SUNDAY SERMON - If Christ Has Enemies, Why Don’t His Followers？ ｜ Joshua 5_13-15
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Summary
Joshua 5:13-15 The Lord is dressed for battle, the church is at war, and the Lord is on our side. The Church is militant, and we are at war with the Lord in heaven.
Transcript
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Today, we're continuing with our sermon series through the book of Joshua.
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Our text for today is Joshua chapter 5, verses 13 through 15.
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Again, that's Joshua chapter 5, verses 13 through 15.
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Would you join me now in standing for the reading of God's word?
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When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say this is the word of the Lord,
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at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying thanks be to God.
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One final time, our text for today is Joshua chapter 5, verses 13 through 15.
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When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked.
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And behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand.
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And Joshua went to him and said to him, Are you for us or for our adversaries?
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And he said, No, but I am the commander of the army of the Lord.
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And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped and said to him,
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And the commander of the Lord's army said to Joshua, take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.
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And Joshua did so. This is the word of the Lord.
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The three points that I want to make today, simple but important nonetheless.
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Number one is this, the Lord is dressed for battle.
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The church on earth, you and I who are in Christ in this life, until we breathe our last and go to be present with the Lord in heaven, here on earth, the church is militant.
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First, the Lord is dressed for battle. In your notes, I've written the following.
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This man who was standing before Joshua with his sword drawn in his hand was clearly no mere man, nor was he merely a created angel in human form.
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Instead, he was undoubtedly a divine person, physically manifest in the form of a man.
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Therefore, this is no one less than the Son of God.
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This is the Lord Jesus Christ manifested as a theophany.
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This reality is further clarified by the fact that Joshua paid homage
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and even worshiped unto him by calling him Lord
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and by acknowledging that the ground on which he stood was holy.
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John Gill, the late great Baptist, who preached in the very same church 100 years prior to Charles Spurgeon, in commentating on our text today, says the following.
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Joshua gave him religious worship and adoration, which had he been a created angel, he would not
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have given to him, nor would such a one have received it. If this was an angel, when Joshua
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fell on his face and began to worship him, the angel would have told him to stop. If this was
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merely a man, the man might have received, being sinful, chosen to receive praise and worship
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from another man. But Joshua would have picked up on this and would not have offered worship.
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So if this was a mere man, Joshua would not have worshipped. If it was a mere angel,
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the angel would not have received Joshua's worship. Rather, this is the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Now, in terms of chronological order, this is before the cross. This is before the earthly
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ministry of Jesus Christ before the incarnation. But Jesus did not come into existence at the
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point of the incarnation. He is the eternal son of God, eternally begotten. There is never a time
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in which the son was not. The gospel of John in the opening chapter says in the beginning was
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the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. So before the incarnation took place,
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before Jesus was born of the woman, born of Mary, Jesus eternally existed as the Father and as the
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Spirit, as a most pure Spirit without body, parts, or passions, equally divine to the Father and the
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Spirit, equally worthy of worship, honor, and praise as to the Father and the Spirit. Before
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Jesus took on flesh, he still existed. He is not made. He is not created. Rather, he is eternally
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begotten. Now that said, Jesus did appear in the Old Testament before literally taking on a second
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nature, namely the human nature, taking on flesh in the incarnation. Jesus still had not yet been
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incarnate, had not yet taken on physical flesh, a second nature, the human nature, but he still
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physically was manifest, revealed himself to Old Testament saints. He still appeared at various
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times to individuals such as Abraham. Or we would also argue that Jesus appeared in Nebuchadnezzar's
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fire along with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. When they would not bow the knee to the civil
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magistrate, they were thrown into the fire as punishment. And yet the servants of Nebuchadnezzar
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said, how many men did you throw into the fire? Was it not three? And yet there is a fourth with
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his face shining as though he is the son of man. The son of man being the most popular and frequent
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title that jesus used even for himself son of man not saying that he's not divine oh i'm not
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the son of god i'm merely the son of man no son of man is picking up on the words phrasing of
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ezekiel the prophet that talked about the promised messiah the christ who was the son of man and that
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is implied also the son of god so what we find in the old testament before in chronological timeline
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before the incarnation before jesus took on flesh jesus still at various times appeared as though
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in human form and this theological term for such an occasion is theophany this was a theophany
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I personally believe, and many other biblical scholars would agree,
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that when God walked with Adam and Eve before sin entered the world,
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which, as we saw last week, did not take very long,
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but during this brief moment of God walking with Adam and Eve in the garden in the cool of the day,
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I believe that this, too, was the second member of the Godhead,
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namely, Jesus Christ the Son, pre-incarnation, but in human form, a theophany. A theophany of
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Jesus walking with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day. And so we have not a man, not an angel,
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but the Lord Jesus Christ standing before Joshua and announcing himself as the true and rightful
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commander of the armies of God, the armies of the living God, both heavenly armies, legions of
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angels that Jesus himself says in his earthly ministry that if I wanted to, I could call down
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a legion of angels and decimate Rome and Israel, for that matter, if I wanted to in a moment.
