THE SERMON - Jesus is Meek, Not Weak
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Summary
Pastor Ken continues our series on the gospel according to Matthew through the book of Matthew. In this episode, we continue our reading of Matthew 12:14-21, where we see the first time that the Pharisees conspired against Jesus and attempted to destroy him.
Transcript
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we're continuing our series through the gospel according to Matthew. Our text for today is
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Matthew chapter 12 verses 14 through 21. Again, that's Matthew chapter 12 verses 14 through 21.
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I'll read our text for us in its entirety. When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say this
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is the word of the Lord, at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by
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saying thanks be to God. One final time, our text for today is the gospel according to Matthew
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chapter 12 verses 14 through 21 the bible says this but the pharisees went out and conspired
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against him how to destroy him jesus aware of this withdrew from there and many followed him
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and he healed them all and ordered them not to make him known this was to fulfill what was spoken
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by the prophet isaiah behold my servant whom i have chosen my beloved with whom my soul is well
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pleased. I will put my spirit upon him and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not
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quarrel or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not
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break and a smoldering wick he will not quench until he brings justice to victory. And in his
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name the Gentiles will hope. This is the word of the Lord. All right, please be seated. Let's go
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ahead and dive right in the first phrase that I want us to focus our attention on is as follows
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but the Pharisees went out and conspired against him how to destroy him Jesus in light of that
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aware of their plot withdrew from there if you were with us last Lord's Day the most immediate
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thing that we see Jesus doing right before this phrase that the Pharisees went out and conspired
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against him, how to destroy him, the prior action of Jesus that provoked this anger and malice within
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the Pharisees was that he healed a man with a withered hand on the Sabbath. And I think that
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this is significant, right? What causes the Pharisees in this instance, and there are several
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throughout the gospel narratives, but in this particular instance, what causes the Pharisees
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to be stirred up with malice, contempt, and hatred towards Christ to the point that they are now
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conspiring and plotting of how they might kill him and destroy him. It's not a particular sermon
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that he preached, although they were certainly angry at his teachings and his words. And it's
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not because he trapped them in some kind of word game or publicly humiliated them by being able to
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get the best of them when they tried to accuse him or trap him there's some element of that
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but the most immediate prior action on the part of Christ that leads into the first words of our
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text today that the pharisees went out and conspired against him how to destroy him is
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jesus healing of a man who was suffering with a physical condition on the sabbath in other words
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what roused these jewish pharisees to immense hatred to the point of wanting to kill christ
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was not truth although they're angry with that
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and not necessarily his own holiness the fact that they could not
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pin him with any particular sin although christ of course is perfectly
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this instance is chiefly his mercy imagine that for a
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were angry with Jesus throughout the course of his earthly ministry. There are plenty of people
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who are angry with Jesus today. That hasn't changed. But in this instance, these particular men
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are most angry with Jesus because of his mercy. Not because of an offensive sermon, not because
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he publicly humiliated them, but because he chose to heal someone. Someone is physically suffering
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and jesus chose to alleviate that man's suffering and the immediate instinctive action or reaction
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of these pharisees is pure malice and hatred to the point of conspiring
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to find a way to end jesus life i've written in your notes the following no sooner does christ
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heal and do good then the pharisees conspired to destroy him herein is shown the depth of man's
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depravity that the light of the world is hated not for his iniquity that is his sin for there is none
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in christ but for his holiness yes his truth yes and perhaps most of all his mercy the pharisees
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hated mercy they hated mercy and i have found and i think that it's true but both experience
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and the scripture that there is a particular type of person still to this day who hates
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mercy and it is the type of person who is confident in and of himself that he has no need
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of mercy that's the only person who gets angry at the mercy of christ it's a person who's convinced
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that he has no need of the mercy of christ it is the self-righteous individual the person that
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believes that they're righteous of their own accord and it's important that we keep in mind
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that there's no particular group of people based off of culture or based off of religion or based
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off of a political affiliation that somehow has attained a monopoly on self-righteousness.
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I remember, you know, when I was younger, I would hear Christians speak about the church,
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speak about fellow Christians, as though Christians were the only ones who were vulnerable or
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susceptible to self-righteousness. But that's not true. There is a leftist self-righteousness.
