SUNDAY SERMON - Dispensationalism, Zionism, & Christian Nationalism
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Length
1 hour and 10 minutes
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Misogyny
1
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25
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Hate speech
103
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Summary
In this episode, we continue our series through the book of Joshua. Our text for today is Joshua 10:29-43. God is using Israel as an instrument to bring and execute his just judgments upon a pagan and wicked land. God has given Israel an inheritance of a land flowing with milk and honey, but is also using them to destroy and put to death at the edge of the sword those who do wicked things in his sight. There are two things happening: God is fulfilling His promises for Israel and executing them, and He is expelling all those who have been wicked and rebellious towards him.
Transcript
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Amen. This morning we're continuing with our series through the book of Joshua. Our text for
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today is Joshua chapter 10 verses 29 through 43. Again that's Joshua chapter 10 verses 39
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or 29 through 43. Let's go ahead and stand now to show reverence to God and how he has chosen to
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reveal himself in holy scripture. I'll read our text for us in its entirety when I finish reading
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the text. I'm going to say this is the word of the Lord at which point I would appreciate very much
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if you would respond by saying thanks be to God.
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And he struck it with the edge of the sword
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Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Libna to Lachish, and laid siege to it, and fought against it.
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And the Lord gave Lachish into the hand of Israel, and he captured it on the second day,
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and struck it with the edge of the sword, and every person in it, as he had done to Libna.
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Then Hoream king of Gezer came up to help Lachish, and Joshua struck him and his people, until he left none remaining.
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Then Joshua and all Israel with him passed on from Lachish to Eglon, and they laid siege to it
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and fought against it. And they captured it on that day and struck it with the edge of the sword.
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And he devoted every person in it to destruction that day, as he had done to Lachish. Then Joshua
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and all Israel with him went up from Eglon to Hebron, and they fought against it and captured
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it and struck it with the edge of the sword and its king and its towns and every person in it.
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He left none of it remaining, as he had done with Eglon, and he devoted it to destruction
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Then Joshua and all Israel with him turned back to Deber and fought against it, and he
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captured it with its king and all its towns, and they struck them with the edge of the
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sword and devoted to destruction every person in it.
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He left none remaining, just as he had done to Hebron and to Libna and its king.
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so he did to Deber and to its king. So Joshua struck the whole land, the hill country, and the
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Negev, and the low land, and the slopes, and all their kings. He left none remaining, but devoted
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to destruction all that breathed, just as the Lord God of Israel commanded. And Joshua struck them
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from Kadesh Barnea, as far as Gaza, and all the country of Goshen, as far as Gibeon. And Joshua
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captured all these kings in their land at one time because the Lord God of Israel fought for
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Israel. Then Joshua returned and all Israel with him to the camp at Gilgal. This is the word of the
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Lord. All right, please be seated. Let's go ahead and dive right in. There's one main point that I
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want us to understand thoroughly from our text today. And that point is this, that God judged
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the Canaanites through Israel. God is just. He brings just judgments to those who are evil and
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do wicked things in his sight. God is using Israel as his instrument to bring and execute
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his just judgments upon a pagan and wicked land. One of the big things that we need to understand
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is this. As much as everything that takes place in the Old Testament, whether it be in Genesis
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or Exodus or Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Numbers, Joshua, Judges, as much as these things are about
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God fulfilling his good and prosperous promises that he made to Israel, it is also about God
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fulfilling his promise of just and terrible judgments to those who are against him. It's
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not just that God is fulfilling his promise to give to Israel an inheritance of a land flowing
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with milk and honey. It's not just God's, merely God's focus on bringing Israel into the promised
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land and doing good things for them. It is also about God expelling and destroying and putting
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to death at the edge of the sword all those wicked inhabitants of the land of Canaan who were
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previously there. It's important that we understand that. There are two things happening. God is
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fulfilling good promises for Israel and God is executing justice for all those pagan nations
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who have been wicked and rebellious towards him. The reason why I want to drive that point home is
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this. There is no nation like Israel today, including Israel. I would actually say especially
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Israel. Israel today is further from Israel under the old covenant than most western nations
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such as the United States of America. There is no nation today like Israel under the Old Covenant,
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but there are many nations today like the Canaanites. So what I'm saying is that God is not
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today fulfilling prophetic promises for a particular nation, a new Israel, America,
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or whatever it might be, bringing them into a land of milk and honey. That's not happening.
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but there is something that still happens today. God still decimates wicked nations today. That
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was not unique. So the good things that God is doing, the prophecies that God is fulfilling on
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behalf of his chosen people, Israel, in this old covenant time before the coming of Christ,
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that's unique. That's not happening post Christ and his earthly ministry 2000 years ago. In this
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church age, gospel age, New Testament age that we live in today, there is no substitute for Israel.
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The United States of America has not replaced Israel. The nation state of Israel that exists
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today is not a replacement of Israel, and it's nothing like it. Talmudic Judaism is not Israel
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under the old covenant. Not even close. It's demonic. There's no, the England is not Israel.
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and replacement would be a pejorative just for the record,
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for dispensationalists and Zionists would use this kind of terminology
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to try to scare everybody that you're being, you know, anti-Semitic
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if you hold to covenant theology, which is 2,000 years.
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Okay, but the point is that the only replacement,
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the actual word would be fulfillment. The only fulfillment of Israel, Old Testament,
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Old Covenant Israel is not a nation, but the church. The church of Jesus Christ is Israel,
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not according to the flesh, but according to the promise, according to the spirit, the church,
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you are Israel in the truest, most eternal, spiritual, prophetic sense. You, if you are in
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Christ, you are Israel. So again, there is no equivalent is what I'm trying to say in terms of
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a nation state, a literal nation state today that would replace or be equivalent or be the fulfillment
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of the old nation according to the flesh under the old covenant of Israel. But there are equivalents
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to Canaan. There are equivalents to Amorite tribes. God, there's two things going on
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simultaneously. Two things can be true at once. God is fulfilling unique promises for Israel
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according to the flesh, and that's not going on anymore today. But God's not only doing that.