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but he is also the commander of his people on earth.
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His people at this time in this gospel age being Israel,
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he is the commander of angelic hosts and armies,
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but also armies on earth being Israel according to the flesh.
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under the old covenant of which Joshua is a general in that army. So Joshua in the earthly
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sense is the general of the armies of the Lord, human armies, namely Israel, the nation state.
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And yet standing above Joshua is a greater general, the ultimate general, the true and
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rightful commander, the Lord Jesus Christ. You might compare it as an analogy to the chronicles
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of Narnia, that you have Peter, the high king, and he truly is king of Narnia. He is king seated at
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Caer Peravel. There are two kings and two queens in this instance in the golden age of Narnia.
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But Peter is high king above Edmund the just. Peter is the true and rightful king of all of Narnia.
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and yet there is still an ultimate king above him.
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it is not just Narnians, dwarfs and centaurs that fall before him,
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In the same way, Joshua is the successor of Moses.
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He is the highest standing human officer in all of Israel.
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He is the rightful and true general of the armies of the Lord here on earth at that time, namely the nation state of Israel.
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And yet, even though Joshua is the highest human officer in the land, he is the general of the armies of Israel.
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There is an ultimate general above him who has authority both over angelic armies and armies here on earth.
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The Lord Jesus Christ, who has now appeared to him.
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And Jesus comes to him, not dressed for some kind of banquet or ball,
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He's not only dressed and prepared for battle by having his weaponry on his person,
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but the text says that the sword is actually in his hand and drawn. So he's not only girded for
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battle, but he's in a battle stance. He's not only prepared, but he is ready at that very moment
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to wage war. And this is why Joshua asked the question, are you for us or for our adversaries?
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Are you for us or against us? It would be one thing for the Lord Jesus to appear to Joshua
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dressed for battle to wage war against their adversaries with his sword in that moment in
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its scabbard, tucked away. But he comes with his finger on the trigger, so to speak. He's not just
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armed. He's at the ready. The safety is off, which is why it's a legitimate question to ask on
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Joshua's part. Wait a second. Clearly you're here for war, but you're so ready at a moment's notice
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to wage war. I have to ask, are you here to fight me right now in this very moment? But Jesus
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comforts and consoles joshua by answering his question not with the word neither as many
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pietist impotent cowardly effeminate evangelicals would insist but rather he answers the question by
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saying no you want to talk about bible myth busters you want to talk about misinterpreted
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verses in the bible time and time and time again here's one for you joshua says are you on our side
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or are you with our adversaries and every evangelical wants to answer the question by saying
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well the answer is neither right because at the end of the day that's really the character and
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heart of god if you want to understand god this is all you need to understand god is fiercely
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the answer is not neither the answer is no and every serious theologian and biblical commentator
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in looking at this particular text says that the no is in reference not to both parts of joshua's
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question, but merely the latter. Are you for us or are you for our adversaries? It's two questions
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technically. And the Lord Jesus is answering the most recent of those two questions, namely the
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second question or the latter portion, latter half of this one question, if you want to treat it as
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a whole. So what he's saying is this, not neither, but no, no meaning, no, I am not for the godless
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Canaanites. No, I am not here to reinforce your enemies. No. In a sense, what he's saying is,
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I am with you. And brothers and sisters, that is the Lord's answer. It was his answer then,
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and it is still his answer today. The Lord is for you. He is not for the pagans.
