Will Christians Be "Left Behind"?

Apologia Studios

Subscribe

Download

Share

00

00:00

Let's pray. Father, I want to thank you, God, for bringing us all here. Thank you for your grace in all of our lives.

00:08

Thank you, Father, most of all, for Jesus and the salvation we have as a gift by your grace through the redemption that's in Christ.

00:17

Thank you, God, for loving sinners like us so much that you gave and we don't deserve it.

00:26

We acknowledge it for you now. We thank you now for your grace from beginning to end, from start to middle to finish, that,

00:32

God, we have nothing. We have no righteousness to present before you. All we have is filthy rags.

00:39

That's it. We have nothing. We have no boast before you, God. God, we know that we stand before you now because of your grace,

00:48

Lord. We have what we have because you gave it, and, Lord Jesus, we are so grateful that you would look upon us in a wretched, miserable state and love us anyways, and that you would draw us to you,

01:04

God, and provide everything necessary, God, to save us, even down to the faith,

01:11

God. I pray, God, that you'd bless this conference. Bless, Lord, the messages that go out. I pray that you would use it for your glory, that by your power and by your grace and through your spirit, that you would do something here that would increase the fame of Jesus throughout the world, and we just pray for the kingdom, your rule, to just expand as you promised, and,

01:37

Lord, would you allow us to be a part of that? For your glory, let us get out of the way and fade into the dust of time.

01:46

Lord, I pray that you would put within us hearts, God, that are happy to be forgotten but unwilling to let you be forgotten in the legacy that we leave, in Jesus' name, amen.

02:02

It's interesting for, to be in a conference myself, I think it's important when you're preaching to put as little of yourself in the messages as possible or none at all, except we're entirely relevant, and since we're in a conference,

02:16

I think a message like this that I'm delivering today, I think it would be helpful or relevant to add a little bit of sort of biographical information so you understand where I'm coming from and what sort of happened to me.

02:27

You hear a lot today about talking about leaving the legacy and engaging the culture and caring about what happens to it, and we talk about love, love for God and love for others is the basis of all the law and the prophets, and we talk about engaging the world and being salt, a preservative, being salt and light to the world around us, sitting on a hill and actually scattering the darkness with the light of the gospel and Christ, and you hear about that, and it's interesting because you have to understand a little about the person who's delivering this sort of a message.

03:01

I wasn't raised in a Christian home under the hearing of the gospel, I heard the gospel really for the first time at about 17 years old,

03:08

Billy Graham on television is how I heard about Christ and what he's accomplished and forgiveness and redemption in him, and so I wasn't raised in the

03:17

Christian context and culture, and so I didn't know anything. I didn't know a lot about the Bible, I didn't know a lot about Christ, and so all

03:23

I knew was that Jesus died for sinners and I couldn't contribute anything and he called me to come to him for life, and that message was beautiful and glorious to me, and so I ended up finally getting to church at 17 years old really for ultimately the first time, and my very first Bible study, interesting that it was called a

03:43

Bible study, I go into youth group and it's a home and I walk into the Bible study and there's a television on and television set is playing an old 70s movie on the tribulation period, and so when

03:58

I walk into this I really have no context and I don't know what's going on and I sit down and I watch the worst movie ever made in the history of mankind, which we'll talk a little bit about today, and it was a story about Christians getting snatched off the earth in a secret rapture and seven years of tribulation left over and all of this chaos and tribulation on earth and then finally the coming of Christ, and so this is the context that I walked into as a young new believer.

04:29

I thought that this is what we have to anticipate, is the rapture's happening any moment and so we just need to be ready for that, we're going to get snatched out of our shoes and leave behind our underpants, and that's what we have to look forward to, that's the great hope of the

04:42

Christian faith. And so, interesting, when I moved from that Bible study into church it was the same thing and so I became sort of a fiend for eschatological belief,

04:54

I was a real fiend, I was like sickening, I was the kind of guy that you really didn't like to be around, it's all

05:01

I wanted to talk about. Hal Lindsey was my homeboy, Tim LaHaye, these were my favorite authors and so when

05:09

I moved to Arizona, I went to Bible college and I was sort of known in Bible college even as the eschatology fiend,

05:15

I loved eschatology, it was my favorite thing to talk about and so when I had Eschatology 101 it was my favorite class,

05:22

I was there early, before 9 o 'clock. I was there and I was excited and I read the books because I wanted to and so most of them

05:30

I probably already read and I remember the charts and memorizing every chart, dispensational chart,

05:36

I loved them, terrible artwork but I loved the charts. And I used to go to borders as much as possible to go and get the

05:46

Jerusalem Post, I'd go to get the Jerusalem Post just so I could see the most current activities in Jerusalem because that's how

05:54

I knew we were almost there. And I used to freak my wife out, scare her to death, any moment babe, we got no time, any second,

06:03

I used to wish myself into rapture, I was like, no, no, no. And I'd tell my wife, babe, they have the red heifer, they got it, the cornerstone is about to be laid, it's gonna happen in our generation.

06:19

I remember being with my Bible college buddies and we'd go to lunch after class and we were eating at a restaurant actually nearby and I remember we had this conversation and we had a little debate with each other,

06:30

I was about 18 years old and we were debating as to whether or not we had even 10 years or 5 years left.

