A License To Sin

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Blessed Lord you have caused all of your holy scriptures to be written for our learning We ask that we make that you would grant that we may so hear your word read mark

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Learn it really digest it that by patience and the comfort of your holy word

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We may embrace and never hold fast to the blessed hope of everlasting life through Jesus Christ our

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Lord. Amen All right, before we get into the lesson real quick any questions from the sermon

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Last verse Excellent Yeah, that's that's the that's the idea so let's kind of contra let's let's do a little contrast here if you're familiar with Calvinism Calvinism believes that only the elect are saved and that And and that grace is irresistible

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Yeah Right, so you're gonna notice here and this is what the

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Lutherans based upon text like the one we just heard today in Sunday school we we affirm something that seems contradictory and So when it comes to the doctrine of election, which is you know

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Which actually that last verse makes it clear that we're dealing with the doctrine of election We hold two things that seem contradictory.

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So number one it is God's will that all should repent and be saved

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Along with that ancillary to it is that Christ has bled and died for the sins of the whole world Now does that mean that everybody's saved?

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You okay. So the second one the second piece of this which seems contradictory is that therefore

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Everyone who isn't saved it's actually their fault They're the ones at fault not

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God Yeah Yeah Well, yeah, no the

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Greek word is gonna be chosen as well and this is the great mystery then of of election and You've heard me use the phrase before but I'll read

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I'll restate the phrase In Scripture when it comes to election, there is a problem that we cannot solve

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In Latin, it's called the crux. They a legorum. It's the theologians cross. It's the unsolvable question and so what ends up happening within the reformed camp is they try to use

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Logical syllogism to solve the the unsolvable question All right

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Because clearly what when we're saying and it's not God's will than any should perish that all should repent that Christ has bled and died

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For everybody that seems pretty clear. Well, why is it that not everybody's saved? well, the other part of election is is that The call goes out and people persist in sin and unbelief

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Well, no, actually none of us has free will that's the issue Not. Oh, yeah When we talk about free will we got to be real careful

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All right We have to be real careful because we have free will towards each other but not free will towards God Not not in choosing him and so God actually has to raise us from the grave

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He has to give us faith we we are dead and trespasses and sins and are incapable

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Vertically of actually making things right with God Right, okay

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Okay. Now you bring up a great point and you bring up a great point But this is where we have to make very careful distinctions

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Anthropologically when we talk about the doctrine of man, so when we talk about will we talk about free will we'll talk first and foremost about Adam and Eve in the

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Garden of Edom. Did they have free will answer? Yes, they had free will

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And we're talking horizontally as well as vertically in the fall. They have free will towards each other

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But they don't have free will towards God So every human being born dead and trespasses and sins has free will in your relationships amongst each other you can either choose to abuse or love your neighbor and you can choose to do good or you can do bad civically and Oftentimes the reason why we do good is because of the threats of punishment from the law

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So God's law is there to coerce us into doing the right things Have you ever noticed the lazy fellow who only cares about himself as a teenager and in his early 20s?

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Somehow by the time he's in his 30s discovers gainful employment and it keeps down a job even though it galls him to have to do so because he's learned that if he

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Runs out of money and robs of you know, a convenience store. He's gonna end up in jail, right? So yeah, so when we have free will this way

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But we do not have free will towards God after the fall now as Christians then after we have received salvation

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We have been regenerated. That is literally what scripture talks about Christians. They have been regenerated We now have a new will and that will is not perfect because we still have our sinful nature

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And so our regenerate will and our old Adam are always doing this and so being a

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Christian the experience of it It's just at times awful. It really feels like you're at war with yourself

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And so when it talks about not grieving the Holy Spirit that is definitely a command given to Christians so that they don't use their now regenerate will and basically despise this gift of salvation and faith that they've been given and turn their backs on God and turn the gospel into a license to That is a misuse of the of the gospel the gospel doesn't set you free to sin it sets you free from sin

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So we as Christians we have a regenerate will and we do participate with God in our own sanctification now granted

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Christ gets the lion's share of that But yet we are over and again admit admonished in Scripture to to do good works to put our sinful nature to death

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To bear fruit in keeping with repentance to put away the desires of our sinful flesh and that all

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Presupposes that we as Christians have a will to be able to do that, but it's in conflict with our sinful nature so when we talk about humanities, you kind of have to talk about pre -fall after the fall after Regeneration and then there's another phase then after Christ returns and were resurrected when we're resurrected in the new earth

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We will have Perfect a perfect desire to do good There will be no sin and there are our flesh will not be at war with the spirit within us.

