SUNDAY SERMON - Fear Is Not Only A Sin, It’s A Sign Of Being Under God’s Judgment ｜ Joshua 2_1-21
Episode Stats
Length
1 hour and 11 minutes
Harmful content
Misogyny
1
sentences flagged
Toxicity
9
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Hate speech
68
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Summary
Join us as we continue our series through the book of Joshuah as we read through verses 1-21. Today's reading is from the second chapter of the book, "Out of the Land," which is found in the Old and New Testaments.
Transcript
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hope you'll take the time to do so thank you so much god bless this morning we continue with our
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series through the book of joshua our text for today is joshua chapter 2 verse 1 through 21
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again that's joshua chapter 2 verses 1 through 21 would you join me now in standing for the
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reading of god's word i'll read our text in its entirety when i finish 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 respond
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by saying thanks be to god one final time our text for today is joshua chapter 2 verses 1 through 21
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the bible says this and joshua the son of nun sent two men secretly from shittim as spies saying go
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view the land especially Jericho and they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name
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was Rahab and lodged there and it was told to the king of Jericho behold men of Israel have come here
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tonight to search out the land then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab saying bring out the men
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who have come to you who entered your house for they have come to search out all the land but the
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woman had taken the two men and hidden them and she said true the men came to me but I did not
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know where they were from and when the gate was about to be closed at dark the men went out I do
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not know where the men went pursue them quickly for you will overtake them but she had brought
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them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof
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So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords, and the gate
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Before the men laid down, she came to them on the roof and said to the men, I know that
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the Lord has given you the land and that the fear of you has fallen upon us and that all
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the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.
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for we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of
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Egypt and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan of Sihon and
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Og whom you devoted to destruction and as soon as we heard it our hearts melted and there was no
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spirit left in any man because of you for the Lord your God he is God in the heavens above and on the
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earth beneath now then please swear to me by the Lord that you as I have dealt kindly with you
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you also will deal kindly with my father's house and give me a sign that you will save alive my
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father and mother my brothers and sisters and all who belong to them and deliver our lives from
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death and the men said to her our life for yours even to death if you do not tell this business of
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ours, then when the Lord gives us the land, we will deal kindly and faithfully with you. Then she let
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them down by a rope through the window, for her house was built into the city wall, so that she
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lived in the wall. And she said to them, go into the hills, or the pursuers will encounter you,
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and hide there three days until the pursuers have returned. Then afterward you may go your way.
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The men said to her, We will be guiltless with respect to this oath of yours that you have made us swear.
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Behold, when we come into the land, you shall tie this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down,
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and you shall gather into your house your father and your mother, your brothers, and all your father's household.
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Then if anyone goes out of the doors of your house into the street, his blood shall be on his own head, and we shall be guiltless.
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but if a hand is laid on anyone who is with you in the house his blood shall be on our head
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but if you tell this business of ours then we shall be guiltless with respect to your oath
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that you have made us swear and she said according to your words so be it then she sent them away
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and they departed and she tied the scarlet cord in the window this is the word of the lord
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all right please be seated let's begin there's three primary points that i hope by the grace
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of god to make from the text today the second point will be the primary point of the sermon
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the first and the third will be smaller points yet of course still significant the first thing
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as we see in the text today worth noting is this that trusting in god's promised outcome
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is vital, and trusting in God's promised outcome comes before actually having a plan.
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Now, we should trust in God's covenant promises. What God says will come to pass. What God says
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will be the outcome, even if we don't see the means by which this is going to come about.
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Trusting in God's promised outcome even before having a plan. Verse 1 of our text says this,
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and joshua the son of nun sent two men secretly from shittim as spies saying go view the land
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especially jericho now joshua's insistence this is easy to miss but joshua's insistence on secrecy
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go and secretly spy out the land was not so much with respect to the inhabitants of jericho
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this is assumed of all spies joshua is not merely saying you should go and spy secretly
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as to ensure that jericho does not detect your presence you should be secret in respect to the
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inhabitants of jericho the ones who you are spying out that would be redundant the mere fact that he
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is sending them as spies assumes that they should exercise secrecy in regards to the people of
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jericho rather joshua is insisting that these spies exercise secrecy in regards to the people
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of israel in regards to the spies conducting their business in a private manner this is to be
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not discovered by the people of israel why see joshua is concerned that israel might be discouraged
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if they suspected that Joshua, as their leader, was fearful of the Canaanites.
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Joshua was careful not to appear distrusting of the promise of God
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that was given to them that they might conquer the land.
