Confidence and Endurance (Hebrews 10:35-36) | Adult Sunday School

♪ I stand, I stand ♪ In Jesus' name ♪

I stand in ♪

I stand, I stand in ♪

I have a strong and perfect plea ♪

A great high priest whose name is love ♪ Whoever lives and pleads for me ♪

My name is graven on his hands ♪

My name is written on his heart ♪ I know that ♪

When he stands ♪ No tongue can bid me thence depart ♪

No tongue can bid me thence depart ♪ When Satan tempts me to despair ♪

And tells me of the guilt with my sin ♪

Because my sinful soul is counted free ♪

To look on him, to look on him and pardon ♪

Isn't that ♪ My perfect spotless righteousness ♪

The great unchangeable I am ♪ The king of glory ♪

My soul is purged by his love ♪

Your spirit had awakened ♪ Our lifeless hearts to see ♪

The king in brilliant glory ♪ Revealed a majesty ♪

We were ruined in your presence ♪ When Satan tempts me to despair ♪ And tells me of the guilt with my sin ♪

And tells me of the guilt with my sin Are we on?

Good morning. Good morning. I hate to break this up,

I know. Go ahead and finish your conversations and just signal me when you're ready. Good morning.

It's awful in here that you people like each other. We can't be having that in this modern age.

Can you figure out how to cancel each other, please? I can tell you where you can get info to do that.

It's called anti -social media. Okay, I'm done.

I'll get on a different soapbox now. Yeah, how do I really feel? Welcome to Kootenai Community Church Adult Sunday School.

Remember me? Yes. Okay, that's too bad that you remember me, that could...

So, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father, as we take up this next subject before we get back into the book of Daniel, sometimes labels and descriptions put us off, but the most important thing we want to remember this morning is that everything we try, everything we want to do is to elevate you to give glory to God, to lift up the scriptures as even above your name, which is you have said, and we want you,

Lord, to be vindicated, glorified, and honored in all that we do. So, this morning, as we study more of your word, we look to you for illumination, and Lord, your word is exciting, it's relevant, it's unbelievable, and we are so grateful that you gave it to us, for we have the very picture of the

Lord Jesus Christ in this word. And because of that, we want to serve you more. Might that be what is in our hearts and our minds this morning as we look into your word.

In Jesus' name, amen. So, how many of you have studied a lot of biblical prophecy?

A few hands, yeah. Are you...

So, that means that some of you are like I used to be, you're not amillennial, you're not postmillennial, you're not premillennial, you're panmillennial, because you know, you've heard it, you know it's gonna pan out in the end.

So, actually, the study of biblical prophecy is not optional, much to my surprise when

I discovered this a few years back. Eschatology does not save, but it is necessary.

Where's he going with this? Why isn't he reading from Daniel? I'll get to that. We're counseled to properly interpret the

Bible. That includes eschatology, and I'm gonna give you some definitions. Today's gonna be of definitions and labels, and I don't want you to be put off by that, because everything we do at Kootenai is to glorify

God, is to lift him up and to honor him. And so, there's a reason for what the decision to look into eschatology and prophecy for a short little bit here before we get back into the book of Daniel.

And I'll give that to you. I'm just gonna pique your interest, and I'll give it to you in a while. Eschatology, a branch of theology concerned with the final events in the history of the world or of humankind.

A belief concerning death, the end of the world, or the ultimate destiny of humankind specifically.

Any of various Christian doctrines concerning the second coming, the resurrection of the dead, or the last judgment.

That's eschatology. Blessings attend those who properly understand prophecy.

Revelation 1 .3 says this, blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and heed the things which are written in it, for the time is near.

Do you believe the time is near? Now, I know it's been near for 2 ,000 years, but there's a sense of today that it's really near.

And it could be. I'm not gonna set a date, by the way. So, you can all rest assured of that.

Revelation 22 .7, behold, and behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the word of the prophecy of this book.

Blessed is he who heeds the word. Now, we're not gonna be getting into Revelation today, but because we're gonna get back to Daniel soon.

So, did you know there's 62 books of the Bible that contain prophetic information of the 66?

The only four that do not are Ruth, Song of Solomon, Philemon, and 3 John. Almost nearly every book in the

Bible contains prophetic information. I want you to not get caught up in labels this morning, if you can do that for me.

Often, labels are one group's method of understanding another. Thus, we label things. If I can remember right now, if I've got this right,

I was gonna look this up and verify it, but the Ogallala Sioux and the Dakota Sioux named each other, and they got their names from the other tribe.

