Was Jesus A False Prophet?

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You can open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 16, Gospel According to Matthew chapter 16.

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We've been in a series called The Kingdom of God. It's an exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew as you all get to Matthew, the first gospel in the

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New Testament. We chose the Gospel According to Matthew a couple of years ago now because the

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Gospel According to Matthew pulls together so much of the Old Testament into the

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Gospel itself. And so unpacking the Gospel According to Matthew is going to give you so much of what the entire narrative of the

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Bible says. So you have the synoptic gospels. That's the first three gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

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Synoptic means what? Seeing together. So you can lay them side by side and you'll see them together.

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Some will give more details than the other. And so you can lay them next to one another and you can do that in particular for today's particular focus.

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You can do that with the Olivet Discourse, a very important discourse. I'm going to record this for later.

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You can lay Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 side by side and read the

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Olivet Discourse running alongside one another. You have, of course, the Gospel According to John, which has a different emphasis and focus.

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And John talks about things that the other gospels do not talk about. But the Gospel According to Matthew has such a

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Jewish focus, Jewish language, and understanding of the Jewish Old Testament.

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And so you really get the entire narrative of the Bible packed together in one nice, tidy little package of the

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Gospel According to Matthew. So if you've been with us since the beginning, you know that we've spent quite a bit of time.

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It's been like 16 years. In the Gospel According to Matthew, it's because we want to make sure we're faithful with this text, going verse by verse, sometimes word by word.

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But if you've been with us since the beginning, you know that we've been laying down the foundations or at least emphasizing what

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Matthew emphasizes in terms of the Old Testament text about Christ as Messiah and, in particular, the text that talks about the kingdom of God.

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That's been such a massive theme for Apologia Church these last couple of years because it's a massive theme in the entirety of the

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Scriptures and it's a massive theme in the Gospel According to Matthew. But second to that, you've also heard a lot of emphasis upon the soon -coming judgment upon Jerusalem in that first -century generation.

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So we've run into a couple of texts already that talk about impending judgment upon those people, that first -century generation.

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And so in Matthew 16 here, there's a particular part near the end of Matthew 16 where Jesus talks about a coming, his kingdom, before some of them die.

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And so let's go to the text. Matthew 16, starting in verse 24.

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Hear now the words of the living and the true God. Then Jesus told his disciples, If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.

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For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

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For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?

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For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his

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Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the

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Son of Man coming in his kingdom. As far as the reading of God's word, let's pray as a church. Father, I pray that you bless me now,

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Lord. There's so much that needs to be said and so much within myself

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I'm incapable of communicating. Lord, please allow this message to not be the words of a mere man, but words from you.

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I pray, God, that you would bless your people with eyes to see your glory, your power, your majesty.

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Help us, Lord, to have hearts that are receptive to truth, the truth of your word. Lord, I pray that you would guard me from error.

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Fill me with the power and strength of your spirit. Speak to the hearts of your people.

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Lord, help us to see how glorious you truly are. Allow me to decrease,

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Christ, to increase. In Jesus' name, amen. Eschatology matters, and it is profitable.

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Man, is it ever profitable. Eschatology is a huge moneymaker. As a matter of fact, if you're in the

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Christian book biz, the books that really need to be read, the books that are important for us to know and to read, are oftentimes the books that are not profitable at all.

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If you write good books on theology, good books on systematic theology, good books on historical theology, chances are you're not going to be able to actually sustain yourself or actually carry that through by itself because it's just not very popular.

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If we hold a conference this year in Phoenix, Arizona, we invest money in a conference, we try to get people to come out to Arizona for a conference on the doctrine of the

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Trinity, that's going to be a probably very small conference. People aren't really generally thinking, oh, yeah,

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I'm going to take a flight from New York and invest maybe a couple thousand dollars to get out there and get a hotel and room, airfare, all that stuff for a conference on the

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Trinity. But if you hold a national conference, something like, are we in the end?

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Is this the end? Is April 23rd the date of the rapture? The chances are you're going to get a lot of people to come out for that conference.

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People love controversy. People love apocalyptic literature and movies.

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Just think about what comes to the movie theaters and really, really sells, right? All movies about the end of the world, right?

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Movies about massive floods that come and wipe away whole continents. Movies about asteroids that are coming to the

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Earth and we've got to find some way to shoot it out of the sky or launch Bruce Willis onto that rock, so he'll take care of it, right?

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So those are the movies that really, truly sell. The apocalyptic movies, the movies about the end of the space -time continuum, the end of the world, we are fascinated by it.

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And it's not just us moderns that are fascinated by it. This goes back throughout the length of the history of the church.

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In particular, in the West, this particular brand of writing and salesmanship has been around for a long time.

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It's really not very long ago that people were trying to interpret the book of Revelation in light of the invention of the locomotive.

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People were interpreting the book of Revelation in light of people that were riding on horseback, now with revolvers.

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Somehow that relates to the book of Revelation. It's so profitable. Eschatology matters, but man, does it make money.

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If you go into the Christian bookstores, are there any left, by the way, Christian bookstores? Amazon's killed everything, including

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Toys R Us. Bye. But if you go into the Christian bookstores, the sections that are always just in rotation, they're always coming up with new books and new exciting ways to deliver the message that Jesus is returning at any moment, we're going to get whisked away out of here, and it's that section of prophecy that always has new stuff.

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Armageddon 2018. Is this really the end? Or one popular book in the 80s was 88

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Reasons the World Will End in 1988. The man made the book.

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It was very, very popular, and after 1988, Jesus didn't return, and so from what

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I understand, he collected his money and he went away. He's done. That's all he needed, right?

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I'm sure you guys are all aware of, or at least many of you remember. I know Sage, my son, and I really remember.

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We were fascinated with this moment in history. Harold Camping. Remember that?

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What a nut. Harold Camping, he's the guy that, what was the name of his radio station?

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Was it Family Radio? Family Radio. It was on for a very, very long time. I mean, that was a kind of staple

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Christian radio station for a very long time. It was all over the world, really, and Harold Camping had a creative way of looking at the

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Bible. He got really old and very creative with his biblical interpretation, and so many of you guys remember that for a space of time, not really that long ago, there were billboards up over Phoenix on buses around the world where Harold Camping had determined that the

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Bible uses a particular system and code that tells us when Jesus is returning, and as it turns out, he's returning on this date.