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It is alive and well. It exists. To think that conservative Christians somehow have an exclusive
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monopoly on the sin of self-righteousness is naive at best and perhaps even deceptive
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at worst. That's not the case. You can be self-righteous by your virtues that tend towards
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conservatism, or you can be self-righteous by your perceived virtues, your pseudo-virtues that are
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far more liberal. The person who's living in Seattle or San Francisco who has no children,
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but you know a plethora of cats and maybe a few dogs that are about the size of a cat that they
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can carry conveniently in a purse right and who gives money towards you know the environment and
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these kinds of that person is self-righteous they are they're just attaining this illusion
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a perception of their own self-righteousness through a separate avenue but it is self-righteousness
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it is self-righteousness going on in your notes i've written this yet christ is not surprised
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by this rejection of the pharisees it was foreknown and ordained by his father jesus fully knew that
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But the opposition of the wicked does not in any way frustrate the counsel and plans of God.
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Therefore, Christ withdrew, not in fear, but in wisdom, for he knew that his hour had not yet come.
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All right, so the first phrase that we find in our text today is that the Pharisees went out,
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immediately conspired against Jesus, seeking to kill him, to destroy him.
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what is immediately prior to that statement what is it that stirs him up to such anger and malice
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his mercy he healed someone there's a guy who's in pain jesus alleviates the pain and the natural
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instinctive reaction of the pharisees is there was a guy hurting now he's not hurting so we're mad
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that's the type of person that we're talking about these are jesus enemies his enemies are
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those who don't just hate him but they hate this man with a withered hand they hate those who are
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suffering they hate the lost sheep of israel who are longing for a shepherd they don't just hate
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Jesus for Jesus' sake. They hate Jesus because he stands as a blessing and a provision and a benefit
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to all these other people that they had bound with many burdens, that they had sought to oppress
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and cause to suffer. These are malicious men. They're not just ignorant men or deceived men.
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they are malicious men. They're not just enemies of Jesus. But these Pharisees were enemies of
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all mankind. They hated to see someone in pain alleviated and blessed by the Son of God. And
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they hated it so much that their instinctive thought, immediate reaction, is we have to kill
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Christ. But Jesus is not surprised, and his response is something that we can learn from.
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Verse 15, Jesus, aware of this, aware of what? That the Pharisees are now conspiring to kill him.
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And Jesus, being aware of this, withdrew from there. And many followed him, and he healed
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them all. So Jesus' response, I think we could argue, is twofold. On the one hand, it's not a
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response of cowardice. Jesus heals a man who's suffering. He knows, right? So it's not like
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they're conspiring in secret. They probably were, but their secret conspiring is not
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outside of the God-man's purview. Jesus is perfectly aware of their plots, of their schemes,
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of their plans. So it's not that Jesus goes on doing what he's doing because he's blissfully
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unaware. Jesus is perfectly aware that he just healed a man and that now his enemies in direct
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response to that are conspiring to kill him and not in cowardice but rather in courage. Jesus says
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you want to kill me because I just did this thing? Well I'm going to go and do that thing even more.
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you want me to stop i'm gonna do it even harder that's that's the response of christ he withdrew
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from there but look it goes on verse 15 many followed him and he healed them all you're mad
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because i healed someone i'm gonna heal even more and yet i don't want us to just focus on the latter
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portion of verse 15 the the former the first part of that verse is significant as well he did
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continue doing what the father sent him to do in courage but he also withdrew from that particular
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region so that he might be able to continue ministering longer he knew that it was not yet
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his time so he was faithful and not a coward but he was also shrewd wise and not foolish and not
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just for his own sake. All right. I'm reading into the text a bit here. I'm not going to say
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that this is the explicit exegesis, but I think it's an implicit, plausible inference. Okay.
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And a plausible inference from the text. Here it is. Jesus, aware of this, that they're
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conspiring to kill him, withdrew from there and many followed him. I think that it's possible
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part of his withdrawal was not only for his own sake
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so that he could continue to publicly minister longer
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because he knew that his time had not yet come,
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but it was also for the sake of those following him.
