104. Title: How The Prophets Prove Postmillennialism | A Practical Postmillennialism Series.

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Hello everyone and welcome back to the broadcast where we prod the sheep and beat the wolf this episode 104 how the prophets prove post -millennialism

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Introduction Now if you're joining us for the first time, I just want to say thank you so much for being here

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Make sure if you like this content to like it share it subscribe and hit the bell Icon on the subscribe button so that you never miss new content as it comes out

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But I want to welcome you here If you're if you're new or if you've been joining us for a long time because today we're going to continue our series on a

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Practical post -millennialism and the goal of this series has been very simple I want to show you how post -millennialism is the right view and I want to show you that in three stages

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The first stage that we covered was how there are wrong views The first thing

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I wanted to cover and the goal of this series was to do three things the first thing I wanted to show is how historic pre -millennialism dispensationalism and Amelianism are deficient views in eschatology and they don't actually motivate the

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Church of God to take godly action in the world and and they don't actually Inspire us to get involved in to see

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Jesus have victory over every square inch of the cosmos as Kuiper would say Instead it's been my contention that those views have sown a kind of rank defeatism in the ranks of the

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Christian Church a putrid sort of pessimism that has caused us to disengage and to avoid culture and Depending on the view it's given us varying degrees of antipathy towards the mission of God from intentional abandonment of the world and culture to paralyzed immobility and Along with the other spiritual canker sores that we talked about.

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It's left the church plagued with hopelessness and Abandoning her Christ Commissioned role to bring the gospel to the nations and to help the nation's learn obedience to Jesus Matthew 28 19 now

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Instead of discipling the West which is our Great Commission and not just the West the whole world all the nations

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But instead of doing that we've been discipled by the West Instead of teaching the nation's how to obey

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Jesus which is our Commission We've allowed them to teach us how to obey them and how to walk in the counsel of the wicked

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Psalm 1 1 Instead of spreading Jesus's victory far and wide we become addicted to defeat and we need to repent of that the

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Church of Jesus needs to repent for our Inactivity our hopelessness and our sitting around waiting for a rapture to happen instead of doing what

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Jesus said Instead of taking the gospel to the nations. Why are we so concerned with a rapture when we won't even obey him there?

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It's a strong question, but it's important to answer. We need to repent We need to repent of all of this sort of eschatological defeatism

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I believe that's where much of where Christianity's failing today and where they need to repent is in dumping that defeatism that got us here because we don't if we don't

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Get rid of the defeatism that got us here We're never gonna actually get out of here and the issues that we're having in society

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I believe that if you think we lose down here You're not gonna build down here If you think that the world is nothing more than a sinking ship, then you're not gonna invest in it

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You're not gonna work in it. You're not gonna attempt to take Dominion over it Why would you build buildings that are gonna last for centuries if you think that we're gonna be zapped out of here in a moment?

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As dispensationalism is taken over the church You stopped seeing great cathedrals being built so that now churches are meeting in warehouses

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Is there is there any wonder why that's happening? Why would we build great stone cathedrals when when

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Jesus is getting ready in a moment to take us out? Why would we work to bring the gospel to every single people group?

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Why would we translate the Bible in every single language if the church is on the precipice of being vaporized?

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Why would we why would we work to bring a cure to cancer? Why would we solve world hunger? Why would we bring peace to war -torn nations if the kingdom is just a spiritual?

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Phenomenon that is carried along in the hearts of men who believe the gospel who are getting ready to be raptured out of here It would be more prudent to arrange deck chairs on the sinking

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Titanic than to get involved in this world which is how we ended up here as Christians have pulled out of the world the world has lost its view of Jesus because we pulled out all of the

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Holy Spirit and dwelled people pulled out of the world and because of that our Influence in the world has waned and because our influence in the world waned sinners do what sinners do and look at the world around You that's how we got here

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As Christians stop trying to teach the nations how to obey. Well, they happily disobeyed They happily did everything under the

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Sun to to grieve God and now you don't even know what a man and a woman is I lay that right at the feet of the church who has been inactive and silent and cowardly for far too long

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That's how we ended up here and it's plain and clear to me that if we have that wrong sort of view of the end

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Times we're not going to live rightly in our time. That's why we're doing this Because these matters are gravely important We need to see the wrong views and we need to repent to the wrong view so that we can understand the right view and then get back to Discipling the nation's so that's the second section is what is the right view and as we've been arguing the correct view of eschatology is

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Post -millennialism, it's not a perfect view. There is no perfect view, but it's the best view

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It's the one that I think is the most accurate the most biblical represent represents all of the text in the scriptures

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That's post -millennialism. Now. We've been doing this for a couple weeks now in this section I think this is the fifth installment in section two and we started in Genesis We began where God begins and we showed

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How God designed the world to be filled with worshippers the end for which

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God created the world is that the whole world be filled with Worshippers, so why do we believe as Christians that that the that the end has changed?

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Why do we believe that God started the story with a world that is filled with worshippers?

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And now he's gonna end the story with a world filled with defeat and brokenness and and a rapture and all of this

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Where did we get all of that defeatism from because it's not how God designed the world He designed the world for Adam and Eve to be fruitful and to multiply and to spread his dominion to the ends of the earth

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Which means before God is finished with the old world Unless he changes his plan the entire planet is gonna come under the banner of him

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And and now because of Jesus that means the Christian Church That doesn't mean that that some of the world is going to come under her auspices before Jesus returns

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It doesn't even mean that most of the world it means that if God stays consistent with his plan the

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Church of Jesus Christ is gonna fill the world and Everyone is gonna be a part of it. That means Islam Mormonism buddhism a

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Shinto ism secular Judaism atheism and every other toxic ism is going to fade out of memory of human history

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It is gonna be a footnote in a history book before the Lord is finished because God is going to accomplish his purposes

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God is going to receive worship from those who worship him in spirit and in truth John 4 24 and Since God designed the world to be filled with this kind of spirit and truth worship

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Genesis 1 28 I believe that God is going to fill the world with the songs and the hymns and the and the

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Lord's table and the Christian worship, he's gonna fill the world with Christians and We know that that's the

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Lord's eventual plan because of the book of Genesis We know that's his eventual plan because that was his actual plan that he set about in motion

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He didn't lay out a roadmap to failure. He didn't give Adam and Eve a 10 -step guide on how to ruin everything

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He designed them not to bumble along in ruin But to be but to fill the world with their offspring who were fruitful multiplying and taking dominion over everything we have to remember that is how

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God created the world and Even after humans sinned

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God didn't discard that vision. He didn't give up on that plan He didn't he didn't he didn't throw in the wastebasket and say, all right, we're starting a new story

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We're starting a new story where I'm gonna save a few people and then everything else is gonna crash in a cataclysmic defeat

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That's not what God did. He didn't give up on his plan from God's perspective Nothing changed

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Do we really believe that God wrote down in Genesis chapter 1 in Genesis chapter 2? Not aware of the fact that sin was gonna enter the world like yes.

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I want to create a world that's filled with worshipers Oh, oh, no. Look what happened. They sinned.

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Oh now I'm gonna change my plan No God knew from the entire Outset that sin was gonna enter the world and he still wrote that he intended to fill that same world with worshipers

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That's why he reiterated those promises to Noah After Adam sinned and all his generation sinned and sin filled the earth

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Sin filled the earth God reiterated the promises to Noah and said you're gonna be fruitful.

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You're gonna multiply You're gonna spread out to the ends of the earth and I'm gonna fill the world with worshipers through your offspring

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God swore After the Tower of Babel after another great defeat in the human project

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That's the second one by the way after that He swore against his own life that he was gonna do these things to Abraham Isaac and Jacob You don't swear against your own life unless you're serious in the ancient world when you did that and I guess today it would be

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The same thing if you swear against your own life You're saying kill me if these things don't happen God is literally saying

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I'm willing to die if these things are not gonna come to pass and He also shows the fact that he was willing to die so that they would come to pass

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He told them that Eventually, and this is to Jake to Judah now that the Shiloh figure is gonna come and he's gonna bring the entire world

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Under the conformity of God. He's not just gonna save a lukewarm Wishy -washy people know he's going to save the world and then he's going to bring that world under conformity to him

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He's gonna make them obedient He's gonna make them love him in spirit and the truth and he's gonna make them like Adam and Eve were in the garden

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But except this time multiplied all over the world the seed of Abraham that was promised to Abraham the

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Shiloh that was promised to Judah is none other than Jesus Christ we've seen that and Jesus Christ is going to go back and he is going to redo and reinvigorate and Accomplish everything that God has promised because God never promises something that he doesn't intend on accomplishing

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Abraham just wasn't good enough to accomplish the promises that were given to him Neither was Isaac or Jacob or Judah or Noah or Adam, but Jesus is and he will accomplish what

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God promised That's what the book of Genesis is all about these unmistakable global worldwide

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Promises where God's gonna have victory on earth. His Dominion's gonna extend over all the nations his worldwide blessing is gonna be poured out on his coveted people, but It's not gonna be through Men that those promises come about it's gonna be through the man

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Jesus that those promises come about That's the book of Genesis now

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We don't get outside of the book of Genesis and God gets angry and throws away the script No, he continues working out those things.