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Well, of course, that date came and it went, and Harold Camping went down in history as one of the greatest modern false prophets in history.

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It's profitable, lots of money in it, and, of course, we have tomorrow, right?

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April 23rd? April 23rd, people are speculating that the rapture or the end of the world is going to take place on Monday, tomorrow, and so that'll be interesting.

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So eschatology matters. What is it? It's a study of end times. Eschatology comes from two

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Greek words, eschatos, logos, and it means essentially the study of last things.

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Now, the amazing thing here, and this is important, is that we get to have this. I think we take it for granted.

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So much as Christians, we take for granted the gifts that we have, the really amazing worldview that we have, we get to talk about the study of last things.

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We get to talk about the future and where it's going, and that is really a gift in terms of worldview.

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Just think about it for a moment. Pagans throughout history and today, they see history working itself out through cycles.

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History goes in cycles. It's not linear. It's not ending somewhere. It doesn't have a telos.

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It doesn't have an end goal and aim. History works in cycles.

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Pagans have believed that through history. They believe it today. You, of course, have the humanists of today, the atheists, the naturalistic materialists, people that believe that from nothing, something came, people that believe that we are ultimately in a universe of time and chance acting on matter.

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It's just sound and fury signifying nothing. So the universe is just chaos, time and chance, acting on matter.

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We're all just bobbing along in a purposeless cosmos. No justice ahead of any of us.

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Only sky above us. That's all there is. And they don't believe history has a goal.

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It's not linear. It has no aim. It's not going anywhere ultimately as a goal.

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There's no sustainer of the universe in time. There's no governor of the universe.

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No personal order and purpose to anything. And yet Christians, with all the crazy views of eschatology that have really been marked across the scene of American history in particular, we have really the privilege, the honor, the joy of knowing that we have a

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God who governs the universe. We have a God who governs history. There's not, as Dr.

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Sproul said, a maverick molecule in the entire universe. Everything is governed by God, sustained by God.

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He has a purpose in everything. There's no purposeless evil. Everything is working together for the glory of God and our ultimate good.

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And we know that history is going where God wants it to go. Psalm 115 says,

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Our God is in the heavens. He does whatever He pleases. That's the sovereign

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God that we believe in. That God declares, as the book of Isaiah says, He declares the end from the beginning.

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God is the sovereign over history, over every detail, over the deep in the heavens above, the farthest planet and star away from us in the universe.

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God right now is upholding that by the word of His power. He's sustaining it.

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So as Christians, as bad as the place is that we're in in terms of bad eschatology,

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Christians have really the joy, the gift of being able to say, History has last things.

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We're going somewhere. God is sovereign over this line of history. It's linear. But however, eschatology matters.

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If you get eschatology wrong, if you impose a foreign view or concept onto the

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Bible itself, it's going to affect really how you read the

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Bible. One, it's going to distort your ability to actually understand the Bible and to read it for all that it's worth.

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If you have a bad view of the future, an unbiblical view of the future, it can make you impotent as a

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Christian. How? Well, for example, if we take particular texts like this one before us and we think that that says something about the end of the world, we're going to interpret that and other scriptures thinking that that is really future to us and it's really any moment and the world's just going to go to hell in a handbasket, what's the point, as some theologians have said, of polishing brass on a sinking ship?

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You see, as Doug Wilson says, you hit what you aim at. You hit what you aim at.

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If we believe the worse the world gets, the better it is for us Christians, then we'll live in light of that.

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When we see the world going into decay and spoil and darkness, we might even get perversely excited about it.

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Why? Because the worse it gets out there, the better it is for us. Why?

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Because at any moment, we'll be whisked off this rock, taken away from this evil and sinful world to spend time with God in eternity while the world is judged.

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Now, I say that with humility because I used to believe that. I used to live in light of that thinking.

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I thought the worse the world got, the better it was for us. As a matter of fact, I distinctly remember as a young Christian seeing news reports of this or that evil thing in the world, seeing some news of a war or collapse or national catastrophe or calamity.

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I used to get excited when I saw it because I thought to myself, this has to be the end.

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It has to be the time of the end. It means that Jesus is at the door at any moment we're going to be taken out of here.

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I told you guys many times, I think, that I was a big fan of the Left Behind series. That whole eschatology was my thing.

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I was a fiend. I scared little children and my wife with all of the ways that I would just try to tell people, we're there, guys, there ain't no more.

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I remember being in Bible college and sitting down at lunch on numerous occasions with men who were in college together with me.

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We'd be at lunch, and the longstanding debate was, how much time do you think we have left? How much time?

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We used to just speculate. And I remember one time, one guy said that he thought we had about 20 years left.

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That was in 1996. He said he thought maybe, I think we have 20 years, maybe 20 years maximum.

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And I remember that we all just, 26 guys. He doesn't even know. They already have the red heifer, dude.

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They already got the foundation stone of the temple, dude. What do you mean 20 years? You don't even know what you're talking about.

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Do you even Bible, bro? You don't even know. 20 years. I mean, I was thinking like we got one year tops.

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One year, two, maybe two. And I remember we get in these sort of like, very sanctified and pious fights over how long we had to go.

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And so, if you live like that, if you think that about the future, you'll impose that view upon the scriptures and not see truly how glorious this story really is, how consistent it all is together, but you'll also live in light of it.

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And I want to say just as an excursus quickly, I know there's lots of things we can say about why

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Western culture, which was built by Christianity, not perfectly, lots of sin, lots of work to go, but why

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Western culture has experienced the demise that it has in the last generation. I think it has so much to do, so much to do with our view of the future and really bad eschatology, very bad eschatology.

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You see, if you believe that Jesus' kingdom has arrived in the world, by the way, it has. If you believe

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He has all authority in heaven and on earth, and He is going to win the entire world by His gospel, then you'll live in light of that.

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You'll build in light of that. You will actually work in this world in light of the fact that the

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Bible says that the meek shall inherit the earth. This is our world, guys.