One of them meant stranger. I think it's Dakota, but at any rate. So, that means when you go to North Dakota, you're going to North Stranger, and when you go to South Dakota, you're going to South Stranger.

But at any rate, we tend to label things. That's just our nature. You've heard some of the labels,

Calvinist, Armenian, Trinitarian, Republican, Democrat, but I digress.

Many times, labels are used to communicate simple information about the purpose of certain things or institutions.

So, for example, we understand the difference between a quarterback and a tight end. Sometimes, I think the teams don't, but.

The two labels, when properly understood within the context of the sport they are played in, give a clear distinction in the purposes of those two positions.

What does the quarterback do? He throws the ball, right? And what does the tight end do?

He drops the, I mean, he catches the ball, right? And so, those labels are useful to us.

Those with a history or interest in the sport I'm talking about will have quite a bit of information about each of those labels.

You'll have your own favorite quarterbacks and your own favorite tight ends as opposed to wide receivers, as opposed to et cetera.

And so, there's all those labels that we use, but they are useful in their own way, are they not? Actually, if you wanna get paid and you're one of those guys, they're very useful.

So, it is with the labels of things we give to theology in Christianity. This is so we can understand, or at least in our own mind, arrange a systematic understanding of a particular group, a methodology, a theology.

Remember that most labels only deal with a small part of the group, methodology or theology, to which they are attached.

They only deal with a small part often. So, essentially, and here comes some labels, most reformed biblical

Christians, look at those labels, simply seek to have a uniform, consistent understanding of Scripture so that we can apply it to our lives.

Would you not agree with that? We wanna understand what God is saying, as clearly as possible, so that we know how to live that out and glorify

Him and bring Him glory and honor to the Savior and delight God. It actually delights

God when we have a uniform, a proper understanding of Scripture and we obey it.

So, we recognize that most labels describe only a portion of the person or idea so labeled. So, we here at Kootenai simply believe the

Bible. And as we study it, we seek to understand it through an historical, literal, grammatical approach.

Now, there is a description of a hermeneutic, the historical, literal, grammatical hermeneutic.

And that is the lens through which we study Scripture here. And you probably all knew that or you didn't know it or you're like me and you've been doing that all your

Christian life and found out that you were one of them types. Oh, well, that's fine. And I mean, I didn't even know

I was reformed till I came here. And I mean, I used to have different kinds of discussions in the two other churches

I belong to. Who were, they didn't know it at the time because they believed the doctrines of Scripture.

We have labels for these things and I don't want us to be put off by the labels. So, this particular hermeneutic gives the correct sense of Scripture and thus communicates to the readers the truth about God, about history, about faith and about the application of that to the lives, to all of our lives, to all the disciplines and subjects in our lives.

So, one of the things I thought as Jim and I were talking, we were talking about the trajectory that Daniel is gonna take us on in chapter seven, where we're gonna be studying a lot of prophetic utterances, a lot of prophetic doctrines.

And we thought it best that if, as I've been studying this and I have not given eschatology the study and the attention it should have had in the 40 years of my journey in the

Bible. I mean, I've studied it because in that many years, you just bump into it whether you like it or not.

And so, I've studied it, but I haven't systematically studied it, which is what I'm doing now. And man, the

Bible's got a lot of stuff to say that I didn't know. It is so deep. It's not two inches thick.

It's two million miles thick. And we're expected to get through that two million miles.

Well, we're not expected to, but it's a hope, isn't it? For you, that you'll get through it. You'll understand. You'll read

Proverbs 21 the next time and you'll get new. I guarantee you, you will get new information and new teaching and new theology.

Well, not theology necessarily, but new application when you study it for the 24th time.

Because God created a mine for us to mine all of our lives. So, I'm gonna give you a term now.

How many of you know what the term dispensationalism means? Okay, a few hands.

That's part of the reason I wanted to take us through this study on the future. How we hang our understanding of Scripture on a particular theological framework that will give us the most correct understanding of prophecy.

And it's unfortunate that we have all these titles and we are put off by them.

And then what ends up happening is we have misunderstandings about the titles and understandings about the titles.

What I hope to do in the next few weeks is give us an understanding of the framework from which we will be operating here as we teach through Daniel.

And how that framework is designed and where it came from and what it means and what it doesn't mean.

