Overturning Upside-Down Ethics (Matthew 23, Jeff Kliewer)

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Sermon Notes: http://notes.cornerstonesj.org Overturning Upside-Down Ethics

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Today at noon with Pastor John and Pastor Jeff, so you can see them for that information.
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Tonight at 6 a .m. 6 p .m. There's church prayer meeting so you can please join us for that.
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Real quickly from Matthew chapter 9. Speaking of Jesus it says, when he saw the crowds he had compassion for them because they were harassed and helpless like sheep without a shepherd.
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With that in mind we have a ministry called Love Life that we're involved with. It's an outreach to women at the
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Cherry Hill Women's Center because they are thinking that they need to have an abortion and we want to look on them with compassion and pray for them that they make the right decision.
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So we are going to that center to pray for them, to witness to them, to try to help them change their mind, but also to present the gospel with them.
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The next event is Saturday, December 4 at 9 a .m. So please pray for that ministry and you may get involved with that if you the
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Lord is leading on that. Pray for the nominating committee. We're meeting this today after the service.
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If you have not contacted the committee because you want your name off the list, please let us know. And then lastly, recently
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I lost a friend, Christian brother passed away and before I went to the funeral
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I wanted to print out some photos of him to contribute to the murals that were up. So I went to a
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CVS with my phone and I plugged it in and tried to get the pictures up on the computer to print them out and it wasn't working out for me because the technology was confusing.
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I was kind of locked and couldn't go any further. I noticed there was a woman next to me on the kiosk doing the same thing.
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So I had the photos up on the monitor and I went over to her and I said could you help me with this to see how
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I can print these out. So she comes over and looks at the screen. She says that's my brother. She was doing the same thing that I was doing for the same event and so we both hugged each other and cried right there in that moment and you know as a
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Jewish saying that coincidence is not a kosher word. Our disappointments are
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God's appointments and he will show up. If you're disappointed he will show up and meet you where you need him.
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Same thing he did that for the woman of Samaria at the well in John chapter 4.
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In this passage the word worship is used like 10 times but as she found disappointment with life he's reaching out to her and talking to her and he says to her the hour is coming and is now here when true worshipers will worship the
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Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.
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I looked up that word in the Greek worship because it says that God is seeking worshipers to worship him.
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That word worship again I said it in the text is like 10 times and in the
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Greek it means to kiss the hand and token of reverence, to fall upon the knees and touch the ground with the forehead as an expression of profound reverence, kneeling prostrate to express respect or to make supplication.
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So as we come to worship the King let's bow our hearts before him and worship him and give him the honor and glory.
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So let's pray. Father we just set our hearts before you Lord and thank you for this opportunity to worship you, to bow our hearts before you, to give you the glory.
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We thank you Lord that you are the author and finisher of our faith and that your mercies are new every morning.
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Bless this time Lord as we look unto you and we pray in Jesus name. Amen. He's our only confidence
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That our souls to him belong Who holds our days within his hands
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All comes apart from his command And what will keep us to the end
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The love of Christ in which we stand Oh sing hallelujah
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Our praise rings eternal Oh sing hallelujah
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Now and ever we kiss Christ our hope in life and death
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What truth can calm a troubled soul
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God is good, God is good There is his grace and goodness known
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In our great redeemer's blood Who holds our faith when fears arise
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Who stands above the stormy drive Who sends the waves that bring us nigh
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Unto the shore, the love of Christ Oh sing hallelujah
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Our praise rings eternal Oh sing hallelujah
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Now and ever we kiss Christ our hope in life and death
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Unto the grave what shall we see Christ he lives,
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Christ he lives And what reward will heaven bring
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Everlasting life with him And we will rise to meet the
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Lord And sin and death will be to show And we will feast in heaven's joy
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When Christ is ours forevermore Oh sing hallelujah
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Our hope springs eternal Oh sing hallelujah
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Now and ever we kiss Christ our hope in life and death
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We are so thankful that you came this morning And as we stand here worshiping the
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Lord Let's turn our hearts toward him And praise like the psalmist writes in Psalm 86, 8
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No pagan God is like you oh Lord No one can do what you do
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All the nations that you've made Will come and bow before the Lord They will praise your holy name
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For you are great and perform wonderful deeds You alone are
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God You alone are great You are the one who never changes
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You are the one true God One voice in the dark
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A song that lights up the stars One breath that gives life
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One sovereign power Who speaks without the fire
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One Lord, one King There is no other
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I can compare to you You are the one alone in greatness
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The one who never changes Jesus, you are
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The one who rose in power The one who reigns forever
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Jesus, the one true God One at our cross
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One, not one
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One and the same
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One and the same One above There is no other
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I can compare to you You are the one alone in greatness
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The one who never changes Jesus, you are
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The one who rose Jesus, the one true
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God You're the one true God And we have seen the glory of The one and only
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Son of God Yes, we have seen the glory of The one and only
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Son of God You are the one alone in greatness
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The one who never changes Jesus, you are
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The one who rose in power The one who reigns forever
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Jesus, the one true God You're the one true
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God You're the one true God Lord, thank you so much that we have the opportunity to worship you.