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And in his mercy, God chooses at times according to what he decrees
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That is one way that God overcomes his enemies.
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That is one way that God decimates His adversaries.
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He causes them to become new creatures in Christ Jesus.
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And He grants to them the gifts of faith and repentance.
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That the God that we once hated now is the God that we love and serve.
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but that is not the only tool at his disposal god uses grace but god also utilizes justice
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ephesians chapter 1 repeats the phrase three times throughout this single chapter
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to the praise of his glorious grace and the principle that's articulated in this first
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chapter of Paul's letter to the Ephesians is that we were enemies, but God predestined us
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in Christ Jesus. That he overcome our hostility. He changes our nature. He called us and chose us
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in the beloved. And he did this to the praise of his glorious grace. So God saves sinners
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if not even hermeneutically necessary inference
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cross-reference taken with a whole biblical theology,
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The question for the church today is, why don't you?
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The question for the church is, why don't you?
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There are really only two answers to that question.
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one and i'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you'll be able to conclude and
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ascertain from this first option i'll lay before you that this is not a good option
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that it's radically presumptuous arrogant and prideful but the first option is this
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that god has enemies but his people the church do not have enemies because somehow the followers of
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Jesus, are better at being committed to the truth and loving people than Jesus himself was.
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Again, that's the option that's arrogant and presumptuous. That's the wrong answer. Now,
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nobody will actually verbalize that. Nobody will come right out and say it. But that is the logical
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conclusion of many evangelicals today the enemies of christ they killed him but the reason why they
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they love his followers is because we've sold out on truth no no no no it's just because we're
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fiercely committed without an ounce of compromise to all the truth and principles and law word of
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god and yet also more winsome than jesus no woe to you christians
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when the new york times will publish your articles
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when you're condemning uganda for simply advocating for god's law
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some of you watched the interview that I did with
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that was recently adopted to the Constitution in Zambia.
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But in contrasting that with the Christian heritage
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Because if you turn your back on the Lord Jesus Christ,
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Now, why can a generation of people completely and publicly and explicitly rebel against God and still reap his blessings?
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It's not just because of God's mercy, his long suffering, the fact that he's slow to anger and abundant in love.
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The reason why a generation of people can forsake the Lord and still receive His benefits
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is because God is merciful, but also because He's just.
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You might say, if you're rebelling against the Lord,
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the just thing would be for you to reap the consequences.
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But not, however, if God promised prior generations that He would be faithful to their children.
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And now it becomes not only a matter of God's mercy and kindness, but his justice.
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Remember, the scripture says God will not be mocked.
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If one generation sows and works and plants an entire apple orchard,
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well, you'll be able to eat the fruit of those trees for a little while.
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That's not God actually saying, hey, I don't really care about justice.
