward tangible manifestations in a visible way
00:53:00.520
You lead with real authority, love, Christ-like authority,
00:53:13.700
You lead with authority over your wife and children,
00:53:17.800
you want to become financially independent and start a business and you start to actually
00:53:24.260
experience success public enemy number one you're a christian nationalist public enemy number one
00:53:30.740
you run for local office like dusty deavers and you actually present real bills that would
00:53:35.800
abolish pornography abolish abortion abolish income tax which is unjust it should be the
00:53:41.720
biblical head tax you should not get penalized for being successful if you work harder than
00:53:47.280
somebody else good for you the bible is clear that you should not show favoritism to the rich
00:53:53.540
but neither should you pity the poor dusty starts presenting real bills all of a sudden
00:54:00.440
he's on jimmy fallon being made fun of nationally
00:54:03.920
and i'm telling you guys you can believe me or not but i'm telling you
00:54:09.360
it is one common denominator there's one reason why all these things share one thing in common
00:54:15.160
why why are we concerned we are living in a culture of rank feminism
00:54:21.340
but we're concerned we are concerned that there might be too much of an infatuation
1.00
00:54:30.680
right now with women making sourdough that's the problem you're gonna seriously you're gonna look
00:54:38.700
me in the face without laughing with a straight face and tell me that's the concern
1.00
00:54:45.060
i'm concerned that women are just being too domestic and their motives might not be perfectly
00:54:53.360
pure that's the concern i just i don't even i don't even know what to say i don't know what to say
00:55:03.400
but whether it's writing civil political legislation like dusty devers as a christian
00:55:11.900
nationalist, or whether it's making sourdough and wearing a dress. You think that has nothing in
00:55:19.320
common. It does. It has one thing in common. They're both tangible. It's not theory. Real
00:55:26.520
office. Dusty is holding real office. He's not just theorizing about what Christian politics
00:55:32.160
maybe should be. He ran for office. He won, and he's presenting actual bills. And the woman who
00:55:39.020
wears a dress and makes sourdough. Not saying that that's the end-all, be-all of biblical
0.79
00:55:43.400
womanhood. Of course it's not. Biblical womanhood is much more than that. But you heard me say a
00:55:48.600
couple weeks ago in my sermon, you got a LARP before you can fly. Do you know what happens
00:55:54.180
with anything when you're way off the rails and you try to make a change? Do you know what happens?
00:56:00.820
It looks silly at first. If you let your life get way out of order and all of a sudden you're
00:56:08.000
unhealthy. You weigh 400 pounds, but you decide God gets a hold of you. You feel conviction that
00:56:12.520
you should, you were bought with a price. Therefore, honor God with your body. Your body is a temple of
00:56:16.660
the Holy Spirit. You want to steward it well. And so you get back in the gym and you try to eat
00:56:20.420
healthy. Well, guess what? Your first week in the gym, weighing 400 pounds, trying to do a sit-up.
00:56:26.400
There's going to be a lot of people, maybe they don't say it to your face, but you know what
00:56:29.440
they're thinking? They're thinking, that guy's LARPing. Or here's another scenario, just throwing
00:56:36.040
out there, just a crazy possibility. That guy's changing. Maybe he's LARPing, but maybe he's
00:56:44.740
trying to change. All serious change, when we've compromised severely leading up to that change,
00:56:52.640
looks silly initially. So what would it look like for American evangelicalism that has been
00:57:00.560
steeped in feminism for decades to try to actually change it'd look a little silly maybe at first
00:57:08.700
it would look like larping and that's our biggest concern right no doesn't make the list of the top
00:57:17.500
10 000 concerns for the church of jesus christ for this country of these united states of america
00:57:59.140
One of the tactics of the enemy is he will get everyone.
00:58:09.040
And yet he'll have everyone running around with a fire extinguisher.
00:58:15.080
So flood, but everyone is prepared and actively seeking to put out a fire.
00:58:20.100
right that's he you're fighting the thing that's not happening you're fighting the thing that's not
00:58:29.640
real but jesus talked about this how would jesus put it jesus would put it like this straining a
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gnat swallowing a camel straining a gnat swallowing a camel this has always been a thing
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this has always been one of the enemy's tactics look over there meanwhile full invasion over here
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get your fire extinguisher somebody has a candle and and and it doesn't it wasn't placed on a safe
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part of the cabinet on the counter meanwhile the water is up to our chest with a flood
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that's always what goes on these guys try to get the king involved to stop the christians
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the jews who are rebuilding jerusalem why because it's real they're fine with the jews
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spiritually worshiping yahweh behind closed doors in their private lives as long as it's
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theoretical as long as it's spiritual but when it becomes physical when it becomes tangible
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when cities are now involved when temples are being physically built when there's walls being
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built then all of a sudden it's got to shut down and there are the compromisers who try to shut
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it down and the complacent within the church who are all too relieved when it's said that it needs
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to shut down they don't put up a fight but we should that's that's the text i don't know i
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sometimes I just, you know, I go through my notes. Sometimes. But that really is the text.