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That you have overflowed our hearts with joy. That we can stand before your throne humbly and bring to you our prayers, our struggles, our hearts right now.
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Our hearts for what you have in store for us. I pray for Pastor Jeff that he will continue to proclaim your gospel.
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The truth of your word boldly. Put a hedge of protection around him and his family.
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As we know, Satan does not like the truth. And our pastor continues to deliver the truth to us every single
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Sunday. Guard him and his family. Protect him. Speak, O Lord, as we come to you
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To receive it deep in us
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Shape and fashion us in your likeness
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That the light of Christ might be seen today
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In our acts of love and our deeds of love
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Speak, O Lord, and bless all your people for your glory
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Teach us, Lord, from obedience
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Holy wrath Testify with gratitude
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In the radiance of your purity
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Cause our faith to rise Cause it to rise
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To see your majestic love And walk to you
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We can ne 'er let the truth prevail over us
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Speak, O Lord, and bless for us
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To the change of the dawn of time
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Eternity And by grace we'll stand on new promises
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And by faith we'll walk Speak, O Lord, to you
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Good morning.
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Amen to that prayer. Let's go before the
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Lord together. Speak, O Lord.
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Your servants are listening. Lord, we pray that justice would roll down like rivers and righteousness like an ever -flowing stream.
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We pray that the ethics of your kingdom would be established in our land, in public places, in the schools, in all of our institutions, but most of all,
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Lord, in the church and in each of our hearts, Lord God. We pray for ourselves that we would let go of our errors, our preconceived notions, our wrong understandings of your word, and that our thinking would be transformed by the word of God.
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Your word is truth. Sanctify us by the truth. Lord, I ask for myself, Lord, that you would help me to be as bold as a lion.
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The righteous are as bold as a lion. Lord, I need your Holy Spirit to help me say hard things.
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I want to be like Christ, who is a truth warrior. So give me the courage this morning,
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Lord. Give me words that come from your Spirit and give us all ears to hear the truth.
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In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I was appalled by what
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I was hearing. I sat in a pastor's conference, and there, the teacher, who was one of the pastors, he himself from Capitol Hill, from Washington, D .C.,
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a church planter there, was saying things that I found to be abhorrent.
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One, he taught that we as Christians should lay down our personal rights for the sake of the gospel, and that meant not to take a strong position against vaccine mandates.
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Two, he said that regarding abortion, there could be factors that put a woman in a position where abortion is a needed option.
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And three, he encouraged Christians to begin to work as staffers within both political parties, including the
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Democratic National Convention. Now, as I heard this teacher, this one who represents
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God to the people, because he's to take what is of God's and give it to the people.
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He is to stand and represent the truth of God's Word and not just give his own opinions.
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Heaven forbid that a preacher give his own opinion. Rather that the
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Word of God would shape the way we think. So as I heard this presentation, I knew it did not comport with the teaching of Scripture, so he asked for questions and answers.
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A couple of people went first, and I was the third, and I raised my hand, and I said, is there ever a time that we should not work for a political party?
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For example, the Nazi party was killing six million
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Jewish people. Was there a time then to not work for that party? In the same way, the
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Democratic National Convention is advocating the ongoing slaughter of babies, and there's been 60 million aborted babies.
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Should there come a time where we say we will not work for that platform?
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And I meant it with all sincerity, and it was an honest question. I wanted him to answer the substance of what
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I was saying, but instead, he treated me like the troubler of Israel.
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He got personal. Apparently he knew me from a book that I had written, and he guessed that I was the author of that book, and he treated me like the troubler of Israel, and refused to answer the question.
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But you know, it's interesting, because it raises a very important question, and one that not just this pastor, but many evangelical pastors are addressing.
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It is really the great divide within evangelicalism at this moment, and that is, do we, for the sake of unity, sacrifice truth?