06:37

And I remember in that discussion I said to a friend of mine, he said, I think we have at the most 20 years to go,

06:44

I said, you're nuts, you're crazy, 20 years, the heifer, it's here, the cornerstone, it's coming, any moment, don't make any long term plans,

06:55

Y2K, it's happening, right? And so that was my thing and so I didn't think we had a long time to go at all.

07:03

Left Behind series, I remember being at the pool after the birth of my first son and I was reading

07:08

Left Behind series and I remember closing that book and I remember sitting there on this lawn chair at the pool and the sun is shining on my face and I remember thinking to myself, there is no way we have long to go,

07:19

Jesus, come Lord Jesus, get me. And I remember that my perspective then as a rabid, fire -breathing teenage dispensationalist was that we don't have long to go, no legacy building, no thinking long term about my family, about building it up, about the implications of the gospel in the world, about being salt and being light.

07:42

I can say from personal experience that that view actually did damage to my impact in the world for the gospel.

07:51

What you believe about the future matters. Dr. White has been famous for saying the theology matters and I am 100 % behind that and I want to sort of add something to it too and that's that eschatology matters.

08:07

Eschatology matters greatly. It impacts how you view the future, it impacts ultimately how you view

08:13

God and his story and what he's actually going to accomplish in the world. It impacts the legacy that you leave behind you.

08:20

One of the things that I hear most often from people who actually finally say, look, I think the scriptures are clear on this, that Christ's kingdom has entered into the world, he is reigning now and he's going to have victory over all the nations.

08:33

Not hell in a handbasket and that's where we're going, but victory over the nations. One of the things people say most often is this has entirely changed my life.

08:42

I took my kids out of public school, I decided now I'm going to have more kids because I could see the future actually, though there are trials and tribulations and difficulties anticipated as we bring the gospel to a very dark world that Christ is putting under his feet.

08:57

Though that is true, God is doing something in history and he's doing it through his people and what we do matters.

09:04

The legacy that we leave is important for the gospel. It changes your mind. It changes your perspective.

09:11

We talked yesterday about the kingdom and the Messiah. Think about something for a second. This is the foundation. I have no jealousy for the term post -millennialism, it doesn't matter.

09:20

Here's what I am fixed upon. The scriptures are clear about who Jesus is.

09:27

He's the king. The scriptures are abundantly clear about his kingdom actually entering into history.

09:35

Entering into history at his first coming, that Jesus' kingdom is expanding throughout the world.

09:42

And the scriptures are clear about what God is going to do in that kingdom. Bring the nations, heal the world, bringing redemption, the knowledge of God covering the world like the waters cover the sea.

09:55

He has dominion from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth. God is doing something in our world.

10:01

Jesus comes in and he's along the same line of the eschatological promises.

10:06

The Old Testament says it comes in, Daniel 2, as a stone that becomes a mountain and fills the entirety of the earth.

10:13

Isaiah 9, verses 6 and 7, that this messiah comes, El Gibor, the father of eternity comes and at the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end.

10:22

And enter Jesus telling them, if I cast out demons by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

10:29

And he says the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that becomes a tree.

10:35

So it's very small into large growth. Jesus says it's like leaven in a lump of dough.

10:41

It gets in that dough and it permeates the entirety of the loaf. Jesus teaches in this way along the same line of all the promises

10:48

God made in the Old Testament. And so you look to Jesus and you start asking questions.

10:54

Well, what did Jesus say? What did he say about his kingdom? What did he say about the world? And you think about a few things that every

11:01

Christian holds dear. Every Christian says the Lord's Prayer.

11:06

Here's how you pray. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be your name.

11:12

Your name, Father, be holy all the way around the world. Let it be holy. Let people holy

11:18

God's name. That's what you're praying for. Jesus says you pray like this, that God's name would be holy, that his kingdom would come, that his will would be done on what?

11:31

Earth. As it is in heaven. And you think about the significant departure of our mindset from that very prayer.

11:40

We think in our culture today about the gospel being simply about heaven. One day,

11:47

Jesus comes, he gives you a nod, he punches your ticket so that one day you get to be in heaven with God.

11:52

But you look at Christ and you think about his words and you think about what he tells us to actually ask the Father for.

11:58

And you see something much different. Jesus is actually concerned with the here and now, with what's happening in the world around us.

12:04

And he says, this is what you pray for. You pray that God's name would be holy, that people in Africa would holy

12:10

God's name. People in Canada, yes, even Canada, would holy God's name. People in South America, North America would holy

12:17

God's name, that his kingdom would come and that his will would be done on earth as it is in heaven.

12:26

Jesus is concerned with what's happening around us. And I always ask this question to groups that I'm speaking to, brothers and sisters, just how rigorous do you think

12:37

God's will is kept in heaven? Pretty rigorous.

12:44

And Jesus says, this is how you pray, Father, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

12:53

Is Jesus concerned with what takes place here and now? Yes. And Jesus tells us, you're the salt of the earth.

13:04

Now we think, you know, we make life taste better. I personally think so. I'd like to think so.

13:11

But the truth is, is in that culture, if you wanted to preserve meat and stop it from spoiling and decaying and rotting, you used salt.

13:20

It was a preservative. And Jesus tells people with that mindset who want to stop their meat from spoiling and decaying and rotting.

