Faithful in "Negative World" - Pt. 2

Psalm 118 as the Church’s Song of Praise

Of Psalm 118, and so if you can get your psalters and open them to 118, and in case your version is one with a typo, I'll read out to you in just a minute what it's supposed to say, so you can write it in there and sing it.

Psalm 118, Psalm 118 part 2, Psalm 118 part 2. So 118, verse 24 is the one with the error, and if yours does not say, this is the day the Lord has made, then yours is wrong. So raise your hand if you have one that doesn't say that.

What verse?

Verse 24. Okay, so what it should say at verse 24, the printed error reads like this. This is the error, don't copy this down. This is the error, do not copy this down. This is the error, don't copy this down.

The error reads, all the nations of earth circle, right, so you see that. So anyways, if you see that, verse 24 should say this. Here's the thing, write this one down. This is the right way, write this down.

Oh, comma, this is the day that the Lord has made, comma, let us rejoice, and so that matches up with the syllables for the meters in that first part. So then you go to the part below it, the continuation.

If you have the printed error, the next line, the continuation is going to read, this is the error, don't write this. This is the error, do not write this. This is the error, don't write this. The error reads as, but in the name of the Lord, I will surely destroy them.

So if you notice that part there, you should replace it with this. This is the right one, write this down. I'm about to tell you the right one, write this down. And so let us always be glad in the day of the Lord.

Okay, so it should read, verse 24 should read, oh, this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice, and so let us always be glad in the day of the Lord. Okay, so everybody has a Psalm 118 that reads that way, fantastic.

Okay, so we're going to be singing Psalm 118 today. Deacon Schaffer is going to give us the most amazing Psalm meditation in the history of the church on Psalm 118. And we're going to continue in 2 Timothy chapter 2.

All right, any other announcements, Deacon Schaffer? All right, let's begin with a call to worship. Please stand for the reading of God's word. Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 4 through 9. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. You may be seated.

Let's pray.

Bow your heads.

Father, we come before you and we confess our sinfulness that we have broken your law and are sinners. And we are guilty in Adam. Father, we know that we are worthy of death. And we ask that you would forgive us, that you would pardon our guilt on the grounds of the righteous sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We ask that you would look upon his death as a satisfaction for all of our debts. And we ask that you would look upon us as righteous because of his perfect obedience. So, Father, we come before you by the mediation of Christ and ask that you would illuminate our minds and sanctify us.

We ask that you would build up the church. You would help us to keep covenant, speak the truth, worship in spirit and truth. And judge in truth with discipline. And that you would cause us to bear the fruits of love.

Father, I pray that you would bless those who listen to search the scriptures to see if the teachings are so. They would sit and judge. And Father, we pray that you would give to us godly magistrates and remove the wicked from the rule they have over us.

I pray that you would cause righteousness to reign in the land. Father, we pray for the protection of the weak, that you would cause children yet unborn to be protected by law. That you would bless the little children in our midst.

Thank you that we have little ones with us. We ask that you would teach their souls. Father, we ask that you would help all of us in our various places to see our weaknesses made into strength. We pray this in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Psalm 118, the Halal Psalms, and Christ the Cornerstone

All right. Please open your Psalters to 118 part 1. Deacon Schaefer, please come forward. Please stand for the reading of God's word.

Psalm 18, Psalm 118 part 1. Oh, thank the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endures. Let Israel now say that his mercy ever endures. Let Aaron's house now say that his mercy ever endures. Those that fear the Lord say that his mercy ever endures.

In my distress, I called on him and the Lord answered me. And so he set me in a place large enough for safety. The Lord's on my side. I'll not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord helps those that do help me.

Those hating me will lose. It is far better to trust the Lord than to trust in mere men. It is far better to trust the Lord than to trust in princes. All the nations of earth circle around me everywhere.

But in the name of the Lord, I will surely destroy them. Yes, the nations of earth circled around me everywhere. But in the name of the Lord, I will surely destroy them. They swarm as bees, but they are quenched as the fire in the thorns.

