The NXR Podcast - SERMON - Living In “Negative World”

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00:00:30.000 all right we are continuing our series through the book of ezra today is ezra chapter two if

00:00:35.200 you would please stand with me for the reading of god's word now typically i would say at this

00:00:41.180 point i'm going to read our text in its entirety i'm going to have to leave out that that little

00:00:45.940 prepositional phrase in its entirety um here's the deal i'm just going to be uh blatantly truthful

00:00:53.720 you need to read this entire chapter because all scripture is god breathed

00:00:58.660 but you can read it on your own and be embarrassed by yourself as you mispronounce

00:01:03.760 dozens of words. Instead of me being publicly embarrassed in front of you mispronouncing those

00:01:08.880 words, I would like for you to mispronounce all these names yourself, okay? So it matters. I'm not

00:01:14.200 saying it doesn't matter, but this is a large text. It's 70 verses, in fact, and so just the

00:01:20.920 amount of verses, period, is very large, and the difficulty of reading all of these Hebrew names

00:01:27.320 is immensely challenging. I've already got enough names I'm going to read just in the verses that

00:01:32.260 I've selected. But all that being said, we are doing the entirety of Ezra chapter 2. But there

00:01:38.620 is a large genealogy, a list of all these different Israelites who came up with the Hebrew leaders

00:01:46.400 from exile in Babylon to Jerusalem and Judah to rebuild the temple and the cities, to rebuild

00:01:53.800 the land of Israel. And so all their followers, all these Jewish families, I'm going to be skipping

00:02:01.020 that section of the genealogy. It matters. Read it on your own. I'm being completely honest. I

00:02:07.220 cannot pronounce the names. And I know, you know, guys will say, well, what you do is you say it

00:02:11.280 fast and you say it confidently. And that does work to a certain extent. But there will be some

00:02:18.220 who will catch you and I will get tons of emails. I'll get them anyway. So all that being said,

00:02:23.180 I'm going to focus on verse one and two, and then we'll pick back up. This is directly after the

00:02:29.800 genealogy with verses 59 through 70. We will get the main point of the text. By God's grace, I

00:02:36.340 promise you we'll get the main point of the text. So without further ado, here we go. Starting in

00:02:41.160 verse one and then two, and then moving forward, finishing out the chapter, verses 59 through 70.

00:02:46.780 God's word says this.

00:03:16.780 and Baanah. The following were those who came up from Tamela, Telharsha, Sherab, Adon, and Emer.

00:03:27.400 Though they could not prove their father's house or their descent, whether they belonged to Israel,

00:03:33.540 the sons of Deliah, the sons of Tobiah, and the sons of Nakoda, 652. Also the sons of the priest,

00:03:44.060 the sons of Hebiah, the sons of Hekaz, the sons of Barzillia, who had taken a wife from the

00:03:52.100 daughters of Barzillia, the Gileadite, who was called by their name. These sought their registration

00:03:59.780 among those enrolled in the genealogies, but they were not found there, and so they were excluded

00:04:06.640 from the priesthood as unclean. The governor told them that they were not to partake of the most

00:04:12.940 holy food until there should be a priest to consult Urim and Thuman. The whole assembly together was

00:04:21.420 42,360 besides their male and female servants of whom there were 7,337 and they had 200 male and

00:04:32.220 female singers. Their horses were 736. Their mules were 245. Their camels were 435. Their donkeys

00:04:44.020 were 6720. Some of the heads of families, when they came to the house of the Lord that is in

00:04:51.000 Jerusalem, made freewill offerings for the house of God to erect it on its site. According to their

00:04:58.820 ability, they gave to the treasury of the work 61,000 derricks of gold, 5,000 minus of silver,

00:05:07.040 and 100 priest garments. Now the priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the

00:05:12.540 gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their towns and all the rest of Israel in their

00:05:18.440 towns. This is the word of the Lord. All right, please be seated and let's begin. The first thing

00:05:24.080 that I want to note from the text is this. This is very clearly not fantasy. This is not fiction.

00:05:32.660 When you read fantasy or fiction, a narrative that's a story that's not actually history,

00:05:38.000 it's not actually real. When you read fantasy or just narrative in antiquity, old writers,

00:05:45.360 one of the things that you'll notice is a lack of detail. If you're reading just a story that's not

00:05:50.900 actually a historical account, it's not something that really happened, it's not real, then they

00:05:55.380 don't bother to tell you how many minas of silver there were. They don't bother to say there were

00:06:02.820 7,337 mules, or there were this many camels. That's just not the way it works. If you read

00:06:14.120 something like Beowulf, for instance. It's very old and it's also very, well, it's just very

00:06:22.940 vague. There's a focus on, you know, they're having a feast, but it doesn't tell you what

00:06:28.940 the goblets look like in the feast with exact detail and which kinds of jewels are used and

00:06:35.320 when these goblets were captured from another kingdom and the date and the names and the

00:06:39.720 province and it's just you don't need all that to get into the story the story is about slaying a

00:06:44.760 monster right that's that's the focus and that's the way fantasy has been viewed for centuries and

00:06:52.020 centuries and centuries until relatively recently so part of the reason it seems foreign to us is

00:06:57.920 because as moderns where entertainment has there's always been a place for entertainment in every

00:07:03.700 society and culture, but we are in a culture that entertainment dominates. It's a dominant

00:07:11.100 feature of our culture. And so because of that, when we think of fantasy or fiction, it is given

00:07:18.080 to extreme detail. So you watch a true crime detective show. It's not a historical account.

00:07:25.700 It's fiction. It's made up, but it's down to the precise details of, you know, like they're

00:07:32.020 consulting as they're even, you know, on the set shooting the film. The director and producers and

00:07:38.780 different guys are actually consulting actual detectives and consulting, you know, people who

00:07:44.460 work in DNA swabbing labs and this and that to get the exact details because they want it to be

00:07:49.860 as real, as believable as possible. And so my whole point, all I'm saying is that is a pretty

00:07:56.220 recent phenomenon the idea of fiction that is detailed right detailed fiction is a relatively

00:08:05.440 modern phenomenon but in antiquity and in times past if you have fiction it tends to be vague

00:08:15.180 the thing that's going to be emphasized and detailed is the story itself the monster the hero

00:08:22.320 but not necessarily exact places and this place was it precisely 7.6 miles away from this other

00:08:30.300 place right you're probably familiar most of you but the best guide over decades now I mean

00:08:36.540 centuries but especially in recent decades as as technology has developed the archaeologists

00:08:42.160 their best guide as they're looking in the old world Mesopotamia trying to discover ancient

00:08:49.300 artifacts their best guide has been for decades now the bible the bible has proven to be a bar

00:08:55.180 none i mean it's not even close it's not like the bible but then a close second is no no no it's

00:08:59.860 just the bible it is by far the most accurate textbook because it is real a history book of

00:09:08.000 saying this place is in this location which is this many miles away from this river and this

00:09:13.680 person was set up as governor at that time and and here's the genealogy of who he came from and

00:09:19.720 who they came so my point is this when we're reading the book of ezra and really when we're

00:09:24.640 any anything in scripture we are reading reality we're reading truth these are not stories they're

00:09:31.240 not mere narratives this is a historical account and that's one there are other reasons but that's

00:09:37.400 one of many reasons why genealogies matter. Genealogies matter because that's not what

00:09:44.440 a novelist, that's not how a novelist writes. That's how a historian writes. So when you read

00:09:52.060 a genealogy, at least one thing that you should take into account, if nothing else. It's difficult.

