The NXR Podcast - SUNDAY SERMON - Sheep, Goats, & The Great Shepherd

00:00:00.000 all right listen guys i get it many of you are unable to financially support this ministry

00:00:04.640 because you're spending your cash and your lives on raising young children in the fear and

00:00:09.540 admonition of the lord praise god for you and that endeavor however algorithms are a thing

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00:00:35.240 with a friend we hope you'll take the time to do so thank you so much god bless one final time our

00:00:41.320 text for today is hebrews chapter 13 verse 20 through 25 the bible says this now may the god

00:00:48.260 of peace who brought again from the dead our lord jesus the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood

00:00:55.420 of the eternal covenant equip you with everything good that you may do his will working in us that

00:01:02.160 which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever amen

00:01:09.640 I appeal to you brothers bear with my word of exhortation for I have written to you briefly

00:01:16.620 you should know that our brother Timothy has been released with whom I shall see you if he comes

00:01:23.180 soon. Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings.

00:01:30.520 Grace be with all of you. This is the word of the Lord. All right, please be seated. Let's go ahead

00:01:37.380 and dive right in. I've taken our text and exacted from it what I believe are three of the most

00:01:44.620 primary and significant points. The first is the great shepherd. The great shepherd. In your notes,

00:01:52.940 I've written the following. This is the first time and only time in the whole book of Hebrews

00:01:57.780 that Jesus is referred to as a shepherd, much less as the great shepherd. Hebrews chapter 13,

00:02:06.180 namely verse 20. As the author finishes his letter, he wants to assure his readers that they are in

00:02:12.420 good hands. Christ will lead us. Christ will protect us. And most importantly, Christ has

00:02:19.560 promised to never lose us the author to the hebrews who i believe was the apostle paul

00:02:26.460 regardless this apostolic author inspired by the holy spirit has written to the hebrew christians

00:02:33.880 of his day many stark warnings we think of hebrews chapter 6 when repentance is impossible

00:02:42.460 for those who have once tasted of the heavenly gift once been enlightened for those who have

00:02:49.920 experienced certain covenantal realities in an external sense should they turn away or fall away

00:02:58.400 it is impossible for them to be brought back to repentance that's hebrews chapter 6 we talked

00:03:04.560 about that at length spent multiple weeks on that particular passage in this letter also hebrews

00:03:11.260 chapter 10 talks about trampling the blood of the covenant we talked about what it is to trample the

00:03:19.260 blood of the covenant what what it is to go apostate what it is to fall away and to have no hope of

00:03:27.560 return to the fold there are many stark warnings in the book of hebrews there are also many

00:03:34.280 descriptive passages about those who have compromised their faith have turned back to

00:03:40.380 Judaism have turned back to the priestly animal sacrificial system in Jerusalem and those who can

00:03:47.960 expect nothing else but judgment by fire and so it's fitting here at the end of our letter

00:03:54.740 that the apostle would leave us with words of comfort consolation and hope encouragement that

00:04:03.000 although there are severe judgments for those who resist and reject the promise of the gospel

00:04:09.020 for those who have faith in jesus by way of contrast they can expect that the same grace

00:04:15.960 that saved them will be faithful to keep them to the very end and this is because jesus is

00:04:23.460 the chief shepherd and the responsibility for keeping the sheep falls primarily and we could

00:04:31.220 also say exclusively not upon the sheep themselves but upon the shepherd who watches their souls

00:04:39.820 Jesus is the chief shepherd the great shepherd the good shepherd chief shepherd in first Peter

00:04:47.980 chapter 5 the great shepherd in Hebrews chapter 13 the good shepherd of John chapter 10 Jesus is

00:04:56.860 the one who sees fit that not one of his own are lost these are the words of christ in john

00:05:05.560 the gospel of john chapter 10 verse 25 through 30 jesus answered them i told you and you do not

00:05:14.760 believe the works that i do in my father's name bear witness about me but you do not believe

00:05:22.460 because you are not among my sheep.

00:05:26.500 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.

00:05:32.680 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish,

00:05:37.020 and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

00:05:41.200 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,

00:05:44.940 and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.

00:05:49.840 I and the Father are one.

00:05:54.220 There's a lot of misunderstanding, I believe, among evangelicals today in regards to what is a sheep, who is a sheep.

00:06:05.300 I think we often think in terms of conversion that someone was previously not a sheep.

00:06:14.660 They were not a sheep belonging to Christ,

00:06:16.740 and then they become, they're transformed,

00:06:19.940 transitioned into a sheep.

00:06:22.340 That is not the principle of the Scripture.

00:06:26.460 That's not what the Bible teaches.

00:06:29.080 In salvation, in conversion,

00:06:32.280 by grace alone, through faith alone,

00:06:34.300 in Christ alone,

00:06:36.120 a person does not become a sheep.

00:06:39.120 That person who is truly saved

00:06:41.620 was always a sheep.

00:06:44.040 The difference in conversion is that they were once a lost sheep, but now are found.

00:06:51.100 They were outside of the fold, but have now been found by the great shepherd and brought into his care.

00:07:00.180 So it's not that someone was a goat and in conversion has now been transformed into a sheep.

00:07:08.220 it is that this person was always a sheep but they were once lost outside of the fold but have now

00:07:16.340 been gathered by the good shepherd the chief shepherd the great shepherd and brought into

00:07:21.720 the pin of security and safety jesus says my sheep know my voice they hear my voice

00:07:31.420 they respond to the voice of the shepherd they come at his bidding and he speaks of

00:07:40.340 the unbeliever who is not merely unregenerate you and I Ephesians chapter 2 says and such

00:07:49.220 were some of you we were not physically born into this world as Christians we were not physically

00:07:56.540 born in this world as regenerate saved individuals but we were always if you are truly in Christ we

00:08:07.520 were always his sheep there are some who are not merely unregenerate but will be saved and converted

00:08:16.560 by the power of the gospel later on lost sheep who will become found sheep now there are also some

00:08:24.040 who are the reprobate the non-elect who are not lost sheep soon to become found sheep

00:08:33.800 no they are not sheep at all they are goats they will never respond to the voice of the shepherd

00:08:42.040 they hate the shepherd they respond to the voice of wolves not not the shepherd this is precisely

00:08:52.900 what Jesus says in John chapter 10 he said I told you and you do not believe the works that I do in

00:09:00.240 my father's name namely his miracles bear witness about me they prove that I am exactly who I say

00:09:08.840 I am but you do not believe why because there's not enough evidence because the preaching of

00:09:17.260 christ is not persuasive enough because raising lazarus from the dead a publicly verified miracle

00:09:27.420 is not convincing enough no you do not believe because you are not among my sheep my sheep hear

00:09:37.600 my voice and i know them and they follow me jesus is speaking of sheep not merely saying christians

00:09:46.760 those who are already converted already born again already regenerated with new hearts by

00:09:53.960 the power of the holy spirit and endowed sovereignly by god with the gifts of faith

00:09:58.280 and repentance they are now sheep and therefore they now are able to hear my voice and respond

00:10:05.220 that's not what he's saying jesus is saying essentially that i am performing mighty signs

00:10:11.760 and wonders to a large audience, namely the people of Israel, to Jews and Gentiles also,

00:10:22.140 but primarily the people of Israel. I'm performing these signs and wonders in front of thousands.