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Is it ever appropriate, given the platform of the DNC, to vote or work for that platform?
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David Platt says that, yes, sometimes we ought to. In his book, Before You Vote, David Platt says, yes, abortion is abhorrent.
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That's clear in the Bible. But is that the only issue at stake in an election? What about the scores of Christians who consistently vote for Democrats because of the party's record on other issues that they also deem biblically important?
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He says, abortion is not the only issue involved in an election, particularly for the
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President of the United States. Capstone Report asked a very interesting question in response to David Platt.
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They said, would the woke evangelicals say the same thing about the election of 1860?
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Slavery is just one thing on the ballot. God forbid we make such a political calculation.
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Point being, there are some moral and ethical issues, like slavery, that rise to such a point that to remain silent against it is complicity in it, and that Christians must, must stand up against those things.
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Abortion is one of them. It's not a debatable issue. It's not a matter of judge not lest you may be judged.
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As we will see from the text today, there are some things that must be fought because truth matters.
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It is not a matter of one's private opinion. Hitler had a message to the pietist pastors.
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He said, you just be concerned with the souls of men. I'll take care of Germany.
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The same thing has been said to pastors across America for many years. You just be concerned with the souls of men.
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We'll take care of this country. But pastors in recent years are waking up to the lie that they have believed.
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When Kim Jong -un escorted 80 pastors with their Bibles in front of a stadium of people and mowed them down with machine guns.
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It's because statism is another religion. The elevation of the state to the place of God is a threat to the gospel.
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Not because Christ isn't king and more powerful than those things, but because there are true enemies of the cross of Christ, according to Philippians 3.
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And we are in a war to fight for the gospel of Jesus Christ. But to establish the gospel, to call people to repentance from dead works that lead to death.
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We must have the law of God. I have addressed three major issues in this
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No Nonsense November. The first was vaccine mandates. Mandates being the key problem that I have that the government would think it has authority over the body of Christians and individuals to dictate what goes in to the body.
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Jesus cleared a temple with vigor and passion to exercise his jurisdiction over that temple.
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How much more the temple that is your body. Since I preached that sermon,
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Austria has taken it a step further. And those who refuse the mandate in the country of Austria are now locked in their homes as political prisoners.
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Christians no longer to gather in the name of Jesus to worship him in spirit and in truth.
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They are held as prisoners in their own homes. The second issue I addressed was not in a sermon here, but it was at Pastor Bill's Calvary Chapel of Marlton where I addressed an assembly of pastors on the issue of CRT.
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And since that sermon, there were marchers parading through Chicago chanting the only solution is communist revolution.
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That issue continues to loom large. A third issue I addressed last week and that is the issue of abortion.
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And this week, Roe versus Wade goes before the
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Supreme Court. This week, the Supreme Court of the United States will begin to hear a trial based on the
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Texas heartbeat law. And the very foundation of Roe versus Wade will be challenged.
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And so, I'm calling on all of you to pray and pray and pray this week.
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At 7 o 'clock tonight, there's an online prayer meeting hosted out of another state, but all over the country, people will join together.
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Was that PrayTogether .com? Rob, do you remember the website for that that I could announce? PrayTogetherForLife .com
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PrayTogetherForLife .com Write that down. Try to go to that prayer meeting tonight. If you can't attend that online, just pray in your heart and pray all week.
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We're in a fight. I've addressed these things because they do threaten this country, our civilization, and the gospel is at stake.
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But I think there's one issue pressing that's bigger than all of those because it's fundamental to all of those, which
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I will address today. And that is the issue of antinomianism.
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Antinomianism is to be against the law. Lawlessness. There has been a movement within this last generation to divest the teachings of Christ from the context of the
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Old Testament. And this, I think, is the greatest danger we're facing because if the pulpits of this country fail to teach the whole counsel of God, then the heart of the matter is lost in the process.
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And that is precisely what has been happening. The false teachers in the churches are the greatest danger to the country because the false teachers are leading astray the very people who need to stand for the truth.
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The pulpits and the churches need to be the light of the world, the salt of the earth, preserving what would otherwise fall into decay and ultimately death.
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But the pulpits are silent and the church is with them.
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Andy Stanley is a pastor of a megachurch. And guys, I think the problem of antinomianism is connected with the seeker -sensitive movement.
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Pastors desire to grow their church to the largest possible number, and they are willing to tickle ears rather than to offend people and possibly lose some possible sitters in the pews.
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And so they've divested themselves from the moral law of God. Listen to what Andy Stanley says.