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He's not only blessing Israel. He is also using Israel as his instrument to execute destruction
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and just judgment on Canaan, and that's something that God still does today. Absolutely, God still
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does today. I've written here notes this, Joshua showed absolutely no mercy to these Canaanite
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tribes. Peace treaties were not offered. Surrender was not provided as an option. Israel offered no
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quarter to any man, woman, or child. Israel slaughtered them all with a sword, leaving none
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remaining. Matthew Henry, a late great Puritan and commentating on our text today, says the
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following, nothing could justify this military execution, but that herein they did exactly as
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the Lord God of Israel commanded. We see that in verse 40 of our text, which was sufficient
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not only to save them, that is Israel, to save them from the imputation of guilt and cruelty,
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but also to sanctify, not only to spare them, to maintain a sense of moral innocence that they
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wouldn't be guilty of cruelty, but also to sanctify what Israel did and make it an acceptable
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piece of service to God's justice. So what Israel is doing, remember the text that I've just read,
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what we're seeing, the whole text can be summed up in this. What we're seeing is Joshua is going
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to city, to city, to city, town, to town, to town, king, to king, to king, and he's slaughtering
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everyone. And the Lord loves it. It's good. It's just. It's right. Now, the point is, that's unique.
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No country today has this kind of prescription or commandment from God today. It would be
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it would be incredibly wicked to go into another nation as wicked as that nation might be and to
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offer no quarter to anyone to slaughter not only the fighting men but also the women and the
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children today in this gospel age church age new testament age we are to operate underneath the
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principles of just war theory and just war theory well there's multiple different nuance factors
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going on, but a few of them is that the war, the cause of the war itself must be just. It can't
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just be to go and pillage somebody else because they have a resource that you want. There needs
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to be a just cause for the war. There need to be just fighting tactics in the war, and there has
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to be a quarter provided for those who would seek to surrender. There actually are, one of the
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seven different factors of just war theory coming from St. Augustine and other guys who have
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refined it over the centuries, is that there has to first be thorough diplomatic efforts
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that have been employed. That fighting, physical warfare, is not the first effort. It's not your
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first resort. There's been diplomatic efforts made. Now that said, hear me,
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that doesn't mean that God has changed. Behold, I am the Lord. I change it not so that you,
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the sons of Jacob are not consumed. I am the same yesterday, today, and forever more. God is not a
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man that he should change his mind. God doesn't change. So God does still wipe out entire nations,
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including women and children. The difference is that he doesn't use another nation and their
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militia in order to do it while justifying that nation. God does this providentially. So nations
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that are seeking to honor the Lord today, Joshua and Israel honored the Lord when they put women
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and children to the sword. It's not only that God's commandment, it was an express, explicit
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commandment from the Lord to put everyone to death. And that commandment from the Lord,
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it didn't just absolve Joshua and Israel from guilt, but actually it's more than just that.
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It didn't only absolve them from moral guilt, but it also sanctified what they were doing as a
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pleasing service to the Lord. So not only were they not doing bad, they were doing good in the
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sight of God. Not only being absolved from moral guilt, but sanctifying their warfare as a service
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that was pleasing to the Lord. That's not going on anymore today. However, God has not changed.
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God does still decimate nations, and at times, God does wipe out entire nations, entire populations,
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including women and children, but he does not do it through another nation's militia in such a way
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that that nation would be justified and morally right. God does it providentially. He might do it
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through war, but then in terms of wiping out not just the fighting men in war, but wiping out an
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entire nation's population, he would do it through other providential means. He would do it through
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famine. He would do it through plague, right? Or he might use another nation that does put everyone
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to death, not just the fighting men, but an entire population, but that nation wouldn't be just. God
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would providentially be using that nation. That nation would bear its own guilt. They wouldn't
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be righteous, but God would maintain his righteousness in his sovereignty using this
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nation and its own sin, its own sinful warlike practices, God would still absolve his own
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righteousness in doing what is good and what is just, but this nation would not be absolved of
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moral guilt. They would actually be going too far. They would be doing something in the sight of God
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that would be wicked. And later on, God would probably use another nation or some other
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providential means such as famine or drought or plague to judge this nation. And that's what you
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see in the Old Testament again and again and again, is that God will use, he'll raise up one
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nation, often in order as a judgment to Israel for their hardened hearts, for the rebellion against
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God. He'll raise up one nation. He'll use that nation as his rod in his sovereignty to discipline
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Israel. And then later on, the very nation that he used, that he raised up, and underneath his
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sovereignty, he caused them to come against Israel. He'll then use Israel going back, or another
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nation to judge this nation that he used to discipline Israel. Meaning that God is
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sovereignly working in such a way that he is not the author of evil. He is not the origin of
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anything that is sinful. God is righteous. Let God be true and every man a liar is what the
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scripture says. So God is working in such a way that all his ways are holy and he may use one
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group of people to do one thing, and his purposes in doing that are holy and good and just, but the
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nation that he uses, their purposes, their intent, their moral fabric is wicked and wrong. And so he
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uses them to bring judgment to these people over here, and then he uses someone else to bring
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judgment to these people that he just used to bring judgment to the prior. I know it's a little
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bit complicated. But that's the point of what we see going on. Again, it's twofold. And the reason
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why I'm laboring this is because I don't want our church to unhitch from the Old Testament. That's
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why. People read the Old Testament and they render it impotent. They say, this is not who God is
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anymore. God has changed. God doesn't do this. We're not Israel. And that's true. We are Israel
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if we're speaking of the church. We're not Israel if we're speaking of America, right? This is Old
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Covenant. Now we're under grace, New Testament. And what you effectively do is you basically just
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make the entirety of the Old Testament a bunch of fables and myths and stories for kids. And that's
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not how we study the scripture. That's not what the Bible is. This is the infallible word of God.
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So yes, there is not a nation state like Israel was, not today, but under the Old Covenant that
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God has promised to bring into a particular geographic region and give them that land as
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an inheritance. It's true that that is over. No more of that. But that is not the only thing
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occurring in the book of Joshua. So what I want to be on the forefront of your minds as we work
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through multiple texts today is this. There are two things, not one, but two things happening
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throughout the entirety of the book of Joshua. One, God is fulfilling his good promises to Israel.
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Two, God is fulfilling his just judgments to non-Israel.
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And that second part, that is just as alive and well today as it was 3,000 years ago.
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God still raises up nations and decimates nations.
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The nation whose God is Yahweh will be blessed.
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That's not a verse in the Bible that is just particular to Israel under the Old Covenant.
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Any nation that would fear the Lord, any nation who declares his God is Yahweh,
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Any nation that turns its back on God, God will ultimately judge that nation.
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Now, God is slow in his judgments because he is long-suffering.