Because there's a lot of myths and a lot of misunderstandings about this concept. And I'm sure some of you have bumped into some of them and you know, when we hear someone is a

Calvinist, what does that mean? Because every picture

I've ever seen of Calvin, he's got a four mile beard and he looks unhappy. He looks like someone stole his dinner.

And I don't think they did. I think that's just the way they, have you ever been in a Western picture where you get in a Western picture and they tell you not to smile?

Because they didn't smile back then? And I'm thinking, you know, I was the Western rebel.

Yeah, at any rate. So we're gonna be looking at how we understand the future. And it's gonna be an interactive commentary and interactive study.

So I'm gonna ask a lot of questions and we're gonna get through this together. Dispensationalism, why couldn't they have named it something else so they didn't have 43 syllables?

Dispensationalism is a method of interpreting history that divides God's work and purposes towards mankind into different periods of time.

Usually there are seven dispensations identified, although some theologians believe there are nine.

Others count as few as three, and the overachievers count as many as 37.

In this bit of time, we will limit ourselves to the seven basic dispensations that seem to be found clearly in scripture.

And again, this is just a label to hang on, to hang some of the historic periods we see in scripture and what they might mean and how they interact with each other.

The first dispensation is called the dispensation of innocence. Genesis chapter one, and I'm gonna give you scripture that you can look into.

Genesis chapter one, verses 28 through 30 and two, verses 15 to 17. It covered the period of time with Adam and Eve in the garden.

It is in this dispensation, God's commands were number one, remember what they were, what were they supposed to do?

They were to replenish the earth with children. They were to subdue the earth, have dominion over the animals, care for the garden, abstain from eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

God warned of the punishment of physical and spiritual death for disobedience. This dispensation was short -lived and was brought to an end by Adam and Eve's disobedience in eating the forbidden fruit and their expulsion from the garden.

First dispensation, period of innocence. The second is called the dispensation of conscience and it lasted about 1 ,656 years.

But who's setting time limits? From the time of Adam and Eve's eviction from the garden until the flood. Genesis chapter three, verses 18, excuse me, verse eight through eight, 22.

Genesis 3 .8 through 8 .22. This dispensation demonstrates what mankind will do if left to his own will and conscience, which have been tainted by the inheritance of the sin nature.

The five major aspects of this dispensation are, number one, the curse on the serpent, a change in womanhood and childbearing, a curse on nature, the imposing of difficult work on mankind to produce food, and the promise of Christ as the seed who will bruise the serpent's head.

That's the dispensation of conscience. The third dispensation is that of human government, which began in, what a mistake.

I didn't say that. Which began in Genesis eight, God destroyed life on the earth with a flood.

Oh, by the way, we teach the literal interpretation of the Bible, there really was a flood and it really did destroy all life on earth.

Just like that, and all of the geologic columns and formations and information that we see is directly related for us to that flood and to before if it was stuff that was deeper.

So the third is of human government, which began in Genesis eight, God had destroyed the life on the earth with a flood, saving just one family.

To restart the human race, God made the following promises and commands to Noah and his family.

Number one, I will not curse the earth again. And how does he show that promise? With the rainbow, which has been hijacked, by the way.

Noah and the family are to replenish the earth with people. Is that something people are aware of and are doing today intentionally?

Not with 63 million babies killed in this country since 1973. Number three,

I should quit commenting because you won't get all the information. God will not curse the earth again. Noah and his family are to replenish the earth with people.

They shall have dominion over the animal creation. They are allowed to eat meat. The law of capital punishment is established.

There will never be another worldwide flood. The sign of God's promise will be the rainbow.

Noah's descendants did not scatter and fill the earth as God had commanded. Thus, failing in their responsibility in this dispensation, about 325 years after the flood, the earth's inhabitants began building a tower, a great monument to their solidarity and pride.

Genesis chapter 11, verses seven through nine. God brought the construction to a halt. He slapped a cease and desist order on that temple.

And he created different languages and enforced his command to fill the earth. The result was the rise of different nations and cultures.

From that point on, human governments have been a reality. The fourth dispensation, called the dispensation of promise, started with the call of Abraham, continued through the lives of the patriarchs, and ended with the exodus of the

Jewish people from Egypt, a period of about 430 years. During this dispensation, God developed a great nation that he had chosen as his people.

Genesis 12, one, through exodus in 1925. The basic promise during the dispensation of promise was the

Abrahamic covenant. Here are some of them. Jim's talked about this in Hebrews. He's referenced the covenants.

Here are some of the key points of that unconditional covenant. Key word here, unconditional.

