Book of Luke - Ch. 12, Vs. 1-12 (07/19/2020)

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Okay. I guess I'm going right now then. This morning, we're going to begin our study on chapter 12 of Luke.

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Now, one thing I probably need to say at the beginning, chapter divisions are not inspired.

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They are done, the ones we're using now were done by Stephen Langdon when he divided the

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Bible into chapters that we use today, and that was done in 1227

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AD. So we have to bear that in mind. Chapter 12 just carries on the thought left over from chapter 11.

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A better breaking point would be at the end of the lesson today if I were dividing it, but I didn't divide it.

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And we have to thank Mr. Langdon because it makes life a lot easier to find things.

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In any case, I'm going to go back and reread two sections in chapter 11 that we covered last week.

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I'm going to begin with Luke 11, verse 42. There's going to be three woes to the

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Pharisees. Well, one, but woe unto you

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Pharisees, for you tithe with mint and rue, and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God.

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These ought you to have done, and not leave the other undone. Now for the second woe.

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Woe unto you Pharisees, for you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greeting in the markets.

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And now for the third woe. Woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you are as graves which appear not.

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And the men that walk over them are not aware of them. Now we have three more woes.

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We'll pick those up in verse 46. Chapter 11, verse 46.

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And he said, woe unto you also, you lawyers, for you laid men with burdens grievous to bear.

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And ye yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers. And then he goes on to say, woe unto you, for you build sepulchers of the prophets, and your fathers kill them.

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And then down at Luke 52, 1152, it begins, woe unto you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge.

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You enter not in yourselves, and them that were entering, you hindered. And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the

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Pharisees began to urge him. They began to provoke him, to prod him, to verbally assail him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things, laying weight for him, trying to set a trap, seeking to catch him, seeking to catch something out of his mouth that they may accuse him.

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Now, chapter 12 carries on the thought of the Pharisees and Jesus' response to them.

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Before we begin chapter 12, though, let's pray. Most gracious Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us this time and this place where we may come together and worship you and study your holy word.

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Thank you for all of the things that you've given us. Thank you for the protection that you've given us. Thank you for everything.

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Thank you for giving your Holy Spirit to interpret your word, and thank you for giving us your word.

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Thank you for giving Jesus Christ the ultimate gift, the gift that redeemed us and made it possible for us to enter into his kingdom.

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Bless us and keep us. Go through with us all the services today. Bring us back again next time.

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In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. So chapter 12, verse 1 begins.

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In the meantime, while all of that was going on, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trod one upon another, and he began to say unto his disciples, first of all, beware ye of the leaven of the

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Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Now, with the multitude of his followers, the innumerable multitude of followers,

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Jesus and his disciples were becoming more and more popular. But with the

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Pharisees, they're becoming more and more of a threat. Jesus, knowing all this, takes the opportunity to warn his disciples, to warn his disciples of the leaven of the

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Pharisees, which he identifies clearly here in Luke as their hypocrisy.

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Now, if we'd gone through these same passages in Matthew and Mark, which we're going to do in just a minute, you'll see that it's something different that is identified as the leaven of the

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Pharisees. So, let's go to Matthew 16 and pick up at verse 6.

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Matthew 16, verse 6. Then Jesus said unto them, take heed.

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He's talking to his disciples. Take heed and beware of the leaven of the

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Pharisees and the Sadducees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying, is it because we have taken no bread?

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Which when Jesus perceived it, he said unto them, O ye of little faith, why reason yourself among yourselves?

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Why reason ye among yourselves? Because you have no bread. What he's saying is, why would you be worrying about bread?

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He's going to go on and ask them, do you not remember the 5 ,000 and the 4 ,000 and all the bread we had left over?

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So, here's what he's going to say. You don't need to worry about bread. I can produce all the bread you want.

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Do you not yet understand, neither remember the 5 loaves of the 5 ,000 and how many baskets you took up?

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Neither the 7 loaves of the 4 ,000 and how many baskets you took up?

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How is it that you do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread?

