SERMON - The Lord Will Be Good To Israel
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Summary
In the second year after their coming to the House of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Yeshivach, the priest and Levites, and all who had come to Jerusalem from the captivity, appointed the Levites from 20 years old and upward to supervise the work of the house of the Lord. And Yeshua, with his sons and his brothers, and Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together supervised the workmen in the house, along with the Sons of Hinnadad and their sons and brothers. And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple, the priests, in their vestments, came forward with trumpets, and the Levite s sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord according to the directions of David, King of Israel. And they sang responsibly, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.
Transcript
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In less than a year, our podcast has gone from an average of 10,000 downloads a month to 50,000
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Jesus Christ. Help us press forward the crown rights of King Jesus by leaving us a five-star
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review on your favorite podcast platform thanks continue our series through the book of ezra our
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text for today is ezra chapter 3 verses 8 through 13 would you join me now in standing for the
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reading of god's word i'll read our text for us in its entirety after reading the text i'm going
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to say this is the word of the lord at which point i would appreciate very much if you would
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respond by saying thanks be to god one final time our text for today is ezra chapter 3 verses 8
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through 13, the Bible says this. Now in the second year after their coming to the house of God at
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Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Yeshua, the son of Josedach,
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made a beginning together with the rest of their kinsmen, the priest and the Levites and all who
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had come to Jerusalem from the captivity. They appointed the Levites from 20 years old and upward
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to supervise the work of the house of the Lord.
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together supervised the workmen in the house of God,
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along with the sons of Hinnadad and the Levites,
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And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord,
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the priests, in their vestments, came forward with trumpets,
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and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals to praise the Lord according to the directions of
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David king of Israel. And they sang responsibly, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, for he is
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good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great
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shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.
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But many of the priests and Levites and heads of father's houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping.
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For the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.
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All right, please be seated. Let's go ahead and dive right in. If there were two main points from
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the text today that I would like to, by the grace of God, elevate for our hearts and minds, they
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would be found primarily in verse 11 and verse 12 of our text. Verse 11 and verse 12. In verse 11,
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we see the responsive worship. It's not an arbitrary worship. It's not a random worship.
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It's not a worship that's defined by the preferences of men,
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but it is a worship that is fitting for the occasion.
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There's a particular event that's taking place within the providence of God,
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namely the laying of the foundation of this second temple,
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the first temple that was built by King Solomon.
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All the materials gathered by his father, David,
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but the building done under the kingship of Solomon,
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Israel had been taken captive for 70 years in Babylon.
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But in God's providence, Babylon was sacked and overcome by the Persians and the Medes.
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And one of these kings rises to power, namely Cyrus.
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Cyrus, under God's providence, decides to send the Jews out of captivity back to Israel, back to Jerusalem,
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to rebuild the city, and most particularly to rebuild the temple.
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So this foundation of this second temple now has been laid, and with the laying of the foundation of the house of the Lord, there is fitting, appropriate praise and worship and singing.
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The people are singing and worshiping the Lord in response to what God has just now done, which again is the laying of the foundation of this rebuilding project, the second temple.
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The first has been destroyed, but now the temple being built the second time.
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Perhaps it's the chorus of this particular song.
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But we get some of the content, the substance, the lyrics of the song that is fitting for the occasion
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that Israel is singing in worship and praise as the foundation of the second temple has been laid.
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And they sang responsibly, praising the Lord according to the directions of David, the king of Israel.
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they sang giving thanks to the Lord and this is what they sang for he is good for his steadfast
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love endures forever toward Israel so I want us to focus on that the words of the song that
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they're singing especially that last phrase his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel so
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we'll come back to that in a moment the second point from verse 12 of our text that we'll focus
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our attention on is that as some are praising some are singing some are rejoicing others at the very
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same time are weeping again so that it's fresh in your minds verse 12 of the text says but many of
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the priests and levites and heads of fathers houses old men who had seen the first house
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right so it's been approximately 70 years now and there's a debate to be had within the history
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of whether or not the temple was immediately destroyed.
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Some say that it was destroyed approximately maybe 14 years
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or even up to 20 years after Jerusalem was taken captive.
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So 70 years, certainly, no debate about that,
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the temple didn't necessarily get destroyed at that same time,
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but rather the temple may have been left intact for another decade and a half or so.
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So it could have been 70 years since the temple was destroyed,
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The point is this, there are some at this historic moment,
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as the foundation of the second temple is being laid,
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they actually remember the glory of the first temple that was built under Solomon.