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So we see in the rest of the story of Israel how this is affirmed in That he's gonna bring about his blessings upon his covenant people.

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He's gonna do all that We saw that through the rest of the story of Israel for instance

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We saw how Israel who's a type of Adam failed to bring about the things that God promised.

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She's like Adam She failed she failed over and over and over again She was formed in the dusty parts of Egypt like Adam was formed out of the dust

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She was removed from those dusty parts and she was placed in a garden land Not kind of like the

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Garden of Eden, which is a land flowing with milk and honey. That's the land of Canaan and While she was in that land

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God promised to live with her and to dwell with her just like he promised to Adam and Then she failed to crush the serpents head the serpent

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People the Canaanites the ones who worshipped the serpent were there in the land She was supposed to discard them and eject them like Adam was supposed to discard and eject the serpent and instead of that She bowed down and worshipped the very thing that Adam fell down and obeyed and worshipped and she fell into sin and ruin

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Like Adam she fell into slavery and she fell into debauchery and idolatry which we see in the period of the judges and Instead of spreading

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God's dominion on earth like she was supposed to she fell into slavery

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Exile and defeat and we see that in the era of the Kings now all of this failure came despite having a righteous law to guide her a a

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Glorious priest or sacrificial system to atone for her and the most incredible collection of hymns called the

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Psalms that the world has ever known And as we saw a couple weeks ago Those hymns not only magnify and extol the glory of God and how

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God saves and all of course they do But they also magnify his victory the

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Psalms talk about how God is going to reinvigorate the promises made to Adam Abraham and Judah that how he's gonna

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Reign over the entire earth the Psalms say that and they actually call us to sing that They call us to sing how he's going to crush all of his enemies on earth how he's gonna bless his covenant people all over The earth how he's gonna fill the world with worshippers.

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The Psalms is like a post -millennial handbook and to the degree that a church will sing the

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Psalms will be to the degree that a church will have a masculine and glorious victorious vision if You abandon the

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Psalms for the 711 songs of the day where Jesus is my boyfriend you're gonna have an overly

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Feministic view of the world where you're gonna be scared and frail and you're not going to see that Jesus has the victory

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The Psalms don't talk like that. And I think that the Christian Church ought to sing the Psalms, but that's an entirely different episode now

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Despite all of these blessings that God has poured out upon his people. She failed just like Adam She collapsed into syncretism idolatry and ruin and she was eventually cast out of the garden just like Adam when she was deported in exile to the east to the eastern lands of Babylon now it's during that final period of time where she's exiled and Where she's living in Babylon and even when she returns to the promised land and rebuilds the temple is during that period of time that God sends these men named the prophets where God graciously sent the prophets to bring three

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Essential messages to his wayward people the first message that God brings is that he's indicting them for their wicked

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Hostilities against him and their covenant -breaking behavior. That's the main thrust of what the prophets are talking about So whether you're reading

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Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel if you're reading Habakkuk or Nahum or if you're reading Zephaniah or Amos or Jonah any of that the the main thrust of the message is

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That the people have sinned and That they need to be punished for it second thing that God talks about in the prophets is he's going to judge them

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Severely because there's they're so far gone that they don't repent half of the minor prophets exist before the exile and the other half exist after the exile those that exist before the exile talk about the northern ten tribes how

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God is going to issue them a certificate of divorce and totally destroy them under the hand of Assyria and And They're gonna be wiped out.

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I mean, there's no other way to say it. They're divorced by God disowned by God and destroyed by God That's what happens to the northern ten tribes and it's because of their sin in their idolatry in The case of Judah, which is the southern two tribes of Judah and Benjamin God is going to allow them to be devastated

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He's gonna allow their city to be burned and sacked to the ground by Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon and they're gonna they're gonna be in chains

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Marched the 700 miles or so from Jerusalem to Babylon and they're going to live there for 70 years in exile

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Until they return but when they return they never gain back their national sovereignty. They don't gain back their national sovereignty

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Throughout the entire period of time until Jesus comes and even then they say to Jesus and to Pilate We have no king but Caesar They were ruled by various foreign powers like Babylon, Persia Media Greece and Rome they never gained their national sovereignty

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Because God had moved on from that He didn't move on from having a king sitting on the throne of David He moved on from having their

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Kings sit on the throne of David because he was gonna send a true and better King namely Jesus According to the prophets all of this tragedy could have been avoided if they would have just repented

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But because they didn't repent all the curses of the covenant that are listed in Deuteronomy 28 were poured out on them

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That's why Jesus says in Matthew 23 that all of these covenant woes are coming on this generation

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That's why he says Matthew 24 that all of this is gonna happen in that generation It's because they refuse to repent

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It's because they turned on the one that God was sending the true Adam true Noah true Abraham true

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King That was gonna reinvigorate all of this. That's Jesus. They turned on him and they murdered him in the first century and Because of that they inherited the wrath of God and the covenant curses that came along with it now

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That's sort of the period of the prophets now That's the first two things that they share they share that you need to repent and but because you're not gonna repent you're going to Be brought into covenant

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Whoa, the third aspect of what the prophets talk about and it really is the minority of what the prophets communicated

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But they also reserve some of their material and they're preaching in their writing For the future many people when they think about the prophets they think about these are the future oriented books

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Well, the minority of that is actually future oriented material Most of it is looking back to the law of God and saying you failed here.

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You failed here. You failed here You're gonna be punished About 10 % maybe a little more of the prophets is forward looking material and the prophets are going to look forward

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They're going to look past the sin and failure of Israel. They're gonna look past the Idolatry and rebellion of Judah and they're gonna look past to a time when all of these promises come true

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Remember, they know the promises that was given to Adam and to Noah and to Abraham and to Isaac and Jacob and you they know

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All of the promises that we've talked about so far They know them and instead of saying that God is gonna give up on them

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And he's just gonna choose to come and save a few people and then zap us out of here They say no, no, no God is going to reinvigorate and restore all those old promises through his son

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He doesn't give up on his plan The prophets actually demonstrate that he's gonna complete it that he's gonna complete it with his own son the

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Son of God Who's gonna come and he's gonna deal with the treachery and idolatry of his people He's gonna punish them severely for their misdeeds and for the ways that they've that they've they bowed the knee to every idol

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He's not gonna let any of the guilty go unpunished Exodus 34 6 or 7 But that doesn't mean that God is going to ignore the things that he has spoken from the very beginning

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That's why the prophets look forward to a man the anointed one Habakkuk 313

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Who's gonna bring about everything Yahweh said was going to happen? Since Israel couldn't do that They weren't the true son of Adam who's gonna reverse the curse since they were not the true seed of Abraham Who's gonna bless every family on earth and all the nations and since the

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Judeans could not be the Shiloh the faithful Shiloh of God Who's gonna make the nation's obedient to Yahweh?

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Well, the prophets look beyond them beyond Israel and Judah and Adam to the true servant of the

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Lord Isaiah 53 who's gonna take all the promises of God and fulfill them him self according to the prophets

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He will make the world overflow with worshipers like Adam should have he's gonna bless every family on earth that was promised to Abraham He's gonna bless all the nations on earth that was promised to Jacob He's going to transform the world into lovers of God instead of haters of God, which was promised to Judah today

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Having already covered all of that and then also looked at Isaiah on last week We're gonna look at the rest of the prophets and what they say and they're gonna tell us that the

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Messiah is going to bring in five things and in these five things

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Every aspect of the curse that happened all the way back in the Garden of Eden is going to be healed within these five things

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Everything is going to be put back into Eden It's incredible the first thing we're gonna see is that that Jesus is gonna restore peace and righteousness on earth by Overturning the sin of Adam so he's gonna forgive his people of their sins and by doing that he's gonna bring them into his peace

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Number two, he's gonna rule over the nations as he as was commanded to Adam He's gonna bring

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God's dominion back to the earth. That's the second thing The third thing is he's gonna spread

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God's kingdom to all the nations. He's not just gonna save a few people He's gonna save all the nations.

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He's gonna bring his dominion his fruitful multiplying kingdom to everywhere That's number three number four

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He's gonna spread the wisdom and the knowledge of God lifting the curse that has plagued the man's soul and he's gonna allow men and women to be

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Resurrected out of the throes of sin and to love God and to worship God in spirit and in truth

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So not only is God gonna save a world And and leave them in their sin

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He's going to actually teach them the knowledge of God so that they love him and worship him correctly Now those first four things are talking about spiritual realities.