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you can make light of my precepts and you'll still receive good things. No, that's not God
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honoring the generation that's rebelling, that refuses to plant, that refuses to tend the
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orchard. That's simply God not being mocked, keeping with his promise that a man will reap
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what he sows. It is God keeping in faithfulness and justice to the prior generation, to the prior
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generation. That's what it means for a nation to have a Christian heritage. The heritage of the
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Christian faith is so deep in our nation that it will take a few generations, even generations of
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utter rebellion against God. It will still require a few generations for that heritage to completely
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dry up. Without tending the orchard at all, there will still be apples because that orchard is so
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strong and so deep and so many trees in the past were planted and tended well there will be apples
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for multiple generations and there will be multiple generations of people getting to enjoy
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apples while hating orchards and that doesn't just speak to the mercy of god because those who hate
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orchards certainly don't deserve to have apples so it is merciful but it's not just the mercy of
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God. It speaks to the justice of God. That God doesn't just come in and burn up the orchard
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at the first sign of rebellion. That the hard work of faithfulness in past generations
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will continue to last until it dries up. And so in that sense, the heritage, the Christian
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Today, you would rather be here, even as the White House
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live in Zambia. My point, though, is to say,
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and apple trees take a while to grow so no there's not a lot of apples there
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not today but if we stick with our path here and by god's grace they stick with theirs
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over there then in 200 years well that's why right now it's you know you kind of you know
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cast your bread seven times on the water not knowing which will return right there's there's
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a biblical principle for diversifying when it comes to investments so i you know i was going
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to have the grandchildren zambia fund saving for that just in case well now it's going to be you
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know 50 50 between you know the zambia and uganda fund right because both are great options not today
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but they have a lot of promise a lot of potential because at the end of the day god's word is true
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The nation that fears the Lord will be exalted.
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The only reason why the West has been blessed by God
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that took root all the way from King Alfred till today.
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In fact, that's what we see in the scripture, is that sometimes what the Lord will do in order to bring low the haughty, the proud, is that the Lord will actually raise up someone else, someone who is a nobody.
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Sometimes God will do it, not even with another people.
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But sometimes God will, just to prove his point,
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show that he can garnish glory for himself with inanimate objects.
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And if you don't praise me, the rocks will cry out.
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One, because God will receive praise, one way or another.
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but two, the rocks would cry out as an indictment
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of God's image-bearing creatures who chose to rebel.
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And they don't have enemies not because they're actually gracious or kind or merciful or winsome or strategic or shrewd.
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The reason why today's Christians, especially here in the West, don't have enemies is because we don't look like Jesus.
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And there's also not that much that is a threat.
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But he wasn't put to death because he was viewed as someone who was insane or crazy.
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he wasn't merely a threat to the way that people think
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Herod understood more about the coming of Christ
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didn't just mean that people would worship him privately
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in their sweet, precious little hearts in the 17th dimension.
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and the apostles were killed as well and christians were drawn and quartered some sawn in two
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beheaded even crucified upside down thrown into the lion's den before lions in the coliseum
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all these things were done in the first century
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and some of these things are still done to this day
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that he might enable me to lose half as well as MacArthur.
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And we may not see all the particular victories in particular battles that we'd like to see in our lifetime.
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The crown rights of King Jesus are continually pressed forth over all the earth.
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But one by one, they're being subjected as a footstool under his feet.
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Many of his enemies have already been conquered, and many more are still left to be conquered.
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That is not a question that's left open-ended in our text today.
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But the question that each of us must answer is whether or not we're for him.
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and he shows up with a sword drawn in his hand.
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and this gets to the last point of the text today,
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One of the things that happens here with Joshua,
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because I think I said something in passing last week
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This is right before they're going to go up against Jericho.
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but that's because the spies were sent out ahead of time
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But the battle at Jericho has not yet commenced,
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And so where we are right now in the book of Joshua
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is that Israel has just passed over the Jordan River,
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and they've just renewed the covenant with the Lord
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They've just now stepped into the land of promise
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They're now able to have grain and storehouses,
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the wealth of the wicked will be laid up for the righteous.
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even though he's supernaturally sustained his people
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Joshua in Israel is still probably at some level wrestling with doubt
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joshua was probably concerned how is this going to happen how are we ever going to be able to
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conquer jericho but when jesus appears joshua's not worried about conquering jericho anymore
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joshua is worried about the greatest adversary potential adversary he's ever witnessed namely
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Jesus who's standing right in front of him. He's like, forget about Jericho. Are you against me?
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Are you coming to battle me? Because if so, I'm in really big trouble.
