THE SERMON - Why Many Christians Don’t Want A Christian Nation
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Summary
Join in as we continue our series through the book of Ezra as we read through Ezra 8:15-23. This week, we are praying for the Branch family as they prepare for the upcoming surgery of their beloved daughter, Ashley Branch. We also pray for the Phillips family, as they grieve the loss of their other daughter, Gracie, who passed away a couple weeks ago. And finally, we pray for favor with Covenant Bible Church as we seek a new location that can accommodate families, especially with auxiliary space for nursing mothers and young children that need extra attentive care as they learn to worship alongside their parents and families on the Lord's Day.
Transcript
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Amen. Would you join me before we begin by reading the text and preaching? Would you join me in
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praying three specific prayers just for the life and the body of our church? I wanted to pray for
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the Branch family that are with us today. Ashley Branch is going to be having surgery this next
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week, and I wanted to pray for God's mercy and healing for her. Also for the Phillips, for those
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of you who are not aware, most of you probably are at this point, but their oldest daughter,
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Gracie, passed away a couple weeks ago. And so praying for them in regards to healing from grief.
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And then lastly, myself and a few leaders from the church are going to be examining a couple
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of potential buildings this week for the church to have a little bit more space and perhaps a
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better location. So praying for favor and wisdom with that. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for
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the Branch family. We thank you for Eric and Ashley. Lord, we ask for wisdom and a good report
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and a successful surgery. We pray, Lord, that you would empower the doctors who are performing the
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surgery to do it well. Lord, we pray for your supernatural healing, that if it be your will,
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that they would discover that things are better than they presupposed. We pray for grace. We pray
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for healing. We pray for peace also in the midst of this ordeal leading up and to the surgery and
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during the surgery and after the surgery. Lord, we not only pray for physical well-being and healing,
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but also for peace, a peace that surpasses all understanding for Ashley, but also for her
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husband, her children. Lord, we pray for the Phillips family. And Lord, we pray that
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your word is true. And we thank you for your promises that you are near to the brokenhearted
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And Lord, we pray that you would comfort the Phillips
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as we seek to perhaps find a new location that is better,
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that can accommodate families, especially with some auxiliary space
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for nursing mothers and young children that need extra attentive care
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as they're learning to worship you alongside their parents
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So something that's better and more suited to our needs,
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but also bigger, that can accommodate more people, if it be your will,
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and perhaps also a better location at least for the majority of those who call Covenant Bible
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Church home. We pray, Lord, for favor and wisdom as we pursue that process of trying to find a
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more secure and permanent church home that would be accommodating to our needs, accommodating to
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more people and the people we already have, but also provide a greater security as we attempt by
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your grace to be a light in the midst of darkness. We pray these things in Jesus name. Amen. Would you
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join me in standing for the reading of God's word? Our text for today is Ezra chapter 8 verses 15
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through 23. We're continuing our series through the book of Ezra and we only have a few more weeks
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left at this point. When we finish this series through the book of Ezra, Lord willing, the plan
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is to teach a little bit, take a few weeks and teach a little bit on the Lord's Day a variety
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of texts, predominantly Titus chapter 1 and 1 Timothy chapter 3 in regards to the offices of
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the church. To teach a week or two on eldership, a week or two on the diaconate, the deacons of the
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church, and then also to take at least one week to teach also on the office of membership, those
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members of the church, their responsibilities, their qualifications, their duties in regards
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to all three of these offices, elders, deacons, and members. I believe that this will be timely
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because it'll be helpful for us to understand the truth from God's word in regards to these
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subjects, but also as we, as a church, seek to install and ordain, appoint more leaders for
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the growth of this local body. I want the church to be aware of what we're doing, why we're doing
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it and how we're doing it as we seek to do it according to god's word okay our text again ezra
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chapter 8 verses 15 through 23 i'll read the text in its entirety when i finish reading the text
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and stumbling over many hebrew names i will say this is the word of the lord at which point i
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would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying thanks be to god one final time ezra
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chapter 8 verses 15 through 23 the bible says this i gathered them to the river that runs
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to Ahava, and there we camped three days. As I reviewed the people and the priest, I found there
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none of the sons of Levi. Then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jerib, Elnathan, Nathan,
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Zechariah, and Meshulam, leading men, and for Joerib and Elnathan, who were men of insight,
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and sent them to Edo, the leading man at the place of Kasaphia,
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telling them what to say to Edo and his brothers
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namely, to send us ministers for the house of our God.
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of the sons of Mali, the son of Levi, son of Israel,
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namely, Sherebiah, with his sons and kinsmen, 18.
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Also, Hashabiah, and with him Jeshuaia, and the sons of Merari, with his kinsmen and their sons, twenty.
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Besides two hundred and twenty of the temple servants, whom David and his officials had set apart to attend the Levites,
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Then I proclaimed to fast there at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God
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to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods.
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For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us
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against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king,
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the hand of our God is for good on all who seek him,
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and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.
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So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.
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Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen with them.
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And I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God,
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that the king and his counselors and his lords and all Israel there present had offered.
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And I said to them, You are holy to the Lord, and the vessels are holy,
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and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers.
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Guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites
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and the heads of fathers' houses in Israel at Jerusalem within the chambers of the house of the Lord.
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Then we departed from the river Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem.
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The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way.
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At that time, those who had come from captivity, the returned exiles, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel,
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twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and as a sin offering, twelve male goats.
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They also delivered the king's commissions to the king's satraps and to the governors of the province beyond the river,
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and they aided the people and the house of God.
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All right, please be seated. Let's go ahead and dive right in. By way of overview, I've written
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the following, and then we'll get into a couple main points from the text today. The overview
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is this. Ezra chapter 8, our chapter today, describes in detail Ezra's trip to Jerusalem
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from the previous chapter. So if you were with us last Lord's Day, chapter 7, it was simply
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mentioned in passing that Ezra, he traveled from Babylon. He was sent by the king as a scribe,
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and resourced by him with certain men and leaders,
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but also with a treasury from the king's own resources
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to decorate it with rich ornaments and treasure,
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and to also see to it that those who were in the land of Israel,
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in this promised land, that they would live according to the law of God, that God would
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not be provoked in his wrath, but rather that he would be appeased, that he would be esteemed,
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that he would be honored by their way of life as they sought to live according to his law,
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but also by their way of worship, their daily living, but also a continual and constant
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worshiping in the temple and at the altar that was there.