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You are not accountable to the Ten Commandments. You are not accountable to the
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Jewish law. We need to unhitch from the Old Testament. You see, this antinomian teaching is happy to uplift
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Christ as the Messiah, the Savior of the world, and desires for people to get saved.
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That's why these are evangelicals that I'm addressing today. They want as many people to convert to Christianity as possible, but they are willing to unhitch the gospel message from the law in order to get people there.
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And that cannot be done. The law of God, the moral law of God, as expressed in the
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Ten Commandments, teaches us right and wrong. Theologians used to write volumes about the subject of Christian ethics in order that people would understand what is right and what is wrong.
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In fact, I brought one here. This is a modern theologian, probably my favorite, whose name is
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Wayne Grudem. You guys think I'm about to hold up systematic theology, right? Because it's about that thick.
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No, this one is called Christian Ethics. And he has another book called
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Politics According to the Bible. And the concept of Christian ethics by Wayne Grudem is that God has absolute standards that do address all areas of life.
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In Acts chapter 20, Paul said, I did not hesitate but to tell you the whole counsel of God.
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He didn't start teaching at Matthew 1 .1. He taught from Genesis to Malachi.
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And the New Testament was given through the apostolic ministry. There's another book actually called
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Christian Ethics by Norm Geisler. Equally thick. In fact,
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Norm Geisler, before he died, and I had an email exchange in about 2012.
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I was on to this social justice movement and I was seeing the direction that it was taking people.
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And Norm Geisler was one of the crafters of the Chicago Statement on biblical inerrancy along with R .C.
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Sproul and some of the other giants of the faith. So I emailed
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Geisler and he wrote back to affirm that this is the fight that I need to be engaged in.
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It was a very good encouragement to get from that lion in the truth war. But he wrote
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Christian Ethics. Another book here by Grudem, Christian Ethics. And yet there are teachers and preachers that believe that the law, as written in the
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Old Testament, is not relevant today. Jesus begs to differ.
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Let's turn now to Matthew 23. The purpose of this
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No Nonsense November has been to dispel many myths about the
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Lord Jesus Christ. Especially this picture of him, and you've seen it, maybe you even have it hanging on your wall at home, where he has a very gentle face, even effeminate with the long flowing hair.
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And he's holding a lamb and he's so gentle he could never hurt a fly.
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And this image of gentle Jesus, meek and mild, pervades the thinking of many Christians and people in the world.
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But it is not an accurate representation of what he is really like. Jesus in Matthew 21, 22 and 23 comes across as very aggressive.
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Even offensive. Remember what he did? The first thing he did when he came into the temple is he overturned tables and he drove out the money changers and he rebuked them to their faces.
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He cursed a fig tree and likened them to the fruitless tree that he cursed.
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He told the Pharisees, you hypocrites. He told the
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Sadducees, you are wrong because you know not the scripture nor the power of God. He called the
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Pharisees to the carpet and said, now you will answer my question and when they refused he stopped talking and they refused to ask him any more questions.
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And so we come to Matthew 23 and you ain't seen nothing yet. Because it only gets harder from this moment on.
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The first thing we'll see, the big idea here is that being like Jesus involves overturning upside down ethics.
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So in Matthew 23, the Pharisees are teaching ethics but they're teaching it wrong. They have everything upside down and it's leading people astray.
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It's shutting off the kingdom of God to people and Jesus is going to come and he's not going to overturn tables this time.
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He's going to overturn their ideologies, their ethical teaching and he does it with ferocity.
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So let's read it. Matthew 23, see first of all, he exposes those who don't practice what they preach but they burden others.
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They're virtue signalers. They accept flattery and they exalt themselves. That's their motive.
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Matthew 23, 1 to 12. Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, the scribes and the
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Pharisees sit on Moses' seat. So do and observe whatever they tell you but not the works they do.
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For they preach but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on people's shoulders but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger.
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They do all their deeds to be seen by others for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long.
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Just pause right there. A phylactery was a scripture box. They would take a box and put a rolled up scroll of scripture in the box and literally fasten it to their head and parade themselves around with that to look spiritual.
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They're looking a certain part trying to be regarded by the people as religious and godly and they make their fringes long and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogue, verse 7, and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others.
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But you are not to be called rabbi for you have one teacher and you are all brothers and call no man your father on earth.
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Take note of that. Roman Catholic Church who calls their priest father and takes that blasphemy a step higher to call their quote unquote pope holy father.