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He is slow to anger. The character and nature of God includes incredible patience. But this is not
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because God is lax. This is not because God has lowered the bar. This is only because God is kind
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and because God is long-suffering. But nations today will be exalted when they fear the Lord
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and they will be eventually, it may take decades, it may take centuries, but eventually they will
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be decimated if they rebel against the Lord. And so now there's some verses that I want us to look
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at. This is Jeremiah. Now notice the reason I'm using this is because I want us to see that
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Jeremiah chapter 18 verses 6 through 11 is not speaking exclusively of one nation under the old
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covenant, namely Israel, but rather it's giving a pattern, a framework, a grid that applies to
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any nation, not just Israel under the old covenant, but any nation, and not just before Christ, but
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even after Christ in this New Testament age as well. Jeremiah chapter 18, verse 6 through 11,
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it says this, behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.
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He's speaking to Israel in that instance, but now verse 7, if at any time I declare concerning a
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nation or a kingdom, anytime, not just in the Old Testament, before the coming of Christ, anytime,
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any nation or kingdom. If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will
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pluck up and break down and destroy it. And if that nation concerning which I have spoken turns
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from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I
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declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in
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my sight, not listening to my voice, and we'll come back to that, not listening to my voice,
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then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. Now, therefore, say to the men of
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Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, thus says the Lord, behold, I am shaping disaster against
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you and devising a plan against you. Return everyone from his, return everyone from his evil
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way and amend your ways and deeds. God is speaking in this instance through the prophet Jeremiah to
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Israel saying, I'm about to send disaster because of your wicked ways, because of your moral rebellion
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against me. However, before you just decide that this is your fate and there's no way out of it,
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let me give you a little lesson about my character as God. This is the kind of God that I am.
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There are nations that I intend to do good to, but if they rebel, they'll receive my judgment
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instead. However, there are also nations because of their rebellion and their wickedness, I am
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sending disaster. And yet while disaster is still on the way before it finally arrives, if that
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nation chooses to turn from their wickedness and repent and call upon my name, I will relent
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in the evil that I intended to do to that nation and the judgment that I intended to place upon
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that nation. That's not just Israel, right? He's speaking, God is speaking through Jeremiah to
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Israel, but the example given in Jeremiah's word or God's word to Jeremiah to Israel is to say,
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This is the kind of God that I am. This is the character that I possess, not just in regards to
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you, O Israel, but this is the way that I work with and treat all nations, all nations. And this
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is precisely what God did in at least the case of, we might think of Nineveh. Nineveh was one of five
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capital cities, one of five capital cities that was under God's judgment, or they were about to
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be judged because of their wicked ways, particularly the sin of violence. When the king of Nineveh
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chooses to repent, he says that every man should turn, every man, woman, and child turn from their
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wicked ways, especially, and he names specifically, the violence in their hands. Nineveh was a violent
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people, and they were doing violent atrocities to Israel, especially starting their pre-invasion
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attacks into the northern tribes of the northern kingdom of Israel, which is precisely where Jonah
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actually lived. It's likely that Jonah had seen some of these pre-invasion attacks. He probably
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had friends, maybe even family members that had brutal things done to them or maybe taken captured
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or maybe put to death by the Ninevites and their tribe. And so Jonah, he was hesitant, not just
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hesitant, but he refused to go to Nineveh. And we always think of that story. We always think of it
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in terms of Jonah didn't want to go to Nineveh because he was afraid Nineveh would not listen
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to his message of repentance. Jonah wasn't afraid to refuse Jonah's message of repentance. They
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would put Jonah to death and kill him. That's not what the Bible says. Jonah wasn't afraid that
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Nineveh would not listen to the message and harden their hearts in their wicked rebellion and then
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put Jonah to death. He was afraid that if he went to Nineveh, they would, in fact, listen to the
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message of repentance, that they would repent. And then Jonah knew that God happens in his character
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to be a sucker for repentance and that God would spare Nineveh, who he did not want spared. Jonah
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did not want spared because Nineveh was doing atrocious things to Jonah's people, his kinsmen,
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according to the flesh. Jonah wanted Nineveh to be destroyed. And he was afraid that if he was
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sent by God to preach repentance, not that they wouldn't listen and they would turn on Jonah and
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kill him. No, that they would listen and that God would turn from the disaster he intended to send
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to Nineveh, and he would not destroy and kill Nineveh. And Jonah says exactly this. He says,
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is this not what I said to you when I was in Tarshish? I knew that you were a gracious God,
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slow to anger, and relenting and sending disaster. So Jonah tells us why he was hesitant, why he
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refused to go to Nineveh. He doesn't say, is this not why I went to Tarshish, made haste to go to
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Tarshish, is this not what I told you? I didn't want to go to Nineveh because I was afraid. They're
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so wicked. I knew they wouldn't listen to my preaching and they would turn on the preacher
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and put me to death. That's not what he says. He says, I knew what I was actually afraid of
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is that I knew that if you were choosing to send me as a prophet, it was maybe because
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maybe you were sending me as a prophet because you actually intended to produce and grant the
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gift of repentance to the people i was prophesying to and i knew god i know your character these
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people have been doing terrible things for centuries but i know that your character you
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are such a gracious and kind and merciful god that if they repent even after centuries of evil
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you would relent from sending disaster and you would spare my enemies who i don't want to be
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spared. Jonah knew if you're sending a prophet to another nation, there's a high likelihood that
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that in the mind of God, your purpose, your end goal, your aim, God, and sending a prophet to
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another nation is that that other nation will listen to the prophet and repent, and you'll
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relent in sending disaster. Jonah knows this. Jonah also knows if God intends to send a prophet to
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Israel, it's probably that the prophet will be stoned and put to death. Just statistically,
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when God sends a prophet to Israel, they kill them. When God sends a prophet to some other
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nation outside of Israel, there's a likelihood that they might repent. A much higher statistical
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likelihood that they might repent. And the capital P prophet of prophets, Jesus Christ,
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the son of God himself, even says this. And Isaiah prophesies that he came to his own,
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but they knew him not and they were even worried the disciples and followers of jesus don't go
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over here because you'll be put to death he said no don't worry prophet can't be put to death over
00:26:09.500
here it's always in jerusalem can any prophet die outside of jerusalem don't worry i will die i will
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be put to death right they build the tombs to the prophets that their fathers killed and they'll
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kill me just like they killed them but but they have a system here in israel they kill prophets
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in the capital city of Jerusalem. So I'm good for now.