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That you should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

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And then Matthew is good enough to tell us exactly what he wanted them to do. Then they understood, then understood they, how he bade them not to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the

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Pharisees and the Sadducees. So, in Matthew, he clearly identifies the leaven as the doctrine of the

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Pharisees. In Mark, he adds a little bit extra in the same story, but he doesn't explicitly identify the leaven as the doctrine which you can infer that.

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We'll go there. Mark 8, 13. Mark 8, 13. And he left them, and entering into the ship again, departed unto the other side.

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Now the disciples had forgotten to take bread. Same story. Neither had they in the ship with them more than one loaf.

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And he charged them, saying, Take heed, beware of the leaven of the

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Pharisees and of the leaven of Herod. I probably need to point out here that leaven universally is used in the

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New Testament as an indicator of sin. So you could have read that, the sin of the

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Pharisees and the sin of Herod. And then earlier in Luke, the sin of the

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Pharisees. And they reasoned among themselves, saying,

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It is because we have no bread, and when Jesus knew it, He says unto you,

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Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? Perceive ye not, yet neither understand?

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Have ye your hearts yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not?

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And having ears, hear ye not? And do you not remember? When I break the five thousand loaves among the five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments ye took up?

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They remembered, and they said unto them, Twelve. And when the seven among the four thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up?

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And they remembered, and they said, Seven. And He said unto them,

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How is it that ye do not yet understand? Well, that's all Mark had to say about the leaven.

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Dr. John MacArthur says this, The doctrine and the hypocrisy, the leaven of the doctrine and the leaven of the hypocrisy, are intrinsically linked.

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The most sinister influence of the Jewish leaders was a pragmatic doctrine that made room for hypocrisy.

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They were too concerned with externals and ceremonies and the way things appeared, and not concerned enough with matters of the heart.

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Jesus rebuked them for their hypocrisy again and again in the

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Bible. Now, we discussed this last week. The hypocrisy of the

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Pharisees was doing all that was possible to appear clean on the outside while ignoring the dirt inside.

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Hypocrisy is like leaven in the sense it only takes a little to affect a great mass.

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It only takes a little sin for us to be in violation of the law and without the redemption of Jesus Christ, destined to hell.

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But because of the redemption of Jesus Christ, He bore the price of all of our sins.

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A little bit of hypocrisy can be like a little bit of arsenic. Now, in light of the tremendous popularity at this moment, it was especially important for the disciples to remember this.

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The temptation for hypocrisy is often the strongest to those who enjoy some measure of outward success.

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So if you're having success, that's when you're more likely to be tempted to hypocrisy.

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And that's what the disciples were doing right now. They were experiencing some outward success.

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People were swarming to get near them and to get near Jesus. Now, verse 2.

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Luke chapter 12, verse 2. For there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed, neither hid that it shall not be known.

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Now, there's two issues here. And John MacArthur took off on one of them.

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He said this, the purpose. And I added to his dialogue or monologue,

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God's purpose. God's purpose in keeping something hidden is so one day it can be revealed.

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Jesus' teaching was never intended to be just for an inner circle of followers.

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It would be the responsibility of the disciples to communicate the gospel of the kingdom to the world at large.

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We see that in the Great Commission given in Matthew 28, verses 19 and 20.

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The last two verses of the last book of Matthew. I'm going to pick it up just a little bit earlier than that.

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I'm going to pick Matthew up, Matthew 28, last chapter in Matthew, verse 16.

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Jesus has already risen from the dead, and he has been with his disciples and with the public for about 40 days.

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And he tells his 11 remaining disciples to go to a mountain in Galilee.

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And so they went. And that's where we pick up in verse 16.

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Matthew 28, 16. Then the 11 disciples went away into Galilee, into a mountain where Jesus had appointed them.

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And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted.

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That perplexed me. How could they possibly have doubted

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Jesus at this time? They have walked with him 40 days after he rose from the dead. They saw him crucified.

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They saw him buried. They saw him after the resurrection. And yet there was still some doubt.

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Well, that's because they're human beings. And with human beings can come doubt. It's not a sin to doubt.

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So don't worry when you sometimes doubt. I guess one should worry when they quit doubting, when they quit caring.

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That's when you should be worried. And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

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And now for the great commission. This is one of the Bible scriptures that we had to memorize back in, when

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I was like 12 years old, in the Royal Ambassadors. Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the

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Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever

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I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.