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and those following him also withdrew with him.
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and most hostile these people that i care for they also will naturally follow me and remove
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themselves from danger also and i think that there is a principle there when it comes to leadership
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that it's not just you against the world but there are people following you if you are a husband
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if you are a father, if you're an employer, whatever your station in life, especially for
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those of you who are men and heads of households, there is a principle, there is an element in which
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you need to be courageous and uncompromising, but also shrewd and wise. And there are times where
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you can press and then withdraw and have those under your care withdraw with you so that they
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don't become unnecessarily vulnerable to hostile attacks and then having withdrawn for a time
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then press back in and we see this in the ministry of Jesus on multiple occasions
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that he'll be somewhere he'll do good works he'll preach truth and enmity will be stirred up against
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him and then he'll withdraw but in the final analysis Jesus against even the counsel of others
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namely his disciples when it's time when he knows that the time is near he goes into the fray
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rather than further away he goes into jerusalem even when his disciples are begging him not to
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don't go to jerusalem that's where that's where it's hottest that's where there's the most
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fear a fearsome concentrated hatred against you if you go to jerusalem you'll be a sitting duck
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you'll be vulnerable you'll die to which when it is his time he responds by saying
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can a prophet be put to death killed anywhere but jerusalem jerusalem is the place that kills
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the prophets it's a long rich tradition and most importantly it has been prophesied
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and scripture must be fulfilled jesus is not on a suicide mission
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he's not he is seeking to be wholly obedient to his father to fulfill every dot every iota
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of scripture and that which was prophesied in regards to him and so when he appears to be
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foolish he's being subject to the father and courageous and when he appears if we're not
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careful and our own fallible perception when he appears to be cowardly withdrawing he is not
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he's being timely he's being shrewd he's being wise and not only for his own sake because it
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it was not yet his time, but for the sake of others who would follow him. And he knew they
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would follow him out of danger and live to see another day. Not for the sake of perpetual comfort,
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though. And we have to understand the difference, because if not, it's easy to use the wisdom of
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Christ as a euphemism for our own cowardice. Jesus is not doing this for his own comfort,
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hey run hide this is going to happen but here's how you can avoid it he gives him no such counsel
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because it's the will of God so this is Jesus who leads his followers out of harm's way
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and yet also commissions them and commands them to do that which later on will lend towards their
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own death so Jesus is not protecting his people so that we can be comfortable throughout the
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entire course of our lives just for comfort's sake. Everything is for the kingdom of God.
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Seek first these things, higher things, heavenly things, and everything else that you need that is
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necessary in God's purview will be added unto you. There are times to lay low. There are times to be
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wise. And there are also times where we go into the fray knowing, knowing that it would lend
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towards our own death. And the determinative factor between the two is ultimately the providence
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and will of God. It's not something that we decide in our own wisdom. And it's not something that we
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do for our own comfort it's something that we do to the best of our ability as we're seeking to
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co-discern with others who we believe are spiritually mature and the whole end you have to have
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the goal the the aim in mind the the ultimate aim is how can i use the life that god has given me
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the resources that he's provided to bring about the most optimal glory for god possible possible
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how can i minister the most possible how can i be the most effective how can i put the most
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damage to the gates of hell possible with the feeble fragile temporary life that god has
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graciously given me and that seems to be the mind of christ and we should seek to have that mind
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ourselves. How can I be wise, but not a coward? How can I be courageous, but not a fool?
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How can I get longevity in my ministry, but not longevity to the point where my ministry becomes
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impotent? Who cares if you minister for 50 years, but your ministry is not a threat?
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right so you want a ministry that is a threat that's potent but you also don't want to be a
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flash in the pan unless god has made that explicitly clear and especially as fathers
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and husbands you're not just looking to get out of harm's way temporarily so that you can
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rally another attack yourself but you're also looking to those who you lead
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Jesus withdrew those he was leading followed him it secured their safety for the necessary time
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as he rallied his attack to go back in to the belly of the beast Babylon namely Jerusalem when
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it was time when it was time and even when he withdrew notice his withdrawing is not it's
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withdrawing from the place where the attack was the hottest. But it's not a withdrawal of
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compromise. Jesus doesn't withdraw in the sense that he goes and gets a cabin and stops preaching
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and stops healing and stops ministering. No, he continues to do the very thing that put a target
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on his chest that rallied the malice and anger of the Pharisees to begin with. He's still healing.