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But Jonah knows that Nineveh is not Israel. Nineveh is one of these other non-Israelite nations
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that might actually repent, and they do. But here's the point. The point is Nineveh is not
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Israel, and God relents in sending disaster because Nineveh turns. What I'm saying is that
00:26:50.080
there is a pattern here, and Jeremiah would be an example of this. Jeremiah chapter 18,
00:26:55.000
verses 6 through 11, there is a pattern that God has set in place, not just for one nation under
00:27:01.520
the old covenant, which was unique. There's no disputing that. Israel under the old covenant,
00:27:07.020
leading up to Christ, and particularly AD 70, and the ending, the rolling up of that garment,
00:27:12.460
the completion of the old covenant, Israel under the old covenant was absolutely unique. There's
00:27:17.960
no disputing that. But what we do, I think, as New Testament Christians, now 2,000 years removed
00:27:24.380
from the ministry of Christ, is that we pretend as though Israel is a unique nation, not just then,
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but still today, aka Zionism, which is wrong. And not only that, not only do we still pretend that
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Israel is unique today, we pretend as though God has no plan and no promises and no judgments for
00:27:45.260
any nation outside of Israel. And that is bad theology. Before Christ, under the old covenant,
00:27:54.160
God raised up nations and he brought them low. Not just Israel, other nations. After the coming
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of Christ, in our day, in this gospel age, over the last 2,000 years, God has raised up nations
00:28:20.260
And we see it plainly on the pages of scripture.
00:28:26.740
There's one phrase, and I bolded it for you in your notes.
00:28:32.560
Let's back up, beginning of verse 10 or verse nine.
00:28:35.400
And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or kingdom, that's any nation or kingdom,
00:28:41.200
not just Israel, and at any time before the cross, after the cross, that I will build
00:28:46.200
and plant it, if I determine to do something good to raise up a nation, and if it does
00:28:55.300
Not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I intended to do to it.
00:29:01.980
and instead the implication is sin disaster so it works both ways there may be a nation that's
00:29:08.280
been rebelling against God for centuries like Nineveh and God intends therefore because of
00:29:14.360
its rebellion to send disaster as a just judgment but if they repent if they stop doing what is evil
00:29:21.300
in his sight and start doing that which is good and right then God will relent in sending disaster
00:29:29.280
that God determined to bless and to build and to raise up,
00:29:32.620
but they start doing evil to where not disaster on the way,
00:29:51.720
And this still continues to this day after the cross.
00:29:55.740
Now, one of the phrases in Jeremiah 18, 6 through 11, is if they do what is evil in my sight,
00:30:02.680
which is equivalent to another way of saying is not listening to my voice. Okay. How does God
00:30:08.620
make his voice heard? Is now the implicit question begged from this text. How is God's voice heard
00:30:15.400
by the nations? And what, particularly what message, what words, speech is coming from God's
00:30:23.280
voice. So how do the nations hear the voice of God? And what is this voice of God saying to the
00:30:29.160
nations? I'm going to give you multiple texts for this. This is Psalm chapter 19, verses 1 through
00:30:34.240
4. It says this, the heavens declare, that is the heavens talk. It's a voice. It's speech. The
00:30:42.200
heavens declare the glory of God. The sky proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech. Uses
00:30:51.540
the actual word, speech, day-to-day pours out speech, night-to-night reveals knowledge. There
00:30:58.640
is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. So there is speech coming from what?
00:31:06.380
It's God, ultimately, but what is the providential means that God's voice is being spoken through?
00:31:12.900
Well, the heavens, the sky, day-to-day, night-to-night, and this speech that is coming from
00:31:20.000
God through what he has made, his handiwork. So creation is the instrument, the megaphone that
00:31:26.660
God is speaking through. So God's voice is coming through loud and clear by what he has made. This
00:31:33.060
is natural revelation through creation itself. And this speech and these words are heard or
00:31:40.060
said the other way, as verse three says, there is no speech from the creation, the skies. There are
00:31:46.160
no words in what God has made, his handiwork, whose voice is not heard. So one, God is speaking
00:31:53.080
through creation. Two, it's not just that God is speaking, every single person hears. It's not just
00:32:01.080
that God is speaking into the void, but people might still be able to find some kind of excuse
00:32:06.880
and absolve themselves of their refusal to listen because God was speaking, but he was speaking over
00:32:12.380
here in the void. He was speaking, you know, in a trench deep down in the ocean, but nobody was
00:32:16.960
there to hear. God was speaking, but God failed in his responsibility to make sure that man
00:32:24.880
actually received and heard God's speech. Well, this passage obliterates that possibility of an
00:32:32.260
interpretation. It says that his voice, not only does it come forth, not only does creation pour
00:32:39.480
out speech. So the implication here is creation is speaking. God's speaking to creation and not
00:32:45.580
just a little bit, but it's pouring forth speech. So God is speaking a lot. Speech is pouring forth
00:32:52.060
and not only is God speaking and speaking a lot, but his voice is being heard. It's being heard.
00:32:59.260
Now verse 4 says, their voice, there being different elements of creation that have just
00:33:04.520
been listed like the heavens and the skies and the day and the night, their voice, which is the
00:33:10.220
voice of God, but them being the means, their voice goes out through all the earth and their
00:33:15.520
words to the end of the world. So that's one more element that we need to bake into the equation.
00:33:22.460
One, God is speaking. What venue? How? Through creation. Is God speaking a little? No, pours
00:33:30.360
forth speech. So God is speaking a lot. How is he speaking? Through creation. Is man listening? Yes.
00:33:37.800
There is no speech. There are no words of God that come through creation that are not heard. So
00:33:43.600
they're heard. And who hears them? Well, it goes on, verse four, it says, their voice goes out
00:33:49.660
through all the earth. God's not just speaking to one little corner of the world. He's not just
00:33:55.560
speaking in Mesopotamia. He's not just speaking to one nation. All the earth, their voice goes out
00:34:00.800
through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. So God is speaking. He's speaking a
00:34:07.560
lot. He's speaking through creation. Man hears God's voice and not just one man in one place
00:34:14.680
in one time, but all men in all places in all times. So that all are without an excuse. Now
00:34:22.460
taking that and cross-referencing back to Jeremiah chapter 18, verse 6 through 11, one of the things,
00:34:29.020
one of the chief things that God destroys nations for is their wicked deeds in his sight, which is
00:34:36.900
equivalent to not listening to his voice. God's voice rings forth to the nations, every corner
00:34:45.860
of the world. His voice is loud. His voice is clear. His voice comes forth. His words, his speech
00:34:53.640
in abundance. It comes forth to all the corners of the earth. Not one person misses the message.