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God gave it to us. This is the world that Jesus is winning to Himself for His glory, putting every enemy under His feet as a footstool for His feet, bringing everything into reconciliation to God, whether in heaven or on earth,

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Colossians 1 says. And you'll live like Christians did in history. You'll live like the Puritans did, or Christians, really, everywhere we went, we went to win an entire nation to God, not to escape, but to win this world to Christ.

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As a matter of fact, final thing on this point, the Puritans early on in America were not perfect.

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They were definitely amazing, brothers and sisters in Christ. They weren't perfect. They were sinners just like you and I.

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But the dominant eschatology early on in America was postmillennialism, the view that Christ is king now,

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His kingdom arrived in history, and God was going to win the world with His gospel. That was the view. And they lived in light of that.

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Just think about how they built their cities and their towns and their cultures. They would acknowledge Christ in government.

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If they signed a treaty with a foreign nation, they would actually name the Trinitarian God of the

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Bible. They understood that Christ had authority over every area, every realm of life, and they lived in light of it.

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And you can see the difference between their culture and our culture. And I think it speaks for itself. Also, if you have a wrong, a bad, false, unbiblical eschatology, and you impose it upon the

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Scriptures, listen closely, it doesn't just mess you up. This is important. It doesn't just mess you up and me up in our own personal reading of the

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Bible. You see, eschatology matters. And if we begin imposing a false, unbiblical view upon these biblical texts, then the unbelievers ultimately will get an opportunity to hear it, and they will take that view, they will read the

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Bible for themselves, they will take you at your conclusion, and then they will conclude, well,

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Jesus is a false prophet. Why? Well, based upon your own presuppositions, all these texts about the coming of Christ are future to us, right?

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And the Christian says, well, yes, Christ is imminently returning at any moment in its future to us.

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That's what these texts mean. Well, you can have an atheist like Christopher Hitchens that says, well, that means

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Jesus is a false prophet because in these texts, Jesus actually taught that it was going to happen before they died.

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And so if it didn't happen, and this was talking about the resurrection and second coming, then that means

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Christ is a false prophet. You see, unbelievers will actually take what we say falsely about these texts, and they will use it to abuse the

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Christian message. Also, if you have an unbiblical view of eschatology and the coming of Christ, you might do what

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C .S. Lewis did. C .S. Lewis, by the way, amazing man of God. C .S. Lewis, amazing writer.

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I don't agree with everything C .S. Lewis said, but he was a gift to the church. However, C .S.

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Lewis wrote an essay called The World's Last Night. Listen to what C .S.

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Lewis, a professing Christian, says. Eschatology matters. "'Say what you like,' we shall be told.

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"'The apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians "'have been proven to be false. "'It is clear from the

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New Testament "'that they all expected the second coming "'in their own lifetime, "'and worse still, they had a reason, "'and one which you will find very embarrassing.

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"'Their master had told them so. "'He shared and indeed created their delusion. "'He said in so many words, "'This generation shall not pass "'until all these things be done, "'and he was wrong.

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"'He clearly knew no more about the end of the world "'than anyone else.'" C .S. Lewis goes on to say, "'It is certainly the most embarrassing verse in the

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Bible, "'yet how teasing also that within 14 words of it "'should come the statement, "'But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, "'no, not the angels which are in heaven, "'neither the

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Son, but the Father. "'The one exhibition of error "'and the one confession of ignorance "'grow side by side.'"

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That's C .S. Lewis. So eschatology matters a great deal, and it really comes down to this.

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If we impose an unbiblical view upon these imminent judgment texts of the

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New Testament, then we're going to come down to one of two conclusions. Ready? Jesus is either

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Lord, truly Lord, kurios, he's the Messiah, he's the king of the world, he is truth, he gave no false prophecies, and we're interpreting them wrongly at points, or if it means what it says, and Jesus didn't fulfill it, then

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Jesus is a false prophet. Period. Full stop. Deuteronomy 18, 20 -22,

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God says that the way you know someone's a false prophet is if they say something about the future in the name of the

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Lord and prophesy, and it doesn't come to pass, then they are a false prophet.

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You have to hold Jesus to that standard. We do it all the time with false prophets like Joseph Smith and Brigham Young and Charles Taze Russell and any

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John Taylor or any of the false prophets that we constantly watch in history.

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The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society prophesied the return of Christ so many times in the last century that in the 70s they lost about half, half of their membership after a false prophecy.

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But we often hold these false prophets and these other religions to the standard that if they have one false prophecy, they're a false prophet.

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Brothers and sisters, I want to say to you, that's the biblical standard that Jesus either must pass or not.

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He's a false prophet. So I want to give you some encouragement. The glorious thing here is if we read these texts as they are in light of the narrative of the

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Bible and the Scriptures, it shows that Jesus is the Messiah and the King of Glory in a way that will give you goose bumps.

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Every time I talk about this, it gets me more and more excited because it only testifies to the truthfulness of Christ's mission and Him as Messiah.

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I'll give you one point that's just one of my favorite things ever. Christopher Hitchens is my favorite atheist in history.

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He's my favorite atheist. I absolutely love Christopher Hitchens. Not because anything he says makes any sense or it's compelling, but because he just says it in such a delicious way.

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I would have loved to have met Christopher Hitchens. He died of esophageal cancer.

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Was it about, I guess, 5 to 10 years ago? I forget. But Doug Wilson, my friend

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Doug Wilson, had a debate with Christopher Hitchens. And one of those debates took place at Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia.

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And Christopher Hitchens was losing this debate tour so badly, Doug was just exposing the folly of his unbelief at so many points that you saw

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Christopher actually started to really like Doug a lot. They really became good friends in a way that Christopher didn't do with anybody else.

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I think it's because he really respected Doug so much because Doug knew the Bible, knew the Word of God, and could take

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Christopher apart at every turn. He was ready. As a matter of fact, my friend Darren, who filmed the movie

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Collision, that debate movie film, he said at one point at the Westminster Seminary debate,

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Doug was writing, taking notes, apparently, as Christopher was talking, right? You know,

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Christopher is the atheist, he's railing against Jesus and the biblical worldview, and Doug's taking notes. And Darren was wondering, what's he taking notes of?

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So Darren gets behind him with his camera to see what is he actually writing down. How does Doug take notes in a debate?