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He's still preaching. He's still ministering. But he moves his vicinity slightly, temporarily,
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so that the heat might die down in the targeted region where it's hottest, so that he can get
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longevity in his ministry according to the fulfillment of Scripture, and so that his
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followers might have relief and be alleviated, because it wasn't their time either. And all this
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I admit, requires immense wisdom. Much of the wisdom and discernment required for us in our
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own lives, with our families, with our ministries, be they formal or organic, much of this wisdom
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and discernment is significant. And so we must lean on God and rely on the Lord and rely on
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others that we value and trust as we seek to be faithful. So the first point of the text that we
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see today is the malice of man. The second is the meekness of Christ. The text says he will not
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quarrel or cry aloud. This is Isaiah prophesying and Christ now being a fulfillment of this. He
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will not quarrel or cry aloud. A bruised reed he will not break. In your notes, I've written this.
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Here is a picture of Christ, not as one who is weak, but one who is meek. He is full of mercy
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for the weak, the faint-hearted, and the broken. Who are those who are like a bruised reed or a
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smoldering wick? Those who are weak and faint-hearted and the broken? It is those who are weary by
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their sin. Jesus is meek, but he is meekness to one, and simultaneously a consuming fire to another.
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It is not as though Jesus is only meek, and that he is meek universally across the board.
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That's not what the text is referring to. His meekness is propelled toward the bruised reed,
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and the smoldering wick. His meekness is not toward the Pharisees. It's not toward his enemies.
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His meekness is for you. His meekness is for his disciples, his followers. And again, what does it
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mean to be a bruised reed or a smoldering wick? If it were to be defined by one particular
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characteristic, it would be this. The acknowledgement of your own sin and a hatred and weariness and
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holy misery over your own sin. You see your sin, acknowledge your sin, and hate your sin.
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For that man or woman or child, Christ Jesus in his earthly ministry and still the Spirit of the
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risen Christ to this very day is meek. He is meekness toward the sinner. The sinner who
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acknowledges he is a sinner and who is miserable with his sin. He is not meek towards his enemies.
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he will consume them as a fire and when he finally appears in his final physical return
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he will be nothing but destruction to all his enemies the difference is self-righteous
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or self-aware awareness of sin brokenness over sin and not just as i preached a couple weeks ago
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brokenness over the sin of the world or brokenness over the sin of others but an awareness and
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brokenness over your own sin going on in your notes i've written this christ does not quench
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the smoking wick, but fans it into flame. He does not break those who are already bending,
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but binds them up. Therefore let none despair of coming to him, but take heed. This gentleness
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is reserved for those who bend the knee. The proud shall find him to be a consuming fire.
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it's been said before but it bears saying again that every knee will bow on that final day and
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every tongue will confess some knees will bow because they bend by grace and other knees will
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bow because they break and they will be broken by christ that he who rules the nations with an iron
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scepter will break their kneecaps and force them to bow. You can bow because you're forced to by
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Christ, or you can bow by grace. Break or bend, but everyone will bow. Break or bend, but everyone
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will bow. To those who bend by grace, Christ is meekness for you. Christ is compassion for you.
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Christ is mercy for you. You have nothing to fear in Christ if, by God's grace, you contain
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repentance. You are aware of your sin, broken by your sin, and see Christ as the only remedy
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for sin. If that be the case, you have nothing to fear. Run to Christ. He'll scoop you up.
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But the person who should be trembling and very afraid
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in the position of having a self-righteous heart.
