TiL- Reformed Covenant Theology pt 6

Welcome to the Truth in Love podcast. Tonight, we are back into Reformed Covenant Theology by Harrison Perkins. We hope you will stick with us. Tonight, we are going to be looking at chapter 6.

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Ephesians. Another one? Didn't I play that one last time? I'm pretty sure that's.

Different music. It is different music than what we're used to. It is. It was catchy. I like it. I'm glad you liked it. I and I'm not above free things. I'm trying to utilize all that the internet has to has to offer and so I'm not above it.

We're not professional. We are low-budget, but we love the Lord and we we love to talk about His goodness and truth and so yeah. I'm glad you.

Enjoyed it. Oh yeah. It was good. I enjoy it all the time. If they could only see me dancing backstage. I know you Baptists aren't allowed to dance. Us Presbyterians are.

Allowed to. You have to dance for us. That is true. No, I don't have to dance for you. I'm just allowed to do it. I need to be able to dance vicariously. Oh goodness. I don't think either of us need to be dancing.

Anyway, we have derailed. We've derailed. Let me read this passage that starts off the chapter. Ephesians 1 7 through 10. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of His will according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time to unite all things to Him, things in heaven and on earth.

We're back in Reformed Covenant Theology by Harrison Perkins chapter 6 tonight. The comment line is open. We'd love to hear from you. Dan, this chapter is the Father, Son, and the Spirit in the fulfillment of salvation.

And as I looked at this chapter, meditate on this chapter, I thought to myself, I really don't see how a dispensationalist or somebody who's not a covenant theologian would disagree with much of what is said in this passage.

It's basically pulling out from Scripture who God is in the Trinity. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Their work, their different parts, the things that they do when it comes to redemption.

Now we, as covenant theologians, we see this... Parts of the action, not parts of God, right? Parts of the action, right. Yeah, parts of their action. From what I understand, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, as I'm learning through this book, they each have different missions or different actions that they have covenant together that they each will have these different actions, these different parts.

They all have a different.

Role to play in the one action that is God securing and applying salvation to.

Mankind. Yeah, yeah. I don't remember all the big words that we learned in the last chapter, but we do know that... Go ahead. To kind of bring us.

Back to the last chapter, it talked about... Basically, it was going over how God in the ontological Trinity, or how God exists, how all that worked. It was talking about how God the Father is unbegotten, how He doesn't proceed from anyone, but He is self-existent, as are all persons of the Godhead.

But then the Son proceeds from the Father, and that the Holy Spirit proceeds from both the Father and the Son. That should be good across the board, unless you're Eastern Orthodox. They kind of deny that last part, that the Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son.

But in redemption, it's that God that worked the plan of salvation for us. And what we're doing now in this chapter is saying, all right, there has been this triune decree of God that God will save us.

Now, which person of the Trinity is accomplishing what in their one action of salvation of mankind as we go along through this life? Anytime you talk about the Trinity, you got to stumble over your words a little bit, try to make sure you're not committing some heresy.

You got to be.

Careful. Yeah, because God is so complex. Well, He's complex and He's.

Simple, because God is simple. I mean that as in He's not made of parts or passions. He's not made of anything. All three persons of the Trinity are God. They're all co-equal, co-eternal. So you have three powers, but one power.

I mean the whole Athanasian Creed. You've got to be careful not to over speak when dealing with the Trinity. But at the same time, we understand that God acts as Father, Son, and Spirit, as three different persons, one God.

Unity in Trinity, Trinity in unity. So we'll proceed with caution in our language. Absolutely. We'll be good.

Absolutely. And that's wisdom. I've always wanted to be careful my whole life, and I believe it's always been the Holy Spirit that has worked that in me, that we are image bearers. We represent Christ with our words, with our actions, and what we do and what we say always are a reflection, either good or bad, of who God is, who God says He is.

We are saying with our words, with our actions, this is who God is. And so I believe it's been the Spirit in my life that has always given me desire to walk a line of caution because of who we represent, because of whose image we bear.

And so I think it's wisdom that you say that, that we proceed with caution. I was thinking about from the previous chapter, the members of the Trinity, their wills are the same. They have the same will, but their functions are different, and their will is redemption.

