The NXR Podcast - THE SERMON - The State Can Legislate Morality, And It Must

00:00:00.000 Amen. Let's stand for the reading of God's Word. We continue our series this morning

00:00:07.920 through the book of Ezra. Our text is Ezra chapter 6 verses 13 through 22. Again, that's

00:00:14.020 Ezra chapter 6 verses 13 through 22. I'll read our text in its entirety. When I finish

00:00:19.300 reading the text, I'm going to say this is the word of the Lord, at which point I would

00:00:22.820 appreciate very much if you would respond by saying thanks be to God. One final time,

00:00:26.540 Our text for today is the book of Ezra, chapter 6, verses 13 through 22.

00:00:31.900 The Bible says this.

00:00:33.740 Then according to the words sent by Darius the king,

00:00:36.260 Tatani, the governor of the province beyond the river,

00:00:39.400 Shathar, Bosani, and their associates,

00:00:42.500 did with all diligence what Darius the king had ordered. 0.78

00:00:46.100 And the elders of the Jews built and prospered

00:00:48.920 through the prophesying of Haggai, the prophet,

00:00:52.260 and Zechariah, the son of Edo.

00:00:54.780 They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes, king of Persia.

00:01:02.320 And this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.

00:01:08.980 And the people of Israel, the priests and Levites and the rest of the returned exiles celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy.

00:01:18.540 They offered at the dedication of this house of God of 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs,

00:01:25.560 and as sin offering for all of Israel, male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. 0.86

00:01:31.560 And they set the priest in their divisions and the Levites in their divisions

00:01:35.800 for the service of God at Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses. 0.83

00:01:40.620 On the 14th day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the Passover

00:01:46.980 For the priest and the Levites had purified themselves together.

00:01:50.720 All of them were clean. 1.00

00:01:52.400 So they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, 0.98

00:01:56.500 for their fellow priests, and for themselves. 1.00

00:01:59.140 It was eaten by all the people of Israel who had returned from exile, 0.99

00:02:02.960 and also by everyone who had joined them and separated himself from the uncleanness 0.99

00:02:09.900 of the peoples of the lamb to worship the Lord, the God of Israel.

00:02:14.280 And they kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful

00:02:20.040 and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work of the

00:02:25.940 house of God, the God of Israel. This is the word of the Lord. All right, please be seated. Let's go

00:02:31.780 ahead and dive right in. By the grace of God, I hope today to emphasize three points from the text.

00:02:38.900 The first point being this, from verses 13 and 14, the first two verses of our text,

00:02:44.360 the first emphases that I find in the text as I read it, that I want you to see as well,

00:02:51.420 is the goodness, the righteous power, fruitfulness of the civil magistrate legislating morality.

00:03:00.700 The civil magistrate is appointed by God under the banner of his sovereignty to legislate,

00:03:06.340 That is to make and enforce laws.

00:03:09.820 And it is a good thing, a righteous thing, and a profound, fruitful, powerful thing

00:03:15.120 when the civil magistrate legislates morality.

00:03:18.940 That is a good thing.

00:03:19.980 That's the first thing that I want us to see from the text in the first two verses of our text,

00:03:23.880 verses 13 and 14.

00:03:25.500 Secondly, verse 21 of our text, we will see that all are invited to the Lord's table. 0.97

00:03:31.240 that joining Israel requires a separating from the world.

00:03:37.880 All are invited to the Lord's table. 0.91

00:03:40.560 But joining Israel, it's not just for those who were exiles,

00:03:44.820 who have now returned to the promised land,

00:03:47.500 who have been released from the 70 years of exile in Babylon

00:03:51.320 and now have returned to the promised land.

00:03:53.740 And now that they're celebrating the Passover

00:03:56.260 with the temple having been finished,

00:03:58.660 The temple has been in destruction and rubble for decades, and it's finally been finished.

00:04:06.000 It's the first time that they are observing the Passover since the completion of the temple and the return from exile.

00:04:13.200 And when this happens, it is not only those who are returned exiles, who are of Israelite descent,

00:04:20.620 but all others who were in that geographic area at the time in the land who were willing to join

00:04:27.420 Israel. And joining Israel in this case means acknowledging Yahweh to be the one true God of

00:04:33.920 heaven and earth. And by acknowledging Yahweh, joining themselves to Israel, that is like two 0.93

00:04:40.160 pedals on a bicycle or two sides of the same coin. It's not two separate actions. It's really just 0.89

00:04:46.380 it's really just saying the same thing in two different ways. You join Yahweh, you therefore 0.96

00:04:52.220 sever yourself from pagan culture, pagan gods, pagan worship, and pagan practices. So they're 0.98

00:04:58.520 separating themselves from their own heritage that was pagan and joining themselves to Yahweh. 0.99

00:05:06.940 And the supper, this Passover feast, is not only open to these Israelites who have come back out 0.88

00:05:14.000 of exile and rebuilt the temple as they observed the Passover. But this table is a large table,

00:05:21.280 this proverbial table, and it has seats at the table that allow for everyone who is far off to

00:05:28.420 come and to belly up to the table of the Lord to observe the Passover feast. It requires one thing,

00:05:35.480 not a certain ethnic descent, but what it requires is a spiritual allegiance to the God of Israel, 0.95

00:05:43.500 to Yahweh and a forsaking, by way of consequence, a forsaking of all other gods and all other 0.62

00:05:51.200 pagan cultures that would worship those gods. That's the second thing that I want us to see 1.00

00:05:56.060 from the text. That's verse 21. And then lastly, verse 22. In verse 22, we will see how the Lord

00:06:02.880 gives us joy and how he provided joy to Israel at this particular time. And that what we see is

00:06:09.620 that the Lord gives us joy in two regards. He gives us cause to rejoice in the secondary causes

00:06:17.060 in terms of providence, in terms of circumstances, temporal earthly circumstances. He gives us cause

00:06:23.060 to rejoice. And many of these causes are human causes. They're ordinary causes. And that's not

00:06:28.900 vanity so long as our joy is ultimately in the Lord. It's not vanity to rejoice in being healed

00:06:36.780 when you were previously sick.

00:06:39.240 In fact, I think it's wrong not to rejoice.

00:06:42.180 The Bible doesn't just say

00:06:43.600 you can only rejoice in Christ

00:06:46.880 in the midst of suffering.

00:06:48.980 It's not less than that,

00:06:50.540 but it is more than that.

00:06:51.940 We are called to have joy

00:06:53.260 in the midst of suffering

00:06:54.320 because ultimately the source of our joy

00:06:56.300 is the Lord's

00:06:57.160 and not our providential circumstances.

00:06:59.400 Yes and amen a thousand times.

00:07:00.820 But over and over throughout the Scripture,

00:07:02.740 both in the Old and New Testament,

00:07:04.500 the Bible talks about gratitude

00:07:06.140 talks about contentment and it talks about joy and one of the things that we take joy in that

00:07:12.820 we rejoice over is the gracious provisions of our heavenly father it is right the bible says

00:07:20.360 rejoice in the wife of your youth wait a second i'm only supposed to rejoice in jesus i will not

00:07:28.300 be an idolater the gospel coalition wrote 400 articles just last month on family being an idol

00:07:35.260 And so I will not rejoice in the wife of my youth, even though the Bible commands me to

00:07:40.140 explicitly from God's word. Well, maybe that's not the best. I'm being facetious here. If you're

00:07:44.540 like, wait, what is he saying? I am, what I'm saying is I am sarcastically mocking the gospel

00:07:49.740 coalition and their idolatry, their idol is making everything an idol. That's, that's their idol.