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and these individuals the text says that they began to weep with a loud voice when they saw
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the foundation of this house being laid so some are shouting with joy right shout on pray on
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we're gaining ground this is a win we're heading in the right direction right laying the foundation
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of the temple is a vast improvement in comparison comparison and contrasting i mean it's a vast
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improvement from being captives in babylon right so so all things considered we went from captivity
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and a strange land to now being in our homeland our heritage and resourced by a pagan king
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to rebuild a house for god this is a massive win a massive victory step in the right direction
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let's sing responsibly all right the the correct appropriate response is joy rejoicing worship and
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praise. But some of the old guys, not to pick on the old guys here today, but these old guys,
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at least, you know, make it particular to them. But some of the old guys, instead of worshiping
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God for a great victory, a great step in the right direction, they're whining and crying
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and mourning because back in my day, things were better. All right. Yeah, this is good,
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you young bucks it beats captivity but it's not the america i used to know not the israel i used
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to know not the temple uh-huh yeah you're right yeah it's it's it's not america in the 1600s
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underneath the puritans and the pilgrims and the covenanters and the 13 colonies 10 of which
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actually declared a state allegiance a formal allegiance to a particular christian church
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yeah it's not that good you're right um but you got to start somewhere so the second point of the
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sermon um if i was to title it anything would be you got a larp before you can fly okay now again
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back to the old guys some of you guys i'll use this language from time to time and i was thinking
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about it this week and i was like i should probably explain myself because this is um it's not your
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fault it's my fault i'm using super nerdy dumb language so it's it's on me so i'll take full
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ownership. But that word LARP, for anybody who's not familiar with it, it's an acronym. Capital L,
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capital A, capital R, capital P. And it stands for live action role-playing, which is a somewhat
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recent phenomenon that gives you a really good idea of the state of the culture and society,
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which is not positive. It's where grown adult men, and sometimes women, who typically don't
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have a job and live in their mother's basements, put on costumes and have plastic swords and go
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into a field and pretend to be a part of some kind of heroic whatever. It's shameful and it
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should be out of love. For their sake, it should be relentlessly mocked. So that's the correct
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response, right? Praise responsibly. If you see live action role playing, you point, you laugh,
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and that is the correct response. It honors the Lord. It's loving towards them. Hopefully,
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they'll get a job, move out of their mother's basement, and do something productive. That said,
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you know, the LARP, L-A-R-P, has been like many things, right? The matrix, you know, the blue
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pill and the red pill. You've heard me maybe talk about that. That's just a popular thing in
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internet, you know, jargon to say, you know, some people are taking the blue pill and they're just
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oblivious. All that means is you're oblivious. You're choosing to be naive. You're the
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ostrich with its head stuck in the sand. You know, everything's burning down. You're the news
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reporter from CNN, right? In 2020, he said, mostly peaceful riots. And there's a building burning
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down right behind you. You know what I mean? That's the blue pill. And then the red pill would
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be, as it pertains to the matrix, is just, I'm awake. I'm awake. And then that became, you know,
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there's splinters and shoot off into, you know, views of men and women. That actually is really
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accurate. They get the problem right, this red pill group saying, okay, the awakened principle,
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we're going to apply that particular to gender and men and women. And they actually, I think,
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rightly diagnose the problem, but they have absolutely no solutions. Their solution is
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basically just give up, you know, or just live for your own selfish pleasure and those kinds
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of things. And then a lot of Christians, to be fair, on the other side, a lot of Christians,
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they have solutions but won't recognize that there's any problem.
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They're like, yeah, get married, and things are great.
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And most women in society today are wonderful and fear the Lord,
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older men should be training up younger men to give of themselves,
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their whole lives, be willing to lay down their life for a wife,
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and especially the moment that if God would be so gracious
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the moment that he marries and God gives a child
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Everything culturally, legally, economically
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But then the other part of discipleship that the red pill guys get wrong
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So find a good woman who has a long history and track record of faithfulness
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Ask her if she's heard the word patriarchy before.
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See if she throws up a little bit in her mouth.
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But if she actually is like, yeah, I love godly male headship.
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Then you put a ring on it as fast as you can before some other guy swoops her up.
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So that's, you know, anyway, so that's red pill, blue pill, all these kind of things.
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So today we're giving a little bit of, some pastors give you Hebrew and Greek.
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her. This is a little silly. But the whole point is, so LARPing, as it literally plays out, is
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grown men who live in their mother's basements, you know, with plastic swords and costumes in a
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field, you know, pretending. But it's been, that word, or acronym, it's been applied in other ways,
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and I think it is a useful, because it provides a useful visual. It gives everybody can, oh, I see
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what you're saying. So when I, you know, say you got a LARP before you can fly, one of the things
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it's come lately is a lot of people will criticize Christians like you, like me, like our church,
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who are saying Christendom was a good thing and we should seek to reestablish it. And then you
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take baby steps, right? We're the minority. You know, it's not like you can't just change
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everything overnight. Christians right now don't have that power to do so. Dusty Devers, God bless
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him. He's doing great things. He's in office. He was duly elected. He's putting forward bills and
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he's doing as much as he can righteously. And so that's a lot of people. Here's the thing. So there
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are a lot of, I'm not talking about pagans who hate Christ. I'm talking about Christians who hate
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Christ. And they exist. That's a massive category, right? At least professing Christians. Otherwise
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it's a theological oxymoron, but they profess Christ. Some of them are not Christians and they
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really do hate Christ. Others actually are Christians, but they're incredibly deceived and
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ignorant. And so they don't actually hate Christ, but they're spewing rhetoric against faithful
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believers that is essentially, if it was logically played out, if that Christian grew up and matured,
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they would recognize this is a direct contradiction to the Christ who I claim to love. There are some
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Christians right now who would look at someone like Dusty Devers and say, you're LARPing. Putting
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forward a bill to abolish no-fault divorce in 2024 in these United States of America, that's LARPing.