00:35:01.180
Everyone hears his voice. And those who do not listen to his voice, not just on an individual
00:35:07.100
personal basis, but corporately as groups of people, as nations, if a nation chooses to harden
00:35:13.460
their heart and not listen to the clear, abundant voice of God, which has gone forth and they have
00:35:19.520
heard, but they choose to reject the message, then Jeremiah 18 is talking to them. It's not
00:35:27.260
just talking to Israel 25 to 3,500 years ago. It's talking to them. It's talking to New Zealand.
00:35:35.440
It's talking to Canada. It's talking to England and France and these states of the United States
00:35:43.040
of America. It's talking to us. God is speaking. And if we do not listen, if we reject the message,
00:35:51.400
God will send disaster. Likewise, any nation whose God is Yahweh will be exalted. So there
00:36:00.260
is blessing for nations today that submit to the Lord, that hear his voice. And there are curses
00:36:08.060
for nations today. It's not a one-to-one ratio. It's not in the same covenantal framework as
00:36:13.820
Israel under the old covenant. I feel like I've labored that point a million times. I'm just being
00:36:18.980
abundantly clear that is not happening today. It's not a one-to-one ratio as it was with Israel
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under the old covenant. But to pretend as though God is not intimately involved in the affairs of
00:36:33.300
nations today is to miss so much of the Bible. I don't even know where to begin. That is to
00:36:41.900
unhitch from the Old Testament. Nations that have Yahweh as their God. Now, even that, what does
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00:36:48.100
that mean? What it means is at a national level to explicitly and specifically name the triune God
00:37:02.440
And does that mean, I'll just get real specific here.
00:37:04.640
Does that mean that we need to get rid of the Constitution?
00:37:10.060
But at the end of the day, I don't worship the Constitution.
00:37:16.960
I don't think, because the Constitution, I think, works from the Scripture,
00:37:20.280
I don't think any of it would actually have to be changed.
00:37:22.520
I do personally think that there are a few of the amendments,
00:37:26.240
not the first 10 but a few of the amendments post the first 10 that might need to be cross off
00:37:34.180
but in terms of the constitution as it stands today including the first amendment
00:37:39.740
even that what i would argue is not for a revision but to get back to authorial intent
00:37:44.420
what does it mean for there to be a freedom of religion or what do the founders intend by that
00:37:51.280
a principle pluralism, which is just a euphemism for polytheism, the worship of a pantheon of
00:37:59.100
gods and many false, that's not what they meant. No, they meant that there should be peace between
00:38:04.780
different denominations of our common Lord. What they meant in freedom of religion is that there
00:38:11.320
would not be a national, at the federal level, a national church, that you would not have the
00:38:17.120
National Baptist Church so that a little Presbyterian church in Kansas all of a sudden
00:38:22.340
is getting sanctions and fines. But America absolutely was founded as a nation that feared
00:38:29.740
the triune God. There's no disputing that. And the First Amendment was meant to say,
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hey, we're not going to be like England, the very place that we're fleeing from,
00:38:38.360
and persecuting our fellow brothers because they disagree on secondary doctrinal matters.
00:38:56.760
So I don't think that the constitution should change,
00:38:58.640
but like Zambia, I think, and I pray that one day,
00:39:04.340
but the lifetime of my children or my grandchildren,
00:39:09.440
a distinctly Christian preamble to the constitution.
00:39:13.700
that says we are a nation that worships and submits to the triune God, to Jesus Christ.
00:39:23.220
And I would want Jesus Christ named, not just God. In God we trust, one nation under God. No,
00:39:30.560
no, no. The Christian God, the triune God. So adopting a explicitly Christian preamble to
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00:39:37.400
the constitution, I think would be a very wonderful thing. Not having a nationwide federal church,
00:39:44.200
that would be a bad thing, but saying we are a Christian nation. That's our founding. And I
00:39:49.780
believe that's where we need to get back to. Now, all that being said, with our founding,
00:39:55.020
we have received immense blessings over the last 250 to 350 years. If we go all the way back to
00:40:02.280
pilgrims and covenanters and original founders before we were ratified as a republic. So all
00:40:09.840
that being said, for about three centuries now, we have received immense blessings from the Lord,
00:40:15.380
and it's not arbitrary. It's not random. It is because of worship of the triune God. It is
00:40:23.620
because as a nation, we have sought to do that which is right in his sight. We are no longer
00:40:29.360
are doing there. We are currently in the process of apostasy, and the point is this. God will not
00:40:35.160
be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. That principle is true in every time and every place. A man will
00:40:42.600
reap what he sows. God will not be mocked. And if that principle is true for an individual man, it is
00:40:47.460
also true for a collection or group of men, women, and children. God will not be mocked. If we sow
00:40:54.320
what is good, we will reap blessing. If we sow what is evil, we will reap judgment. Now, there are a few
00:41:02.180
particular sins that I want to name that the Bible says explicitly will bring about judgment.
00:41:11.380
So now let's look a little bit more real quick, a little bit more about God's voice being heard.
00:41:16.120
So we looked at Psalm 19, one through four, God's voice. How's it heard? How's God speaking through
00:41:20.520
creation. Okay? Now let's look at Job. Job would be another example. Verse, chapter 12, verses 7
00:41:28.640
through 10. Because one of the things that we need to get into here is not just, is God speaking?
00:41:33.680
How is he speaking? Is man hearing? Are all men hearing? But we also need to get into what? The
00:41:39.700
contents of God speaking. What is the message that God's speaking? And this gets into it with natural
00:41:45.140
revelation. This is Job chapter 12, verses 7 through 10 says, but ask the beast, and they will
00:41:54.200
teach you, right? This is just a classic burn in the book of Job, where all of a sudden it's being
00:42:01.080
said, look, dumb beast, and I mean dumb in the sense of the Narnian sense, right? They're
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unable to speak. They're, you know, they're just beasts of the field. The burn that's happening
00:42:12.500
right now in the book of Job is it's being said, animals, dumb animals have better theology than
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00:42:18.140
you do. Birds and fish have better theology than you do. And this is one of these classic burns
1.00
00:42:25.780
that proves true, it seems like, in every generation. You know, you could say this to
00:42:30.840
the average evangelical today, and it would ring just as true as it is in the book of Job. Hey,
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that longhorn cow over there has better doctrine than you do. Yeah, probably. Okay, here we go.
