The One Sermon You MUST Watch

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We're going to get things going now with the first presenter. He's had a big impact on my life as well as far as my spiritual growth and actually ministering to me and pulling me out of the occult

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I was in. He's been married for over 16 years to his beautiful wife,

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Candy. And he wanted to make sure I said that. They have three wonderful, wonderful children.

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And one kind of sub -heart kid, Sage. Where's Sage? There's Sage, yeah.

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I threw that one in there for Sage. Stellar actually gave me money to say that one. But so I'm talking about my pastor,

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Jeff Durbin. He's one of the hosts of Apologia Radio. He's the founding, one of the founding pastors here of Apologia Church.

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It started as Apologia Christian Ministries, an apologetic outreach to the cults.

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And he's still going out. I think it's been over 20 years he's been going to the Mormon temple out here in Mesa, Arizona.

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And loves to meet new people and does not waver. That's one thing I'll tell you about him. It doesn't matter how big you are.

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I found that out at the abortion meal when we went out one time. Somebody came and Jeff didn't move.

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That's the last I saw of Jeff. I came back, he was still standing. So pretty tough guy. But again, you guys, please give me a warm, give

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Jeff a warm welcome as we bring him up, Mr. Jeff Durbin. Welcome.

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You guys excited? Me too. Thank you guys. Some of you guys traveled a long distance to get here.

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And we just feel blessed to have you guys. So we're grateful. And thankful to God to be able to do this conference and talk about some important things.

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And so Joel actually gave me my assignment. And when

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Joel gives me my assignment, I say, OK, all right. I'll do that. And I'm to speak to you today about the kingdom of the

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Messiah and the law of God. And I was told to do it in an hour. Which if you know me and my sins in this area, it's easier for a camel to enter the eye of a needle than for Jeff Durbin to preach for one hour.

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But we're going to try. If you would, open your Bibles to Acts chapter 17.

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Acts 17. We'll get into the word of God. I'll read the passage. And then we're going to pray together.

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Acts chapter 17. I'm reading out of the

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ESV, starting verse 2.

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And Paul went in as was his custom on three Sabbath days. And he reasoned with them from the scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the

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Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying that this Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the

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Messiah. And some of them were persuaded and joined

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Paul and Silas as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. But the

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Jews were jealous. And taking some wicked men of the rabble, they formed a mob, set the city in an uproar, and attacked the house of Jason, seeking to bring them out into the crowd.

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When they could not find him, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, these men who have turned the world upside down have come here.

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And they are acting. And they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king,

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Jesus. And the people in the city authorities were disturbed when they heard these things. And when they had taken money as security from Jason and the rest, they let them go.

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Thus far is the reading of God's word. Let's pray. Father, I want to pray that you would bless God. This message, this conference, these people,

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Lord, those that hear the message, I pray, God, that you get me out of the way. I pray,

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Lord, that the words that are spoken, Lord, would be guarded by you, that you would guard us all from error,

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God, that you would teach by your spirit, that you would, Lord, illuminate God, that you would open our eyes to your truth, that you would allow the good news of the kingdom to set in our hearts,

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God, as an anchor, that you would bring boldness, confidence, truth, clarity,

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Lord, out of us as a people, the people of God, Lord, that you would bring your good news, the good news of Christ as king and salvation in him, the good news of your kingdom, that you would bring that,

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Lord, into this generation, that it would change hearts and minds and open eyes, that by your spirit, God, you would draw your people out of the world, out of darkness into light, that you,

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Lord Jesus, would be magnified, glorified, that you'd be exalted to the ends of the earth, that your fame would increase exponentially throughout the world through,

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God, this little conference and the work you do here. I pray,

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God, that you're glorified. I pray that we would get out of the way, that people would forget our names and remember

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Christ's, and that the good news of the kingdom, the good news that Christ preached, the good news of the apostles, the good news of God would be heralded in clarity once again in this generation, that light would break into darkness.

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You would change the world, God, for your glory, God, and by your grace through Christ and Christ alone.

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In Jesus' name, amen. The message of the kingdom was on the hearts, on the minds, on the lips of the early apostles.

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The early Christians had a clear, communicated message. If you look through the book of Acts, you see this constant exaltation of Christ, who is the

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Messiah, who fulfilled the plan of God. All the prophecies of Messiah fulfilled in Christ. Jesus has come, not as a novelty, but part of the plan of God.

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He's actually arrived. The Messiah has come. He is raised, seated at the Father's right hand, putting all his enemies under his feet.

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The book of Acts is heralding the message that was anticipated. The Messiah was coming to bring salvation, not just to Jews, but to Gentiles also.

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Salvation was coming now. Jesus was actually reigning now. The good news of salvation, the good news of forgiveness,

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Jesus is the king. The early Christians knew it, and in the book of Acts, you see this constant message that's consistent about Jesus and salvation in him and in him alone.

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The call comes out, God has raised up this Messiah. Repent and believe the gospel. Come to him for salvation in him and him alone.

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Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby you must be saved.

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And that message, that message was in conflict with the leadership of the day.

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Jesus was heralded as the chief ruler, the one that everyone had to give an account to.

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So much so that when the apostles are abused and they're beaten, and they say, we told you not to preach in this name again.

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And they say, we must obey God rather than men. And when they were flogged and when they were beaten, before the authorities, they actually left the council rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to suffer shame for the name.

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They knew what it meant to have Jesus as finally arrived, the ascended king seated bringing salvation.

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They understood. Jews receiving salvation to the Jew first, also to the

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Greek. Gentiles receiving the gospel. The different people brought into one family of God by faith, children of Abraham by faith.

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Salvation now has arrived. And amazingly, the world understood the message in a way that's not as clear in our generation.

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Our generation has popularized the me gospel. It's about me. It's about every day of Friday.

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It's about what I get from Jesus. That's why I come to Jesus. You'll be happy, healthy, wealthy, get a new car.