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So that's what I mean with the second point of the text. Okay, but you got to LARP before you can fly.
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In that sense, LARPing is not being a loser, right? A 35-year-old man who lives in his mother's
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basement, you know, and is dressing in costumes and swinging plastic swords in the woods. No,
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in this sense, you doing your homestead in your backyard, God bless you. God bless you. And if
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everything crumbles, you're going to be in trouble and that garden is probably not going to save you.
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But still, God bless you for homesteading in your backyard. You seeking to be financially
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independent as far as it depends on you. Like Paul, the apostle Paul counsels the slave. He says,
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but if you can avail yourself to gain your freedom, then do so. Likewise, if economically
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and in our current market and economy, if you can be self-employed, if you can be your own boss,
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avail yourself to do so. And will that change the world, that one action overnight? No,
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but it's good and anybody who says that's larping one i would say no it's not but two even if you
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think it is well then see point a you got a larp before you can fly you've got to start somewhere
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is what i'm saying and sadly there are many christians in the evangelical church like these
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older heads of households verse 12 and these older priests and levites that when the younger
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generation of israel the young generation of the church as it applies to us new testament israel
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as they're celebrating as they seek to be diligent to obey the voice of the lord and they've just
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experienced a progress a step in the right direction in obedience and they're celebrating
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and thanking the lord praising him responsibly for his providence his deliverance the freedom
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as they're praising and thanking and worshiping,
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in the faith. An older Christian who should be a mother in the faith, disparaging a younger
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generation of Christians who are trying to actually practically obey Jesus in all of life.
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That's a bad look. That is not where you want to be. So does this foundation for the second temple
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pale in comparison with the glory of the first built under Solomon with all the resources
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to where they can only fail when i say requirements beyond their capability i'm not speaking to the
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nature of the child the son in regards to his fallenness but rather in regards to his finitude
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if you haven't heard this theological category it's helpful especially for parenting for both
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fathers and mothers with your child at whatever stage of development they're in you need to be
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aware that there are two things simultaneously going on. That child is fallen. They're a sinner.
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And so there's going to be within the members of their being, their flesh, Romans 7,
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a sin nature bucking up against good and right commandments from the Lord.
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And that should be disciplined. But there's also going to be, not in regards to their fallenness,
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there's going to be not only fallenness, but finitude.
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thou shalt read at a seventh grade reading level,
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We're not discussing fallenness, we're discussing finitude.
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but rather it's simply the development of the child at that time.
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There's also something to be said for train up a child in the way they should go.
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Now, 95% of my exegesis on that particular text,
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exegesis would be train up a child in the way they should go,
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a.k.a. the clear prescribed commandments in the Scripture for all children.
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But I would also maintain that within that particular text,
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there is, although it's not the headline, there is perhaps an exegetical footnote that each child
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is unique. With unique giftings and deficiencies. Not only deficiencies, but also giftings.
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You may have a particular child who is above average. And so with this child who's above
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average that you begin to notice, your wife and you as mother and father, you begin to notice at
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a young age they're three now they're four now they're five now and you recognize they they have
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a peculiar giftedness in a particular area and although for the average three four five year old
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this would be the standard we recognize that god in his mercy and sovereignty has given to our child
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a unique gift we want to steward that well from a young age and so without exasperating or
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disparaging but recognizing god's sovereign unique gifting we are actually going to require from this
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child a higher standard in this area because we know that they can do it and that we will not be
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bucking up against their finitude because they have less finitude in this particular area because
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of the mercy and kindness of God. And when they fail in this area, it won't be because we're
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holding too high of a standard. It'll actually be back to the moral, the moral issue of they're
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just choosing not to obey. Okay, so fathers do not exasperate your children. One way to exasperate
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your sons is to require something that is outside of their capability. That they're going to
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inevitably fail, not because they're sinning, but because they're finite. That's one way.
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But another way to exasperate your sons is not just by holding the bar above their head,
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but another way is that when they reach the bar, even setting a right standard, right goals from
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the scripture for your child at that stage of development, they succeed. And yet, instead of
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praising them for their obedience, celebrating with them because of their success, your response
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is to reserve encouragement and praise. Because, well, there's been other successes from other
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people that were better in the past. My kid is four, playing the piano really well.
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but he ain't mozart yeah and and you ain't a good dad
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repent and change your head nobody's mozart except for mozart
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what's wrong with you the young generation of christians lay the foundation of the second
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temple and you're weeping and notice that again this this can preach volumes there's volumes of
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application here. Who's weeping? It's not the young men. It's not the younger generation.
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The people who are weeping are the older generation that had been alive and seen the previous
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and superior. That's fair. It was superior, but the prior and superior glory of the first temple.