Their will is to bring glory to the Father, and their will is for the Spirit, which we'll learn in this chapter, is to bring glory to the Son and to secure the elect, all those whom God has given to the Son, to secure their redemption in this work that is proceeding from the Father and proceeding from the Son that's accomplished through the Son and the Holy Spirit here on Earth.

So it's an amazing plan. And I guess that's why Scripture says that God's ways are higher than ours, because we would never come up with a plan that would rival, even match, come close to the beautiful plan that this is of redemption.

Of course, it seems that it has to be that way because of the nature of who God is, being a thrice holy God, being an eternal God, there's going to be certain requirements that need to be met to satisfy His justice, to satisfy His wrath, to represent His glory and His goodness, His love and kindness.

So the plan had to proceed from Him. It could never proceed from us.

Lead us on to the chapter 6. Yeah, so Harrison puts it, right? What's his name? First name? Perkins. Mr. Perkins. Dr. Perkins? I can't remember. He's a pastor. We'll call him Pastor Perkins because I can't remember if he's a doctor or not.

But he starts off talking about what is known as the economic trinity. The economic trinity is how the Father, Son, and Spirit accomplish the different actions of God. So how does it go about that? All right, now, God has decreed that salvation is going to come to mankind through the work of God in putting away of our sins.

So how does that work? And how it breaks down is the Father is going to decree salvation through the Son, and the Son is going to accomplish that salvation, and the Spirit's going to apply that redemption to the believer.

Now, Perkins breaks it down a little bit further, and I think it's really irritating the way that he does it. And I say irritating because he uses all A words. And I don't know, every time somebody uses that method where they just put everything in one letter word, it's irritating to me.

But I mean, really, it works kind of well. So we can't harp on him too much because I think he did a fairly good job of putting it together. He calls it a triad of triads. Notice he doesn't say a trinity of trinities because he knows better.

It's a triad of triads. So what he says is this, and these are the A words. He says, the Father arranges redemption by the appointing of the Son and the assigning of the elect to the Son. So what he does, he says, the Son will accomplish redemption, and He will accomplish redemption for these elect folks here.

So He has means of salvation and those who it's going to be applied to. Move on to the work of the Son, and it says that the Son will accomplish redemption by accepting the task given to Him from the Father.

You know, that's talking about that being begotten of the Father, or proceeding, being begotten from the Father. And then the attaining of righteousness for the elect. So the Father has said that the Son will go out and accomplish redemption.

He assigns the elect to Him, and so Jesus' role then is to say, yes, Father, I will do that. And then He goes and actually purchases redemption for the elect. Then you come to the Holy Spirit. We're going to go over all these in detail, but I figured I'd give us an overview before we get into it.

So then the Spirit will apply redemption by accompanying the Son through His work on the earth, and then administering redemption to the elect. So there you have the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all working together to accomplish the one action of God, which was, as it says in our passage, from the foundations of the world, that He has put these things into motion and really set them up to come to pass in time for us.

So good stuff.

It is.

Annoying because He alliterated it, but it's good stuff. It's good stuff nonetheless.

I know this is off subject, but I just realized that I resemble the picture on my shirt.

You are looking a little Sasquatch-y.

Oh, and there went our one viewer that was with us with that comment.

It happens.

It happens. It happens. I noticed that there were other attributes of the Holy Spirit as well, which I found fascinating. Of course, like you said, He alliterated with the ace, the distinguishing attributes of the Holy Spirit, but it was good to reflect on all those things.

It's rightly mentioned in some circles that the Holy Spirit is not studied, discussed, mentioned, talked about as often as He is in other denominations. And so it was good to explore this chapter and this section on the Holy Spirit, and I know we'll talk about the Holy Spirit here in a few minutes, but it just reminded me as you were talking about it to think about all those different attributes of His and what He does to accomplish or His role in redemption and this covenant of redemption.

And just one other thought before we get started. I was talking about how this chapter is basically talking about who God the Father is, who God the Son is, and who God the Holy Spirit is, their parts, their work in redemption.

I don't think that there would be much argument from those who differ in viewpoints on how to interpret Scripture, your dispensationalist versus covenant theology. This is just pulling from Scripture who God says He is.

But the one thing about it that I tried to settle this in my mind, Dan, how does this chapter fit in a book on reformed covenant theology? And to me, how I understood this was it speaks of how God does things.

He does things in covenant, so we need to know who He is, the work that He said He is doing, has done in each person. And amongst the Trinity, this work is accomplished by the covenant or promises that they have made amongst each other and then are worked out, and we reap benefits.