For in the name of the Lord, I will surely destroy them. That I might fall, you thrust at me. But the Lord has helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song and now my salvation. The voice of rejoicing is heard and that of salvation.

Within the tents of the righteous, the Lord's hand is valiant. Let's look at part two and I'll note it. But if you catch differences between what you're reading and what I'm saying, what I'm saying is the accurate version.

Exalted is the Lord's right hand and it does valiantly. Now it is true I will not die, but rather I will live. And through my life, I will declare all the works of the Lord. The Lord surely chastened me sore, but did not give me death.

Oh, that the gates of righteousness would be open to me. Then I will enter into them and I will praise the Lord. This is the Lord's gate into which the righteous will enter. I'll praise you for you heard me and became my salvation.

The stone that the builders refused is now the cornerstone. This is the doing of the Lord. It's marvelous in our eyes. Here's where your souls are maybe different. Oh, this is the day that the Lord has made.

Let us rejoice. And so let us always be glad in the day of the Lord. I beg you to save me, oh Lord, and send prosperity. Oh, blessed be the one who comes in the name of the Lord. And we have sent you blessing out of the house of the Lord.

Truly God is the Lord and he has given light to us. So bind the sacrifice with cords. Yes, to the author's horns. You are my God. And so I will praise. I will give praises unto you. You are my God. I'll exalt you.

I'll give thanks to the Lord for he is good. For his mercy will endure forever. You may be seated. Psalm 118 will be one of the longer Psalms that we've looked at. It's the last of the Halal Psalms. It's very direct and looking at the expectation of the Savior and rejoicing in that.

And it's notably placed right after 117. And if you recall from last week, 117 is all about how the salvation is for the Gentiles as well as the Jews. So anything here will be in light of that. The Psalm should be read in light of that reality.

So everything displayed in 118 will apply to all of the elect, not just Israel. So it's a beautiful anticipatory Psalm of Christ. I'm going to give you the layout of the Psalm and I'll repeat it as we go through.

But the first metrical verse, which is where you'll find this thesis, is giving thanks to the Lord for he is good. The second is about fear of God versus fear of man. The third is a guarantee that men will fail you.

The fourth is that nothing can stand against the Lord. The fifth is the greatest attack of the wicked is nothing against the Lord. The sixth is declaring rather than hiding the works of the Lord. The seventh, praising the Lord because of your salvation.

Eighth is about Christ, the cornerstone. Nine, God gives light. And 10, God's mercy endures forever. So I'll repeat those as we go through. So let's look at the first metrical verse. And this is about giving thanks to the Lord for he is good.

Oh, thank the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endures. Let Israel now say that his mercy ever endures. Let Aaron's house now say that his mercy ever endures. Those that fear the Lord say that his mercy ever endures.

So a very short sentence, for he is good, or piece of a sentence. And this is the simplest expression of the praise of God, for he is good. Infinite goodness is uniquely applied to God. So who else or what else can you look at and say, infinitely, they are good, nobody and nothing.

And like that, his mercy endures. It cannot be withdrawn. So if you're elect, you cannot become unelect. And that's a clear contradiction of the false doctrine that one can lose their salvation. If you say that God's mercy never fails, you cannot also say that your salvation is at risk.

The next few verses emphasize this reality in different ways. So it's Israel, it's Aaron's house. And those that fear the Lord. So those are all serving to show that there's a comprehensive fact. God is good, his mercy is permanent.

Permanent mercy. So the second metrical verse will go into how we deal with that. The fear of God versus the fear of man. In my distress, I called on him and the Lord answered me. And so he set me in a place large enough for safety.

The Lord's on my side, I'll not fear. What can man do to me? The Lord helps those that do help me. Those that, those hating me will lose. So building from that previous metrical verse, the permanence of God's mercy comes a distress call.

This call, the fact that you make a call is based on a belief that the Lord will mercifully answer. And he does. So whenever we find ourselves distressed, we desire a powerful ally. Good lawyer, strong fighter, well-connected network.

But the primary ally we should be seeking is God. He may give you those things if that's what's necessary. But that is where we should look first because he does not fail. And the right attitude is displayed here.