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So he resourced him with treasure, the king did, resourcing Ezra and his team with treasure
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from his own treasury in order to decorate the temple but also with many beasts and animals
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that they could offer in sacrifice at the altar when they arrived. The king, as far as we can tell,
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was not a Christian himself. He was not regenerate. He was not born again. He was not trusting in
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Yahweh in regards to Yahweh providing his only begotten son as a substitute, a sacrifice for
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sin so as far as we can tell the king was not a christian but he did honor in some common grace
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sense he did honor yahweh he recognized that there were territorial regional gods lowercase g gods
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of which babylon worshipped many a pantheon of gods and yet there was a god above them all there
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was many gods of various realms of the earth but there was a god of heaven and this king although
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again not regenerate not born again not trusting in Yahweh for salvation as far as we can tell
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that's not explicit but if we had to guess I would lean more in that direction that he was not a
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Christian himself and yet in a common grace fashion right common grace distinguishing that
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from special grace if you're not familiar with these terms special grace is the idea or saving
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grace salvific grace it belongs to Christians it's the grace of God that is particular for
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his people his elect people that he would reveal to them his own son and that he would give them
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new hearts by the power of the holy spirit causing them to be born again ezekiel 36 speaks of this
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that god would actually supernaturally on his part in his sovereignty remove a heart of stone
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that is non-responsive to the truth of the gospel and replace that with a heart of flesh
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that is softened and malleable and receptive to the salvific truths of god found in the gospel
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of jesus christ causing that person to be a new creature with a new heart and endowing them with
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the gifts not works of men to be conjured up by our own doing but gifts of god twofold being faith
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and repentance so new heart regeneration and gifts of faith and repentance repentance the new heart
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the new creature the person has been born again one of the first things that they're going to do
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this is in logical order not necessarily chronological it's not that someone is regenerate
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and then decades go by and then they finally decide to repent.
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They are born again, but then immediately they are repenting.
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And at the same time, they are trusting faith or repentance,
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And these two things, faith and repentance, are like two sides of a singular coin or two pedals on a bicycle.
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And these are not merely the means of getting into the Christian faith.
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But Martin Luther and many others have argued from the Reformed tradition and beyond, even before the Reformed tradition, Augustine as well, that this is normative of the entirety of the Christian life.
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It is not merely the entrance or the door, but it is also the continual mark, the continual method of living for every Christian so long as we are in this earth.
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That we will constantly be turning from sin, repentance, and turning to Christ's faith.
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It's what God does particularly with his people.
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And yet, the doctrine of common grace still exists
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Because all people, whether they be Christian or not,
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all people nonetheless have been made in the image of God.
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And although that image has been marred by sin,
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by the fall in the garden, Adam as our federal head,
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But the image of God has not been utterly lost, tarnished, but not utterly lost.
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And so this image of God, a vestige of the image of God remains in all people, whether they be believers, Christians or not.
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And this king, although a pagan king, there is no indication that this king, although he begins to esteem and honor and recognize Yahweh,
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there's no clear explicit indication that he ceases his idolatrous worship of the other
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pagan gods. As far as we can tell, Yahweh is simply added to his pantheon of polytheism among
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many gods. And perhaps Yahweh is given special designation in this pantheon, that there are
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many territorial earthly gods, but there is one God of heaven. And this God of heaven is superior
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or to the other gods and so we give him the most worship but we also still give a pinch of incense
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and a little sacrifice and a little ritual and a little worship to the other gods as well that
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seems again if we had to guess none of this is explicit but by way of implication that seems to
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be the more plausible interpretation that he is still a pagan king that he is still unregenerate
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he has not received God's special grace he is still idolatrous but he's you know in the realm
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of idolatry. It's not a great realm to be in, but if you have to be there, you know, he's the best
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of the worst, right? He's, you know, he's, you know, he's, you're the best of idolaters, you
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know? There's no good idolater, don't get me wrong, but you know, as far as idolaters go, he's one of
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the better idolaters. So that's the kind of king that we have here, and yet this king commissions
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Ezra and sends him to go to Israel to help those who are already there, who already have been
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released from exile and captivity from Babylon the temple as far as we can tell is now finished
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and Ezra is going with leading men and he's going for multiple purposes but one is to take these
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leading men and to appoint them in offices in the land not only in the temple for worship but even
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in civil offices because the people there in Israel are they've finished the temple and they're
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beginning worship and these kinds of things but they're still ignorant in many ways in regards
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to the law of God and this pagan king that's what's so fantastical and interesting about this
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although a pagan himself he recognizes that if the people are going to live in the land if they're
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going to offer lives living sacrifices as well as worship in the ceremonial sense there at the altar
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and at the temple if they're going to do this in a way that is pleasing to God that would actually
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benefit the king in Babylon and all of his land then they're going to have to do it according to
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what god has prescribed in scripture even a pagan king get this this is what i'm saying even a pagan
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king recognizes that the regulative principle of worship is what must be followed what i mean by
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that another term so special grace and common grace will now regulative principle of worship
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versus the normative principle of worship in a nutshell the normative principle of worship is
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the idea that the church can worship god in whatever way they see fit so long as it so long
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as it doesn't cross the line, it doesn't breach into the territory of something that God in his
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word explicitly forbids, right? So as long as the Bible doesn't explicitly forbid something,
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then it's on the table. It's an option. That's the normative principle of worship.
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The regulative principle, don't think regular, right? Because that would be redundant. You have
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normative, normal, and regular, right? Well, what's the difference between normal and regular?
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not much so that's not the way to think about it regulative is regulate not regular but a worship
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that is more highly regulated a worship that is more particular and in the regular principle of
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worship instead of the normative which says you can do it whatever you want so long as it's not
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expressly forbidden in scripture the regular principle on the other hand would say no we only
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do that which is expressly prescribed in scripture right so just because it's not forbidden doesn't
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mean that it's at our leisure to indulge in, right? There are lots of things that are not
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forbidden, right? You've probably seen, you know, videos from mega churches where, you know, it's
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some kind of special Sunday service and people are ziplining in, you know, from a balcony and
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there's, you know, some kind of big production and all these different things are happening.
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And, you know, I haven't found a verse in the Bible that says no ziplines in Lord's Day worship.