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This is a good principle for all people in positions of leadership,
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this is good counsel good biblical counsel for all positions of leadership whether it be church
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leadership whether it be civil magistrates whether it be somebody who is a superior or employer
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in a vocational field and especially parents in regards to their children we trust the promises
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of god and we trust these promises without having a plan so joshua believed that god would
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fulfill what he had promised, that he would give the land of Canaan over to Israel, that they would
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be given strength to conquer all their enemies. Jericho was one of the strongest and most fortified
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cities in the land of Canaan. And Joshua is not sending the spies to see whether or not Jericho
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is weak enough for God to actually make good on his promise. No, rather he's sending the spies to
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see to see what the means will be that god utilizes to bring about his promised end joshua is trusting
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that the end result is that jericho will be conquered but joshua is sending spies into the
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land to detect the practical means by which this will come about what are the particular weak
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points of this city of jericho how are we going to conquer it not if we'll conquer it god has
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promised that we trust his promise but we want to see how it's going to be conquered and so joshua
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sends these spies secretly not secretly in regards to the inhabitants of jericho hence the fact that
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they're spies that's assumed but he's secretly sending them out in regards to the knowledge
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of israel he doesn't want israel to be aware that joshua is sending spies out to detect weak points
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points of vulnerability with their enemies at jericho because he doesn't want that action to
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be interpreted by his own people by the people of israel as distrust in the covenant promises
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of god now the reason you might wonder why is he sending the spies out at all god's going to come
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through with his promise well that's because you know the end of the story all right this is one
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of the most commonly known stories in the whole of scripture all right we before phil visher went
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woke you know he got veggie tales right the people at jericho you know and the walls come down i mean
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every child even children not raised in a christian family are probably aware of the walls of jericho
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crumbling but joshua and israel weren't not at this moment so they're not doubting joshua's not
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doubting whether or not god will fulfill his promise he's asking how this is similar to the
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virgin mary right there are instances where god gave a promise right perhaps he even sent an angel
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and the person did not believe the promise and there was a judgment for their unbelief
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think of zachariah zachariah who was serving as a priest that he goes into the holy of holies to
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perform his priestly duty and it is spoken to him by the lord through a messenger that he's going to
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have a son and that this son is going to pave the way make straight the path level every mountain
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raise every valley for the messiah that he's going to have a son namely john the baptist who would be
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a forerunner of jesus and zachariah questions this in unbelief now listen here's the distinction
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not unbelief in how God could bring this about in terms of what God's means will be in fulfilling
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the promise but Zachariah actually doubts God's ability to fulfill the promise at all and so he's
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stricken with muteness he becomes dumb and unable to speak dumb in the proper sense he's unable to
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speak until the birth of the child now mary on the other hand by way of contrast the same kind
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of event happens for her where an angel comes and says blessed are you this is what the lord is
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going to do for you that you will conceive by the holy spirit the spirit will come upon you
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and you will conceive a son and his his name shall be jesus and and she receives this message
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her response is not um uh i don't see how god can uh could pull this off in terms of the how
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referencing i don't know how this is possible aka i don't know if god can do it no her question of
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how has to do with not is god capable of the end of his promise fulfilling the end of his promise
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but her question of how is in regards to what particular means will he use to bring about the
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end of his promise mary is not doubting whether or not god can pull it off when she asks how can
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this be she's literally asking she's not saying it cannot be or i don't think it can be she's saying
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essentially it will be because the lord has spoken but i'm a virgin and practically from just a
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scientific perspective here i'm just wondering how that's going to work right that's very different
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than zachariah that's very different than other individuals it's different than sarah abraham's
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wife who laughs she laughs at the promise that she would bear a son in her old age that's that's
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that wasn't i don't know how god can bring this about but i'm sure he will that was i'm doubting
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whether or not he can bring this about that's the difference and so from the very first verse of our
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text Joshua I do not believe is doubting the promise of God in terms of the end result Jericho
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will be conquered the land of Canaan will be given as a promise to God's people as an inheritance
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but rather he's sending out these two spies because he knows God's going to bring it about
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but he doesn't know what means by which god will bring it about and he knows that he's going to
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have to do something he's it's not just that god is going to bring it about without any participation
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from his people that his people will have to step out in faith it won't just be sitting on the other
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side of the jordan believing and trusting and hoping and wishing they're going in faith faith
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brings about it necessitates action true faith is living faith and living faith works it is a
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working faith now we are not saved by faith plus works we are saved by faith alone but the true
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faith that actually saves produces both salvation and works the simplest way i can explain it is
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like this think of it as a simple um arithmetic addition mathematic equation it is not faith plus
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works equals god coming through with his promise aka salvation it is not faith plus works equals
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salvation it is faith equals salvation plus works do you see the difference it is not faith plus
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works gets you salvation no it is faith alone but as luther once said a faith that is truly alone
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a true saving faith it is faith alone that saves but true faith is never alone faith alone saves
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but true faith is never alone so it's not faith plus works equal salvation that's a heresy that
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is uh the heresy of legalism proper that's that's the galatian heresy adding works to the flesh
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to faith what you have begun by the spirit you now seek to perfect by works as done unto the
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by the flesh that is that is to insult the sufficiency of christ to say that what christ
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did is pretty good it's a great start but but it's not enough right at the end of the day god
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fulfilling his promise is is really a beautiful picture of teamwork makes the dream work you know
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jesus really did a lot but man when i came in there also and we teamed up me and jesus we got
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it done that's a heresy that's a joke it's like you laughed great response you've been discipled
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well if i do say so myself laughter is the proper response right it's laughable however here's where
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evangelicals today miss it the problem with evangelicalism today is not that it is in great
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danger of legalism the problem with evangelicalism today is that it hates god's law it is antinomia
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even with the whole christian nationalist thing i'm convinced even dear brothers
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not saying they're not saved not saying they're false teachers i think they're confused i've been
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confused i'm sure i'm still confused about things and if i knew what they were then i probably want
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to be confused that's how confusion works right so i'm confused about things other dear brothers
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are confused about things doesn't make them heretics doesn't make them not brothers but i
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have a sneaking suspicion that when you get down to the bottom and this is speculation and i'll own
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that right man looks at the outward appearance god alone sees the heart i'm speculating about
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motives here and i could be wrong so let me give that disclaimer but i have a sneaking suspicion
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that even with some of the dearest brothers that i know faithful men that the aversion towards
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having a christian nation is somehow tied to an aversion towards god's law at the end of the day
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they just don't like god's law or at the end of the day they're at least somewhat ashamed of god's
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law and we like most of god's law we like the second table of god's law commandments number
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five through ten we'll take that love your neighbor we'll we'll we'll run that play as
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evangelicals back and forth all day for three years for, you know, the whole Branch Covidian
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thing, you know, love your neighbor, love your neighbor, love your neighbor, love your neighbor.