00:10:29.380 Jesus fed the 5,000 men, easily 15, 20, 25,000 people. He also fed the 4,000. These are two

00:10:38.200 separate accounts. It is not a textual variant where the numbers are right in one account and

00:10:44.960 off in the other. No, Jesus did this miracle of multiplying food twice. And he did it not just

00:10:52.060 for a few dozen people in someone's living room. He did it on a mountain, on a hillside, outdoors,

00:10:59.820 where there were tens of thousands of people present twice. And yet what Jesus is saying is

00:11:07.880 that as he ministers with miracles, signs and wonders,

00:11:12.000 validating him as the Christ, as the Messiah,

00:11:15.660 validating his message,

00:11:17.060 but also not just doing miracles, but preaching.

00:11:20.400 As Jesus preaches and teaches and performs signs and wonders,

00:11:24.720 none of this is done in a remote, obscure corner of the world.

00:11:29.620 These are publicly validated teachings,

00:11:33.540 preachings and signs and wonders seen by thousands of people and what Jesus is essentially saying is

00:11:41.540 this that the only difference in how people respond to the public ministry of Jesus is not

00:11:51.400 because he does something convincing for one group of people and then something unconvincing for

00:11:57.400 another. It's not because one group of people were privy to Lazarus and his resurrection and

00:12:05.100 another group of people didn't see it. No, it's not because one group of people gets the good

00:12:11.820 sermons of Jesus, right? Matthew 5, 6, and 7, the Sermon on the Mount, and then somebody else got

00:12:17.200 the snickle fritz. That's not what's going on. What's going on is this. Everyone hears the same

00:12:23.280 preaching, sees the same miracles. Some recognize him as the Christ. They hear his voice, they come.

00:12:31.720 Others reject him. Why? Because some are sheep and some are goats. Some are sheep and some are goats.

00:12:42.780 For the unbeliever, their hang-up is not merely that there's a lack of evidence pointing towards

00:12:50.560 the reality and the existence and the truth of the triune God.

00:12:56.020 The reason why people reject Christ is because they hate him. It is not an intellectual

00:13:03.180 deficiency. The problem is not evidence. The problem is not logic. The problem is not

00:13:11.660 intellect. The problem is moral. It is a moral hang-up. Some people will never respond to

00:13:19.980 Christ because they can't. They can't. They are unable and unwilling. Romans chapter 8 says that

00:13:32.180 the mind of the sinful man is hostile, not merely uninterested or indifferent, but hostile towards

00:13:42.340 God and his law he does not submit to him nor can he that is he will not and he cannot he will not

00:13:55.300 and he cannot Jesus told a parable of a poor beggar named Lazarus and a rich man that Lazarus

00:14:04.280 used to long to eat the crumbs that fell from this man's table Lazarus furthermore in addition

00:14:11.960 to starvation. He was afflicted by many wounds and sores. The rabbit dogs of the first century

00:14:21.700 world were not domesticated cute pets like we have today. This generation of people and culture

00:14:31.080 opted for children instead of chihuahuas and purses. So the dogs were wild, licking his sores.

00:14:38.620 he was in misery and agony but eventually he died and Jesus says in this parable the angels carried

00:14:48.460 him to Abraham's bosom and the rich man also dies and he is carried to hell now it's important to

00:14:59.260 understand that before the cross in terms of chronological human history when people died

00:15:06.280 both the righteous and the wicked they both went to what the bible describes as the place of the

00:15:13.800 dead hades we use this language in our confession of faith each lord's day in our liturgy that

00:15:23.300 jesus died and was buried he descended to hades now there's a debate over the original language

00:15:32.680 of the Apostles' Creed, whether it says hell or Hades, in either case, we've opted for the term

00:15:40.420 Hades, realm of the dead. We see this in Peter's epistles, that Jesus descended to the realm of

00:15:49.200 the dead and preached. He preached to spirits held captive. Now, this is not Jesus going to hell

00:15:59.060 after his crucifixion and burial before his resurrection during this three-day period as

00:16:06.140 his body is laid in the tomb in his spirit Peter says he goes to the realm of the dead and preaches

00:16:12.720 to spirits held captive this is not to say that Jesus goes and preaches the gospel

00:16:18.000 as a second opportunity for people in hell to believe and to then go to heaven

00:16:26.400 No, Jesus is pronouncing his victory.

00:16:29.700 He's not going to the realm of the dead to preach an opportunity.

00:16:34.880 He's going to the realm of the dead to announce his victory

00:16:39.100 and to rub it in his enemies' faces.

00:16:43.060 Once you die, that's it, brothers and sisters.

00:16:46.500 There is no second opportunity.

00:16:49.440 And there is no end to the conscious torment of hell.

00:16:54.680 The Bible does not teach annihilationism.

00:16:59.460 Hell will never end.

00:17:01.240 The worm will not die.

00:17:04.280 It will be a conscious torment

00:17:06.040 under the white-hot wrath of God forever.

00:17:10.660 And it's important that we understand

00:17:12.500 that what makes hell so terrible

00:17:14.180 is not because God is absent in hell.

00:17:18.240 What makes hell so terrible

00:17:20.160 is that God is present.

00:17:23.680 And the torment that those who rebel against Christ and reject his offer of salvation,

00:17:31.140 the torment that they will experience, is the torment of God's wrath.

00:17:36.360 What is absent in hell is not the presence of God, but the goodness of God.

00:17:42.640 What is absent in hell is the kindness of God, the grace and mercy and love of God.

00:17:50.720 for the non-elect this world and this life is the closest they'll ever get to heaven

00:17:58.840 and for those of us who are in christ this world and this life is the closest we'll ever get

00:18:05.180 to hell if by grace through faith in christ you have been saved and the suffering you experience

00:18:14.420 in this mist of a life, this vapor of a life, your mere 70, 80, 90 years,

00:18:23.240 the suffering that you experience here is the worst it ever gets.

00:18:29.900 It's all better from here on out.