00:09:58.040 There's a lot of names, and a lot of them won't mean a lot to you. But as you're reading genealogies

00:10:03.480 in the bible one at least one thought that you should have is this is history the reason why

00:10:09.600 all these names in succession are listed is because this is history not fiction so all that

00:10:17.540 being said there's at least a couple other reasons so not just to say this is a historical account

00:10:22.840 namely true specifically detailed true but also there's a couple other reasons why this genealogy

00:10:30.600 is listed in Ezra chapter 2

00:10:32.860 as it pertains to the specific families

00:10:35.820 and households of Israel

00:10:37.680 that was currently in exile

00:10:39.740 as a province in Babylon.

00:10:42.920 They were in exile,

00:10:44.200 and now they're coming out.

00:10:45.180 There's a couple other reasons

00:10:46.280 why each of these names is listed.

00:10:49.580 Okay, so I've written in your notes

00:10:50.620 there were two primary reasons.

00:10:53.060 A record was kept

00:10:54.040 containing the families of Israel

00:10:55.560 who came up out of captivity from Babylon.

00:10:57.820 Number one, for their honor.

00:11:00.600 Number one, for their honor.

00:11:02.100 And number two, for their allegiance and fidelity.

00:11:06.180 So for their honor, to honor these families,

00:11:08.760 to list them by name in the scripture

00:11:10.960 that would be recorded and preserved forever,

00:11:14.700 that these names would be eternally honored.

00:11:17.780 But secondly, so that these individuals,

00:11:20.400 their posterity, that is their children

00:11:22.800 and not just their immediate children, one generation,

00:11:25.180 but their children's children's children's children's children,

00:11:28.400 all the way down their posterity that they would be able to look back and see their heritage see

00:11:35.280 their lineage their forefathers and by seeing their forefathers it was assumed that in seeing

00:11:42.160 their lineage their forefathers that that would utterly dictate for them their allegiance and i

00:11:49.420 want to pause there for a moment because this is something that again in a very it's a very modern

00:11:55.760 phenomenon, this shift for all of human history until approximately 15 minutes ago, right? This

00:12:03.420 is a very recent change. For all of human history, when somebody had a record of their ancestors and

00:12:11.560 they could look and see, these are my fathers. These are my ancestors. This is my family lineage,

00:12:19.420 my heritage it just was assumed that that would dictate for them what team they're on

00:12:26.580 that would outline for them just this is where my allegiance lies this is where my fidelity

00:12:34.040 lies i mean even for moses like certainly don't don't mishear me certainly god was moving on

00:12:41.380 moses heart right so i'm not discounting the divine factor right with everyone with all

00:12:48.700 christians you're not a christian unless god moves on your heart unless the holy spirit to be more

00:12:54.560 specific actually removes your heart of stone and gives you a heart of flesh a miracle has to happen

00:12:59.940 for you even to be born again but especially with a key figure in what god was doing in in the

00:13:07.120 redemptive timeline of all of scripture someone like moses of course there's the divine factor

00:13:12.380 God stirring up his heart to forsake the treasures of Egypt, as Hebrews talks about, to leave the

00:13:19.720 treasures of Egypt and not only the affluence and the treasures and the wealth and the comfort

00:13:26.860 and pleasures of Egypt, but to turn his back on the notoriety, the nobility that he had as the son

00:13:33.540 of Pharaoh's daughter, of a prince of Egypt, his status, all of these things. He was willing to

00:13:39.040 turn his back on that and to associate with Israel, even in the midst of Israel's captivity,

00:13:45.840 their slavery. He would rather have allegiance, pledge his allegiance to slaves than masters,

00:13:52.960 because the slaves were his people. Now, how did that shift occur? Well, again, all the way back

00:13:58.620 to what I was saying, the divine factor. God moved in his heart, of course, but also from a plain

00:14:05.560 reading of the text namely the first few chapters of the book of exodus the only thing that's that's

00:14:11.160 very clearly and practically detailed for us is that moses discovered that he was a hebrew

00:14:18.140 and as far as just looking at the text that was enough moses discovered i'm a hebrew

00:14:26.500 the slaves are actually my people okay i'm on their side

00:14:31.300 and that was about the extent of the thought process these are my people

00:14:38.520 and someone being your people has always mattered for 6 000 years in every place in every time

00:14:50.300 until the west in the last 60 years we are the only exception where heritage does not matter

00:15:00.240 that is a foreign concept that no biblical writer and no person whether in the christian faith or

00:15:10.540 islam or judaism or in any or hinduism or just paganism that there's no person in any nation

00:15:22.800 in any time period who has ever thought that ancestry, heritage, lineage was irrelevant.

00:15:33.420 Except, one exception, Westerners in recent decades, since World War I and World War II.

00:15:44.440 So, all that being said, what are the purposes, again, this is the first point I'm making from

00:15:49.540 the text today what are the purposes of saying here's the very first words verse one now these

00:15:56.540 were the people these are the people of the province who came up out of captivity from being

00:16:04.320 exiles in Babylon they're coming up out of captivity and they're willing to make the journey

00:16:09.700 to their homeland to israel for luxury no for really hard work to rebuild the ruins

00:16:19.440 it'd be easier to stay in babylon but they're willing to do this so what why are these people

00:16:25.440 why is ezra going to give us an exhaustive list not just the leaders i read the leaders

00:16:31.600 right you've got zerubbabel joshua uh nehemiah and i'm going to stop there etc dot dot dot

00:16:38.040 ellipses because I don't want to press my luck. Luck's not a thing. I don't want to press my

00:16:43.060 providence because I've already read these names once and I'll be, I'll just show my hand. I did

00:16:49.720 better than I thought I was going to do. I feel like it was fantastic. So you're welcome. And when

00:16:53.600 I finished reading the text, I thought, I kind of, part of me wants to take a bow, but then that's

00:16:57.900 actually probably not the thing to do. Instead, let's say, thus saith the Lord and give God the

00:17:01.360 credit. That's not a good move to be bowing in the pulpit. So I resisted that fleshly temptation.

00:17:06.060 I'm not going to read the names anymore because they're difficult. But the point is this. It's not what we skipped in the genealogy, namely verses 3 through 58. So 50 something verses. What we skipped was not just the leaders in Israel who led this journey back to Israel for this rebuilding project, but it was all the followers.