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but but what were what were the conditions of the building of the first temple
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the conditions of the building of the first temple is under king solomon the wisest and richest man
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to ever live where other nations are coming to him the queen of sheba is making a pilgrimage
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to Israel to sit at Solomon's feet and learn from him. What I'm saying is that Israel under Solomon
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and very much so because of David, a man after God's own heart who paved a trail for him,
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blazed a trail for his son, because of those conditions and all that stemming ultimately
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from the sovereignty and mercy of God, Israel had far more resources in the building of the
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first temple. Israel had far more manpower in the building of the first temple. Far more unity.
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Far more wisdom. Far more this. Far more that. Of course it was a better temple.
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But the question is not in regards to the precise results. The question is always in regards to the
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precise obedience. Is this foundation, this inferior, technically inferior, lesser foundation
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of this second temple, was it what God asked for? Did they cut corners? Is it inferior because they
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were disobeying? Is it inferior because they were compromised? Is it inferior because of
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moral deficiencies, because of fallenness, or because of finitude? And I would argue it's the
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latter. That it wasn't because of any moral failure on Israel's part that this second
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foundation for the second temple paled in comparison to the first. It wasn't any moral
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compromise or failure on their part. And therefore, it should not be disparaged.
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they should not be criticized and especially from their fathers notice it's the priest
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verse 12 many of the priest and levites it's the spiritual fathers but not only them and the heads
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of fathers households so in both sovereign spheres both the church and the household the family
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You have familial fathers and ecclesiastical spiritual fathers looking at the work and saying, back in my day, back in my day, I walked to school, uphill, both ways, in the snow.
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Like, sure, sure, you know, an A is good, but back in my day, I would make 110 on every test I took.
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what I'm going to tell you without telling you.
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the good news is that the second half of the sermon
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although I do have a couple quotes that I'd like to use.
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both familial and the priesthood coming into play and discouraging their sons,
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literal sons and spiritual sons, from obedience that they've just committed to the Lord
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and laying the foundation of the second temple.
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Before that comes into play, you have the initial response,
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which is filled with joy, celebration, worship, praise responsibly,
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meaning it fits the occasion it's a response to what god has just done it's appropriate it makes
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sense and like i said the particular lyrics of one of the songs that they're singing is for he that
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is god yahweh for he is good for his steadfast love endures forever and here's the key phrase
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once more toward israel and all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised
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the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. In order to extrapolate some of
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this significance of God being good, particularly toward Israel, I'm going to use a quote from
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Matthew Henry on this particular verse. He says the following, whatever our condition is, how many
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soever are griefs and fears, let it be owned that God is good and whatever fails that his mercy
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fails not let this be sung with application as here not only his mercy endures forever
00:29:05.920
but it endures forever towards Israel whatever captives in a strange land or strangers in their
00:29:13.260
own land however it be yet God is good to Israel that is to say good to us God is good to us
00:29:24.080
brothers and sisters you are israel you are israel one temple was built and because of the
00:29:33.280
faithlessness of israel according to the flesh it was destroyed and god's mercy and faithfulness
00:29:41.140
our second temple was built that's what we're seeing now in the book of ezra but again spoiler
00:29:47.020
alert but it's the bible it's been around for you know thousands of years if you haven't read it
00:29:51.920
it's kind of on you at this point but spoiler alert Israel is faithless again and the temple
00:29:58.260
gets destroyed again and then the third temple if we can give enough billions to Israel
00:30:06.440
and they can push out Palestine and we can lay on the temple mount no there will be no literal
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00:30:15.680
third temple why because you're it ephesians chapter 4 it tells us explicitly that you
00:30:25.340
as new testament christians are not mere children according to the flesh but according to
00:30:31.040
the covenant the promise and that you and i by god's grace and god's grace alone not because
00:30:36.800
of anything superior in us but by god's grace we are living stones this third temple what material
00:30:44.000
will it be built out of? Unlike the second, which was inferior in glory to the first, where some men,
00:30:50.440
although they were wrong to disparage, there was a genuine, authentic sentiment of weeping because
00:30:56.780
they recognized the second temple is not as glorious as the first. But no, it will not be so
00:31:02.540
with the third. The third is the greatest, most superior temple, not made from cedar or stone or
00:31:10.160
gold but built with living saints as living stones into a temple a house of the lord and there will
00:31:17.800
be no other temple you're it god now is pleased to make his dwelling place be within the new
00:31:25.200
testament saints who have been saved by grace through faith in christ the most pure and precious
00:31:31.080
resource there is hearts and minds of the redeemed that's the third temple and there has been
00:31:39.080
historically attempts to build a physical third temple and i encourage you on your own time to
00:31:44.600
look it up the closest attempt that was ever made the guy was struck by lightning
00:31:53.720
all those who bless israel will be blessed that's right so bless the church that's israel
00:32:01.460
billions to israel no billions to ukraine no you want to bless true israel
00:32:12.880
and pray that maybe we could build a wall at home
00:32:18.740
that's about it i mean obviously there's more in terms of particular application and being
00:32:26.420
obedient to christ and all of christ for all of life but that's what the scripture means when
00:32:31.340
it speaks of Israel as it pertains to our time and our place in the New Testament under the New
00:32:36.700
Covenant. This third temple, unlike the second, the second there's weeping, it pales in glory.