13:28

He says, you are the salt of the earth. You're the light. If you hide your light, it does not scatter the darkness.

13:39

You're the city on the hill. You can't avoid seeing it. Let your light shine before men so they give glory to your father in heaven.

13:46

You're the salt. One of the things I think that hit me the most as a as a as someone coming into an understanding of what

13:56

God is concerned with in the world was a statement made by Dr. Bonson. One of his lectures, he said, the darkening and decaying of the world around us is to the shame and to the blame of the

14:09

Christian church. Now, when you think about that, you might think, I have a problem with that because God is sovereign, he has his providence.

14:16

And and the person to me to say who said that quote was about as hard, hard hitting a pipe hitting Calvinist as you could possibly be.

14:23

Black coffee drinking, drag your face across the gravel, Calvinist, as Douglas Wilson says. OK, but you have to think about the implications of what our role in the world is.

14:35

Think about the mindset of Christians in history. By the way, when we talk about the kingdom of Christ in the world and his victory over the nations and the law of society, by the way, just so you know this, you understand this, there's nothing new.

14:45

We're not coming over the new thing. We're reciting what Christians have said throughout church history. When you look at the world and Christians around us, we've looked at cultures before and saying we have to bring the gospel.

14:56

We have to bring this under the feet of Jesus. Jesus is authoritative in every single realm. And we've missed that.

15:02

And as a result of us letting weeds grow in the garden, we are in the predicament we're in today.

15:11

We're not looking ahead five years, 10 years and certainly not 20 years. We're not thinking about the fact that we have to leave it, leave a legacy for the kingdom of Christ and the gospel for our children, our grandchildren, our great, great, great, great grandchildren.

15:28

Are we thinking that far ahead? Are we being obedient to the call to be salty to the world, to be light to the world?

15:36

Jesus said, Matthew 28, Great Commission, everybody knows this.

15:43

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore, go.

15:54

And whenever we see the word, therefore, see what it's there for. Therefore, go, because he has all authority in heaven and on earth, he ascends

16:07

Daniel 7, 13 to 14, he comes up to the ancient of days is presented before him. And to him is given dominion, glory and a kingdom.

16:17

Jesus says, go make disciples of the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, the

16:22

Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey. Jesus is concerned with what happens here and now.

16:28

He is the ruling, the reigning king of kings. I need to say this for those that are new to hearing this, this story of optimism and what

16:38

God is doing in history. We all say as Christians, Jesus is king of kings. Amen. But think about what that means, the implications of that statement.

16:47

He is king of kings and lord of lords. He is not the best king of all the kings, the best lord of all the lords.

16:54

He is the king of the kings. He is the lord of the lords.

17:01

He has all authority. I said to you yesterday, there is no realm in this world where the

17:06

Lord Jesus does not put his finger on it and say, mine. It all belongs to him, and the gospel proclamation comes into a world with the authority of Jesus Christ, the truth about who he is and the call to repent and believe.

17:24

That is how the gospel comes to the world, and perhaps we're missing something in our culture today. Maybe it's not the gospel.

17:31

Maybe it's not the power of God for salvation. Maybe it's not the spirit of God that can't accomplish the work.

17:37

Perhaps what we're missing in our culture is a true proclamation of the good news that comes with the authority of Jesus Christ and who he is.

17:46

I do bring this up often, and I think it needs to be said today, a bumper sticker that every time I see

17:52

I have to work on my sanctification and it says, give

17:57

Jesus a chance. He died for the opportunity. Brothers and sisters, that is not the message of the gospel.

18:07

Jesus doesn't ask you for your permission to be king over your life or Lord over your life.

18:14

He is the reigning king, the sovereign one, and he has been raised from the dead. And now God commands men everywhere to repent and to come to him.

18:25

We are not making him lord of our lives. He is lord of our lives. We call the world to repent and to believe the gospel.

18:34

He is savior. He is the sovereign. Repent and believe the gospel. Who? Everybody, my children, my neighbor, society around me, government officials.

18:45

Everybody is under the rule of Christ. Early Christians would come into a nation and they would say,

18:51

Ireland, yours. They came into nations not to get some converts, but to put the nation under the feet of Jesus.

19:04

That's the call. Now, I want to show the pattern because the title of the message is now that we've been left behind.

19:10

And so I want to talk about that for just a moment, a couple of things, and I'll just throw a few verses out so you can look at them later.

19:17

Make sure you guys take notes in this. I think it's important to see the flow of the scriptures in this point.

19:22

Matthew chapter three is really interesting. Matthew three opens up in the gospel. According to Matthew, the most popular of the gospels in the second century,

19:30

Matthew is doing something. Chapter one, he's showing you that Jesus actually owns the right to the royal throne of David.

19:37

And so when he goes to the genealogies, don't skip them. They're very, very important. It shows God's covenant faithfulness.

19:42

When you see the genealogies, it shows you that Jesus has the right to the throne. Matthew chapter one,

19:48

Jesus is king. He is descended from David and Abraham. He is the king. He can take that throne.

19:55

Matthew chapter two, amazingly, Matthew shows you that the first people coming to this king are watch pagans, not the

20:05

Jews. Pagans are looking at the stars that God is wielding and they are going to this

20:12

Messiah and they want to know where the king of the Jews is so they can worship him. Matthew's telling you the story, that's what was going to happen, all the nations streaming to God, pagans were going to come to this

20:23

Lord God of Israel now and they were going to know him. And so Matthew chapter two continues on and you start seeing the pattern fulfillments of Jesus, the perfect Israelite, Jesus, born of a virgin.