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And all Doug was doing when Darren got over the thing, all Doug was doing was doodling. He's just drawing pictures while Christopher was up railing against God.

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But my favorite thing, and you guys, this is online for free, you can see this, just Google Doug Wilson, Christopher Hitchens, Westminster Seminary debate.

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It's a long one, but at a certain point in there, Christopher's losing so badly that he goes to his chestnut.

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It's the atheist's chestnut. They know it. They all want to use it against Christians and swing it like a sword.

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And that chestnut was, Jesus is a false prophet. It's all

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Christopher had left. Got to use something against Doug. So he goes, well, Jesus is a false prophet.

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And he starts going to these time texts where Jesus says in Matthew 24, Mark 13,

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Luke 21, he refers to that generation not all dying before all these things take place.

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All these things take place. And Christopher says, hey, if that's the resurrection, second coming, he's a false prophet because it didn't happen.

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He didn't return that generation. And so Doug does something masterful that if you have a false, unbiblical eschatology, you just simply could not do.

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And Doug goes to the text and he demonstrates that the language that Jesus uses is the same language that God used when he destroyed

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Egypt in Isaiah 13. The sun, the moon, the stars falling from heaven.

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That's the same cosmic deconstruction language that God used when he was going to destroy

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Egypt. It's the turning over of a nation. It's a judgment of a nation, him destroying their world.

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And the emphasis in Matthew 24 is upon the destruction of the Jewish temple, which all happened in that generation.

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Jerusalem was going to be judged. That's what Jesus was talking about, not the second coming and final resurrection.

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And you should have seen Christopher Hitchens. Nothing. It was more like, oh, shoot.

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Right? You've got nothing. Why? Because the text says what it says in its own context.

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Jesus is referring to the destruction in Jerusalem and it happened exactly as Jesus said.

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Before they all died, Jesus did return in judgment upon that generation.

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He did come on the clouds. His kingdom came exactly as he said it would as God wiped away that old covenant world, as he destroyed that world, as he wiped it off the face of the earth and he sent his armies into Jerusalem to judge the covenant breakers.

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You see that Christ kept his word. God spoke and it came to pass.

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So let's go to the text. Matthew 16. Again, get your pens and paper ready.

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I'm going to try to do this. It's text heavy, but I'm going to try to do this in a way where you all know where to land.

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The challenge... I'm going to be just transparent here. The challenge I have is I want to win everyone to the truth.

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I do. I want to win everyone to the truth. I don't want to be a preacher that allows worship to ever be boring.

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I believe that the word of God is amazing and powerful and beautiful and I think you should preach with passion and fire.

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But I know that my first duty is not to entertain you. As a pastor, my role is not to entertain you.

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And doing a message like this, you run the risk of people saying that was a lot of information, that was heavy.

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I'm not entertained enough. I don't know if I like this church. Right? You run the risk of doing messages like this where they're not 20 minutes or 25 minutes long and you run the risk of losing people because it's such a text -heavy message.

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And I want to say to that, so what? We want to be faithful to the word of God and I want to be faithful to my primary duty as a shepherd and that is to teach you the word of God, first and foremost.

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So if this is boring, you're not listening because it's awesome!

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Completely awesome. Okay, so text -heavy, get ready for it. Matthew 16.

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Here's the text. Jesus just had the conflict with Peter. He just called him Satan. And then

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Jesus talks through what Jim worked through for us at church about losing your life, about what will it profit a man if he gains the world and loses his soul.

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He then says this, For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his

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Father. And then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the

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Son of Man coming in his kingdom. First point, Jesus says, For the Son of Man is going to come.

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The word there, you can highlight it, circle it, the word going to come there is the

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Greek word mellow. M -E -L -L -O is how you write it down. Mellow. And that Greek word is used a couple times in the

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New Testament. And it refers to eminency. The wording is about to come.

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It is certain to come. It is about to come. Mellow. The Son of Man is about to come with his angels in the glory of his

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Father. Another way you can get at that particular point, keep your finger on Matthew 16, just turn over to Matthew 3.

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Matthew 3. John the Baptist also uses this word speaking of imminent judgment upon that generation.

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Here's what he says. In those days, John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea.

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Here's what he says. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet

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Isaiah when he said, The voice of one crying in the wilderness. Prepare the way of the Lord.

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Make his path straight. Now, John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist. And, of course, as you move forward, you see that he's preaching.

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Verse 7. When he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, here it is,

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You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come.

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Bear fruit in keeping with repentance and do not presume to say to yourselves, We have Abraham as our father.

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For I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now, listen to the language, the axe is laid to the root of the trees.

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Every truth that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

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I baptize you with water for repentance. But he who is coming after me is mightier than I. He says,

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He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in his hand and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his weed into the barn.

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But the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire. That's judgment upon them. Here's what I wanted you to see.

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He says, You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath, the word there is mellow, about to come.

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Who warned you to flee from the wrath about to come? Jesus says in Matthew 16 that the

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Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father. The wording there is about to come.

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Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.

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We just can't get around it. Can't get around it. Shouldn't want to, by the way. Jesus is the

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Messiah. Amen? He is. He is God in the flesh. We shouldn't want to get around this particular text and make excuses for Jesus.

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He said it. He meant it. Here's the truth. It happens. It happens.

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When Jesus talks here about his coming in his kingdom, the Son of Man coming in his kingdom, we need to think in biblical categories, not in 21st century evangelical

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Western categories, thinking that this means that this is the resurrection and the judgment on the last day.

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This is a common thing throughout the Bible. There are numerous days of the

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Lord in the Old Testament that spoke about God's coming in judgment upon nations like Edom and Babylon and Egypt and the

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Philistines. The day of the Lord is the day of God's judgment. There are times, of course, in the

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Old Testament where God comes in judgment upon Egypt. It's judgment motif language.

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We have to read this in the context of the entire Bible. And I want to say this.

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When you do, it is glorious. It is powerful. A couple things to look at.

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One, context. Just look there at Matthew. Write this down. Matthew chapter 3.

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John the Baptist warns about impending judgment upon that generation. You know what it means?

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You know what it means? You know what it means when John says the axe is laid at the root of the trees?