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That's what happens. They get the letter. We'll pick up again, Lord willing, two weeks from now,
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Brian Silvey will be preaching next Lord's Day in light of the conference. But that's the text.
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Guys have done this. This is tale as old as time. The Word of God, what I keep telling you guys
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with Joshua, now with Ezra, the Word of God is incredibly relevant. It's so applicable.
01:01:31.960
If we are to rebuild a Christian nation, like they're trying to rebuild the rubble of Jerusalem,
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if we are successful and work towards that in tangible ways, not just theoretical,
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01:01:41.660
but in tangible ways, I'm talking about through legal systems, through business and financial,
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through our homes and our families and our wives and not using state schools and this, that, and all these ways,
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with our kids, with our wives, with our business, with our politics, with our churches, in every way.
01:01:57.660
If we try to rebuild the ruins, that's exactly what they're doing.
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If we try to rebuild the ruins, mark my words, what will happen and what's already happening
01:02:10.680
The compromisers claim to be Christian or at least Christian adjacent, right?
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Your Russell Moore, you know, your David French.
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01:02:22.240
And all of a sudden they make a documentary about the danger of Christian nationalism.
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And all these things that I'm saying, you think like,
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how is he so good at just coming up with you know illustrations they're all real examples
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i'm not coming up with anything these are all things that have happened literally in the past
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few weeks so so the compromiser will come in first claiming to be a christian but we're not like
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those christians you know we're not christian nationalists you know we're not crazy christian
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nationalists believe that that rights come from god instead of government and that just happened
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just happen so if you make real progress if you're not content like to just to just have your
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conference and talk about theoretically what it would look like to honor christ and you know but
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his kingdom is not of this world and that means his kingdom is not in this world and the best
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thing that we can do to honor christ is to roll over and die that has been the evangelical position
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for a very long time and that's why there hasn't been as much opposition but when you say well
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god and his sovereignty determines that some should be martyred and die for their faith and
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pay the ultimate price but also in church history and israel's history there are times where there
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are massive defeats but they're also victories and we don't know god determines for our life
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and our generation and our time what what it'll be maybe it'll be a defeat but maybe it'll be a
01:03:48.840
victory and we're going to work towards a victory if it is a defeat it won't be because we shot
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ourselves in the foot thinking that that somehow was really spiritual and pleasing to the lord
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preaching sermons about 17 ways to lose gloriously we're not going to do that anymore
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boomer theology is dead praise god may it never be resurrected
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it won't work people are sick of it they are sick of it
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01:04:27.120
and i wish it hadn't taken so long for us to see how dangerous and terrible and unbiblical it
01:04:37.900
really is. The gospel includes suffering. A prosperity gospel of only victory being guaranteed
01:04:47.220
in this life is a damnable false gospel. But a gospel that guarantees nothing but suffering
01:04:54.040
and defeat, that says that Christ will experience no victory through his church in any tangible way
01:04:59.900
in this world until the eschaton, until his return, that is also a false doctrine. It's not true.
01:05:07.900
you've got to do something with charlemagne you might not like him but he's real he existed
01:05:16.900
you've got to do something with king alfred and king richard the lionheart duke gregory yeah these
01:05:23.660
you got to do something with that you got to do something with joshua you got to do something
01:05:31.280
the nation that fears the lord will be exalted that's not just for israel and that's not just
01:05:40.540
before christ you got to do something with that verse
01:05:43.560
so yes motives matter intent matters doctrine absolutely matters justification by grace alone
01:05:54.860
through faith alone in christ alone it is the linchpin of the christian faith it is the foundation
01:05:59.960
for everything, it matters. But obedience to Christ, our doctrine applied, theology applied
01:06:09.040
in real, visible, tangible ways, also matters. If you want to stay off people's radar,
01:06:16.820
if you don't want to get any pushback, if you don't want to receive a letter from Artaxerxes,
01:06:21.280
if you don't want to see a mockumentary made about you by Rob Reiner, then it's real easy.