00:18:34.260 But for the non-elect, the joy that they experience in this life is the best they'll ever get.

00:18:41.920 it's the closest to the goodness of God that they'll ever experience and so Jesus descends

00:18:49.440 to the realm of the dead and in the realm of the dead some old scholars believe that it was a

00:18:56.980 physical realm actually deep within the belly of this world in a literal sense and whether that's

00:19:05.300 true or not. I lean towards not, but I really enjoy a good conspiracy, especially because most

00:19:15.660 of them come true these days. So whether it's physically in the belly of the earth or whether

00:19:21.980 it was a spiritual place, the point is this, that there are two sections of Hades, hell and Abraham's

00:19:31.580 bosom so jesus when he dies his body physically is buried in the tomb and in the spirit he descends

00:19:40.840 to hades and in hades he proclaims his victory preaches to spirits held captive he is proclaiming

00:19:51.080 his victory over demonic spirits and human souls reprobates who rejected him even the days of noah

00:20:01.040 is what Peter says. Remember, Noah was a heralder of righteousness, is what the New Testament

00:20:07.880 apostles say, that Noah for 120 years preached. He was not just an architect, a construction worker

00:20:20.100 building an ark, but he was a preacher. Noah preached for 120 years as God waited patiently

00:20:28.640 with the sins of wicked, vile people.

00:20:34.740 God waited and Noah preached.

00:20:38.600 When the Bible says elsewhere

00:20:40.320 that God has numbered man's years to be 120,

00:20:46.280 we know that Moses lived to be 120.

00:20:49.480 I believe that that is a coincidence.

00:20:53.540 I believe that the numbering of man's years,

00:20:57.120 120 years is not to say that if you're righteous, if you trust the Lord, if you're obedient,

00:21:04.340 you will die on your 120th birthday. The 120 years, man's years, that were set and limited by God

00:21:13.920 is referring to the days of Noah. That there were 120 years left until they all died. Until God

00:21:22.960 flooded the world and for 120 years Noah built an ark which is a type of Christ that the righteous

00:21:32.640 would be taken up into the ark and notice that in this narrative this historic account

00:21:38.960 that it's the Lord himself Noah builds the ark but it is the Lord himself I believe a theophany

00:21:46.120 the second member of the Trinity, Jesus Christ, before his incarnation, but Christ in the Spirit

00:21:53.760 with a physical, not incarnation, but a physical manifestation of the spiritual Christ who comes

00:22:01.640 and physically closes the door, seals these eight righteous persons, Noah, his wife, three sons,

00:22:09.140 and their three wives, seals them up in the ark as a picture of the gospel. And for 120 years,

00:22:15.800 Noah imaged Christ in the type of the ark and he preached Christ and these people rejected

00:22:26.040 Christ and when Christ dies and his body is physically buried in the tomb in the spirit

00:22:32.400 he descends to Hades not hell but Hades that is the realm of the dead where there is a great

00:22:39.420 chasm separating two sections of the realm of the dead Abraham's bosom for the righteous who had

00:22:46.640 faith in Jesus even before his earthly ministry before his incarnation that's Abraham and Isaac

00:22:52.840 and Jacob and Joseph the patriarchs all of them in Abraham's bosom and across this great chasm

00:22:59.200 all those who rejected Christ and Christ goes to the realm of the dead namely Hades and in Abraham's

00:23:06.340 bosom with the righteous he preaches across that chasm condemning all those who rejected him

00:23:14.080 declaring his victory over them and that includes human reprobate souls it also includes certain

00:23:22.760 demons that are so dangerous that they were not permitted by god to roam the earth but they were

00:23:29.940 locked, Jude speaks of this, in gloomy dungeons because they would wreak far too much havoc.

00:23:38.200 These are some old school interpretations of scripture today,

00:23:41.540 which I'm much more interested in Christianity yesterday than Christianity today. I think

00:23:48.680 Christianity tomorrow has a bright future for the record. I don't think it's all downhill,

00:23:53.140 but I think we're living in one of those moments where when I hear, you know, evangelicals say,

00:23:58.840 we need a new translation. I'm like, let's let's let our grandkids do that. I don't think you guys

00:24:03.220 are qualified. Like this is just, this is not, this is just not the generation to do any serious

00:24:09.900 exegetical work. You're all compromised. You're all woke. You're all feminist. Just, just sit a

00:24:18.040 play out, purchase some more dogs. Conservatives will have children. And then 80 years from now,

00:24:26.440 our grandkids, you know, can build some new seminaries and do some serious work. So all that

00:24:32.020 being said, Jesus descends to Hades, the realm of the dead. He proclaims his victory, and then he

00:24:37.980 takes certain captives, liberates them, namely those in Abraham's bosom, the righteous. Abraham, Isaac,

00:24:45.900 Jacob, Joseph. He takes these individuals and brings them now to heaven because his atoning work

00:24:54.680 at calvary is now finished and therefore can be particularly and practically applied

00:25:01.940 that's the historic teaching of jesus descent the descent of christ to the realm of the dead

00:25:12.160 now all that being said the point is that there are some people who will never ever receive christ

00:25:23.580 And the parable that Christ tells of Lazarus, this poor beggar, and the rich man who is in hell, Hades, hell category, Lazarus, Hades, Abraham, bosoms category, this rich man, he says, send Lazarus to dip his finger in cold water and touch my tongue to quench my thirst for I am in agony here.

00:25:50.700 i'm in agony and jesus says in this parable that that there's no way to cross this great chasm so

00:25:59.920 that even if someone did wish to go from one side to the other it would be impossible impossible

00:26:07.700 and furthermore the rich man then says well if you can't ease my torment

00:26:15.760 Then send Lazarus back.

00:26:17.720 He just has this constant mindset that Lazarus is still a servant.

00:26:21.640 He doesn't really recognize that their hierarchical positions have been turned.

00:26:27.540 He's in agony now.

00:26:29.220 Lazarus is not his servant.

00:26:31.160 He's not going to quench his thirst.

00:26:32.900 He's not going to do his bidding.

00:26:34.740 But this man says, I have five brothers that are still living.

00:26:38.120 And I don't want them to come to this place of torment.

00:26:42.380 So send Lazarus back from the dead.

00:26:45.120 Because they'll believe, I didn't believe, but they'll believe if someone rises from the dead.

00:26:52.880 Jesus says in this parable, Abraham speaking, that they have Moses and the prophets.

00:27:00.880 Meaning they have God's law, God's law word.

00:27:07.100 And all of it, types and shadows pointing towards the Christ.

00:27:11.960 The sole object of saving faith.

00:27:15.120 all that is available to them.