The Lord is on my side, I will not fear. What can man do to me? So what can man do to you? In, in fact, though man can do many unpleasurable, horrific things to you, he can cause no lasting, ultimate harm.

God, even if God chooses to let you lose, it is for his glory and your benefit. You win. But if God chooses to have you win, there is nothing that will stand against God. Because he is infinite in his power.

So these, these verses, these sections are building on each other. So the third metrical verse is discussing how men will fail you. Goes like this. "'Tis far better to trust the Lord than to trust in mere men.

"'Tis far better to trust the Lord than to trust in princes.". So I'll keep reading. "'All the nations of earth circle around me everywhere, but in the name of the Lord, I will surely destroy them.'".

So if you recall, we were just talking about there, there are different types of allies you might want to have. And here God gives us some examples of them. Princes, generally speaking, some of the most powerful men there are.

And it is still far better to trust in the Lord. So men will fail you. Officers will fail you. God will never fail you. So that is why our trust is in the Lord. Yet most believers that I've encountered anyways wrestle with this idea.

And it usually goes something like this. Why would God care about me? What value am I to God? How would God have time for me? So God is infinite in his attributes. There's no bandwidth bottleneck to be unable to care for every minute detail of your life.

So as you pray, as you seek the Lord, it's not an excuse me, may I please interrupt what you're working on right now to talk to you. That's not a problem for the Lord. The answer may be no. The answer may be not now.

But again, God is not failing to hear you. He's not failing to answer. And here we see the application of that. Though nations surround you, though the enemies of Christ abound, the Lord will surely destroy them.

Christ has come. The debt has been paid. We are, as Pastor East has said, the mop-up operation. We win down here. We are attacking the enemies who are something you should pay attention to. So God's enemies will be destroyed.

When God's enemies are destroyed, it's not our glory. The destruction of his enemies is for his glory. And that destruction will occur in his name. So they swarm as bees. That's an idea of what it looks like when the enemies are there.

It's not just one thing after another. It's a lot of things all at once swarming. And you can probably see that in how you've seen public figures get attacked. It's not just one little voice saying something about them.

It's many voices swarm and make their attacks. And it can't stand against the Lord. So the fifth metrical verse, the greatest attack of the wicked is nothing against the Lord. That I might fall, you thrust at me, but the Lord has helped me.

The Lord is my strength and my song, and now my salvation. The voice of rejoicing is heard. And what of salvation within the tents of the righteous? The Lord's hand is valiant. So our enemies take shots at us.

They trust in themselves or their tools, their methods. But the most well-aimed shot is nothing for the Lord to stop. We advance in strength because we know that he has saved us to glorify him. We can cheerfully face death, trusting his wisdom and purpose.

And we can trust in the salvation he has provided. His mercy endures forever. So the sixth metrical verse is about declaring and not hiding the works of the Lord. Exalted is the Lord's right hand, and it does valiantly.

Now it is true, I will not die, but rather I will live. And through my life, I will declare all the works of the Lord. The Lord surely chastened me sore, but did not give me death. If the Lord chooses to take us through battle, take us like through, as in sustain us through a battle where death was a very real possibility, but we live, that is not something we ignore.

It's not something to attribute to our own skill or prowess. There was a purpose there, and that purpose is, at least in part, that we should acknowledge him. We were saved spiritually from the worst type of death, and we should proclaim that boldly.

So there's the physical aspect of that and the spiritual aspect of that. Any time you're saved physically through something, that's something to praise the Lord, but it should also remind us we were saved from the worst death.

God chastises every son whom he receives, that is true, but they remain his sons. His mercy endures forever. The seventh metrical verse is about praising the Lord because of your salvation. It's building off the last.

Oh, that the gates of righteousness would be open to me. Then I will enter into them and I will praise the Lord. This is the Lord's gate into which righteousness will enter. I'll praise you for you heard me and became my salvation.

So the response of the elect to salvation ought to be praise, and that's likely the last thing that the non-elect would ever consider doing, but we must not forget this fact. So we frequently thank God for material blessings, and we should be constantly praising him for his salvation.