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Does that make sense? So you have to make these careful distinctions Anthropologically when it comes to will Yeah Uh -huh

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Okay in the in the reform system, they're called the reprobate Okay, the people that They are elected to damnation

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We would say that category doesn't exist. We don't have any texts that actually say that so we

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Lutherans we say to the Reformed you can't solve this unsolvable problem using logic because Clearly we have two things that seem like they're at odds with each other

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It's not his will than any should perish and yet everybody who perishes whose fault is it? It's their fault.

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You sit there and go. Well, that seems like a contradiction and the Lucent sits there goes. Yes, it does

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It seems like a contradiction to which we would say we don't have enough data to solve the contradiction

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God hasn't revealed in his word So we dare not go beyond scripture to solve the problem the Reformed are using logic and reason then they sit there and say well

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If this then this therefore that and we say yeah No put the whole this then that therefore thing away and just embrace what seems contradictory and hold it in tension

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You know It's kind of like the idea of which part of God's of the of the Bible is

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God's Word the law or the gospel Answer both Okay, let me let's do this with documents hang on a second here

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I want to show you something No, that's a great question though. No, it's actually a very important question

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At the website book hang on a second here book of Concord If I can learn how to spell

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Dot or okay book of Concord org. There is a document and of course

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I the Internet's a wee bit slow out here on my cellular should give it a second here Chimpanzee There is a

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Article called the 1592 Saxon visitation articles. All right

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This is not part of the book of Concord, but I find this to be one of the most helpful Documents in talking about the doctrine of election and these articles address the the primary differences between Calvinists and Lutherans as it relates to predestination as well as to Baptism in the

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Lord's Supper and things of that nature Okay. So when we look at this one, this really kind of spells it out kind of using theses as an example

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You know example, so the pure and true doctrine of our churches on this article regarding predestination and the eternal providence of God The Christ died for all men as the

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Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the whole world Do we have a biblical text that says that? Yes, we do

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Okay, so we affirm there what scripture says that God created no man for condemnation

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But wills that all men should be saved and arrive at the knowledge of the truth Does that sound like a biblical text to you?

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Yes, it's exactly what scripture says he therefore Commands all to hear Christ his son in the gospel and promises by his hearing the virtue and operation of the

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Holy Ghost for the conversion of salvation conversion and salvation That men that many men by their own fault perish some who will not hear the gospel concerning Christ some who again fall from grace either by Fundamental error by sins against conscience and then for that all sinners who repent will be received in favor

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None will be excluded though his sins be read as blood since the mercy of God is greater than the sins of the whole world and God hath mercy on all of his works all of these we can back up clear biblical text, but here's the problem

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It seems like a contradiction. So within the doctrine of the election itself is the crux

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Dei Legorum and that is this Unsolvable problem as to how to resolve what seems like a conflict

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So what the Lutheran says we're gonna go with what the texts say Embrace it as a mystery and say that somehow when

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Christ returns and we can sit him down and say could you solve this for us? He'll give us the data needed to solve the problem.

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Okay, the reforms say no we can figure this out just using logic And we say yeah, no, you can't do that.

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So there's things that we reject then regarding predestination And this is what historically the

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Calvinist said believe That Christ did not die for all men, but only for the elect No scripture says

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Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and world means world He dies for all all means all

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Okay so we reject that we reject that God created the greater part of mankind for eternal damnation and Wills not that the greater part should be converted and lived, you know

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So we reject this idea that God actually wills for people to go to hell Everybody who is in hell is against is there against God's will

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That's the idea We reject that the elected and the regenerated cannot lose faith and the

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Holy Spirit or be damned Though they commit great sins and crimes of every kind but we also reject this doctrine that those who are not elect are necessarily damned and Cannot arrive at salvation though.

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They be baptized a thousand times receive the Eucharist every day and live a life of salvation And lead as blameless as a life as ever can be led

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Which is what the Calvinist said the day we're saying All right And the reason why we reject all these is because scripture says the opposite in all cases but within the doctrine of election, you've got this problem if it's not his will than any should perish and People are perishing and it's their fault.