20:35

And Matthew is telling you the story. And he goes into Matthew chapter three and it breaks right into verse one.

20:41

In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea. Listen closely to the first thing out of his mouth.

20:47

Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hands. Kingdom of heaven, kingdom of God are synonymous terms, it means the rule of God.

20:58

For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the

21:03

Lord, make his path straight. Now, listen closely to the message of John about imminent judgment, verse seven.

21:09

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

21:21

And the word there, mellow in the Greek, is about to come, bear fruit in keeping with repentance and do not presume to say to yourselves, we have

21:28

Abraham as our father, for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.

21:34

Even now, the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree, therefore, does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

21:41

John is not saying maybe judgment's coming. He says this. The axe is already laid to the root of the trees.

21:49

The teeth of that axe are already in the root of the trees getting down to it. It's already in swing.

21:55

God's going to cut you down, repent, and he says that this one coming after me will baptize with the

22:01

Holy Spirit and with fire, the fire not so good. The Holy Spirit baptism, very good.

22:10

And so John is warning of imminent judgment, it's coming, it's coming. Repent. And Matthew moves along and the flow starts to pick up now in the climax where in Matthew chapter 10, the

22:21

Lord Jesus makes a promise to them in Matthew chapter 10, verse 23, he says to his people, he says, you will not finish going through the cities of Israel.

22:31

Before the Son of Man comes and so he teaches them that they won't even finish this mission here, ultimately go through the cities of Israel before Christ returns in judgments.

22:43

And you move on to Matthew chapter 16, we spoke about last night, Matthew 16, verse 28,

22:49

Jesus tells about the kingdom, some of them wouldn't die. And you move ahead now to Matthew chapter 21, verse 33.

22:59

And Jesus tells the story of a vineyard owner. And it's really an amazing story when he comes in the context of the kingdom of God.

23:06

I want you to see that with me together, if you would. Matthew chapter 21, the story starts picking up.

23:14

The climax is coming into the story. Matthew 21, verse 33,

23:21

Jesus says here in the parable, there was a master of a house who has planted a vineyard and put in who planted a vineyard and put a fence around it and dug a wine press in it and built a tower and lease it to tenants and went into another country.

23:33

When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenant, the two tenants to get his fruit.

23:39

And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another and stoned another. Again, he sent other servants more than the first and they did the same to them.

23:49

Finally, he sent his son to them saying they will respect my son. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, this is the heir.

23:56

Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance. And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

24:04

When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? They said to him, he will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.

24:16

Jesus said to them, have you never read in the scriptures, the stone of the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

24:22

This was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. Therefore, I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

24:34

And the one who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces. And when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.

24:40

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them.

24:48

Good assessment. So the story begins to pick up again, more so in the next chapter, another parable about a king who invites people to this marriage feast and the ones who are invited won't come.

25:01

And so he invites everybody else and they're coming in and the king is enraged and he sends his armies to destroy them.

25:10

Matthew chapter 23, Jesus throws the smack down on the religious leadership of his day.

25:16

He calls them over and over and over with the woes. Woe to you. Woe to you.

25:22

Woe to you. And he says, behold, your house is being left to you. Desolates all the blood of the righteous is going to be upon, he says, this generation.

25:33

And Jesus says that these are the days of vengeance in order that all that was written might be fulfilled and moving into Matthew chapter 24.

25:41

Now, after Jesus declares the desolation upon these people in this temple, he's departing now to the

25:49

Mount of Olives. Same path that God took in the Old Testament when he departed from the temple and Jesus sits in the

25:57

Mount of Olives and disciples are kind of freaking out now because Jesus declared desolation. And and so they ask him, when should these things be?

26:03

Will the sign of your coming be at the end of the age? And so amazingly, not the end of the world.

26:09

They understood that temple's gone now. The end of the age is the end of that messianic age. What's the sign of your coming?

26:14

And Jesus starts telling them war, famine, pestilence. But moving forward, this is not going to be an exegesis of Matthew 24, by the way.

26:21

That's a long one. Gary's not here today. He does that better than than I think anybody. But Matthew 24 moves along after all these promises in Matthew 24.

26:29

Famous parts. What? This generation will not pass away until what?

26:35

All these things take place. But that moves us into an important thing.

26:42

And I want you to go to it. Matthew 24, as a story is coming to a climax,

26:50

Jesus tells them what they're to expect, and he says to them, verse 34, truly,

26:58

I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. The generation he was speaking to, and he says to them, heaven and earth will pass away and my words will not pass away.

27:13

First, 36. But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven or the sun, but the father only for as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the son of man.

27:27

For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day when

27:33

Noah entered the ark and they were unaware until the flood took and swept them all away. So will be the coming of the son of man.

27:40

Then two will be two men will be in the field. One will be taken and one left. Two women will be in grinding at the mill.

27:46

One will be taken and one left. Therefore, stay awake for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming.

27:53

Interesting, isn't it? The left behind movie, the left behind series. I could not wait for rapture.