What does that mean? What does unconditional mean? Pardon me?

No conditions. That's what un means. No conditions.

It will be fulfilled. Number one, from Abraham would come a great nation that God would bless with natural and spiritual prosperity.

Number two, God would make Abraham's name great. Number three, God would bless those that blessed Abraham's descendants and curse those that cursed them.

Number four, in Abraham, all the families of the earth will be blessed. I know this is basic stuff to most of you, but Peter said it was okay to go over the basics.

Actually, he encouraged it in his epistle. So I'm gonna go with Peter.

In Abraham, all the families of the earth will be blessed. This is fulfilled in Jesus Christ and his work in salvation.

The sign of the covenant is circumcision. This covenant, which was repeated to Isaac and Jacob, is confined to the

Hebrew people and the 12 tribes of Israel. The fifth dispensation is called the dispensation of law.

It lasted almost 1 ,500 years, from the Exodus until it was suspended, and we'll talk more about that, until after Jesus Christ's death.

This dispensation will continue during the millennium and with some modifications. During the dispensation of law,

God dealt specifically with the Jewish nation through the Mosaic covenant or the law found in Exodus chapters 19 through 23.

Exodus 19 through 23. This dispensation involved temple worship directed by priests with further direction spoken through God's mouthpieces, the prophets.

Eventually, due to the people's disobedience to the covenant the tribes of Israel lost the promised land and were subjected to bondage.

The sixth dispensation, the one in which we now live, is the dispensation of grace. It began with the new covenant in Christ, and that's not to say that there wasn't grace in the

Old Testament. We'll be dispelling some of those myths when we get to them. So one of the things that happens, and I'll get back to this, when you're teaching something and you don't, you reference something that is in lesson seven and you're in lesson five, and people go from that, away from that, the morning they go, he doesn't believe in God.

Yeah, I do. Or he doesn't believe, yes, just remember that, and if it doesn't come, you are welcome to ask the question.

If the teaching that you think doesn't address what sounds like a misstatement or may even be a misstatement, doesn't come, you're welcome to ask the question.

We're not afraid of questions here. And if I can't answer them, then we'll be afraid of them.

Okay, so the sixth dispensation which we now live is the dispensation of grace. It began with the new covenant in Christ's blood,

Luke chapter 22, verse 20. This age of grace, or church age, occurs between the 69th and 70th week of Daniel chapter nine, verse 24.

So you see one of the reasons why we're doing this, because when we get to Daniel chapter nine, we're gonna be talking specifically about him predicting a new time.

And Daniel did predict it. It starts with the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost and ends with the rapture of the church, first Thessalonians four.

This dispensation is worldwide and includes both Jews and Gentiles. Man's responsibility during this dispensation of grace is to believe in Jesus, the

Son of God, John 3, 18. In this dispensation, the Holy Spirit indwells believers as the comforter,

John 14, 16 through 26, and it has lasted for almost 2 ,000 years and no one knows when it will end.

And so if someone sets a date to the end of the dispensation of grace, let's run from them because they're wrong.

And if they end up being right, it was an accident. And it will end with the rapture of all born again believers from earth who will go to heaven with Christ.

Following the rapture will be the judgments of God lasting for seven years. The seventh dispensation is called the millennial kingdom of Christ.

And it will last for 1 ,000 years as Christ himself rules the earth. This kingdom will fulfill the prophecy to the

Jewish nation that Christ will return and be their king. The only people allowed to enter the kingdom are the born again believers from the age of grace, righteous survivors of the seven years of tribulation, and the resurrected

Old Testament saints. Satan is, excuse me, no unsaved person is allowed access to this kingdom.

There is only one way for access to this kingdom and it is through Jesus Christ. He said that and he is righteous and right every time.

Satan is bound during the 1 ,000 years. This period ends with the final judgment, Revelation chapter 20, verses 11 through 14.

The old world is destroyed by fire and the new heaven and new earth of Revelation 21 and 22 begin.

So that's just a basic primer. And I got that out of, just so you can look it up.

I pulled that wholesale. There's a website that's pretty good most of the time. It's called gotquestions .org.

Seven dispensations. So I felt it unnecessary for me to print this all out and do a

PowerPoint when I could direct you to that if you want to re -look at it. It's a very good, concise definition of what most premillennial dispensationalists believe.

There's another, why all these numerous syllable words? We might just call it a PM, premillennial.

So there are a number of things that started the age of teaching this particular theology upon which we hang the future of dispensationalism and started in the 1840s.