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That probably was a poor translation. The word there, the

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Greek word is Iona. Iona. It means forever.

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It means an unbroken age. It means a perpetuity of time.

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It means eternity. It could have been translated,

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I am with you always, even forever. And then he ends the book with the word, amen.

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Well, that's Matthew 28, 19 and 20. Now we are back in Luke chapter 12, verse 3.

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And Luke is explaining some of the things that will be revealed. Therefore whatsoever you have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light.

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And that which you have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

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Yes, Jesus will use his disciples, and that includes us, to reveal his gospel.

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But it's more than the gospel that God will reveal. You can rest assured that God knows all we say and all we do.

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As he knew all the Pharisees said and all they did, and he will reveal it at its proper time.

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Now also, as we discussed last week, these Pharisees were very careful to maintain the appearance of righteousness, but not the reality of it.

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They were foolish because they thought they could fool God. They thought if they were clean on the outside,

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God wouldn't know that they were dirty on the inside. But God knows everything.

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He knows all the truth. He knows all the good that we've done. He knows all the bad that we've done.

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He knows all the good that we've fought. He knows all the bad that we have thought. And it will all be revealed in the judgment.

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1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 5 says this, 1

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Corinthians verse 4, I'm sorry, 1 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 5, therefore judge nothing before the time until the

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Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart.

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And then shall every man have praise of God. The things that you've done and the things that you have been thinking about shall be brought to life.

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And when will that happen? At the judgment.

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Verse 4, and I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body.

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And after that, they have no more that they can do. Now it's recorded in both

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Luke and Matthew that some of Jesus's disciples will be killed and others will be persecuted.

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So what he's doing here is reassuring them that the killing and the persecution is all that the

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Pharisees and the Romans can do. But there's no such reassurance for the

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Jewish leaders. In Luke 11,

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Luke 11, verse 49, we did this last week as well.

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Therefore also said the wisdom of God, this is a direct revelation from Jesus to them, not a quote from the

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Old Testament. Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles and some of them they shall slay and persecute that the blood of all the prophets which were shed from the foundation of the world may be required of this generation.

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Jesus is talking to his disciples, some of whom will be killed and persecuted and all of which will need some assurance.

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And he's speaking about what will happen to the generation that rejects him.

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Matthew 23, verse 34 says basically the same thing.

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I'm going to start it a little bit and then I'll stop. Matthew 23, verse 34. Wherefore, behold,

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I send unto you prophets and wise men and scribes, and some of them you shall kill and crucify, and some of them you shall scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that upon you may come all the righteousness of the blood shed upon the earth from the blood of the righteous came unto the blood of Zechariah from the beginning and the end.

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Verily I say unto you, all these things will come upon this generation, the generation that rejects him.

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O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that has killed the prophets and stone of them which are sent unto you, how often would

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I have gathered thy children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you would not.

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And behold, your house is left unto you desolate. And I shall say unto you, you shall not see me henceforth until you say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the

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Lord. Now that doesn't mean that individual Jews cannot be saved, but what that means is the nation of Israel will not see the

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Lord again until they say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the

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Lord. Now back to Luke chapter 5. But I will forewarn you, he's talking again to his disciples, but I will forewarn you whom you shall fear.

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Fear him which after he hath killed has the power to cast into hell.

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Yea, I say unto you, fear him. Now Jesus is speaking to everyone.

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There is someone to fear, but it's not the

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Pharisees. It's not the Romans, although the Pharisees and the

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Romans killed their fair share of Jews and Christians.

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It's not the Russians. It's not the Chinese and their coronavirus.

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Who is it that we should fear? He who will judge the quick and the dead.

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Turn to 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 4. 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 4.

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Wherein they think it strange that you run not with them to the same excess of riot, speaking evil of you, who shall give an account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead?

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And who is that? That of course is Jesus Christ, the one that's going to judge the quick and the dead.

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For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they may be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

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And then John, the gospel of John chapter 5 verse 21.

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John chapter 5 verse 21. For as the

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Father has raised up the dead and quickened him, even so the

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Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judged no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the

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Son, that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the

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Father. He that honoreth not the Son honoreth not the

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Father which hath sent him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me should have everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.