00:42:41.880
but ask the beast and they will teach you the birds of the heavens and they will tell you. So
00:42:47.160
speech again, they'll teach, they'll tell, or the bushes of the earth and they will teach you or the
00:42:53.620
fish of the sea and they will declare, that speech declared to you, who among all these, speaking
00:43:00.000
about creation, does not know what? Here's the message. So we've talked about God speaking. He's
00:43:06.400
speaking through creation. Okay, what is he speaking? That the hand of the Lord has done this.
00:43:13.260
Now, this is Job's defense, right? He's suffering immensely, and everybody, all of his friends,
00:43:18.660
these are, you know, his miserable friends, miserable company, they're saying, Job, we were
00:43:23.560
quiet for the first seven days, which even that would be an improvement by today's standards,
00:43:28.100
right? Could you imagine that your friends actually come, and before they give you their
00:43:33.400
two cents and tell you, you know, that you're wrong or this, they just sit with you for seven
00:43:37.580
days. That would be amazing. Okay. So, you know, there's already an improvement, you know, in the
00:43:42.700
times of Job from what we have today, but when they do finally open their mouth, well, just like
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the Proverbs say, even a fool is thought wise if he keeps his mouth shut. But when Job's friends
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finally do open their mouths, they prove to be dumber than the beast. So Job is saying, this is
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00:43:57.980
his counter. He's saying, you guys are saying that I'm suffering. All these terrible things have
00:44:01.940
happened to me because I'm in sin. But even the beast have better theology than you. They know,
00:44:07.920
what do they know? What are the beasts saying? What is God saying through his handiwork, his
00:44:12.040
creation, fish and beast and birds? One of the things that he's saying is that God is sovereign.
00:44:18.220
That's what the beasts know that Job's miserable friends don't know. What the beasts know and what
00:44:23.900
they speak, what they say, is that God is the cause and the source of all things. That he alone
00:44:46.360
And it's a little bit broad, but it really is simple.
00:44:50.080
Okay, so God brings nations up and brings them down
00:45:00.280
God will bring them down, bring them low, destroy them, and in doing wicked things, what's mentioned
00:45:05.680
in Jeremiah 18 is one of the wicked things, or what causes them to do wicked things, is not
00:45:10.420
listening to God's voice, okay? Well, what if they never had God's voice? What if this nation doesn't
00:45:14.700
have the Bible? It doesn't matter. God's voice comes through the Bible, but it also comes through
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00:45:18.820
what he has made. Through natural revelation, skies are preaching, pouring forth speech,
00:45:24.500
beast, birds, fish, all these things that God has made so that all men are without an excuse,
00:45:30.700
which we'll land on that. That's Romans 1, 18 through 20. And what is God? So that's how God
00:45:36.240
is speaking. Who is he speaking to? Everyone. How is he speaking? By what he has made. What is he
00:45:41.360
speaking? According to Job chapter 12, verse 7 through 10, one of the things that he's speaking
00:45:46.400
is that he exists and that he's the source of life and that he holds every living creature
00:46:19.820
lastly if it wasn't already clear enough just for those of you who just feel like yeah but
00:46:26.260
it's old testament i really love the idea of unhitching unhitching well let me give you a
00:46:31.940
new testament verse that you really don't need because the doctrine has already been firmly
00:46:35.900
established at this point but we'll go ahead put the final nail in the coffin this is romans
00:46:39.740
chapter 1 verse 18 through 20 for the wrath of god is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
00:46:46.800
who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
00:47:06.500
The voice of God through natural revelation and creation
00:47:15.740
Through natural revelation, through birds and fish and beasts and skies and day to day and night to night,
00:47:22.080
God is not, through natural revelation, merely communicating to man that it's wrong to murder.
00:47:28.160
And that he should honor his father and mother.
00:47:42.700
God is not merely communicating through natural revelation to nations everywhere in the world
00:47:48.320
that it's wrong to breach the second table of the law. That's not what the Bible teaches.
00:47:54.200
What the Bible instead teaches is that through natural revelation, one of the prominent
00:47:58.560
tenets of the contents of God's message is not about the second table of the law, but the first.
00:48:04.600
one of the things that God's communicating is himself not just horizontal um moral rules for
00:48:13.500
our interaction with our fellow man but God is actually speaking about not just morality and
00:48:18.220
how we treat fellow people but he's talking about himself it speaks to himself his sovereignty his
00:48:24.940
power his existence and Romans 1 makes this plain I believe Job's 12 already suffices but Romans 1
00:48:32.520
makes it abundantly plain. So for what can be known about how we treat our neighbor, how to love our
00:48:39.120
neighbor, the second table of the law, what can be known about God? God is plain to them because God
00:48:45.700
has shown it to them for his, not just his laws and how we treat our fellow man, but his invisible
00:48:52.920
attributes, his own character, things about himself, namely his eternal power and divine nature
00:49:00.280
have been, not just his voice pouring forth, speech pouring forth, not just has the message
00:49:05.380
been sent out, but it's been clearly perceived. So God spoke, every man heard, and what was the
00:49:13.340
message about? How to love your neighbor, uh-huh, but also how to love the Lord your God. That God
00:49:20.120
exists, God is sovereign, God is holy, and you, O man, need to bow the knee. Kiss the son, lest he be
00:49:29.540
angry and his wrath quickly kindled. Pay homage to King Jesus. That is a message that everyone knows.
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00:49:39.160
Whether they've had one verse of the Bible delivered to them or not, every single person
00:49:45.280
knows there is a God in heaven. He made all things. He is sovereign. He is holy, and he is worthy of
00:49:52.580
our worship. And that's precisely why Romans 1 goes on to say that those who refuse these things,
00:50:00.820
that God has said his eternal power, his divine nature has clearly been perceived
00:50:04.740
ever since the creation of the world and still to this day, 2,000 years after the cross.
00:50:09.720
And how is it perceived? What's the vehicle in the things that have been made? That's nature
00:50:13.740
itself, creation, natural revelation. So what? So that all people are without an excuse. Maybe
00:50:19.480
you've heard before someone who's who's asked this question and you know and it's these questions
00:50:24.040
are funny because you always think man oh that's a good one yeah that's really thoughtful uh it's
00:50:29.220
not right people people say well what happens to somebody on you know a deserted island and they
00:50:35.420
never had a missionary they've never had a page of scripture they've never heard the name of jesus
00:50:39.800
christ and somebody on a deserted island you know they they live their whole life and then they die
00:50:45.900
Is God going to send them to hell for not believing in a God that they've never heard?