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you can be a conservative who is self-righteous you can be progressive and leftist and communist
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who is self-righteous you can be a nationalist who is self-righteous the question is am i burdened
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over my own sin and these are well these are the arenas where christians have to be able to think
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in categories right for a long time it has been preached from the pulpit that we should be broken
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over our own sin which is true but that's all we should be and that because we ourselves are
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sinners that we can't seek to make any political practical cultural difference in the world and
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that's a lot. You can seek in practical, tangible, political ways for your nation to be a God-fearing
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nation. You can fight against, as some have called it, gay race communism, which I think is a good
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label. You can say, no, no, I don't want globalism. I don't want 20th century liberalism. I don't want
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leftism. I don't want communism. I want Christian nationalism. I want a God-fearing government. I
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want God-honoring laws. I don't want to be a liberal. I want to live in the world that God
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made and see it as good. Not with arrogance, not with pride, not with oppression, but recognizing
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that according to God's natural order, it is not an egalitarian system. That God has necessarily,
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in the world that he has made, he has placed hierarchy. And the correct response, wherever we
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fall in God's providential station that he's assigned to us, is not that we be arrogant and
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also not that we be envious, but that we be grateful for the station in life that the Lord
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has assigned to us. And we seek to honor those above and be kind to those below. You can live
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in the real world, the natural world, God's world, without artificially manufacturing and
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manipulating everything with worldviews that are the antithesis to the Christian faith, once and
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for all passed down to the saints. You can do that, and you will be labeled all kinds of names.
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Ask me how I know. You will be persecuted. You will be hated. But you can do it, and you can do it
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courageously and with shrewdness at times and with wisdom. And here's the final thing with our text
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today. And acknowledge before the Lord and others on a daily basis that you yourself are a sinner
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and that you hate your sin and that you are miserable under your sin and that your greatest
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longing. First John, that when we see him, we shall be sinless, for we shall see him as he is.
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The greatest suffering in this life is not sickness, and it's not death even, and it's not
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political persecution. It's not the oppression and attacks of others. It's not an economy that
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has been rigged to steal from you before you were ever born and that does exist. All these things
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are terrible. It's not a full-scale invasion of your country to where you don't even feel like
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you have a home anymore. True but not the greatest evil. The thing that makes me most miserable
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is it christ bled out and died for me and yet i can continue to commit treason against my savior
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and king every single day after all his mercy after all his kindness after all his grace i keep
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failing i do i fail privately i fail publicly for me it's really hard because a lot of my failures
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are recorded. I can go back and watch them. Have mercy on me, O God, a sinner. Forgive me.
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Forgive me. That's the bruised reed. That's the smoldering wick. You are not a raging flame.
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You're not a force to be reckoned with. You're not. You need to get that through your head.
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you're not a bonfire you're a little dinky candle from bed bath and beyond that's barely sparkling
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and yet that's the person that christ loves that everything in him moves powerfully towards that
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person. If there is a condition. If you own it, you hate it, and you desire Him. Own your sin.
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Hate your sin. Desire Christ. Own your sin. Hate your sin. Desire sinlessness.
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because if we ever lose that then it's not christian nationalism anymore
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it's not it's just another secular political strategy or a pagan political strategy which
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to be fair this will probably weird some of you out but i do prefer the pagan alternative to
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secular. Not because it's Christian. Not because it doesn't have massive problems. But one of the
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most timeless pagan traditions is eventually converting to Christianity. So I am more hopeful
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in that regard. I'm like, oh, you guys, you think Thor's gonna get the job done, right? We're gonna
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revert to, you know, Nordic pagan tribes. Okay, that's, it's kind of silly. But, you know, I feel
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like we have a ticking timer now. If you truly convert to paganism, it's like rock, paper, scissors.
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right secularism is like paper it's covering the rock of christendom right now uh but but if
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secularism you know folds and gives up to scissors that is paganism then the rock of christianity
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is pretty effective historically we've got a rich tradition of of pagan stone idols having their
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heads, you know, sawn off, you know, or crosses etched into, you know, the idol. That's what
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pagan tribes have done for hundreds of years, converting to Christianity. See St. Boniface
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as a prime example. So we must fight. Yes, we want to be potent. We want to be potent in our
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ministry, politically, culturally, in our families, first and foremost, starting at home and broadening
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out. We want to do all these things and if Christ would bless it, if Christ would bless it, then his
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people, the church, can change the world. But at the same time, what makes us different is not just
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our views, although our views are different. It's not just our ideology, although our ideology is
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different. It's not merely our virtues, although our virtues and values are distinct. But chiefly,
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it is an awareness of our sin a misery for sin and a desire for christ
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jesus hated the pharisees not just because they were malicious and not just because they were
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deceitful and not just because they had twisted and perverted the law of moses to oppress others
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under their authority which they had but he also hated the pharisees because the pharisees
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were arrogant the pharisees were blind guides blind to what blind to the ways of god blind
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to his holy law but most importantly blind to their own sin i've quoted it several times but
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i'll quote it again charles spurgeon famously said that a man cannot appreciate the beauty of christ
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lest he first come to see the necessity for Christ.