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Jericho is a small threat by comparison to you. The commander of all the armies of earth and
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armies of heaven are you for us or are you for our adversaries essentially what Joshua is asking
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is this he's saying I no longer need to consider the variables of who's stronger who has the
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advantage Israel or Jericho because because a variable has just entered the equation that's so
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massive that all that matters now is this third party and whose side they're on right if even if
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joshua in his mind was thinking israel is like like an inch and jericho is a foot israel is the
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strength of ten men but but jericho is a strength of a hundred well when jesus walks into the
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equation. The 10 versus 100 is inconsequential now. It no longer matters, right? It's like if
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you ever play, you know, on like a family vacation. And it's never fair, I might add.
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The rules don't make any logical sense whatsoever. I've been told again and again it's just about
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spending time together. So that's something I've had to come to terms with. But you're playing like
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a game, like Scattergories or something like that. It's like, you get a point. You get a point. You
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get a point. And now all of a sudden, you know, it's like 10 to 3. All right, bonus round. And
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the next question is worth 10 trillion points. You're like, what have we been doing this whole
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time? 10 trillion? Like what math did you learn? What scale is this? You've just rendered the last
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two hours as completely irrelevant. I don't understand, right? Well, again, the point in
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that scenario is to spend time with one another. The point is also to pity the weak. To pity the
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weak. It's the equivalent of passing out, you know, participation trophies. Okay, so these things
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happen. It's a part of life. But it is a good illustration for the scenario of what's going
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down with Jericho versus Israel, Joshua being confronted by Jesus. Right? Jericho has got 10
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points on the board. Israel's got, well, they had zero, but then, you know, the Jordan River parted
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and now we'll say that's 2.5. It's 10 to 2.5. But then the bonus round starts. Jesus walks in. He's
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worth an infinite amount of points. So all that matters for winning the game at this point is
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It's helpful to put things into biblical perspective.
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Everybody being on your side, being seated in the chief seats in the marketplace, receiving the honor and accolades of men.
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At the end of the day, none of these things matter.
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What matters in terms of winning the war, not just a particular battle at a particular time, in a particular place,
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But winning the war, all that matters is whether or not the Lord is on your side.
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And he doesn't just win suddenly and cataclysmically and spiritually.
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But he wins gradually and progressively and tangibly.
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and we may not get to see all of those winds and our brief vapor of life here on earth
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but he does win he does conquer yes he died he was crucified but jesus himself said unless a seed
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dies and is planted in the ground. It cannot come to life. It cannot grow.
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Jesus died as a seed dies. He was buried as a seed is buried under dirt.
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But that's not the end of the story. It's not the end. The end of the story is not that Jesus
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died and was buried so that we know that in following jesus we can expect to have the same
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results that he did now jesus chose to die even though he didn't have to jesus was buried
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so that like a seed he might sprout and multiply other seeds all over the earth
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so that eventually the tree might cover the whole face of the earth that the glory of god would
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fill the whole earth as the waters cover the sea, like leaven working through a whole batch of dough.
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The Lord is on our side. We're not sovereign. He wins, and he wins tangibly, and he wins
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progressively, and he doesn't win despite the church. He will win through his church,
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his militant church here on earth. That said, we don't know every battle he'll win,
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I don't know what God's going to do but in terms of is it possible that God would win the world
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to himself progressively gradually over time and one of the ways he would do it is by proving to
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all the nations of the earth that his glory and majesty and the blessings of his law that flow
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The nation that fears the Lord will be exalted.
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Those are the true promises for true Israel
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Unconditional promises for these nations do not exist.
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the only thing that matters is the bonus round.
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that nothing can separate us from the love of God.