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He's gonna save people It's gonna spread his kingdom all over earth and he's gonna make those people love him

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Those are spiritual truths. The prophets also get into the fact that God is going to heal the physical

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Manifestations of the curse as well. He's gonna heal sicknesses and diseases. He's gonna extend life

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Because you remember that that life was limited to 120 years. He's going to extend that and make people live longer

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He's going to heal diseases. He's gonna bring peace on earth. He's gonna eliminate war He's gonna do things in his kingdom that you and I normally don't think that he is going to do and he's gonna do

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That and throughout the entire reign until he has brought peace all over the world and he's gonna deal with his final enemy

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Which is death first Corinthians 15 26 Now as we will see Jesus is gonna succeed where Adam failed

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He's gonna succeed where everyone else failed and he's going to bring about these promises the question that you and I have to wrestle

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With today is do we believe it? Do we believe that Jesus is going to accomplish what

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God said or is he going to disregard what God said and avoid doing everything my view

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And I think the only view that makes sense is that God is going to restore everything that was lost in Adam Through Jesus Christ and he's gonna do that in Jesus's kingdom not in a future millennium

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So to that end, let us begin. Let's start with part one. Jesus will bring God's peace and righteousness to his people

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Now as we said before when the Messiah comes he will make good on all of God's promises to his people even though Adam and Eve unleashed sin and misery upon the earth and Filled it to the brim with people who hate

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God who love war who love violence and oppression and iniquity God's plan to deal with it is going to begin by sending his son the cleanup project

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On aisle 5 the the way that God is going to do what God has said is first and foremost

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He's going to send his son He would come and that son would come to crush and defeat the serpent as promised given in Genesis 3 15 and he would come to set us free from our chains and our curses so that we could finally and forever

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Live for him. That's Galatians 5 1. This was not plan B This was plan a from the very beginning

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God created a world where he knew that Adam and Eve were gonna fall into sin So that he could send his one and only son to save them from their sin and to do what he has promised now according to the prophets if this coming messianic figure is going to make all things new if he's gonna reinvigorate the promises of God if he's gonna extend

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Yahweh's Dominion from sea to shining sea. Well, the first thing that he has to do is he has to deal with the one who's sitting on the throne currently

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Back in those days and that was Satan He would have to crush Satan and kick him off of the throne, which is

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Hebrews 2 14 Now when Jesus does this through his death, burial and resurrection

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He also deals a death blow to our sinful nature as first Peter 2 24

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Jeremiah who's one of the prophets and that's what we're talking about today He tells us how the

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Messiah is going to remove our transgressions and he's gonna remove our sin so that we will know

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God That's the point I'm trying to get at is that in order for Jesus to reinvigorate this entire project and to do what

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God has called him to Do he has to deal with Satan which he did on the cross and he has to save us from our sin

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So the first part of his plan is salvation chapter 31 verse 34 of Jeremiah says it like this

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No longer will they teach their neighbor or say to one another know the Lord because they will all know me

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From the least of them to the greatest declares the Lord for I will forgive their wickedness

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And we'll remember their sins no more Jeremiah 31 34 Now here we have the most fascinating passage and I don't want you to miss what the wailing prophet is saying

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He is saying that Jesus came to save sinners. Yes, and amen. Everybody believes that I don't care if you're dispensational

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I'm a millennial pre -millennial, whatever you believe that Jesus came to save sinners or you're not a Christian So don't miss that that's there but also don't miss what this wailing prophet is saying

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He's saying at some point in time Not an imaginary period not a not a pretend make -believe era

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But an actual epic of time that is going to happen on this earth when everybody knows the

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Lord You see what he said? He said no one's gonna have to tell their neighbor to know the Lord anymore because they're all gonna know me

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He's talking about a time when every single person on earth knows the Lord he's looking forward to a day when everyone from the very least among the ranks of men all the way up to the highest echelons in the upper cross of the most sophisticated and significant human societies

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They're all going to know the Lord because God is gonna bring them into his covenant people

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He's going to bring everyone on earth at some point in the future Into his kingdom through the ordinary means of grace through preaching the word through regeneration and justification

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Through worship services the Lord's table baptism making disciples of the nation's teaching them how to obey

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Jesus Matthew 28 19 all of this is a fulfillment of Genesis 49 10

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Let me repeat that the redemption that's purchased by Jesus on the cross is gonna spread so entirely through the earth according to Jeremiah that Everyone is going to know him

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This among many other reasons that we have shared Clearly demonstrates to us what

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God's intention is. His intention is not to save a remnant By the end of it.

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He's gonna save the whole world for God So loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son I believe that at some point he's gonna save the entire world and I believe that because he said that in Jeremiah 31 34

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I don't believe that because I'm addicted to optimism and I need to have hopium in order to in order to get through my day

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I was perfectly I was perfectly disgruntled as a dispensational beforehand and I and I lived in that sort of defeatism

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I don't believe that anymore because it's not biblical. I don't believe that because Jesus clearly shows that he's gonna save everyone

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The whole world is going to know him. You don't even have to tell your neighbor Who's a

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Palestinian refugee and you're gonna have to have to tell your former Hindu Coworker because they're already gonna know the

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Lord at some point his kingdom is going to is going to spread so far and wide that it includes everyone which tells me that our

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Disposition and our posture cannot be defeatism Why would we expect to lose down here if Jesus saying that everyone is eventually gonna know me

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We should instead anticipate a growing kingdom Planting churches that are gonna be successful.

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We should anticipate that it's gonna take hard work and effort over long periods of time But eventually it's gonna succeed down here

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Why can a guy like John MacArthur with with a very serious and I love John MacArthur, but he's wrong here

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How can he look right at the camera and say we lose down here? Has he even read

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Jeremiah 31 34? How can you say that we lose down here when everyone knows

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Jesus that's the exact opposite of defeat That's a story of victory.

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I think I'm not attacking MacArthur, but he's wrong. He's dead wrong on this topic We are going to succeed human history is the story of of God filling the world with worshipers and it's happened for the last 2 ,000 years

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He started with 12 and now there's two point something billion Do we really believe that he has had 2 ,000 years of success that he's just gonna have come

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Collapsing down in defeat before the job is finished When you hire someone maybe you're a business owner and you hire someone to come do a job

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How would you celebrate that man if he did if he did? 35 % of the job and then said that's enough and then he leaves and he wipes his hands of it

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And he expects you to give him a paycheck. Maybe he built 35 % of a wall and he said that's good

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That's a that's a great wall. That's exactly what you wanted. No, it's not Why would Jesus or why would

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God write a story of about 35 % of the world's population coming to him and then end there?

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Especially when he promised that the entire world is going to know him. It doesn't make any sense

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So number one the church cannot have an attitude of defeatism when you read Jeremiah 31 34

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It just it's impossible now in the same way. We also can't have an attitude of passivity and indifference

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The only way that everyone on earth is going to know God is if everyone on earth has heard the gospel

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Because the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes that's what causes people to repent of their sin and to Believe in him when they hear the gospel so the only way that that's gonna happen is if the church repents of her silence her lethargy and her cowardice and she

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Marches the gospel in all the world as the Apostles did in the book of Acts and turned the world upside down if We want to do that today if we want to see the world turned upside down We've got to stop worrying about the world's opinions of us

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We have to stop trying to make them see us as winsome and we have to just actually start doing what

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Jesus said Taking the gospel to the nations. That's how we do it. And that's how we will see everyone on earth know the

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Lord Will that happen in our generation? I don't think so There's a lot that has to happen before everyone on earth knows

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God But can it but can that advance in our generation? Absolutely. Can that can that kingdom move forward in our generation?

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Absolutely Can you be a part of seeing that happen? absolutely But we've got to repent of our defeatist mentality.

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We've got to repent of our apathy We've got to repent of our seclusion area tendencies or isolationist tendencies and we've got to actually preach the gospel

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You've got to take Jesus to your work. You've got to take Jesus into your home men. You've got to lead family worship

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You've got to disciple your children so that the secular left don't steal them out of out of your hands

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We've got to teach this why Jesus said go into all the world make disciples of all the nations teaching them how to obey me

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If we don't teach the nation's how to obey Jesus They're going to disobey God and they're going to produce all sorts of sin and error and and everything else so the reason the world is as bad as it is is because they don't have the

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Spirit of God we must take the Gospel to them and teach them how to obey

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Jesus so that the world will look like this vision that Jeremiah 31 is talking about and I believe that it will happen, but I'm imploring this generation to be a part of it

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Let us not be the the riding the pine bench generation that that looks and watches other generations

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Take the gospel forward, but we weren't interested We had too much defeatism and dispensationalism in our veins to do anything worthwhile for the kingdom

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God will pass us over and he will accomplish his mission with another people at another time if We don't respond at a time such as this now along with the forgiveness of sins that God promises that the

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Messiah is going to bring and he's going to heal all of the Apostasies that are present in his people

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Hosea 14 for talks about that that that Jesus is not just gonna It's not just gonna save people.