00:07:56.220 No, the Bible actually says you can rejoice in not only Jesus himself, but the things that Jesus

00:08:02.640 provides. One of them being a wife. Another would be children. Children are a heritage from the Lord,

00:08:09.900 right? A man who receives a wife receives a good thing from the Lord. So rejoice in that wife of 0.70

00:08:15.760 your youth and rejoice in those children, the fruit of that marriage covenant. And certainly

00:08:21.000 rejoice in the salvation of your children as the Lord provides that. Rejoice in other physical,

00:08:27.700 temporal provisions a home food and clothing one of the ways that we actually show our adoration

00:08:35.720 and our worship and our thanksgiving to God is by receiving what he gives not just receiving

00:08:42.680 him himself first and foremost yes we receive him with thanksgiving but we don't receive God

00:08:49.860 himself exclusively with thanksgiving but we also receive those things which he provides that we

00:08:57.500 receive everything that comes from the hand of the Lord with thanksgiving the apostle Paul says

00:09:03.240 whether I am abounding or abasing right if even if it's just food and clothing as long as we have

00:09:10.160 food and clothing with these we will be content that there is a contentment in the food and

00:09:16.020 clothing which ultimately represents our contentment in the Lord who provided those things

00:09:23.860 So yes, our joy is ultimately in Christ, and the way that Christ makes us rejoice is not only in one way, the giving of himself, that is first and foremost and foundational, but God gives us joy by giving us hearts of joy, hearts to rejoice, but also by giving us providentially, in terms of human circumstances, very often he is providing certain causes for rejoicing.

00:09:52.000 And Israel is rejoicing at the end of our text today in both those regards.

00:09:57.220 God supernaturally by the power of his spirit is providing for them hearts capable of rejoicing ultimately in God himself as the end of their joy.

00:10:07.580 But also in the human sense, in a secondary sense, they are rejoicing over the edict of this king who God sovereignly appointed,

00:10:17.820 who made a righteous decree and legislated morality and now the fruit of that righteous

00:10:23.760 legislation has come to pass namely the completion of the temple and they're getting to celebrate the

00:10:30.380 Passover for the first time after having been released from exile and having the temple

00:10:36.500 completed and they're rejoicing in that rejoicing in God himself Yahweh yes but also rejoicing in

00:10:44.740 his providence rejoicing in god and what god gives so it is true to say uh that we we should

00:10:53.640 our allegiance and our love and our appreciation should be the giver not merely the gifts yes

00:10:59.280 but i do think that some of the gospel centered centered gospel gospel centered group

00:11:04.000 which by the way gospel centered is a fine phrase it's a fine phrase the reason why i don't use it

00:11:11.020 in the ways that I used to is because it took me a while. And this is to my shame. It took me all

00:11:16.060 the way until 2018. I don't know where you were, what year it was for you or when it was, but it

00:11:22.820 took me till 2018 to realize that gospel centered at the end of the day, what it meant was that it's

00:11:28.500 permissible for Christians to vote for a Democrat. That's what it means. That's what it means. You

00:11:33.520 need to be aware of that. When you see people using the phrase gospel centered nine out of 10

00:11:38.100 times not always but more often than not that is what it came to meant and that's a shame i'm not

00:11:44.240 saying that that's that's that's a shame but the gospel center kind of young reformed and restless

00:11:51.040 group guys like like acts 29 guys like the gospel college that's really at the end of the day what

00:11:57.320 it meant it meant get away from the the temporal the tangible uh get away from politics get away

00:12:04.680 from culture wars, get down to the roots, get to the heart, gospel-centeredness, and it was

00:12:11.340 kind of platitude, platitude, platitude, gospel proclamation, gospel proclamation, platitude,

00:12:17.800 platitude, platitude, and then at the bottom of the article or at the end of the sermon,

00:12:22.760 oh, and by the way, aka, you can vote for a Democrat. And that's really, and that's not me

00:12:28.020 trying to be hyperbolic, that is what it came to mean. It may not have been the plan from the

00:12:33.360 outset it still is inherently a good phrase we do want to be gospel centered in the truest sense

00:12:39.040 in a biblical sense but that is what it came to mean unfortunately but what we see in our text

00:12:45.960 today is that the civil magistrate is appointed by God and at times in God's sovereignty and

00:12:50.960 providence in his grace he actually uses the civil magistrate to legislate morality and

00:12:57.200 And God's people at those times rejoice.

00:13:01.680 And that's right.

00:13:02.900 And that's good.

00:13:04.060 Good to rejoice in God himself and also to rejoice in what God graciously gives.

00:13:10.920 And one of the things that God gives in his grace at times is certain civil rulers who actually make a good law.

00:13:20.480 Actually, I know it feels foreign, but they actually sometimes in God's mercy make a good

00:13:27.140 law a good call a good decision righteous legislation and when they do notice this is

00:13:34.020 one of the things we'll get into it doesn't always change the people at the level of the heart

00:13:39.220 a lot of times sometimes it does but a lot of times the people inwardly at the level of the

00:13:46.620 heart are still the same as they were before but outwardly in terms of their their speech

00:13:53.440 and in terms of their behaviors, they begin to do things that previously they would not

00:13:59.080 have done. It actually changes the outward behavior. Laws actually will shape and instruct

00:14:08.100 and form and disciple influence and even dictate. If those laws come with the threat of penalties

00:14:16.000 for breaking those laws laws will dictate outward change inward change the heart actually moving

00:14:24.460 from a heart of stone and being replaced with a heart of flesh inward change regeneration the the

00:14:29.780 fundamental truest ultimate inward change salvation being born again only the gospel does that but

00:14:36.640 even in the case of conversion even in the case of salvation which is our highest goal even in that

00:14:44.340 case, the law is helpful. Because if you have a righteous civil magistrate who legislates righteous

00:14:50.980 laws, guess what that does? If the law of the land reflects the true law of the Lord, then what that

00:14:59.160 does is the law of God saves people? No. But the law of God, insofar as the law of the land by the

00:15:06.440 human magistrate, is being legislated morally. And an accurate reflection of the law of God and what

00:15:12.660 god says in scripture what that does is it reveals to the citizens to a people in that nation that

00:15:20.860 they are sinners and that they need therefore a savior when there are righteous laws in a land

00:15:27.540 then then what that does is the law now begins to function as a savior no but as a tutor the bible

00:15:33.480 does say that the law functions as a tutor and what it does is it reveals it teaches us as students

00:15:41.080 our need for a savior so good laws reveal that people are bad good laws reveal bad people

00:15:49.480 and then bad people upon gospel proclamation can be driven to a good savior one of the reasons why

00:15:57.800 people are are are underwhelmed i would say in this cultural moment in this historical moment

00:16:04.240 in the west and particularly these united states one of the reasons why people are uniquely

00:16:09.620 underwhelmed by a presentation of the gospel is because it doesn't come as a scandal as the

00:16:17.820 righteous supernatural scandal that it should be the scandal of grace is what i'm speaking of

00:16:23.340 it is it is scandalous that that a thrice holy god would give his perfectly righteous son to die

00:16:33.240 for rebels. That's crazy. But the reason why the gospel, it's not that the gospel is being rejected

00:16:41.640 on average. I'm speaking in generalities. But on average today, in our context, I don't believe

00:16:49.200 that the gospel is generally being rejected because people who hear it think that this

00:16:55.340 scandalous grace, this good news is too good to be true. I don't think that that's the reason why

00:17:01.960 there's a rejection of the gospel because people just can't believe it because it just sounds too

00:17:07.100 good to be true that a thrice holy god would give his son to die for rebels no i don't think that

00:17:13.500 that's it i think that the reason why many are rejecting the gospel today is not because they

00:17:17.960 hear it as too good to be true but because they hear it as trivial trite underwhelming you're

00:17:24.700 telling me that there's a God who loves me? Of course he does. Why wouldn't he? I'm awesome.