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but you know if there were to be a verse in the bible that says you should not use zip lines
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in your lord's day worship it would probably be a verse that was found right next to another verse
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it says upon salvation thou shalt continue to inhale and exhale right in the set what i'm saying
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is in the same way that god did not find it necessary to command continued breathing he
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probably did not find it necessary to say no zip lines right because both of those are are what we
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would call in an exegetical sense no duh right these are no duh kind of things they don't
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necessarily have to be spelled out um so the regular principle of worship again is not just
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avoiding that which god forbids but it is sticking to the script staying within the realm of that
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which god has explicitly prescribed in this pagan king he understands at least to some level
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he intuitively as an image bearer the living god whether he's saved or not even as an unbeliever
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And that he should not be worshipped in a trivial fashion.
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That they should not offer to him as a form of worship.
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strange fire. And he recognizes that what happens in this land over here, namely the land of Israel
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and the worship of Yahweh, that although this is a geographical specific land with a physical
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geographic locale, the God that they are worshiping is not merely. Notice this. We saw this in Ezra
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chapter 7. Although this is a God that they are worshiping in a physical land, namely Israel, in a
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physical place, this king, pagan king, recognizes that the God that they are worshiping is not
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merely the God of Israel with a physical geographic locale and limitations, but rather he is
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worshiped in Israel, but he is the God of heaven. And that what happens in Israel as they seek to
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worship him rightly will have implications for everyone everywhere. And this king, all of this
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as a pagan as far as we can tell this king wants them to get it right he wants them to get it right
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and so Ezra is sent we saw that again in the previous chapter if you were with us last week
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Ezra chapter 7 he is sent and commissioned with a team of other advisors and leaders to go to the
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land of Israel to appoint leaders both in the ecclesiastical temple ceremonial realm but also
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in the civil realm to guide the people who are now there and say hey this is how you live in the land
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It's not enough that God in His providence and mercy
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has simply exiled us from being held in bondage
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It's not enough to simply, to merely be content
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because if we actually want to stay in the land,
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then we must live in the land in a certain way, in a certain manner,
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Otherwise, that's what got us into captivity in Babylon in the first place.
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The whole reason that we had 70 years in Babylon
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is because we were not living in the land according to God's law.
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And so, Ezra and these men are commissioned to go and teach,
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is how to worship in the temple with the altar,
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And they're commissioned not only with people to go
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is simply a more detailed account of the journey itself.
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is over here in Babylon. He's commissioned by the king, and now he's over here in Israel.
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But then in chapter 8, there's a pause, and the author, under the inspiration of the Spirit,
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slows down and goes back a couple paces and says, let's talk about that journey in a little bit
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more detail. Let's see what it actually looked like. So Ezra chapter 8 describes in detail
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Ezra's trip to Jerusalem from the previous chapter. It covers, number one, the people who
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went with ezra that's all the names which i'm sure i mispronounced but notice this i mispronounced
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them confidently and without stuttering and that's key number two this special fast that ezra held
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with his group to ask for god's help his providence and protection along the way on the journey number
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three we also see described in chapter eight how ezra looked after the valuable items which he
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brought and gave them to the priest for their safe keeping number four we'll also see in this
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chapter how God protected Ezra and his group along the way that they not only fasted and prayed and
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asked God for this protection but God in fact provided this protection and then lastly number
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five how when they arrived safely in Jerusalem they gave their valuables to the priest and gave
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orders to the officials and made sacrifices to God okay now there's a lot that could be
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discussed and fleshed out from this particular chapter in regards to all five of those things
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which are contained within it but there are at least two things that by God's grace I hope to
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highlight and emphasize especially for us this morning and as I'm fond of doing because I believe
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that it's a a vital integral part of faithful preaching on the lord's day i hope to draw your
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attention to a couple portions of the text but also draw out from these portions of the text
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very practical and relevant application for us and our time and what god is calling us to do
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today so the first point is this a christian nation reveals enemies inside the church
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say that again a christian nation if you could achieve such a thing and i do believe it's
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achievable i don't believe it's a misnomer i don't believe that it's mere theory it has been
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achieved before and by god's grace i believe that it could be achieved again whether it be in our
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lifetimes or not but the point is this a christian nation when you have it one of the things that
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comes about from a christian nation one of the outcomes is that a christian nation will reveal
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enemies not just outside of the church but i would argue perhaps even more so a christian
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nation will reveal enemies inside the church notice this i've written the following ezra
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after getting permission from the king he asked for volunteers to join him on his journey to
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Jerusalem now anyone from Zion who wanted to leave Babylon and go to Jerusalem now that the temple
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was finished and the worship there had begun they were all warmly invited they were invited
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and you would think that was such a leader and such encouragement that all the Jews would finally
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decide to leave their troubles behind and answer the call to return and yet many refused. They
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preferred their comfort over their faith. They thought that they were fine where they were
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in Babylon and either did not believe that going to Jerusalem would improve their lives or were
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too afraid to face the challenges on the journey. We discussed some of this last week in Ezra chapter
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seven but it's worth discussing again and i'd like to draw out some parallels for where we are today
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as new testament christians but last week if you were with us one of the things that i spoke of
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is that this revival and it is a revival i think that that is the proper word this is a revival
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in israel it's a revival where israel has been in captivity for 70 years and now all of a sudden
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they're going back to the land. God has set them free from captivity and exile. God has
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resourced them lavishly. Providentially, God has moved in various ways in various times over the
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course of, at this point, at least probably a couple decades from their release of the 70-year
00:27:13.400
captivity in Babylon and now the completion of the temple in Israel. And God is moving mightily.
00:27:19.780
The temple is completed and worship is thriving.
00:27:25.240
And not only that, but you have Ezra, the scribe.
00:27:28.540
I talked, I think, two or three weeks previously about how the prophets like Haggai and Zechariah, their role is now complete.
00:27:38.240
For a while, when they first entered into Israel, God was using these two men as prophets.
00:27:43.280
He was using them with some regularity and frequency.