27:59

I was thrilled. I'd wake up in the morning and say, is today the day? What's it going to be like to be snatched up and to look down and flee away from all the wicked behind me?

28:11

And I remember I was on tour with Mortal Kombat, I played

28:16

Johnny Cage in the worldwide tour, and I was with a lot of American actors and at night when we were done with the show, they would all go out and sort of do what they did on the town.

28:27

And I remember at the time, D .C. Talk, you guys know D .C. Talk. I'm dating myself now, right?

28:33

Right. D .C. Talk had the song, the remake of the song. I wish we'd all been ready to make me do it because I have gifts and then not things that are not gifts.

28:45

That's not one of them. I wish we'd all been ready. And I remember distinctly, 1996, putting my headphones on in my hotel room, trying not to to to fall into the things everyone around me was good, was falling into.

28:59

And I remember listening to that song over and over and over. I wish we'd all been ready.

29:05

Two men walking up a hill, one disappears and one left standing still.

29:11

I wish we'd all been ready. And I remember going back to Matthew 24, thinking to myself, that's happening.

29:16

It's coming. It's coming. Two men walking up a hill, one disappears, one left standing still.

29:22

I'm going to be snatched away and I'm going to be taken away just like Jesus says. Two men in the field, one taken, one left behind, left behind in the left behind series recently with Nicolas Cage, the movie, the promotional team for that film were pumping stuff out on the social media.

29:42

And I remember I have lots of friends on my social media and so I would see stuff off my feet and I saw the left behind stuff come up all the time, all the time.

29:50

And there was one particular picture that really was interesting to me that's related to this. And a picture came up and it was a man in a field and he's looking up to the sky and it quotes this passage and it's left behind.

30:01

And what are we thinking in our culture? Who's left behind? The wicked, who's taken away the righteous.

30:12

And it's really compelling to show you the power of tradition that you can believe something because you've been taught it and literally place it into the text.

30:23

And never see the text because the story is the exact opposites.

30:30

Jesus talks to them about imminent judgments and he relates their situation.

30:36

Oh, very good. There it is. OK, he relates that. See, I was telling the truth. There it is. He relates their situation to Noah.

30:44

Think about Noah. Jesus says, as in the days of Noah, verse 37, so be the coming of the son of man, his promise of his coming in judgment.

30:54

As in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day when

31:00

Noah entered the ark and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away.

31:06

Brothers and sisters, think about Noah who was swept away in Noah's day. The wicked, not the righteous.

31:14

So when Jesus tells them about the coming judgment, the desolation, the vengeance upon that generation, he tells them what to expect.

31:22

There will be two men in the field. One will be taken. One will be left related to Noah's day.

31:28

Who was left behind in Noah's day on the earth? The righteous

31:34

Noah and his family. The wicked were taken away and our

31:40

Christian culture has been blinded. I was blinded to not see the text for what it actually says.

31:50

Eminent judgment upon that generation and the promise that they were going to be swept away and the righteous left and brothers and sisters in the destruction of Jerusalem.

31:58

If you know the history, it was the Christians that escaped Jerusalem and fled to a town called Pella to escape the judgment upon Jerusalem.

32:06

Jesus rescued them. He told them when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then flee. And amazingly, in history, we know what took place.

32:14

The Roman army surrounded the city. And then because of stuff happening in Rome, they turned back around and left the city and the

32:19

Jews in the city that they were like, that's right, that's right. Go. And the

32:25

Christians, upon divine command in the city, saw the armies back away and they fled the city and Rome returned, reset the city and destroyed

32:35

Jerusalem. Who escaped the judgment upon Jerusalem? The Christians who was left behind the righteous, who was taken away, the covenant breakers, the wicked brothers and sisters, the pattern of scripture is not that the wicked inherit the lands.

32:54

It's the righteous who inherit the land. And I want you to see it. Go to your Bibles now and I want you to go to the book of Proverbs chapter two.

33:05

And by the way, there is no way in this. Small time we have together that I can exhaust this, so I'd encourage you guys to do an extended study yourselves on this theme and scripture.

33:19

It is throughout the scriptures, throughout the scriptures. But just a starting point for us all,

33:27

Proverbs chapter two, Proverbs chapter two. Let's start at verse nine, then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path for wisdom will come into your heart and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.

33:46

Discretion will watch over. You understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness, who rejoice in doing evil and delight in the perverseness of evil men whose paths are crooked and whose are devious in their ways.

34:04

So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman, from the adulterous with her smooth words, who forsakes the companion of her youth and forsakes the covenant of her

34:13

God for her house sinks down to death and her paths to the departed, none who go to her come back again, nor do they regain the paths of life.

34:22

So you will walk in the way of good and keep to the paths of righteous. Of the righteous, for the upright will inhabit the land and those with integrity will remain in it, but the wicked will be cut off from the land and the treacherous will be rooted out of it.

34:40

Now, Psalm 37. Psalm chapter 37.

34:47

I'll read fret, not yourself because of evil doers, be not envious of wrongdoers, for they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb, trust in the

35:02

Lord and do good, dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness, delight yourself in the

35:07

Lord, and he will give you the desires of your hearts. Commit your way to the Lord. Trust him and he will act.

35:13

He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your justice as the noonday. Be still before the

35:19

Lord and wait patiently for him. Fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices.