00:17:26.980 even the followers got uh an honorable mention right everybody gets a mention why one because

00:17:36.080 we're reading history it's detailed not fiction in antiquity which tended to be vague secondly

00:17:42.620 why did were they listed to honor them because what they're doing is not easy see we we think

00:17:48.920 captivity let me uh hit this point real quick because this is worth it's to honor them and

00:17:54.040 the reason why it's honorable is because they're choosing the more difficult thing. You have to be

00:17:58.220 aware of that. The Israelites who stayed in Babylon are not taking one for the team. They were all

00:18:03.380 released. The ones who chose to stay in Babylon are choosing not the more difficult choice, the

00:18:09.300 easier choice. Easier to stay. Because it is not as though, this is after 70 years, it's not as though

00:18:16.200 Babylon having conquered Israel, that the Israelites were in dungeons and chained to walls.

00:18:22.700 they are captives they are exiles but you should not read that as prisoners it's different than

00:18:30.700 Israel in Egypt even Israel in Egypt they were exiles there even in the land of Goshen right

00:18:37.180 when they first arrived with Joseph having favor as as Pharaoh's viceroy second in command of all

00:18:42.480 of Egypt they were exiles there they were underneath Egypt's authority Pharaoh's authority

00:18:47.560 but they weren't slaves not right off the bat it was after pharaoh died and a new pharaoh came to

00:18:53.420 power who did not remember joseph and israel began to multiply so much so that the new pharaoh began

00:19:00.600 to see what israel could actually overtake us therefore we've got to do something to to keep

00:19:06.360 them in subjection so that we can neutralize this potential threat and then they became slaves so

00:19:12.160 that's when all of a sudden they had a plight. That's when their status to be exiles in a foreign

00:19:19.520 nation became uncomfortable and painful. Well, Israel and Babylon as exiles, they're not

00:19:26.020 slaves. I'm not saying Babylon was like super nice about it. I'm not saying that there weren't

00:19:31.920 some difficulties. But remember, even Jeremiah speaking to Israel as God's prophet, speaking for

00:19:38.340 the lord to israel in this moment of 70 years of exile what does jeremiah say this is towards the

00:19:44.140 beginning of the 70 years but he says take off your hat and coat and stay a while that's essentially

00:19:50.080 what god speaks through the prophet jeremiah to israel he says uh plant vineyards so again don't

00:19:56.820 picture prisoners chained to a wall aren't planting vineyards prisoners in a cell aren't giving their

00:20:04.620 daughters and sons in marriage and building houses right so so you have to keep that in mind

00:20:10.460 life for an israelite at the end of these 70 years of captivity in babylon was a relatively

00:20:18.320 comfortable life going back to israel now that was hard that was the difficult choice because you

00:20:26.400 weren't going back to um your homeland in its prime you were going back to your homeland that

00:20:33.420 had been destroyed utterly destroyed it's a pile of rubble and you've got tons of work now you've

00:20:41.900 got to rebuild you've got to restore you've got to do all these things so the list of names why is

00:20:46.780 it there because it's history not fiction because they deserve to be honored because going back was

00:20:52.540 actually the harder choice than staying but then lastly for the sake of their posterity the names

00:21:00.460 of the heads of households not just the leaders but the followers who chose to take upon themselves

00:21:06.040 this rebuilding project going back to jerusalem their names are listed so that their posterity

00:21:12.060 generations down the line might be able to look to their ancestry to look to their heritage their

00:21:18.580 lineage their history see these names and say that's my team that's what team i'm on and again

00:21:28.020 means nothing to you means nothing to you and it means nothing to you because you live in the

00:21:35.900 united states and it's 2024 but that meant something to every person in the world every

00:21:46.180 time period every century until the west 15 minutes ago heritage mattered heritage told you

00:21:56.560 It was your jersey. It told you what team you were on. It dictated and outlined for you your

00:22:03.380 allegiance, your fidelity, your unity, where you belonged, who are your people. That's why it's

00:22:12.640 such a big deal. Now, I'm not saying that nobody ever switched teams, okay? So here's a little

00:22:16.700 disclaimer because people say, well, people change teams. Uh-huh, yes, some people change teams.

00:22:20.600 Ruth would be an example. She was on team Moabite. Not a great team. The Moabites were not a great

00:22:28.300 team, right? I mean, being on team Moabite is, you know, I mean, they were just, they were losing

00:22:33.820 constantly. They're not going to any championships anytime soon. They're not doing well.

00:22:39.160 But she switches teams. So people in the Old Testament would occasionally switch teams. But

00:22:44.660 let me tell you real quick what it looked like to switch teams. Ruth says, we quote it all the

00:22:50.320 time we all know the verse she says your people will be my people and your God will be my God

00:23:00.240 in other words she doesn't say hey Naomi mother-in-law I love you and I've decided to move

00:23:09.640 to the economic zone of Israel to stay in relationship with you and to have financial

00:23:15.640 and vocational opportunity because Israel really is just a set of ideas. It's not a place

00:23:25.040 and a people. No, nobody has thought that ever until 15 minutes ago. Nations are people

00:23:34.700 and places. Always have been, always will be. Acts says that God in his sovereignty

00:23:43.100 sets both the times and borders of nations. Nations are not man's idea to create invisible

00:23:51.040 borders because of prejudice. No, nations are a divine institution that God established

00:23:58.160 from the very beginning. This is naturally what would have occurred. In fact, the only instance

00:24:04.720 early on in Scripture that we have man resisting what would naturally conclude in nationhood

00:24:11.060 is Genesis 11, the Tower of Babel, and God puts an end to it. God says, no, no, no, no. You will

00:24:18.940 disperse over the face of the world as I commanded you. Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.

00:24:28.100 But what do they say at the Tower of Babel? They say, let us build a tower to heaven that we might

00:24:32.900 do two things. Make a name for ourselves and so that we might not be scattered over the face of

00:24:40.140 the earth. But God comes down and confuses their language, right? I mean, it was the WF, right? It's

00:24:46.780 the original world economic form, right? That's what Babel was. It's like, we're going to have

00:24:52.100 a conference here in Switzerland, and we're going to build a tower and talk about how nations aren't

00:24:57.340 a thing. Also, human rights aren't really a thing. I don't know if you saw that video that just came

00:25:02.420 out. Soros's right-hand guy saying, nations don't exist. You look from a satellite image. There's no

00:25:08.480 there's no boundaries and blah, blah, blah. This is an imaginary thing. Oh, also, you know what else

00:25:12.820 is imaginary? Human rights. That's scary. That tells you where they want to go. Where do they

00:25:19.380 want to go? No nations. One global order where you'll own nothing and be happy. And why will

00:25:27.080 you be happy? Well, you'll be happy because you'll be plugged into the matrix in a pod

00:25:31.480 and they'll be feeding you images that aren't real that make you think that you're happy.