01:06:27.900
All you have to do is hold to doctrines, but completely sever what you believe in your heart
01:06:34.100
from how you live in the real world. Just make sure that your doctrines don't have any visible,
01:06:41.680
tangible application. You'll be fine. But if you become an advocate of sourdough,
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you messed up. Going to get some pushback on that.
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if you think the husband has real authority and there's actually definable examples that could be
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given you're in trouble if you think that nation should have real christian laws and not just
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classical liberalism not just from a standpoint of reason but you should say no they're real
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christian laws because god wrote a book and it says so and this book is not just for christian
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people but all people in all places and all time this is universal universal commandments and
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human rights that stem from god and not from man then watch out you're going to be in trouble
01:07:33.560
and we're going to be in trouble then because we want to obey jesus died for the world
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Toby Sumter said, you know, it's a blood-bought world.
01:07:52.140
We want Christ through the church as his hands and feet to redeem the world.
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As much of it in our lifetime as he determines in his sovereign will to redeem.
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God wants obedience, and obedience is always practical.
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is the Christian that stays out of Christianity.
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01:08:34.360
then you don't have the faith that the Bible talks about.
01:08:38.620
Jesus was crucified because he was a public enemy
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and somehow along the way we we we thought how can we be as conservative as possible
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but all here spiritually and not practically and that ship has sailed i i believe that by god's
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grace and it is god's grace there is a new generation of christians who are saying we're
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done with that we're done with that we're just we're not going to do theoretical christianity
01:09:14.200
anymore we're going to do practical christianity we're going to do practical obedience to king
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jesus christianity and there will be pushback because all the way back to the compromiser
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point the compromisers it was hard to see how compromised evangelicals really were
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But once you start having guys who are doing this
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then you know what the first question you start to ask is?
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that's the question this begins to be asked because all of a sudden somebody else pushes
01:10:07.680
back and and actually is able to push back against the wickedness and the regime and all these things
01:10:12.500
and experience success do you know the first question people start asking when they see that
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they're like wait wait wait wait wait wait what like he just it's like you're fighting someone
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and it's like you don't even know if they're human it's like you've never even been able to land a
01:10:27.500
single blow. You've never seen them bleed. You don't even know they're mortal. And then someone
01:10:31.860
gets in the ring and he hasn't beaten them, but he just, he got at least a scratch, at least made
01:10:36.680
contact. And there's one drop of blood. And then everybody else realizes, wait, we could win?
01:10:44.260
Because we've been reliably informed for 60 years that we, it wasn't that we weren't trying hard
01:10:51.700
enough or because of our failure or our faithlessness. We've been informed that we couldn't
01:10:56.340
win because God had determined it. And if somebody comes and says, no, you can, and then provides
01:11:04.780
tangible examples of hashtag winning. What do you think the dispensation was for the last 60? You
01:11:11.940
think he's going to like that guy? No, you're making me look bad. It's the same as being at work.
01:11:17.860
Stop working so hard, man. You're making us look bad. That's what it is.
01:11:23.160
and that will continue for a little while but eventually the church will change
01:11:30.680
there is a turning of the tides christ is king god is good and uh the world is changing
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it is and it may not look like much right now we're up against goliath and david doesn't look
01:11:46.240
like much. But better to have David who's willing to throw a rock than a bunch of grown men who are
01:11:54.260
just shaking their knees. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Bless it to your people.
01:12:00.180
Help us to be faithful and to obey and that our obedience would not be merely theoretical,
01:12:04.520
but it would be real and tangible, physical, practical. We pray that you would be honored.
01:12:09.980
We pray that you would be glorified. We pray that we would be humble, that we would not be
01:12:13.700
unnecessarily feisty and argumentative with brothers and sisters in Christ, but that we
01:12:22.040
would hold the line and say, well, wait a second. Whoa, whoa, whoa. No, the real tangible obedience
01:12:29.860
matters. We're not going to disparage, regardless of how small it might seem, regardless of whether
01:12:36.280
or not the motives are perfectly pure. We are not going to disparage attempts, feeble as they may be,
01:12:42.860
attempts from women to try to be domestic and feminine. We're not going to disparage attempts
1.00
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from men to start their own business and to work for themselves and to run for city council or
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local. We're not going to disparage. We are not going to be the spiritual fathers who exasperate
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their sons. We refuse to do it. We've had a generation of that. It's enough. We're not doing
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it anymore. We are going to encourage practical obedience as small as it is wherever we find it.
01:13:19.500
it's always going to look a little silly at first.