00:27:18.200 And if they don't believe Moses and the prophets,

00:27:20.540 they will not believe even if one should rise from the dead.

00:27:27.380 Essentially what Jesus is saying is this.

00:27:31.740 There is no degree or amount of evidence

00:27:37.280 that is capable of convincing someone of the truth of Christ.

00:27:42.660 it is a moral problem people who go to hell are not people who say i just i didn't know

00:27:51.960 or or i wasn't raised in a christian home or i met some christians that preached the gospel but

00:27:58.820 they god they had they just they had a nasty tone and it turned me off and so therefore my

00:28:05.880 rejection of you because of these christians bad tone that justifies me for rejecting you right

00:28:11.440 No. No. No, it's not a mere matter of evidence. It's a matter of the heart.

00:28:22.780 The person who receives the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ is a person who has a new nature.

00:28:29.980 They're making a choice that no one else makes because they have another nature.

00:28:37.460 Your choices are limited by your nature.

00:28:41.820 There are certain things that an ox will do

00:28:45.080 and certain things that an ox will not do.

00:28:49.220 There are certain things that a lion will do

00:28:52.040 and certain things that a lion will not do.

00:28:56.360 Because these creatures are bound by the confines of their nature.

00:29:01.660 The notion that human beings have limitless free will is a naive and foolish notion.

00:29:13.720 You cannot will yourself to fly.

00:29:17.960 You cannot will yourself to be nine feet tall.

00:29:22.040 There are certain things, no matter what you want, will not happen because your nature does not allow for it to happen.

00:29:31.660 You cannot will yourself as a man to become a woman.

00:29:37.420 You cannot will yourself as a woman to become a man.

00:29:44.020 Our choices, which we do have,

00:29:47.700 they are bound by our nature

00:29:50.500 and furthermore, they are bound by providence.

00:29:57.060 I chose to wear a black shirt today,

00:29:59.960 But I did not make that choice from limitless options.

00:30:06.160 I did not have limitless options because I'm not a millionaire.

00:30:11.220 I have 10 dress shirts to choose from.

00:30:18.220 Most of them aren't clean.

00:30:22.200 Providentially, my spectrum of choices is now narrowed even further.

00:30:27.920 And within these choices, there's all these other multiple variables and circumstances, my preference and personality, my nurture as well as nature and upbringing and all the things that brought me here today to wear a black dress shirt.

00:30:47.080 when you go and choose what seat to sit in in a movie theater you are not making that choice

00:30:55.560 with half the freedom as you suppose you're making that choice based off of the size of

00:31:03.780 your prostate and how often you think you're going to have to get up and use the restroom

00:31:08.560 you're making that choice dependent on the age of your children and if they're with you

00:31:15.720 and whether or not they had a nap that day

00:31:18.300 and how loud they'll be.

00:31:20.740 You're making that choice based off of the distance

00:31:23.820 between you and the screen and viewer visibility,

00:31:27.800 what seats were already taken by other people

00:31:30.440 and which ones are left and available.

00:31:36.140 You are not autonomous.

00:31:39.320 There is only one autonomous being in all the universe

00:31:42.960 and that is the triune God.

00:31:45.720 He alone has true freedom of the will.

00:31:50.820 He alone has what we would call true autonomous freedom.

00:31:56.740 Creatures have freedom, but the will of creatures is strictly bound.

00:32:04.680 Human beings, the pinnacle of earthly creatures made in the very image of God,

00:32:09.940 have greater wider spectrum of freedom than animals do which are governed predominantly by

00:32:18.560 instinct but even our freedom is likewise limited just by strictly trying to avoid the laws of

00:32:29.940 non-contradiction just within a logical argument much less a biblical one you cannot have

00:32:38.460 two autonomously free beings

00:32:42.900 in the same context,

00:32:45.420 in the same universe.

00:32:48.560 If one being is autonomously free,

00:32:53.380 then the other being,

00:32:54.860 by virtue of this one's autonomous freedom,

00:32:57.680 the other one cannot be.

00:33:00.760 Their autonomy would contradict

00:33:03.820 and limit the autonomy of the other.

00:33:06.840 When we say that God is sovereign, we should take note and acknowledge that by way of consequence, we are also saying that man is bound.

00:33:20.120 If God has sovereign freedom in all creation, then all creatures are bound by his sovereignty.

00:33:31.740 Bound.

00:33:34.520 No one is neutral.

00:33:36.840 Because all of us are creaturely, physical, finite, and most importantly, in the spiritual and moral realm, fallen.

00:33:49.500 Both your finitude and your fallenness severely limit your choices.

00:33:57.600 What you're actually able to do.

00:34:00.620 And what the Bible teaches in regards to that last category of fallenness, not just physical hindrances, creaturely hindrances, finite hindrances, but moral hindrances, spiritual hindrances, namely the sin nature, a fallen nature.

00:34:23.620 nature one of the choices that your fallen nature if you are not in christ not born again not

00:34:31.020 regenerate with a new heart by the power of the holy spirit one of the choices that is off the

00:34:36.220 table for you is belief in the son of god you will not trust him indeed you cannot trust him

00:34:49.740 and that is why the heartbeat of the reformation and reform theology is namely this

00:34:57.020 regeneration precedes faith regeneration precedes faith in order to enter the kingdom of heaven

00:35:09.360 per the gospel of john chapter 3 much less even see the kingdom of heaven according to christ

00:35:17.700 you must be born again.

00:35:22.420 You cannot exercise faith in Christ

00:35:26.320 unless you first be born again,

00:35:30.260 unless you first be given a new heart,

00:35:34.220 a.k.a. a new nature.

00:35:38.000 What does the Apostle Paul teach

00:35:40.460 in his epistles to the Corinthians?

00:35:43.200 That if any man is in Christ,

00:35:45.500 he is a new creature, a new creation.

00:35:52.080 And as a new creature, he has a new nature.

00:35:56.520 And with a new nature, he has a new spectrum of choices available to him.

00:36:04.920 And the new nature, one of the choices that is made available

00:36:08.700 to those who have a new nature,

00:36:10.680 we are new creatures with a new heart endowed with the gifts of faith and repentance one of

00:36:18.480 the choices available to us now is faith in christ and true repentance of sins and not only

00:36:27.600 is the choice of faith in christ made available to us now but it is the guaranteed option that

00:36:36.240 any new creature in Christ Jesus will undoubtedly choose. This is presuppositionalism. Everyone

00:36:48.140 has a presupposition. In other words, everyone has a bias, and that includes the Christian.

00:36:57.780 In fact, you could perhaps argue that the Christian is most biased of all, and that

00:37:03.280 That's not immoral.