Those who are in Him are reaping the benefits of this covenant plan of redemption that He has made. And that's what it, from end to end, from the beginning to end, it's about the covenant of redemption.

It's about God saving His creation. And to me, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, when we have these, I'll call them examples, so you have the Adamic, the Davidic, the Noahic. To me, it's just an example of reflection saying, I'm just showing you who I am.

This is the God that I am. This is how I communicate. This is how I work. So therefore, this is how it's going to work and operate within my creation. It's pointing to God. When covenants are made here on this earth between men, between men and God, it's just pointing back to Him and the covenant and covenantal promises made amongst the Trinity.

Does that make sense?

Yeah. What Perkins did in this book is he kind of pressed us into the issue in the first few chapters. Just kind of stuck our head or noses in it just enough to where we could get a feel for what's going on.

So he stuck us in there to where we could see our sin, problem of the fall, what happened in the garden. And then what he's doing now is he's saying, all right, so all of that took place. But back up a second, look at what is happening from God's perspective, who's outside of time, who is eternal.

And then later on, he's going to go into the rest of where he's going to say, well, now look at what happens when this God who is acting then acts in time. So the covenant of redemption, the eternal covenant of God determining salvation for mankind is then worked out through the other covenants throughout scripture, culminating in the new covenant in Christ, which is the fullness of the revelation of what God is doing for us in time, which is crazy because it's like, here's what God has done throughout all eternity and here it is given to you.

So yeah, I think you're right on.

And we're in a position where why would, I mean, if we're fortunate enough to have the Holy Spirit open our eyes, we're in the position of why would you do this for us? And I believe he says to show you that I'm faithful in my promises.

I'm a covenant God and I'm faithful in my promises. Lord, why would you save a wretched sinner like me? I'm faithful to my covenant promises. Yeah. Yeah. In fact, God showed his.

Love toward us and that while we were sinners, Christ died for us. That's right. And even before that, before we were formed in the womb, he thought of us to plan to die for us. So it's.

Amazing thing. And Christ being the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world. I mean, this was, this was his plan and he promised it and he kept his promise. Right. And then he said, let there be light.

Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Crazy. Good stuff.

So he made a lot of points about these A words, right? So let's go back and kind of go through but like you so often impress upon everyone that you come across, let's go to scripture with it because we're not going to pull it from anywhere, but scripture, right?

That's right. So the first point that he makes is that the father arranges redemption by appointing the son. So where Perkins points us to is the book of Hebrews and he does it as he's the author of Hebrews is arguing that the folks who are tempted to go back to Judaism shouldn't go back because the high priest that is there is inferior to the high priest that is Christ.

Now we believe that that Christ fulfills three offices, at least three offices, we'll say three of prophet, priest, and King. Especially as priest, he takes his own sacrifice, places it on the altar and pays for the sins of men, which is accomplishing redemption for mankind.

Right? So where does the scripture say that? We just making it up, but Hebrews five, look at it starting in verse one, every high priest talking about the old covenant high priest taken from among men is appointed on behalf of men and things pertaining to God in order to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins, being able to deal gently with the ignorant and misguided since he himself is also beset with weakness.

And because of it, he is obligated just as for the people to offer sacrifices for sins in the same way for himself. And no one takes this honor to himself, but receives it when he's called by God, even as Aaron was.

So his argument is the old covenant priest, especially the high priest, wasn't a high priest just because he wanted to be. He had to be called by God in order to take on that office. Now look what it says in the next verse in this way.

Also, Christ did not glorify himself to become a high priest, but he who said to him, you are my son today. I've begotten you just as he says also in another passage, you are a priest forever after or according to the order of Melchizedek.

So what you have there is you have it saying the old covenant priests were only priests because God made them priests. And even more so, Christ is now high priest, not because he tried to take it to himself, but because God had appointed him as a priest forever and he calls it, it's a Melchizedekian priesthood.

What does that mean? It goes on at some point in here, I forget where. It talks about Melchizedek a little bit more. Melchizedek was no, without origin, without beginning, without end. He didn't come from anywhere.

He didn't go anywhere. He was in the story of Abraham. He was just kind of there. He was no eternal, so to speak. I mean, he wasn't, he was just a dude. But well, some people think that Melchizedek was actually a pre-incarnate Christ.