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This looks like a logical contradiction We don't know

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That's the part. We don't know. Okay, because it's not and you cannot solve the problem by sitting there saying well

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Joey resisted less than Becky and that's why Becky's going to hell because he resisted less.

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We don't know the answer to the question we just know that at the end of the day that God willed for both of them to be saved and Becky who ends up in hell is there and that's her her fault and the other

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Fellow who ends up in eternal life. He is completely saved by that by 100 %

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God's work How does that work logically? I yeah, I couldn't tell you but here's the problem the biblical texts say this

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Regarding both so we sit there and go both are true. They seem contradictory Can't solve the problem

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So that's the idea So and the Calvinist says sure we can just give me a pencil.

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We'll work this out Yes But you don't want to engage in the other era which is called intuitive feed a all right

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So there's another way that people have tried to solve the problems and within Lutheranism This actually cries caused quite a problem in the 19th century and it's the intuitive feed a

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Debate and the way they tried to solve the problem went something like this God Knows who's going to believe and so God pulls out his binoculars and looks down the corridor of time

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All right, so he's looking through his binoculars. He said, okay, so Let's see Renee's gonna believe

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Rianne's in Maryland no Yeah I'll let you guys sort that out

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So So he looks down the corridor of time and he's writing down the names of those who are gonna believe and Therefore the ones who believe those are the elect.

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No, that's not how this works. So we as Lutherans then we don't talk of election apart from the means of grace and We embrace the mystery of the alleged contradiction between the two the two things

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But only because we can't do doctrine without texts and we have to embrace with the text reveal

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So we recognize this looks like a contradiction We embrace it as a mystery and we wait for Christ to resolve the apparent conflict by giving us more revelation

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In the new world, so that's the idea Got it.

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It's a totally unsatisfactory answer. Yeah, I know it kind of leaves you going to go I wish there was more salt in that soup

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But that but that's kind of the idea. They give it this way. We don't let our reason overrun

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Doctrine, okay, so the ocean can only come up so far All right Our reason has to stay within its bounds and when you try to solve this problem using logic and reason and other things

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You're now use you're now applying something different than revelation to doctrine and you can't do that That's mixing human reason with doctrine.

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You can't do it Right So come back to come back to our parable come back to our parable

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Yes, that's the one thing we can do Yeah, we can't accept Christ, but we can reject him.

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This is most certainly true. All right, so come back We only have the free will to sin we don't have the free will to obey

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It's kind of weird in this way Okay, so come back to our parable today. This is a parable about election which

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Robin has rightly pointed that out from the last verse Who didn't receive an invitation to the wedding feast?

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Nobody everybody got the invite A -listers the riffraff the well -respected packs taxpaying citizens.

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Everybody got an invitation, right? Who wasn't there? The ones who rejected or kind of dishonored the king one way or another had no regard for him

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Okay, so is the fault with the king or with the people? Okay, so he wills everybody gets the invitation.

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Everybody's invited. Anybody can be there and some people say No, I'm not gonna be there.

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You make Trump look like an idiot, you know Throw politics in the mix, right?

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Well, here's the here's the fun part notice the ones who show up Okay, go back to the text itself and note in a very important verb

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When he sends out the servants after everybody's rejected all the a -listers reject

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Do they invite or do they gather? Look at the text.

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What is it? What they gather the text says gather Isn't that an interesting one?

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Just go gather them up. Yeah, they ever we're gonna scoop you in to the wedding feast

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Well, here's the here's the thing. Okay? The scriptures say that you are saved because you exercised your free will or because Christ scooped you up Let's take a look at a text

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I'll show you so you don't think I'm totally crazy just mostly all right John chapter 1

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John chapter 1 and Robin you have the NIV, right? What do you have

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Okay, oh really you have the NASB Wow the 77 Really?

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That's a good Bible, by the way. Yeah Okay, you have the NIV all right, let's let me read a text here and Watch how this works because it seems contradictory, but the verbs are quite clear on this.

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All right John chapter 1 verse 9 the true light which gives light to everyone was coming into the world

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He was in the world and the world was made through him yet. The world did not know him

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He came to his own and his own people did not receive him now watch this verse To all who risk who did receive him who believed in his name?