00:37:05.740 There's nothing to be ashamed of.

00:37:08.260 The bias of the Christian is that Christ rose from the dead.

00:37:15.380 That's the bias.

00:37:17.020 That is our basic underlying presupposition.

00:37:24.900 And the Christian should approach all of life with that bias,

00:37:29.820 with an allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ,

00:37:33.280 that he lived he died he was buried he descended he was resurrected and ascended to the right hand

00:37:44.260 of god the father almighty and that he is currently ruling and reigning not merely in a spiritual sense

00:37:51.220 in the 17th dimension but over this tangible physical literal blood-bought world he is king

00:37:58.380 jesus and it all belongs to him and the christian as a subject in christ's kingdom with allegiance

00:38:07.320 to christ as king approaches all of life with that basic presupposition and likewise

00:38:16.140 on the other side of the coin the unbeliever approaches all of life with their bias their

00:38:24.560 presupposition, which is hatred for the triune God. So it is not as though all people are sheep

00:38:35.100 and all people are presented with varying degrees of convincing and persuasive arguments and signs

00:38:44.520 and symbols of the lordship of Jesus, and some are persuaded and others are not. Some of these sheep

00:38:53.280 become found sheep and others remain lost sheep. Now Jesus says plainly on the final day of judgment

00:39:00.040 he will separate the found sheep from the lost sheep. No. The sheep from the goats.

00:39:08.380 The sheep will be at his right hand and everyone who is a sheep and everyone who ever was a sheep

00:39:14.980 they'll all go to glory and everyone who was ever a goat will always be a goat

00:39:24.140 and will be condemned to outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth

00:39:30.660 so the illustration that christ provides for us on the pages of scripture

00:39:37.160 of the doctrine of conversion

00:39:40.640 is not a goat being transformed into a sheep.

00:39:46.120 It is a lost sheep who has always been a sheep

00:39:49.920 but is now found by the shepherd.

00:39:54.700 Jesus in John chapter 10 again says,

00:39:58.000 I told you and you do not believe.

00:40:01.180 The works that I do in my Father's name

00:40:03.920 bear witness about me,

00:40:05.660 but you do not believe because you are not among my sheep.

00:40:13.700 Elsewhere, there's a time in Christ's earthly ministry

00:40:18.720 where his own disciples questioned him after one of his public teachings.

00:40:24.060 They asked Jesus, why is it that you always speak in parables?

00:40:29.480 There are times that later you'll provide plain speech

00:40:33.320 an interpretation of the parables for us, your closest disciples, in private.

00:40:40.140 But to the people in public, you exclusively speak in parables.

00:40:48.200 And Jesus responds to their question by quoting Isaiah, the prophet,

00:40:54.580 and says this is to fulfill Isaiah's prophecy,

00:40:58.820 that they would be ever hearing but never listening ever seeing but never perceiving

00:41:08.020 that their hearts would be darkened and never receive understanding in other words although

00:41:15.960 there are many today who say you know pastors should preach more like jesus jesus used parables

00:41:21.840 And parables are helpful illustrations that make things more sensical.

00:41:28.240 They take something that may be harder to understand and provide a story, an illustration, an example,

00:41:36.360 and make these things that are difficult to understand more palatable and easy to understand.

00:41:42.980 That's not Jesus' definition of a parable.

00:41:46.240 Jesus says, I speak in parables to make sure that people are always confused.

00:41:50.960 i speak in parables to make sure that the truth of the kingdom is something they miss

00:41:59.120 i speak in parables so that isaiah would be fulfilled that they would hear but never listen

00:42:08.480 see but never really perceive and that their hearts would remain in a state

00:42:14.400 of not understanding because they're not mine they're not mine they're not my people

00:42:26.600 they're not my flock they're not my sheep my sheep even with the parable

00:42:34.220 we understand parables as illustrations they're better to be understood as riddles

00:42:39.920 even with speaking in code and riddles and parables my sheep they'll come regardless

00:42:48.180 because they recognize the shepherd's voice they can't help but come just as a literal shepherd

00:42:56.940 could be out with his flock and he could be speaking english or he could be speaking

00:43:03.660 whatever mandarin and all of a sudden his sheep they recognize not so much the actual word and

00:43:15.480 what it means but they recognize the dialect the inflection the tone the style the voice

00:43:25.700 of the shepherd. I have no idea what he's saying, but that's our shepherd. I hear him

00:43:33.060 and I'm going to come to him. Notice that's even what the 12 do. When Jesus in John chapter 6,

00:43:41.660 he had just fed the 5,000 in the previous chapter, John chapter 5, and now they've come and found

00:43:48.080 him again on the other side of the sea. And Jesus calls them out and says, you're not here for my

00:43:54.600 preaching you're here for another free lunch you ate the loaves and had your fill and you want to

00:44:02.200 be fed again and so then he preaches about that jesus has fantastic church shrinking strategies

00:44:09.460 if you ever want to know how to shrink a church jesus is the master he says unless you eat my

00:44:17.020 flesh and drink my blood you have no part in me and you could almost hear the 12 in that picture

00:44:26.700 saying please give a disclaimer please provide some nuance if you could only be just a little

00:44:37.740 more winsome tell them that you're not being literal jesus you're okay you're not a cannibal

00:44:45.840 are you tell them that and jesus just kind of sits back and they all the text says leave

00:44:56.200 except for the 12 now notice the difference is not that everyone leaves because they don't

00:45:03.400 understand that jesus is being symbolic rather than literal but the 12 stay because they

00:45:08.140 understand now jesus is is preaching in mandarin and none of them speak mandarin including peter

00:45:15.440 in the twelve so what's the difference why do the twelve stay because they understood what jesus

00:45:22.380 meant and therefore are not offended no it's what a person does when they're offended it's not

00:45:30.360 whether you're offended it's what you do when you're offended particularly when you're offended

00:45:37.820 by jesus i have been offended by jesus many times in my life because i am a very great sinner

00:45:48.380 the difference by his grace alone not to boast in myself but the difference is that when i've

00:45:56.880 been offended by jesus the words of jesus the teaching of jesus the person and work of jesus

00:46:03.460 like the 12 instead of departing from christ i lean in further to christ and i say with peter

00:46:15.520 where else can we go you have the words of life i don't know what you mean eat your flesh and

00:46:24.120 drink your blood i don't like it frankly i'm a little bit disgusted by that sermon jesus

00:46:30.300 but you're the only preacher there is where else are we going to go we don't have any alternatives

00:46:39.040 there's no alternate option so offended or not we're sticking with jesus

00:46:47.840 we're sticking with jesus why because we're his sheep we're the sheep of his pasture

00:46:57.960 we know his voice

00:47:00.360 we don't always like what he says

00:47:03.840 but we know that voice

00:47:06.880 it's the voice of life

00:47:10.340 and he preaches the words of life

00:47:14.160 even when we don't like them

00:47:15.760 and there is salvation nowhere else

00:47:21.440 in heaven or on earth

00:47:23.540 but in the name of Jesus

00:47:26.760 so at the end of this epistle the author encourages his listeners by saying that although many have

00:47:36.160 fallen away and you've watched their apostasy you've watched them come with you for a short

00:47:42.500 while but then turn back to judaism turn back to jerusalem turn back to the temple turn back

00:47:51.420 to the ceremonial rituals and codes,

00:47:54.640 hedging their bets,

00:47:56.860 putting partial trust in Jesus,

00:47:59.300 but not really hedging their bets.