35:28

Refrain from anger and forsake wrath. Fret not yourself. Attend only to evil for the evil doers shall be cut off.

35:38

But those who wait for the Lord shall inherit, listen closely, the land in just a little while, the wicked will be no more, though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there.

35:54

But the meek shall inherit, listen closely, the land and delight themselves in abundant peace.

36:03

Again, no way to exhaust this right now, but it needs to be emphasized right now that the Bible displays a pattern and the pattern is this.

36:11

The wicked are cut out of the land, the righteous inhabitants. God will judge the wicked and he leaves the righteous to inhabit the land.

36:20

And God is telling us, don't fret over the evil doers, don't fret over them. God's going to leave you in the lands.

36:26

The wicked are uprooted from it. That's the pattern that you need to see something very important, because the question is this, does

36:32

Jesus affirm that? As the pattern for the world in the new covenants, brothers and sisters, we know what he said, it's in his most famous message.

36:47

Matthew, chapter five. Matthew, chapter five, the sermon on the mount.

36:57

The Lord Jesus says, verse two, and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying,

37:02

Blessed are the poor in spirit. For there's the kingdom of heaven, blessed are those who mourn, for they should be comforted.

37:11

And here we go. Blessed are the meek. For they shall inherit the earth,

37:22

God says in the Old Testament as a pattern, the wicked will not inherit the land, the meek shall inherit the land,

37:33

God says, and in the new covenant with Jesus as king, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, Jesus says an expansion.

37:42

The Old Testament in Psalm 37 says the meek shall inherit the land, Jesus in the new covenant as the king, promoting the good news of the kingdom, proclaiming it says what the meek shall inherit the earth.

37:56

That's the story. Jesus has authority over all the nations, bringing his gospel to the ends of the earth and Jesus, the

38:05

Messiah, our Lord, the king of kings, takes what was a promise in the Old Testament regarding the land.

38:12

And he says the meek shall inherit the earth. And interestingly, Paul picks up on the same theme of the inheritance in Romans, chapter four.

38:24

Go to the text in Romans, chapter four. As you get to that text, I want to remind you of Romans chapters one and 16, the book ends where Paul says that they've received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations.

38:43

And in Romans, chapter four, the promise, verse four, verse 13 regarding Abraham.

38:49

Listen to what Paul says for the promise to Abraham and his offspring, that he would be heir of the world did not come through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

39:07

So the promise was that Abraham's descendants would inherit what guys?

39:13

The world's Jesus says the meek shall inherit the earth. And Paul now, through divine inspiration, teaches that Abraham's descendants inherit the world's.

39:27

God's very, very concerned with what happens here. Jesus doesn't say escape.

39:34

As a matter of fact, in his high priestly prayer, Jesus and John 17 talks about our unity.

39:42

It's really a majestic prayer for his people. But he says this,

39:48

I do not pray that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

39:55

And our mindset and our culture and in our day is exactly the opposite of what

40:01

Jesus prays for. He's praying, don't take him out of the world, keep him from the evil one. Our prayer is

40:06

Jesus, take me out of the world, get me out of here. And Jesus says, the will of God on earth as it is in heaven, all authority is mine.

40:16

Go, therefore, make disciples, baptizing, teaching them to obey. Paul saying

40:21

Abraham's descendants getting the world. Brothers and sisters, look around you. We have work to do.

40:31

The story in the Old Testament was a physical temple that pointed to the new covenants and what

40:37

God would do in Christ's sacrifices. And Yom Kippur constantly repeated a sinful priest that died and another one had to come after him.

40:45

And then constant reminder of sins. You had all of this stuff that was touchable and it was right there, but it wasn't it wasn't the thing.

40:53

It was pointing to the thing. It was pointing to the to the promise and in the new covenant.

40:58

We have so much more. We don't just have a physical land and one little plot of land over in Palestine.

41:04

We don't just have a temple that can be destroyed. We don't have a priest who's sinful and dies. We don't have sacrifices of bulls and goats.

41:12

Now we have a heavenly city. We have a temple that can never be destroyed. A priest who intercedes for us forever with a perfect sacrifice once for all.

41:23

And God has given his people the world's. That's the story.

41:29

He's the king and we have his gospel and we have to ask the question, how is this going to happen?

41:37

And the promise, it's not you, it's not me. Isaiah nine, six through seven, it's the zeal of the

41:44

Lord of hosts that will accomplish this. So we ask the question, is it me? Is it you?

41:50

Is it the gospel? Is it God? Is he not powerful anymore to turn a nation upside down?

41:57

Is it just an odd thing for Whitefield that whole cities would turn to Jesus, an odd thing for Edwards or any other nation in history that's come under the feet of Jesus and experience?

42:09

Is it just that? Is it just a weird thing in history? Is God done? I don't believe so.

42:16

I believe Romans one, 16, that the gospel is the power of God for salvation. It is the sovereign

42:22

God who brings this about, and he does so through the means of his people proclaiming the gospel.

42:29

The fact of the matter is, is we've disengaged. The fact of the matter is, is we've walked away from the culture, we've stepped aside, we haven't been bold, we haven't been communicating the gospel in its clarity.

42:44

The early Christians did so in such a way that the world around them understood their message. Hey, they're saying that Jesus is the king over Caesar.

42:51

There's another king, that he's the chief ruler, that he has all authority. They understood it.