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We'll proudly champion some of God's law. But the moment we start talking about
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Sabbatarian laws, which is not crazy, that was in our nation. We're not talking about a hypothetical
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situation that's never been done. We're talking about our own nation's recent history. But the
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moment you start talking about the sabbath you're like well we would never do that's extreme we're
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not extreme we're not we're not those extreme christians like what extreme you mean every
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single christian there's ever been until 15 minutes ago they were all sabbatarian
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the extreme christians you mean the puritans but you hosted the puritan conference
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let's think about that for a second who are you calling extreme
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blasphemy laws are extreme we already have them it's not whether but which
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there will always be in any nation a god every nation is theocratic every nation has a god
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it's either a pagan god the state as god or the triune god and based on their god a theocracy
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that's, for the record, that's not an ecclesiocracy. An ecclesiocracy is a conflation of two independent
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autonomous sovereign spheres, namely church and state. Ecclesiocracy seeks to blend those two,
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conflate them together. That is not biblical. That's not what anyone is arguing for. An
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ecclesiocracy would be a church-run state. A theocracy is a God-run state. Separation of church
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and state amen the scepter was given to judah and the priesthood to levi even in the first book of
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the bible we see god separating designating separately these duties of church and state
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civil rulership judah the scepter given to them and the priestly functions the church given to
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levi the separation of church and state is perfectly biblical and i advocate for it strongly
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but brothers and sisters there is night and day difference between the separation of church and
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state and the separation of christ and state every state every nation every government
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is theocratic ecclesiocracy no thank you no protestant pope theocracy it's not whether but
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which you have no choice in the matter it will be theocratic we currently our nation has a god
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and the particular god that we have with whatever god you have that god will have
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a corresponding orthodoxy and anything outside of that orthodoxy which is set by your god
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anything outside of that is what you would consider blasphemy so there are certain things
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you cannot say because it's not keeping in step with the reigning orthodoxy which has been set
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by that nation's designated god not whether but which they have a god now with that not only does
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the god then dictate orthodoxy everything outside of that being blasphemy but also all religions
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and atheism is a religion secular humanism is a religion darwinism is a religion and it takes far
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more nonsensical illogical faith to believe those false religions than it does to believe the true
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christian religion but every religion not only does it have a god an orthodoxy outside of
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orthodoxy therefore being blasphemy but they also have sacraments our nation currently the sacraments
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is the blood of babies and the murder of 65 million plus children and it's far more than that
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and another sacrament is a sexual revolution perversion
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now we often make the correlation with planned parenthood to
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molek a false god child sacrifice but another correlation that's a helpful one
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The Asherah poles were once fruitful trees.
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But the Asherah poles were stripped of their branches
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The branches and their ability to be fruitful is dismantled.
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They become lifeless, fruitless, androgynous.
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a shell of a person a pole where a tree once stood
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we have sacraments not whether but which we have orthodoxy not whether but which we have blasphemy
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laws not whether but which because we have a god not just a private god for private individuals in
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their private lives. But there is always a public God of every public nation. They're all theocratic.
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Not whether, but which. Greg Bonson had an old speech, and a portion of that, about two and a
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half minutes long, has circulated and gone viral on the internet several times over the last few
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decades. But it's him responding to Westminster Escondido, which is a Presbyterian seminary
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known for their radical two-kingdom theology. Very pietistic. Everything is private. No public
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Christianity. And he's responding to them right after they tried to essentially silence him and
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fire him and remove him and dismiss him and humiliate him for his stance on Christian ethics,
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general equity theonomy theonomy simply being a word for god's law and in this clip i can't
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repeat it for you verbatim but essentially what he says is this he says we have millions of
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children being murdered in the womb and you're concerned about theonomy you have to lock your
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windows at night, and you're concerned about theonomy? Children are being shot in schools,
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and you're worried about theonomy? Sodomy is being publicly praised in the streets of our nation,
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and you're concerned and worried about theonomy. Brothers and sisters, this was 20, 30 years ago.
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what do you think bonson would say today do you know why churches like ours are growing
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do you know why people signed up and sold out six months in advance the theonomy
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and post-millennialism conference do you know why christian nationalism was trending
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on google two days ago partly because of my twitter account that's part of it
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And an amazing practical faithfulness and obedience.
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Rushduni did so much when it comes to private Christian education,
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so much in the legal sphere, so much was done by these guys.
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But ultimately, the evangelical church dismissed their message.
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And I think in part because they were prophets.
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And here's the thing, the prophets aren't killed by the enemies of God.