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He's gonna heal their their Apostasies and their heresies. He's gonna teach them right doctrine. He's gonna put their iniquities underneath his holy feet

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He's gonna bring truth back to the people of Jacob He's gonna shower his children the children of Abraham with covenant blessings

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Micah prophesies about this in chapter 7 verse 16 through 29 And since all who believe in Jesus have been accounted as children of Abraham Galatians 3 7 they were brought into the people of Israel Galatians 6 16 by the seat of Abraham Galatians 3 16

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Then God's promising those promises for us what Micah prophesied what I just got through saying

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Micah prophesied. That's for the church It means that Micah is telling us that atonement

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Micah tells us that this means atonement for the church's sins the gift of the truth of the knowledge of God being given to the church along with all of the

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Other blessings that God promised to the covenant people of old will be poured out on his church He can and he will do this because he's gonna take the curse that we deserved and he's gonna have it poured out on him

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Galatians 3 13 and 14 the one who knew no sin and no covenant rebellion is going to become the epitome of covenant rebellion

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He's gonna become sin so that we could become the righteousness of God 2nd Corinthians 5 21

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The prophets saw all of this happening long before the New Testament pages were written long before Paul was even a thought

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They said this that this King this coming anointed one this Jesus It's gonna save the world and he's gonna save the world by dealing with their sin

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He's gonna have the covenant curses poured out on him and in so doing he was gonna be Coronated as the

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Earth's King so that under his rule He's gonna bring peace and righteousness and blessings all over the world so far as the hellish curse is found

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Isaiah 9 6 through 7 That's the plan. He's gonna deal with humanity sin by being treated as us

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So that he could treat us as he deserved to be treated. That's why Ezekiel describes this in his book

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I want you to listen to this passage. It's a fascinating one My servant David, that's Jesus He will be king over them and they will all have one shepherd

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That's Jew Greek male and female slave and free they'll all have one shepherd and they will walk in my ordinances and keep my statutes and observe them and they will live on the land that I gave to Jacob my servant in which your fathers lived and they will live on it and their sons and their sons sons forever and David my servant will be their

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Prince forever. I Will make a covenant of peace with them and it will be an everlasting

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Covenant with them and I will place them and multiply them and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever my dwelling place also will be with them and I will be their

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God and they will be my people and the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies

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Israel when my sanctuary is in their midst forever Ezekiel 37 24 through 28

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Now what God's promising here is nothing more than bringing the people of God back into Eden He's saying

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I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna have a forever Kingdom under a forever King I'm gonna heal their iniquities and I'm gonna bring peace to them and righteousness that I'm gonna do all of this to them and I'm Gonna put them back in an

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Edenic state He's saying I'm gonna overturn all the curses That have plagued man for far too long and it sounds like when you read it that that it's only going to happen to the

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Jews This is why dispensation lists take Ezekiel 37 38 39.

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That's why they take these and say these are only applying to the Jews. That's not true I don't want you to get the wrong idea about this passage the the nations that it talks about who are

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Looking at the national blessings of Israel are not people who have no access to it in this passage

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They are the ones who see the blessings of Yahweh and they come under this Shepherd King True Israel as we know from the

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New Testament is the Bride of Christ He's the one who united the Old Testament people the old remnant together with the

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New Testament Church And he made one people and he's gonna reign over that one people forever

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That's what it means by they will have one shepherd to reign over them No longer with the Gentiles go to their foreign demon gods and no longer

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Israel You know only Israel have the oracles of God No God is gonna bring the entire world

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Jew and Greek male and female slave and free under one shepherd and he's gonna bring them under his covenant blessings the onlooking world is not gonna stand at a distance like they did at the temple when

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Jesus overturned the money changers because they had Filled the court of the Gentiles with industry.

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No, no, no, they're not gonna stand at a distance any longer They're gonna look at the blessings of knowing

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God and they're gonna come and join the people of God to say it briefly

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Jesus is gonna use his church to fill the world with the blessings of God the peace of God and the worship of God and Then when the nation see that they will come and they will continue to come and they will continue to come until the entire world is filled with worshipers that is what

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Ezekiel 37 is saying and that leads us to part 2 the end gathering of the nations

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Now just as Ezekiel says that the nations are gonna come in We believe that all the nations are gonna be in gathered

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That's the second promise that the prophets are talking about is that all the nations on earth are going to be gathered around Jesus after the

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Lord underwent the curse death of the cross in Galatians 3 13 and after he healed and purchased his elect bride from out of the throes of sin

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Ephesians 5 25 through 27 this King began spreading his Kingdom his atonement his salvation to everyone that the father had given him

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John 6 37 What what what Jesus is doing here is that God before the foundation of the world decided who he was going to save?

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We know that if you don't believe that that's okay. We can talk about that later That's a Calvinist Arminian discussion

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But we believe that before the foundation of the world is what Ephesians 1 says Jesus saved everyone that he was ever going to save there was never a doubt on how many people

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God was gonna save It's a definite number and he saved them before the world was created and he over and he placed those

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Believers in various different eras and epochs so for instance God knows exactly how many people are gonna be saved in this generation and in the next generation in the next generation and what

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God has Done is that he has he is he has stacked his believers in every generation of church history all the way to the final

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Generation and my argument and I think the argument of Scripture is in that final generation The whole world is

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Christian That's what God is building towards. He is going to spread his atonement and and that's what he does

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Think about how I think about how it happens in the Bible He spreads his salvation first to his disciples

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John 20 21 through 22. So you've got 12, maybe 70 It's starting off really small

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But then by the Spirit of God He began spreading that salvation and that atonement in the city of Jerusalem the city that hated him the city that killed him

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He began spreading the good news there Acts chapter 1 verse 8 and then he doesn't limit it to the city of Jerusalem No, he takes it to the region called

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Judea Acts chapter 1 verse 8 where people are getting saved all over Judea And he does it just in there

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He takes it to Samaria the hated people the gospel now has brought in its first outsider.

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It's Acts chapter 4 Sorry Acts chapter 8 4 through 8 and then over the course of the rest of the book of Acts for the next 20 chapters

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God is taking this message to the Gentiles to the Roman world and for the last 2 ,000 years

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He's been spreading that salvation and that atonement to the ends of the earth Matthew 28 18 through 20

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Jesus even promises that he will be with us as we disciple the nations to the end of the age

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Do we believe that he's given up on his plan really in? every generation the application of his salvation the number of converts grows and It grows a little more than it did in the previous generation

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This shows me that over time the church is going to continue to grow and continue to spread his salvation to the ends of the world now

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There may be periods of regress, of course there may be periods of Momentary shrinking influence for the church.

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We're seeing that right now. It's it's our fault that it's happening, but we're seeing that Because we've abandoned culture culture has abandoned the church has turned on the church.

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So we're seeing that that's our fault We need to own that and we need to repent to that We may see momentary failures in route to this ultimate victory that we're seeing

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It's not a straight up shot This looks like regular pullbacks and every secular bull market that we've seen if you if you're into the stocks if you're into Investing it doesn't go straight up.

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It sort of goes up and it goes down a little bit goes up. It's all going up Over time

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But it doesn't mean that there's not dips and valleys, right? so I want to be clear like we may be in a period of great dipping right now a valley as it were but The truth that we're seeing is that the

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Lord is not going to allow that dip in that valley to crash The truth we're seeing is that he's going to spread his salvation to the ends of the earth

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He's gonna gather all the nations around his son beginning in Jerusalem in the first century and now all throughout church history to Everywhere under heaven.

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He's gonna bring the nations into union with his son So the first evidence that this actually was going to happen

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More than just the words that Jesus said is that his Holy Spirit was gonna come upon his people That's what the prophets promised.

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So now let's get back to the prophets The prophets are talking about the end gathering of the nation. Well, when does that begin? It begins when

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Jesus pours out his spirit on his people at Pentecost on both the Jew and the

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Greek That is precisely what the Prophet Joel prophesied was gonna happen in the first century

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He said that in the last days The Spirit of the Lord is gonna be poured out on all flesh and Peter saw it happen

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And he says that he saw what happened in Acts chapter 2 16 That prophecy from Joel 2 28 through 32 was fulfilled before Peter's eyes

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And he said okay this prophecy that said the last days have come when the Spirit has poured out on me

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Okay, the last days have come we're in the last days We are in the kingdom that Christ is building that is gonna take over the entire world and because of that miraculous

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Outpouring and the New Covenant relationship that it signaled Peter understood clearly That all people on earth would eventually come under the power of God's Holy Spirit He said this promise is for you and your children and for everyone who is far off He understood that God was gonna purify the lips of the nations

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And he was gonna he was gonna make the nations call upon the name of the Lord Zephaniah 3 9 prophesied that He knew that that God was gonna fulfill the prophecy to Malachi where he was gonna make his name

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Great among all the nations on earth Malachi 1 11 He knew that God was gonna cause all of the various tribes and all of the peoples of earth to stream to the

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Messiah That's Micah 4 1 he knew that God was gonna take this Shiloh figure

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And he was gonna teach the nation's peace and righteousness and he was gonna rain down upon them all of his covenantal blessings

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Micah 4 2 through 5 Now as the pre -millennialist suggests this cannot happen during a future millennial kingdom

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Because Micah 4 5 won't allow it. What I'm saying is if you're a pre -millennial, I want you to listen to Micah 4

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Verses 3 through 5. I want you to listen to it because this cannot happen in your worldview Listen to what

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Micah says and He that's the Messiah you agree with me on that. You agree that this is the

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Messiah You just think this is gonna happen in the millennial kingdom. Let me tell you why that's not possible it says and he will judge between many peoples and He will render decisions for mighty and distant nations and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks nation will not lift up sword against nation and Never Again, will they train for war?