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But you are not to be called father for you have one father who is in heaven.
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Of course this is not an attack on the nuclear family. You call your earthly dad father in the home.
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This refers to the spiritual leader giving him this position over you as your father in the faith.
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Giving that title to a man is what's inappropriate. It's about a spiritual lordship over people.
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An exalting of the self that comes from certain religious teachers whom Jesus is addressing.
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He says neither be called instructors for you have one instructor the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant whoever humbles himself will be humbled and whoever
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I'm sorry whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.
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So interesting here. Jesus has been in a conflict from chapter 21 through now with the
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Pharisees and the scribes. But who is he addressing in verses 1 to 12?
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Not the Pharisees and the scribes. Look at verse 1. Jesus said to the crowds and his disciples he says to them something about them.
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Now wait a minute. Isn't that wrong? Isn't it wrong for me to name David Platt or Andy Stanley or Diotrephes who loves to be first?
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No it's not. Because teachers are held to a higher standard. Those who handle the word of God must be accountable for what they are teaching the people.
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And if someone is teaching something that's contrary to this book it's my responsibility
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Titus 1 .9 to refute those who contradict. It's loving to do that.
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My Lord does it in chapter 23 verse 1. Jesus said to the crowds he's warning them because he's concerned for them.
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He doesn't want them to follow after them. He wants the crowds to follow him and the purity of God's word.
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And so he names names. There's a movie out right now that I would commend to you. It's controversial.
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You'll be told not to watch it. It's called Enemies Within the Church. I commend it to you.
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Now this is controversial because it names names. But not just as a slander.
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Not name calling. But providing documentary evidence of those who have made themselves enemies within the church.
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There was one seminary president whose name is Adam Greenway when he saw this movie was coming out.
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He wrote a strongly worded email. Strongly worded email calling it scurrilous and scandalous slander.
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And so the makers of the movie are giving you 20 % off if you use Greenway as a promo code.
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That's the name of the president, Greenway. Listen, I would encourage you to go and buy that movie. If you don't have the funding for that I'll buy some copies and have them available in the foyer in coming weeks.
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Everybody needs to see the movie. Because there is a divide in evangelicalism over the questions that we're addressing today.
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And the real heart of the matter is anti -Gnomianism. Does the law of God still teach us the ethics of the kingdom?
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Jesus in Matthew 5, 17 said I did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it.
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And we are to hold on to it to every jot and tittle. Now there's some things that changed in his death.
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That he himself changed. The Sabbath, the dietary laws. But the moral aspect of the law remains moral and ethical.
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And those who oppose that or try to turn it on its head will themselves be turned on their heads.
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Let's see how Jesus does that in verses 13 and following. So now we've seen
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Jesus address them to the crowds. But here he turns and addresses them to their face.
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I find it really interesting that those in this debate in evangelicalism, we'll get more into what that is, are not willing to stand face to face with even a nobody like me.
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Let alone a James White or a Votibacum and debate these things. Proverbs 18, 17 says,
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One man seems right until another comes to question him. If you can't say to somebody's face what you say about them behind their back, you have no business calling that false teacher out.
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But Jesus says about the Pharisees and scribes, they're false teachers, they're leading you the wrong way.
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Don't go there with them. And now in verses 13 and following he calls them to their face hypocrites.
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And let's hear how he does it. There'll be two themes here. Hypocrite, blind teacher. The issues are hypocrisy, namely they don't do what they say.
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And secondly, they don't have the law. They're lawless. They're leading in the wrong way.
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They're telling you to do the wrong thing. So let's follow 13 through 32 is this major section here.
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Again, in this No Nonsense November, we're just taking big chunks because I want you to see how Jesus is. He's a warrior for truth.
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And here's how he fights. But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!
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For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in.
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Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte.
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And when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.
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Pause there. The concern is eternal damnation. They're running after converts.
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They'll travel to make converts. That's what they want. They want numbers to follow them.
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But they're not training them in righteousness. And so these who follow them become like them, not like God.
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They're not genuinely converted. And so they're shutting the kingdom of God in people's faces.
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Listen. The law of God is necessary. What is the law of God?
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I'll summarize it in two sentences. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
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And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. That is not the gospel. That is a summary of the law.
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It summarizes the two tables of the law. The vertical Godward commands of the
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Ten Commandments and the horizontal manward commands. It is law.
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And it is God's law. And here is the purpose of the law. It is a mirror to show you what you are like.
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It commands you not to commit adultery. And then it shows you the adultery in your own heart. It tells you not to murder.