I'm not so sure, but it was just there. So he's saying that after the one who was just a priest out of nowhere called by God to be priest in the time in which he lived, after that order, Christ has been called forever to be the priest.

So what does that mean? It means that Christ himself is going to be the one to offer the sacrifice for the people. In order to offer the sacrifice, he has to have it. And that sacrifice is himself. So that proves the first point that God the Father arranged redemption, how he appointed Christ, Jesus, Hugo, secure redemption for these people.

And I think that is incredible.

Absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I'm just sitting here trying to think through, and I wish I could remember all the things that has went through these years about Melchizedek and all the different theories of who he was and his interaction with Abraham and Abraham giving.

Him the tithe. Yeah. Melchizedek means a king of righteousness. And he gives him a 10th of all the spoil, right? And Jacob later at Jacob's ladder, when he's called in Genesis 28, he sees God in a dream and God calls out to him and says, I'm going to do this, this, this, and this for you.

He comes to, he wakes up in the morning, he stands up the rock on the end, pours the oil on top of it and says, if God's going to do all this for me, that's going to be my God. And I'm going to give him a 10th of everything that I have.

So some people will see if Melchizedek was the king of righteousness in a place called Salem, which means peace. Then over here, Jacob with God actually visiting him, he's going to give him a 10th. He saw him as being the same person.

I don't know. But what I do know is that Christ is the eternal priest because the father has called him to be our priest and our sacrifice.

Yeah. I'm also, I'm also reflecting on the, those theories talking about the king of Salem and that he could have been one of Noah's sons. And I can't remember which one. It's, it left me and I'm not based on what I recall in, in listening to those theories.

I wasn't, I didn't dismiss right off the bat, those theories. I found them intriguing and I want to, I want to look into them further about who this Melchizedek is and the theory that he could be.

One of Noah's sons. You know, that sounds like a great master's thesis. It does. And it, you can do it. I believe in you.

It may be part of Jewish tradition. I can't remember. But anyway, it's, it's fascinating and it's very interesting. But, but yeah, God got it arranged. And then is the next one he, he assigned and he assigned the elect.

Yeah. Yeah. And this, this will be the part where, you know, I was talking about how we could get along with, with many people in this chapter. This will be the part where, you know, we would set a part ways a little bit where they, they don't see in scripture where, where God assigned the elect and give a certain people to.

The son. Every, everyone has a, a, a theology of election. I don't think anybody would deny election, but they're definitely going to define it in different ways. Differently. Yeah. The, the reformed view election is something that work or God chose some for eternal life and some for eternal damnation of the Lutherans believe that God did not make a decree with regard to reprobation.

Just that he looked and decided to save some and just like it. So in Lutheran theology, reprobation wasn't even an issue. It wasn't there. It wasn't, it just wasn't on God's mind. He was just, these will be safe.

So you've got others, the more Wesleyan tradition who say that God saw who would believe and he elected those know through foreknowledge. In fact, a lot of people would say that some believe it's a corporate election where God elected those who would believe.

And then God doesn't really know who's going to do that. So they'll walk themselves in out of election until they're finally there for good. So everybody would have a theology of election, but like you're always telling us, let's go to the scriptures and see what the scriptures say.

Right. That's right. I believe God has a more involved role in choosing who is going to be his.

And just no, you do have to wrestle with it. I mean, you, you'll come across folks that, that want to argue with you. I don't believe in election. I don't believe in predestination. I believe that God gave us a free will.

Okay. But you're still going to have to wrestle with election and predestination because God uses those words, right? So you, you've got to wrestle with them and decide what does this mean? What is God telling me?

You can't, you can't just dismiss it because there's a certain group of people or it goes against the grain of, of maybe how you were brought up or how you think things should be. You got to deal with those words.

Yep. So Jesus in the parable, not yeah. Parable of the good shepherd. I guess it's a parable. Anyway, it's an analogy at the very least. He goes, he goes, I'm the good shepherd. It was like, he talks about the, but before that he says, you know, there's a gate, some sheep, sheep over here.

And they're like, Hey, can you explain that to us? We're not really understanding what you're saying is I'm the good shepherd. I'm the gate. They go in and out through me. So I call to my sheep, my sheep hear my voice and they come to me.