00:48:03.700 You've seen many fall away.

00:48:07.700 And although there are serious warnings

00:48:10.080 that should be given,

00:48:11.380 and these warnings have been given

00:48:13.440 throughout the entirety of this epistle,

00:48:16.120 here at the end,

00:48:17.280 the apostle, the final nail,

00:48:21.120 is not one more warning about trampling

00:48:24.240 the blood of the covenant underfoot,

00:48:26.720 going apostate and having no opportunity to repent.

00:48:29.980 No, that's been said.

00:48:31.660 It needed to be said.

00:48:32.880 It has been said.

00:48:34.200 The final nail in his coffin is not another warning,

00:48:37.580 but it is an infallible and unbreakable consolation

00:48:43.120 that my sheep, they can't lose themselves

00:48:49.300 even if they tried.

00:48:51.120 if you belong to me you will always belong to me

00:48:57.580 because as deuteronomy says the people of god who've been saved truly saved by grace through

00:49:06.640 faith in christ alone they are his treasured possession that when it comes to your relationship

00:49:14.840 with christ the best term that's ever used to describe us is bride that's the best term and

00:49:24.720 even that one's offensive for every man in the room everything else besides bride is like sheep

00:49:32.440 and then some of them are sheep would be a step in the right direction some of them are just

00:49:39.960 inanimate objects like you're like a lost coin okay great is it at least a silver dollar like

00:49:49.320 what kind what coin are we talking about how much value is there like you know like

00:49:52.860 but deuteronomy says you are his treasured possession he owns you your property

00:50:02.320 and here's the immense comfort in being property of the lord jesus christ because if we're his

00:50:11.100 property and he is the owner then the full onus of stewardship falls on him and not us

00:50:21.840 the question is does jesus not can a christian lose christ if that was the proper theological

00:50:29.880 question can a christian lose christ then the answer would be certainly yes because christians

00:50:38.020 born again as we are with new hearts as we have as new creatures as we are all those things be

00:50:44.600 they as they might a christian is still at the end of the day a finite creature and a sinner

00:50:51.920 if the question is can christian lose christ a christian can lose anything

00:50:57.220 But the proper question is, can Christ ever lose a Christian?

00:51:03.780 And the answer to that question is a resounding no.

00:51:09.120 Christ doesn't lose his sheep.

00:51:12.880 Try as we might to get lost, Christ doesn't lose his sheep.

00:51:20.100 He is the great shepherd.

00:51:23.060 going on the new covenant we can be sure of the efficacy of the new covenant because god does not

00:51:32.700 leave us without the proper resources to do his will many will agree that god generously provides

00:51:39.420 resources but they insist that christians are left alone by god to put those resources into use

00:51:47.040 on their own. In other words, many Christians believe that the new covenant is only as sure

00:51:53.420 as we are strong. And yet, the author wants to leave his hearers with abundant certainty

00:52:00.840 that their covenantal relationship with God is eternally secure. Therefore, he reminds them

00:52:08.420 of the premier characteristic which makes the new covenant not just different, but actually

00:52:15.000 superior to the old covenant. Namely, that God holds up both sides of the bargain. God promises

00:52:24.760 not only to thoroughly equip his people with the necessary resources for doing his will, but he

00:52:31.900 actually works in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ. That's verse 21 of our

00:52:41.600 text and this is not the only place in scripture that espouses this principle philippians chapter

00:52:49.000 2 verse 12 through 13 therefore my beloved as you have always obeyed so now not only as in my

00:52:57.200 presence but much more in my absence work out your salvation with fear and trembling

00:53:04.400 There is a responsibility, a weighty responsibility upon the Christian

00:53:11.280 to work out their salvation with fear and trembling.

00:53:16.880 That's often where we stop reading the text.

00:53:21.360 But although that is true, in the same breath it is simultaneously true,

00:53:26.860 verse 13 for it is God who works in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure

00:53:37.060 God requires he resources us by his spirit with new natures new hearts faith repentance

00:53:49.280 spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit himself the third member of the Trinity given as a deposit

00:53:55.340 guaranteeing our inheritance that is to come all those resources and he still doesn't even stop

00:54:01.560 there he then further requires us with all that we've been given to work our out our salvation

00:54:08.180 and fear and trembling but then he begins to work in us that which is good and pleasing in his sight

00:54:15.040 he works in us both to will that is to choose and to work to live for his good pleasure

00:54:23.920 god works in the christian both their life and their choice of trusting in jesus

00:54:32.740 there is a condition for salvation the late great rc sproul used to say it like this

00:54:41.120 you say i'm sick and tired of hearing people say that god's love is unconditional unconditional

00:54:47.720 love of God the reckless love of God if God's love is unconditional then why does he set the

00:54:54.320 condition to repent yes and amen R.C. Sproul further goes on to say and yet in his mercy

00:55:03.820 there is a condition and God sets the condition and he also meets the condition

00:55:11.540 There are terms.

00:55:14.620 What I'm saying, brothers and sisters, is that there are terms of the covenant.

00:55:20.600 There are terms of the covenant.

00:55:23.940 There are always terms with the covenant.

00:55:27.980 Covenants are always made in blood.

00:55:31.380 There are always benefits, always judgments, penalties.

00:55:36.780 And there are always terms on both sides.

00:55:41.540 But the beauty of the new covenant is not that it comes to us without conditions.

00:55:47.820 The beauty of the new covenant is that there is the condition to trust and obey.

00:55:55.160 And God meets that condition in us.

00:56:00.120 The new covenant is not merely bigger than the old in terms of its breadth and scope.

00:56:07.280 But the new covenant is better than the old.

00:56:11.540 in terms of the depth of its promises.

00:56:15.660 The new covenant is superior to the old

00:56:18.720 because it is founded upon better promises.