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It's about maybe even just heaven one day. The good news that we preach to the world today is primarily centered upon me not going to hell and being in heaven one day.

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But the message of the gospel is the message not just about my story, but it's the message of his story that I get added to.

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It's the message of salvation in him and in him alone. It's the message of reconciliation with God today.

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It's the message of the outpouring of God's spirit that brings dead sinners to life. Where the law of God was once outside of the people of God, it is now internalized within us.

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The good news of salvation, the world understood what they were saying. The early Christians were not in danger with Rome because they worshiped another

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God. Rome doesn't care what you worship. They're pagans. They're cool with it. They're really good with it.

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You can worship whatever you like. The early Christians were in trouble with Rome because they would not say

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Caesar curios. Caesar was not the ultimate authority. Jesus was the king.

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He was the chief ruler. They understood it. This is what put the early Christians in conflict with the state then.

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And interestingly, the charge being brought against Christians, I wonder if it is a charge that can be brought against us today in our church context.

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Where the world hears our message and they understand it in such a way that they actually say, hey, these

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Christians are saying there's another supreme ruler, that there's another who has the ultimate authority over all things.

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The early Christians are being accused of saying there's another king, Jesus. And the message of the gospel of the kingdom does not just directly affect me, but it has implications that spread out through all nations throughout the whole world.

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This story of salvation is God's story of salvation. It's a story that he's told from the very beginning.

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And that's what we're gonna talk about today. So let's lay down some foundations. It's interestingly when the apostle Paul in his systematic explanation of the good news lays out the gospel, he takes pains to make sure you understand that this is not a novelty.

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In Romans chapter three, when he talks about no one being justified by the law of God, nobody being justified by the law of God, no flesh being justified by it, he talks about the but now.

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Now God has actually given to us the salvation. And he says it was promised beforehand in the prophets, in the holy scriptures.

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This was the story, they understood it. The apostle Paul in Acts chapter nine, as soon as he's knocked off his high horse, as soon as he comes to Christ, he takes a beeline in Acts chapter nine to Damascus.

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And what he does is he goes into the synagogues proving that Jesus is the Messiah. And how did he do it?

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He used the Old Testament scriptures, they knew the story. And this gets us to a really important point that I think as Christians we have to embrace, we have to take in and actually cherish this truth more so than I think we do.

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We live in a world today where our children are being raised in a context, many of them, maybe not many in this room, but in public school system, they're being told that life works like this.

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You are the end product of a long evolutionary process that did not have you in mind.

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We are the result of time and chance acting on matter. Our ancestors used to be fish.

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And from that point we've moved through an ungoverned process in a universe that does not care about us to where we're at today.

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We are all meat bone protoplasm bobbing on the surface of the cosmos. There is no

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God above us, only sky, as Douglas Wilson said in his debate with Hitchens.

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Our culture is being taught, our children are being taught that they are meaningless protoplasm in a universe that does not care about them.

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And that all that exists is matter, time and chance acting on matter. And the universe is ultimately chaos, not governed, not purposed.

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And so what are we taught today? That there's no anticipation, that there's a climax to history, that it has a purpose to it and that it's actually going somewhere according to plan.

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But as Christians, we know the real story, amen? Amen? That's not the truth.

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That's not reality. Here's the reality. And this is one of the first foundations you need to understand about the kingdom of God, about the good news of the kingdom is that is this,

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God is sovereign. There is no maverick molecule in the universe. God controls all things.

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He wields the stars to tell the world about his son, the king, entering the world.

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God is absolutely sovereign over every single detail. He decrees the end from the beginning.

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History is not chaos, time and chance acting on matter. History is not like the pagans think, working in cycles.

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History is on a line that is carried along by God, the sovereign

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God who created all things. That's the real story. And God has actually condescended.

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He's actually spoken to us. God loves sinners so much. He loves the rebels so much that he enters into his own creation of the rebels and he tells them about himself.

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And he doesn't just reveal things about himself. He tells them what his plan is for redemption.

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He tells them what he's like. We've got the story, a God who talks to us.

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We have his word and he tells us his plan. God is sovereign. A couple of verses, although I anticipate in this room, we're probably some hardcore pipe hitting

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Calvinists. Amen, right? So this is just for fun, all right? This is just like, yay,

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I know that verse. Daniel chapter four, verse 35. Here's the verse. All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing.

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And he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.

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And none can stay his hand and say to him, what have you done? God is sovereign in heaven and on earth.

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Let me say it again, because sometimes we don't take in the truths of scripture and think about their implications.

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And I hope to show a little bit about that today. God is sovereign in the heavens above, listen closely, and, and, and among the inhabitants of the earth.

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Let me just say this as a side, really briefly people have said to me, how can you be a post -millennialist and believe in the victory of Jesus within history when you see the world the way that it is?

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And my answer is this, I don't interpret the Bible through the culture or the circumstances. God has told us what history is like, what it's about.

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And he's laid something down that gives me a lot of assurance. He says this, I do according to my will in heaven and on earth, no one can stay

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God's hand and say, what have you done? God is the sovereign, amen. And there's more

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Isaiah 46, 10, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done saying, my counsel shall stand and I will accomplish, listen, all of my purpose.

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God has his plan of redemption to bring about the glory of his Messiah through the redemption of sinful people.

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That is his purpose. He is predestined to people for salvation in Jesus Christ. That is his purpose.

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And God says that his counsel shall stand and I will accomplish all of my purpose.

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Listen closely to this. Nobody can thwart God's purposes. It's interesting, two men heavily influenced my thinking, pointing me to scripture.

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Dr. James White, one of my heroes of the faith, someone I consider a friend, I love the man. He's heavily impacted my thinking.