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but the question again remains are we for him will we stand for him
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the last thing that i'll say is this you've heard of gospel-centered preaching
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gospel-centered preaching is a biblical preaching it's a blessing to be sure
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but there is also such a thing as hell-centered preaching hell-centered preaching in our
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generation has been radically underestimated Jonathan Edwards made use of it from time to time
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and it was highly effective leaving call marks in the back of the pews people were so scared they
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were clutching on for dear life trying to make it through the sermon and many were brought to faith
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in Jesus Christ that infamous sermon sinners in the hands of an angry God and what we find
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throughout the scripture both of the old and new testament for that matter is that god
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he promises incredible blessings to those who fear him who trust and obey but god in his love
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also threatens terrible things to those who rebel and both the threatening of his judgment
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Jesus standing in front of him, are you for us or are you for our enemies?
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Well, this is where Jesus answers the question by preaching a hell-centered sermon.
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We might have wanted a gospel-centered sermon, but he gives us a hell-centered sermon,
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but after having killed the body can do nothing more to you,
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but rather fear God who sent his only son to die.
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One, because he did send his son to die for us.
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he's better than our adversaries who hold out to us promises but then always betray
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promise but never deliver god is not a crooked and corrupt politician
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he always delivers what he promises so we should submit to him and fear him because he's good
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But we also should fear him because he is terrible in his judgments.
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And whatever adversaries we have on earth with man, they can only do so much harm to us.
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But God not only has power over the body, but also the soul.
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It should matter more to Christians to have God in our corner than the New York Times.
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It should matter more to Christians to have God in our corner.
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It should matter to Christians more that we have God in our corner than any man.
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That means he is jealous for our devotion, both in our love of him and in our fear of him.
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As John Gill goes further to say, I don't have time to read it,
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but his sword has been drawn ever since the serpent slithered up in the garden.
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He promised to put enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.
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And from that day, not just in the times of the Old Testament or the days of Joshua in Israel,
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But all the way up until this very hour, the Lord has been dressed for battle and his sword is in his hand and his church as soldiers and his army here on earth is militant.
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And all that matters at the end of the day is that we remain faithful to our great commander in chief, the Lord Jesus Christ.
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He is the great warrior dressed for battle and that through his church here on earth, that he is one by one subduing his enemies.
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We don't know what the future has for us in this place and in this hour, but we know the outcome of the war.
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And our job is not to predict the outcome of every instance, but simply to be faithful to what you have revealed in your word.
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We don't need to partner with people who hate you.
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We don't need the L and G and B to take down the T and Q and plus.
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We don't cast out darkness with a slightly lighter shade of darkness.
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let us stand for what's right even if in a practical sense it seems as though it'll never
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work open our eyes like the servant of Elisha whose eyes were open to see that there were
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heavenly armies surrounded that we actually outnumber our adversaries when we take Christ
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into account. We're not in a position where we have to concede. We don't have to write treaties.
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We don't have to wave the white flag of surrender. We're not outnumbered. We never have been.
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We have the great equalizer. We have the great variable that determines the outcome of every
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battle. We have the Lord Jesus Christ on our side. Help us not to betray him. Help us to remain
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faithful. Open our eyes. Give us faith. Give us courage for your glory and for the good of those
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you're saving. We pray these things 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.
00:55:27.260
I mean, we're living in Joe Biden's ridiculous economy. Our nation and our totalitarian
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political elites lost their minds over the last three years due to COVID. We have written checks
00:55:42.440
that we simply cannot cash. It doesn't matter if people change the definition of a recession.
00:55:48.380
We are living in a recession right now regardless. Some of you are struggling to afford a carton of
00:55:56.040
eggs at the grocery store. You cannot support financially this ministry at this time, nor
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should you, but you could still help us tremendously. I am asking you, please, if you're willing to do
00:56:09.620
so, take one minute of your time. Leave us a five-star review on your favorite podcast platform,
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iTunes, Spotify, whatever that might be. This is the way the system works. We want to be innocent
00:56:23.280
as doves, but shrewd as vipers. We need to be strategic. You leave us a five-star review and
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our podcast shows up for more people. And the Word of God and courageous theology applied in
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practical ways to every realm of life gets out there. Help us get it out there. Thanks for tuning in.