00:32:43.520
The third is better than the second and the first. And that's where we are today. And so when our
00:32:49.740
texts are singing, the Lord is good to Israel. What they're singing, what they're saying is that
00:33:01.340
or whether it be in dark and foreboding providence,
00:33:20.600
He's orchestrating and directing and channeling
00:33:25.420
And that end is His eternal glory and the good of all people.
00:33:43.220
Whether she be in captivity or whether she be under Solomon in all his splendor,
00:33:50.600
if america is faithful the church will prosper for the lord is good to israel
00:33:58.500
and if america be faithless and a rebel to the things of god the church will still be blessed
00:34:07.760
and yet another light for the lord will be good to israel and as this pertains at the most
00:34:14.660
micro level christian the lord will be good to you to you when your little girl is sick
00:34:26.600
when you lose your job the lord is good to israel you are israel and the lord has promised to be
00:34:39.580
good to you. Everything he orchestrates, which is everything, sin and righteousness, blessing
00:34:48.280
and suffering, all of it is being orchestrated by God for your eternal good. Romans chapter 8 says
00:34:59.040
that God works, and that's not merely salvaging a bad situation that was out of his control. No,
00:35:04.940
he works that is orchestrating, ordaining, planning. Like what Joseph says is his brothers,
00:35:13.080
you meant throwing me in a pit and selling me into slavery. You meant, that is you planned it,
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00:35:18.420
you intended it from the beginning for evil, but God salvaged it for good. No, same word. God
00:35:24.780
meant it for good. The same kind of word attributed to Joseph's brothers. And not just you turn the
00:35:31.500
situation but but you actually planned you plotted against me with intent you meant this for evil
00:35:38.160
but god also behind you as the first cause of all things he was using your sinful plotting hearts
00:35:45.960
in his sovereignty to plan and orchestrate this for my good that a great many people might be saved
00:35:52.880
and as it pertains to romans chapter 8 it's the same as genesis what joseph says
00:35:59.240
the lord works that is he meant he intends he plans he orchestrates all things for the good
00:36:07.120
of everyone no for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose aka
00:36:15.080
israel the church the christian you beloved the lord is not just using good things for your good
00:36:32.960
is not wholly committed to your present happiness,
00:36:49.600
indefinite longevity of happiness and joy and peace,
00:36:54.540
necessarily in order to accomplish that end it includes pruning and discipline a rod and
00:37:04.140
difficulty in moments in this life hebrews 12 says a discipline is never pleasant in the time
00:37:13.520
but what it produces is worth it it produces perseverance and character and all these things
00:37:22.560
the fruit of discipline is why we discipline. We don't discipline because it's fun in the moment.
00:37:30.880
We discipline because it shapes the child in such a way that he becomes a more, a better postured
00:37:39.100
and positioned individual to receive eternal joy and happiness and peace from the Lord forever.
00:37:46.820
that's what we do with our children and to think that god would somehow do any less
00:37:53.320
is blasphemous jesus even says which of you fathers though you are evil would not give
00:38:02.800
good gifts to your son if he asks and he goes on to talk about fish and bread versus a serpent
00:38:10.140
or a scorpion how much more so your father in heaven will he not give to you the holy spirit
00:38:16.040
you've heard me say it before i'll say it again there is only one particular resource
00:38:22.660
that god who is infinite and owns the cattle on a thousand hills everything is his everything's
00:38:30.700
at his disposal he has no lack there's only one particular resource that our infinite god
00:38:37.100
would ever perhaps have a logical reason for being tempted to withhold and it would have been the
00:38:43.680
resource of the blood of his son but as the scripture testifies if God gave us even Christ
00:38:51.700
his own son how much more will he not give us freely all things which means if God is withholding
00:38:59.800
a particular finite practical temporary thing from you be it finances be it health whatever it might
00:39:09.120
be. If God's withholding that, it cannot be because he's stingy. Because a stingy God, if he were
00:39:16.200
tempted to withhold anything, would have withheld the most priceless possession he had, namely the
00:39:21.520
blood of his son. But he didn't. He gave you Jesus. Why would he withhold a job? A job is way easier.
00:39:31.800
So then the logical answer, and more importantly the biblical answer, but that's really redundant.
00:39:36.140
I repeat myself, logical, biblical. The answer is God is withholding this particular finite thing
00:39:42.880
because it's for your good. For whatever purpose in that season, he's pruning you. He's sharpening
00:39:50.000
you. He's training you to depend more on him, to trust him, to do. It has to be. That's the only
00:39:56.080
possible answer. It must be for your good. Because if it was stinginess, if it was a lack of
00:40:02.500
generosity, if it was a lack of resources, if it was any other reason, then this withholding,
00:40:08.820
temporary withholding, is for your greater eternal good. Then the thing that God would
00:40:13.700
have withheld would have been Jesus. And he didn't. The Lord will be good to Israel.