Those material blessings that we receive serve to aid us in advancing the fight. Which is advancing his fight. So the eighth metrical verse, and again, if you're following along in the psalter, this is where there will be a difference, reads like this.

The stone that the builders refused is now the cornerstone. This is the doing of the Lord. It's marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice, and so let us always be glad in the day of the Lord.

You'll commonly see this verse put out there as like rejoice in today, because God made today, and today is great. And that is all true, but let's read the whole thing. The stone that the builders refused is now the cornerstone.

This is the doing of the Lord. It's marvelous in our eyes. That is the day that the Lord has made. So that's Christ. We see a marvelous truth there. Christ was rejected by the Jews. He became the cornerstone.

And that's the most important event that humans were to be looking forward to, and in large part, missed. So every time you see that verse out there, this is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice in it.

That's an opportunity for speaking about the gospel, not just the goodness of the things that the Lord has done. So make sure to put that out there. I know I didn't connect that for a long time, and it's pretty common out there.

All right, the ninth metrical verse is God gives light. I beg you to save me, O Lord, and set into prosperity. Oh, blessed be the one who comes in the name of the Lord. We have sent you blessing out of the house of the Lord.

Truly God is the Lord, and he has given light to us. So here it starts as a prayer for prosperity. So this is not the prosperity gospel. Think about what came before the prayer. You're praising the Lord for his goodness, for his mercy, destruction of nations, unbelief, destruction of unbelief.

And ultimately, this is a prayer for prosperity in doing God's work. It is generally easier to take more ground with a well-funded army than a bootstrapped one. God may put us through lean times to encourage us to focus, be efficient, learn to use resources well.

But if he chooses to bless us with prosperity, which is good to pray for, great prosperity, it's not for us to squander. It's for us to attack, to go on the offensive, to use to the praise of his glory.

And part of what we're praising him is he's giving us light. He's giving us understanding. He's given us a savior. Anything he gives us is to be used to attack, to make him known, and to know him. So the 10th metrical verse.

This is the final verse. God's mercy endures forever. So bind the sacrifice with cords, yes, to the altar's horns. You are my God, and so I will give praises unto you. You are my God, I'll exalt you. I'll give thanks to the Lord for he is good, for his mercy will endure forever.

So we should all follow Christ's example and be a willing sacrifice for the Lord in any and all areas of life. As humans, we often struggle against our best interest. We struggle against the interest of the Lord.

We may need to be bound, so to speak, with the cords to the altar. We're given to resist. That is what is being worked out of us. We thank the Lord for he is good, and no matter how hard we fight against it, his mercy will endure forever.

And when he says forever, he means forever. Comments, questions, objections from voting members or those who speak in privileges. Pastor Reese. Yes. Five, the greatest attack of the wicked is nothing against the Lord.

Six, declare, don't hide the works of the Lord. Seven, praise the Lord because of salvation. And eight, Christ is the cornerstone.

That the day the Lord has made also, we translate that as appointed, the day the Lord has appointed. It's very specifically also about the Lord's day. And so this is the day the Lord has appointed. Let us rejoice.

And so let us always be glad.

In the day of the Lord. That's the Lord's day. The day of the Lord is the Lord's day. It's the same wording, the same thing, genitive form. So it's just that this is a prophecy about the Lord's day, the Sabbath being the day of resurrection.

And it's an Old Testament text that proves the transition of the Sabbath to the Lord's day. That's all.

That's great. Thank you.

Yes.

So this is the day the Lord has made is pointing to the Sabbath. Christ was resurrected. There's a change in the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day. And so this verse and its translation and use is showing, is speaking of the Sabbath, the day the Lord has made.

And it's a day to be rejoiced in. Anything else?

All right.

Please stand.

Mm-hmm. Thank the Lord for he is good for his mercy endures. Let Israel now say that his mercy endure, endure. In his house now say that his mercy ever endures. Those that fear the Lord say that his mercy ever endure.

Distress I called on him and so he said, me is far safer to trust the Lord than to trust in mere men. It is far better to trust the Lord than to trust in princes. All the nations of earth circle around me everywhere.