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They're killed by God's people. Israel kills the prophets. And today, the evangelical church kills
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the prophets. But why are these ideas back on the rise? Why are people now willing to give it a
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second consideration? Because it's not whether but which. And when the world loses its mind,
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and people are genuinely afraid, and rightfully so, for the safety of their children and their
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grandchildren then all of a sudden considering maybe god's law is not a horrible idea
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all of a sudden people are maybe a little bit more open to that a little bit more open
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all that back to joshua all that back to the how means versus end there were individuals
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throughout the scripture who doubted the end whether or not god could actually fulfill his
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promise but there are others who merely just were questioning not from a place of pride or a place
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of unbelief but merely questioning how will you pull this off i know you will but how and i think
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that's what we're seeing in the very first verse of our text using matthew henry using john gill
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other commentaries that i explored this week in preparation for the sermon today
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they would agree the secrecy is in regards to israel not in regards to the inhabitants of jericho
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that would be redundant that would be unnecessary they're spies of course they need to be secret
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but what's unique is that joshua is saying they should be secret as they go to spy out this land
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in regards to not being detected by their own people because joshua as a good leader doesn't
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want the people of israel to think even for a moment that he as now the recent successor of
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moses their new leader that he is distrusting of the promises given through moses that they would
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in fact inherit the land joshua is simply thinking not can god do it but how will god do it because
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walking around the city and shouting had not yet occurred to him which is pretty fair
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it would not have occurred to me i i sit here in my position of of being above the story seeing the
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end and looking at it from you know being able to see the force not just individual trees you and i
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we have the whole story so like joshua what's wrong with you you don't need spies everyone
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knows the way you take down a city as you walk right maybe do a little shouting and if you have
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some shofars, you go ahead and, you know, you let those bad boys blow. We know that. It's pretty
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understandable that Joshua did not. But good leaders, back to the first point here, good leaders
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don't scare those who are following them. They are diligent and careful not to display any sense
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as we saw last week i use the quote from king loon the king of arch and land and the horse and
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his boy the narnia series he says for this is what it means to be king to be first in every desperate
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attack, to be last in every desperate retreat. And when there are hard times in the land,
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as there are sure to be in some years, to dress in finer clothes and laugh more loudly over a
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scanty meal than any other man in the kingdom. That's what it means to be king. Kings fight,
00:30:44.820
they feast and they laugh we don't want to be fearful warriors we do not want to be jaded
00:30:55.320
warriors angry warriors we want to be jovial warriors laughing warriors
00:31:05.440
jericho the hearts of the people melted like wax
00:31:14.240
because they knew that they had the advantage position the high ground fortification artillery
00:31:24.900
plans of defense but israel had the lord the lord is on our side if god be with us
00:31:36.420
who can be against us which brings us to our second point fear is not only a sin
00:31:44.240
biblically speaking fear especially in a corporate sense when a group of people not just an
00:31:52.880
individual, but a group of people, a nation, a culture, a community, when fear falls upon them.
00:31:59.700
Not only is fear in biblical terms a sin, but it's a curse. Fear is a sign that a people has
00:32:07.980
been corporately placed by God under judgment. In your notes, I've written this. In verse 9 of our
00:32:15.680
text Rahab says the fear of you has fallen upon us and that all the inhabitants of the land melt
00:32:23.500
away before you and again in verse 11 of our text Rahab says and as soon as we heard it heard what
00:32:30.800
the context is that you pass through the Red Sea that God supernaturally caused it to part and open
00:32:37.020
up as dry land and that you devoted to destruction and conquered and overcame the two kings
00:33:02.660
And the news of it, when we heard it, she says,
00:33:07.980
and there was no spirit left in any man because of you.
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one of the chief evidences which caused Rahab to be convinced that her people were the bad guys
00:33:20.940
right have you ever seen like you know that are we the baddies you know like like third
00:33:27.200
like are we the bad guys right one way that you can tell are we the baddies are we the bad guys
00:33:32.320
one way you can tell is when you and all your people are afraid
00:33:35.620
we don't think of fear as being morally indicting it is we make certain allowances for fear
00:33:44.340
we deal much more compassionately with the sin of fear we don't like pride we won't tolerate pride
00:33:52.160
now to be fair we tolerate very much pride in ourselves but as c.s lewis once said pride is
00:33:59.860
one of the most difficult sins to see in yourself and perhaps the most helpful indicator to know
00:34:05.580
if you have pride yourself is to see how bothered you are by what you perceive as pride in others
00:34:11.760
right when a person is constantly going around and man i'm just concerned about this guy's
00:34:16.460
his his humility i'm just concerned about his pride this guy seems arrogant you know right
00:34:21.260
then and there that dude's really prideful the guy voicing the concern about everybody else's
00:34:26.700
humility that's the person who's really prideful essentially what he's saying you usually say that
00:34:30.920
about people when they're getting some notoriety, some sense of public recognition. I'm just
00:34:35.660
concerned that he stay humble. And what you're actually doing is you're confessing that if you
00:34:41.060
were getting that notoriety, you'd be an arrogant jerk. That's what you're actually doing.
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You're not voicing a concern. You're actually voicing subconsciously a personal confession.
00:34:53.580
I wouldn't be able to handle that position. I'm so prideful. Right now, the only thing that keeps
00:34:59.220
me humble is that nobody knows me you know and what i've done and is cheering for me except for
00:35:04.380
my mom and in god's providence he'll keep it that way out of mercy and love for you because you're
00:35:12.820
arrogant you would not be able to handle status you would not be able to handle notoriety
00:35:18.680
who are you to judge another man's servant a wise man namely the holy spirit through the apostle
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Paul once said. So all that being said, fear, right? We tolerate pride. That's how I got there.
00:35:34.500
We tolerate, or we don't tolerate pride in others. We tolerate it in ourselves, but there are certain
00:35:39.140
sins that we have very little compassion for. When we see pride and arrogance in someone else,
00:35:43.520
we have a great aversion towards it. It gets under our skin. We're not patient. We're not tolerant.