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He gave the right to become children of God who were born watch not of blood

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Nor of the will of the flesh Nor of the will of man, but of God now

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Janet you have the NIV read verse 13 from the NIV. I think it actually does a little bit of a better job here right

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You see what it rules out You are born of God you are not born of human will the will of a husband descent or a human decision

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That's what all of those. That's what's the saying that rules everything out you betcha

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Well, let me ask you what what what did it take for you to convince your parents to conceive you and give birth?

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Neither did I It's like I wasn't up there, you know Somehow pre and you know pre -incarnate

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Chris going mom. Dad. You need to go on a date, right? Put on some romantic music would you you know, nothing

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I had nothing to say about this nothing We're not born of a human decision.

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We're born of God and yet the text says to all who received him

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He gave you see what I'm saying. There's weird stuff going on here So what the text is so clear human free will had nothing to do with it

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You can't choose God God chooses you and God is the one who grants repentance to somebody and you sit there and go

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Okay, my this doesn't work. I understand that But this is what the text says so everybody who is saved is saved because Christ has regenerated them through the preaching of the word or through baptism the means of grace given them faith repented them and Has regenerated and brought them to new life do dead people rise up on their own?

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No, okay. They don't they can't I mean, I'm sure a lot of people out there are dying to get out of that graveyard

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Notice the plain words, right, but they can't and this again come let's take a look at another text just to kind of round this out and then we'll get on to our

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Old Testament study Ephesians 2 This is such an important important passage and I keep running back through this but it really is vital that we do so All right,

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Ephesians 2 1 through 10 is this perfect? Outline of where we start off in this life how we're saved who does the saving and how the good works flow from that and We've talked about this before but we talked about a chiastic outline.

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Remember what a chiasm is No, it's been a while since we've talked about it.

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All right, so a chiasm it does anyone here know anybody who is like OCD You know, they have all their socks organized.

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He is Really? Okay, cool. Okay, like so does he organize his books by color? Okay, that's right

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Okay, if he owned books Right Got it, okay consider

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Ephesians 2 1 through 10 as an OCD section of Scripture. All right, and here's how it works.

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It's color Coordinated on the ends you have the red books Then in from there are the blue books and then the pink books and then the yellow and the and you know

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Just kind of work it out. And so it's book ended by color Okay, then they stay go they go from one end to the other and then it kind of steps in so there's a middle portion

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And then whatever is going on on the beginning of the section the opposite idea is taking place on the at the end of it

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So verse 1 is mirrored by verse 10 verse 2 by verse 8 or 9

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You get the idea, right? Okay, so Here's what Paul says you

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You were dead in trespasses and sins This is talking to Christians.

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You were past tense dead in trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world

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Following the Prince of the power of the air the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience

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Among whom we all once lived and the passions of our flesh Carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and we were by nature

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Children of wrath like the rest of mankind Isn't that a beautiful picture of humanity?

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So dead means dead and What do dead people do?

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How do they conduct their lives? They conduct their lives following the demonic powers of the world the sons of disobedience following their own sinful passions

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Carrying out the desires of the body in the mind, which is what those who are children of wrath do, right?

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So this is the state that the gospel finds all of us in because we were all born

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Dead in trespasses and sins do dead people then choose to be made alive

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No watch what the text goes Okay, we've talked about this before how the word but has a tendency to erase the things in front of it, right?

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So you'll notice that there's a but here but God now important to note.

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I'll make this a little bit bigger What's gonna follow in the verses after this?

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It's really important that you see this in the Greek I'm highlighting it which but it's I'm using a green as a as a highlight.

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It says ha de feos Verse 4 ha de feos feos is the nominative

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Noun, which means it's the subject of the verbs that follow You know how verbs and nouns kind of work together in Greek It's really fun because you can always tell the subject of a sentence because it's in the nominative case

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So God is the subject the verbs that follow are the verbs that God does and their action verbs

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Watch how this works But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us

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Even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins Made us alive together with Christ and the verb

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It's quite a mouthful soon a zoo boy a sin All right made alive together with Christ so God's the noun

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The verb is made together with Christ Who does the making together with?

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God Not you God God made us alive together with Christ.

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So the opposite of dead is being made alive. God is the one who made you alive By grace, you have been saved.