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You know what that means? It means that it's already been swung. And that axe, the teeth of that axe are about to meet that tree and cut it down.

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That's how close this judgment is in John's day. You can also read

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Matthew chapter 4 where Jesus is tested in the wilderness. And after he comes out of the wilderness, watch, watch, he is told by Satan, worship me and I will have all these kingdoms.

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I'll give them to you. Why would he offer that to Jesus? Well, because that's what Jesus came for.

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He came for the entire world. All the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdom of Christ, the book of Revelation teaches.

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Jesus came for the kingdoms of the world to draw the world to himself. Satan says, I'll give them to you now, just worship me.

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Jesus says, you shall worship the Lord your God, and what? And what? Oh, you sound so sad.

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Come on now, brighten up here, guys. What is it? And him only shall you serve.

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You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve. Jesus is the perfect Israel, the perfect Adam, our representative.

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He defeats Satan in his temptation. And what's Jesus do as soon as he walks out of the wilderness? He's proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom.

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And he says the same thing John says. Repent for the kingdom, the rule of God, the rule of heaven is at hand.

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It's at the fingertips reach. It's right here. That's the context.

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One more text I want you to see in terms of this is building up. It's building up.

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This is not just one verse thrown into Matthew 16 to confuse Christians. It's building up to a climax.

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Just keep your finger on Matthew 16. Now move to Matthew 10. We unpacked this before, but I want you to have it ready.

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In Matthew chapter 10, starting in verse 16, I will not read the entire thing. All I will tell you is this.

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Taking notes today, text heavy message today. Listen closely. I want you to do this. Later on, maybe this week at Reads Group, read

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Matthew chapter 10, and then read it with Matthew 24, Luke 21,

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Mark 13. See the same language. It's all talking about the same thing. Jesus says he's sending them out as sheep in the midst of wolves.

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He says, be innocent as doves. He says, verse 19, when they deliver you over, do not be anxious to how you speak or what you say.

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He says, in verse 21, brother will deliver brother over to death and father his child.

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Children will rise against parents. Verse 22, you'll be hated by all for my name's sake.

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And then he says this, verse 23. Get to it. Here we go. Ready? Jesus says, in verse 23, to first century

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Jewish disciples. Can we just acknowledge this as a church real fast? Really important thing in terms of how we read the

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Bible. Jesus is not talking to us. Is that profound or what?

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He's not talking to you. He's not talking to us. You weren't there.

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I wasn't there. Jesus isn't talking to the 21st century church. He's talking to disciples that he is sending out.

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And he says they're going to persecute you and deliver brother over to death. You're going to be hated for my name's sake.

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And then he says to those disciples, he says, verse 23, when they persecute you in one town, flee to the next.

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For truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the

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Son of Man comes. You will not finish going through the towns of Israel before the

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Son of Man comes. Get this. There is a coming, a judgment coming of Christ that they are to expect before they even finish their evangelical mission in Israel.

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Jesus says, you're not even going to finish doing it before I come back, the Son of Man comes back in judgment.

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Now go back to... Now this... I want you to see this. It's powerful. Mark 14.

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Keep a finger in Matthew. Now just move over to Mark 14. Gospel according to Mark 14.

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And go to verse 62. Mark 14, 62.

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Now I'm going to read just right above that in verse 60. You guys are familiar with this, I'm sure.

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But listen to Jesus in verse 60.

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This is Jesus at his trial. And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked

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Jesus, have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?

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But he remained silent and made no answer. And the high priest asked him, are you the

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Messiah, the Son of the Blessed? And Jesus said,

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I am. And you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven.

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And the high priest tore his garments and said, what further witness do we need? You've heard his blasphemy.

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What is your decision? Note that Jesus says to the high priest at his trial, he says, you will see the

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Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven.

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The high priest would see Christ coming on the clouds, seated at the right hand of the

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Father. So note that these texts clearly teach a coming of Christ in judgment before they finish going through the towns of Israel, before Matthew 16, some of them die.

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You, the high priest, will see Christ coming on the clouds. There are a number of imminent judgment texts in the

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New Testament that cannot be avoided. They are glorious. They only vindicate

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Christ as Messiah. Don't worry about going to all these right now. I'm going to give you a couple of references so you have them.

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The kingdom of heaven is at hand, Matthew 3, 2. Who warned you to flee from the wrath about to come,

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Matthew 3, 7. Kingdom of heaven is at hand, Matthew 4, 17.

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You shall not finish going through the cities of Israel until the Son of Man comes, Matthew 10, 23. Matthew 12, 32, the age about to come.

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Matthew 16, 28, Mark 9, 1. Luke 9, 27 is the parallel passage of some of you won't taste death.

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Matthew 24, 34, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Mark 13, 30, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.

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Luke 21, 22, these are the days of vengeance in order that all things which are written may be fulfilled.

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Luke 21, 32, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Luke 23, 28 through 30, daughters of Jerusalem.

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Jesus says this on the way to the cross. It's amazing. Jesus says this on the way to the cross.

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Daughters of Jerusalem, stop weeping for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. For behold, the days are coming when they will say, blessed are the barren and the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.

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Then they will begin to say to the mountains, fall on us, and to the hills, cover us. Do you ever think about that?

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I think I told you that before. That used to trip me out as a Christian. It did. It used to bug me.

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I had a bad eschatology and it messed me up. It really irritated me that here's

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Jesus going to be crucified and on the way to the cross, it's recorded.

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Jesus has been scourged. He's had his beard pulled from his face. Really shameful thing to do.

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He has crown of thorns crushed in his head. He is abused, cat of nine tails. He is tortured.

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He is carrying the cross that we deserve to carry on that road. Listen, and he stops to say to the women who are crying, don't weep for me.

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Weep for yourselves and for your children. That I never understood.

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What's that mean? What's he talking about? Jesus was warning them as he's going to be murdered.

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He was delivered into their hands by Jewish leadership. He's going to the cross and he says, the days are coming when people are going to be saying, oh man, praise

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God for the barren. People that couldn't give birth and the breast that never nursed.

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And people are going to be praying that the mountains would fall on them. Jesus says that.

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If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? John 21, 22. Jesus intimating there that the apostle

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John is going to stay alive until Jesus returns in judgment, not the final judgment or resurrection.