00:56:22.740 It is not merely that the new covenant is for you and your children as the old,

00:56:27.500 but also for those who are far off,

00:56:30.440 having a wider audience.

00:56:31.820 That would be an improvement, and it is.

00:56:35.660 But the new covenant is better not merely that it has a wider audience,

00:56:39.740 but it also has deeper and better promises.

00:56:45.360 And the premier, better, superior promise of the new covenant to the old

00:56:50.300 is not that it comes without conditions,

00:56:53.380 but that it comes with the promise of God to fulfill the conditions on both sides.

00:56:59.960 The benefit of the new covenant that makes it superior to the old

00:57:04.200 is that the new covenant has a 100% retention rate.

00:57:09.740 The new covenant allows for no one to fall through the cracks.

00:57:17.140 The new covenant not only brings people in, but it keeps them in.

00:57:26.500 This grace that saves us keeps us.

00:57:32.700 And at this point in my ministry, that's pretty much the only reason I'm still technically a Baptist.

00:57:39.740 is because I believe that the new covenant

00:57:43.260 allows for no apostates.

00:57:48.600 That there are stricter judgments

00:57:50.780 for those who break the covenant.

00:57:53.400 But that what's so beautiful about the new covenant

00:57:56.700 is that there are no covenant breakers.

00:57:59.700 Because God holds up both sides.

00:58:03.300 God does not allow for the covenant to be broken.

00:58:07.180 i still certainly have covenantal categories outside of the new covenant even in this gospel

00:58:16.040 age the invisible and universal new covenant church but beyond that the visible church

00:58:24.600 the church institute beyond that further the kingdom of god which i believe is an even larger

00:58:31.020 category that is covenantal in a sense that's even beyond the visible church you see the parable of

00:58:38.820 jesus about fishing with a net and all these fish come into the net but then they're they're separated

00:58:45.780 after the fishing is done after they've been caught some are bad fish and they're thrown away

00:58:50.660 some are good fish and they're kept what is that net jesus says this is what the kingdom is like

00:58:57.940 that net doesn't represent the new covenant that some in the new covenant are truly internal

00:59:06.440 covenant members with the decretal elect but others are merely external new covenant members

00:59:13.740 that will be judged even more strictly as covenant breakers and ultimately prove apostates that's not

00:59:21.560 the parable the parable is not the new covenant that some are actually in and some aren't really

00:59:27.340 in now the parable is describing not the new covenant but the kingdom and the kingdom catches

00:59:33.500 eventually progressively throughout history the kingdom will catch all the fish all the nations

00:59:42.780 will flock to him all the fish in the world will be caught by this net of the kingdom

00:59:50.380 not all necessarily will be regenerate a part of the new covenant by faith but all under the

00:59:59.220 banner of chrysidom and we've seen this just in the last thousand years of chrysidom in western

01:00:05.900 civilization we have so many people still to this day even though we're coming off of about

01:00:12.300 a hundred hundred and fifty years of chrysidom being eroded in the west even despite this recent

01:00:19.120 erosion, there are still unbelievers and pagans that have commonalities and agreements with us

01:00:26.100 about certain things, even though they hate Christ. They're not new covenant members, but they are in

01:00:32.480 this kingdom net. They can't help but be in this kingdom net. They presuppose certain things that

01:00:39.080 are only true because Jesus is Lord. That are only true, not because classical liberalism

01:00:47.120 and principled pluralism are viable options. No. They believed certain things because our nation

01:00:55.000 wasn't founded on atheism and polytheism, but because our nation was founded on the principles

01:01:01.660 of the Bible, and the fumes of that Christian society are still there, and so it made it appear

01:01:10.000 as though classical liberalism or libertarianism were viable options, when reality, these things

01:01:16.540 were propped up by chrysidom and as chrysidom further erodes we find out that principled

01:01:23.180 pluralism gets you drag queen story hour that's what that gets you

01:01:29.120 which is why i'm a christian nationalist i prefer the term general equity theonomist

01:01:37.300 or mere chrysidome like wilson would say post-millennial jesus wins it all nanny nanny

01:01:44.000 boo-boo that would be a great title too whatever fill in the blank but christian nationalists will

01:01:48.720 suffice the whole world is going to be caught up in this net of the kingdom but that is a different

01:02:00.960 net a different covenant in a sense than the new covenant the beauty brothers and sisters of the

01:02:07.880 new covenant, is that that net, it only catches good fish. There's no bad fish in that net.

01:02:18.860 There's no goats in that net. There's only sheep. So that if someone is truly born again by grace

01:02:29.020 through faith in Christ alone, if they're truly a member of the new covenant,

01:02:34.400 there is no apostasy there are no covenant breakers

01:02:42.280 the same grace that saves them will be faithful to keep them god sets conditions

01:02:49.480 but he meets those conditions by working in us both our will and our lives our choice and our work

01:03:01.880 to keep us in that covenant so here at the end of hebrews we see that jesus although there are

01:03:11.780 stark warnings for those who fall away we see that jesus is the great shepherd who will not

01:03:18.840 lose his own and we see furthermore in verse 21 which says he has equipped us with everything

01:03:29.740 good he's thoroughly resourced us that you may do his will but he not only resources us so that

01:03:37.620 we can do the right thing but he further is working in us that which is pleasing in his sight

01:03:44.840 so jesus is the great shepherd who will not lose his sheep that's the headline the principle

01:03:51.700 how he accomplishes keeping his sheep is that he resources us but he also works in us the old

01:04:00.800 covenant resourced israel god did not fail israel according to the flesh that was not god's

01:04:10.620 negligence or oversight god resourced national israel with everything they needed

01:04:19.080 he resourced them with all the specificity of the tabernacle and the temple and the the levitical

01:04:25.900 order and the priesthood and and all the way down to their robes and tassels and garments

01:04:31.120 his law written on tablets of stone his prophets everything they needed everything the problem with

01:04:38.980 the old covenant remember the vast majority of israel died in unbelief you want to talk about

01:04:44.320 retention rates. The retention rate of the old covenant is, is it well over 90% of them go to

01:04:50.980 hell. It's not a good rate, but that's not because God didn't resource them. He gave them everything.

01:04:59.720 He, he wrote his law even on the hearts of all men. This is a imago Dei doctrine, not just

01:05:07.060 particular to Israel or to Christians. All people, Gentiles, that's Romans 1, that's Romans 2.

01:05:13.200 Even Gentiles, all people made in the image of God with God's law written on their hearts,

01:05:18.620 the conscience that testifies to the glory and holy moral standards of God. God has resourced

01:05:24.540 all men in his common grace. And he particularly resourced Israelites under the old covenant.