00:25:37.000 or if you're not happy they'll give you enough drugs and chemicals until slowly but surely you

00:25:43.000 can't help but involuntarily smile it's a dystopian horror that we're living we are living in trash

00:25:50.500 world that is the direction that evil wicked men want to go but notice it's this is what i'm

00:25:56.420 trying to express it is not a coincidence there is a tie there is a correlation between the george

00:26:03.420 Soros villain. Just, just obviously bad guy. He's a bad guy. There is a tie between him saying two

00:26:13.980 things are imaginary. Two things we're going to get rid of. Human rights. Now that one's obvious.

00:26:20.100 We're like, yeah, that's a bad guy. He wants to get rid of human rights. But then notice he

00:26:25.200 immediately follows it up with, and nations. Let's get rid of that too. And that's where even the

00:26:32.080 conservative christian american it's like well that one i'm okay with getting rid of

00:26:38.520 yeah i mean i'm gonna stand my ground for human rights i'm a conservative

00:26:44.160 you know and i'll stand my ground for capitalism i'll stand my ground for our sacred democracy

00:26:54.640 but nations i mean who needs them i don't see the importance

00:26:59.180 that is not how the world has thought and that's not God's original design and you might say well

00:27:05.700 all this is is the result of sin though Joel okay so maybe it is God's design maybe Acts does say

00:27:11.040 that God sets nations their borders and their times and that he exalts nations and he brings

00:27:16.380 them low right God raises empires and he decimates empires all these things are done in God's

00:27:22.940 sovereignty that's God's sovereign will but that doesn't necessarily mean it was his moral will

00:27:27.660 especially his initial moral will

00:27:29.660 before sin entered into the picture.

00:27:32.780 And I say, no, it was.

00:27:34.440 If Adam and Eve had never sinned,

00:27:36.920 if sin had never entered into the world,

00:27:38.900 well, then what would they do?

00:27:39.920 If they're not sinning, they are obeying.

00:27:43.680 What did God command?

00:27:45.020 Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it.

00:27:51.060 Eventually, Adam and Eve,

00:27:52.580 if sin had never entered the world,

00:27:54.200 would have had so many descendants,

00:27:56.200 children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and so on and so forth and their children's

00:28:01.160 children would have children and further and further and further the earth would be filled

00:28:05.400 but not just one corner of the earth not the babel situation let's build a tower to the heavens so

00:28:11.580 that we can make a name for ourselves and not be divided not be scattered no no adam and eve if

00:28:16.720 they had obeyed they would have by necessity spread out and in spreading out over centuries

00:28:22.680 I'm not saying it would happen in two or three weeks, but over centuries, what would happen?

00:28:28.460 There would be distinct ethnos, distinct cultures, distinct cultures, distinct customs.

00:28:38.660 They would all be obedient to God if this was an unfallen world, if sin never entered the picture.

00:28:44.900 So they'd all be obedient. But even in obedience, there would still be some variance in food.

00:28:52.680 cuisine, dance, music. There would be different cultures. And over centuries and centuries with

00:29:02.220 different cultures, they may even develop different colors. And all that would be good.

00:29:10.940 And my point is this. There would have been nations, even if sin never entered the world.

00:29:16.240 And post-sin entering the world, right? So from Genesis 3, that's where sin comes into the picture.

00:29:21.960 Genesis 11, after sin, there's still an attempt to be monolithic. There's an attempt at androgyny.

00:29:30.600 There's an attempt at sameness. And what does God do? This is what you need to understand.

00:29:38.260 God confusing the languages that causes the people at Babel to divide and spread out over

00:29:43.340 the face of the earth, that is not a judgment for their sin of hubris and pride trying to build a

00:29:49.340 tower to heaven and make a name for themselves. It is actually, it is a punishment. It is a

00:29:53.920 discipline. It is a judgment of sorts, but it's a unique, ironic kind of judgment. We might call it

00:30:00.420 a merciful judgment. It's a judgment on the one hand, and yet simultaneously a mercy, because what

00:30:07.780 does God's confusing of their languages accomplish? Does it derail them from God's plan, or does it

00:30:15.000 actually expedite work as a catalyst getting them back into god's plan more quickly it's that the

00:30:22.820 latter god's plan was be fruitful and multiply and spread out they're saying the spread out part

00:30:30.120 that part not going to do it we are going to rebel against god not just building a tower to heaven

00:30:37.980 not just exalting humanity, right? Not just attempting to attain to

00:30:43.800 transcendence and eternal life and plug, upload our consciences to the cloud. And I mean,

00:30:53.980 that was the equivalent of, you know, they came up with a, you know, it was a revolutionary

00:30:58.840 technology, right? We have silicon. They had bricks. But for the time, it was revolutionary.

00:31:03.920 we came up with a revolutionary technology that can allow us to be like god to make a name for

00:31:09.060 ourselves and to live forever really what'd you come up with straw and and wait for it mud

00:31:15.320 together in the sun over time the the most cutting edge technology the world has ever seen

00:31:24.460 and it was it was and we're still doing that we just have more developed technology but it's the

00:31:30.860 same ignorance. We're going to make a name for ourselves. We're going to be like God, and we're

00:31:34.720 going to reach the heavens. We're going to transcend. We're going to live forever. But that's

00:31:39.080 not the only thing that they did at Babel. It wasn't just hubris or pride, being like God,

00:31:46.880 or trying to somehow skip the curse of death that comes by sin. The wages of sin is death,

00:31:52.500 and they're trying to avoid that by ascending to heaven. It was also that we may make a name for

00:31:58.600 ourselves so that we might not be dispersed. Being dispersed was not the judgment. Being dispersed

00:32:07.380 was the original command. God commanded fruitfulness, multiplication, and dispersing,

00:32:15.280 spreading out. And through dispersion, over time, comes variety. God's design was not androgyny.

00:32:24.100 god's design was diversity diversity among different people in different times and different

00:32:32.980 places diversity is not the curse diversity was the plan pre-sin plan pre-babble plan

00:32:41.520 getting them back on to the plan when they tried to rebel against the plan with the confusing of

00:32:47.640 languages. It's the plan. But then Westerners come up with a different plan, very much like

00:32:55.460 Genesis 11 and Babel. Westerners say, you know what? What is a nation? Really? I mean, it's really

00:33:05.340 just an idea. It's really just a set of principles. Or, I mean, if it is, you know, has boundaries

00:33:12.520 as something that they're not physical certainly shouldn't have a wall but it's really just an

00:33:17.520 economic zone and that's the same thing that was happening in genesis 11 and all of a sudden what

00:33:27.200 happened for us is it heritage doesn't matter your fathers don't matter and and what what had

00:33:35.660 to be accomplished in order to execute this plan of rebellion because it is directly against god's

00:33:41.360 plan what had to be accomplished children had to be taught to hate their heritage and that's a

00:33:50.900 difficult thing to accomplish by the way that is i mean that's like there are different degrees of

00:33:55.860 that one is top tier to get a child to hate his father is a difficult task

00:34:05.580 but post-modernism found a way by golly they did it kudos i mean it's that's a tough thing to do

00:34:15.580 but they did it incredibly wicked men men they pulled it off so then so then what what do you

00:34:23.540 come to believe all your ancestors were bad the founders of this nation bad the crusaders bad

00:34:34.460 Constantine? Bad. King Alfred? Bad. Richard the Lionheart? Bad. All of them bad.