00:27:46.360
and he was using them to give fresh words from the Lord to provide guidance and direction but now
00:27:52.640
it seems as though the prophetic role and function has ceased because it's no longer needed in this
00:27:59.100
particular moment for Israel and instead God replaces Haggai and Zechariah as prophets providing
00:28:06.160
new words from the Lord. He replaces them with Ezra a scribe who is called to simply bring
00:28:12.000
instruction and further understanding and application leading towards obedience for
00:28:17.760
not new words from the lord but the word of the lord that had already been given so you have
00:28:22.440
prophets fresh words and then you have a scribe he's you know for all intents and purposes he's
00:28:28.760
a preacher he's an exegete so you have prophets new words inspiration guidance zeal and then you
00:28:36.540
have Ezra, a scribe, who comes in and says, well, and here are the old words of the Lord given
00:28:42.040
through Moses that we've neglected. And so new words are helpful when God does, in fact, provide
00:28:48.620
them. But at this current time, in this moment, what God seems to desire most is not that we have
00:28:55.500
another new, fresh word from him, but that we simply faithfully steward all the words that
00:29:01.520
we've already received. There's so much that he has already said that we've neglected, that we need
00:29:06.780
to properly interpret and then also properly apply. We need to take the revelation that we've
00:29:13.620
already received through Moses and get proper interpretation. So revelation, God's already
00:29:19.220
given us revelation. We don't need more. We already have sufficient revelation. We need proper
00:29:23.860
interpretation. What does this revelation mean? And then proper application in light of the meaning
00:29:29.740
of this revelation what do we do how then should we live so this is all happening and all this i
00:29:36.860
do believe could be properly described as a revival there's a revival in israel the temple
00:29:43.520
is established there's freedom in the land to live in accordance with god's word and their
00:29:49.660
conscience and to worship freely they've been resourced by a pagan king with with cash right
00:29:56.680
it's one thing when the king says, you know what, do what you want, you know, within the privacy of
00:30:00.500
your own homes and churches. Now that's, that's not what's going on here. This king is not just
00:30:05.160
saying, you know what, you know, first amendment, you know, you can, you can worship privately,
00:30:09.080
just, you know, just please embrace fully pietism, you know, and then evangelical say, yes, sir,
00:30:15.520
that's our specialty. You know, we promise to have the most impotent religion and faith you
1.00
00:30:20.180
could possibly imagine. Our faith will never go beyond the four walls of our church. It would
00:30:24.440
never we would never seek to legislate morality would never seek to change anything in the real
00:30:29.100
world because our realm is in the 17th dimension christ and his kingdom it's not of this world
00:30:35.040
we have an impotent god and we are his impotent people you can count on us political king no
00:30:40.380
they were not behaving that way that's a that's a uniquely modern american christian thing and if
00:30:47.020
you couldn't catch you know from that was sarcasm there don't do that everything i just said i was
00:30:52.240
mocking today's christians and i think that that's appropriate many not all but many christians they
00:30:58.780
need to be corrected rebuked and at this point because the rebuke has been so refused and
00:31:04.720
rebelled against again and again i do believe that godly mockery occasionally is called for
00:31:11.280
christians have become so impotent but that's not what's going on in our text what's going on in our
00:31:17.760
text is there is a revival in the land. And if you study the history of revival, I've talked to my
00:31:22.880
dad about this before, and he's been really helpful on this subject, and talking about different
00:31:27.340
revivals, Welsh revival, or different revivals throughout history in various places at various
00:31:32.180
times, and some of the clearest marks of revival isn't that they have 24-hour prayer meetings in
00:31:37.220
a church. That could be great. I'm not condemning that, but you know that it's actually a revival
00:31:43.000
not just because there's a bunch of church meetings happening. You know there's a revival
00:31:47.340
in a particular place when crime goes down you know there's a revival in a particular place when
00:31:52.420
laws begin to change and improve you know there's a revival in a particular place when the place
00:31:58.020
begins to change not just one subset of the people change on wednesday nights from the
00:32:04.060
from 6 p.m to 8 p.m you know as they're having their good old-fashioned revival meeting know that
00:32:09.200
that revival is potent not impotent but but potent it it actually has an effect and not just
00:32:17.340
in a spiritual realm somewhere else but it has an effect with real flesh and blood with with a real
00:32:23.620
place and in a real world there is a tangible and visible effect to the moving of god's spirit
00:32:30.160
and that's what we see happening so this is a revival but i said last week getting back to this
00:32:35.480
point, and it's worth mentioning again, how did this revival actually come about? It did not come
00:32:42.760
about by a mere populist movement in Babylon where Israel was just faithful to eventually
00:32:50.900
replace the Babylonians by having more children and discipling them very carefully and faithfully
00:33:00.220
to where eventually the population of Israel as a conquered kingdom,
00:33:05.040
think of Babylon less of a nation and more of an empire,
00:33:07.980
where Israel as a province within this Babylonian empire,
00:33:15.740
that they actually attained 50% of the Babylonian empire total population plus one.
00:33:21.840
And every single Israelite was in fact regenerate and faithful to the Lord.
00:33:26.840
and then they were able to use that populist political power
00:33:35.240
And, you know, because everyone knows Babylon was, you know, it was a democracy.
00:33:41.280
And then they had a vote and they outvoted and voted in a Christian king in Babylon
00:33:48.080
And it's worth mentioning again in our text today
00:34:35.920
So what they do is they simply rhetorically respond
00:34:39.220
by saying, well, who are you to say what God can do?
00:34:54.220
Instead of asking what can God do, perhaps it would be helpful if we began asking, but what does God do?
00:35:08.560
Historically, biblically, for the last 6,000 years of human history, not just what could God do, coulda, shoulda, woulda,
00:35:18.840
But what has God done and what does God continue to do?
00:35:23.460
And historically and biblically, whether we're looking at Israel under the Old Covenant in the Old Testament
00:35:28.160
or the last 2,000 years of church history and the Crusades and all these different things,
00:35:33.400
in well over 90% of the cases, it's not bottom-up revival.
00:35:42.000
And you might even say, well, what about America?
00:35:43.920
America began as a constitutional republic, and we achieved a Christian status, a moral nation.
00:35:55.020
And that's true, but if we're fair, a lot of that was inherited.
00:36:03.640
I think the reason why the Puritans and Covenanters and all these different people came over is
0.84
00:36:07.640
because England was already, in the spiritual sense, the church sense, on the decline.