42:56

They proclaimed it boldly. They proclaimed it in the marketplaces, the places of the toughest philosophical debate,

43:03

Mars Hill and the Areopagus. They go to the synagogues, the places of religious debate. They trusted in the sovereign

43:09

God. They knew what he was doing in history. They proclaim the kingdom at the end of the book of Acts. The apostle

43:14

Paul is staying with them. And look in your Bibles, Acts 28, what is he teaching them? He's teaching them about the kingdom of God, the rule of God.

43:24

They understood the story. Where's our hope? It's in the sovereign God, brothers and sisters, we got nothing to contribute to this.

43:32

He does so through the means of the gospel and his spirit. Remember what Jesus says to us. Here's our hope. Here's our anchor. I want to lay this down for us.

43:38

Here's our anchor. Jesus says. John, chapter six, I'm coming down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me that of all that he has given to me,

43:47

I should lose none or raise it up at the last day. Jesus says no man can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up.

43:59

John chapter 10, Jesus talks to people who are rejecting him and they're saying, I love this and you got to love being Calvinist.

44:04

This is awesome. OK, but he says to him in John chapter 10, he says to me, he says this when they ask him, don't keep us in suspense.

44:11

Are you the Messiah or not? He says, I love it. He says, oh, I forgot to tell you. Yes. No, Jesus says.

44:19

I told you. So you think it's amazing, they want to know, tell us if you're the

44:25

Messiah. He doesn't say, oh, I forgot you missed the you missed the message I gave over there. Oh, OK, I'm the

44:30

Messiah. Jesus says this, I told you. And the reason you don't hear me is because you are not of my sheep, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me, they come,

44:44

I give them eternal life, they're in his hand, he tells us, and nothing can snatch us from his hand or his father's hand.

44:50

Brothers and sisters, our hope is in the sovereign God who accomplishes his will. We can bring this message of the gospel in the clarity that God calls us to bring its trusting in the sovereign

45:03

God who accomplishes his purposes. We want to disengage. We want to pull the punches.

45:09

We want to make sure that we make the gospel palatable for the world around us. And God does not honor that message.

45:17

And all we do is we fill our churches with false converts when we do not proclaim the message of the gospel as it truly is.

45:28

It's more important that we have 10. True believers that know the gospel than a church of 5000 goats, what would happen?

45:43

What would happen to our city, what would happen to our state if the gospel is communicated faithfully about who

45:50

Jesus is and the command to repent and believe? What would happen to our world if that gospel went out and hearts were transformed?

45:59

The very things we talk about when we talk about theology, the blessings and the light of the gospel on the world, it would happen because of the gospel.

46:09

But God commands us to go. And what's it going to take? Suffering. Suffering.

46:18

Acts chapter five, when they're being brought before the council, read it later. Acts five, they're brought before the council.

46:25

What's the message? They confront them. So you're bringing this man's blood upon us to talk about.

46:31

You killed Jesus. He's the chief ruler. They talk about the story and how God's raised him up.

46:38

And these chief rulers are all upset that these guys are mad and they're coming at the end. If we told you not to preach in his name and they flogged them and they beat them and the apostles leave the presence of the council rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer for his name.

46:53

And my contention is, is that the reason we will not enter into suffering.

47:01

Might just be because we haven't even died yet. Jesus calls people to come to him.

47:09

He says, you must take up your cross and follow me. You have to come and do the death march. You have to come be ready to die.

47:15

Come to be joined to me and die. You have to hate father, mother, sister, brother, wife. If you love him any more than me, you're not worthy.

47:22

To be my disciple, if you love your life more than me, you're not worthy to be my disciple.

47:29

Jesus does not placate to people, he tells them, don't come, don't come.

47:37

Unless you come to die. And we have to come to the world, risking everything for the sake of love, for the lost.

47:46

We have to come to the world, risking everything because we know that this world is under the feet of Jesus and we have a long way to go.

47:58

We have to think long term about the future of the kingdom of Christ, not five years ahead, not 10 years ahead, not 20 years ahead, but what legacy do

48:07

I leave behind as a follower of Jesus? For my great, great, great, great, great grandchildren.

48:14

Grandchildren thinking 500 years ahead, a thousand years ahead.

48:23

My son Sage studies Dr. George Grant's lectures, and one of the amazing things that he's pointed out to me,

48:31

I've learned a bunch from my son even, is the fact that Christians throughout history, when they would build churches and they would build buildings and they would add to culture and the arts and all that we did in the world, they would build a church over four or five hundred years.

48:48

They would be building the church knowing they weren't going to finish it, knowing that they were building it for their kids and their kids were going to take up after them and finish a little more, and the churches became little hodgepodge of like really mixed up stuff, right?

49:04

Because things would change and in one generation, it gets stuff done. Next generation, we like it this way. And if you add different things, it look kind of funky, right?

49:11

And beautiful. But they had churches that they built over hundreds of years. Why? They anticipated long term kingdom of God on earth.

49:21

Our kids are going to be worshipping there, our grandkids worshipping there. And brothers and sisters, we need to see the world in that light.

49:28

And I want to say a few things just very, very quickly. We need to bring the gospel and the authority of Christ into every area of life, every area, my life, my family, our churches, everything around us, including the

49:45

God ordained institution of the state. Romans 13, he's

49:52

God's deacon wielding the sword. And I want to say this, is

49:58

Jesus King? Does he have all authority? Is the civil magistrate his deacon?