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And it shows you your own hatred. It shows you the idols that you make.
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John Calvin says, our hearts are like idol factories. We make idols.
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You see, the law does not save. The law condemns us. But it's a good wound.
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It shows us that all fall short of the glory of God. And so, seeing how wicked we are and what need we have for the
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Savior, we hear the good news of the gospel and so we come and we enter the kingdom. But those who jettison the law shut the door to the kingdom of God.
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Because there's no genuine faith without repentance. The law teaches us to repent.
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It calls us, repent and believe the good news. And so, mishandling the law mishandles the gospel.
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You lose the law, where is your gospel if there's no bad news to convict the sinner?
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There's no hope in a Savior who forgives sinners like me. This is the problem that Jesus is addressing.
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So look at verse 16. Notice now how they turn everything upside down.
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My sermon is entitled, Overturning Upside Down Ethics. So if you overturn something upside down, you've got it right side up.
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Jesus is going to overturn their upside down ethics. In Isaiah 5 .20 it says, you make good evil and evil good.
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You exchange dark for light and light for dark. Sweet for bitter and bitter for sweet. You have everything backwards. Everything upside down.
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Here's what the Pharisees do. Woe to you blind guides who say if anyone swears by the temple it is nothing.
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But if anyone swears by the gold of the temple he is bound by his oath.
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You blind fools! I'm not yelling that at you. That's Jesus to them. For which is greater?
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The gold or the temple that has made the gold sacred? And you say if anyone swears by the altar it is nothing.
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But if anyone swears by the gift that is on the altar he is bound by his oath. You blind men!
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For which is greater? The gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred? So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.
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And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and by him who dwells in it. And whoever swears by heaven swears by the throne of God and by him who sits upon it.
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See how their ethics are upside down? They delight in the outward appearance of gold.
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But they don't value the truly sacred which is God himself represented in the temple. They think they bring something to God.
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Their gift on the altar. Look at me. I'm religious. Look at my phylactery. Look at my robes.
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Look at the gifts that I have to bring. In a minute he'll get into the tithing. But it's the altar that makes the gift acceptable.
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Jesus is teaching it's God's part that is holy. The altar ultimately will become the cross of Jesus Christ.
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It's there where Jesus lies down as a sacrifice on the altar that is the cross and bears the sin of those who will believe in him.
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He does the holy work. And then we come to the altar. We come to the foot of the cross and we humble ourselves.
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We have nothing but empty hands. And having repented he then receives what we bring in spirit and in truth.
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Does that make sense? The direction is upside down here. They think what they bring matters.
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No, it's the altar that makes the gift holy. Not the other way around. If we had more time we'd unpack that a little bit more.
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It's like in Haggai. If you've touched an unclean thing you're defiled.
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But touching something holy that can't make you holy. Something must atone for your defilement.
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And that is the sacrifice on the altar. Until that happens first you have nothing to bring but your sin.
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So we move on. Jesus' rebuke only gets more intense.
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Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin and have neglected the weightier matters of what?
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The law. Does God care about justice? Yes. That's why the pietists are wrong.
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Because justice matters. And mercy. That's the gospel. You can't have the mercy of the gospel without the justice of God.
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And faithfulness. Holding to what he says. Keeping the word. Faithfulness.
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These things. These you ought to have done without neglecting the others.
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You blind guides! Straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel. You're missing what matters most.
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You have no perspective, no ability to weigh what matters.
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Justice and mercy and faithfulness. And of course, Jesus here is speaking hyperbolically, you realize that, right?
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He doesn't think they actually swallow camels. But they probably do swallow gnats.
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They try real hard to strain them out. But they don't realize that they're missing something so huge right there in front of their face.
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This camel. Verse 27. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites!
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Can you imagine Jesus saying that? Again and again. For you are like whitewashed tombs.
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Oh wait, I missed the cup first. Verse 25. For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they're full of greed and self -indulgence.
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You see that? They want outward appearance. They want to signal virtue. But on the inside, they're completely corrupted.
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You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate and the outside also will be clean. Verse 27.
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Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness.
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Now there's a friendly comparison. You just make yourself look so...
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You are like a whitewashed tomb. You know, the tombstone? You've pressure washed it.
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You whitewashed it. It looks beautiful. And the inside of you is dead man's bones.
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Hard words from Jesus Christ. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees.
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Hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous.
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Saying, if we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in the shedding of blood of the prophets.
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Thus you witness against yourself that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up then the measure of your fathers.