00:17:33.280 I'm a snowflake. Perfectly unique. There's never been another one like me. I'm so special. In fact,

00:17:41.660 if you said that God did anything but love me, that would be a scandal.

00:17:46.300 it would be wrong of god morally wrong of god not to love me but see where the law of god is

00:17:55.240 preached not just the gospel see because grace without holiness isn't there's no grace grace

00:18:02.600 is it literally means unmerited favor aka undeserved love well how do you understand

00:18:09.940 not just love but a particular kind of love undeserved love you cannot comprehend a love

00:18:15.820 that is undeserved apart from comprehending that you don't deserve it and to understand that you

00:18:22.260 don't deserve the law of God you must understand the holiness of God and by way of consequence

00:18:28.100 your own sinfulness so apart from the preaching of law and therefore a preaching of sin there can

00:18:36.920 be no preaching of grace and then what happens is the gospel is not rejected because it's seen as

00:18:42.980 too good to be true. The gospel is rejected because it's seen as just old news. It's seen as

00:18:50.820 grace is no longer viewed as the scandal. The fact that God would not love someone,

00:18:59.060 that becomes the scandal. The real scandal of the gospel is that God would send his son to die

00:19:05.380 for anyone. Right? I remember, you know, when I first came into the doctrines of grace, Calvinism,

00:19:11.840 And I remember thinking, well, that's not fair.

00:19:15.460 It's not fair that God would choose some and not others,

00:19:19.380 that Jesus would die for the elect instead of a universal atonement

00:19:22.740 and dying for each and every individual who has ever been born and ever would be.

00:19:25.960 It's not fair.

00:19:27.740 And then I finally started to realize I was right.

00:19:30.960 I was right for the wrong reasons, but I was right.

00:19:33.820 It's not fair.

00:19:35.020 The gospel is not fair.

00:19:36.860 what's not fair is not that christ didn't die for some what's not fair is that christ would die for

00:19:44.920 any if jesus gave his life for even one person it would be unfair unfair to jesus

00:19:56.580 not to the world not to the reprobate not to all the others who their throats are open graves that

00:20:05.040 their feet lie in wait for blood this is what Romans 3 says that no one seeks for God no one

00:20:11.580 desires him not only do they not love him they don't even seek for him no one seeks for God

00:20:17.800 that's what Romans 3 says and for anybody you see well what about you know Jesus in the Sermon on

00:20:22.000 the Mount says you know if you seek me ask and knock right knock and the door will be open seek

00:20:27.500 you will find ask and it will be given uh-huh yes that is what Jesus says to his disciples a disciple

00:20:34.380 of Jesus, who has already been born again sovereignly by the work of the Spirit, not by

00:20:39.220 their choice, but by God's sovereign choice in election for that person who's already been made

00:20:44.300 a new creature in Christ Jesus with a new heart and a new nature and therefore new desires, that

00:20:49.260 person can actually seek for God and therefore is commanded by Christ in the Sermon on the Mount

00:20:54.340 and in Scripture to seek for God. But that is not speaking of the unbeliever. The unbeliever is

00:21:00.240 commanded to seek for God, but he won't because he can't. He cannot and he will not. So the scandal 1.00

00:21:08.220 of the gospel, the scandal of the gospel today in human ears for the unbeliever is viewed as the

00:21:17.880 idea that there might be someone somewhere that God doesn't love. That's viewed as scandalous

00:21:24.780 by our culture today but that's wrong it's completely wrong it is completely opposite

00:21:32.840 antithetical to the true scandal of the gospel which is not that God would not choose some

00:21:39.580 but the true scandal of the gospel is that God would choose any and the unfairness if there is

00:21:47.360 any of the gospel is not the unfairness towards rebels who have hated God with every fiber of

00:21:54.480 their being and chosen hell and God in the final analysis simply gives to them precisely what

00:22:00.760 they've been asking for every moment of their lives no that's not the scandal that's not the

00:22:06.420 great unfairness if there is any unfairness of the gospel it's the unfairness not that Jesus

00:22:12.460 didn't die for some but that Jesus would die for even one that's the scandal but again in our

00:22:21.880 historical and cultural moment today, people don't hear the gospel as a scandal of grace.

00:22:30.480 People do not hear the gospel thinking, I can't believe a holy God would send his son to die

00:22:38.240 for sinful me. No, instead, the way that people hear the gospel today is, of course God loves me.

00:22:47.340 how could he do anything else?

00:22:52.620 God is actually morally obligated to love me.

00:22:58.880 The standard for God to be righteous and to be God

00:23:04.800 is that he must love me.

00:23:08.440 And if God doesn't love me,

00:23:10.640 that doesn't call me into question.

00:23:12.860 It calls him into question.

00:23:17.840 That's the audience.

00:23:20.460 If you're wondering, where are we right now in this moment?

00:23:23.080 That is the general sentiment of the unbeliever today.

00:23:26.500 And sadly, because of weak pulpits and weak churches and weak doctrine,

00:23:31.920 that is the general sentiment of many Christians today. 0.79

00:23:35.840 Or at least professing Christians today.

00:23:39.980 A radical misunderstanding of the core foundational truth of the Christian faith,

00:23:45.740 namely the gospel of Jesus Christ.

00:23:48.700 All that back to the first point of our text today,

00:23:51.460 verses 13 and 14.

00:23:53.000 One of the things that fixes that is,

00:23:55.200 yes, better pastors with better theology

00:23:58.340 and better preaching and better churches.

00:24:01.480 That helps immensely.

00:24:03.800 Can't be anything less than that.

00:24:05.080 You've got to have that.

00:24:06.380 You've got to have better churches and better pastors.

00:24:09.600 And part of that requires better seminaries.

00:24:12.380 And in the long run, that would be the goal, better seminaries.

00:24:14.940 in the short run

00:24:15.860 because things are in such disarray

00:24:17.520 I would humbly suggest

00:24:19.060 that the first course of action

00:24:20.440 would be no seminaries

00:24:21.820 until we can figure out

00:24:23.880 what a good seminary is

00:24:25.160 and a seminary that's actually attached

00:24:26.800 to the local church

00:24:27.720 and not some third party

00:24:29.420 outside of any ecclesiastical banner

00:24:31.400 until we can actually figure out

00:24:33.040 how to train men

00:24:33.980 according to the scripture

00:24:35.080 to be pastors

00:24:36.440 I say shut them all down

00:24:38.260 say well but they're going to watch guys

00:24:41.740 who are uneducated on YouTube

00:24:43.140 and they'll be better off

00:24:44.840 they'll be better off and some of those guys are not great i kind of i'm hit or miss i'll be honest

00:24:52.500 even speaking to myself you know sometimes it's like right this last week you know have you been

00:24:57.540 following joel webbin and there's plenty of better things to do with your time so i don't expect or

00:25:01.260 assume that you have but if you have it's like all right well you know this last week you know

00:25:05.140 the life of joel webbin what's that look like atlantis and women shouldn't vote he's going

00:25:10.640 viral for that on Instagram. And a bunch of people are mad, you know? So like now in that case, I

00:25:16.140 don't feel like I was hit or miss. In that case, I'll just be honest. I think I was hit and hit.

00:25:19.660 I think I've nailed them both. But the point is, the point is this. I'm fallible. YouTube guys are

00:25:27.720 fallible. But you know what else is fallible? Seminaries and seminary professors. And right now,

00:25:32.620 I think they've all been bought. And they're playing for the wrong team. So what do you need?