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Each of them will sit under his vine and under his fig tree with no one to make them afraid

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For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken Though all the people's walk each in the name of his

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God as for us We will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever in the pre -millennial worldview

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This is impossible in the pre -millennial world view Jesus returns to a bruised and a beaten bride to rapture her out in her defeat

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She did not accomplish what Jesus told her to accomplish. So Jesus comes and raptures her out and Then he allows the world to fall into this terrible calamity under the actions of a man named

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Antichrist Who reigns for seven brutal years, which is an absolute perversion of what first John is saying and what

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Daniel is saying and everything else But let's just continue to go with it because this is their view not mine So he's gonna allow that to happen after that He's gonna return a second time and he's gonna put away the

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Antichrist put away all his enemies He's gonna do that and he's gonna set up his thousand -year Kingdom of Peace on earth

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This is called the Millennial Kingdom this he's gonna come back He's gonna set up that kingdom and during that Millennial Kingdom Premillennialists argue that the prophecies of Michael will come true the only problem with that is that in their worldview the

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Millennial Kingdom ends and The end of the thousand years where Satan is unleashed He goes out and he deceives the nations and the in the nations then learn the art of war again

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And they come and they fight Christ who sends the sword out of his mouth and who destroys them all in this final battle

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How can Micah prophesied that the nations are not going to learn war again and your view says that they will

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Answer that if that happened Then all of the promises that God made about them no longer learning war would just be well -intentioned lies

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Because of the so -called Millennium of Peace ends in war Then the nation's must have learned the art of war again that can't be what

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Micah is saying that can't be that Micah's punting these promises to a Future Millennial Kingdom that ends in war that passage doesn't allow that instead

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What Micah is telling us is that they will never learn the art of war again once it has been purged from the world

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He's saying that under the ministry of the Messiah that incrementally over time

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Increasingly through his reign Things like war are going to be eliminated from the earth and when they have been eliminated from the earth

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The earth will never learn war again. This means that that during the church age

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Jesus is going to make peace reign among the nations and He's going to do this over time.

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It's not gonna happen immediately. We still see wars today That means that Jesus's work is not finished. He's going to work until there is no more war

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There is no more nuclear fallout or bombs or there's no more AK -47s that are gonna be aimed at each other

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He says that Micah says that they're gonna turn their swords into plowshares they're gonna be people who are so captivated by human life that they can't even think about human death and When God says things like this and he says for the mouth of the

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Lord has spoken He's saying that I'm telling you the truth There's never a time where God speaks where he's not telling the truth

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But when he reiterates it with something like this for the mouth of the Lord has spoken He's saying that it is certain to happen

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When he tells us that we are gonna walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever I think that he means that the kingdom of Jesus is gonna last forever and ever

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So when I see things like that, I don't see that as an opportunity for me to invent a foolish eschatological system

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I see that as a clarion call for me not to muster up more

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Incredulous doubting and to look around at the world and say this could never happen and for me to scoff at the promises of God Of course,

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I still struggle of course I struggle to see how a world as evil as this one is gonna be overcome by the Messiah when

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I look at the what they're doing to engender clinics and what they're doing in abortion clinics and what they're doing and like in our in the halls of government where our our

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President of the United States is so disgustingly woke that he invites transgender activists to the church and he calls that April 3rd

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March 31st a day of trans visibility like our Government is sick and disgusting and I talk about it all the time and I decry that all the time so I struggle sometimes to believe that everyone on earth is going to eventually come into the church that the halls of power that our woke institutions are going to die and and and they're going to Completely wither away

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I struggle sometimes to understand how all the families on earth are gonna become under the blessings of Yahweh how all the nations are gonna be discipled how all of the world's people are gonna be are going to be beacons for the glory of God and how

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Christ is going to present to his father a completed kingdom with no more enemies, but But if anybody could do that, it would be

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God He's the one who spoke creation into existence out of nothing He's the one who rose

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Jesus from the dead if there's anyone who could fulfill his promises It's him and since God has promised to do these things

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Should not you and I suspend our skepticism long enough to believe it

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He said the Messiah is gonna bring about a kingdom where all war all violence is gonna be forever eliminated

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They're never gonna learn war again when that happens. Do I believe that or not? Because God said this we have to do something about it.

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We have an opportunity We can either go on and our God denying doubts and our ignorance and foolishness

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Struggling to believe what glorifies and honors the Lord or we can just simply believe and say

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Lord I don't need to know exactly how this is gonna happen, but I believe and I trust you you said it I believe it.

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That's it. That's how simple it must be If that means that we need to change our eschatology will so be it

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If it means that we need to drop our addiction to death to a defeatist gospel then drop it

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Whatever it is be willing to follow the Lord wherever his word takes you and stop clinging to your to your foolish view

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God's promises that his kingdom is going to advance so spectacularly on earth is clear and Micah that the human war and violence are gonna be eliminated

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That's clear weapons are gonna be turned into garden utensils because people on earth care about human flourishing more than multiplying war

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Humans Will be so consumed and filled with the glory of Christ that they will no longer crave the enterprises of suffering and death

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This is what Jesus is saying is gonna happen to the nations. Do you believe it? Again, it's not happened yet But we must believe that the

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Lord is gonna stay true to his word and that he is going to accomplish what he said He's going to accomplish. I would much rather believe that the

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Lord is slow to fulfill his promises as I and you and I count slowness Then to think that the

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Lord willingly said something that he had no intention on accomplishing I would rather get to heaven and sing

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Lord. I believed I believed exactly what you said Then to then to get there and say well

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I looked around me and I saw how bad things were and I couldn't possibly believe it I don't want to I don't want to hear the

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Lord look at me and say you foolish servant Did I not show you this and this and this?

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You see when we deny these things because of how bad the world is we mean the world more powerful than God and we've we've

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Confused his promises. I would rather be confused about the timing of his promises I'd rather be confused on how long it's taking those promises to come about then to just disregard the promises altogether

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Which is an indictment on God's nature his holiness his righteousness and his goodness now

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I don't want to continue on with this forever, but We have to believe the promises of God and Micah's clear

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Also, Zechariah 2 10 through 11 Zechariah 8 20 through 23 and Zechariah 14 16 through 19 all also promised that because of Christ God is gonna dwell on earth with his people again in a garden like state and All of the exiled nations are gonna come back to live with him in his garden

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They're gonna stream to him in order to worship him Jeremiah 33 not This will be a unique people who have never experienced the blessings of being under his covenant

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Hosea 2 14 through 23 and they will come from all over the world to see him Amos 9 11 through 15

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They will come before the king to repent of their sins and their rebellions. Jeremiah 16 19 their idolatries and their false gods are gonna be

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Suffocated by him Zephaniah 2 11 They will come to bring their national wealth their finances and their treasures so that they can lay them at the feet of Jesus Haggai 2 7 and they will come so that they will submit under his kingly rule in everything

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Jeremiah 3 17 and While I do not believe again that these promises are gonna come about instantaneously

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I do not question whether they're going to occur like the rest of redemptive history Things are going to take a long time to work out from our perspective such that we may still be in the very early

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Years of the church. We have no idea We have no idea if the church is gonna last for 10 ,000 years or a hundred thousand years

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I know that you hear that and you're like that that can't possibly be well, why can it not be we don't know?

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No man knows the day or the time or the hour We have no idea how long the Lord is gonna tarry and how long he is going to take to accomplish his promises

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We know that God said he's going to bring all the nations of the earth under the reign of his Son He's gonna eliminate war and violence

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It means that you can expect presidents governors mayors Kings Parliaments Congress's and everyone within the halls of power to at some point in the future turn to Yahweh for their hopes that the whole

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World is filled with worshipers. This is what the future of the world looks like not nuclear warfare not genocides not systematic murder of infants in the womb by Planned Parenthood and others not

55:53

Sodomites and trannies being shoved down our throats 24 hours a day by woke media corporation The world's future is teeming with the bright hope that is gonna be found in Jesus's kingdom and everyone is gonna believe it

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He is gonna rule the world from sea to shining sea. He's gonna crush all of his enemies He's gonna gather all the nations around him.