00:34:44.740 A revisionist history, hating your heritage. That is not how the world thought ever, in any place,

00:34:52.920 in any time. And when people did switch jerseys and change teams, because God does do that,

00:34:59.420 that's real and that's good but when it happened it was not i'm going to come with you naomi my

00:35:06.860 mother-in-law into the economic zone of israel and i will get a good job and help provide for us

00:35:13.880 and i appreciate you know israel principles and ideas no no no she came and said your people

00:35:22.280 will be my people. Your God will be my God. There was a forsaking of Moab. That's not my people

00:35:31.300 anymore. That doesn't mean I hate them now. I can always love them. I can always care. But I have

00:35:37.360 forsaken my identity as a Moabitess woman. They are not, in the ultimate sense, my people. Israel

00:35:46.180 my people and certainly the moabite false pagan gods are not my god yahweh is my god

00:35:54.180 what we've done in the west just can talk about immigration that's what i've been talking about

00:36:03.380 if you haven't picked up what is he talking about i'm talking about immigration what we've done

00:36:07.380 in the west is we have said you can come but you don't have to have the triune god as your god

00:36:17.500 and these people our people do not have to be your people you can come and not assimilate

00:36:26.000 not religiously not culturally not with language in fact we'll stop teaching our children latin

00:36:32.740 in school and we'll start teaching them spanish why because you don't need to learn our language

00:36:39.400 in our country we'll force our kids to learn your language from another country

00:36:46.000 do you understand how foreign that is to all of human history

00:36:50.840 do you understand how unique that is ruth awesome rahab awesome

00:36:59.040 people coming to America who love America and want to serve the Christian God because that

00:37:07.000 is our heritage don't let them revise the history they want to serve the Christian God

00:37:11.420 and they want to be on board in fidelity and unity with Christian people and American people

00:37:17.080 it's not just an economic zone but it's a place with soil and a place with people and they want

00:37:22.760 to belong to it. Amen. Awesome. That's great. That's great. We want Christians to be a part

00:37:32.320 of this heritage, this history. People who will say, you are my people. You're God, my God.

00:37:41.380 But to just go into England, for instance, to switch the analogy here to another country,

00:37:47.920 and to have a prime minister who's or or france rather and to have a prime minister who is not

00:37:56.780 french who historically has been the enemy of france for centuries you just you have to realize

00:38:07.920 that half of the world is laughing right now they're like we did it we did it

00:38:17.800 and you can almost hear like the involuntary question how how did we pull it off there were

00:38:24.840 700 years of crusades and we couldn't take out england we couldn't take out france we couldn't

00:38:30.180 take out spain ferdinand a spanish king king richard the lion heart all right duke gregory

00:38:37.200 and we could never accomplish it we could never outpower ultimately the christians how did we do

00:38:42.920 it. This is how we did it. We told them that they were mean and racist and told them instead of us

00:38:50.960 battling them, we told them to kill themselves. And they obliged. Isn't it funny? The most powerful

00:38:59.860 empire the world has ever known in the final analysis was defeated simply by telling them

00:39:09.100 that they're mean and for 60 years we've been working overtime to defeat ourselves

00:39:15.720 it's god forbid we be mean

00:39:18.040 that is sad your ancestors would be ashamed and i'm not just speaking about nationhood

00:39:29.800 but in the larger part here bringing it now to a spiritual new testament christian application

00:39:35.520 your name has been written in history in a book just as these israelites who are willing to take

00:39:45.600 upon themselves the task not staying with the comfort and familiarity of being exiles in babylon

00:39:51.360 but willing to go back to their heritage their homeland to rebuild the city of god you too if

00:39:57.540 you are in christ by grace alone through faith your name has been written down in the annals

00:40:03.980 of history, but not in this book. Your name has been written down in the book, the Lamb's Book of

00:40:12.120 Life. Why? For your honor. For your honor. By God's grace, you are going to be eternally honored

00:40:26.000 for saying, this is my team. Your God, my God. His people, Christians, my people. And it's one

00:40:35.980 thing. This is kind of bringing it to the final point here. It's one thing to pledge allegiance

00:40:43.780 to God and his people in times of prosperity. When God's people are faring well, when God's

00:40:55.080 people are being blessed, when they're God's people are in the chief seats, right? When they're

00:41:02.300 being, when they're receiving notoriety and influence and affluence and praise. You've heard

00:41:09.740 me say this before. I'll say it once more. John Bunyan, the great late Puritan Baptist who wrote

00:41:15.760 Pilgrim's Progress, the most read book outside of the Bible itself. He talks about one character

00:41:21.180 whose name is Mr. Byens in our more modern English. Read that as Mr. Fairweather. That's

00:41:29.660 essentially his name. And he talks to Christian and he says, my wife and I are very reputable

00:41:37.900 people. Very, of course, we're Christians, very reputable Christians. And we love to walk with

00:41:42.880 religion when she is praised in the streets. We love to walk hand in hand with religion when she's

00:41:49.860 wearing her glass slippers in dressed in fine apparel when the people applaud her but my name

00:41:56.840 Mr. Byens Mr. Fairweather I've always seen I'm paraphrasing I've always seen that that it doesn't

00:42:02.640 make any sense I just not that I'm a compromiser I'm just a man of common sense it doesn't make

00:42:07.820 any sense to go against the wind and why travel to the celestial city on a rainy day in the middle

00:42:15.180 of a storm. So when religion is praised, we walk with her. When the sun is shining, we're pilgrims

00:42:22.680 on the way. But in the middle of a storm, we stop. We pause. It makes no sense to go against

00:42:30.200 the wind, to go against the grain. That's how many Christians today, or I should say

00:42:39.420 professing christians those who pretend to be christians think today when religion is praised

00:42:47.360 when christianity is thought well of when it's dominant when it actually pays to be a christian

00:42:55.260 when your business gets more clients by publicly announcing that you are a follower of christ

00:43:02.760 well then you'll go with christ then you'll walk with religion hand in hand she's wearing

00:43:08.800 her glass slippers. She's dressed in fine apparel. But what happens when the world becomes hostile

00:43:14.960 towards the Christian faith? And it is. This is Aaron Wren, for those of you who are familiar. He

00:43:22.060 conceptualized this idea of a positive, neutral, and negative world. And he talked about how even

00:43:29.000 in recent times, within some of your lifetimes, we were still in positive world. Meaning that

00:43:34.580 not just christians themselves but those even outside of christianity in the west and particularly

00:43:39.760 in our country these united states of america would look at christianity mostly positive