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Number one, Dr. White impacted my thinking in the era of the sovereignty of God. He made me a hardcore pipetting

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Calvinist. So thank you, Dr. White, okay? Number two, Dr. Greg Bonson heavily influenced my thinking about what

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God promised that the Messiah was gonna do in history in rescuing the nations. Number one, watch this.

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The sovereignty of God tells me that God has the power to save the world and the scriptures show us that God says he's actually going to do it.

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We have that promise. Number three, why should the nation say in Psalm 115, two through three, why should the nation say, where is their

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God? Our God is in the heavens. He does all that he pleases.

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Now, interestingly, if you know Psalm 115, it's really interesting. It's kind of a mocking moment.

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The nations are actually saying, watch this. They're saying this to God. Where's your God? Where's your

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God? Where is he? And you could take that in a modern context. You could say something like this. Where's your

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God with bone cancer for children? Where's your God in all the tragedies and the brokenness in the world?

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Where's your God with economic collapse? Where's your God with starving children? Where's your God? And the answer from scripture, amazingly, is the answer that you want.

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It seems simplistic. It almost seems kind of cavalier, doesn't it? Our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases.

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It seems a bit cavalier, right? Kind of a jab. But the truth is, when you have the God who is infinitely good and holy and just, the judge of all the earth who always does right, that's the only answer you want to that question.

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Where now is their God? Here's my answer. Our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases.

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God is sovereign. Last verse, Ephesians 1, 11.

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In him we have obtained an inheritance having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will.

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God works all things after the counsel of his will. All things, all things. You know what it means in the

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Greek? All things, all things. Everything, he works after the counsel of his will.

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Favorite verse of Christians, I hope you know it. It's in your heart, Romans 8, 28. God causes what? All things, come on now.

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God causes all things to work together for good. To those who love God, those who are called according to his purpose, according to his purpose.

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Here's the first foundation we need to grasp about the kingdom of God in history. It must be laid down. It has to be underneath us.

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We've got to be standing on this. Our God does whatever he pleases. He is the sovereign.

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He wields the stars and every molecule. Everything is in his hands to bring about his glory and his purposes.

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Now, when we think about what God has done in revealing himself to us in his plan, we need to think about what the scriptures actually say.

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It's amazing to me. I wasn't raised in a Christian home, in a Christian context, and so it really was a stunning thing for me.

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When I first heard the gospel, I got to see, I got a little book from D. James Kennedy, a little book, and it was just all the verses in the

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Old Testament. Not all the verses, but a lot of the verses in the Old Testament where God had told us the specifics of Jesus' coming.

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It's really compelling to me. I find it awing when I find an atheist saying, you don't have any evidence for God.

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Not only is there just evidence all around him, and we know he's suppressing the truth of God, but when you look at the messianic prophecies of Jesus, it is earth -shattering.

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It gives you goosebumps. It changes your whole life. The Old Testament, God told us every detail about the

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Messiah necessary to know him as Savior and as Lord. Everything about him, who he is, what he was gonna accomplish, why he was coming, when he was actually coming.

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These are prophecies laid down long before Jesus actually touches the earth. It's absolutely fascinating.

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I tell the story oftentimes about a young Jewish girl whose parents were immigrants I was ministering to in a hospital.

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She came to me one day, she said, hey, I don't wanna talk about Jesus with you, I'm a Jew. And so I said, okay, well, let's sit down and let's talk about your case.

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And she was a patient of mine. And so after a little bit of discussion, she says to me, she said, oh, okay, tell me about Jesus. I said, yes, okay, all right.

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Okay, so I said, here's what I'll do for you, okay? I wanna show you that Jesus is in fact

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Mashiach, that he's the Messiah, and I'm gonna do it without appealing to the New Testament at all. I just wanna show you that Jesus is in fact the

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Messiah using only the Old Testament scriptures that you and I both agree to, the Torah, the

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Tanakh, and everything else. And she says, I don't think you're gonna be able to do that, but give it a shot. So two weeks,

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I'm ministering to this young Jewish girl for two weeks. And after about two weeks of just getting into Isaiah and to Daniel and to Micah and all the pastors in the

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Psalms and the Old Testament and Moses, amazingly, this young Jewish girl who was the daughter of immigrants from Israel, parents were in the

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Israeli army, she calls her mom on the phone and she says, mom, I think I'm believing in Jesus.

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And her mom says to her, no, no, no, no, we don't do that. We don't believe in Jesus. We're Jews, shalom.

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And she says, well, mom, I'm only looking at the scriptures that we believe in and it's pointing right to him.

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Is there any good reason to believe that Jesus is not the Messiah? And her mom was quiet, she told me on the phone, 30 seconds of silence, awkward silence.

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And finally, she got annoyed by that. She said, her mom, mom, mom, is there any reason to believe that Jesus is not the

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Messiah? What is it? Is there any reason? And her mom said, no. And see, that's the story.

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The clarity with which God communicated Jesus coming is something that cannot be avoided.

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But I wanna say something very, very important that needs to be hung onto right now. God did not simply promise us a person who was coming to bring salvation to sinners.

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He promised us a King who was gonna bring salvation to the ends of the earth. The Messiah was not just about bringing private salvation to individual sinners.

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The Messiah was coming to bring redemption to the ends of the earth, to destroy all the works of the devil and to destroy death.

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The Messiah was coming to do what we could not do in ourselves. It's a whole story of salvation.

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And I want to give you a few of those themes. The promises, number one, and most of you guys know these things, but you need to hang onto them.

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The promise to Abraham was that he would have descendants as numerous as the stars, Genesis 15, five,

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Genesis 22, 17, Genesis 26, four. Abraham will have descendants as numerous as the stars.

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And that is really interesting to me. It's really, I think, amazing. If you ever go out to like, say, a cruise ship, maybe one day we'll have

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GGC 16 on a cruise ship. What do you guys think about that? That sounds good to me. I like that. For the conference, for the conference, okay?