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Here's the net. Here's your next verb and Raised us up with him Okay, so I hate when

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I do that. So who does the raising up? God God does the raising up he raised us up with him and next verb

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Seated us with him in the heavenly places. God made us alive Raised us up Seated us with Christ who did all the work?

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God And by the way as a dead person you couldn't have done any of that, right?

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For by grace you haven't saved so that in the coming ages. He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in Kindness towards us in Christ Jesus and here's a

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Clear passage for by grace you have been saved through faith

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This is not your own doing It is the gift of God if it's not your own doing who's doing is it?

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God he Raised you with Christ. He made you alive with him.

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He seated you with him This is not your own doing it is the gift of God the whole package the whole beans forgiveness of sins regeneration being made alive all of that God has done for you and It's not from you.

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It's from him yet it So it's a miracle anytime somebody

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Goes from being rank pagan unbeliever to saying Jesus is Lord sit there and go well

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There's no miracles in the church today. I'm looking at how many miracles right here do you realize that each and every one of you have been raised from the grave already and God has done this to you.

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You can't do this yourself. And that's the idea

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Now notice that's talking about salvation Okay, so you go from you know, so you got

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Adam pre -fall after the fall We're all in that same state then this is where regeneration happens

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And then we have a new regenerate will that we that we need to take very good care of is the best way

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I could put it so We have to steward that gift. Well, all right

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Yes Yes Absolutely, yeah, so and so this is why

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I say that the biker guy, okay the guy with the bike Right exactly

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That's where you gotta have to be careful how you push on it But the idea then is this is this guy persistence in an unbelief?

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He refuses to repent and be clothed in the garden the righteousness of Christ and thinks that his own

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Righteousness can pass muster at this event and it can't It just there's no way Which is just foolish so this is the fellow who comes to church

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Sunday after Sunday, maybe he's there because his spouse, you know, his wife is dragging him to church

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This is the fellow who grew up in the church thinks it's the Rotary Club. He has no faith

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He has no tolerance of hearing God's Word But he shows up anyways and you know puts his money in the in the bucket and or than in the in the tray as it

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Goes by assists and maybe even votes on the church council, but he has no faith It's it's just tragic

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It's just foolish. It's his own fault that he ends up in outer darkness It's not the fault of the king the king supplied everything for him everything and it just persists

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So, all right, let's go back to our Old Testament text kind of fun when we have to go down some bunny trails

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But that's all right Old Testament text We are in 2nd Samuel chapter 4 if you remember last week we were talking about asterisk free forgiveness and we noted the scandal of Abner being completely pardoned and absolved by King David and Joab and his brother were having none of it and they killed

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Abner They were scandalized by David's mercy Now we still have to deal with this last bit if you would if you remember the son of Saul ishbosheth

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Had been made king by Abner real quick question. Did Abner have the authority to make ishbosheth king?

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No, is he a legitimate king? No So we're gonna see now kind of some careful stuff that takes place in this text that he will be honored properly

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But never honored in a way that would mistakenly have him be viewed as a legitimate king of Israel, which is kind of fascinating And then let me let me kind of ask this up front because as we get into the next chapter

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When Jesus returns in glory to judge the living and the dead Currently he's reigning in heaven when he returns in glory to judge living in the dead

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Where will he set up his capital city and what will its name be? This is not a trick question

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Jerusalem correct. Where does Jerusalem come from and at the end of the book out of heaven?

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Right, the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven lands, right so Jesus you're gonna note this about Jesus Jesus as part of his kingship now that he's coronated and ruling and reigning he

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Is going to rule from two different places during his reign first from heaven Second from Jerusalem from Jerusalem forevermore after his return

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Where's David currently reigning from as the king of Israel in?

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This text remember the name of the city say it again

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Hebron, yeah, he's reigning from Hebron So once David is fully established in his kingdom, what should be the next order of business if David is a type and shadow of Christ To establish his capital where?