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Verily, verily, I say unto you, the hour is coming and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the

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Son of God that and they that hear shall live. For as the

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Father has life in himself, so has he given it to the Son to have life in himself and has given him authority to execute judgment because he is the

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Son of Man. Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in the which that all graves shall hear his voice and he shall come forth.

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They that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of the dead.

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That's the raising of the body. That's not the raising of the spirit. The spirit never died.

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The spirit just went, and if they were saved, into Jesus' arms, into Abraham's bosom, and if they were evil, into Hades.

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They didn't need resurrection, but the body did. The resurrection deals with the body. Matthew 10, verse 16, says this.

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Matthew 10, 16. He's commissioning his disciples to go and preach.

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Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

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But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues.

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And you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for testimony against them and the

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Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no fault how or what you shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what you should speak.

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For it is not ye that speak, but the spirit of your father which speaketh in you.

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And brother shall deliver up brother to death, and the father, the child, and the child shall raise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death.

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And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

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But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye to another. For verily

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I say unto you, ye shall not have gone over all the cities of Israel till the

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Son of Man come. The servant is not above his master. The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his

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Lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his

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Lord. If thou call thy master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of the house?

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Fear them not. Fear them not, therefore, for there is nothing covered that shall not be revealed and hid that shall not be known.

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What I tell you in the darkness, that you speak in the light, and what you hear in the ear, that you preach from the housetop.

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And fear not, and fear not them which can kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul.

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But rather, fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

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Are not two sparrows sold for a farling? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your father?

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But the very hairs on your heads are numbered. Fear not, therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

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Whosoever, therefore, shall confess me before men, him

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I will confess also before my father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him

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I will also deny before thy father, my father, which is in heaven.

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Okay, now back to Luke chapter 12. We're now at verse 6. And we've got the story of sparrows again.

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This time there's five sparrows and they're sold for two farlings. Are not five sparrows sold for two farlings?

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And not one of them is forgotten before God? Two farlings, that's two acerion.

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One acerion would be a Roman copper coin equal to one sixteenth of a denarius.

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So it's less than an hour's wage. In Matthew it said, are not two sparrows sold for a farling?

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And one shall not fall upon the ground without your father? That probably should have been better translated, without your father's knowledge.

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John MacArthur adds this, not merely without his knowledge. Jesus was teaching that God providentially controls the timing and the circumstance of such insignificant events as the death of a sparrow.

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Even the number of hairs on our heads is controlled by a sovereign will. In other words, divine providence governs even the smallest detail, even the most mundane matter.

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These are a very powerful affirmation of the sovereignty of God.

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I can't resist this. Matthew said two sparrows for one farling. And Luke says five sparrows for two farling.

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So I guess if you buy five, you get a bargain. But the point is you're worth more than a sparrow.

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Luke goes on to say, but even the very hairs of your heads are all numbered. If you're not, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows.

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And I say unto you, whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the

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Son of Man also confess before the angels of God. Now, when will that happen?

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That'll happen on judgment day. Let's go quickly to Matthew chapter 25, verse 31.

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And I actually want you to go here. Matthew 25, verse 31. I'll give you a second to get there.

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Matthew 25, verse 31. Seems like insane that I said different numbers, but that's the correct number.

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Matthew 25, verse 31. When the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divided his sheep from his goats.

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And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.

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Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, come ye, blessed are my

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Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

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All of this was set in motion way back before anything existed. This is not something new.

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This is not a bailout for a mistake by the Trinity. It was the design of everything.

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And those that are the sheep, the ones called by God, will be judged not by God.

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They'll be judged by Jesus Christ. It's Jesus on the throne judging. So if you ever say,

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I don't want to serve a Lord that will judge, then you don't want to serve

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Jesus. So what about the sheep? The king will say,

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Jesus will say unto them on his right hand, come ye, blessed are my

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Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

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But what about the goats? But he that denieth me before men shall be denied before the angels of God.

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Now, John MacArthur actually says this. This describes a soul -damning denial of Christ, not the sort of temporary wavering that Peter was guilty of at the crucifixion.

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Remember when he was sitting by the fire and three people came up and asked if he were with Jesus, and three times he denied.