00:50:51.700
This innocent, you know, tribal person, you know, that question can't even begin to be answered
00:50:59.540
because it is so fundamentally flawed in its premise, premises, multiple.
00:51:05.500
And one of the flaws is, it presupposes an innocent man.
00:51:14.280
Two, it also presupposes that God doesn't speak in any way outside of special revelation,
00:51:23.300
That there's no such thing as natural revelation,
00:51:25.840
God speaking outside of scripture by what he has made,
00:51:28.820
which scripture tells us he does do that time and time again.
00:51:33.240
Now, if we were to be honest about the question,
00:51:36.260
and this is just the reality, we have to understand this,
00:51:40.840
You've heard me preach this several times, I'll say it again.
00:51:42.620
we are suicidal we are suicidal right now because we've been lied to in our education system and
00:51:49.940
we're lied to we lie to ourselves so we have to remember actual human history that innocent man
00:51:56.420
was some unreached you know a tribe of people that's never heard the gospel um they're not
00:52:03.160
going around saying who are you god we'd love to worship you and i'm being kind to my wife
00:52:07.200
No, no, that undiscovered people tribe, whenever they do get discovered over the past centuries and centuries and centuries and centuries and centuries, every time we do find that people, you know what they're doing?
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00:52:30.540
so we think there's these innocent wonderful moral people that just don't have a bible but
00:52:36.460
they love to worship jesus if only they knew and then the big bad you know crusades of the christians
00:52:42.140
come in you know the knights of the red cross and oppress everybody and make them miserable yeah i'm
0.83
00:52:47.460
sorry i'm sorry i'm sorry that the brits went into india and said you can't keep burying your wife
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00:52:53.500
alive with your husband after he dies i know that's oppressive
00:52:57.580
westerners have not been perfect of course there are stains on our history
00:53:05.220
but to pretend as though paganism has somehow been historically proven to be more moral than
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00:53:11.240
christianity is a joke we all know it's a joke and we should say it's a joke
00:53:18.780
it's not true christianity i'll take christianity and christianity on its worst day
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00:53:26.860
the worst day with Constantine is better than the best day of secularism.
00:53:34.180
The amount of babies that are murdered in their mother's womb
00:53:40.960
is far more heinous than anything that Constantine ever mustered up.
00:53:49.260
So all that being said, the point is this, everyone's hurt.
00:53:53.800
And that tribe living on an island that's never been discovered,
00:53:56.620
that's never had a page of scripture, they've heard.
00:54:01.900
Not just that, he spoke things concerning himself.
00:54:09.880
He is in charge of everything flows from his hand.
00:54:13.640
and that every knee must bow in worship of him.
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And the problem with that tribesman is that he doesn't,
00:54:25.040
weave together this victim narrative he doesn't know poor guy and that's why he's rebelling
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because he's ignorant it's ignorance that first comes first and then out of ignorance
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bursts rebellion that's exactly the opposite of what romans 1 teaches romans 1 teaches that man
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actually is not ignorant because god has spoken by what he has made and that every man has not
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just as the message gone forth but it's been perceived so the message has been received the
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problem is not man's ignorance the problem is that man in his rebellion he lies to himself and he
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takes the truth of god that he actually has and he pushes it down and tries to suppress it in deeds
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of unrighteousness so so the pattern is very simple it's not some people are ignorant because
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they've never got the bible and because they're ignorant they can't help but rebel nope it's old
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people are rebellious and because they're rebellious even when they do hear the truth of god's work
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which everyone has heard in natural revelation at minimum that the problem is that they're
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rebellious. And so they choose to be ignorant. They take every ounce of information that God
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speaks to them and they throw it down and suppress it and bury it under the dirt,
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trying to make it go away. That's the message of scripture. So God has speech. It's not just
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in the Bible through the prophets in the law. This is special revelation. This is supreme,
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but God speaks by what he has made and he's spoken to all people in all times in all places it's just
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as true today as it ever was he speaks through what vehicle natural revelation and what does
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he speak what's the contents of his message not just the second table of the law God is not just
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speaking through waves and fish that it's bad to murder your neighbor he's also speaking through
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waves and fish and birds and sky that he exists that he's holy that he's sovereign and that he's
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worthy of your worship. And any nation that does not hear his voice, Jeremiah 18, he decimates.
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And any nation that does hear his voice, which speaks to the first table of the law,
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love the Lord your God, not just the second table, love your neighbor as yourself. Any nation that
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does hear his voice will be not just some ethereal, mystical, pluralistic polytheism that is gods and
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God, you know, we want to love God and we're spiritual people. No, no, no. The triune God,
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Jesus Christ as God, any nation that hears his voice and that acknowledges him and submits to
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him explicitly as a nation in its laws and his policies and the way that it, that it organizes
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itself as a body politic, that nation will be blessed. And any nation that relents in doing
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that which is right, God will send disaster. Now we're ready for two sins in particular,
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that God sends disaster through a particular means, namely the land itself. Leviticus 18,
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21 through 26, it says, you shall not give any of your children to offer them to Molech,
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and so profane the name of your God, I am the Lord. You shall not lie with a male as with a woman,
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Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things,
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all the way back to our original text in Joshua,
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Why do we have in the Bible an example of genocide?
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One, God is fulfilling his good promises to Israel
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God is also committed to fulfilling his just judgments
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We see that in Genesis chapter 15, verse 13 through 16.
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for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.
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But that's after, not just fourth generation,
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if you back up just a few verses, 400 years of the Israelites being held in captivity in Egypt.
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So God is saying to Abraham, look, you're in this land. You're sojourning in this land,
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not a land that you're waiting to be beamed up out of with a rapture. No, you're sojourning in
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a land that you are actually waiting to conquer. It's your land, but you're not going to conquer
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it anytime soon. You're going to die at a ripe old age. But what's going to happen is that your
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descendants will ultimately be enslaved in Egypt for 400 years. And it won't be until later after
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the fourth generation that they will come in and they'll drive out the wicked inhabitants of the
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land. And why will it be so long? For the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.
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Why? Because they're not that bad? No, they're terrible. It's not to make light of the wickedness
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of the Amorites. It's to make heavy, to make much of the grace and mercy and patience of God.
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So God waited for centuries to finally bring about his just judgment on the Canaanite tribes.
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One, doing good to Israel, which God promised to Abraham.
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Two, doing justice and judgment to the Canaanites, which God also promised to Abraham.
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And yes, once more, there is no equivalent to the nation state of Israel under the old covenant.