00:40:22.400
Ephesians chapter 1 verse 22. One more cross-reference on this particular point. It says
00:40:27.540
this and he that being God the father put all things under his that's Jesus Christ the son
00:40:33.360
his feet and gave him as head over the church no as head over all things to the church
00:40:44.620
Jesus Christ is head of the church and we might also say theologically with accuracy the bible
00:40:52.640
would back it up that Jesus Christ is head of the church and he is uniquely head of the church
00:40:57.880
meaning that Jesus Christ his headship of the church the church is the only entity for which
00:41:03.300
Christ in his headship died and gave himself up for her to purify her that she might be pure and
00:41:10.580
spotless and without blemish Jesus did not die for the state he didn't die even this one hurts
00:41:17.460
but it's true. He didn't die for the household. He died for the church, of which is made up of
00:41:23.880
many households. But in terms of institutions, Christ died for the church. And an individual
00:41:30.380
household may have members of the church, but there may be other members of the same household
00:41:34.500
who are not. And by membership to that particular household, it does not guarantee you the redemption
00:41:41.980
and forgiveness of sins, but membership to the church, which comes by grace and faith in Christ
00:41:47.980
alone does guarantee you that Christ's sacrifice, his giving up of himself was in fact for you. So
00:41:55.820
Christ is head of the church. Secondly, he is uniquely head of the church that in his headship
00:42:00.980
of the church, he died for her. But the last thing that we need to recognize from Ephesians chapter
00:42:06.300
one, verse 22, is that Christ is uniquely head of the church, but he is not only head of the church.
00:42:12.700
Ephesians 1.22 says that God has set him up as head of all things.
00:42:18.760
And any other doctrine would be some, at some degree or another,
00:42:30.940
Except for prisms and Christian nationalism.
1.00
00:42:37.720
So I'll throw that one in there. I have to throw that one in.
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00:42:39.920
but pietism is not good piety is piety refers to holiness a piety prefer it refers to the process
00:42:50.500
the lifelong process from conversion to physical death of of pursuing greater and greater
00:42:56.060
sanctification being conformed into the image of christ piety is the personal pursuit of holiness
00:43:01.320
it's sanctification it is often defined by the spiritual disciplines of of prayer and bible
00:43:08.340
reading and meditation and memorization of scripture and fasting. This is piety. And we
00:43:14.820
should all, as Christians, be marked by piety, but not pietism. Pietism refers, instead of piety,
00:43:22.960
the pursuit of holiness, it refers to apathy, really, if we were to sum it up into a word.
00:43:28.360
Spiritual apathy. It makes all the objects of piety ultimately private, reserved for only
00:43:36.500
your home and the church, but that basically the Christian life has no application in any tangible,
00:43:45.200
literal, physical way outside of your home and the church. And that's wrong. All of Christ for all of
00:43:52.720
life. Christ is head of all things. That's what Ephesians 1.22 says. It's not just that he's head
00:43:59.040
of the church. He is uniquely head of the church, as I've already labored. He didn't die for any
00:44:04.600
other institution. He died for the church and died for the church alone. So he's uniquely head of the
00:44:08.720
church, but not only head of the church. He is head of the state. Caesar is not head. Caesar has a lord
00:44:16.880
above him. That's what the scripture means. Have you ever stopped to wonder, to think, what does it
00:44:21.700
mean when we say lord of lords, king of kings? Who are these other kings that Jesus is king over?
00:44:27.860
Earthly kings. Who are these other lords that Jesus is lord over? Earthly lords. And I'll give
00:44:34.320
you an example just to really bring it home and if anybody struggles with feminism it'll help you
1.00
00:44:39.020
know the rapid detox of just you'll cringe and maybe vomit a little bit out and you'll be better
00:44:43.320
for it uh some of these lords are civil lords but many of these lords that jesus is lord of lords
00:44:49.120
many of these earthly lords are not just lords in the civil realm but lords in their home
00:44:53.500
because first peter chapter three sarah a woman of faith that godly women today should seek to
00:45:00.920
imitate called her husband abram her lord as a sign of respect not capital l not savior not divine
00:45:10.920
lord but a lord sir in the same way that husbands should strive to use at times affectionate terms
00:45:19.400
and titles for their wives displaying the husband's obedience to his particular command which
00:45:24.740
is to love his wife sweetheart my bride my love likewise the wife who may be tempted to use an
00:45:33.180
affectionate term if she seeks to be all the more submitted to scripture she would seek to use a
00:45:39.720
term not of endearment or affection but rather respect and honor because the particular command
00:45:45.200
as it pertains her in her relation to the husband is to respect the husband the husband loves the
00:45:51.180
wife. And that's not to say that the wife has no love for him. But the wife is particularly called
00:45:56.500
to respect the husband. And that's not to say that the husband in no sense has any respect for his
00:46:01.240
wife. But there is something particular about the two roles. That the role of the wife towards the
00:46:07.380
husband is first and foremost to be characterized by respect, although there is love. And the husband
00:46:13.260
in his relationship to the wife is first and foremost characterized by love, although there
00:46:18.460
is still dignity and respect. And so the husband would use terms that are indicative of love and
00:46:26.000
affection. And the wife, Sarah, at least, which Peter says under the inspiration of the Holy
00:46:32.440
Spirit, right? So you might want to hold on to that one. Peter, underneath the inspiration of God,
00:46:37.500
says that Sarah did right and that she's worth imitating for other godly women. And she calls
00:46:43.340
Abram her lord. So all that back to Jesus and his headship. He's lord of lords, which at least
00:46:50.380
in part, all my exegesis there sums up to this. He's lord of husbands. That's one of the lords,
00:46:57.740
earthly lords, lowercase l lords, that he's lord of. He is lord of husbands, familial lords,
00:47:04.840
and civil lords. He's king of kings. Christ is over as head. That is head meaning authoritative.