00:43:46.020 they were viewed as mostly a positive good they'd have at least some respect i mean you can look at

00:43:52.020 statistics there was a time where where um just in terms of vocation and profession being a pastor

00:43:58.340 was viewed by the common person whether they were a christian or not it was viewed as either the

00:44:02.740 second or third most prestigious vocation it was it was like doctor pastor and then lawyer

00:44:10.340 and that's within some of your lifetime i'm not talking about 200 years ago i'm talking about

00:44:15.580 recently but then it shifted from positive world to neutral world where you didn't really stand

00:44:21.020 much to gain by wearing the jersey team christian pledging your allegiance to christ and his people

00:44:27.060 the church but you also didn't stand much to lose and neutral world here's in a nutshell

00:44:33.780 neutral world this is what you need to know about it it was brief neutral world was not a century

00:44:40.180 according to lots of guys Aaron Wren simply being one of them they would all agree it was like 15-20

00:44:45.140 years max done positive world the neutral world and now and I would argue since 2014-2015 and

00:44:52.820 And other guys would agree with this.

00:44:53.980 That's what Aaron Wren would say.

00:44:55.160 2014, 2015, what happened?

00:44:57.180 Think a burger fell.

00:44:59.120 So since that time, these last eight years or so,

00:45:02.720 negative war.

00:45:04.100 Meaning that it costs you to publicly announce,

00:45:07.960 I'm a Christian.

00:45:09.680 There's no benefit to be gained.

00:45:12.440 And in one sense, there's a mercy to that,

00:45:15.980 that now it's like, okay, well, it's easier to tell

00:45:18.380 that this person's actually on the team.

00:45:19.760 They're not just like Mr. Buy-ins, right?

00:45:21.680 Mr. Fairweather.

00:45:22.820 just walking with religion

00:45:24.020 because religion happens in this current moment to be praised.

00:45:27.540 No, this person is actually on Team Jesus.

00:45:29.620 They're actually one of us, right?

00:45:32.140 Because it's tested through adversity,

00:45:34.560 through tribulation, through suffering, through difficulty.

00:45:38.020 But there's also a lot of detriments

00:45:40.320 that come by not having Christian culture anymore.

00:45:44.500 There are detriments that come with hostility.

00:45:46.580 Like it's harder for a Christian,

00:45:48.940 especially a publicly outspoken Christian,

00:45:51.280 to be employed and feed his kids right people all the time nikki haley would be an example you know

00:45:57.040 i'm going to make social media i'm going to make it a rule if i i'm elected that uh everybody has

00:46:01.120 to you know be scanned in you know and have your picture and your name no no that's not helpful

00:46:08.140 number one that's not our heritage back to that point the founding fathers it was common not all

00:46:14.320 the time but many of them wrote under pseudonyms that is an ancient tradition and there are reasons

00:46:19.820 for using a pseudonym.

00:46:21.260 Why?

00:46:21.740 Because the truth

00:46:22.700 in that current cultural moment

00:46:24.080 that you might be speaking

00:46:25.120 will get you killed.

00:46:27.700 Because there's a regime

00:46:28.940 that hates truth and power.

00:46:31.940 Right?

00:46:32.120 People all the same.

00:46:33.060 And this is such ignorance.

00:46:35.500 It's such ignorance.

00:46:36.640 But even within the church,

00:46:37.760 people online,

00:46:38.480 you'll see them saying,

00:46:39.500 hey, you think you're courageous

00:46:40.680 speaking the truth,

00:46:41.520 but you won't even show

00:46:42.340 your picture and your name.

00:46:43.480 And people that,

00:46:44.340 you know,

00:46:44.520 the anonymous accounts

00:46:45.420 will respond and say,

00:46:46.360 oh yeah,

00:46:46.760 and you probably also want me

00:46:47.720 to share my date of birth

00:46:48.660 and my social security.

00:46:49.560 Of course I'm not going to share my name in a picture.

00:46:54.720 Because you will see to it, even you in the church, you Christian,

00:46:59.340 you will see to it that I can't even feed my kids.

00:47:03.480 It's not safe to share my name.

00:47:06.740 Not just because of leftists and progressives.

00:47:09.900 Not just because of Biden and Fauci.

00:47:12.080 It's not safe because of evangelical pastors.

00:47:16.380 You will cancel me.

00:47:18.180 You'll do an expose.

00:47:19.920 You'll see to it that I am unemployable

00:47:22.340 and that my kids starve.

00:47:23.920 That is negative world.

00:47:26.480 That's where you now live.

00:47:28.520 Trash world, clown world, negative world,

00:47:30.360 whatever you want to call it.

00:47:31.500 You need to know what time it is.

00:47:33.720 The sons of Issachar,

00:47:34.980 they knew the times and what to do.

00:47:38.500 And the sons of Issachar who knew the times,

00:47:40.860 those who were willing to take a stand

00:47:42.540 and push back against negative world,

00:47:45.080 they were worthy of honor and that's what's going on in the text today what we see going on look at

00:47:53.480 verses 61 through 63 also the sons of the priests the sons of habiah the sons of hakas the sons of

00:48:01.920 barzillia who had taken a wife from the daughters of barzillia the gileadite and was called by their

00:48:08.860 name these sought their registration among those enrolled in the genealogies but they were not

00:48:14.420 found there. And so they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. The governor told them

00:48:20.460 that they were not to partake of the most holy food until there should be a priest to consult

00:48:26.560 Urim and Thuman. What is this saying? It's saying all of a sudden, not everybody, some people want

00:48:32.180 to stay where it's comfortable in Babylon, right? Because right now it doesn't pay to walk with

00:48:36.540 religion. So some people want to stay in the comfort of Babylon. Others are saying we'll take

00:48:40.820 the task. It's going to be grueling and difficult, but we'll rebuild the ruins. We'll go on the

00:48:45.240 journey back to our homeland, back to our heritage. But then there were some, another subcategory,

00:48:50.480 that wanted to be about the project, but their names weren't listed in the genealogy. They

00:48:55.700 couldn't go. Or they could go, but you can't be a part of the priesthood anymore. And one of these

00:49:01.160 guys who couldn't be a part of the priesthood, the reason why is because he had transferred his name

00:49:05.820 to his or at least their ancestor he had transferred his name to the the maiden name of his wife

00:49:12.740 and that's why it wasn't in the genealogy anymore so he got to go with israel but he doesn't get to

00:49:17.980 be a priest look at what matthew henry says about it there were some that could not prove themselves

00:49:23.680 israelites a considerable number who presumed that they were the seed of jacob but could not

00:49:29.440 produce their pedigrees there were others that could not prove themselves priests and yet were

00:49:34.620 supposed to be of the seed of Aaron now we are told how they lost their evidence this is how

00:49:40.640 one of their ancestors married a daughter of Barzillia who was a great man whom we read of

00:49:48.320 in David's time he gloried and an alliance right so this is an ancestor of a certain priest family