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And after the third time, Jesus looked at him, the cock crew, and Jesus and Peter remembered that Jesus had told him, before the cock crowed three times, you will have denied me three times.

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And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter, and Peter remembered the word of the

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Lord, how he had said unto him, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.

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And Peter went out and wept bitterly. Peter understood,

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Peter wavered, Peter sinned, but Peter repented. Jesus is not talking about this type of wavering.

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He's talking about the sin of those who through fear, shame, neglect, delay, or love of the world reject all the evidence and revelation and decline to confess that Jesus is

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Christ and Savior and King until it is too late.

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Now Luke goes on to say, and whosoever shall speak a word against the

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Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him. But unto him that blasphemeth against the

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Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven.

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This blasphemy is not a sin of ignorance. It's a willful, deliberate, settled hostility toward Christ.

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The sin he was confronting, the sin Jesus was confronting, was the

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Pharisees' deliberate rejection of that which they knew to be true.

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I'm going to go to John 11, verse 47, and read just a little bit.

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And we will recognize that the Pharisees knew who

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Jesus was. They are just not willing to accept him. They deliberately rejected what they knew was of God.

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John 11, verse 47. Then gathered the chief priests, and the

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Pharisees in a council, and said, What do we do?

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For this man doeth many miracles. If we let him alone thus, all men will believe on him, and the

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Romans shall come and take away both our place and our nation.

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They knew that Jesus had come from the Lord. They knew that if they did nothing, the people would all believe.

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They knew and they rejected. There's another account of this in Acts chapter 4, verse 16.

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This, I believe, is Peter's sermon. And in the midst of it, he says this, saying,

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What shall we do with these men? That's the disciples. They knew and rejected what they could not do.

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They could not deny the reality of what the Holy Spirit had done through him. So they attributed to Satan a work that they knew was of God.

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They attributed to Satan the work of Christ. That's why they are being condemned.

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Verse 11. And when they bring you into synagogues, and into magistrates and powers, take ye no fault how or what thing you shall answer, or what you shall do.

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What he's saying is, when he says, take ye no fault, don't worry. Don't be anxious.

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Now, I have seen many pastors that will use this as an excuse to go into the pulpit without preparation and just try to freelance it.

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John MacArthur says this. This does not suggest that ministers and teachers should forgo preparation in their normal spiritual duties.

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To cite this passage and others like it to justify the neglect of study and meditation is to twist the meaning of the scripture.

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This verse is meant as a comfort to those who are under life -threatening persecutions, not an excuse for laziness.

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The exact same expression is used in verse 22, which we'll not get to today.

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Speaking of one's concerns for material necessities. In neither context was

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Jesus condemning legitimate toil and preparation. He was promising the

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Holy Spirit's aid for times of persecution when there can be no preparation.

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Verse 12, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in the same hour what you ought to say.

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Now, this is a little bit early, but this is a good breaking point because what's going to happen now is the topic is going to change, and Jesus is going to go from condemning the

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Pharisees and giving comfort to the disciples to declining to act as an arbitrator in hostilities and issues that should not have come forward in the first place.

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So I'm going to break off at this point, and I'm going to turn it back over to Brother David, and I know this is a little bit early, but unless you have questions,

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I can't see them if Brother David or Brother Ben has a question or a comment they'd like to make, we can do that now and chat a little bit, or we will just go on.

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I'll read any questions that come through for you, Brother Bill, so that you'll know what's being said.

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Okay. Got some thank yous in here. Thanks for slowing down a bit and clearly giving the chapter and verse.

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I understand that that is one of my major flaws is I feel compelled to try to say too many things in too short a period of time.

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I slowed down, and I still got through early, so I guess that's the lesson the Lord is teaching me, and I want to thank all of you guys for listening, and I will try to do better at citing the verses over and over again.

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I tried to do that today. Thank you. Anything else? Someone's asking,

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Jeffrey's asking if we can look at Ezekiel 37, 1 through 14, dry bones.

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Okay, I think I can do that on the other book. Would you give me the citation again?

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Ezekiel 37, 1 through 14. Ezekiel.

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Chapter 37. Ezekiel 37.