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But if you ever went on a cruise ship and you go out to the ocean where there's no more light pollution, you actually look up to the stars, it really is stunning.

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It's something we miss a lot living in a city and with all the light pollution. You don't get to see really the glory of God in the way that I wish we could see all the time.

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The stars in the heavens, you can't even begin to calculate them. And amazingly, if we think about Abraham's day, probably very little light pollution.

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And God tells Abraham, look up, that's how your descendants are gonna be, as numerous as the stars.

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And what is that supposed to speak to us? Of failure in history, a few stars, a lot of stars, or stars that you can't even begin to imagine, so many stars.

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It becomes difficult to imagine, how can I begin to calculate this number?

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It is such a massive amount of descendants, that's supposed to shout at Abraham, victory.

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Descendants as numerous as the stars. Next point, Shiloh, Genesis 49 .10.

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This is very important, I want you to see it. Genesis 49 .10, Old Testament, first book of the Bible. Genesis 49 .10,

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go ahead and get there. Interestingly, you guys know the passage where Jesus confronts the religious leadership of his day.

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He says to them, if you believed Moses, you would believe me because he, what? Wrote about me.

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And so we look in the writings of Moses, the first five books, we can see

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Jesus in those books. But Genesis 49 .10 is a very important passage, speaking about the kingdom and the

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Messiah. Genesis 49 .10, the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet until tribute comes to him, listen closely to this, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

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Mark that down. The promise according to scripture, not only is that Abraham's descendants would have,

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Abraham would have descendants as numerous as the stars, but that this Shiloh who would come would actually have the obedience of the peoples.

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That was part of the promise. That was the expectation. Interestingly, as a theme you wanna see in the background, first Samuel chapter eight and chapter 11, the people of Israel have

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God as their king. They have God as their king. He's revealed himself to them.

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He's given them graciously his law. He's revealed to them his character. His law was given as a gift to his people.

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It was supposed to be their wisdom in the sight of the peoples. And God is their God, their king. And the people of Israel see the surrounding nations, and interestingly, they fall into a trap.

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First Samuel chapter eight, they want a king like the other nations. And Samuel perceives that as sinful.

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And God essentially agrees with them and says that it is sinful that he's their king. And he says, well,

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I'll give him a king. And when God gave his people a king, an earthly king over them, in that way, it was a curse upon them.

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He warned them, you're gonna have these consequences. You're gonna take your kids to war. All this is gonna happen to you.

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So God giving the people of Israel, his people, a king, was actually a curse, a punishment upon them.

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Because what does he say? He says, I'm their king. I'm their king.

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Think about that as a theme for a moment. God promised that he was gonna send a Messiah who would be the king over his people forever.

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And yet God tells his people, I'm your king. Think about that. Next point.

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And there's so many, I can't even begin to scratch the surface, but let's take a smattering of verses here. I think it's important. Psalm chapter two,

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Psalm chapter two. Interesting passage you need to grab hold of. I wanted to show you a few points here out of this passage.

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Psalm two, four, he says, he who sits in the heavens laughs. The Lord holds them in derision. Speaking about those who come against the

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Lord and against his anointed. Then he will speak to them in his wrath and terrify them in his fury saying, as for me,

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I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill. I will tell of the decree the Lord said to me.

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Listen closely. You are my son. Today I have begotten you. Watch what the father says to the son here.

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It's compelling. Ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance and the ends of the earth, your possession.

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You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Now, therefore, oh kings, be wise.

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Be warned, oh rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.

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Kiss the son, obey the son, lest he be angry and you perish in the way.

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For his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all those who take refuge in him. Brothers and sisters, hang on to this very, very tight.

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The father says to the son, ask of me and I will make the nations your inheritance. And then

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God turns to the kings of the earth and he says to them, be wise, obey the son, or you'll perish.

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The father is saying to the son, ask of me, I'll make the nations your inheritance. Now watch this.

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Dr. Bonson used to say when speaking on this passage, I think it was a powerful point to make, he said, do you think that God, the

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Lord Jesus, forgot to ask the father? Do you think Jesus forgot to ask?

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The father says, ask of me, I'll give him to you. We know that Jesus, when he ascended in Matthew 28, 18 through 20, said this, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me, therefore go, make disciples of what, guys?

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All nations. We know that Jesus did not forget to ask and a thing you want to grab hold of in Psalm 2 is the father promises the son the nations for his inheritance and he warns the kings of the earth to obey the son.

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Are we to anticipate with Jesus as the king, with the nations as his inheritance, are we to anticipate that the kings of the earth are to obey the son?

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According to the scriptures, yes. Jesus' authority does not end at the walls of the church.

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Jesus' authority does not end between my ears and in my heart.

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His authority is over all. The father said the nations are yours and he warns the kings to obey the son.

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Psalm 22, amazing passage, flipped there quickly and I picked a couple passages and by the way, really important here,

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I am in no way exhausting this and so you have to bear with me. I'm giving you just a smattering of verses here.

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We'd be here for six weeks on all the passages that really just talk about the display of the victory of the

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Messiah in history but here's a smattering of verses that should be somewhat familiar to us. Psalm 22, ready?

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My God, my God, what? Why have you forsaken me? The Jews, this is so important to me just to get across, they should have known better, amen?

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They're at the foot of the cross and Jesus says, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Amazingly, they knew the hymn.

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They knew the song. It's like if I say to you, amazing grace, how sweet the sound that, what?

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You got it, there you go. We're singing the song, so you just finished the verse for me.

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The Jews knew this song, they knew their text of scripture and at the foot of the cross, they should have heard the

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Messiah saying, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? They should have finished singing the song and they would have been singing about Jesus whose hands and feet were pierced, whose heart was like wax melted within him, who was surrounded by dogs, who were wagging their heads, who were taking his garments and casting lots for them, whose bones were out of joint, but amazingly, in this clear passage about the passion of the

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Messiah, look closely, sometimes we miss it. In the passage of the passion of the

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Messiah, after the Messiah's clear death, laid in the dust of death, look what happens in verse 22.