00:35:50.620
but one sin and it is brothers and sisters biblically defined objectively definitively
00:35:58.060
as sin is fear and we deal kindly and softly with fear the mortification of sin john owen
00:36:08.520
do not deal lightly with sin but many lashes not few lashes but we want to seek to mortify
00:36:17.360
the flesh. Romans 7, even for the Christian, I believe this is post-conversion Paul,
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even for the Christian, sin still resides within the members of my being. But for the Christian,
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he does not deal kindly with his sin. We don't seek to subdue our sin, manage our sin,
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take captive and imprison and lock away our sin. Biblically speaking, we are commanded to kill
00:36:46.880
our sin and you cannot brothers and sisters ever kill the sin that you have not first by grace
00:36:55.520
and conviction of the spirit come to hate the only sin you will ever kill by grace
00:37:03.200
is the sin you have come to hate by grace and many of us do not hate the sin of fear
00:37:34.940
but with prayer and supplication make your request known to god
00:37:39.680
how many times does the scripture say do not worry
00:37:44.780
not i see you're worrying that must be hard let's talk about it no stop it some of the best
00:37:56.920
biblical counsel that i've ever witnessed been given myself as i've needed it and given it to
00:38:02.200
others some of the best biblical counsel somebody comes in i've got this thing going this reoccurring
00:38:07.920
habit. I know that it's wrong. Some of the best biblical counsel I've ever heard is this. Stop it.
00:38:17.840
Stop it. Cut that out. But pastor, that's not gospel centered. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Jesus died
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for your sin. So stop it. That is how the Bible writes to us. Stop worrying. Do not worry about
00:38:39.820
tomorrow. Tomorrow will worry about itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Stop it.
00:38:45.400
we tolerate the sin of fear but that's just half of the point that i'm making now
00:38:57.100
fear is not only categorized biblically as a sin but when fear comes upon a people
00:39:05.880
it is very often if not almost always a sign of not only a sin but a curse
00:39:14.280
that a people has fallen underneath god's corporate judgment
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one of the chief evidences which caused rahab to be convinced that her people were the baddies
00:39:27.460
right that she would make concessions with the spies of israel that she would switch allegiances
00:39:34.500
from jericho which was an amorite city by the way so they've conquered the amorites we see that in
00:39:40.960
our text we heard how you conquered these two Amorite kings Jericho they were also Amorites
00:39:45.280
there were seven tribes pagan tribes in Canaan that had to be conquered and driven out one of
00:39:51.420
them were the Amorites but even within these seven tribes there were further subcategories of multiple
00:39:57.160
tribes within these tribes sub-tribes villages cities fortified capitals think of Nineveh for
00:40:04.480
instance. Nineveh was one of five capital cities of the Assyrians. Just one. Now it was a major
00:40:12.640
one. And so too, the same kind of concept, Jericho was a major fortified. It was a juggernaut.
00:40:20.840
It's not all the Amorites because they've already taken out two kings of the Amorites. But if you
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take out Jericho, then essentially, effectively, the Amorites are finished. You'll still have to
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drive them out right you'll still have to follow it up but that's the giant you slay the giant
00:40:41.740
and his people shudder his people retreat and then you run them down that's what happened with
00:40:52.220
david and goliath right when david cut off goliath's head and held it up with goliath's own
00:40:58.360
sword and fulfilled his promise to goliath that today i will feed your carcass to the birds
00:41:03.960
when david does this israel doesn't say and we're done but effectively it's done
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they then go and strength comes back to israel they were under god's judgment they were trembling
00:41:16.240
their knees were shaking every day as goliath came out and taunted the people of god blaspheming god
00:41:22.940
mocking israel but david says who is this uncircumcised philistine that mocks the armies
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of the living god i will serve up his head and his carcass to the birds and he does it and there's
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still a ton of philistines that need to be taken out but all of a sudden the spirit comes back to
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the philistines they're reinvigorated and they run them down same with jericho and the amorites
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Most importantly, same with Jesus and the devil.
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Jesus, in his earthly ministry, by his active obedience,
00:42:00.300
that is, fulfilling all righteousness in his life,
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by his passive obedience, that is, his substitutionary death,
00:42:11.400
not merely as a moral example of sacrificial love,
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as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world,
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by his active obedience and his full righteous life,
00:42:23.160
his passive obedience and his substitutionary death,
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but rather rose him on the third day from the grave
00:42:33.740
and his glorious, majestic, conquering ascension
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And one by one, his enemies subjected under his feet.
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what jesus did by his life death resurrection and ascension is that he came to earth and he bound
00:42:55.400
the strong man now the strong man still has a lot of minions left in the world and the strong man
00:43:03.260
to make it plain speaking of satan woe to you o earth for the devil is cast down to you
00:43:10.440
the devil was cast down to the earth in a sense the earth became his house how
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everything that happens happens in a covenantal framework god is creator of all including the
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earth but god gave adam he gave him federal headship over the created world adam by his sin
00:43:34.580
transferred that headship his stewardship his dominion over the world to satan
00:43:41.680
but jesus came the second adam the last adam the better adam and he came and took it back
00:43:51.940
and he bound satan now listen satan is bound but he has not yet been cast into the lake of fire
00:43:58.220
you might think well but satan roars like like he prowls around like a roaring lion
00:44:03.180
seeking who he may devour and he's still in the business of devouring but there's a categorical
00:44:09.540
difference in real time real human history something happened 2 000 years ago namely
00:44:17.240
god took on flesh came to the world which the devil has been cast down to you and bound the
00:44:25.180
strong man and as jesus says in a parable you cannot go and plunder the house unless someone
00:44:31.800
first goes and binds the strong man then you plunder the goods so just like david binds the
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strong man Goliath. Doesn't mean we're done, but now we run them down. The people of Israel go
00:44:42.960
and run down the rest of the Philistines. Just like Jericho, a juggernaut. You take it down,
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there's still Amorites and six other tribes in the land of Canaan that must be driven out.