But in the name of the Lord I will surely destroy them. As the nations of earth circle I fall you thrust at me but Lord, Lord has helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song and now my salvation. The voice of rejoicing is heard and that of salvation.

The tense of the righteous, the Lord's hand is fell yet.

Faithful Ministry in a Negative World

All right. Please open your Bibles now to 2 Timothy 2. Starting at verse 1. You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

You therefore must endure hardship as a soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life. That he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules.

The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops. Consider what I say and may the Lord give you understanding in all things. Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel.

For which I suffer trouble as an evildoer even to the point of chains. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore, I endure all things for the sake of the elect that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.

This is a faithful saying. For if we died with him, we shall also live with him. If we endure, we shall also reign with him. If we deny him, he also will deny us. If we are faithless, he remains faithful.

He cannot deny himself. Remind them of these things. Charging them before the Lord not to strive about words to no profit. To the ruin of the hearers. Be diligent to present yourself approved to God. A worker who does not need to be ashamed.

Rightly dividing the word of truth. But shun profane and idle babblings. For they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort.

Who have strayed concerning the truth. Saying that the resurrection is already past. And they overthrow the faith of some.

Nevertheless,.

The solid foundation of God stands having this seal. The Lord knows those who are his. And let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity. But in a great house, there are not only vessels of gold and silver.

But also of wood and clay. Some for honor. And some for dishonor. Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a vessel for honor. Sanctified and useful for the master. Prepared for every good work.

Flee also youthful lusts. But pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart. The snare of the devil. Having been taken captive by him. To do his will. You may be seated.

All right, so this sermon you could refer to as fighting negative world or I've heard many people refer to this condition of our current culture as trash world. So maybe fighting trash world. But the idea that there is all sorts of negativity, all sorts of problem, all sorts of opposition that must be fought.

And so we're thinking here about the characteristics of faithful ministry that fights the apostasy in the church and fights the unbelief in the world. And so here's what that looks like. Now go to a chapter, go to page two in the outline.

And we look at chapter two, verse one. We talked about these analogies last time. And if we think about these analogies, it says you, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

So beloved, I want to remind you of the importance of being strong in grace, which means being strong in sanctification. The way you are sanctified is by knowing your Bible well. John 17, 17 says, when Jesus is praying for his church, this is what he prays.

Sanctify them by your truth. Your word is truth. Beloved, this is not an assertion by the Lord Jesus Christ that there's some way of knowing the word of God apart from his scriptures in this age. We have the complete scriptures and the word of God, the whole counsel of God, the mind of Christ is given to us in the scriptures of the Old and New Testaments.

And these words are the words that sanctify souls. These are the words that make men holy, that make men clean. It's the healing word. It's the cleansing word. It's the sanctifying word. It's the word that pressure washes your stony heart so that it's chipped away and cleaned and made flesh more and more, made alive more and more, that the law of God is written on the heart more and more as these words, breathed out by God, are taken in.

The exclusivity of the scriptures as that form whereby the mind of God is given to us is offensive to the world and offensive to many who would call themselves Christians. The papacy hates the idea that the word of God is contained merely in the scriptures.

They hate that that is how we come to know the mind of Christ as the alone instrument. They would say that there's a teaching authority of the church, there's a tradition of the church, and there's the scriptures.

Eastern Orthodoxy would say that the scriptures are a part of holy tradition, but not the whole of it. Many false teachers come and attack the scriptures and want to add to it, take away from it, or have some authoritative interpreter from outside that controls the way you read it.

But the scripture interprets the scripture. The word of God is the highest authority. And it has come to us, it's been delivered to us. It is a light given to us in the darkness. And you, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

The way you know Christ is by his word coming to you. In Christ are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And we have been given his mind in the scriptures. Those treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in his mind.

And his mind, you can't force him to reveal it. You can't even force another man to tell you his mind. Much less God. But we have the mind of Christ in the scriptures. And so he has told us his mind, his counsel, his thoughts.