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He's gonna multiply his people Hosea 111 He's gonna make his blessings flow far as the curse is found.

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That is what is coming and Again, I don't know how long it's gonna take to arrive in full, but that is what is coming

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Part 3 the kingdom of the Messiah Now the strength of these promises one or it's not going to come about in the intensity of our beliefs

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We should intensely believe the things that God has said, but they're not going to come about because we're intense And they're not going to come about because we have great ingenuity and how we are going to be disciples and evangelists evangelism and all that stuff

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The surety these promises is not going to be thwarted by how frequently the heathens rage and how foolish people's plot in vain psalm 2

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In fact that psalm tells us that the kings of men Regularly set themselves up against the Lord and his anointed at their own peril because he's the one who's going to crush them

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Because of this tendency towards rebellion and refusal to kiss the Sun less in his anger They perish along the way they will perish along the way by this

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We're reminded that it is by his strength and will and sovereignty that God's promises are going to come true

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They're not based on our intensity or or our ingenuity or and they're not going to be thwarted by the nation's

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God is going to Accomplish his promises because God said he's going to accomplish his promises he's going to raise up his anointed son like psalm 2 says to rule the nation's crushing his enemies ruling with a rod of iron and Regenerating the elect by his spirit to the ends of the earth

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Salvation is I'm going to crush my enemies and I'm going to raise up my friends That's what Jesus is going to do until he's finished doing it when there's no more enemies and there's no square inch of the earth

57:51

That Christians are not filling. That's exactly what the plan is That's what

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Jesus is going to do is king of the world. Take for example from the Prophet Jeremiah a prophet who was living during an era when the kings of Judah were abhorrent and vile and Detestable a period of time that was looking forward to a righteous

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King King from the line of David a righteous branch would be raised up by God himself.

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Jeremiah 13 15 this king is not going to be like the former kings of old from the line of David who who participated in all sorts of Sin and wickedness.

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This is a king who's gonna bring justice and honor all the days of his life He's gonna rule in such a way that he will bring holiness and righteousness to all the nations

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Jeremiah 23 5 Daniel tells us something very similar when he says while looking in the night visions and seeing when this

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King Sent when this God sent King would come and would reign upon his throne Daniel tells us that I kept looking in the night visions and behold with the clouds of heaven one like the

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Son of Man was coming and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him and to him was given dominion and glory in a kingdom

59:00

So that all the people's nations and men and women of every language might serve him His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which will not pass away and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed

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Daniel 713 through 14 Again, unlike our pre -millennial brothers who attribute this passage to the second coming of Jesus when he apparently comes down from heaven in order

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To bring up the church. That's not what this passage is saying this passage does not talk about a

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Jesus who comes down but a Jesus who goes up up from earth to sit on the throne and Reign beside the

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Ancient of Days that tells us that this happened at his Ascension Jesus quotes this passage to Caiaphas and tells him that he's gonna see it happen at his

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Ascension that Jesus is gonna go up to the Ancient of Days and as Daniel says when that Happens when the

59:48

Ascension happens, then Jesus is gonna be given a universal dominion over the earth. He's gonna be given inestimable glory

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He's gonna be given a kingdom over which the rule his rule will never end He's going to be given those things at his

01:00:00

Ascension that kingdom began when he ascended publicly from the streets of Jerusalem and Daniel describes that all

01:00:08

People on earth are going to come up underneath this kingdom that every nation every tribe every language are gonna be given over to this

01:00:16

Son this one who raised up to the Ancient of Days and they are going to learn how to serve him

01:00:22

The nation's are gonna learn how to obey him. That's the kingdom. We're in Jesus has already ascended to heaven.

01:00:29

He's already been given the kingdom now He's over the past 2 ,000 years teaching the nation's how to obey him and he will continue that work until the nation's obey him

01:00:38

Again, this means as soon as Jesus rose from the grave and ascended into heaven He became king of the world and he's not waiting to be king as our dispensational friends will say he is king now

01:00:48

He's not up in heaven in his room waiting for the event where he finally gets to be king No, he's

01:00:53

King now his life death burial resurrection and Ascension wrestled control of the earth out of the hands of of the

01:01:00

God of this world Satan and he crushed him and he sat down on The true throne and now he is reigning all throughout church history.

01:01:08

We have been in the reign of Christ We've been in the period of time where he's reigning over his realm where he's beautifying it healing it from all of the sin and misery that fell upon it and spreading its

01:01:20

Loyalty and allegiance among the citizens of earth who are still in rebellion against God.

01:01:26

I want you to take for example Just there's a silly example here I'm an investor.

01:01:32

Let's say and and I'm not going to pull my hard -earned Resources to buy a dilapidated building and and and to keep it in shambles.

01:01:41

That's not my goal Let's say I want to buy a building. I'm not gonna keep it in shambles. I'm gonna buy it. I'm gonna flip it Common thing that people do so I'm gonna purchase that in its awful shoddy state.

01:01:51

Maybe I get it on the foreclosure market I buy it for a good price. Whatever. I agree to the price. I pay it and I purchase it but over the course of time

01:01:58

I'm gonna work on it. I'm gonna improve it. I'm gonna enlist workers to come and help me fix it I'm gonna get plumbers and electricians and roofers and and all sorts of different people to come in and make this property

01:02:09

Align with my vision. That is exactly what Jesus has been doing for the last 2 ,000 years

01:02:15

He bought and paid for a world with the price set by his father That was left in shambles by sin and he bought it in the state that it was in And he didn't snap his fingers and instantly turn it into a garden paradise.

01:02:28

No for the last 2 ,000 years. He's been working He's been fixing it He's been enlisting the help of his people to continue the job

01:02:35

Which is gonna continue until the job is finished when he presents the home when he presents the kingdom to his father as 1st

01:02:42

Corinthians 15 tells us he must reign over this world until all rebellion all sin and In all misery has been totally squashed out of his kingdom 1st

01:02:52

Corinthians 15 25 He must reign until his dominion has filled the world and and he's filled the world with loyal joyful citizens 1st

01:03:01

Corinthians 15 28 that is the kingdom that God Almighty promised will never pass away Will never be destroyed and will never end

01:03:08

Daniel 7 27 Zechariah another prophet tells us the same truth

01:03:15

He says rejoice greatly Oh daughter of Zion shout and triumph. Oh daughter of Jerusalem behold

01:03:20

Your king is coming to you He is just in and out of salvation humble and mounted on a donkey even on a colt the foal of a donkey now

01:03:29

Before we continue everybody believes that this passage has already been completed when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey

01:03:34

Everybody cites this passage as being fulfilled But why don't we see the very next verse where Zechariah says and I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem and the bow of war will be cut off and he will speak peace to the nations and His dominion will be from sea to sea and from the river to the ends of the earth

01:03:53

Zechariah 9 9 through 10 These realities are not on hold. There's no pause there

01:03:59

You don't get to the end of verse 9 where he says he's gonna ride into the city on the foal of a donkey Jerusalem rejoice, there's your king and wait there's a 2 ,000 year gap because he that Kings not gonna do anything and He's gonna have to wait till later to actually accomplish the rest of it.

01:04:13

No These realities are not on hold after a man of lawlessness appears or after whatever wonky

01:04:20

Eschatological thing that you have to say is going to happen in the future like you mark of the beast or whatever

01:04:25

They began when Jesus came his Dominion began when he rode into the city as the conquering or as the king

01:04:34

Zechariah 9 9 Matthew 21 5 says that this passage was fulfilled and because of that He was not only coronated as king on a cross and crowned as king in heaven

01:04:45

Now he's about the task of fulfilling what Zechariah 9 10 says where he's gonna end all war all violence

01:04:51

He's gonna bring peace to the nations and he's gonna spread his righteous dominion from the Atlantic to the

01:04:56

Pacific from the Antarctic To the to Greenland to the coast of Greenland. He's gonna do all of this

01:05:01

He's gonna be the little pebble that grows into the global mountain Daniel 2 35 He's gonna he's gonna bring the leaven that's gonna live in the entire loop

01:05:08

Matthew 13 33 His kingdom is gonna be the mustard seed that is gonna fill the garden with its branches

01:05:15

Matthew 13 31 through 32 and he is going to destroy all of his enemies and eventually fill the world with peaceful fruitful multiplying joyful Worshippers this is what the

01:05:25

Bible is about. This is the the the veil That's been pulled over our eyes in the modern

01:05:31

American church where we've missed it You can't explain all of the passages. I'm giving unless and Unless you just pull that vowel that veil of dispensationalism over your eyes and you choose to live in willful ignorance

01:05:43

Over the last five weeks. We've been highlighting this and this is what the Bible saying. I don't know how else to say it

01:05:49

Again, I ask you are you gonna believe it? Or are you gonna cling to a theology of defeatism the gates of hell aren't gonna stand against the church

01:05:58

Oh, but you know, it collapses in defeat. What are we talking about? Will you and I believe in a gospel and a

01:06:05

Savior that can and will win over the world? Are we gonna believe that even

01:06:11

Jesus is? That Jesus is gonna accomplish that are we gonna believe that even Christ the

01:06:16

Son of God. He could not accomplish that If the end of your story climaxes in defeat then the implication is that you have a

01:06:24

Savior who is unsuccessful in the mission That's what you're saying But if your eschatology ends in victory

01:06:31

With Christ coming to receive a world that that he has built and that aligns with his vision then everything

01:06:39

God promises Has come to pass then you have an eschatology Which makes

01:06:44

Jesus out to be the only faithful one and the one who will accomplish what he said He's going to accomplish your theology

01:06:50

Especially your eschatology says a lot about what you believe about God. The question is what does your eschatology say about you?