No, there's other ones. They're not my sheep. I have other sheep that are of this fold. I'm going to call them. They're going to come to me because they're mine. And then in a versus 25 through 30, he says this Jesus, you know, cause they ask him, no, are you the Christ?

No. Are you the one that we should be believing in? He answers. I told you, you do not believe me. The works that I do in my father's name, these bear witness of me. So what is he doing? He's doing these in the name of the father, which is goes back to the previous point that he was appointed to do these.

Hey, go out and do these in my name. Here's my stamp of approval. Verse 26, but you do not believe because you are not of my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. So there are some who hear and follow some who hear and do not follow.

Why? Because there are some who are his sheep and some who are not. And I give eternal life to them. Who? His sheep. Where did it go? And they will never perish ever. And no one will snatch them out of my hand.

My father who has given them to me. That's the point. The father who has given them to me, the father said, son, go secure salvation, go secure redemption. And here is the people you're going to secure it for.

I keep on losing my place. I should keep my pen there. My father who has given it to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. I and the father are one. It's that singular purpose of God.

What Jesus is doing, this is what God has arranged beforehand. This is what the father in heaven has said, go do. This is what Jesus has agreed to. This is, this is the plan of God. This is the action of the one triune God.

And you're seeing it through Christ. Christ has gone. The father has spoken and there he is doing, getting ready to, to perish on the cross and take the sins of men because God has said here, die for these.

Yeah. Got you. Yeah.

I appreciate how you pointed out those two things that it, the father gave them to the son and then the son secures, um, the redemption for those that God has given to him. Um, they're, they're his sheep and it makes me reflect on what Christ didn't do.

Uh, we're, we're in this time of, I don't know when anybody, if anybody watches or listens to this later on down the road, when you will watch or listen to this later on down the road, where we are right now, we are in the middle of an upcoming election.

So what do we have? We have people trying to convince us not to vote for this person and to vote for this person to don't vote, don't vote for them, vote for me. And here's why Jesus, this was not his approach.

This is not what happened when Jesus came. He did not come to try to persuade or convince people that, um, you, you need to, um, this is who I am. You need to, to believe, um, you know, he didn't come to, uh, win a presidential campaign to, um, to get voted in as King.

Um, those things were, um, it's the passage acts that, that word, that word hit me. So we were in our, our small group Bible study last night for church. And we have just started preaching through the book of acts and we're in acts chapter one.

And this is Jesus' response to, uh, the disciples. Uh, they asked, are you restoring the kingdom to Israel? They were, they were concerned about the kingdom. They were, you know, they were being political.

And he said to them, it was not for you to know the times of the epics, which the father has fixed by his own authority. We, these things are fixed. Jesus, Jesus wasn't, um, weary, worried, or concerned because he possibly wouldn't get voted in or he wouldn't persuade enough people.

Um, he wouldn't persuade the right people. That's not how he came. He came with confidence because God's, as we spoke at the beginning, God's promises are faithful and true and, and will come to fruition because Jesus says the father has fixed these things by his own authority.

And so when Christ came, he came with authority and could speak to the winds and the waves. He could speak to the, to the demons and, and cast them out. Um, Jesus had authority over creation. He, he knew that, um, Philip was under the right.

Am I, am I correct on that? I feel it was under the big tree. Um, I hope, I hope I'm.

Putting that correct. Well, I mean, I'm sure he was, I don't know what the context of what you're.

Saying is, but he, he knew these things because he, he, he was God himself and, and had the ability to do those things. And he could stand, um, he could stand with confidence before Pilate, before the high priest, before the Sanhedrin, before everyone, because God has fixed these things with, by his authority that, that they will be accomplished.

And, um, yeah. So, so when you look at this, this election, um, you're only left with a couple options. You're left with either something that looks like the reformed view or something that looks like the Lutheran view.

Uh, really it depends on where you start. Depends on how you get there because, well, that's neither here nor there, but both of those, uh, set that, uh, they set that, that God has elected a people to be saved and that Christ is going to purchase salvation that will be given to those people.

And that's exactly what we're being told here in, uh, in this passage, all because this is, this is, this is the purpose of the father that the son would accomplish a redemption for the elect.

Yeah. So you want to know what the son does? Let's talk about, let's talk about the son and.

What he does because we only got 20 minutes to get him in the spirit. It doesn't seem like enough time. It doesn't. All right. Well, we'll do what we can in 20 minutes and then we'll, we'll just take the rest of eternity to, uh, to praise the rest of it.