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I've got two computers up here, and they react differently, and I have to change how

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I do things one for the other. It's the dry bones, and where is that? Verses 1 through 14 in chapter 37.

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Okay, now I'm familiar with that passage. Does he have a specific question or a specific comment he wants to make or he wants me to make?

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Let's find out. Is there something specific you'd like to look at there, Jeffrey? Asking for you just to expand on it, if you could.

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Pretty general. Okay, well, I'll try to expand a little bit. Dry bones represents all the people that have died and have not been resurrected.

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And he said, prophesy and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the

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Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones, Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.

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And I will ascend you upon you, and bring up flesh over you, and cover your skin, and put breath in you, that you shall live, and shall know that I am the

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Lord. So he is putting them in a living, breathing body.

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And so I prophesied as commanded, and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold, a shaking, and bones came together, bone to bone, and behold, lo, the sinew and the flesh came upon them, and the skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.

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So they're just living corpses. No, they're just corpses. They're not yet alive.

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Then he said to me, prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, say to the wind, thus saith the

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Lord God, come from the four corners, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.

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And as I prophesied, so I prophesied as commanded, and the breath came unto me, and they lived, and stood on their feet an exceedingly great army.

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Then he said unto me, son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, our bones are dried, and our hope is lost.

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We're cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy unto them, thus saith the

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Lord God, behold, my people, I will open your graves, and call you to come out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel, and you shall know that I am the

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Lord when I have opened your grave. So I will put my spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land, and then you shall know that I, the

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Lord, hath spoken it and performed it. And it's going to be all the houses of Israel.

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The whole of Israel will be brought back to life and given the opportunity to accept, receive the

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Lord. In fact, they've done that. It's a great depiction of our salvation, too, if you think about it, because he says that he's going to do all these things, and then we'll know it's him.

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You know, it just shows his sovereignty. It's not anything that we can do. We can't even know it's him until he's done it, you know?

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Well, even after he put them all back together, he took the dry bones, and put them back into a corpse.

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All the working parts were there, but what was not there was life, and he put the breath of life back in them.

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Then said to them, after I do all these things, after I put the breath of the life in you, and I raise up this whole host of the army, then you will know that I am the

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Lord. And it's the entire, it's the, this is dealing with the end times, and this is dealing with the salvation of the entire house of Israel after they have proclaimed, blessed be he that come in the name of the

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Lord. When they do that, then there'll be hope for them again.

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And I'll make them a nation, and they will not defile themselves anymore with idols, nor detestable things, nor with any transgressions.

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I will cleanse them, so they shall be my people, and I will be their

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God. And David, my servant, shall be a king over them. And they shall have one shepherd, and they shall walk in my judgment.

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And they shall have one shepherd, and they shall walk in my judgment, and observe my statues, and do them.

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And they that dwell in the land that I have given them, unto

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Jacob my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt, they shall dwell there, even they and their children, and their children's children, how long?

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Forever. So this is, this is after, even after the millennial kingdom.

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Thank you, Brother Bill. Oh, that is a, that is a deep, deep passage.

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You could do a whole couple of Sunday schools on that one, couldn't you? Absolutely.

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That is, the only thing that strikes me really hard right now about this is, they are, right now,

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Israel is basically dry bones. There are people out there, uh, the, not, not individuals, but the nation that are like dry bones.

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And he's going to bring them back and put life back in them. And when he does that, every single one of them is going to accept him and be part of him.

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The entire nation of Israel, every last one of them will be saved.

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At this point, but not earlier. It's a stark contrast to the

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Pharisees you were talking about in your Sunday school lesson, who apparently knew who he was and rejected him.

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That's right. That's right. Again, these dry bones, these dry bones are relative to people who are alive walking around in Israel right now.

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They're not, they're the dry bones. And it's to them that a new body will be given and life breathe in them.

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And they will recognize that Jesus is Lord. Not the ones that lived in the past and rejected him.

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That's not the dry bones we're talking about. We're talking about the dry bones that are walking around in Israel right now.

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I think that's right. Again, that was something

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I didn't expect to deal with today. And I'm going through what I think I remember.

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And I can obviously disremember many things. Well, you study a lot.