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I will tell of your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation, I will praise you.

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You who fear the Lord, praise him. All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him and stand in awe of him. All you offspring of Israel, for he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard when he cried to him.

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Now look closely, verse 27. All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the

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Lord. And all the families of the nations shall worship before you, for kingship belongs to the

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Lord and he rules over the nations. Brothers and sisters, victory. Brothers and sisters, inheritance.

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That's what the scriptures are shouting to us. Again, let's move into Psalms a little bit more together. Psalm 72, move forward.

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Psalm 72, verse five.

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May they fear you while the sun endures and as long as the moon throughout all generations. May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass, like showers that water the earth.

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Brothers and sisters, that gets everything wet. Do we have any question about how far reaching

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Jesus' dominion is? The Bible talks about his reign and his dominion as getting everything wet.

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Psalm 72. Again, in his days, verse seven, may the righteous flourish and peace abound till the moon be no more.

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May he have dominion from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth. May desert tribes bow down before him and his enemies lick the dust.

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May the kings of Tarshish and the coastlands render him tributes.

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May the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts. May all kings fall down before him.

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Listen closely, listen closely. All nations serve him. Brothers and sisters, where did we ever get the idea that Jesus fails in history?

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All the families of the earth, all the nations, he has dominion, water getting everything wet, descendants as numerous as the stars.

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To him is gonna be the obedience of the nations. And you can't tell me that believing the opposite has no effect on our witness as a church in this world.

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It does, it does. Moving forward, powerful passage.

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Many of you guys know it, I hope you do. Psalm 110 .1, Psalm 110 .1. Most of you don't even really need to read it.

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And here's possibly why. This passage was a favorite passage of the apostles and that should basically have us grab hold of something.

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Brothers and sisters, listen closely. Psalm 110 .1 was a favorite passage of the apostles. Why is it the apostles are quoting this passage so much?

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One of the most quoted passage from the Old Testament into the New Testament. The apostles loved this verse and here's why.

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This verse codified what the entire Old Testament talked about when it came to the Messiah.

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Psalm 110 .1, the Lord said unto my Lord, what? Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.

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And we have to ask the question, did Jesus ascend? Yes or no? Is Jesus seated at the right hand of the

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Father? Yes or no? The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 puts Jesus at the right hand of the

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Father, seated on his throne. And the apostle Paul has him currently reigning saying that he is putting all his enemies under his feet.

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The last enemy is death. And that's when Jesus delivers the kingdom over to the

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Father. Brothers and sisters, again, I ask you, where did we ever get the idea that Jesus does not win all the nations?

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Psalm 110 .1, now the prophets. And I'm gonna go quickly here. I'm gonna give you some verses. It's my job today, my duty today to lay down some foundational things for you guys.

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Isaiah chapter two, grab hold of that passage, go back to it later. The promise is that in the last days,

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God would have his mountain raised up above all the mountains, listen closely, and listen, all the nations would stream to it.

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And I love this. Water does not stream up mountains, does it?

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Which direction does water go on a mountain? Down. And the promise of God in Isaiah chapter two is that God was gonna raise up this mountain that all the nations streamed to.

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How does water come up a mountain? Here's how, it's drawn, it's drawn.

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God in his sovereignty is going to draw his elect up to his mountain.

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And the promise in Isaiah two was that the law would go forth from Zion.

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You have salvation, the nations would go forth. The law itself going forth from Zion, that's Isaiah chapter two.

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Isaiah nine, famous Christmas verse. You like it? I love it, it's on my Christmas cards.

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I love Christmas. Some of you guys maybe don't approve, maybe if you guys are covenanters in here, that's cool.

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I love Christmas, okay? And in Christmas time, Isaiah nine is the passage on all the cards.

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I love it, it's an awesome verse and needs to be in all of our hearts. And in the passage, in Isaiah chapter nine, go to it, you need to see what the promise is.

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Isaiah chapter nine tells us a lot about the identity of the Messiah and what's to come.

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Isaiah nine, six. For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called

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Wonderful Counselor, El Gibor, the mighty God. What's the identity of the

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Messiah, brothers and sisters? Come on now, say it to me now. This'll be like old school Baptist church.

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Come on now, let's go. God, that's the identity of the

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Messiah. A son is coming, a child, El Gibor. God himself is coming to rescue his people,

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El Gibor. The father of eternity, there it is again. Prince of peace, now look closely, listen closely.

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This needs to be held onto because we miss it. Isaiah nine, six. Isaiah nine, seven.

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Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end. Of the increase of his government and of peace, there will be no end.

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Of the increase. The Old Testament spoke of the Messiah's rule as small to large growth.

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It increases, it does not drop on history and clobber it.

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The popular thinking of our day today is that Jesus, he's king, kind of.

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He has authority in Neverland. Not on earth, in heaven, he's cool, he's king there.

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He'll come back one day to drop the kingdom on history and obliterate it. And then he'll really rule.

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But the Bible speaks of a different kind of reign. It speaks of an increase of his government and of peace, that there will be no end.

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And watch this. On the throne of David and over his kingdom to establish it and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time forth and forevermore.

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Watch this, watch this. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. I think that God put that verse there just for the post -millennialist.

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How's it gonna happen? The zeal of the Lord of hosts is going to do this. How's it gonna happen?

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God himself is going to accomplish this. So, ready? Rest, be patient. God will do this and more.

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Isaiah 11, read it later. Can't do it now, but look at the passage about Christ who will be as a banner for the nations to look to.

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He's gonna come, he's gonna bring salvation. Daniel chapter two talks about the Messiah's kingdom coming during the time of the fourth kingdom.