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But God, even then at that time, and still certainly to this day, God does bring nations up
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and bring nations low, depending on whether or not they hear his voice and obey it. And what does
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his voice say? Not just things concerning the second table of the law, how we should love our
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neighbor, but things about himself, that he exists, that he's sovereign, that he's holy, and that we
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should worship him, and that we should not be idolaters. And what are some specific things that
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God will spew people out of the land for? One is idolatry, but two others is homosexuality and
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abortion. You shall not offer your children to Molech, that's verse 21 of Leviticus 18, and you
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shall not lie with a male as with a woman, that's verse 22 of Leviticus 18. For these things, by
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these, the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean. Lastly, verse 25, and the land
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became unclean so that I punished its iniquity and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you
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shall keep my statutes and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the native or the
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stranger who sojourns among you. That'll preach. That applies even to this day. Hey, well, I'm not
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a christian we're a sojourner we're coming from another nation right we're seeking dual citizenship
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or maybe we have a green card or something like that i you know your god is not my god then leave
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ruth was a moabite she got to join israel under a precondition your god shall be my god and your
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people shall be my people the sojourner you cannot mandate hear me you can't man cannot
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command through civil politics. He cannot legislate matters of the heart. He cannot command
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someone to worship the triune God and it be so. Only Jesus is Lord of the heart. Only Jesus can
01:02:25.780
change the heart. But you can, as a nation, say, our God is Yahweh. And from the heart, you may
01:02:32.700
not worship him. That's up to him and whether or not he chooses to sovereignly save you. But the
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policies and the laws in this nation will abide by the scripture that which is according to the
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triune god it is not oppressive for our nation which we have had on the books in the past to
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have sabbath laws to say hey you're not a christian fine but on the lord's day on the lord's day we
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can't say that you have to go to church but we can say that you're not going to have the marketplace
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open because it's a day of rest and our God is the triune God. This is how the West has behaved
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in the past, whether it's England, whether it's America, we've seen this multiple times again and
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again and again. And during these seasons, there has been immense blessing and prosperity.
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It was not oppressive. It was not a wrongful binding of the conscience. Man can and should,
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the civil magistrate should demand a day of rest. Only Jesus can change the heart and make it a day
01:03:33.520
of worship. So only Jesus can make it a day of worship, but man can and should demand a day of
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rest. But you shall keep my statues and my rules and do none of these abominations, either the
01:03:46.180
native or the stranger who sojourns among you. If you're going to be in the land, then you need to
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do that which accords with God's word. And if you don't, notice, it's not just that another nation
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will be used by God and its military force to take you out. Specifically, verse 25, what's
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mentioned is that the land will be defiled. That when a people are rebelling against the triune
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God, the very land itself, in a literal sense, spiritual, but also a physical sense, the land
01:04:16.860
becomes unclean. So that I punished its iniquity, the land vomited out its own inhabitants. The
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land, in a nutshell, the land is on God's side. If you're wondering, is the land for me or for God?
01:04:34.160
Right? If we rebel against God, whose side will the trees be on? Where will the mountains
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allegiance lie? God's. And I know it sounds overly spiritual, but it is a true biblical principle.
01:04:45.080
When people turn against God, the very land in which they live begins to turn against them.
01:04:50.440
There are droughts, there are famines, there is pestilence, there is plague, there is disease,
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all these different things. God will not be mocked. A man reaps what he sows, and the land,
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the creation, the very instrument through whom he speaks, the first point that I labored,
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will also be one of his instruments that he executes his judgment. The land, the created
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cosmos, God speaks through creation, and God will use creation to turn on his enemies if they turn
01:05:16.500
against him. The last thing from our text, Joshua chapter 10, that we should know is this.
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there is a typological element as well. This is Matthew Henry. He says,
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hereby was typified the final and eternal destruction of all the impenitent, implacable
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enemies of the Lord Jesus, who having slighted the riches of his grace must forever feel the
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weight of his wrath, talking about the Canaanites, and shall have judgment without mercy. Nations
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that forget God shall be turned into hell. I'll say that again. Matthew Henry, God bless him.
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Nations that forget God shall be turned into hell. The land is defiled. It is unclean and it turns
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against its own inhabitants, spewing them out. Nations that forget God shall be turned into hell
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and no reproach at all to God's infinite goodness. This doesn't mean that God's not kind
01:06:15.920
or not good. It simply means that he is just and that he will not be mocked. We reap what we sow.
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What Matthew Henry is saying here in the final analysis is that our text, Joshua chapter 10,
01:06:26.880
where Joshua and Israel annihilate all these Canaanite tribes, men, women, children, the whole
01:06:33.680
nine yards, driving them out and putting them to death with the edge of the sword, is that in some
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sense, this is a typological text. That is, it's a symbol that points towards an eternal ultimate
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reality. And the ultimate reality of the Canaanites and the destruction that God brings upon them
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through Israel, that reality is the reality of eternal hell. That God is tolerant, but he is not
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eternally tolerant. He is not indefinitely tolerant. God is slow to anger. God is abundant in mercy,
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but God is just. And eventually he does pour out his just, that is fair, proportional wrath on all
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his enemies. He may wait for 400 years, but eventually he will do justice. And when he brings
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his justice for those who don't repent, for those who do not submit to him, when he brings his
01:07:27.540
justice, it will be swift and it will be severe and it will be without an ounce of mercy. There
01:07:34.600
was no mercy given to the Canaanites. Every man, woman, and child put to the edge of the sword.
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asking for his forgiveness because of his life,
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Those who do not turn to him like the Canaanites,
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God will eventually deal out justice with his sword,
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his wrath in hell, and there will be no quarter. There will be no surrender. There will never be
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a peace treaty offered. They will be eternally punished. And this in no way detracts from God's
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goodness. If anything, it only exemplifies it. God is good. And because he's good, he punishes
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the wicked. It's an eternal principle. It's also a tangible, earthly, temporal principle.
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to hearken to your voice that is pouring forth,
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to turn from whatever wickedness might be in our heart,
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But Lord, we pray further that you would do this not just with us as individuals or us as a local church,
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but that you would do this with collections of peoples, that you would do this with nations,
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that nations would fear the Lord, that we would see that all of our other pantheon of false gods
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has not delivered an ounce of what it promised.
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All it has delivered is misery and judgment, that secularism was always a bill of goods,
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that he is the only author of life and blessing.
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that we would specifically repent of the sins
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of offering our children to Molech through abortion
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Lord, I also pray that not just would we repent
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and that, Lord, because you are gracious and merciful