00:47:13.340
in authority over everything, the household, the state, markets, medicine, schools, academics,
00:47:23.020
everything, uniquely head of the church. It's the only thing he died for. But he is exhaustively,
00:47:31.180
conclusively head of all, all things. And so whether we are in times of captivity or times
00:47:40.220
of victory in either sense the lord the lord jesus who is head of all things will be good to
00:47:50.040
israel now with that understanding of scripture in place now go back let's read ephesians 122
00:47:57.240
one final time and he that is god put all things under jesus feet and gave him as head over all
00:48:04.980
things to the church not just head of the church but head of all things to the church meaning for
00:48:10.060
the benefit and good of the church. Jesus is head and authority, sovereignly reigning as king right
00:48:17.640
now, not only in the 17th dimension, but over earthly kings and earthly lords. And he is doing
00:48:23.200
so in such a way that whether it be through providence that frowns or providence that smiles,
00:48:29.700
it will do good to the church that is Israel. The Lord is good to Israel.
00:48:38.080
And then you've got a LARP before you can fly. If you're a spiritual father, don't disparage
00:48:45.420
your sons. If you're an earthly father, as many of you are still, likewise, don't disparage your
00:48:52.960
sons one way to disparage them is by not considering their frame the lord as a heavenly
00:49:00.260
father that we should seek to imitate the scripture says he considers our frame that we are dust
00:49:05.480
he knows what we're capable of and then those things which are far outside of our ability
00:49:12.880
and he does not exasperate his sons so do not fathers exasperate your sons
00:49:17.980
by not humbly and lovingly considering their finitude
00:49:24.840
and putting everything into the fallenness category.
00:49:29.800
And not recognizing the creaturely finite category.
00:49:35.320
is when you actually have set fair and right and holy standards.
00:49:40.300
They achieve the standards and you don't throw them a party.
00:49:47.980
You don't encourage. When your son achieved something that was difficult, and you know it
00:49:55.820
was difficult for him. It was within his ability. The thing that was hindering the whole time was
00:50:00.780
not his finitude, but it was in fact his sin. But still, nonetheless, by God's grace, he's grown to
00:50:07.240
the point where he's finally achieved something that he has not yet prior been able to achieve.
00:50:12.040
the correct response is not to weep and say the former temple was better than the second
00:50:19.140
you know sons of former generations they they would have had this you know
00:50:24.500
five years ago any step in the right direction is a step in the right direction
00:50:31.240
or whether it be applied to the household and families and parenting or whether it be applied
00:50:38.760
to our nation. Look, here's the deal. At least I'll speak to the nation for a moment. I can't
00:50:44.000
speak to each individual household. You're all in different places and different challenges. And
00:50:48.040
some of you are further along. Some of you are not. But as it pertains to our nation, these
00:50:52.620
United States, yeah, we have fallen off the wagon big time. So even if everything was perfect
00:51:01.340
and from here on out it would still take decades to get back to former glory
00:51:07.180
and for those decades as we're seeking to restore what we lost by our own sin and rebellion those
00:51:15.540
decades should not be marked with weeping those decades should be marked with rejoicing
00:51:22.560
even though it would take decades to get back to the former glory meaning in all that time as we're
00:51:30.000
walking this direction, trying to rebuild the ruins, trying to restore what has been lost because
00:51:35.580
of sin, until we get there for a very long time, everything around us would still by comparison
00:51:41.680
be inferior to that which came before. But that's not where our focus should lie.
00:51:48.560
It shouldn't lie on where we're at and how it pales to that which came before. It should lie
00:51:53.500
on where we're going by the grace of God and that the best is yet to come. I believe, I truly
00:51:59.720
believe, first and foremost, I believe it's true of scripture, that it's true in the Bible. But
00:52:04.400
secondly, I believe it's also true of human nature, simply winning strategies, what actually
00:52:10.920
works. I think this is what works when it comes to a vision. Vision that people will get behind
00:52:16.080
and find compelling has at least two primary aspects. One, it has a positive vision of the
00:52:21.480
past. Two, it has a positive vision for the future. You might call it this, to replace that positive
00:52:28.000
vision part, to get a little bit more specific. What does that mean? The positive vision of the
00:52:32.020
past, you might call that honor. It honors its fathers, and it has hope for its sons.
00:52:41.760
You want a winning Christianity? You want a winning, compelling vision?