50:06

Does he want the sword wielded justly or unjustly? The answer is obvious.

50:14

He has authority and God says in Psalm 2, obey the son or you'll perish. We have to proclaim that to the world.

50:21

We have to go into every dark place. Fifty five million babies murdered in our generation.

50:27

Fifty five million. You can't say that and even make sense of it. You can't hold that number together in your head.

50:36

It's happened in our lifetime, in our day. And watch this. We have to bring the gospel to that to solve the problem.

50:45

It's not solved politically. It's not solved because we're pro life and we begin to lower the level of when we kill these babies.

50:56

Twenty two weeks because it's not as ugly. Twenty weeks because it's not as ugly.

51:02

We need to go to these abortion mills where it takes place and bring the light of the gospel there and anywhere else that people are talking about.

51:11

And we need to bring the gospel to this situation. We have an apology of church in the last two years decided to go out to the abortion mills.

51:22

Over 40 babies saved from death. The gospel going out hundreds of times.

51:28

All to the glory of God. None of it's us. It's been very difficult. The ugliest, hardest, most difficult mission

51:35

I've ever been a part of and the most glorious thing when you see the light of the gospel going out to dozens of people a day and people turning away from this place of death, coming to hear the gospel and these babies we're holding in our arms.

51:50

That's salt. That's light. That's bringing the gospel in a meaningful way that we're supposed to.

51:58

Not politically, simply, but we need to call people to repentance. We're not saying we're not comfortable with this.

52:07

We're not saying traditional values, traditional values. We're saying this.

52:12

God commands you in his law. Do not murder moms and dads.

52:19

Don't murder your babies. You can turn from the sin to Christ where there's redemption, forgiveness, salvation.

52:25

Turn from this place of death to Christ. We love you. We love your baby. We want to help you.

52:31

We want to give you all you need. God commands you not to murder your baby. That's bringing the law of God, the society and the gospel.

52:38

And that solves the problem. It brings light in dark places where the culture passes by and they look in and it begins to fill the world up with this teaching.

52:49

That was the accusation against the apostles. You are filling Jerusalem up with this teaching.

52:55

And I want to say the answer for us is to do the same. Our culture is destroying the very blueprints of our society.

53:06

God creates male, female in his image, and he says image of God. Family, he starts it, he builds it, that's the foundation, male, female, he created them.

53:19

Image of God, he created them. Be fruitful and multiply, God says. Our culture today says no to that.

53:29

We don't need a mom, maybe not a dad, we can have dad, dad, mom, mom, dad, dad, kitty, cat, dad, dad, aunt, uncle, dad, dad, a family is not a family any longer.

53:40

You don't need male, female. You don't need a mom, maybe a dad. And then when our culture has babies, if you don't want them, kill them.

53:50

Destroy the family, kill your babies. And brothers and sisters, one thing a friend told me, it's profound.

54:01

Stupidity doesn't work. You destroy your family, you kill your babies, you will not make it to the next generation or the one after.

54:14

And you think about what God is doing when Christians honor him and we have our families, what happens?

54:21

Who is going into the next generation with kids? Is it the unbelievers or is it the

54:28

Christians? It's the Christians. Here's my call. Ready? Get married, have lots of kids, adopt the kids the world doesn't want, lead them to Jesus.

54:39

And two and three generations from now, what do you have filling the land? Christians with the gospel proclaiming it and there's lights.

54:50

Stupidity doesn't work. Another strategy I want to suggest to us, because you got to think about it.

54:56

Well, this is really strange. Unbelievers are killing all their kids and they're destroying the family. Christians are still having the kids and they got the family.

55:03

So why are there? Why is there still so much atheism present in our society? Answer. We are having the kids and then giving them to the unbelievers to educate.

55:14

How do we stop the next generation from believing unbelieving thoughts and being discipled by them?

55:21

Stop giving our children to them. We are having the children.

55:28

We have the gospel. We have the families. If we grow our families and bring the light of the gospel to the world.

55:37

We solve this problem just in sheer numbers, the

55:46

Bible says, last point, Ecclesiastes 8, 11, I want you to see it. Ecclesiastes 8, 11, here's my last verse.

56:23

Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of men is fully set to do evil.

56:33

Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of men is fully set to do evil.

56:39

If we love our culture, if we love society around us, if we truly love our neighbor as we love ourselves, we'll love the law of God and society.

56:48

We look around the world today, we say, man, our prisons are full, packed out. One of the highest prison populations on the planet are just destroying ourselves financially because of it.

56:59

We have people who come in and out and they come in and out and it's destroying all of us around us.

57:05

And we're just overwhelmed with the burden because of this. And you have this question, what does love for neighbor require of us?

57:15

Justice. And that's what we look to the law of God for. We need to proclaim his authority, his lordship and the goodness of his law and his gospel to the world around us.

57:29

Brothers and sisters, leave a legacy for the kingdom of Christ. Be willing to lay your lives down for the sake of the lost and the gospel.

57:38

Think long term. Think 10 generations deep with the gospel. Pray and ask

57:46

God to prepare you. Let's pray. Father, I pray you bless this message that went out for your glory. In Jesus name.