00:25:43.880 All this back to my point. And I do remember it. Here's a point. What do you need for people to

00:25:49.560 actually comprehend? For the gospel not to fall on deaf ears, but for it to ring true the way that

00:25:57.340 was meant to for it to resound in the ears of men what do you what do you need what is required for

00:26:02.700 the gospel to come as a scandal but the right kind of scandal the scandal being that a holy god

00:26:08.320 would actually have mercy at the cost of the life of his son for sinners who have committed cosmic

00:26:17.100 treason against him that's the actual scandal so how do you get back to that when right now

00:26:22.340 if there's any scandal to the gospel at all in most people's minds the scandal would be that

00:26:28.480 god wouldn't perfectly and endlessly love every single person because every person deserves that

00:26:35.940 love that's that's what people view as scandalous right now how do you fix it what i'm saying is

00:26:40.020 better churches that's how we go in the seminary thing better churches better pastors better

00:26:44.120 preaching better doctrine but also this is verse 13 and 14 of our text better civil magistrates

00:26:51.080 and better laws because as it turns out right there might have been a little bit

00:26:59.140 now biblically we always knew the answer the problem was we didn't read our bibles but

00:27:03.120 but circumstantially if we weren't reading the bible which many evangelicals weren't

00:27:08.620 if we weren't reading the bible we were just looking at our human circumstances

00:27:12.420 right the context around us if we were looking at just culture and politics for a while it appeared

00:27:19.040 this wasn't really the case but optically it appeared as though the verdict was still

00:27:23.300 out in regards to this question can you legislate morality

00:27:29.860 and during that time you would hear sermons like this you can't legislate morality abortion will

00:27:39.040 never be ended by legislation but by heart transformation and you know that that's true

00:27:44.680 because it rhymes.

00:27:48.060 Legislation and transformation, they rhyme.

00:27:49.960 That is, I mean, if that's not true,

00:27:52.500 then I don't know what is.

00:27:54.520 And again, for the record, I have said that.

00:27:59.760 So I'm not just trying to pick on people.

00:28:01.340 I am trying to pick on people,

00:28:02.780 but I'm also picking on myself.

00:28:05.040 I bought into that also.

00:28:09.420 Because there's a truth in it,

00:28:11.340 but it's just not the whole truth.

00:28:13.940 There is a truth in the sense that ultimately at the level of the heart,

00:28:18.100 the only way that someone would ever do something that is ultimately in the truest sense,

00:28:22.760 the highest sense, good and pleasing in the sight of God is if they do it in faith, right?

00:28:28.320 That's all of Romans 14.

00:28:30.060 Anything that does not proceed from faith is sin.

00:28:33.960 It's what the Bible says.

00:28:35.000 So you can do good things outwardly.

00:28:38.760 You can have good behaviors outwardly.

00:28:42.500 but if you don't have a heart inwardly that is doing those things in faith that is a reliance

00:28:50.420 on God's grace therefore recognition of your need for that grace and a desire for God's glory

00:28:57.600 doing it for the glory of God with the reliance on the grace of God that is what it is to do

00:29:03.340 something in faith and to do something that is not done in faith is sin and so it is biblically

00:29:09.660 true to say that apart from regeneration by the spirit and apart from from doing something in

00:29:15.320 faith then even when we do outwardly good things that do outwardly align with the moral law of god

00:29:21.460 if inwardly we're unregenerate inwardly we have no faith then ultimately in the highest sense

00:29:27.620 that thing that we just did is not truly pleasing to god but rather it is filthy rags that's true

00:29:35.560 but that's not all the truth see that's the only thing that got preached for decades

00:29:41.820 in evangelical churches in america for decades a long time and that's how you got statements

00:29:47.940 and sermon titles like abortion will never be ended by legislation but rather by heart

00:29:53.800 transformation but that's that's the wrong idea now now if you had said conversion true conversion

00:30:01.300 of the heart will never happen by legislation alone, but by heart transformation, the power

00:30:07.340 of the Holy Spirit, the doctrine of regeneration. Amen. But did you know you can have an entire

00:30:13.540 nation? And this is not the case, but I'm just saying, making an argument from the greater to

00:30:18.720 the lesser. Let's just say hypothetically, there's not one regenerate person in the entire nation,

00:30:23.320 300, our nation, let's say, 330 million people, and they're all non-elect. Not only are they 0.95

00:30:29.420 unregenerate but it's not even god's intent to save them according to his sovereign will

00:30:33.440 they're all reprobates they're all bound for hell even then did you know it is in theory possible 0.73

00:30:40.120 to abolish abortion do you know how an unregenerate king civil magistrate under the 0.85

00:30:49.480 providence of god because he guides the hearts of a king like waters the scripture says in whatever 0.51

00:30:53.980 direction he wants, that king puts an edict, a decree in the land and says, I know you're all

00:31:00.680 reprobates and so am I. I recognize that you do not fear God and neither do I. But I've decided

00:31:08.600 that right now we have a global impending doom heading our way. It's called underpopulation,

00:31:15.360 not overpopulation, that's SIOP, but underpopulation. We're all going to die and no one's going to be

00:31:22.380 able to work and fill the coffers for our social security. And so I declare, instead of a one-child

00:31:29.620 policy, like China used to have, why did China change? Because they all got saved. No. Because

00:31:37.280 in God's common grace, even for the unregenerate, turns out societies, when they wake up, don't want

00:31:44.980 to commit suicide. Isn't that crazy? Did you know you don't have to be a born-again believer

00:31:50.680 to decide not to be suicidal.

00:31:54.860 And the same principle that applies to an individual person

00:31:57.640 also can apply to cultures and societies in a corporate sense.

00:32:02.800 So theoretically, back to my illustration here,

00:32:06.140 you could have a nation with not one regenerate heart,

00:32:08.900 but a king in the hand of God, as all kings are, good or bad,

00:32:12.440 and in his providence, the heart of that king is guided like waters,

00:32:16.540 and through common grace,

00:32:18.720 God gives to that king enough natural revelation,

00:32:22.640 not special revelation,

00:32:24.000 but natural revelation to see that it is good,

00:32:28.120 it is naturally good,

00:32:29.720 even to fallen man,

00:32:30.920 he can recognize with the reason he's been given

00:32:33.420 because even unbelievers are still created in the image of God

00:32:36.420 and God could reveal to him

00:32:38.360 it is good for their society,

00:32:40.680 for their nation,

00:32:41.480 for their culture to have children.

00:32:43.420 And he could say,

00:32:44.320 we are literally killing ourselves

00:32:46.220 and this is now creating an economic bubble, a huge problem. We've dug a hole for ourselves,

00:32:53.040 and so I am now, by decree, in a legal, legislative way, I am outlawing abortion, and I am putting as

00:33:01.140 the penalty, if anyone commits an abortion, not just the hitman, the mercenary, aka the abortion

00:33:07.300 doctor, but also the mother and the father, if he's coercing, or if he's involved in any way,

00:33:12.400 everyone involved will receive the death penalty.

00:33:18.160 And theoretically, in an unregenerate nation 0.80

00:33:21.380 with not one single Christian soul, 0.68

00:33:24.300 abortion could be eradicated. 0.94

00:33:27.120 So, all that being said,

00:33:29.080 the statement, you won't end abortion by legislation,

00:33:32.600 but only by heart transformation, is false.

00:33:37.280 That's false.

00:33:39.140 You won't save a soul apart from heart transformation.

00:33:42.400 That requires heart transformation.

00:33:45.260 That requires the work of the Holy Spirit in regeneration alone.

00:33:49.880 It must be that.

00:33:52.580 But you actually can change outward human actions.