00:49:55.460 their ancestor he married the daughter of Barzillia and he glory that is he he thought this is really

00:50:02.500 great. This is a huge advantage because Barzillia is well off and honorable and has notoriety and

00:50:09.320 great wealth. So he gloried in this alliance to that honorable family. But that family was out

00:50:14.780 of the priesthood. He gloried in an alliance to that honorable family and preferring that before

00:50:21.200 the dignity of his priesthood would have his children called after Barzillia's family rather

00:50:27.640 than his own and their pedigree preserved in their registers of that house barzillia's house

00:50:33.800 rather than the house of aaron and so they lost it they lost their lineage in babylon there was

00:50:41.760 nothing notice this there was nothing to be gained by the priesthood and therefore they cared not

00:50:48.800 about being akin to it but now that the priests had recovered their rights and had the altar to

00:50:54.380 live upon again they would gladly be looked upon as priests but they had sold their birthright for

00:51:01.180 the honor of being gentlemen and therefore were justly degraded and forbidden to eat of the most

00:51:07.360 holy things note christ will be ashamed of those who are ashamed of him and his service this guy

00:51:15.980 allegedly is one of the families within the priesthood he descended from aaron a seed of

00:51:23.760 Aaron, him and his house, but they were perfectly content, or his ancestor, I should say, backing

00:51:29.620 up multiple generations all the way to the time of David, were perfectly content to form a family

00:51:34.560 alliance with someone outside of the priesthood. And because that particular family was well-to-do

00:51:40.960 and wealthy and powerful and influential, he allowed his son to take the daughter's name,

00:51:47.440 right? This is just a brief lesson why feminism destroys, okay? So this is just one example.

00:51:51.940 took the took the chick's name right bad move there you go messed up took her name and now

00:51:58.140 everybody knew for multiple generations they still knew like of course but yeah we know this guy comes

00:52:02.720 from the the seat of aaron and they're part of the priesthood all that kind of stuff this is just a

00:52:05.840 technicality they took his name to honor that family but as centuries go by as generations go

00:52:10.720 by then they're in captivity then they're in babylon they don't even care to preserve their

00:52:14.860 pedigree because being a priest gets you nothing in babylon there is no altar for sacrifices and

00:52:19.960 meat that the priest could be preserved on and live on well then it's gone it's lost to history

00:52:25.860 it is no more when it finally comes time in the favor and province of god to go back to israel

00:52:31.680 and being a priest means something because the altar is going to be restored and sacrifices

00:52:36.340 will be made again and the priesthood would live off of the tithes and the offerings of the people

00:52:41.160 as they worship yahweh well all of a sudden guess what he wants to be a priest again now

00:52:45.340 but it's too late now you don't get to be a priest anymore because your ancestry your heritage your

00:52:54.840 lineage your fathers you despised you said that they don't really have value you decided that

00:53:03.480 in a moment of exile in a moment of living in babylon that your actual heritage doesn't matter

00:53:09.200 so bringing the all this together landing the plane at a spiritual level your heritage matters

00:53:16.080 and your lineage at a spiritual level as christians your lineage it is calvin it is luther it is

00:53:24.980 augustine it is athanasius it is richard the lion heart it is duke gregory which just for the record

00:53:31.600 this is all you need to know about duke gregory it is said by multiple sources including islamic

00:53:37.060 sources right so when when your opponent is even saying we got to give props this guy like this

00:53:41.540 happened this guy's crazy uh it is said that duke gregory he chopped a man in half with one swing of

00:53:47.420 his sword now that sounds impressive but that's not even the impressive part right if you hone

00:53:52.580 your skills you could aspire to one day chop a man in half with one swing of your sword and i think

00:53:57.620 that's something we can all agree we should aspire to it's a wonderful thing right so right that's

00:54:01.360 something that but he didn't just chop a guy in half horizontally but diagonally that's duke

00:54:08.480 gregory that and just for the record he's one of the good guys that's a champion that's a heritage

00:54:13.260 you don't want to forget that you don't want you don't want that to be lost in antiquity

00:54:16.560 that was a champion and for the record it wasn't just about land it was defending the christians

00:54:21.280 who were being martyred and slaughtered and starved and enslaved and that's at least i'd

00:54:27.600 argue the first four crusades that's what it was about it became a little bit more about the holy

00:54:31.300 land later on. Some of the later crusades, not quite as good as the original ones. But

00:54:35.420 from the beginning, these guys, they were saints. Think about this. Campus crusades for Christ.

00:54:41.740 Now they're crew. Think about that. How recently, right? We're not talking about hundreds of years

00:54:48.080 ago. How recently the crusades were viewed, not as perfect, but generally as something positive.

00:54:54.940 Something that our ancestors, our fathers, they fought for God's truth and God's people

00:54:59.700 to protect them that was viewed mostly positively for a very long time until very recently what's

00:55:07.780 one of the evidences that i would cite for that claim the fact that campus crusades for christ do

00:55:13.240 you think any parachurch college ministry today would name themselves something that has crusades

00:55:18.840 in the name in 2024 no way in fact campus crusades for christ took crusades out of the name

00:55:25.260 but that all happened within just a matter of a few years that's how quickly the revisionist

00:55:33.240 history works that's how quickly the the indoctrination works that's how quickly

00:55:39.180 a generation can be taught to abandon their heritage why are these names listed because

00:55:46.140 it's history not fiction why are these names listed because they deserve to be honored

00:55:51.200 and not forgotten.

00:55:53.180 But lastly, why are these names listed?

00:55:56.080 Because these are my fathers.

00:55:59.080 I belong to them.

00:56:01.020 And knowing my fathers,

00:56:02.440 it tells me my future.

00:56:04.980 Knowing my fathers tells me my allegiance.

00:56:08.700 It tells me what team I'm on.

00:56:12.160 If you're a Christian,

00:56:13.740 your fathers are the crusaders.

00:56:15.900 They are the reformers.

00:56:17.500 They are the ancients.