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Jerusalem, okay That would just make sense if he's really kind of this is really somehow

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Prefiguring Jesus then the next order of business should be that so we'll see if that's what happens next

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All right, but let's get four out of the way So when ish Bosheth Saul's son heard that Abner had died at Hebron his courage failed and all

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Israel was dismayed Now Saul's son had two men who were captains of raiding bands

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The name of one was Ba 'anah The name of the other is Rahab the son of Rimon a man of Benjamin from Be 'eroth

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For Be 'eroth is also counted part of Benjamin and the Be 'erothites Fled to Getaim and have been sojourners there to this day

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Now that that's more data that that we just sit there and scratch our head and say yeah Thanks that doesn't really register a thing with me

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It's it but it's this type of little minutiae that shows that it was written at a time when the people who

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Originally received these texts would have known exactly what all this is All right, you know it this is local data that again really argues very well for the historicity of these documents

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Jonathan the son of Saul had a son who was crippled in his feet. This is a terrible story, by the way he was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel and His nurse took him up and fled and as she fled in her haste

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She fell and he be he fell and became lame and his name was Mephibosheth All right.

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So remember the practice of the ancient world when a new king arises What's first order of business when a new king is established?

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Kill all the competition. This is why they're fleeing. But is David that kind of king? Nope, he ain't that kind of king.

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So remember the name Mephibosheth. He'll come up again later now the sons of Rimon the

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Be 'erothite Rechab and Ba 'anah set out and About the heat of the day they came to the house of Ishbosheth as he was taking his noonday rest

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And they came into the midst of the house as if to get wheat and they stabbed him in the stomach

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Then Rechab and Ba 'anah his brother escaped and when they came into the house as he lay on his bed in his bedroom

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They struck him and put him to death and beheaded him they took his head and Went by the way of the

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Arabah all night and brought the head of Ishbosheth to David at Hebron From what we've seen of David is this going to be welcomed news or is he going to be very displeased here?

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Very displeased because David isn't that kind of fellow he's not and Yes, technically this is this is a coup d 'etat

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King who had no authority to even be King and what follows next is interesting

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You're going to note then as we read through this passage David will see this as a murder, which is what it is.

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He will not see it as an assassination, which it isn't And so no, no in either case, it would have been bad

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But in this particular case is not viewed as a murder. It's not viewed as an assassination And is not described in those terms now here in the

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United States Our government is chopped up into three pieces You got the executive branch the legislative branch and the judicial branch in Kingdoms the king all three reside in the one person

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So the king is the legislator. He's the executive and he's also the judiciary and he would hear cases

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So it's important to note what's going to happen here is that that literally

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David is going to be acting in office as king Trot basically judging a case

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He's gonna be acting in the judiciary role and he has the authority then to act, you know to execute

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Those who are found guilty of breaking a crime or committing a crime, especially of this type So they said to the king here is the head of ish

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Bosheth The son of Saul your enemy who sought your life now these fellows are thinking they're about ready to get a cabinet position in David's kingdom and Yahweh has avenged my lord the king this day on Saul and on his offspring

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But David answered Rakab and Ba 'anah his brother the sons of Rimmon the barrow wrothite

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Who has redeemed my life out of every adversity When one told me behold

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Saul is dead and thought he was bringing good news I seized him and killed him at Ziklag, which was the reward

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I gave him for his news How much more when wicked men have killed a righteous man in his own house on his bed?

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shall I not now require his blood at your hand and destroy you from the earth and David commanded his young men and they killed them cut off their hands and their feet

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Hang them beside the pool at Hebron But they took the head of ish Bosheth and buried it in the tomb of Abner at Hebron Isn't that interesting?

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So notice this isn't an assassination This is a murder of a righteous man in his home not his palace

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So David is very careful in what he says here and these men are found guilty of the crime of murder nothing more nothing less and as king he executes justice and The penalty for murder in Israel is the death penalty straight up This is this is an act of Basically demonstrating just how serious this crime is

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In this is the purpose of the death penalty is in order to put the fear of God in criminals and this harsh treatment of Corpse even further

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Demonstrates just how wicked this sin is. So the next fellow who wants to come along and Murder somebody will think twice

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Not only will he die for this crime, but his body will even be dishonored It's a big deal in an honor culture

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Because he also knows they dishonored body ish Bosheth by beheading him

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Yeah And this is where they were in in the Jewish legal system of ancient

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Israel The Jewish legal system was really clear eye for an eye tooth for a tooth hand for a hand

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So their bodies were dishonored and chopped up because they chopped up ish

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Bosheth eye for an eye so All right so now

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David is the undisputed unchallenged No other competitors out there.