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You can count down the kingdoms from Daniel's day in Daniel chapter two. Babylon, Medo -Persian,

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Greek, and you have the Roman kingdom and enter Jesus and John the Baptist heralding what? Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

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God promised during the time of the fourth kingdom that God himself would set up a kingdom that would never be destroyed.

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Count down your kingdoms, enter John and Jesus heralding that kingdom. Coincidence or a sovereign

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God that controls the universe, controls all things? Notice again that in Daniel chapter two, it's spoken of as a stone that becomes a mountain and fills the earth.

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What do you see again? Isaiah nine, of the increase of his government and of peace, there'll be no end. Daniel chapter two, a stone that becomes a mountain and fills the earth.

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What do you see there? Progress in history, not obliteration, progress in history.

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And notice again in Daniel chapter two, as you read it later and study the notes in this, in Daniel chapter two, the promise is that God himself will set this kingdom up and it will never be destroyed.

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The zeal of the Lord of hosts again will accomplish this. Daniel chapter seven, go to it.

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Daniel chapter seven, important verse, verses seven through 13. Daniel seven, verses 13 through 14.

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I kept looking in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven, there came one like a son of man.

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And he came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him.

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And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all the people's nations and languages should serve him.

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His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

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Brothers and sisters, this is the story. All the nations, the obedience of the peoples, the knowledge of God covering the earth like the waters cover the sea.

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He has dominion from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth. The obedience of the peoples, descendants as numerous as the stars.

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All the people's nations, languages serving him. He comes up to the ancient of days and presented before him.

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His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom one which will not be destroyed.

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Now follow the story. Jesus enters, accomplishes redemption and interestingly, the last piece we have in Matthew 28 is when he says to his people, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

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And I need to say it again because we don't always catch it, do we? All authority in heaven and where?

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And where? Key part of this conference. Pause for a second.

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Key part of this conference is just that truth. Who's in charge here? Who is in charge here?

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Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. And he went which direction, brothers and sisters?

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Up. That's fulfillment of Daniel 7. He came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him.

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Now Jesus tells us, go get the nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son and the

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Holy Spirit and teach them to what? Obey. That's the story.

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Now moving forward through some shadows, I gotta share it with you because I think it's beautiful. Adam, the first Adam is the image of God in God's garden.

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He's told to take dominion over the garden, to cultivate it. Death enters in a garden.

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Adam was naked and shamed and should have stayed that way. Death enters in that garden.

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God covers Adam, promises the Messiah, the promised seed and he covers

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Adam and Eve's nakedness. Adam should have stayed dead in that garden. He should have stayed naked.

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He was told to take dominion, to cultivate God's garden. He was the image of God in the world and he failed.

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He sinned against God. Move forward to Jesus, it's glorious. Jesus, the promised

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Messiah, the King, the second Adam, our representative, perfectly obeys God's laws, amen?

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He dies a death that we deserved. He goes into a garden tomb and where does our savior, the second

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Adam, the perfect image of God, where does he conquer death in a garden? Adam died, was naked and God covered him.

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Jesus, our substitute, died naked and shamed and stayed that way.

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Conquered death in a garden and this is significant. As the second Adam, the image of God, what we were supposed to be when he gets out of that tomb in that garden and he's spotted first, they mistake

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Jesus as the gardener and I love it. It's almost like as Christians, we just miss it.

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Like John just goes and she thought he was the gardener because you know, because there's gardeners. What would lead you to believe that somebody's a gardener?

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What are they doing? They're working the grounds. Jesus, the second

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Adam, our perfect representative, conquers death in a garden which is where it came and the first thing he does as the second

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Adam is begin working the grounds. Is God concerned with dominion?

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Is he concerned with us cultivating God's garden? I believe so.

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Jesus' explicit statements about his kingdom as a present reality. Jesus heralded the good news of the kingdom,

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Matthew chapter four. Jesus told them as he defeats Satan in the wilderness as the perfect Israelite, what

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Israel didn't do, Jesus accomplishes. Jesus conquers Satan in the wilderness. He comes out now and he says repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand and he goes around now saying something that we don't say often in our culture.

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He proclaims the good news, the gospel of the kingdom, his rule.

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Brothers and sisters, it's good news that Jesus is the ruler. It's good news that he's king and he proclaimed it.

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Jesus explicitly taught the coming of his kingdom. Matthew chapter 12 verses 25 through 30.

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Listen to what Jesus says when they accuse him of working with Satan. No, you're buddies with Satan.

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You're working together. That's why you're casting out Satan because you guys are hooked up. You're bedfellows, right?

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That's how it's working out. And Jesus says, how could Satan cast out Satan? But watch what he says here. Hang tight onto this.

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It's very important. Jesus says this. If I cast out Satan by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God, watch, has come upon you.

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Now let's follow it through logically. If I cast out demons by the spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

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Here's the question. Did Jesus cast out demons by the spirit of God? Yes or no? Yes. So the answer to Jesus is his kingdom had come upon them.

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Matthew chapter 16 verse 28. Jesus taught that there were some standing there who would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God, the rule of God, come with power.

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There's the timing. Not only is Daniel telling us the kingdom comes during the time of the fourth kingdom. Rome, we know that occurred.

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Jesus was heralding it. He said that he brought it. He said that some of them wouldn't die until it came with power.

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Some obviously have tried to say that, well, Jesus was just speaking about the transfiguration. Now there might be elements of that in there, but I think it's very important to notice that Jesus said some of you won't die before you see it come with power.

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No one died a couple days later. Very important, explicit statements from the apostles.

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Colossians 1 .13. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son.

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Revelation 1 .6. And he has made us to be a kingdom, priest to his

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God and father, to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. I want you to listen to the apostle

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Paul. Romans, good book, amen? Very good, okay.

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Luther said that every Christian should have Romans as part of their daily diet. I agree. I love it. Very important.

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The apostle Paul was trained under Gamaliel. He knows his scriptures. Would you agree? He knows the story.