How about, how does that sound? We'll be, we'll be doing it. I like it. All right. So the, then we say the son accomplishes redemption by accepting the tax of redemption and attaining righteousness. So let's bounce over backwards a couple chapters in John to John five.

We'll look through this passage real quick. Uh, what we're looking at is that the son is going to accomplish redemption by accepting the task. So what God has called him to do, he's going to do. So John five verse 19, uh, therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, truly, truly, I say to you, the son cannot do, or the son can do nothing from himself unless it is something he sees the father doing for the father does these things.

The son also does in the same manner. So the father in heaven is saying, this is what will be done. And the son down here says, I'm just doing what the father's doing. It's, it's two persons, one action, one incarnate upon the earth, one and seated in the throne in heaven and everywhere.

Cause he's on, on the president. Uh, they go on, they want to kill him at some point. Uh, he, he talks a little bit more, uh, verse 30. I can, he says, again, I can do nothing from myself. As I hear, I judge my judgment is righteous because I do not seek my own will, but the will of him who sent me.

So what is he doing there? He's accepted the task that what God has said in heaven to do, he is doing now on the earth. It's father and son working together. Uh, look at verse 36 says it again, but the witness I have is greater than the witness of John for the works, which the father has given me to finish the very works that I do bear witness about me that the father has sent me.

So not only do I have witness from the father himself, but the works that I'm doing, you know, he's, he's healing the sick. He's changing water to wine. He's doing all sorts of stuff. These are Ted, like the father himself has sent me.

I'm doing what he said. So he's testifying. And so is the works that I'm doing, that I'm doing the work of the father. Why? Because he accepted the task that the father had given to him go and secure redemption.

So he said, yes, sir. And he came to earth, born of a virgin, grew up, didn't sin. Now some debate over whether he could have or not. Um, people are probably going to slap me for this. Um, no, don't get me wrong.

God cannot sin. And Jesus being God could not send, but people say, no, could Jesus sin? I was like, sure. He had a body. I mean, he, he, he could have done sinful stuff with it. So could he have sin?

Sure. He had the physical capability of doing so, but he's God. So can God sin? Absolutely not. So, so Christ could not sin. Yeah. So he came to earth to secure righteousness because he who had no sin took on humanity, that humanity might be renewed sinless.

Incredible. That's right. Perfectly. That's right. Well, and, and tag on to what I was, um, speaking on just a few minutes ago was that, you know, God, Jesus came a certain one, behaved a certain way, behaved with the confidence of the promises of God.

And so his presentation of himself and his, and his work reflected that. And so to me, that's an example, you know, for, for us, um, uh, a position of confidence in, in the promises of the father, um, in how we evangelize that we, we're not trying to, um, trying to get Jesus elected.

That's not evangelism. Um, we're, we're not, it's, it's,.

It's more, it's more than just, it's more, I'm sorry. I should've let you finish your thought because I knew where you were going because you said you were saying, you know, when we evangelize, we should be, we're not, it's not, we're proclaiming crisis King.

That's right. But, but it popped into my head, you know, it's more than that because there's, there's real physical harm and danger that can come our way by preaching the gospel. People are getting more and more angry and upset at the gospel every day.

Uh, we went out with, uh, uh, a few months ago with, uh, one of the guys from church and we were street preaching in the, uh, uh, in the square and we had people, I'm, I mean, we, we don't know, no, but it looked like demonic activity.

You know, what, what's to happen. What's to say that we don't get attacked. Um, Paul got beaten and checked out in a street and rocks thrown on him. What did he do? He got up, dusted himself off and went back inside to preach.

So it's, it's exactly what you said. We're not trying to timidly convinced. Well, maybe you will. Maybe we're proclaiming crisis King. He has died for the sins of men. You're a sinner. You need to turn from your sins, repent and find salvation in him.

You can have all of your sins forgiven. You can find the goodness of God placed upon your life. You can have the assurance that one day all your tears will be wiped away and you'll have the father in heaven that you never had here on earth.

You can have all these good things. Why? Because he has spoken and he has done good. He has a confidence with a compass and it doesn't matter if along the way we catch a stray right hook or a bullet even because what we're proclaiming is something that is much bigger and stronger than that.

So yeah, you're absolutely right. When we look at Christ and his confidence, we should have confidence because he is good.