01:06:59

Part three the glory and worship of God Now if our case has not been clear so far

01:07:07

The Messiah is gonna crush his enemies and he's gonna produce a world filled with his peace and righteousness Where his people are covered with his covenantal blessings and he began all of that at his

01:07:17

Ascension which signified that his kingdom would come Into power at Pentecost and that he would continue that reign until the entire world is filled with his glory now

01:07:27

Jeremiah tells us that that part of this is that the knowledge of God is going to cover the earth and that men and Women from all over the world are gonna delight in the fact that they get the opportunity to know

01:07:37

God Jeremiah 924 Habakkuk says something very similar when he says for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the

01:07:45

Lord as the waters covers the sea Habakkuk 214 Well, what does that look like?

01:07:52

Well, I don't know if you've noticed but in the oceans, there's a lot of water

01:07:58

It's kind of like all there is so if the glory of the Lord is gonna fill the earth as the waters are covering the seas

01:08:04

Then the whole world is gonna be filled with the glory of God The whole world is is not gonna be silent before him in in There they're not gonna refuse to worship him.

01:08:15

No the in the end the whole world is gonna be filled with his worshippers This is what both of these passages saying there's more passages that we could refer to but that's the point

01:08:23

The world's gonna be filled with the glory of God as the waters covers the sea part for the reversal of the curse

01:08:33

Now as we we've got to remember that Jesus is gonna reverse every aspect of the curse before he is finished

01:08:40

The last enemy that he's going to defeat his death But before that he's gonna use his people to bring all sorts of triumph and healing to this cursed world that we're living in And it goes beyond just the spiritual blessings that we've been talking about.

01:08:52

Yes. He's gonna save his people Yes, he's gonna bring them into blessing. Yes. He's gonna he's gonna teach them how to love him He's gonna bring the knowledge of God as the water covers the seas

01:09:00

He's gonna do all of this spiritual work, but it's not just spiritual work He is also going to reverse the curse that was put upon the physical world

01:09:10

Paul tells us that the that the world is is crying out They're groaning for the redemption that we have and I believe that Jesus is going to bring it

01:09:18

So in the in the moments that we have remaining I want to briefly sketch out some of the physical blessings

01:09:24

That are going to come to this world. Yes. I believe that Jesus is going to save all the people on earth and if you can if you can believe that then

01:09:32

I want you to go a step further and I want you to see that He is going to fill the world full of his blessings.

01:09:39

And those are physical blessings. He is going to Accomplish everything that he said now as described in Genesis the curse cast its long shadow over every facet of creation

01:09:48

It affected our relationship with God which is a spiritual aspect It also affected our relationship as men to ourselves manhood womanhood

01:09:57

Marriages family societies human lifespans diseases the land its produce and keep going on and on Those things are physical

01:10:07

Manifestations of the curse that I believe the Lord himself is going to heal The repercussions of the fall were indeed prolific

01:10:14

They touched every corner of our spiritual and physical existence with toil and pain and decay and division and misery

01:10:21

However, the prophets do not envision a physical planet that God looks over or passes over in favor of a sort of Gnostic spiritual utopia.

01:10:31

We've got to not be Gnostics here Gnostics believe that the spiritual world is fallen There's nothing redeemable about it

01:10:37

The highest good the thing that we must invest our time is the spiritual we need to invest our time in our spiritual life

01:10:43

But not our physical life. That's why We should eat healthy and take care of ourselves and and and sleep well and and Care for our bodies in the same way that we also care for our soul.

01:10:54

We're not disembodied creatures So we're gonna see how under the rule of Christ The physical redemption is also gonna come it's not to come in full because that's not gonna happen until until eternity

01:11:05

But over time the effects of the physical curse upon upon the world are gonna drastically be reduced in root to their total

01:11:13

Elimination in the eternal state. So let me give you a few examples Because of Adam's sin the earth

01:11:18

Was cursed and it was brought into a period of time where it was gonna yield only thorns and thistles

01:11:24

Well, we see that we see that that that those things happen all throughout the world

01:11:30

I have weeds in my yard. You probably have thorns like we get it That's a that's an aspect of the curse

01:11:36

But the prophets look beyond the time that we're living in right now and they see deserts rejoicing they see deserts blossoming and that and the

01:11:45

Almost like a rose in its in its full beauty I see a 35 one talks about the redemption is going to come to the deserts so that you know at some point

01:11:55

I believe in the future that Egypt is going to look like a garden paradise. The Sahara Desert is gonna be teeming with life

01:12:02

So that that's going to happen Families, they were once marked by pain and childbirth

01:12:08

They're that curse is gonna be reversed by by God's banner of blessing coming over them.

01:12:14

It's Isaiah 65 23 Societies that were once fractured and war -torn are are gonna learn the ways to the king of peace and their swords beaten in the blouse

01:12:22

It plowshares already talked about that Micah 4 3 I Want you to consider the fact that these things are already happening

01:12:29

These things are already coming about they are happening Maybe not in full yet, but and not in the perfection of all things

01:12:36

But they're happening under the auspices of Jesus's reign more food is now being produced on earth than any other time in human history

01:12:43

That means that desert areas that were former deserts are now producing life and food that's happened because of the church and maybe you don't agree with that but because of the church and because of Its influence on literacy technology and everything else it all of the great scientists of old were were

01:13:03

Christians because of this Human flourishing has increased in the world So the curse is being reversed by the ministry of the church with the advent of technology much of the pain

01:13:12

Associated with delivering a baby has been reduced where the curse Specifically affected the womb of woman now

01:13:20

You've got you've got all different sorts of things that can alleviate the suffering that women face

01:13:25

All of these things are declining in the kingdom of Christ life The the age of life has increased the quality of life has increased if you don't

01:13:36

I mean I wish that we had a time machine so that we could go back into the ancient world and look at how people lived and Compared to today if you're in America, you're blessed if you're in Europe, you're blessed if you're in Australia You're blessed if you're in South Africa, you're blessed and while the whole world has not come underneath those blessings

01:13:53

This is not prosperity gospel at all. But what I am saying is that in the kingdom of Christ He's gonna restore the whole world to a garden state.

01:14:00

That is the original plan Also the curse of infertility and the anguish of bearing children

01:14:08

Doomed to misfortune is met with the promise of blessing and prosperity as well. Isaiah 65 23

01:14:14

Assures us that in Christ's kingdom that they will not labor in vain Nor will they bear children doomed to misfortune for they will be a people blessed by the

01:14:23

Lord and they and their descendants with them so Isaiah is prophesying that that fertility that the the

01:14:30

Infant mortality that all of those things are going to decrease in the kingdom of God the joy of parenthood

01:14:36

Unhindered by fears and sorrows that once played humanity is gonna be reversed and we've seen that yes

01:14:43

We're a society that kills a million babies a year in the womb and God will deal with that But we're also a society that has made sure that Millions upon millions upon millions of pregnancies come to term a friend of mine right now

01:14:57

His wife had a pregnancy that a hundred years ago would not have come to term My even me sitting here talking to you

01:15:04

I was a pregnancy my mom had me in a way that I could not have been born naturally I I had to be emergency c -section put into an incubator and and I came about I'm here

01:15:16

I'm speaking to you today because God has reversed not fully But he is reversing the curse of that that is upon the womb through all sorts of Technological advances through men and women being fruitful and multiplying and taking dominion of the earth that cultural mandates still exist the pervasive present of presence of disease and pain and childbirth symbols of the curses impact upon us are directly

01:15:42

Confronted with the promise of healing and joy that's coming in in Christ's Kingdom. Isaiah 33 24 says no resident will say

01:15:49

I am sick The people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity So Isaiah 33 24 is talking about a time when sorrow and sighing are gonna flee away

01:16:00

It's gonna be replaced by joy and gladness These prophecies are anticipating an era where the scars of the fall that affect our physical being are going to be reversed

01:16:09

So that we live a a life of physical well -being and spiritual wholeness as well the the whole life

01:16:19

Expectancy or the the age of man I think is also going to be lengthened the curse of shortened lifespans a which is a poignant reminder of humanity's fall from our

01:16:28

Edenic Grace, it's gonna be reversed in the kingdom of of Messiah Look what I say 6520 says no more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days

01:16:38

Or an old man who does not fill out his days for the young man shall die a hundred years old in the center

01:16:45

A hundred years old shall be accursed Isaiah is saying that in Jesus's kingdom. There's going to come a point where if you die at a hundred years old

01:16:53

People will wonder what's wrong with you that you are considered to be a young person in those days

01:16:59

So if you look at the 900 year old Methuselah and you look at the 700 year old

01:17:05

You know people in the Bible that even Enoch who was 365 years old You look at those ages and you say hey

01:17:12

How could that possibly be Isaiah saying that we're gonna push back towards that and I don't know how I Don't know how old people are gonna be at that point

01:17:19

I have no idea but he is saying that you're gonna be considered a teenager if you're a hundred years old.