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He said it was promised beforehand in the holy scriptures concerning God's son. And at the beginning of Romans 1 and in Romans 16, the apostle

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Paul bookends his systematic explanation of the good news with a very, very important truth, that what they were doing was bringing this gospel to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations.

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Romans 1, to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations. Romans 16, to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations.

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Genesis 49 .10, to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

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The apostle Paul knows the story. We are not aiming as Christians to start Bible studies in basements only.

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Please do. Bible studies in Starbucks, Bible studies in backyards, Bible studies at Peter Muse house,

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Bible studies with bacon, Bible studies, Bible studies, Bible studies. Okay, good, okay, right. But the goal is the nations and the obedience of the nations.

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Amen? Amen. Here is the summary of what we're saying. 1

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Corinthians 15. Here's what we are saying. Here's what we're heralding.

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Here's what we're saying we want in the hearts and minds of Christians. 1

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Corinthians chapter 15. People say, what is your hope?

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What are you saying is ahead of us? Here it is. 1 Corinthians 15, starting in verse 22.

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For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive, but each in his own order. Christ, the firstfruits, then it is coming, those who belong to Christ.

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Then comes the end, when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power.

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Listen closely. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.

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So what are you saying? That. All things in subjection to this

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Messiah, all rule, all authority, everything under his feet. Then comes the end, when he delivers it over to the

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Father as a completed thing. That's the joy. That's the hope we have ahead of us is not defeat as Christians.

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We herald a gospel that is the power of God for salvation. God opens the eyes of the blind.

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He removes hearts of stone. He makes people alive from the dead and joins them to his son.

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And he's promised his son the nations. And Jesus commands us to go get them.

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That's the story. Now, second point, and I have to go quickly here. I told you had sins in this area.

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So we're gonna go kind of fast. I still have tomorrow with you guys so we can do some more then. Okay, sound good? Okay, here we go.

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Second part, I'm gonna talk today about the law of God. Just briefly, we're gonna get a lot of it this weekend.

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The law of God. Here's the important thing to grasp as Christians. God is the very reference point of all questions about truth.

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That is fundamentally our message. How do we know what we know? It's compelling, are you ready?

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Very philosophically rigorous and tough. It's very detailed, very large. How do we know what we know with certainty?

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Here it is, ready? God said so. Because God says. We believe that God has revealed himself and he's spoken.

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He's told us about himself. He's told us about his plans. God is the very reference point of all questions of truth.

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Proverbs 1, seven. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.

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Fools despise wisdom and correction, but the fear of the Lord is the beginning. If we don't start our thinking with God, we are reduced to absurdity.

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We're reduced to foolishness. You're gonna get a lot of that this weekend, right? Some of you guys are waiting for Si. You're like, I'm waiting for Si to say that.

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Because that's his thing. How do you know what you know? How can you be certain about anything? Here as Christians, we have certainty about what is true, about what is justice, because God's revealed himself.

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God is the very reference points. He's the starting point. And when it comes to law, you're either gonna have autonomy or theonomy.

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Theos namos, God's law. We're either gonna have self law.

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We're gonna have man's law or God's law. There's no in between because there's no neutrality, brothers and sisters.

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God's revealed himself. He's told us what he's like. He's talked about justice. He's talked about righteousness.

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He's talked about sin. We know what he said. He's the reference point. That's our contention.

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God's law or man's law. And what we wanna say is we wanna start all of our thinking with God.

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We wanna be on the rock and not on the sand. Jesus says there's two kinds of people.

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There's a foolish one and a wise one. Two kinds of foundations, a rock and sand, ultimately, sinking sand.

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And there's two destinations, desolation and one that makes it through.

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We're saying that God's the very reference points. When he speaks, he speaks truth.

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We stand on his word and we wanna stand on the rock. Very important, here's what we're not saying in this conference, that the law of God can justify anybody.

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Now, I need you to grab hold of that. Very important. Highlight it right now on your page. Like, you know, just into your seat. Do a little dance so you remember that I said it.

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The law of God can justify nobody. Galatians chapter one clearly states that to preach another gospel is anathema.

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And it's clear in the book of Galatians that the controversy surrounds faith in Messiah, alone, or faith in Messiah and works of law, or a work of law, a combination of the law of God and faith in Messiah for justification before God.

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And the apostle Paul says in Galatians five what? Christ has become of no effect to you, whosoever attempts to be justified by law, you've fallen from grace.

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Galatians three, you're under the curse of the law to fulfill all of it, if that's what you do with the law.

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We believe that a mixture of faith in Christ and any work of law whatsoever is a damnable gospel.

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We believe that to mix faith and works for salvation is not a gospel. It means death.

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My friend said before, to preach a false gospel is to commit eternal murder, and I agree.

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The law can justify nobody. We are not saying that there are not changes of administration or in the laws of God as he's defined it.

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It's very clear in scripture that there are majestic, awesome changes in the law.

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For example, we no longer have a temple, we no longer have a priest who's offering sacrifices for us and for himself because he's also a sinner and then he dies and another guy takes his place.

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We're no longer offering those sacrifices. We're no longer doing those things that were pointing towards Christ in the law.

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Jesus has fulfilled those. We have a heavenly city. We have a temple not made with hands.

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We have a sacrifice once for all that allows us to get before God with bold and confident access.

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We have a righteousness that is not our own. Through faith, we are forgiven, we have eternal life.

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Amen? That's awesome, right? Praise God for that. But we are not saying there aren't changes that God has in the new covenant.

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Here's what we are saying fundamentally. Jesus is the king. Here's what we are saying.

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Jesus has all authority in heaven and on earth. There is no realm, no place where Jesus does not put his finger on it and say, mine.

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We are saying that Jesus has all the authority in my life, over my body, over my mind, over my thinking, over my children, over my wife, over my family, in my church.

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And we are saying that Jesus has authority in the area of civil government as well.