00:33:57.460 At the level of the heart, you are still going to be ultimately and totally depraved apart from saving grace.

00:34:07.440 But at the outward level of speech, words, actions, behaviors, all that can be curbed

00:34:14.380 substantially, even with an unchanged heart, by simply having righteous laws and swift,

00:34:23.460 severe penalties for breaking those laws. And that's the first point in the first two verses

00:34:31.280 of our text today. Verse 13 and 14, Ezra chapter 6, then according to the words sent by Darius,

00:34:38.560 the king, Tatanai, the governor of the province beyond the river, Shethar, Bazanai, and their

00:34:44.240 associates did with all diligence what Darius, the king, had ordered. It goes on in verse 14,

00:34:50.800 picking up the second half, they finished their building by the decree of God, the God of Israel,

00:34:56.900 and they did it in the ultimate sense the highest sense by God's sovereign decree but it's not

00:35:03.780 either or it's both and in the human sense in the earthly sense God's sovereign decree was carried

00:35:10.000 out through means the same God who who sovereignly determines the end also determines the means by

00:35:16.860 which these ends are brought about and that God the God the triune God our God he decreed that

00:35:23.740 Israel should finish the temple. And he therefore decreed that the kings should make good edicts

00:35:31.520 that lent towards the building and completion of the temple. So verse 14, they finished their

00:35:36.880 building by the decree of the God of Israel and by the decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes,

00:35:42.440 king of Persia. Both. Both. And the thing that I want you to see here, verse 13, these people,

00:35:50.740 Tatanai, the governor of the province beyond the river, and Shethar, Bazanai, and their associates.

00:35:56.460 These guys earlier on, a little bit, if you back up just a little bit in the book of Ezra, what you

00:36:01.980 see, these guys are not pro-temple guys. These are not pro-Israel guys. These are not pro-Yahweh guys.

00:36:11.320 But apparently, when the king gets involved and says, you must do this, and if you don't do it,

00:36:17.960 you're going to be punished. Then guys who were just five seconds ago against Israel,

00:36:24.140 all of a sudden become allies. All of a sudden they changed their tune. Now at the level of the

00:36:30.760 heart, did their hearts change? We don't know. Maybe a few of them. But generally, if we're

00:36:37.380 speaking to all of them as a group, the implication seems to be, it's not explicit in the text,

00:36:42.060 but implicitly in the text, it seems like in a general sense, these guys and their associates,

00:36:46.560 in the general sense, their hearts are not changed. Inwardly, they are still not pro-temple

00:36:52.780 restoration and pro-Yahweh. No. Inwardly, they're still the same. They still don't like it. 0.67

00:37:01.920 But outwardly, inwardly, they're gritting their teeth. Outwardly, they're building a temple.

00:37:09.080 Isn't that neat? Isn't that funny? Turns out you can get things done.

00:37:16.560 with righteous legislation. You can't. Matthew Henry, he says it like this. The Jews' enemies

00:37:23.160 were made their friends, at least outwardly. When they received this order from the king, 0.96

00:37:28.940 they came with as much haste to encourage and assist the work as their predecessors had done

00:37:34.140 to put a stop to it. What the king ordered, they did. And because they would not be thought to do

00:37:40.680 it with reluctance, they did it speedily. The king's support made them contrary to their own

00:37:46.260 inclination supportive too the king supported it so all of a sudden so did they even if it went

00:37:54.460 against their own inward inclination outwardly the king supports it we support it too all right

00:38:02.400 second point ezra chapter 6 verse 21 let's read it again so it's fresh in our minds it says this

00:38:06.980 it was eaten by the people of israel speaking of the passover the temple's now been complete it's

00:38:12.680 The first time, not the first time they're doing Passover, 0.92

00:38:15.220 but the first time they're doing Passover since coming back from exile

00:38:18.640 and the temple being completed.

00:38:21.820 It was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile 0.98

00:38:24.660 and also, don't miss this, 0.87

00:38:27.180 and also by everyone who had joined them.

00:38:30.500 And this isn't even another breath.

00:38:32.780 This is the same breath.

00:38:34.300 And I want you to view it like this.

00:38:35.860 View this in the same way you would view faith and repentance.

00:38:39.140 Faith and repentance are literally, it's just two sides of the same coin.

00:38:43.500 Faith is turning to Christ.

00:38:45.660 Repentance is turning from sin.

00:38:47.920 You cannot turn to Christ without turning from sin.

00:38:52.100 Because sin and Christ are opposed to one another.

00:38:55.780 They are on opposite planes of the spectrum.

00:38:58.840 Sin and Christ, right?

00:39:00.540 What fellowship does light have with darkness?

00:39:03.160 So if sin is here, you know where Christ is not?

00:39:06.320 Here.

00:39:06.860 Christ isn't here.

00:39:07.720 If sin is here, that's not where Jesus is.

00:39:10.920 Right?

00:39:11.140 Jesus is over here.

00:39:11.900 Now, I'm not saying that Jesus is not the friend of sinners.

00:39:15.840 Jesus loves the downhearted, the broken, the sinner.

00:39:18.840 But real quick, just another evangelical myth buster,

00:39:21.880 since, you know, that's where the sermon has been.

00:39:24.100 We might as well keep with the theme here.

00:39:25.700 It wasn't necessarily intended, but I think it's helpful.

00:39:28.040 When the Bible says Jesus is the friend of sinners,

00:39:30.020 we should ask at least one question, which is this.

00:39:32.640 What kind of sinner?

00:39:35.980 Notice, every single one of these sinners are repentant sinners.

00:39:41.900 So Jesus has a friendship with Zacchaeus.

00:39:44.220 Yeah, uh-huh.

00:39:45.020 He goes to his house and eats with them.

00:39:47.400 And in one meal, in a matter of a couple hours,

00:39:51.840 it's not like Jesus and Zacchaeus are hanging out every day

00:39:54.780 and Zacchaeus hates God.

00:39:56.660 And Jesus just keeps, you know, shooting the breeze

00:39:59.600 and kicking it and having fun with my bestie Zacchaeus

00:40:02.260 for two years.

00:40:04.000 And then Zacchaeus, through a relationship,

00:40:06.220 finally decides to repent, you know,

00:40:07.860 because, you know, people won't care how much you know

00:40:10.720 until they know how much you care, right?

00:40:13.760 There's another evangelical sermon for you.

00:40:16.300 No, Jesus does let Zacchaeus know how much he cares 1.00

00:40:19.900 by saying, you're a thief and a robber and a traitor 0.99

00:40:23.040 and a sinner and you need to repent. 1.00

00:40:25.020 That's how much I care.

00:40:26.940 I really love you.

00:40:28.920 And that is genuine love, genuine care.

00:40:31.720 And Zacchaeus repents.

00:40:33.480 So Zacchaeus, a tax collector, a sinner,

00:40:36.140 when the Bible says it,

00:40:37.020 it's talking about their reputation.

00:40:38.700 So when the Bible says Jesus is the friend of sinners,

00:40:40.360 it's in the same breath the same vein as where the scripture says elsewhere jesus speaking of

00:40:45.720 himself he says it is not the healthy that need a physician but the sick and he speaks about how

00:40:52.240 i've come for the sick i've come for the sinner not for the righteous now what jesus means by that

00:40:58.060 is not i'm just going to hang out with sinners who are still currently impenitent and steeped

00:41:04.300 in their sin with no signs of changing whatsoever. That's not what Jesus is saying. When the Bible

00:41:10.220 says that Jesus is the friend of sinners, when he's given that moniker, right? Because that was 0.64

00:41:14.780 actually given to him by the opposing party, the religious rulers of the day. They're the ones who 0.90

00:41:20.820 coined the phrase, Jesus, friend of sinners. It was meant to be a knock. It was meant to be a

00:41:26.380 pejorative. It wasn't a compliment. And when they gave Jesus this moniker, he's the friend of sinners.