00:36:21.960
who were willing to make this vast journey across the ocean,
00:36:40.200
and and they they were not uh intimidated by any pietists who would say but that's unique to israel
00:36:49.400
and you know they would say no no it's not no we're going to be a city on a hill too
00:36:52.920
and you know what for anybody who doesn't like that the puritans were pretty good exegetes so
00:36:58.320
i mean you can disagree with them because you're free to be wrong you know so you're welcome to
00:37:03.400
disagree but they you know they had no problem they didn't they didn't view that as reading
00:37:07.660
something into the new testament church that was unique to israel they're right no no any nation
00:37:11.820
the desires to live according to god and his laws the desires to be an explicitly christian nation
00:37:17.940
would be a city on a hill and they went with that mindset that they were going to set up
00:37:22.880
an outpost an earthly kingdom that would reflect the heavenly kingdom that would move in earthly
00:37:27.960
ways that would direct people towards their eternal and heavenly good and they also had a
00:37:32.880
very strong evangelistic motive as well. They were aware that there were native people that
00:37:38.840
were in the Americas that they wanted to convert and form proselytes. They wanted to see people
00:37:47.520
born again. They wanted to bring the gospel. But my point is this, even in the case of America,
00:37:53.720
which would be maybe one of the closest examples that we could have, it's worth noting that all
00:37:59.300
these christians uh who who pioneered and were pilgrims in america starting this republic
00:38:07.740
that they inherited their christianity from england and again england compromising on the
00:38:14.920
decline but that's where it came from and then the question is well where did england get it from
00:38:19.440
a monarchy. Like in every case, virtually every single case, it's God appoints some kind of
00:38:30.700
ruler who is unapologetically Christian, and he comes in with a sword and says, I'm sorry,
1.00
00:38:39.220
but lawlessness and wickedness will not be tolerated anymore. And he doesn't force conversions
0.97
00:38:45.000
just for the record, because that's another one of the objections that's just ill-founded. He
00:38:49.220
doesn't go around forcing conversions but instead what he does is he forces external morality he
00:38:55.280
doesn't force a change of heart only the gospel can do that but what a king can do is he can say
00:39:00.960
whether you're regenerate or not um you're going to pretend you're at least going to pretend to
00:39:06.820
be christian you are not allowed to continue human sacrifices anymore right that's what you know
00:39:12.540
Britain did. And in India, I'm sorry to colonize India. I hate to be a white oppressor, but guys,
0.93
00:39:19.580
you're not allowed anymore to bury a living woman with her dead husband. That's got to stop.
0.97
00:39:24.580
Not going to allow it. You know, and now here we are in 2024 apologizing for being oppressive. No,
00:39:31.700
that was, that was good. That was good. And that's what we see throughout church history. That's what
00:39:37.860
we see throughout biblical history we see most of the time i think at least the lion's share
00:39:44.500
of the time a top-down revival and that's what we see in our text today the king god guides the
00:39:52.420
heart of the king like many waters god is sovereign over a king whether that particular king
00:39:56.440
has special grace or not whether he's a christian or not and in the case of this king god moves on
00:40:03.180
his heart to resource out of his own treasury and to send Ezra and all these guys to go back to the
00:40:09.360
land where the temple is already finished and to begin worshiping God rightly and to appoint
00:40:14.840
leaders and to teach all those who inhabit that place to live according to God's law it is you
00:40:22.300
could not have better circumstances you could not have better circumstances and under these ideal
00:40:29.360
circumstances with the hand of the most powerful human ruler in all the land the known world at
00:40:34.580
the time Babylon was it they were the superpower and you have the king for a friend you have the
00:40:42.400
king on your side his favor his riches everything that you could ask for and under these ideal
0.86
00:40:51.820
conditions, near perfect conditions, still a large part of Israel says, nah. Okay, so now let me
00:41:03.360
compare it to our situation. Let's talk about abortion for a second. Think about Roe being
00:41:10.160
overturned. Now I understand, and maybe not everybody does, so it's worth a little bit of
0.94
00:41:15.160
instruction here. First thing that you need to be aware of is that Roe was never, in the true
00:41:21.580
since the law of the land and it always should have been ignored. Always. Okay? That's important.
00:41:27.240
Secondly, in a practical numeric sense, since the overturning of Roe, abortion in the country as a
00:41:33.000
whole has not gone down. If anything, the argument could be made that there actually have been more
00:41:37.400
abortions these last few years since Roe's overturning. So there is still just as much work
00:41:43.400
to be done as ever. Why are there just as many abortions? Well, people are just having them
00:41:48.160
sooner, right? With certain states that have, because it just turned it back to the states.
00:41:52.720
That's all the Dobbs decision did. And so there are certain states that say, well, you know,
00:41:57.340
you can have an abortion and murder your child. You just need to, you know, murder of the unborn
0.85
00:42:04.840
child is not really what we're against. What we're against is just simply procrastination.
00:42:09.500
We just want to see more diligent and timely murders. And that a lot of, I mean, a lot of
00:42:14.600
states that's pretty much what they adopted so there's just as much murder it's just happening
00:42:18.500
sooner and it happens instead of in an abortion clinic it happens at your local cvs or walmart
00:42:23.900
where pills are bought you know and uh and and or or maybe it's an out of state you know a woman
00:42:29.280
goes over from her state to another state to have a late abortion because california was you know
00:42:34.440
new york is still more than happy to apply so first uh rose should have always been ignored
00:42:39.780
Second, there is an immense amount of work that needs to be done, still needs to be done.
00:42:50.660
Third, this is where I start to get in trouble with some of my dear brothers that I love,
00:42:55.860
and I do agree with their general overall position.
00:42:59.720
But I would say this, although more abortions are occurring,
00:43:04.600
although Roe should have always, in a biblical sense and even in a legal sense,
00:43:08.940
should have been ignored i do celebrate i do celebrate the overturning of roe and i celebrate
00:43:15.820
for this reason i don't celebrate it out of ignorance saying hey rose overturned and now
00:43:19.500
abortion is abolished no way i don't even celebrate it in an incremental sense of saying well at least
00:43:25.260
there's less abortions because that's not even true so i'm not celebrating any of that but i
00:43:30.180
celebrate it for the same reason that i would celebrate if i was living in this day in ezra's
00:43:34.600
day in Babylon and the king said hey everybody is now given permission and even resources to go back
00:43:41.540
and to live unapologetically vibrant outward courageous lives for Yahweh I would celebrate
00:43:49.620
that and here's one of the reasons I would celebrate it not because it would the the edict
00:43:53.840
of the king would actually supernaturally in the internal sense change the hearts of of the
00:43:59.620
Israelite people and cause them to actually fear the Lord. Because we know that doesn't happen.