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That he gets to tell them no. That he gets to tell them yes.

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That when we have questions about how society is to operate, when we have questions about what true justice is, we say go to the standard.

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God has spoken. This is his word. This is his law. This is what is true.

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This is what we stand on. And we warn the world, be wise, obey the son, or you'll perish when his wrath is kindled.

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What are we saying? That there are different aspects of the law of God. That it's good, amen?

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Listen, here's the thing. No matter what side of this you're on as a Christian, we're all one family of God regardless, amen?

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We're all joined to the same savior by faith. So this is about sanctification in the church.

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We all agree with that, amen? No matter where we're on in this issue. But we all agree with the Bible when it says that the law is good, it is holy.

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First Timothy chapter one, verse eight, Romans 7, 12, and here's another contention of ours.

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It is gracious of God to give the law to his people. Exodus 20, verses one through two, listen to what

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God says when he gives the Decalogue the 10 commandments to his people. He says,

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I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

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This is not God laying down oppression upon his people. He's saying, I am your

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God, you're my people. I took you out of slavery, I redeemed you.

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So when God gave the law to his people, it was an act of his own condescension and grace.

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Are there aspects of the law that are condemning on fallen people? Absolutely.

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Fallen people cannot submit to the law of God. And it is a curse upon people who cannot accomplish it.

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And that's where Christ comes in, amen? That's the glory of the gospel. But the law itself is not bad, it's not oppression, it's not tyranny, it reflects the very nature of our

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God. God is love, amen? Love does no harm to its neighbor. Jesus says, the greatest commandments, love

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God with heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as you love yourself. All of the law and the prophets built upon those two.

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What is the law built upon? Ready? Love. Love for God, love for neighbor.

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Here's what we're promoting as theonomists. We are promoting salvation only in Christ and a society that is ruled by love.

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Love for God, love for neighbor. Psalm 119 .29,

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put false ways far from me and graciously teach me your law. Graciously teach me your law.

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Your law is my delight. That's the heart of the believer. That's what God was doing in us.

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That's what he is doing in us as believers. The law has gone from stone tablets outside of dead, fallen people to now being brought into our hearts and minds by the living

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God, raising us from death to life. Now we have not written code outside of us, but a law internalized within us.

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The law was supposed to be the light to the world, Deuteronomy 4, five through eight. God says, this law, the nations are supposed to look at you and they're supposed to say, what kind of people that has a

01:02:02

God so near to it as you guys and has a law so righteous as this?

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It's meaningful. Brothers and sisters, you can't say it's not meaningful today. I just watched a video.

01:02:15

Joel and I were talking. I watched a video recently by accident and a foreign nation, people surrounding a man with his hand down on a board and they're chopping this man's hand off for theft.

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I say love for neighbor compels me to say something about that. I say love for God and love for neighbor compels me to say something about that, to say that that's not righteous.

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And if someone says, well, what is righteous? We're not to fall back into autonomy as Christians and just be white noise with the rest of the world.

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Here's what we say, we've got a rock to stand on. We know what justice is. We know what righteous decrees are. We know what

01:02:59

God says is the just penalty for that crime. The world is supposed to look into Israel and say, what kind of God is this that has laws as righteous as this?

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And this is finally what I'm gonna end on, the flow of history. Isaiah two promises that in the last days, when

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God brought the nations up, the law would go forth from Zion. Jeremiah 31, verse 31.

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The promise is that in the new covenants, God would take his law now and he would write it within his people.

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He would forgive their sins. He would remember them no more.

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And I love this, a little bit of post -millennialism for you guys, so here we go, ready? This is the right place to do that, amen, right?

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Yes, no, okay, okay. You will no longer have to teach your neighbor saying, know the

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Lord for they'll all know me from the least to the greatest. Ezekiel 36, we know the passage.

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We love the passage. Ezekiel 36 promises that in the new covenant,

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God would do something. He would sprinkle clean water on you so you'd be clean. He would cleanse you of all your idols.

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And he says that he would put his spirit within you, removing the heart of stone, giving you a heart of flesh, and watch this, causing us to observe his statutes.

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Brothers and sisters, watch. The story is Messiah comes, brings redemption to the whole world, and it doesn't just contain that.

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It contains the truth about what God is doing to raise up dead sinners to life and to indwell them by his spirits so that what they could not do before in the new covenant by the spirit of God, they now can do, his law.

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They fulfill the righteous requirement of the law now in the spirit, no longer in the flesh.

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And our argument is this. Jesus is king. He has all authority. He's the standard.

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The kings are to obey him. We are to obey him. Our call to the world is repent and believe the gospel.

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We say it to every area, every category, every person. Repent and believe the good news.

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Repent and believe the good news. On the street, to the government even.

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Repent and believe the gospel. Come to Christ. Our call is for the world to come and to receive salvation, eternal life, reconciliation with God through this

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Messiah. He's the standard. He's the rock. He has all authority in heaven and on earth.

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That's the message of this conference. Let's pray. God, I pray that you continue to bless

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God as we hear from your word, Lord, and we fellowship together. I pray, God, you'd bless us as a church to be sanctified, to be grown by you.

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God, that you would, by your spirit and by your gospel with your power, change the hearts of people all around us.

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God, bring light into darkness again. Lord, we, right now, we hold on to the truth that the gospel is the power of God for salvation.

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We know, God, that it's your gospel. Give us, God, the power, Lord, and the boldness,

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God, and the hope to be able to preach it, God, to be able to tell the world your story, to be able to preach the good news of your kingdom and your rule, your salvation, and that,

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God, that would go to the ends of the earth, to your glory, to your glory, and to your exaltation. Lord Jesus, you have all authority in heaven and on earth.

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We pray, Lord, what you told us to pray, that your will would be done on earth as it is in heaven, on earth as it is in heaven.

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We pray, God, you'd give us the wisdom and the confidence and boldness,