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And we'll pause here before we get to that last stinging rebuke because it just gets to fever pitch now at the end.
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But consider what Jesus is saying. You're all about outward appearance.
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But you do not care about the law of God. That is very much the case with the
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Democratic National Convention. And I will say, the Republicans also in many ways.
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Many Republicans have completely overstepped the role of government and are complicit in much of the evil that we see.
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But the Democratic National Committee has made of their platform a complete repudiation and refutation of the
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Ten Commandments, point for point. Have no other gods before me.
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They say the state is God. They wouldn't use those words precisely, but every solution that they have to every problem is statist.
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James White, a great apologist who's very helpful in these matters, says this, a state that is not under the authority of God becomes
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God. And that state will do anything it can to suppress the worship of anything other than itself.
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The state becomes a pseudo -God. And it grows and grows.
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And people will worship it. Make no idols? The BLM movement makes martyr idols out of certain individuals.
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Do not take the Lord's name in vain. And you hear Raphael Warnock preaching like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson as if they preach the true gospel of Jesus Christ and invoking his name to do everything that opposes the law of God.
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No justice, no peace. And so there is no Sabbath because it is a never -ending platform of grievance.
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But think now about the man -word second table of the law. Honor your father and your mother.
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And yet, the ethics of the false kingdom is to tear down the nuclear family and to do everything to resist fathers and mothers raising their children.
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Thou shalt not murder. There's the clear language of the text. Thou shalt not murder.
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And yet, written into the very platform of the Democratic National Committee is the ongoing slaughter of the innocent in the womb.
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Now, they'll object and say, well, they're not persons in the womb. But they say that by no standard.
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It's just a whim of theirs, which they then enforce by killing that very innocent person in the womb.
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God said, thou shalt not murder. And a baby in the womb, by God's definition, and he's the only one able to define these things, is a living person.
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Thou shalt not commit adultery. And the party says, throw off their fetters in every bond, promoting the
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LGBTQ agenda at every step. Thou shalt not steal.
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And looting is allowed and encouraged. Even stealing up to $950.
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Thou shalt not covet. And the very basis of socialism is coveting unequal outcomes.
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The concern over that is Marxist, and it is a repudiation of the
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Ten Commandments. Thou shalt not covet. Are you able to strain a gnat, but swallow a camel?
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Where are the teachers? Where are the Christians to point out the camel in the room?
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That abortion is murder. It's just as wicked as slavery. And to go along with it is evil.
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Call good good and evil evil. Don't flip them like Isaiah 520. And so we come to the final, most stinging rebuke from the very lips of our
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Savior. He says, you serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?
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Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town, so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous
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Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
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Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. Jesus loves his children.
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And murder, he now takes the guilt of Cain killing
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Abel all the way to the last martyrdom of the Old Testament, Zechariah martyred, and lays that guilt upon that generation, because they also will kill him.
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And then the prophets sent to him. You see, we live in a day where there is one party that is persecuting the church of Jesus Christ.
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There is one party that is shutting the doors of churches. And there is one party that is murdering children in the womb.
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And I want to tell you something about the Lord Jesus Christ. He is not, like many in the culture think he is.
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He's not a laughingstock to be pushed aside. And don't take his silence in this day as approval.
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Because he calls them brood of vipers and one day he's coming with the sword. And how will you escape being sent to hell?
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What is it that concerns him so much? It is the blood of his children.
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He will vindicate his children. And hear me, the Bible says in Matthew 18 that the angels look into the face of God to protect the children.
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Matthew 18, 10. See that you do not despise one of these little ones.
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For I tell you that in heaven their angels always see the face of my Father who is in heaven.
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What is Jesus saying there? He is telling us about his divine love for his children.
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And here in the context of Matthew 23 that includes Christians, those who would believe who will be martyred.
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But it also goes on to refer to the children. We'll see that in a second. Why are the angels looking at the face of God?
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Because they know his character and they bear a sword and they are ready at the command of the
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Father to go defend the children. God is staying his judgment. He's not releasing them yet.
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But they're there looking into the face of the Father. Do I go? They're killing the children. Do I go?
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The angel is ready to bring the sword of God's judgment. Do I go?
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They look into the face of God. They're ready at the snap of a finger. And God withholds that judgment for a day of mercy.
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Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.
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How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings and you were not willing.
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See, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the
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Lord. He's holding the angel at bay.
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The wrath of the avenger's sword is stayed for a moment until you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the
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Lord. The second coming of Christ. There will be many Jewish people there to welcome him and believe.