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We see these words, a bruised reed he will not break,
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Verse 21 now, and in his name, the Gentiles will hope.
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This entire passage is a fulfillment of scripture.
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he is the servant of the Lord. He is chosen and anointed by the Spirit to accomplish all the
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Father's will. And what is this will? To proclaim justice to the Gentiles, to bring salvation to
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the nations, and to cause hope to arise in those who previously sat in darkness. The calling and
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mission of Christ extends far beyond Israel to all peoples. This was always the plan. Romans chapter
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1 verse 16 is not meant to express levels of love, but a sequence of salvation. I'm going to say that
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again. Romans chapter 1 verse 16, which is often quoted by those who are Judeo-Christians.
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and not historic Christians. It is misquoted, tweaked, and twisted. Romans chapter 1 verse 16,
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which is the infallible Word of God, but it must be used rightly. The law is good if it be
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used lawfully. What the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Spirit, means to convey is not
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an order of god's love but a sequence of his redemptive plan of salvation romans 1 16 to
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refresh your memories says this for i am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of god
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for salvation to everyone who believes that is to all the elect and all the elect among every tribe
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and tongue and nation. And then we have an order to the Jew first and also to the Greek,
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or some texts say the Gentile, to everyone else. Again, this is not a hierarchy of God's love.
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This is not God's ordo amoris, the order of loves that God himself contains for people.
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No, this is rather not an order of loves, levels of loves, but a sequence of salvation.
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It's speaking not to a hierarchy of affection, but the timing of God's redemptive plan.
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That it was prophesied by God that salvation would come to the Jews.
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But then from them, it would then extend to all peoples.
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So not that God loves Israel, old covenant Israel, more than other nations, but that Christ would come to them first.
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Verse 21, again of our text, in his name the Gentiles will hope.
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Christ came to his own, Isaiah says, but they received him not.
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it was prophesied that christ would come and that he would come at a particular time to a particular
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people but that those people would reject him and ultimately that those people would crucify him
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and others would be condemned but the plan the redemptive plan of god for christianizing
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discipling all nations was never meant to stay in that one place but always intended by God to
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extend from that place to all the world. Christ came as the hope of Gentiles the hope of nations
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even when he flips over the tables of the money changers and fashions a whip of cords and drives
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them out what does he say my father's house is a house of prayer a lot of times we forget the
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second half of his statement for all nations but you have turned it into a den of thieves
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the salvation of the world has always been the intent of god before the foundations of the world
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were ever even laid, the world's salvation has been God's stated plan. For God so loved the world
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that he gave his only son, that whoever should believe in him shall not perish, but have eternal
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life. Yes, Christ came to the Jews. He was rejected and killed by the Jews. And yet in all of this,
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it was so that his gospel might go out from there and be a light unto the Gentiles. A hope and
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salvation to all people. Again, verse 21 of our text. And in his name, the Gentiles, the nations,
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all peoples will hope. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Bless it to your people.
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help us to see the malice of men and to see the sin in even our own hearts not just malicious men
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but to see ourselves as bruised reeds and smoldering wicks lord help us see for us the
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meekness of christ but to know that his meekness towards the broken is not weakness towards the
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wicked. And lastly, Lord, help us to exult in and to have joy in the majesty of your redemptive plan
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for saving all nations. Thank you for saving us. Help us to do the work of an evangelist
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in the context where you've placed us, that we would see the nation's hope in Christ and nothing
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else. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.