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He is the coronated king of all of Israel All adversaries are down dead the final final enemies are done away with If he's a type in shadow of Christ next order of business is

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Set up his capital in Jerusalem, but David's reigning from Hebron not

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From Jerusalem, then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron said behold

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We are your bone in your flesh in times past when Saul was king over us It was you who let out and brought in Israel and Yahweh said to you

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You shall be shepherd of my people Israel. You shall be prince over Israel so all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron and King David came and made a covenant with them at Hebron before Yahweh and they anointed

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King David King over Israel David was 30 years old when he began to reign and he reigned for 40 years

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Wow, look at that. How old was Jesus when he began his ministry? 30

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Right. Okay, 40 years another big biblical number, right?

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How long was were the children of Israel in the wilderness 40 years? It's big That's kind of like a how many days was

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Jesus tempted in the wilderness 40, right? Yeah, you kind of see that so funny important biblical

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Numbers are even associated with David. So he began to reign when he was 30. He reigned 40 years at Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months and At Jerusalem, he reigned over all of Israel and Judah 33 years

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How old was Jesus when he was crucified Yeah, you sit there and go this can't be a coincidence this just it isn't

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All of these things just scream at you. This guy has something to do with Jesus There's stuff going on here.

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You pay attention. All right Now that what I find fascinating his temporary digs at Hebron.

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This is where he first begins to reign that's not that's not a

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It's just a weird number seven years six months If this were you know, if we're talking about numerically as a week and God creates the earth in six days

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Then there's a day of rest a week is seven days long. He's six months into the next technical week

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Numerically, which is weird. All right, so there's some new creation stuff kind of working in the numbers there, too

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But it's a little tough to tease out But unmistakably all of this is pointing to Jesus next section

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The king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites Who'd they go where they go?

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Jerusalem remember he's raining from Hebron. So now Jerusalem comes into the picture So the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the

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Jebusites the inhabitants of the land who said to David You will not come in in here, but the blind and the lame will ward you off I always loved the trash -talking of the ancient world.

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Yeah, so there's the Jebusites Behind the walls of Jerusalem and they're saying

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David you're never gonna come in here In fact, we're not even gonna bring out our army to do so we're gonna hire the lame and the blind they'll keep you out

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We it's like it's like the Dallas Cowboys saying to the Vikings. We can beat you with our third string guys

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All right And they're probably right Yeah, sorry did

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I say that out loud, okay so You cannot come in here.

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It's the blind and the lame. They're gonna ward you off Thinking David cannot come in here.

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Nevertheless. David took the stronghold of Zion now you're gonna note here Jerusalem is called what?

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Zion That is the city of David and David said on that day Whoever would strike the

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Jebusites let him get up the water shaft to attack Now a little bit of a note here how

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David takes the city is He is able to gain access into the city using the city's water system

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There was an actual water shaft It's still there to this day and I have seen it on like documentaries as well as other people's vacation photos

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You know people like me who have to travel on a budget. I can't afford to go to the Holy Land So I travel there on other people's, you know dimes and look at their vacation photos that they post on the internet

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It's always so fascinating but you can you can actually go on a tour of this actual water shaft that David and his man went through to gain access to the city of Jerusalem, so I Would note here that taking the city of Jerusalem involves a baptism of sorts, which again is not accidental piece of information

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So he took the stronghold of Zion, which is Jerusalem the city of David on that day

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Whoever would strike the Jebusites let him get up the water shaft to attack the lame and the blind who are hated by David's soul

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Therefore it says the blind and the lame shall not come into the house now a little bit of a note here

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Some have interpreted this as somehow David or God is against the blind and the lame

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All right But that's kind of like the wrong way to interpret it the blind and the lame shall not come into the house

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When we are all resurrected from the grave, will there be any blind or lame among us?

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not a one and so you have to interpret this little bit of detail as Catalogically as it would play out in the new

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Jerusalem. Not the old one Does that make sense? So in the new

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Jerusalem, there are no blind There are no lame and none of the blind or lame will ever come into the house of the Lord because God won't

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Let him be blind or lame Kind of how that works. So David lived in the stronghold

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Called it the city of David David built the city all around from the Milo inward and David became greater and greater for Yahweh the

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God of Hosts savah that means armies was with him.