01:05:34.120 And they go to hell. What God does in the new covenant is he doesn't just give us better

01:05:40.380 resources he makes us succeed he leaves us with no option he says here's all the resources

01:05:52.020 and i'm going to work in you the faith and obedience that i require

01:05:58.780 i will not let you fall i won't

01:06:05.100 so in conclusion throughout the book of hebrews christ has been portrayed to us

01:06:12.700 as the final perfect and clearest revelation of god that was hebrews 1 verse 2 the one who is

01:06:21.060 superior to the angels and worshiped even by them that was hebrews 1 verse 6 through 10

01:06:26.940 the pioneer of our salvation who was made perfect through suffering hebrews 2 verse 10

01:06:33.620 the one who became flesh that by his death he could free us from the fear of death that was

01:06:42.660 Hebrews 2 14 the one who is superior to Moses just as a son is superior to a servant that was

01:06:50.520 Hebrews 3 5 the sympathetic and merciful high priest who makes a way to the throne of grace

01:06:57.540 that's Hebrews 4, 14 through 16, the mediator of a new and better covenant which engraves God's

01:07:04.500 laws on our hearts, that's Hebrews 8, 10 through 12, the one who purifies our consciences, that's

01:07:13.400 Hebrews 9, verse 14, the one who ended all sacrifices by becoming the final and perfectly

01:07:20.280 sufficient sacrifice. Hebrews 9 26. The author and perfecter of our faith. That's Hebrews 12

01:07:28.140 verse 2. And lastly, the one who will never leave us or forsake us, but will be faithful to help us

01:07:35.560 forever. That was Hebrews chapter 13 verse 5 and 6. In other words, Christ is enough.

01:07:44.680 the overarching singular point of the epistle to the hebrews is this jesus is sufficient

01:07:53.680 the hebrew christians were being tempted to hedge their bets and return back to the old covenant

01:08:01.980 the apostle writes to them and says jesus is sufficient everything that you want to use

01:08:09.580 to hedge your bets everything you want to use to supplement your salvation jesus provides that

01:08:18.100 in a superior fashion jesus is a better sacrifice than bulls and goats he's a better priest than

01:08:26.880 levitical order he's forever a priest in the order of michelzadek he's more compassionate

01:08:32.600 and sympathetic and simultaneously more holy and righteous. He's a better priest. He's the

01:08:40.460 better temple. He's a better sacrifice. He offers a better covenant. He's a better shepherd. So

01:08:48.700 don't go back to Jerusalem because if you do, it won't be that you lose your salvation,

01:08:57.580 but it'll be proof that you never had it your desire to hedge your bet is proof not that you

01:09:06.140 have too little faith in jesus but then in real terms speaking of genuine saving faith

01:09:14.500 you have no faith in jesus the demand of jesus upon the christian upon all people because the

01:09:22.840 gospel is a command for the record. The command of Jesus upon all people is that they believe in him

01:09:31.600 and that they do not trust in anything else. That's it. All Jesus asked for is your complete

01:09:40.660 undying allegiance. That's all he asked for. He's the water without price. There's no cost.

01:09:52.840 There's no price.

01:09:54.960 You get to walk into the store

01:09:56.880 and pick up Jesus, as it were,

01:10:00.060 and walk out without spending a dime.

01:10:03.960 The trick is, you only can pick up Jesus.

01:10:08.560 And everything else in the store has to be left behind.

01:10:13.900 When you put it in those terms,

01:10:16.980 the gospel is the freest offer ever given.

01:10:20.080 and yet undying allegiance to christ is the tallest order we could ever imagine

01:10:27.660 but the beauty is that he wills and works in us that faith that trust and that obedience

01:10:38.400 so that we love christ above all else let's pray father we thank you for your words we thank you

01:10:46.800 for this season in the life of our church seeing the person and work of jesus seeing the superiority

01:10:54.760 the finality and the sufficiency of christ we are not first century jews tempted by judaism

01:11:05.360 as the immediate audience was for this letter but the principle and concept remains the same

01:11:14.080 each of us are tempted in a myriad of ways every day to hedge our bets,

01:11:21.380 to think that we'll trust in Jesus,

01:11:23.540 but we really need to also trust just a little bit in something else too.

01:11:30.280 Father, we repent of that sin.

01:11:34.860 We pray, Lord, that you would grant to us fidelity,

01:11:39.240 that Covenant Bible Church would not be a spiritually adulterous church,

01:11:44.080 that we would be a faithful bride,

01:11:47.500 that we would trust in Christ alone,

01:11:50.020 we would be wise and prepared for the difficult season

01:11:52.980 that very likely is before us,

01:11:55.440 politically, culturally, morally, economically,

01:11:58.200 that we would not be fools in our faith,

01:12:01.260 but that our faith would be genuine,

01:12:04.460 that we would prepare for the future,

01:12:07.120 but that we would not trust in idols,

01:12:10.820 that we would not trust in princes,

01:12:14.080 or chariots or horses that we would trust in Jesus alone to the praise of your glorious grace

01:12:23.560 and for our eternal good it's in Jesus name that we pray these things amen can I be frank with you

01:12:31.600 for just a second right here at the end look some of you guys you're financially supporting this

01:12:36.660 ministry and from the bottom of my heart I say thank you I cannot thank you enough however some

01:12:43.780 of you, you just, you can't afford it. In fact, some of you, you shouldn't afford it. Let's be

01:12:50.320 honest. I mean, we're living in Joe Biden's ridiculous economy. Our nation and our totalitarian

01:12:57.720 political elites lost their minds over the last three years due to COVID. We have written checks

01:13:05.940 that we simply cannot cash. It doesn't matter if people change the definition of a recession.

01:13:11.860 We are living in a recession right now, regardless.

01:13:16.620 Some of you are struggling to afford a carton of eggs at the grocery store.

01:13:21.560 You cannot support financially this ministry at this time, nor should you, but you could

01:13:27.940 still help us tremendously.

01:13:30.160 I am asking you, please, if you're willing to do so, take one minute of your time.

01:13:35.640 Leave us a five-star review on your favorite podcast platform, iTunes, Spotify, whatever that

01:13:42.580 might be. This is the way the system works. We want to be innocent as doves but shrewd as vipers.

01:13:49.840 We need to be strategic. You leave us a five-star review and our podcast shows up for more people.

01:13:56.680 And the Word of God and courageous theology applied in practical ways to every realm of life

01:14:03.820 gets out there. Help us get it out there. Thanks for tuning in.

The NXR Podcast - March 12, 2023

SUNDAY SERMON - Sheep, Goats, & The Great Shepherd

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