00:52:47.600
honor for the past your fathers hope for the future your sons theology that says your fathers
00:52:59.280
were all racist that dog won't hurt and theology that says and your sons are hopeless because
00:53:10.240
everything will get worse and worse and worse and honestly jesus will probably be back next thursday
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00:53:15.260
and then the church keeps losing and you say look it's proof it's a confirmation that our
00:53:22.980
doctrine is true no no no you just have a self-fulfilling prophecy you rigged the deck
1.00
00:53:28.320
this isn't god this is you things are getting worse uh-huh because you suck
1.00
00:53:34.040
that's why things are getting worse because you've abdicated your responsibility you've withdrawn
1.00
00:53:42.660
you've come to a point of an impotent powerless puny faith that only has application for the
00:53:51.720
sweetness of your private marriage and your sweetness of your private little heart in your
00:53:56.240
15 minute quiet time and the sweetness of an hour and a half on the lord's day in your private
00:54:01.340
little church you've sought to castrate king jesus and then you say well everything's getting worse
00:54:25.220
well, they only really experienced victory
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00:54:39.340
but only because they were breaking the rules
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00:54:52.400
George Washington, who was an evangelical Christian.
00:55:10.540
especially when it's america and it was maybe still is i don't know but was at least a superpower
00:55:16.840
around the globe how do you beat a superpower you can't outdo them in terms of literal military
00:55:22.540
might how do you do it well you have to get them to roll over and how do you get them to roll over
00:55:28.680
you teach them to hate their heritage and to be ashamed instead of proud
00:55:32.820
you teach them that all their fathers were bigots and you teach them that all their sons
00:55:42.020
are lost and then you don't have to go to war because the psychological psyop war has already
00:55:52.300
been accomplished there is no enemy in fact in that case you don't want to destroy america
00:55:57.120
you just come inside once they have no resolve left to even have a border you just come inside
00:56:06.560
you don't want to destroy it because you actually want to take it you take all the resources and
00:56:11.120
they'll just give it to you don't have to fight them they just give it to you because they've
00:56:17.080
given up and why do they give up because because there's no will to fight for a country or heritage
00:56:23.920
or history that's ultimately the bad guys if you could convince an entire group an entire generation
00:56:32.000
that they're the bad guys they lose the will to fight and that's not to say that our history is
00:56:38.020
perfect and that there is no sin but if you want to talk about sinful past i would encourage you
00:56:43.460
to look at the history of every single nation in the world ours being the least the least
00:56:49.540
but what about slaves there's still slavery going on in other nations but not ours
00:56:57.860
now it's all been a lie it's all been a sigh of to get you to hate your fathers
00:57:08.220
instead of honor and to be hopeless for your sons instead of hope and what the bible teaches
00:57:14.240
is the opposite the fifth commandment demands that we honor our fathers it demands it and if
00:57:22.480
your particular fathers were not particularly honorable then look for the things with your
00:57:27.520
fathers that can be honored and remember that if you're a christian in the ultimate and spiritual
00:57:32.820
sense your lineage your heritage goes back to the greatest fathers who have ever lived
00:57:37.800
maybe your familial father maybe in your bloodline you can't find quite the honor that you wanted
00:57:43.180
well in that case you can say yeah but calvin is my father and luther is my father athanasius is
00:57:50.020
my father augustine is my father paul is my father and jesus although my older brother in
00:57:55.940
isaiah it speaks of him wonderful counselor eternal father because through him are all those
00:58:03.060
who are spiritually born my lineage my fatherhood is glorious and my sons will not be the lesser
00:58:10.640
sons of former sires but they will take the ball and go even farther than our fathers have gone
00:58:17.000
they will stand on the shoulders of those giants who came before them and usher in if god would
00:58:22.100
be so kind a glorious christendom that makes the former pale in comparison all for the honor and
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00:58:29.380
the blessing of king jesus you preach that and the pietists won't like it but they will lose
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00:58:36.240
because you know what? People respond to that. And you can sit and poke it with videos calling
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00:58:43.120
it prosperity gospel and you're exegeting. You lost. You won't win. And you can take out one
00:58:50.000
guy with ad hominem attacks and get dirt on him and find out this and disparage him because of
00:58:55.900
his past and make character assassination. But you can't beat the substance. You won't beat the
00:59:01.320
argument you it's in the scripture it's it's hardwired into human essence we we respond we
00:59:10.260
can't help but respond to an honorable lineage and a hopeful future that message will go forward
00:59:17.200
whether it's called christian nationalism whether it's called theonomy whether it's called the
00:59:21.200
magisterial uh tradition or what it doesn't matter that that essence if you boiled it down to just
00:59:27.840
the bare minimum honor for the past fathers hope for the future sons that is the message of
00:59:34.280
scripture it's the story of scripture both in the old testament and in the new and it compels
00:59:41.380
and rallies the hearts of men men hear that message and they come and if you get men you
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00:59:47.560
know who else you get their wives and children and the pietists will continue to have churches
01:00:30.340
Let's continue to worship the Lord now through song.