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This is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel and it shall be in the last days, Acts 2, 16 through 17.

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The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet, Romans 16, 20. The time has been shortened, 1

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Corinthians 7, 29. The form of this world is passing away, 1 Corinthians 7, 31.

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Now these things were written for our instruction upon whom the ends of the ages have come.

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1 Corinthians 10, 11, talking to them, those Christians. Philippians, sorry,

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Philemon 4, 5. The Lord is near. There's over 100 texts in the

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New Testament that are imminent judgment texts. You know them. Book of Revelation. What does

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Jesus say? I am coming what? Quickly, things that are soon to take place.

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The imminent text in the New Testament only tell the story that the entire Bible has told. Let me just say this as something to lay down in principle and this is where I'd really like for you guys to come back for just a moment and stay with me on this really important point.

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This is a critical point that we have to get right as Christians. It's what God used to shape me as a young believer and to really remove so much that was not allowing me to read the

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Bible for all that it's worth. We need to let the Bible control our interpretation of the

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Bible. That seems like such a simple thing, right? But I want to say it again. We need to let the

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Bible control our interpretation of the Bible. Oftentimes, you'll see Christians actually have debates.

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You ever heard this? Somebody says this. They'll say, well, I read the Bible and I interpret it literally.

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I don't get into all the figurative and spiritual interpretation. I read the Bible literally.

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But that's actually a facade. That's not actually true. What we ought to say is that we read the

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Bible literally where we ought to read it literally and we read the Bible symbolically or allegorically or figuratively where we are given permission to do so.

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Give you an example. The person that says, I read the Bible literally. They don't really read the

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Bible wooden literally. I'll give you a couple verses. Ready? God will cover you in the shadow of his wings.

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Does God have feathers? No. Or how about when it says, our God is a consuming fire?

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Does that mean God's a blast furnace? Or when Jesus says, I am the door, are we looking for a knob and hinges?

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Or how about the whore riding a seven -headed ten -horned beast wearing purple and scarlet with Babylon in her head drinking the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus and the beast turning on her, making her desolate and burning her with fire?

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Where's she at? Where do we go looking around for her? You see, we understand the point is we have to watch.

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It's not a choice. It's not a choice between reading the Bible literally or figuratively.

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It's this choice. Will we read the Bible biblically or will we make it up?

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Will we read the Bible biblically and let it control its own interpretation or will we get creative?

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Will we start reading the book of Revelation and seeing the manhoppers?

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Will we start looking at these locusts and things in Revelation and do the creative thing like many have done and say, what do you think that is?

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It's either Bruce Jenner or an Apache helicopter. I don't know. Right? Do you understand what

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I'm saying? If you don't read the Bible and let the Bible interpret itself, then the text is infinitely malleable.

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You can do whatever you want with it. But if you let the Bible control its own interpretation, let the

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Bible interpret the Bible, we'll read it rightly. Quick thing in terms of timing. Jesus says, son of man is coming before you all die.

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High priest, you will see me coming. You won't finish going to the towns of Israel before the son of man comes.

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And he says his kingdom is the issue. He says, again, Matthew 16, 28.

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Truly I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the son of man coming in his kingdom.

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We need to see, what did the Bible say about that? Why was it a big deal to them? First and foremost, watch.

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These are Jews. Jesus is using language they're familiar with. He says, son of what?

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Man. Son of man. That's a very

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Messianic title. They were familiar with it. And it's from the book of Daniel. But we know, of course, the kingdom issue is a timing issue.

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And I just want you to go write down Daniel chapter 2. Isaiah 65,

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Malachi 3. Write those down. Daniel chapter 2, Isaiah 65,

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Malachi 3. I'm going to give you guys some homework with those texts. And here's what I want you to see in those three texts.

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Ready? First one, Daniel 2. It tells you the timing of the

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Messiah's kingdom. And here's what it tells you. There's four earthly kingdoms. And then the

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God of heaven himself will set up his own kingdom that will never be destroyed.

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It's going to start like a stone cut out of a mountain. And it's going to eventually roll and fill the entirety of the earth.

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And what God says there in Daniel is there's four kingdoms. And during the time of the fourth kingdom,

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God will set up the Messiah's kingdom. You can count down from Daniel's day. Babylon, Persian, Greek, Roman.

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When did Jesus enter? During the time of the fourth kingdom. The timing is there.

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The kingdom was supposed to arrive at that time. Isaiah 65. I can't read that entire thing now, but I want you to read it later.

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What's it say? God's going to judge the covenant breakers. And then what he's going to do is he's going to give his people a new name.

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He says to the covenant breakers, you're going to be thirsty. They're going to drink. You're going to be hungry.

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They're going to be fed. He says he's going to judge the covenant breakers, and he's going to create a new heavens and new earth.

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That's covenantal language, by the way, whetting your appetite with that. Malachi 3, that third text.

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Go there later. Malachi 3 is a timing text. It says that God's going to send a messenger first.

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He'll prepare the way before Messiah. And then it says the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple.

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So Malachi 3, your last book of your Old Testament, says John the Baptist, then

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Jesus comes to his temple. And then it says two things happen with his coming. One, purification and salvation.

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Two, he's going to judge the covenant breakers. Watch, watch. That's what they knew.

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They knew Messiah's coming was twofold. Judgment on the covenant breakers, salvation for God's people.

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They knew that was coming. We have to understand the language. This is huge.

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It's so important. You guys ever heard of John Hagee? Yeah? I'm sorry.

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So sorry. You heard about the blood moon, right? Oh, do we love that?

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If there's anything that prophecy writers love, they love to freak you out with the

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Bible's language about cosmic deconstruction. Stars falling out of the heavens, hitting the earth.

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The moon darkened, sun darkened. Moon turned to blood because it sounds so terrifying.

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And here's the point. Watch. Ready? This is the point. That's what the language is supposed to do.

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It's supposed to terrify you. It's the kind of language that God uses throughout the entirety of the

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Bible. Here's what it is. It is dramatic, prophetic hyperbole.

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God uses throughout the Bible dramatic, prophetic hyperbole.

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He uses cosmic deconstruction language. I'll give you an example of what it looks like today.