00:41:32.480 This is what they meant by it.

00:41:33.880 They meant, look at the company he keeps. 0.95

00:41:36.540 Harlots, traitors, a.k.a. tax collectors.

00:41:41.720 IRS, traitors against the American people.

00:41:45.360 Absolutely, 100%. 1.00

00:41:46.520 I think it applies. 0.86

00:41:49.220 But he is a friend of traitors. 0.99

00:41:50.780 He's a friend of harlots.

00:41:52.420 He's a friend of zealots on the other end of the spectrum.

00:41:57.680 That's the company he keeps.

00:41:59.640 He can't be from God.

00:42:00.840 He can't really be a prophet.

00:42:01.940 he can't be righteous because if he is righteous he wouldn't keep such unrighteous company

00:42:07.700 and from that evangelicals kind of spun off into la la land got way into left field way far from

00:42:16.280 the text and started saying you know jesus is the friend of sinners and then here's the quiet part

00:42:20.600 that was just imputed and assumed what they started meaning by that is jesus is the friend

00:42:27.320 of current sinners who are currently impenitent, unwilling to repent of their sin, and currently

00:42:34.540 in opposition and hostility towards Jesus, and he's still there for him. That is not what we see.

00:42:41.820 Jesus, he's, Matthew was a tax collector, right? Even among his disciples, these guys have sinful

00:42:49.260 reputations. The woman who washes Jesus' feet with her tears and dries him with her hair, that's

00:42:55.160 Literally, the phrase that's uttered by the religious rulers of the day,

00:42:59.300 what they say is, does he not know what reputation she has?

00:43:03.020 And the answer, of course, is, it's a rhetorical question.

00:43:06.260 They didn't maybe mean it like that, but of course Jesus knew who she was.

00:43:09.740 Jesus knew her reputation.

00:43:11.140 And Jesus has no problem associating with those of a sinful reputation.

00:43:17.900 Jesus has no problem being a friend of sinners in the true biblical sense.

00:43:22.820 that is to say a friend of those who have a sinful past

00:43:26.980 and because sinless perfection is not attainable in this life

00:43:30.820 even those who continue to sin in the present

00:43:33.320 but who ultimately in the highest sense

00:43:36.520 are marked by faith and repentance

00:43:38.680 they hate their sin

00:43:40.320 Jesus is a friend of sinners

00:43:42.600 but sinners who hate their sin

00:43:44.700 sinners who are not leaning into their sin

00:43:48.100 but are leaning into Jesus

00:43:49.760 and back to the point faith and repentance two sides of the same coin you can't turn to jesus

00:43:56.480 aka faith apart from turning from your sin aka repentance if sin is here and jesus is there

00:44:04.720 then i can't turn to jesus without simultaneously in one foul swoop leaving my sin there is no

00:44:12.980 straddling the gap because the gap between the thrice holy God and sin is far too wide for any

00:44:21.380 man to breach. You can't hold on over here to that which Jesus hates and cling to Christ in the same

00:44:30.640 instance. To have faith is to repent and to repent is to have faith. Having faith in Jesus is turning

00:44:38.260 to Christ, and therefore by way of consequence turning from sin, which is to repent. That's

00:44:45.300 what's going on. And so too we find it in verse 21 of our text. Who's eating the Passover? It's

00:44:53.160 all those of Israel who've come back from exile after the completion of the temple, but also by 1.00

00:44:58.120 everyone who had joined them and separated himself from the uncleanness and the peoples of the land

00:45:07.620 to worship the lord the god of israel matthew henry again to reference his commentary he says

00:45:14.160 it like this see how the proselytes that is converts christians uh you know i could have

00:45:20.240 just read on it's literally the next phrase see how the proselytes the converts are described

00:45:25.100 they separated themselves from the filthiness of sin and fellowship with sinners joined themselves 0.92

00:45:30.380 with the israel of god those strangers and foreigners they are welcome to eat of the gospel

00:45:36.660 feast as fellow citizens with the saints of god brothers and sisters this is a profound point with

00:45:42.760 much application for us today as true israel the christian church spiritual israel not according

00:45:49.300 to the flesh but according to the promise this principle applies to us today one other biblical

00:45:54.620 example or a case study that we could use for this principle and the principle being the joining

00:45:59.100 and separating joining and severing this principle of joining and severing it's also a principle that

00:46:05.680 we see in the case study of marriage. For this reason, a man shall leave. There's the separating

00:46:12.360 mother and father and cling. There's the joining. Cling fast to his wife. You can't start a new

00:46:20.740 household without leaving the previous household. Your dad will always be your dad. Your mom will

00:46:26.520 always be your mom. Your brothers and sisters will always be your brothers and sisters. That's

00:46:30.200 profound. It's significant. It matters. You should not leave your previous household in the, in every

00:46:38.120 sense of, of the leaving word. If your parents are Christian, there is a forsaking. If your parents 1.00

00:46:44.360 hate Christ, Jesus says, if you're not willing to forsake father and mother. So that does happen.

00:46:48.940 But assuming that your parents and your brothers and your sisters are Christians and love Jesus, 0.89

00:46:53.120 then you get married. And guess what? You still have a relationship with your mother and your

00:46:57.080 father and your brothers and your sisters. And yet there still is a leaving. There still is a leaving.

00:47:03.960 It's leave and cleave. Sever and bind. Separate and join. This happens in marriage. This happens

00:47:12.180 for all these foreigners and aliens and strangers in our text today in verse 21. They separate 1.00

00:47:19.320 themselves from their heritage, from their fatherland, from their families, from their 0.96

00:47:24.760 culture, from their pagan practices and false worship and false gods. They don't just join

00:47:30.740 Israel for Passover and then go right back to pagan worship. That's not what's happening. The

00:47:38.300 text takes the time to tell us that. It's explicit. The text literally says they left it. They forsook

00:47:44.700 it. They separated themselves. So we see the leaving and cleaving in marriage. We see leaving

00:47:50.320 and cleaving with these foreigners who are now proselytes, converts brought into Israel. 1.00

00:47:55.020 And certainly we should see it. I don't know if we do, but we should see it for the New Testament 1.00

00:48:00.660 Christian church today. We should see leave and cleave. We should see sever and bind. We should 1.00

00:48:07.540 see separate and join. And what I'm saying is that there is a sense in becoming a disciple of Jesus

00:48:15.200 in which we should forsake those things

00:48:18.380 which are explicitly opposed to Jesus.

00:48:21.980 When you are saved, your life changes.

00:48:25.120 It should change.

00:48:26.820 And yes, sanctification is a lifelong process

00:48:28.980 from the point of conversion to the point of death.

00:48:30.880 We are constantly and progressively

00:48:32.860 and gradually being formed more and more

00:48:35.340 into the image of Christ.

00:48:37.200 And so not every change happens all at once

00:48:40.220 on the first day that we come to believe,

00:48:42.880 but there should be an initial substantial change

00:48:47.880 at the moment of salvation

00:48:49.340 and progressively an increasing change

00:48:52.160 over the course of sanctification.

00:48:54.180 And that change means what?

00:48:55.680 A deeper and deeper joining to Christ

00:48:58.700 and a deeper and deeper forsaking of the world.

00:49:03.660 Leaving of these things which stand opposed to Christ.

00:49:07.540 And what will that look like?