00:44:04.800
That didn't happen. But I would still celebrate it because the edict of the king would work like
00:44:10.720
this. Providentially, what it accomplishes is that it rolls up the veil over all these Jews
1.00
00:44:20.200
in Babylon to where they're no longer able to pretend zeal. A lot of Christians like to pretend
0.99
00:44:28.600
zeal. And with Roe being overturned, one of the things that it's done, one of the things that I
0.95
00:44:34.960
would celebrate, is not that it's actually protected children, the overturning of Roe.
1.00
00:44:40.400
But what I would celebrate is that it has exposed the yellow underbelly of so many Christians in
1.00
00:44:48.800
name only, who actually turns out, and we always knew this, but now it's incredibly clear,
1.00
00:44:56.760
undeniably clear that they never actually wanted to save babies in the first place and that is
00:45:02.780
productive that is i believe by the grace of god a step in the right directions of
00:45:08.960
ephesians talks about that take no part in the deeds of that are done in darkness but rather
00:45:13.580
expose them that as christians we're not merely called to avoid sin but we're actually called to
00:45:19.560
go on the offensive in in shrewd ways strategic ways and certainly righteous ways to not only
00:45:26.740
avoid sin, but to expose sin. And cowardice is a sin. Revelation is clear that right alongside
00:45:34.180
liars and murderers and all these other kinds of wicked people that the coward will burn in the
1.00
00:45:39.880
lake of fire. And so in God's providence, something like Roe being overturned, one of the things that
0.99
00:45:46.400
it provided for us is just clarity. Not necessarily salvation for children, which is what we ultimately
00:45:54.240
want but at least in this moment clarity that we can see oh you're not one of us you've never been
00:46:01.220
one of us you don't actually care about life you don't actually care about protecting the unborn
00:46:05.880
and for those individuals when God in his providence does move on the heart of the king
00:46:15.340
in order to to call certain things in a legislative form or an outward form a legal form
00:46:51.860
during the 70 years when they were held captive when they didn't really have much of a choice
00:46:57.420
when they were unable to leave think of how many of them in their heart of hearts
00:47:02.360
they were comfortable in Babylon if they were to be honest which they weren't probably they
00:47:09.180
they preferred even Babylon and and I think for many of them they they liked the conditions of
00:47:17.500
not being permitted to leave and not being certainly resourced to leave and to go and
00:47:21.740
rebuild Jerusalem and the temple and the walls and the houses to worship God and in the promised
00:47:28.060
land. They liked these restrictions from this pagan king because what it allowed them to do
00:47:34.120
was fully embrace all the comfort and pleasure of Babylon, but while still pretending zeal.
0.88
00:47:41.200
So they could talk to someone, a fellow Israelite who actually did love Yahweh and actually did
00:47:46.640
want to go back to his heritage and to his homeland and to worship God and spirit and truth
00:47:50.840
and he can say me too man goodness gracious I sure wish that was the case I wish we were able to do
00:47:55.460
that you know and and in reality he's like nah I really like Babylon but nobody can nobody's
00:48:02.360
gonna know nobody's gonna know any better because he's not leaving because he can't and I'm not
00:48:07.360
leaving because I can't and actually because I wouldn't I don't want to but when God moves on
00:48:14.000
the heart of the king and the king begins whether he's a christian individually or not he begins to
00:48:18.960
actually move in christian ways outwardly like saying the people of god can return home and
00:48:24.360
rebuild the temple and offer sacrifices and i'll resource them out of my own treasury and this that
00:48:28.920
and the other we'll send ezra to teach them the law of god so that they can learn obedience in
00:48:32.840
their daily lives when this happens all of a sudden the veil is ripped back and it becomes
00:48:38.840
it's blatantly obvious which of the people of Israel
00:48:42.960
is serious about worshiping Yahweh and who's not.
0.85
00:48:47.140
And I think this applies whether it's Rome
0.70
00:48:49.300
and revealing rhinos, Republicans in name only,
00:49:21.120
is because if our nation was explicitly Christian,
0.99
00:49:34.380
is in a state of apostasy, which it currently is, and rebelling against the triune God and
00:49:40.600
our founding and our heritage and all these different things, so long as our nation is
0.77
00:49:45.540
as a whole hostile towards the Christian worldview, then it provides an incredible business model
0.80
00:49:54.240
for Christians in name only. And here's the business model. There are four steps. It's
0.91
00:50:01.360
very simple, but it is fantastic, and it is lucrative as well. What you do, step one, and this
00:50:09.940
is vital. Don't miss this one. This is the key step, and evangelicals have mastered it. Number
00:50:15.120
one, get beat. You got to lose, and I mean, seriously, there's no one better at losing
00:50:22.360
than evangelicals. They've mastered this first step, so number one, get beat. Second, bemoan
1.00
00:50:28.040
about getting beat now in reality you shot yourself in the foot you wanted to get beat
00:50:34.160
if anything if anything you're going behind the scenes setting the table rigging the deck so that
00:50:39.400
you would get beat but then you the next part right that the first part is is fairly easy for
00:50:46.360
evangelism the second part takes a little bit of training a little bit of skill but there are many
00:50:50.900
who are skilled um you want to get beat but then you you have to put on a face and really bemoan
00:50:57.300
and complain about the fact that you just got what you actually wanted. You have to pretend you didn't
00:51:02.640
want to get beat, and then you have to bemoan getting beat, all right? So get beat, bemoan,
00:51:08.240
complain. And then the third step is beg, and that's vital, right? So beg. Beg for donations,
00:51:17.400
right? Don't actually create something of value, right? God forbid, you know, the Christians
00:51:21.980
actually, you know, build something. You actually would make a product and people would buy it.
1.00
00:51:26.460
You know, I was talking to Brian Hensley about this, and he had great insight Friday night at our men's hangout.
1.00
00:51:32.080
He was like, Christians kind of, it's manipulative.
1.00
00:51:37.120
It's buy from me because I'm a Christian, but I'm going to make an inferior product.
0.98
00:51:41.620
And if anything, I'm actually going to charge more than you could get it from somewhere else.
00:51:50.880
I'm going to pull on your heartstrings in such a way that you're morally bound to purchase from me.
00:51:56.460
You know, so that's that's, you know, and honestly, even that is an improvement from what I'm describing, because I'm talking about in that scenario, it's I'm going to overcharge and under deliver.
00:52:07.680
But at least there's still a product. What I'm describing is it's just begging for donations.
00:52:11.200
There's no product at all. So get beat, complain, bemoan, and then beg.