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But there are heads, juggernauts, giants, dragons in the land. And when they're slain by the grace
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of god empowering his people life comes back to the people of god the people who were previously
00:45:09.400
fearful previously shuddering previously unbelieving in god's promise now all of a sudden
00:45:18.160
there's still work to be done my point is the war isn't over but the people now have courage
00:45:38.340
People say, well, the culture war is not a thing.
00:45:54.120
the spiritual war that's going on all around us that we can't see
00:46:00.060
guess what these spirits they actually care about the physical world
00:46:05.280
god cares because he made it for god so loved the world that he sent his only god cares about
00:46:14.580
the physical world you know who else does the devil in fact it's a spiritual war not a cultural
00:46:21.000
one. Nope, nope. It is a spiritual war, but with cultural, tangible elements, effects, because the
00:46:27.700
spirits that are warring care about the physical cosmos. There's only one entity I can think of
00:46:34.220
that doesn't. Evangelicals. God cares. Satan cares. Democrats care. The only people who seem to be
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satisfied with not doing anything in any tangible practical sense is christians
00:46:52.500
but you didn't get that from the bible i'll tell you that
00:46:59.080
fear is a sin but fear is more than just a sin it's a sign of being under god's judgment
00:47:07.760
what convinced rahab that she was the baddie and needed to switch teams switch allegiance
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to the good guys, namely the people of God, Israel, was that her people in every practical
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capacity had the advantage position. They had the juggernaut city. They had the defense strategies.
00:47:33.060
Israel didn't even know the lay of the land. Hence, verse 1, Joshua sending out spies
00:47:38.360
to investigate the land. Jericho knows all the strategic advantage fortified positions.
00:47:45.040
they have more experience they have more knowledge they're on the defense israel has to come and
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attack they have the fortified position they have the artillery their people won't be weary from a
00:47:59.200
journey but rather they'll be nourished and well provided with victuals at every level they have
00:48:07.000
the upper hand but there's one thing that clues rahab in in regards to the fact that jericho is
00:48:16.320
about to lose that her people have every single practical advantage and yet they're afraid
00:48:24.300
their hearts melted like wax and rahab rightly in humility and wisdom by the spirit of god
00:48:35.760
she rightly realizes this is supernatural fear this isn't just any ordinary fear this is
00:48:44.160
supernatural fear meaning it's irrational fear illogical fear it's a fear that makes no sense
00:48:52.800
the amorites were formidable warriors they had conquered plenty of people before and now all of
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sudden a ragtag group of Israelites the previous slaves in Egypt they're going to march up on the
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scene without the weapons without the supply without the provisions without the strength
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without the rest it's not a threat and yet Jericho's afraid irrationally afraid it's a
00:49:29.560
supernatural fear that god placed upon them and rahab has the wisdom and humility by the grace of
00:49:36.880
god to recognize it we're the bad guys we're the ones under god's judgment i better switch
00:49:46.300
allegiances i better right now make concessions and she does and she does it by faith now to
00:49:55.880
apply this because you guys know i'm in the business of revelation interpretation application
00:50:01.720
i believe that's what good preaching is revelation not i have a dream not i have an idea not i have
00:50:08.780
a strategy but i have a text the revelation is the word of god interpretation exegeting the text
00:50:14.020
what does god mean by it but that's where most evangelicals stop in their preaching there is a
00:50:18.740
third and final step revelation interpretation application how does this meaning of this text
00:50:24.720
Holy Spirit-inspired text, apply to the people of God today.
00:50:42.020
This first is to show us that what Rahab is sensing about Jericho being fearful
00:50:47.240
is a fulfillment of what God had already promised through Moses.
00:50:52.780
no one shall be able to stand against you the Lord your God will lay the fear of you and the
00:50:59.320
dread of you on all the land that you shall tread as he promised you so God already made this
00:51:06.500
promise not just the promise that that he would empower his people to conquer the inhabitants of
00:51:11.340
the land and give it to them as an inheritance but he also promised how he would do it at least
00:51:16.220
in a general sense one of the ways that God would do it is he would lay upon as a sign of his
00:51:20.920
judgment that destruction was coming he would lay upon them as a precursor a irrational illogical
00:51:28.460
supernatural fear god promised this through moses and now he's doing it in the day of joshua
00:51:37.000
but further than this this is how it applies to us today and other nations not merely ours
00:51:44.000
but particularly ours leviticus 26 verses 6 through 25 i will give peace in the land and you
00:51:53.260
shall lie down this is god's promise and covenant to israel and none shall make you afraid and i
00:52:01.420
will remove harmful beasts from the land and the sword shall not go through your land times of
00:52:12.580
You'll still have enemies, but you'll dominate your enemies.
00:52:15.680
You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword.
00:52:32.580
in the dark web of evangelicalism, would be, it's a psyop.