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Do you remember in our closing hymn today? One of the reasons I pick that hymn is because at the end of each of the verses it talked about the

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God of hosts the God of hosts the God of hosts There's a big piece of this text and over and again.

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We're hearing this phrase Yahweh saba oath or Elohim saba oath the

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Lord of armies Okay, this is a this is a big title for God and again savah hosts means army

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So we hear the God of hosts This is the God of armies and this is talking about God's might and his strength now I want to show a little bit of a cross -reference here and so David Now that he is the undisputed all of his enemies are gone king of Israel First thing he does is he sets up his

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Throne then in Jerusalem Let's take a look at Revelation 21.

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In fact, I want to go into 20 and then come into 21. I want to get the back end of 20 starting at verse 11

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Revelation 20 verse 11 I saw a great white throne and him who is seated on it

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From his presence earth and sky fled away No place was found for them and I saw the dead the great and the small standing before the throne

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The books were opened then another book was opened which is the book of life the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done and The sea gave up the dead who were in it death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them

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They were judged each one of them according to what they had done then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire

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This is the second death the lake of fire Anyone's name was not found written in the book of life.

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He was thrown into the lake of fire Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away

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The sea was no more and I saw the Holy City the

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New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying

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Behold the dwelling place of God is with man He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their

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God He will wipe away every tear from their eyes Death shall be no more

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Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away a little pause there

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This I say amen sooner the better All right. I don't know if you've all noticed this but as we get older Is it me some of you experience more pain?

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Life gets more difficult the older we get He was seated on the throne said behold.

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I am making all things new Also, he said write this down for these words are trustworthy and true and he said it is done

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I am the Alpha and the Omega the beginning in the end To the thirsty I will give from the spring of water of life without payment the one who conquers

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Will have this heritage. I will be his God and he will be my son

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But as for the cowardly the faithless the detestable as for murderers the sexually immortal moral sorcerers

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Idolaters and all liars their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death

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Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues To speak with me come and I will show you the bride

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The wife of the land and he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city

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Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God Having the glory of God its radiance like a most rare jewel like a jasper clear as crystal

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It had a great high wall with twelve gates at the gates Twelve angels and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed and on the east three gates on the north three gates on the south three gates on the west three gates and the wall of the city had twelve foundations and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the lamb and The one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and its walls

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The city lies four square its length the same as its width he measured the city with his rod 1 ,200 stadia its length width and height are equal

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He also measured its wall hundred and forty four cubits by human measurement Which is also an angel's measurement the wall was built of jasper while the city was pure gold like clear glass

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The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel first was jasper the second sapphire the third agate

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Fourth emerald the fifth onyx the sixth carnelian the seventh chrysolite the eighth barrel the ninth topaz the tenth chrysophros the eleventh jacanth and the twelve amethyst and the twelve gates were twelve pearls each of the gates made of a single pearl and The street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass.

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I saw no temple in the city For its temple is The Lord God The Almighty the lamb and the city has no need of Sun or moon to shine on it

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But the glory of the Lord gives its light and its lamp is the lamb By its light the nation's walk and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it

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And its gates will never be shut by day. There will be no night there They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations, but nothing unclean will ever enter it

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There anyone who does what is a testable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life Then the angel showed me listen to this the river of the water of life

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Bright as crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the

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Lamb Now notice a little bit of a detail here. How does

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David get into this city? through the water through an underground water to the water system and So these little details here, so we see

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David conquering Jerusalem Setting it up as his capital city.

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It's called Zion This is type and shadow of the reality that's coming still the

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New Jerusalem and from the throne of God itself flows a river See all of these little details you pick them up in type and shadow and when you put them together

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You sit there and say there's no way on earth. Any of this is a coincidence and You begin to see that God not only when he writes prophecy he writes it in words oftentimes

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God will write prophecy in the very lives of the patriarchs themselves and the details of their story all

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Point to details of Christ's story either fulfilled or still to be fulfilled

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But it is not a mistake. It is not an accident It's not a coincidence that the first thing that David does once he is the undisputed king of Israel is

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Set up his capital in Jerusalem because when Christ returns in glory to judge the living and the dead and all of his

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Adversaries and enemies are done away with and are in the lake of fire New Jerusalem comes out of heaven and he reigns there

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Forever. It's all very fascinating Any questions?