00:52:17.920
and then, of course, also a boycott, you know, because it's really helpful to, you know, if you
00:52:23.760
can get a full, you know, 74 people to boycott, you know, Amazon for 72 hours, you know, and that
00:52:30.780
really showed them. And, you know, so those are the four steps. Now, of course, there's another B,
00:52:37.040
right? Get beat, bemoan, beg, boycott. Another B that Christians are not very fond of because it
00:52:44.280
requires you know it might put blisters on your hands you might actually sweat you know you might
0.98
00:52:48.860
actually have to do um a day's uh honest day's work you know but that that fifth b is build
00:52:55.140
build and notice that everybody who's going back to israel they're not going back merely to freedom
00:53:02.840
because liberty is just one side of a coin the other side is duty responsibility work
00:53:13.040
one of the reasons israel doesn't want to go back is because they want to just be going back to
0.57
00:53:19.680
freedom they would freedom is there and liberty is precious but they want to just be going back
00:53:27.080
to liberty they'd also be going back to a job and not everybody wants a job
00:53:33.600
right i mean you look at the book of nehemiah that immediately follows ezra and it's work
00:54:28.480
of the fixed incomes from the sweet old ladies
1.00
00:54:40.480
you're not saying hey we're going to change the world
00:55:05.680
In large part, there are some that are faithful,
00:55:17.600
But a Christian nation, one of the reasons why it may not be desired,
1.00
00:55:24.700
You'd expect the enemies of God to not want a Christian nation,
00:55:30.560
Why so much arguments and enmity from our own team, within our own ranks?
00:55:39.140
Why would Christians not want a Christian nation?
00:55:43.180
Well, because if we have a Christian nation that actually allows for the freedom to live as God desires for us to live,
0.94
00:55:55.800
it would up our duty our responsibility we'd have to get to work whereas a nation that has
00:56:06.100
a king that is at enmity toward God and toward his law that allows cover fire it allows the cover
00:56:14.100
of pretending zeal in your rhetoric in word without ever having to live it out
00:56:20.320
but when god gets a hold of the heart of the king and says the king whether he be christian or not
00:56:27.640
says i am for god at least in the external sense and i am for his people then all of a sudden what
00:56:35.560
that does is it rolls back the veil and you see now among god's people who is really zealous and
00:56:42.980
who is just a talker second a christian nation reveals friends outside the church a christian
00:56:49.720
nation number one reveals enemies within the church inside the church but it also reveals
00:56:54.380
friends that maybe you didn't think you had outside the church Ezra chapter 8 verse 36 it
00:57:00.880
says this they also delivered the king's commissions to the king satraps and the governors
00:57:05.100
of the province beyond the river and they aided the people and the house of God even the enemies
00:57:10.640
of the Jews became their friends and instead of hindering the people of God aided them in
00:57:16.980
obedience to the king most people this is just a reality most people are not leaders
00:57:23.220
most people are not that courageous they're not most people will do whatever they're told to do
00:57:33.580
all right i'm sure you're familiar with some of the you know the famous experiments where you
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know they've got guys and they're hooked up to wires you know and you can see them through this
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one-way mirror and then they bring in you know some people and say you know turn up the dial
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And whatever the person in the lab coat, right?
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And so, you know, whoever's wearing the lab coat,
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keep doing it and keep doing it and keep doing it.
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All right, when we look at certain historic moments
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When someone who has political power and who's in charge says jump,
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In most cases, you know, somebody says wear a mask and say, please, sir,
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And, you know, that's, I mean, we just got a perfect picture of compliance around the entire world just a few years ago.
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If we think that, you know, that people are innately, you know, this bastion of resistance and courage, then I'm just like, were you awake?
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Did you see, were you watching anything for the last few years?
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i think that our country did not do very well um but we probably did the best if we're comparing
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to other countries throughout the world i remember getting emails in 2020 and 2021 from christians in
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new zealand i mean dozens of emails christians in new zealand australia uh certain parts of europe
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all over canada and and what they would say again and again and again is they would say i don't
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understand american christians i don't understand can you explain this to me why is this such a big
00:59:50.280
deal to you guys why like so many of your pastors and so many of your podcasters and you joel the
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things that you're saying and i talked to you know i have family or friends that are christians in
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america and they just view this so so differently than we do you guys are just making such a big
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deal you're you're um you're not submissive you're not humble and and the bible tells us that you
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know that we should do that romans 13 you know with the wrong exegesis romans 13 wrong romans 13
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why are you basically you know they would ask why are you christians in america so rebellious
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and i remember being incredibly encouraged by that because i felt like we were doing very poorly but
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at least I was like, well, there's a lot of room to grow. But, you know, at the end of the day,
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at least we're not New Zealand. My goodness. If you want to talk about, you know, someone who's
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just given up on life as an entire nation, you know, just completely quit and thrown in the
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towel, that's New Zealand. And 95% of the church there too. And Australia. And Canada.
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Not everybody. I'm not speaking. We can speak in generalities, right? Men are generally stronger
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than women. I know one woman who can bench stress, you know, 300 pounds. Great. In general, men are
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stronger than women. Same thing. In general, New Zealand, Australia, and Canada tucked tail between
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their legs. America did too, but not as bad. Here's the point. Across the board, people are not nearly
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as courageous as we like to pretend we are. We like to pretend zeal, and one of the benefits of an
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impressive environment is it allows us to pretend to be much more bold, to have a lot of bark
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without ever having to back it up with bite. That's one of the reasons why people don't want
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a Christian nation. Because if we don't have one, you can beg, you can boycott, you can bemoan,
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you can get beat, you can say it's all written in the stars and what God has sovereignly ordained.