He's revealed them to us. And given us these words. And these words are the words that sanctify us. And we are to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. We are to be strong in the faith. You are to know his words.

Do not grow weary in the scriptures, but recognize how little you truly know. And realize that there are men who have organized helpful things. Matthew Poole's commentary on the scriptures. There are many great commentaries on the scriptures that help you to understand it.

And so until you have a familiarity with every book of the Bible, beloved, don't kid yourself, you haven't scratched the surface. And until you know the outlines of those books of the Bible in your head, don't kid yourself, beloved.

You know secular stupid movies better than you know the Bible. Until you can outline every book of the Bible in your head from memory, you know your favorite novels better than you know the Bible. How many works of art, how many pages, how many hours of consumption of content do you have where you know it intimately, backward and forward, can quote it easily, but yet how much of the scriptures are laid up in your heart?

How many words could you recite in order? How many arguments could you produce in outline form? How many of the stories without skipping a major plot beat could you reference from the scriptures? We must be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus and the truth is that which sanctifies.

And so you must be strong in the truth. And the things that you've heard from me among many witnesses commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. The systematic teaching work of the church to organize teaching and make it available.

How familiar are you with the work of the historical church to organize the doctrine of the scriptures and the Westminster standards? These things are important for us to benefit from. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.

No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. The connection between public service and warfare, public service in the church and warfare in the state are one of the reasons why it's possible to connect, for example, the idea that in the first year of marriage a man ought to be spared from the public service of the church because it's a type of warfare.

But this idea that there's hardship to be endured as a soldier, there is the slow hardship of the grind and there is the terrifying hardship of conflict that arises. And there's a need to focus on applying the word of God in every area of life.

Verse five, and also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. We must strive to win the crown and we must strive to do it by following the rules that Christ has given.

How do you play the game? In the way that Christ has commanded. If you try something else, you're bringing up a sort of pragmatism. So the soldier gives to us the example of this endurance in opposition to a fleeing from pain.

We must be willing to undergo suffering for the cause of Christ. The athlete focuses on this idea of competing according to the rules. We must apply the rules that Christ has given as opposed to pragmatism.

And then the hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops.

In other words,.

People who do the work ought to receive the rewards. We need to be concerned for enlightened self-interest and not for a fake altruism or asceticism. We should rejoice and delight in the fruits of labor that come to us in the providence of God.

Verse seven, consider what I say and may the Lord give you understanding in all things. Now meditate on this. Paul is giving an example and he's giving it to Timothy and he's saying, meditate on these things.

These metaphors that are used, the soldier is like a pastor. The athlete is like a pastor. The farmer is like a pastor. These are meant to be things to be meditated upon to think about how to think about your work.

And every Christian can apply those principles. And these are worthy to meditate on because remember, the fool is tempted to just work hard enough to avoid pain. The wise man is motivated to work hard enough to guarantee pain in order to get the reward.

Risk-taking and pain-enduring for the reward. Verse eight, remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer even to the point of chains but the word of God is not chained.

No matter what we suffer, the word of God is not stopped. No matter what chains are put on us, the word of God is not chained. No matter what blockages or obstacles are put before you, the word of God demolishes them and accomplishes everything for which it was sent.

It never returns void. It converts every soul that God intends for it to convert and it hardens every soul that God intends for it to harden. And we must remember that opposition comes against the servants of the Lord and people make up all sorts of garbage to attack the servants of the Lord.

They invent evil to claim and especially you find that those that officers had the gall to discipline do. We find down the line this idea of Alexander the coppersmith and it says later on that he charged Paul with much wrong.

One of the reasons that American pastors do not do church discipline is because nothing inspires a permanent hatred like public denunciation. Paul has the guts to make enemies that unless the Lord brings them to repentance will be his permanent enemies.

Excommunication and the public naming of false teachers. The public naming of false teachers. That kind of controversy that kind of confrontation that kind of calling out is a marker of a masculine martial spirit.

A willingness to war. Many people accuse Paul falsely and he suffers as an evildoer when he was a blameless man. The Lord Jesus Christ more than blameless he was sinless. And he had a martial masculine spirit to wage war.