01:17:26

So How is that gonna happen? I think God is gonna use his church and use his people to spread the gospel to the earth and then in so doing

01:17:36

Christian scientists not Not the religion Christian science, but scientists who are

01:17:41

Christian scientists who believe in the cultural mandate that we are commanded to take dominion of this earth are going to work and Figure out how to heal diseases.

01:17:51

They're gonna figure out how to how to extend life these are things that I think are coming back to the world and it signifies a restoration of creation's order and the fulfillment of God's original intention for human life now

01:18:05

This creation this once cursed place that that bore thorns and thistles you can look at it now

01:18:10

We've found ways to make the ground bloom with new life Isaiah 55 13 prophesies instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle making marking the end of creation's groaning in the beginning of a new era of Prosperity on earth again.

01:18:27

It's not prosperity gospel These are promises in the Bible that under Jesus's reign that he is going to affect the physical world

01:18:35

He's gonna heal the problems that are in it So that so that the whole world will be teeming like a garden paradise

01:18:41

If you don't believe that Then you believe that God created a garden told Adam and Eve to make the world a garden but then abandon that plan

01:18:48

I don't believe that I believe that through Christ and through his people The whole world is gonna be transformed into a paradise once again before Jesus returns

01:18:57

Amos 9 13 14 Ezekiel 34 26 or 37 or 27 speaks about a land yielding its produce abundantly showers of blessing watering the earth signifying that the end of famines and the restoration of the lands fertility is coming the division among the nations and the strife that's followed the

01:19:16

Tower of Babel is going to be met with the vision of unity and peace you remember in the In Pentecost all of the nations now we're speaking the same language, which is a part of the curse of Babel So God is reversing the curse

01:19:29

Micah 4 2 through 3 tells of a time when the nations are no longer gonna learn war They're gonna beat their swords in a plowshares

01:19:36

We talked about before this prophecy foresees the end of conflict and envisions a world united in the pursuit of the knowledge of God United in righteousness guided by the law that goes forth from Zion These visions are not just metaphorical fanciful things

01:19:53

They're not just spiritual truths that were meant to glean some sort of knowledge from now They're talking about a future that is not going to end in cataclysmic failure

01:20:02

But it's gonna be but it's gonna bring back the life that God intended to his people Jesus's Did Jesus brought these things in in his life in his ministry and his death and his resurrection you look at him

01:20:14

He curses a fig tree on the one hand and yet he he cast out the demon on the other He is healing sicknesses and infirmities.

01:20:21

He's raising people from the dead. He's healing them of their sicknesses he is he's doing the kinds of things that the prophets are talking about because he intends on making the world a

01:20:31

Paradise again, he embodies Isaiah suffering servant. He's the one who bore our infirmities

01:20:36

He's the one who carried our sorrows and it's by his stripes that we've been healed He's the one who signifies the beginning of the curse reversal his resurrection and Ascension marked the dawn of promised restoration with the outpouring of the

01:20:49

Holy Spirit at Pentecost Empowering the church to be agents of transformation in this world.

01:20:55

And as we reflect on all of this We're reminded that these restorative acts of Christ are not just future hopes, but their present realities

01:21:03

The kingdom of God is in our midst We're it is working through us and expanding right before our eyes

01:21:11

Jesus's reign is active today reversing the curse renewing creation restoring humanity to its intended harmony with God Yes, that means salvation.

01:21:20

Yes, that means discipleship. Yes, that means church services. Yes, that means Feasting at the Lord's table.

01:21:26

Yes, that means conversion. Yes, that means bringing the gospel in all the nations Yes, but it also means transforming the world into a garden place because that's what

01:21:35

God promised It's not just the spiritual as as incredible as that is I want you to have a larger view of salvation to say that as Incredible as as our spiritual salvation is it also is going to transform everything

01:21:49

The whole world is going to be under the transformation of Christ before this whole thing ends

01:21:54

This realization brings us to our conclusion the prophets not only provide a

01:21:59

Corrective lens through which to view our past and our present, but they also lay the foundation for our future in Jesus the promised

01:22:07

Messiah We will see the fulfillment of all these things visions of peace of righteousness of healing and restoration and as we stand in that grace

01:22:14

Let us be moved to action inspired by the certainty of Jesus's victory and Motivated by the promise of a world made new and then together

01:22:24

Let us move forward carrying this hope into all the nations and then let us move forward carrying this hope

01:22:32

Into our conclusion, which I will just say brothers We've heard

01:22:38

God's unshakable promises here today We've heard him in Genesis.

01:22:43

We've heard him in the story of Israel. We've heard him in the era of the Kings We've heard him in the in the Psalms. We've heard him in Isaiah Now we've heard them in the prophets

01:22:52

These are unshakable Unmistakable promises that are given throughout the entire

01:22:58

Old Testament The visions that they receive the prophets I'm talking about were not mere fanciful wishes, but they were divine guarantees of What is going to come under the reign of Jesus?

01:23:10

So let us respond as men of courage and conviction. Are you gonna cower in unbelief?

01:23:17

Doubting the sovereignty of the Lord doubting that the Lord God can accomplish what he has declared or Will you rise up with fierce faith believing that not one of Jesus's words are gonna fall to the ground unfulfilled?

01:23:30

The choice is yours To dismiss the promises as being too good to be true or to embrace them as the unchanging reality that the

01:23:39

Almighty will bring if You believe those things then gird up the loins of your mind for action because we're not called to sit idly by but to Labor as obedient servants.

01:23:49

We're called to work hard to work tires tirelessly to advance this kingdom Gone are the days when we can sit back on our laurels and watch the world go to hell in a handbasket

01:23:58

We got to get up and we got to move and we got to work To advance the kingdom until it fills the earth as the waters covers the sea let you and I men women children

01:24:08

Anyone who's listening to this? Let us go forth boldly sowing the seeds of righteousness confronting evil making disciples of all the nations and Doing the work that God has called us to do

01:24:19

We but we also have to couple that work with patient endurance for the Lord's timeline is not always ours

01:24:24

You might work your entire life and see the gospel move forward an inch You might even see a period of regression

01:24:30

But don't account things the way that humans account them be patient and wait upon the

01:24:36

Lord Habakkuk declares it like this for the vision is yet for the appointed time It hastens towards the goal and it will not fail though It tarries wait for it for it will certainly come it will not delay

01:24:49

Habakkuk 2 3 God has promised that things are going to come in the future of this world that will not be able to be stopped whether you

01:24:57

Believe what I'm saying or not They're going to happen because God is going to accomplish his promises The question is what we believe them now and we will we be patient to work and to labor faithfully until they come in seasons of triumph and in seasons of trial in both abundance and in want our steadfast hope has got to be

01:25:16

Remained in the one Jesus Christ who will make all of these promises come true and he'll make all things new

01:25:23

So as we close today, let us press on Unwavering in our devotion unshakable in our faith unstoppable in our pursuit of the things of God until Christ's global conquest is

01:25:34

Complete the victory is assured brothers. You're not fighting in a defeating battle. You're not fighting in a defeated war sisters

01:25:40

The question is are you gonna join the ranks of the vigilant? Are you gonna become co -belligerents in the kingdom of God or are you gonna shrink back like evangelical cowards?

01:25:49

You got to choose this day whom you're gonna serve For the mouth of the Lord has spoken these things his eternal kingdom is here.

01:25:56

His everlasting kingdom is upon us Choose this day who you're going to serve until next time.

01:26:02

God bless you. Thank you so much for watching another episode of the podcast It's my pleasure to bring these to you and I've been had so much fun going through the

01:26:10

Old Testament and looking at all of these Promises that are going to come true in Jesus Christ.

01:26:15

Thank you again for supporting the show If you like this content, give us a like if you if you enjoy what we're doing share it subscribe to it help us get the message out to more people because As the church repents of its defeatism, it will move forward in victory christ will be made much of in this nation again

01:26:33

I believe that this nation can be revived We have to be the ones to stand up and say all of christ for all of life for all the world