00:49:08.880 Each person, their case might be different,

00:49:11.020 but there are some universal principles one universal principle that's inescapable that

00:49:16.840 jesus says you cannot be my disciple unless dot dot dot there are some things that are across the

00:49:22.380 board for all of us one of them is that if you're going to be a disciple of jesus your relationships

00:49:27.080 will change they must change and here's the deal it's not because you're going around rejecting

00:49:34.120 all of your previous family and all your previous friends here's my pastoral tip for you

00:49:39.580 you don't have to leave them just be faithful and they will leave you

00:49:45.840 they will one of two things will happen you live faithfully for christ and one of two things will

00:49:56.000 happen inevitably and usually fairly quickly they'll become a disciple of jesus too and that's

00:50:02.960 what we hope for and pray for as you seek to preach the gospel to them to share the love of

00:50:08.100 Christ with them to tell them of God's law and therefore their sin and therefore their need for

00:50:13.260 a savior that they they can find salvation nowhere else that they must be born again

00:50:17.260 that this comes by grace alone through faith alone and Christ alone in all these things

00:50:21.260 they may in God's sovereign will come to Christ or they may reject Christ and if you look like

00:50:31.480 christ they'll reject you too but this third option which is no option at all it is a joke

00:50:38.220 you want to talk about psyops here's a psyop this third option that you could somehow represent

00:50:45.580 christ and they could reject the one that you represent but accept you that is an impossibility

00:50:53.800 if the person that you're friends with is saying i hate the bible i hate that misogynistic 0.98

00:51:03.320 patriarchal racist slavery endorsing god of scripture but man like you you're not like 1.00

00:51:13.140 other christians if you hear that as a compliment you're dumb that is not a compliment that is an 1.00

00:51:21.340 indictment from the lord himself through the mouth of a donkey someone who votes for a donkey 1.00

00:51:28.020 that is the lord condemning you and if you're a christian he's at least at minimum convicting you 0.86

00:51:37.160 saying brother sister you need to shape up jesus well pastor you just you're just making things up

00:51:45.680 now where is this in scripture i i don't know maybe maybe when jesus said i tell you the truth

00:51:50.580 the student is not above the teacher the slave is not above the master if they hated me

00:51:56.720 they will hate you and if they hate christ but don't hate you it's because you don't look like

00:52:05.560 christ and that's one of the the most common and most difficult thing that i found that christians

00:52:12.920 struggle with they they wrestle and struggle profoundly relationally emotionally with this

00:52:18.840 this reality of loving jesus and and if they're truly born again then they do truly love jesus

00:52:25.840 the degree in which they love jesus the manner in which they love jesus certainly could use some

00:52:29.880 improvement as it can for all of us myself included but there is if they're born again

00:52:33.800 there is a genuine love for christ and yet they still have this relationship and they love this

00:52:38.140 person and and and they're struggling and they're straddling and their legs are starting to break

00:52:42.920 you know, the splits, it's getting, it's Jean-Claude Van Damme situation, you know, like it's, it's,

00:52:48.820 it's, it's beyond human physics. It's not right. It's not natural. And it, and it's tearing them

00:52:54.320 apart. And, and I know it hurts. So I don't want to say that it's, it's easy, but here's the thing.

00:53:00.140 It's not easy, but it is simple, right? You've heard me say this before. I think it's a good

00:53:05.180 illustration. It's like chopping wood. Chopping wood is not easy. I chopped some wood with Josh

00:53:09.140 a couple of weeks ago. It's not easy, but it's also not complex, right? There are things that

00:53:15.760 are hard, but they're simple, right? Chopping wood, it's fairly simple. I didn't have to go to school

00:53:20.720 for it, right? Josh gave me like a lesson. It took about 45 seconds, right? We didn't like,

00:53:26.560 you know, we didn't sit down for hours and hours, you know, and pull out charts. It was pretty simple,

00:53:31.440 but it was pretty hard and so too it is being a disciple of jesus

00:53:36.880 like what's hard is losing father and mother and brother and sister and friend

00:53:42.560 if that be god's will that's hard but what is not complex and very simple is loving jesus

00:53:54.240 and faithfully representing him and by doing so here's the deal back to the point you don't have

00:54:01.320 to reject all these relationships. You just be faithful to Christ and they'll reject you. Or,

00:54:09.460 and again, this is our first hope and prayer. They'll either reject you or they'll receive

00:54:16.600 Christ. And now you don't just have a friend, you have a brother. You have a sister. And that is so

00:54:22.880 much better. But what's inescapable, whether it be marriage, leave and cleave, whether it be Israel 0.95

00:54:28.400 in our text, not Israel, I'm sorry, but the foreigners and strangers who come and join 0.99

00:54:32.760 the table with Israel and the Passover, but also leave their prior pagan cultures, whether it be

00:54:40.360 us, the New Testament church today, in every instance, if we're going to follow Jesus, it's 0.55

00:54:46.120 going to require us to leave the world. There's a sense in which we don't leave the world where

00:54:51.900 the apostle Paul says, if I was speaking of the world in every instance of the world to separate

00:54:58.240 from the sexually immoral.

00:54:59.460 This is what he says to the Corinthians.

00:55:00.820 If I was saying do that in every instance,

00:55:02.700 then you'd have to go out of the whole world.

00:55:05.460 You'd have to live on the moon.

00:55:07.160 And then you'd have to pick somewhere else

00:55:08.700 because Elon would come and get you

00:55:09.900 and set up a colony or something.

00:55:11.180 You know, you'd have to go somewhere else is the point.

00:55:16.620 So Paul's saying, no, no, no.

00:55:17.600 You can associate with the world at some level, right?

00:55:22.260 It doesn't mean that you're taking the mark of the beast

00:55:24.500 if you have a credit card or if you go to HEB.

00:55:26.820 That's what I'm saying.

00:55:28.240 but hating the world, that's what 1 John says. It uses that word, the world will hate you,

00:55:33.660 but we're also called to hate the world. That is the spirit, a demonic power structure. It's

00:55:40.320 a kingdom. It is a demonic kingdom under Satan's rule. And here's the thing, right? Our battle is

00:55:45.680 not with flesh and blood, but with principalities. It's a spiritual battle. Uh-huh. Yes. But 1

00:55:49.860 Timothy also tells us that Satan takes captive flesh and bone bodies in his platoon, right?

00:55:58.020 The Bible says, rebuke your opponent gently, not knowing if he might be won over.

00:56:04.800 After, and it continues, it says, after having been taken captive by Satan to do his will.

00:56:10.400 So here's the deal.

00:56:11.100 Our battle is ultimately spiritual, not flesh and blood.

00:56:14.160 But as we fight our spiritual opponent, we must recognize this spiritual opponent does

00:56:19.360 take captive within his enlistments.

00:56:22.720 He does take flesh and blood captive.