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Are you ready? This is what it looks like today in terms of how God uses this language. God is going to turn your world upside down.

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Now, when I just said that to you, did any of you interpret that as literally the South Pole is going to flip this way?

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Or you flat earthers, it's going to flip upside down, we're all going to fall off. I wish flat earthers would fall off.

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Or how about this one? Cosmic deconstruction language. We speak like this all the time. God is going to knock your lights out.

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Anybody interpret that as God literally going to shut the lights out on us? Did you get the language? He's going to turn your world upside down.

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He's going to knock your lights out. That's the kind of hyperbole that God uses, really dramatic, prophetic hyperbole, cosmic deconstruction language.

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I want you to see it because it's amazing. First thing as a basis. Go with me here. I want you to grab this text as the text we're all standing on when we want to understand what did the

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Messiah mean when he came in and he said, some of you will not taste death before you see the

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Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Coming on the clouds, coming in his kingdom. The central text to understand what did that mean is

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Daniel chapter 7. Daniel chapter 7. Some of you haven't memorized.

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We actually memorized this together. But Daniel chapter 7 is where I'd like you to go. That's your

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Old Testament. It's called a minor prophet. Smaller prophet text.

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Now here it is. Daniel 7, 13 through 14.

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It says this. It's about 600 years before Christ's earthly ministry.

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I saw in the night visions, and behold with the clouds of heaven.

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Note the language. I saw in the night visions, and behold with the clouds of heaven.

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There came one like a Son of Man. Clouds, Son of Man.

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And he came up. That's what it literally means there in the text. He came up to the

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Ancient of Days. Here's the Son of Man coming up to the Ancient of Days.

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Which direction is that? Up. He's ascending. And it says, And was presented before him.

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To him, the Son of Man, was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.

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

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So what's the basis? What is the interpretive framework we ought to have when

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Jesus says he is coming before they all die on the clouds with his kingdom?

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What is the framework we ought to have? I want to say the bottom is Daniel 7.

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This is the Messiah ascending, receiving a kingdom, all the nations coming now to God.

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That's the bottom line. Now get ready because this gets really interesting. He's coming.

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Matthew 10. You won't finish going through the cities of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

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He's coming on the clouds. His kingdom, his glory. Well, how do we understand that in light of the

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Bible? I want you to go to Isaiah 19 to see that God has always talked like this.

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Isaiah chapter 19. This is about Yahweh. Very important. That's the specific name of God.

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Yahweh is coming in judgment. And this is an oracle concerning Egypt.

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Here it is. Isaiah 19. Major prophet, big prophet book.

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Isaiah 19. Here it is. An oracle concerning Egypt. Who? Who? Stay with me, guys.

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Who? Egypt. An oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, Yahweh is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt.

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And the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.

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So here's a text, Isaiah 19 .1, where it says that Yahweh comes on a swift cloud.

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The hearts of the Egyptians melt within them. Can I ask you a question?

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Is that literal? Literally? You think

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God, when they looked up, you think God? It says, Jesus says, of course,

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Jesus says, it says in John chapter 1, no one has seen God at any time. That is to say the

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Father. No one has seen the Father and lived. The Son reveals him. But do we think that the

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Egyptians here in Isaiah 19, they literally saw Yahweh riding on a cloud into Egypt and that their hearts all of a sudden melted into their bellies?

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Do you get the language? This is dramatic prophetic hyperbole. It's the kind of language that we ought to understand as human beings in terms of what terrifies us and feels like judgment.

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Do you know what feels like judgment in Kauai right now? Clouds. Clouds. Think about it.

01:00:00

When we see clouds rolling into an area, it terrifies us.

01:00:06

It's a symbol of terror and fear. In Kauai, those clouds that erased the landscape, it gives a sense of judgment and fear.

01:00:16

It's not necessarily always judgment, but you know what it actually expresses. Or how about the huboobs?

01:00:23

Right? People just have no idea. These things are insane. If you're new to Phoenix, welcome.

01:00:30

I want you to know that in the summer times, we have some very interesting things that happen.

01:00:36

You will see a black cloud go across the valley like an arm, and it will just erase the background.

01:00:44

It's just darkness from the floor to the ceiling. It's just darkness all the way up, and it's amazing.

01:00:51

Has anybody ever been in one? You ever been just driving, and that huboob starts coming across?

01:00:56

What a weird name. It starts coming across, and you find yourself in it. What do you have to do? You have to pull your car over because you're enveloped in darkness, complete darkness.

01:01:08

You see, we know what those things symbolize to us. Terror, destruction, and fear.

01:01:14

And so when the Bible uses this language, Yahweh comes riding on a swift cloud against Egypt.

01:01:20

It's supposed to express what that expresses in us in terms of the symbol. It's judgment motif language.

01:01:28

Give you another example. Psalm chapter 18. Psalm chapter 18.

01:01:40

This is, by the way, all the way through the Psalms. I could not exhaust this, but I just want to say this to you.

01:01:47

What was... Help me with this. We're going to finish on this point here, guys. What was the hymnal of the

01:01:55

Jews? What was? The Psalms. What you have before you right now is what they use as their hymnal.

01:02:02

They use this as their hymnal. They sang these songs. This is part of their lifeblood. This is what they had up there on the screen.

01:02:10

It's what they were singing to on Saturday, right? This was part of their worship service. So they knew the language of the book of Psalms.

01:02:17

Here's what Psalm says in Psalm 18, 1 through 15. I love you,

01:02:22

O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer. My God, my rock, in whom

01:02:28

I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the

01:02:34

Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of death encompassed me.

01:02:42

The torrents of destruction assailed me. The cords of Sheol entangled me. The snares of death confronted me.

01:02:49

In my distress, I called upon the Lord. To my God, I cried for help. Watch. Verse 7.

01:02:56

Then the earth reeled and rocked. The foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked because he was angry.

01:03:04

Smoke went up from his nostrils and devouring fire from his mouth. Glowing coals flamed forth from him.

01:03:12

Here it is, verse 9. He bowed the heavens and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet.

01:03:20

He rode on a cherub and flew. He came swiftly on the wings of the wind.

01:03:28

He made darknesses, covering his canopy around him. Thick clouds dark with water.