00:52:35.680
like god is going to run a psyop on the enemies of israel they will be irrationally afraid five
00:52:42.540
israelites will be able to to chase a hundred of their enemies five shall chase a hundred and a
00:52:48.720
hundred of you shall chase ten thousand and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword
00:52:54.500
i will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with
00:53:00.600
you. Let's pause there for a second. Do you recognize that the exact opposite is happening
00:53:06.680
today? The exact opposite. Now, I suspect that sadly, because of the church's impotency
00:53:16.560
and faithlessness, that the numbers are far more even now. But there was a time in our
00:53:23.180
nation not that long ago where we had the upper hand but five caused a hundred evangelicals
00:53:31.300
to run god's promise is that that when we're faithful to him keeping steadfast covenant that
00:53:38.620
five of his people would cause a hundred of his enemies to flight and that a hundred of his people
00:53:44.520
would cause 10 000 to fly we have seen precisely the opposite in recent decades in our nation
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the disagreement matters but i do believe that by the grace of god we are on the same team
00:54:24.720
the debate if we were to boil it down a lot of it comes down to this simple question
00:54:29.200
revival or reformation if you prefer that term how will it come about how will jericho be defeated
00:54:38.260
will it be bottom up meaning more churches more planting more preaching more evangelism
00:54:47.600
and therefore by God's grace if he's pleased to do it more conversion and therefore more
00:54:53.500
regenerate hearts and with more regenerate hearts Christians being positioned with more authority
00:54:59.460
and stewardship in the land or that's one side of the debate the other side is will it be top
00:55:06.880
down and bottom up and for the record no one is holding the top down exclusive position
00:55:11.180
that's a mischaracterization but will it be both bottom up conversion preaching evangelism gospel
00:55:19.880
church planting families kids catechizing training up and and some christians in positions of
00:55:29.980
authority strategically in the civil magistrate ruling righteously both and for anyone who says
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you can't do both, might I point your attention to the Sodomites, who in 40 years, with less than
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3% of the population, effectively have traded the American flag for a rainbow. They got it done.
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And they did not have the numbers, but they got it done.
00:55:59.640
five of them put a hundred of us to flight the very promise that god makes for his people
00:56:08.200
all of a sudden when his people are faithless works against us now we're the ones that the
00:56:15.920
psyop is being run on we're the ones now who are irrationally and illogically afraid we're the ones
00:56:23.000
running and i would say that that five causing a hundred to flight i don't think that's where
00:56:28.320
we're at today let me specify that i think today the numbers are much more even but i would say
00:56:34.580
that for the last 30 40 50 60 70 years that's where we were we actually had the numbers so when guys
00:56:43.240
say we just need more regenerate hearts i say yes and amen but we had it before and we didn't do
00:56:49.360
anything with it so we need regenerate hearts you know what we also need we need some good
00:56:55.380
sound doctrine we need regenerate hearts but we also need theologically informed minds
00:57:04.000
those regenerate hearts in pews in churches being trained and discipled by guys like Greg Bonson
00:57:11.500
who tried to warn us and was silenced and he wasn't silenced by liberals
00:57:18.240
he was silenced by Westminster Escondido Seminary
00:57:22.900
do not forget that so one of god's judgments even for his own people if we choose to be faithless
00:57:34.700
and yes i believe this applies the nation israel old covenant i believe this applies in a new
00:57:40.960
testament sense for the church for the church the church will be on the retreat if the church
00:57:47.940
is faithless the church will be irrationally fearful if the church is faithless
00:57:54.120
you get the point let's continue genesis 15 13 through 16 it's the last thing that i want you
00:58:03.660
to see in terms of nations now this is not about israel and so this principle is just as good you
00:58:10.020
can take it to the bank whether it's 2 000 years before calvary in terms of human history or 2 000
00:58:16.580
years after where we sit today. This is speaking of the Amorites, Jericho being an Amorite city.
00:58:25.460
And then the Lord said to Abraham, before Moses and Joshua were ever even born, know for certain
00:58:31.360
that your offspring will be sojourners in the land that is not theirs and will be servants there.
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He's talking about slaves. He's talking about Egypt. And they will be afflicted for 400 years,
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But I will bring judgment on the nation that they serve, that being Egypt,
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and afterward, not just judgment on Egypt that enslaved Israel for 400 years,
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but afterward, they shall come out with great possessions.
00:58:56.740
As for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace.
00:59:02.660
You shall be buried in a good old age, and they shall come back here.
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That is, your people, your descendants, Israel,
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shall come back here to the land Abraham was already in.
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abraham was already in the land of canaan they shall come back here when they're done with their
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400 years of slavery in egypt i'll judge egypt but i'll also bring israel back here to the land
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of canaan in the fourth generation for the iniquity of the amorites not just egypt is not yet complete
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what god is saying is this 400 years your people you're going to die here in the land of canaan
00:59:35.220
abraham in a ripe old age and you'll have a life of peace but after you there's some things that
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i'm going to bring about one of them will be that israel will be in captivity and slavery in egypt
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for 400 years but then i will redeem them and when i redeem them i will judge their captors
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egypt and i will resource israel by plundering their possessions but then i will bring israel
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from that land of egypt that i have now judged after 400 years and i'll bring israel back to
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where you're standing right now abraham the promised land where the amorites are remember
01:00:10.620
jericho amorite capital city i'll bring them back here and not only will i judge egypt to deliver
01:00:17.420
them i'll then judge the amorites and the canaanites in order to that they might inherit
01:00:23.260
the land but then he says this the reason one of the reasons that it will take 400 years
01:00:29.620
is because the iniquity of the amorites is not yet full god is slow to anger abounding in love
01:00:44.960
God is not a God who indefinitely tolerates evil.