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you can still get your donations, still have your comfortable life, and never have to get a job,
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never have to work, never have to build. But when the heart of the king changes, in special grace
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or even in common grace, when the heart of the king changes, when God moves in the political
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external circumstances of a nation in such a way that those in leadership begin to favor the people
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of god and allow for certain liberties which naturally coming with those liberties are certain
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responsibilities it pulls back the veil it reveals who's just talk and who's actually serious for the
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things of god and it reveals that there are many enemies within the church that we may not have
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previously realized but also the encouraging thing is there are many friends outside of the church
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and these friends it's because through the king used in the providence of god teaching god's law
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externally in a way that more accurately reflects the word of god it may be used in the first use
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of the law to show the sinful nature of the person and therefore their need for a savior where the
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gospel is now not falling as much on deaf ears but it's actually being received as hopeful as good
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news people are more aware that they're sinners because there's a more holy law being legislated
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in the land and therefore they're more aware of their need for a savior and so a bunch of people
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outside of the church actually get saved and they really in the in the ultimate and truest sense
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become your friends by becoming your brothers and sisters in christ there's that there's also
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even in the absence of that in the absence of conversion a bunch of people outside of the
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church become your external friends in the same way the king here with israel may not have actually
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been saved but externally was a friend of israel well all these other people because the average
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person again c.a the average person the king says jump the average person says how high
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right the average person fauci says mask up the average person says please too
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and because that is the average person when you have a king who legislates the law of god and
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favors the people of God, even if all those outside of the church aren't regenerate, they're
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not actually saved, they still, the average person will say, well, the king says that Israel is good
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and I support the current thing. I mean, think about that for a second.
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And people fancy themselves, and it's sad, it really is sad, but we just need to admit where
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we're at. People fancy themselves to be wise, to be discerning, to be free thinkers and independent.
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you know but but then the ukraine stuff goes down and everybody's got a ukraine flag on their bio
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and then now it's you know you've got ukraine and israel flag in your bio
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and everybody has their little black square during the month of june
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that is the average person the average person that you're living with is
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in society not necessarily in your home i hope it's not necessarily you know your own spouse
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you know your own children but that you're living within a general sense in society at large the
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average person is a coward they are and the average person is not intelligent they're not
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and the average person is is not a free thinker they're told what to think if you ever seen master
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and commander russell crow you know there's a certain line in the movie and it's profound and
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it's true it says men must be governed they must that is absolutely true men must be governed
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now ideally men would govern themselves that's literally one of the fruit of the spirit self
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control is self-governance but when you don't have a populace that is capable of self-governance
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when the fruit of the spirit that is self-control has left the building for decades and nobody seems
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to have it then men must be governed and if they will not govern themselves then someone else needs
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to govern them and so when there is blessing and providence in the land and god gets a hold of the
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heart of a king whether he himself becomes a christian or not he begins to outwardly legislate
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in accordance with god's law and he says we favor yahweh well we're still polytheists we're still
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principled pluralists we still got a little secularism we still got a little paganism
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but you know what we recognize that there's something to this christian worldview there's
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something to this triune god and we favor him and we're going to have special privileges and
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favor for his people you know what the average person not inside the church but outside of the
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church who's not even a christian you know what they're going to do they're going to start putting
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a christian flag in their bio on social media because they're not free thinkers they're not
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courageous. They're not intelligent. They're men, and men must be governed. And if they must be
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governed, then our prayer as Christians is that they would be governed in the right direction,
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at least, for the good of the church. So that's what's happened. That's it. I'll land the plane
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there. That's what happens when you pray for deliverance, when you recognize that you're in
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bondage, when you recognize that you deserve the bondage because you've rebelled against God
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and you're under his judgment. Israel was under God's judgment for 70 years and so are we.
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It's not like, oh, if we keep going down this path, God's going to judge us. No, we are being judged.
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We are being judged. You know you're being judged when in your own nation, in your state
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capitals and buildings, you see all of your elected politicians waving another nation's
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flag and not yours. That's how you know you're a conquered nation. So it's not that we might be
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judged if we don't turn back. No, we are under God's judgment right now. But here's the good
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news. So was Israel. And God in his mercy changed that. And he didn't have to change it bottom up.
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He didn't change it by getting Israel to be more faithful and get 50% of the population plus one
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Israel, if that's the way it would have to be done,
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But luckily, despite Israel's faithlessness
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into a good land, lavish them with mercy and resource them with leaders, their own leaders
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to teach them to be obedient to my law. I will cause those who just 15 minutes ago were their
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enemies with Ukrainian flags and rainbow flags in the bio now to be having little Christian flags
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and saying, I support the current thing just as I always have. But the current thing right now,
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because of the promise of God is Christians. And all of a sudden there's this incredible
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opportunity and it's nothing that we can take credit for and boast and pat ourselves on the
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back. It's just the kindness of God. We work towards it and we pray towards it, but we recognize we
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don't deserve it. Judgment is what we deserve. Blessing is what we may get. And if we do get
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blessing, it will be because of God's mercy and not our merit. And if we get blessing, it would
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be nice if at least a few of us were ready for it. Because what has happened time and time again
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throughout church history and biblical history is that God would sovereignly and seemingly he would
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suddenly, sovereignly and suddenly move in such a way that Israel or these last 2,000 years the
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Christian church would be thrust into a position of favor and abundance and opportunity and they
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weren't ready for it it would be nice if at least a few of us were and that's where we go back to
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other sermons that i've preached you got a lark before you can fly right that you're just larking
01:10:20.740
or hear me out or we're having a real conversation because you're so afraid that we have a christian
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nation that all the presbyterians are going to drown the baptists or whatever because you're
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really afraid of that secular humanism is killing people by the millions but you're fine with that
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But if we have a Christian nation, they might kill a few thousands, as they did in the past.
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And because that's your big concern, well, maybe you're saying that we're LARPing.
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That way, if we actually do get power, if we do get blessing, if we do get opportunity,
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People still don't even like that because, one, they don't actually want a Christian nation
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It would reveal that they're just begging, bemoaning, boycotting.
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They don't want a Christian nation, not only because they would have to get to work.
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But if they had a Christian nation, then they'd have to have real conversations about how do we steward power.
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They couldn't just take the theological position that power is inherently icky.
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And it can be wielded righteously or it can be wielded wickedly.
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And what you'd have to do, this is what you'd have to do,
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is many evangelicals of notoriety and high standing would have to admit
01:11:45.960
that for decades, a vast portion of our theology has been unbiblical.
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that caused Western Christians to hate their own heritage,
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to hate the crusades, to hate King Alfred, to hate Charlemagne, to hate this, hate that. And we
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actually were promulgating it ourselves and we were wrong about all of it. If we got a Christian
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nation, two things would be required from Christians, especially Christian leaders. One,
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they'd have to repent and admit they were wrong. And two, they'd have to work. Repent and work.
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So naturally, many of them don't want it. But let's pray that despite them not wanting it,
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if it be your will, that your kingdom would come,
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and that that would happen progressively more and more,
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Authority not only in heaven, but also on earth.
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We pray, Lord, that we would steward that well.