01:03:35

Out of the brightness before him hailstones and coals of fire broke through his clouds.

01:03:42

Now let me ask you this. If you were born and raised singing these psalms, it's part of your language and your song.

01:03:53

It's what you do at family worship. It's what you do at your reach group. It's what you do in church. And this is the language.

01:03:59

God coming on the clouds. He's riding on the clouds. And that means God's coming to vindicate you and to judge your enemies.

01:04:08

Now watch. Jesus. He comes in. Some of you standing here will not taste death until you see the

01:04:18

Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, bringing his kingdom.

01:04:25

What does that mean? Judgment. Judgment.

01:04:31

Before you all die, you'll see the Son of Man ascended on the clouds, receiving dominion, glory, and the kingdom that all the peoples, nations, men of every language might serve him.

01:04:46

Later on, go to Psalm 97, 1 -5. Another text of God coming on the clouds.

01:04:52

Go to Psalm 104, 1 -3. Another text of God coming on the clouds.

01:04:58

I'm going to pick this up next week. I'm going to unpack. Well, what did that mean? His kingdom was arriving.

01:05:05

It came with judgment upon the covenant breakers. I can't wait to share it with you because it is amazing to see what the

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New Testament says about the destruction of the old covenant order, deconstruction, with the coming of Christ's rule, his kingdom, and his reign.

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When you read texts like Luke 21, Mark 13,

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Matthew 24, where it says they say to Jesus, what's the sign of your coming and the end of the age?

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And Jesus tells them, wars, rumors of wars, false messiahs. They're going to deliver you over to be persecuted.

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There's going to be famines, pestilence, plague. And he says to them, when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, flee.

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He tells his people how to be rescued from it. He says that all these things will be upon this generation.

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You won't all die before this happens. You begin to see this. Watch. We ought to live lives with godly fear.

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See, what does all this mean? This is what's important to me. And I want to just be just so open and transparent about this.

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This is not, this is not to fulfill our own speculation and fantasy about the end.

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That shouldn't be the main thing here. What we ought to get from a study like this is joy, first, because we realize that Jesus truly is the messiah.

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He is who he claimed to be. But we should also capture a real godly fear. Godly fear.

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Why? Because everything Jesus and the apostles said was going to happen in that generation, it happened on time, as expected, as planned.

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And it was real judgment upon a people, upon a city, upon covenant breakers.

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God is not mocked. Jesus said that he was going to do something, and he did.

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That's the godly fear that should be coming up in all of us as we see this. God planned it this way.

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Jesus reiterated it. It happened on time, which tells me this. Jesus says this, truly, verily, amen.

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He says it a lot. Verily, verily, truly, truly, amen, amen. So be it.

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Yes, it is. Some of you standing here will not taste death until you see the

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Son of Man coming in his kingdom. And it happened. But he also says this. Truly, truly,

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I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but is passed out of death into life.

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Jesus says, this is the truth. If you know me, if you trust in me, if you've heard my words, then you have eternal life and you'll never be condemned.

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You've come out of death into life. Jesus says, whoever lives and believes in him will never die.

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And he says, whoever believes in him and who has died will live. Jesus says that if you have him, you have life.

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If you do not have him, you do not have life, but the wrath of God abides in you. The Bible says to the kings of the earth in Psalm chapter 2, to obey the son or you'll perish when his wrath is kindled.

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You see, here's what we should get from all of this. This should not be something that just creates within us sort of a passion for prophecy, a perverse sort of fixation or obsession even with prophecy.

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It ought to create within us a love for God, a trust in his word and a godly fear.

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That's what we should get out of all this. Jesus is who he claimed to be. His word is the truth.

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When he says something, it happens. All his word, all of his promises are yes and what?

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Amen. And that's the truth before God. What, isn't it amazing?

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Far from being texts that make Jesus look like he gave a false prophecy.

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These are actually texts that the early church was using as an apologetic against the

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Jews by saying, look, Jesus says he was going to destroy the temple in that generation and that he'd come back before you all died and he did.

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Look, he's destroyed your city and your temple. You're sent off into exile into the world. Jesus is the

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Messiah. Isn't it amazing? The early church used these texts to prove that Jesus is the

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Messiah and the modern church uses some of these texts to say this is all future to us.

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What happens? Why would we ever want to lose such an amazing vindication of Jesus as the

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Messiah? So let's do business with God. Let me ask you this. It's my duty as a pastor. Do you know him?

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Do you know Jesus? Do you know the one who says a word and it's established?

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Do you know the one who says what the future will be and it is? Do you know him?

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Because he says to all of us, repent and believe the gospel. Turn away from your sin to God.

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Submit yourself to the king of the world. Submit yourself to the Lord of lords. Put your faith in him.

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Turn away from sin and unrighteousness. Turn away from your own attempts to save yourself with your own filthy rags and righteousnesses and fall on Christ and in him alone.

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He is the Messiah. He is ascended up to the ancient of days. He did take his seat.

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He is now bringing men and women and children from every tribe, tongue, people and nation to God.

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He is drawing them up to the mountain of God to save them. All the families of the earth returning to worship

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Yahweh. Here's the question. Do you know him? Have you turned from your sins to trust in Christ?

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How could we neglect so great a salvation? How could you turn away from a

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God that is so full of grace and mercy and compassion? How could you neglect a salvation when today is the day of salvation?

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Turn from your sins to Christ and live. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. I pray,

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Lord, that the word that went out today is honoring to you, that it glorifies you. I pray you prepare us for next week as we complete this part of the story.

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I pray for everyone in this room that knows you. I pray that you create within us awe, awe for your word, awe for its consistency, awe for its power.

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I pray, Lord, for those in this room that know you that are struggling with sin or sadness, loneliness, brokenness, that you'd free us right now.

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Free us by your word and your truth. Let us trust in the Lord, not in horses and chariots and armies and circumstances and money, stuff.

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Let us trust in you. Lord, you are the rock. Your word, your promises are yes and amen.

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Let us trust in what you say and not what we feel. I pray for those that don't know you today, they haven't turned to you in faith.

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I pray that you'd grant repentance even now. Eyes to see, faith. I pray that they would come to die and rise again to be joined to you in your death and resurrection.