00:56:24.200 He is using people as pawns in his army, and so yes, we are opposing them, and certainly the theology

00:56:32.120 and ideology behind these individuals, and as we do it, some of them will be won over, others will

00:56:38.100 not, and they will reject us. So forsaking the world, hating the world, doesn't mean that you

00:56:43.580 can't go to H-E-B. It doesn't mean that you can't have a credit card, and it doesn't mean that you

00:56:48.220 can't work at Tesla, or it doesn't mean these things, but what it certainly does mean is that

00:56:53.000 you must hate the evil system under satan's domain and recognize that that evil system

00:56:57.800 is not just in the 17th dimension it is a spiritual origin but it has earthly manifestations

00:57:05.300 that evil system pops up all around you and it might pop up in your best friend it might pop up

00:57:11.340 god forbid in your own family and in those cases your faithfulness to christ must not compromise

00:57:16.640 and it will end in one of two ways those people will be converted or they will leave you and if

00:57:22.080 they leave you you should be willing to say it breaks my heart but ultimately in the final sense

00:57:26.660 I counted all as loss next to knowing Christ and him crucified that's the second point of our text

00:57:32.000 finally landing the plane third point as we've already addressed briefly this is verse 22 the

00:57:37.640 Lord gives us joy and he does so in multiple multiple ways but at least in two ways he gives

00:57:43.500 us human providential circumstantial cause for joy but he also gives us hearts to rejoice and if he

00:57:50.200 doesn't do the latter hear me if he doesn't do the latter if he doesn't give us hearts that are

00:57:55.100 capable of joy then you will experience the circumstances of joy but you'll be joyless

00:57:59.940 you will you'll be miserable even in the midst of comfort you won't be happy you won't be filled

00:58:09.340 with joy you will be discontent even when you have plenty see Paul says whether I abase or

00:58:15.400 abound if i have plenty or if i have little i'm content not so with the wicked with the wicked

00:58:21.080 whether they are base or abound they're discontent for the wicked they're discontent when they have

00:58:26.800 little they're discontent when they have much but for the righteous they can be content in all

00:58:32.100 things take joy in all things because god ordinarily not always this is not a guarantee

00:58:38.400 but it is frequent.

00:58:40.740 God frequently does give us human means

00:58:43.780 and circumstantial causes to rejoice.

00:58:47.840 Do you have a spouse?

00:58:50.140 Raise your hand if you're married.

00:58:52.400 You have a reason to rejoice.

00:58:54.820 Are you a parent?

00:58:55.700 Has God given you a child?

00:58:57.900 There's a cause to rejoice.

00:59:00.420 Do you have a job?

00:59:03.600 Anybody sleep outside last night?

00:59:08.400 You're all clothed.

00:59:10.480 I don't see anyone naked.

00:59:11.900 Praise God.

00:59:14.420 Those are causes to rejoice.

00:59:16.300 And it is not hashtag gospel coalition idolatry to do so.

00:59:21.060 Rejoice in those things.

00:59:24.040 And rejoice ultimately in the giver of gifts, the Lord himself.

00:59:28.980 But to say, God, I rejoice in you and you alone.

00:59:31.100 And then God gives you something.

00:59:32.080 You say, I hate your gifts.

00:59:33.540 you see that that actually is not being as gospel-centered as you think it is

00:59:39.440 i love the lord and my joy is in him and everything he gives me i hate

00:59:43.860 that's not gratitude you think you just found this theological life hack that you're you know

00:59:50.680 truly gospel-centered and not idolatrous in vain no no you've just rejected god because a rejection

00:59:55.680 of his provision is at some level a rejection of he him himself david says the lines have fallen

01:00:02.300 for me in pleasant places. What he's saying is this, I am content and even rejoice not only in

01:00:08.920 God himself who is sovereign over all things, but I'm also rejoicing in his providence.

01:00:15.040 Part of rejoicing in the provider is the acknowledgement and the receiving and the

01:00:20.320 receiving with gladness, not grumbling, but gladness. Gladness is the receiving of the

01:00:26.360 provider's providence you want to honor the provider then rejoice in him and be grateful for

01:00:33.960 the provider's provision you cannot say i love the provider and i hate his provision

01:00:40.880 and also you cannot say i love his provision but i hate the provider that's a wicked thing as well

01:00:47.900 it's both ultimately our joy is in the lord he has to give us hearts to rejoice

01:00:54.820 But as we see in our text, God did both.

01:00:58.060 God gave them hearts to rejoice.

01:00:59.940 He made them capable of rejoicing.

01:01:01.680 He made them righteous.

01:01:03.840 The wicked have no joy in little or in plenty.

01:01:07.640 They can have everything in the world and still be unhappy.

01:01:10.820 But the righteous, they can be happy in much and happy with little.

01:01:15.580 You need both.

01:01:16.480 You need a heart that's capable of rejoicing.

01:01:19.240 And you also have human needs like clothing and food and water.

01:01:24.060 and shelter and the Lord knows you need these things and so long as you seek his kingdom first

01:01:29.200 all these things have been promised to be added to us and that's not prosperity gospel that's

01:01:35.580 just the sermon on the mount being quoted so we ask the Lord give us hearts that are actually

01:01:44.400 capable of joy in other words give us new hearts give us righteous hearts and give us hearts that

01:01:50.640 capable of joy and first and foremost find their joy in you the provider before the provisions

01:01:56.940 but also and this is perfectly righteous thing to pray but also lord would you give us a smiling

01:02:06.160 providence rather than a frowning one it's all providence and we know in the ultimate sense it

01:02:11.080 will all be for your glory for our good we trust that that being said we'd rather have the smiling

01:02:17.060 providence and the frowning one would you give us good things would you give us food would you give

01:02:22.480 us clothing would you give us shelter oh and while you're at it would you give us a righteous king

01:02:28.000 with righteous legislation that makes our enemies even though they still hate us inwardly it makes

01:02:34.760 them allies outwardly because of the threat of punishment because the king has told them

01:02:40.100 knock it off whether you like it or not whether you have a regenerate heart or not you're not

01:02:45.360 going to oppose Israel aka in our day you're not going to oppose the church of Jesus Christ 0.79

01:02:53.620 and I'm sorry but the human sacrifice to Molech and the blood of 70 million babies dripping down 0.67

01:03:00.960 the altar is not allowed anymore and women have agency isn't that ironic the same group that wants 1.00

01:03:10.300 to say, smash the patriarchy. I hate misogyny. Also wants to say, oh, and by the way, women bear 1.00

01:03:19.060 no guilt in the choice of abortion. It's just the hitman. It's just the abortion doctor. Because 0.77

01:03:25.020 you can't really expect a woman to fully recognize that this is a living human being in her womb

01:03:31.240 created in the image of God. So stop being patriarchal and disrespecting women. And also

01:03:35.940 please respect that they are so unintelligent that they can't possibly comprehend that it's 0.99

01:03:41.100 immoral to kill their own offspring. Isn't that funny? That's the pro-life industry, by the way. 0.99

01:03:47.640 That's not even, that's not the Democrats. That's the pro-life evangelicals that would say,

01:03:52.340 stop this patriarchal misogynist messaging. And also please respect the lack of intelligence of

01:04:01.340 women that cannot be held morally responsible for this decision because they don't actually have 0.99

01:04:07.020 moral agency. That irony, that's so thick you'll choke. Don't even think about it for too long 1.00

01:04:13.620 because it starts to make you delirious. You can't even stand straight. You get dizzy.

01:04:17.920 It's so hypocritical. Irony is the euphemism. Hypocrisy is the word. So we rejoice in God, 0.97

01:04:26.340 the provider but we also rejoice in his provision even when the provision hurts and we ask and

01:04:32.540 petition that the provision would be not frowning but that the providence would be smiling and part

01:04:37.860 of that is our basic needs food and clothing and shelter but also it is perfectly permissible and

01:04:43.240 even commanded that we pray for kings and rulers that we would have good kings good rulers good

01:04:49.260 civil magistrates and that they would legislate good laws because at the end of the day good laws

01:04:54.580 will not save the soul, but it can change the behavior. And even if people aren't regenerate,

01:05:01.620 having good laws that stop the murder of children is still a win. And to say anything otherwise

01:05:08.660 is a pietistic platitude that I hope in our generation will be buried so deep underground 0.96

01:05:16.880 that that level of pietism will never see the light of day again. Let's pray. Father, thank you

01:05:21.600 for your word, bless it to your people, and bring yourself glory. Amen.

The NXR Podcast - April 08, 2024

THE SERMON - The State Can Legislate Morality, And It Must

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