00:56:18.700 All the way back to Paul

00:56:20.160 and the apostles and ultimately Jesus Christ, who is your older brother, but also in Isaiah is called

00:56:26.360 eternal father. Because through Christ himself, many sons are born. Your lineage goes all the

00:56:33.500 way back there. Oh, you're not Jewish? Yes, you are. Abraham is your father. We can go back even

00:56:39.740 further. Noah is your father. Adam is your father. This is your team. Don't forget it. And don't let

00:56:49.140 anyone talk you into thinking that your team is bad your team's not perfect because it is a human

00:56:54.900 team and humans just like you just like me are sinners but it's god's team and god's grace

00:57:03.240 covers a multitude of sin i believe that as the church moves forward now living in the west in

00:57:09.840 hostile world negative world we're not neutral world we're not in positive world as we move

00:57:14.160 forward, two things will be pivotal for our survival. You will see many churches continue

00:57:19.120 to close their doors. And I'm not just saying close their doors because of, you know, a virus

00:57:23.540 that was, you know, in a wet market. No, it was manufactured in a lab. We all know that. We always

00:57:28.140 knew that. They're finally admitting it. You're allowed to say it now without being canceled. But

00:57:31.200 I'm not just saying closing your doors because of COVID. I'm saying, no, many churches will

00:57:36.880 close down because they'll just fade out. They'll just fizzle out. And it's because they're lacking

00:57:41.920 in negative world, it takes fortitude to survive. They're lacking at least two things. Positive view

00:57:47.580 of their fathers, positive view of the future. Positive view of your fathers, positive view of

00:57:53.160 your future. I think one of the things that's becoming vital right now for the church, for

00:57:58.700 Christians, is to be able to look back to Christian heritage and say, that's good. Imperfect, but on

00:58:06.160 the whole, good. Christendom was good. It was not a plague on the world. Islam, plague. Paganism,

00:58:16.520 plague. Secularism and atheism and humanitarianism, plague. Christendom, good. Perfect, no. Flaws,

00:58:26.540 yes. But overall, good. So looking back to your father's Christendom, good. Looking forward to

00:58:33.160 the future not just positive view of the past but a positive views of the future and saying

00:58:37.660 not only will jesus win by returning next thursday but jesus will win throughout real time in real

00:58:47.400 human history by restoring his church to the formidable force that it used to be that jesus

00:58:54.120 will actually win his body his hands and feet in human history the church on earth that the gates

00:59:01.280 of hell will not be able to withstand the offensive weapon of the church of the increase

00:59:07.360 of his government and his kingdom in real history there shall be no end i think that christians

00:59:14.820 today who are able to look at the past without the indoctrination of revisionist history that

00:59:20.180 says american founding bad crusades bad england bad king alfred bad the knights bad all if you

00:59:26.640 can look back and say flawed human but good overall good and then look forward and say hope

00:59:34.720 there's hope and it's not that we are fatalistically destined by god to get worse and

00:59:42.480 worse progressively until jesus returns and it's going to be relatively soon so it really doesn't

00:59:47.180 matter what we do that is not going to work i mark my words i don't try to make a whole lot of

00:59:52.860 predictions. This is not a prophecy. I don't have a crystal ball, but I will make this prediction.

00:59:57.100 This one is a pretty safe bet. People who look to the last 2,000 years of church history and say,

01:00:04.460 eh, they're oppressive and it was mostly bad, and look forward and say, Jesus is coming back

01:00:09.020 next Thursday and things will get worse until he does, you're not going to make it. You're not

01:00:14.920 going to make it. NGMI, right? That church, NGMI. You're not going to make it. You could make it

01:00:24.900 in positive world 30 years ago. You can make it a neutral world. Still have your big conferences

01:00:30.780 and go on a Ligonier cruise with the topic of the cruise being suffering and persecution. Did

01:00:37.020 you know that happened? It's been a while. It was 2015. It might've been 13, but the topic was

01:00:42.260 suffering and persecution on a cruise

01:00:46.360 with R.C. Sproul. God bless him. I love him, right? That's how you know that you're not

01:00:52.880 suffering and being persecuted, right? That's how you know you are not in negative world. Not yet.

01:00:57.940 That doesn't happen anymore. Not like that. Not like that. People are waking up and realizing,

01:01:05.720 oh goodness snap all the things that we were larping as we're larping as sojourners and

01:01:13.060 larping as aliens and next because we actually weren't we actually had power had opportunity

01:01:18.140 and we threw it away but now we actually are suffering now we actually are exiles now we

01:01:24.460 actually are the minority now we actually are being oppressed by a dominant group that hates

01:01:32.140 our history, hates our people, and does not love God. And I think in this moment, this historical

01:01:41.420 moment, sons of Issachar knowing the time, the thing that's going to get you through, so the

01:01:45.380 thing that's going to get you through, pastor, is the gospel. Stop Jesus juking. Stop it. Cut that

01:01:52.620 pietism right out. Yes, the gospel will preserve you. It's the tip of the spear. It is the greatest

01:01:59.480 offensive weapon we have that god through the preaching of sinful men might actually be pleased

01:02:05.620 by the power of spirit to convert other men's hearts and cause them to become a new creation

01:02:10.800 nevertheless but don't be so naive to think that it's not also more it is the gospel never less

01:02:19.540 than the gospel but it helps to know history and it helps to have hope to believe that christ

01:02:27.800 could restore chrysidom once more that the things that have happened in the past are not bad but

01:02:34.400 were good and that those good things are not merely behind us but also if god would be so kind

01:02:41.320 it is possible theologically possible that they could also be in front of us that they could be

01:02:49.140 in front of us and that we may be here for a while not just till next thursday so it is imperative

01:02:56.380 that we get to work all right let's pray father thank you for your word let us not be like the

01:03:04.160 priest in his household that made an alliance with a family for the sake of nobility and reputation

01:03:10.200 and ease giving up our heritage our name but let us rather be like the patriarchs abraham and isaac

01:03:20.660 and Jacob, who were willing to leave behind their own heritage, their own ancestry, their pagan

01:03:27.580 culture and pagan religion, their own fathers, to say, I belong to Yahweh. I belong to Christ.

01:03:36.360 Let us be like Ruth to say, your people will be my people. You're God, my God. And not just in

01:03:41.580 fair weather, but even when the world despises religion, when the world is hostile to the

01:03:48.700 christian faith and at a practical level not just the spiritual christian application but at a

01:03:55.800 practical level lord i pray that that each of us lord that find ourselves here in these united

01:04:01.680 states at this time in this place that we would trust that you are sovereign over all of it it's

01:04:06.620 not an accident and i pray that we would actually have a love and affection for this country our

01:04:14.980 founding, our fathers, and a hope and a diligence to work towards our future. America is unique.

01:04:23.740 It is a collection of multiple different origin points. Even within Europe, it's not all the same.

01:04:30.360 England and Ireland and Scotland, people from Canada, people from Mexico, people from here,

01:04:37.620 people from there but lord i pray that that a diversity of color and ethnicity would not

01:04:46.300 be a diversity of religion diversity of religion is not our strength

01:04:53.320 god i i unashamedly and unapologetically pray for a monolithic religion and devotion in our nation

01:05:04.320 to no god no king but christ that everyone who is here in this moment would say

01:05:11.860 your god is my god and your people are my people i may have a homeland somewhere else and i will

01:05:19.260 always maintain within myself a certain devotion and love affection for that country those people

01:05:25.560 but god brought me in his sovereignty here and so your country your founding your traditions your

01:05:32.300 fathers and most importantly your god the christian faith this is my jersey this is the team that i

01:05:39.400 am on and i'm going to view the history positively and view the future hopefully all for the glory

01:05:47.020 of god and the good of his people we pray this for christ's sake in his name

The NXR Podcast - January 21, 2024

SERMON - Living In “Negative World”

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