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But here it is that the Jewish leaders are holding the kingdom back from the children who would come.
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And if these Pharisees had the altar turned upside down and the sacrifice turned upside down, what does he make of a culture or a party that has not just turned a few things upside down but has taken the
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Ten Commandments and ripped it to shreds and shut the kingdom of God from people's faces?
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He's staying that judgment because he's compassionate. Do you see it in verse 37?
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Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem. He's crying out because he's waiting for the children to come in.
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The day of wrath is coming, but this is a day where mercy is made available to those who would believe.
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He's calling the children home. Well, how will the children know what's right and what's wrong? If you farm the education of your children out to the state, the public indoctrination camps will teach them an ethical system that is exactly upside down from the ethics of this book.
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Now, there may be parents that are called to have your kids in public schools. I'm not really here to fight against that, but I'm saying this.
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If you do have your children in public schools, you have to oversee them and fight any teacher being aware of what's being said in the classroom who brings in unethical teaching.
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That's why one of our pastors is now on the school board, to oversee that, to fight for children because Jesus loves children,
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I see in verse 37. But parents, the schools aren't gonna do it for you.
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Probably even most Christian schools aren't gonna train your children in the ethics of the kingdom that comes from this book.
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You must raise your children to know the Lord and to know the ethics of the Christian life.
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You must do that. And I would encourage you to homeschool so that you have oversight of that or a good
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Christian school. But we must fight for the children.
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And so this concludes No Nonsense November. There's been a number of things we've taken on.
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But it's because Jesus is a warrior in the truth war. And as I hear babies crying, isn't that a beautiful sound?
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They're worth fighting for. Let's close in a word of prayer.
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And as we do that, I'm aware that there could be some here today that have never seen this side of Jesus.
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You didn't know he had this side. It's because he loves you that he tells you these things.
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He's written it in the book that you could know what he's like. And here's the good news of the gospel.
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That all of us fall short of the glory of God. But the
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Lord has laid upon Jesus Christ the iniquity of us who believe. So if you will confess your sins, believe in your heart that Jesus is the
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Christ and God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. You will be spared that wrath.
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So pray with me, all of you. Church, pray for those who might not yet believe. Father, we pray that your word would bring faith.
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First of all, that the law would expose our sinfulness. But then that the gift would be made clear through the word of God.
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We ask, Lord, for those who this morning were not aware of how deep their sin is, that the law of God would cut deeply, that you would grant them repentance and faith in the
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Savior. Help them to turn away from worthless idols to serve the living
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God. Pray that you would save all those who right now are praying to you,
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Lord. Let them call upon the name of Jesus, the one who died and rose from the dead.
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And, Lord, we pray for this church, that you would strengthen us to be warriors for your kingdom, that we would have a prophetic voice to the culture to uphold your law, the ethics of the
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Christian, to declare those things to the culture.
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And I pray that we would then be salt and light. Lord, I pray that you would take away any fear that any of us have, that we would be like the
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Jesus that we read about in Matthew 21, 22, and 23, showing no fear of man, but willing to uphold the whole counsel of God.
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We pray for our country, Lord, that you would turn back wickedness and restore righteousness.
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We thank you for this country, Lord, and the gift of freedom that we have here to say the kinds of things that I'm saying right now.
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We pray that you would use this church in a powerful way in coming years. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
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In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Let's stand and close in a song. Turn your eyes upon Jesus Look full in His wonderful face
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And the things of earth
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Will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory
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And will turn the lies
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To the heaven song With justice and mercy
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And grace Through the
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Son of God Gave His life for us
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And our measureless debt Was you
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Jesus, to you we lift our eyes
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Jesus, our glory and our pride
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We adore you, behold you
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Our Savior ever true O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you
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Turn your eyes to the Holy Spirit And our measureless debt
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Was you
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Jesus, to you we lift our eyes
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Jesus, our glory and our pride
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We adore you, behold you
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Our Savior ever true O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you
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Turn to the head
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Our King will return for His own
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Jesus, to you we lift our eyes
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Jesus, our glory and our pride
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We adore you, behold you
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O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you O Jesus, we turn our eyes to you
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Next week, you're gonna see the little kids up here Christmas, so you also see a little shift in me from No Nonsense November to the
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Christmassy version of Jeff But we're gonna begin to go verse by verse through the book of 1
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Thessalonians taking our time through that So, let me read this benediction over you
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And Jesus came and said to them All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me
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Go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the
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Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you