01:00:58.780
And God, because he is abundantly patient and kind,
01:01:07.840
his anger is eventually poured out god judged the amorites and even in an old testament paradigm
01:01:15.220
before the cross of jesus christ you see the long suffering and patience of god
01:01:20.580
in a corporate nature with a nation tolerating them for 400 years that they might repent and
01:01:29.580
nineveh did but this particular nation the amorites god knew that they wanted and so for
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400 years god was well within his rights to destroy them but he allowed them to build to
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basically build god's list of justification for his judgment by fulfilling further and further
01:01:49.520
iniquity and then he judged them and that applies to all nations that is not a unique principle
01:01:58.120
applied to the covenant nation state of israel in the old testament that is a principle of corporate
01:02:05.100
judgment for all nations whether it's before the cross or after and no nation today is exempt
01:02:13.580
including ours right now the lord is allowing our nation to fill up its iniquity but he will judge
01:02:23.940
us we have been a superpower in many ways better than thinking of us as a nation we have functioned
01:02:58.600
but i'm telling you that if america does not corporately repent and explicitly pledge its
01:03:06.300
allegiance to the triune christian god not just a conservative resurgence in principle
01:03:13.300
but a christian revival in person calling upon the person of jesus christ if that does not occur
01:03:22.300
it may be 40 more years it may be 400 but we will fill up our iniquity and one of the signs will be
01:03:31.460
that all of a sudden we who once were known as a christian nation and and would strike terror
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and to other nations that did not fear the lord we all of a sudden will have a hundred of our
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military on the run from five ten thousand from a hundred
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god is not indefinitely tolerant he is slow to his anger but he does not possess no anger
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i believe that the fearfulness of our nation right now not just its anger not just its division
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not just the insanity but there is an underlining sense of dread
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and that is not only a sin but a sign of a curse it symbolizes that corporately a nation has been
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placed under god's judgment and like rahab it should drive us to make concessions now
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and not just concessions with israel as rahab did but in the truest sense a rahab was making
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concessions with god with god i would rather be with god against jericho than with jericho
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against israel's god and so too let it begin with the church in america let us pave the way
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for repentance we've got plenty of our own sin to repent for let us repent not just turning back to
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more conservative principles not just trying to get back to the 80s but actually calling upon
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jesus by name and demanding that the state do the same that caesar is a servant and that there is a
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god above him the state is not god christ is god and that we must call upon him and repent of our
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sin make concessions now with the lord of hosts who alone is mighty to save and who is merciful
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relenting from sending disaster and here we have our final point that in this chapter we see a
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beautiful foreshadowing of the gospel the final verse in our text says this then she sent them
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away that being the israelite spines and they departed and she tied the scarlet cord in the
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window rahab entered into a covenant with the nation of israel and their god through faith
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alone however there was no delay catch this church three minutes and i'm done there was no
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delay between rahab's inward faith and her immediate outward obedience she believed and
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then immediately obeyed by participating in the covenant sign. In and of itself, this scarlet thread
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hung from her window was seemingly insignificant, but as a sign of the promise, it was saving.
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Insofar as it symbolized the promise, inward trust in Yahweh and his covenant, this thread
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saved her and her household this was a small sign of obedience yet it was a visible sign
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the scarlet thread did not point inward to her own people jericho her natural kin according to
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the flesh but instead it pointed outside the city walls not towards her kin according to the flesh
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but towards the people of God, her true kin, according to the promise. John Gill, the late
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great Baptist theologian, in commentating on this very point and this very text, says the following,
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now as Rahab was an instance of the salvation of sinners by the grace of God, for she was a sinner
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by birth, by practice, and a notorious one, a prostitute. She was an instance of distinguishing
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grace a free and efficacious grace a singular instance of it and became a true penitent that
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is repentant and real believer she was justified a justified person and saved so the scarlet thread
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therefore signified an emblem of the blood of christ we are not saved by works and we are not
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saved by outward signs of the covenant we are saved by grace alone through faith alone in christ
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alone but in so far as covenantal signs as a scarlet thread or as your public baptism in so
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far as they truly represent inward faith then you bet your bottom dollar baptism saves that scarlet
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thread saved rahab and her whole household it could not save them apart from faith it only saved
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them insofar as it outwardly represented faith and so it is with us we serve a covenant god
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and we enter into that covenant by faith alone but with that covenant come signs and seals
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and these seals do not point inward to our natural kin according to the flesh fellow sinners from
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whom we are leaving but it points outward it points outward to the people of god our kin
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according to the promise by the spirit but not just outward to the church to god's people but
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the sign of baptism the sign of the lord's supper that we're about to partake in now
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these covenantal signs just as the sign of the scarlet thread with rahab first and foremost
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doesn't merely point outward to god's people but outward to the heavens to god himself it reminds
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God of his promise just as he set his bow in the sky remembering his covenant never to flood the
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earth again after the days of Noah so too in our baptism immersed in water reminds God the God of
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heaven that we as Noah was sealed up in the ark which is Christ that we have passed safely through
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the waters of God's judgment and that Christ suffered God's judgment for our sin and that his
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wrath no longer remains for us let's pray father god thank you for your word bless it to your people
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and bring great glory to yourself in jesus name amen can i be frank with you for just a second
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right here at the end look some of you guys you're financially supporting this ministry
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and from the bottom of my heart i say thank you i cannot thank you enough however some of you
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you just you can't afford it in fact some of you you shouldn't afford it let's be honest i mean
01:10:25.660
we're living in joe biden's ridiculous economy our nation and our totalitarian political elites
01:10:33.760
lost their minds over the last three years due to covet we have written checks that we simply
01:10:41.260
cannot cash it doesn't matter if people change the definition of a recession we are living in
01:10:47.840
a recession right now regardless. Some of you are struggling to afford a carton of eggs at the
01:10:54.720
grocery store. You cannot support financially this ministry at this time nor should you but you could
01:11:02.260
still help us tremendously. I am asking you please if you're willing to do so take one minute of your
01:11:09.700
time. Leave us a five-star review on your favorite podcast platform iTunes, Spotify, whatever that
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might be, this is the way the system works. We want to be innocent as doves, but shrewd as vipers.
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We need to be strategic. You leave us a five-star review, and our podcast shows up for more people.
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And the Word of God and courageous theology applied in practical ways to every realm of life
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gets out there. Help us get it out there. Thanks for tuning in.