Started about 1840, somewhere in there. And one of the people who distilled it very well and wrote several books on it was a fellow named

Charles Ryrie. How many of you have heard of him? Okay, yeah, he wrote a study Bible and he was a teacher, a theologian who came from Dallas Theological Seminary.

His sign qua non, which that's a Latin. Do you know what that means? I had to look it up just to make sure I understood it because my last

Latin class was almost 50 years ago. It means absolutely indispensable or essential.

The essential is, number one, a clear distinction between Israel and the church. The church is not

Israel. Israel is not the church. Number two, the consistent.

What does that word mean? Men, are you consistently faithful to your wives? You better be.

I get such a kick out of these American Conservative Union ratings for consistency to the

Constitution. You know, this guy was 78 % faithful. If I went home to my wife tonight, you know where I'm going with this, and said, love,

I was 78 % faithful to you. She knows how to use guns. I wouldn't do that.

First of all, it'd be a lie because I've been 100 % consistent to her by God's grace.

And that's what we attempt to do is we attempt to be consistent in our use of literal interpretation.

Now, that doesn't mean that rocks clap their hands, okay? We know in our application of consistent literal interpretation that there are times when symbology is used.

We are just careful about not making things that aren't symbols into symbols.

If the New Testament says it's a symbol, then I'm gonna call it a symbol. But we've got to have some clear direction that it is a symbol.

Number three, a concerted emphasis on the glory of God, on the glory of God, which, by the way, equals the glory of the

Lord Jesus Christ. Here's another label that you, did you know that, I know you did, but I'm gonna pretend that you didn't, so you can all shake your heads.

Did you know that the word Trinity isn't in the Bible? But you know what the word Trinity means, and it's a glorious truth that we understand and revere.

So the Trinity gets the glory, God gets the glory, which is the underlying, a concerted emphasis on the glory of God as the underlying purpose for his actions.

When he acts, it is for his glory, and we should celebrate that. We do celebrate that.

That's in dispensationalism today. The basic definition of dispensationalism includes six ideas.

Now, I'm gonna be going through these ideas, and I can provide a study guide if you want, and if there's enough interest in that,

I'll do it. I'll distill this down. It's just that I wanted to make sure I had some information for you today, and doing the study, typing it up, and then also providing a study guide required more time than I had at this point, and that's me whining, okay?

But I will get it done if you want it. So the basic definition of dispensationalism includes six ideas.

Number one, the Bible refers to multiple senses of terms like Jew and seed of Abraham, and we will look at those.

Number two, an approach to hermeneutics, this is very important, that emphasizes that the

Old Testament must be taken on its own terms and not reinterpreted in the light of the

New Testament. David gave a great quote, and I'm gonna try and get your quote accurate the other day.

He said, if you read the Bible from left to right, you will probably become a premillennialist, but if you read it from the right to the left, what was it, all bets are off, or?

I wanna get it right. Yeah, you'll end up amillennial or postmillennial.

Now, are those heretical positions? No, they're not. I think that they're uninformed, but they're not heretical.

We've got to separate that. We're not gonna be talking about doctrines that if you believe differently, you will not go to heaven.

That's not what we're talking about. If you believe differently about some of these things, then we need to sharpen iron one another, and you're not gonna be looked down on, you're not gonna be shamed, you're not gonna be avoided.

You're gonna be, in this place, can you imagine people avoiding you? You might get 17 less hugs in 300 years, but that's about it, and you won't notice.

So feel free, understand that this is not about heresy. This is about a different method of hanging the future on a theology that seems to make the most sense so we can give the most glory to God.

So we have two ideas. The Bible refers to multiple senses of Jew and seed of Abraham, and it is a hermeneutic that emphasizes that the

Old Testament be taken on its own terms and not reinterpreted in the light of the New Testament. So the meaning of Old Testament passages lies in those passages, and that the

New Testament harmonizes with them and builds upon them. There is no need for one passage to have priority over others since all

Scripture is inspired by God and makes its own contribution. You have your favorite verses, and that's fine, but just remember that your favorite verses aren't necessarily the best.

My favorite verses are. No, I didn't say that. All the verses are

God's favorite, all of them. All Bible passages complement and harmonize with each other, but no passage overrides the meaning of another passage.

It doesn't override it. It may add to it. It may complement it, but it will not override it. It will not change it.

It will not make it, if it was unconditional, it will not change it to a conditional promise now.

If God made the promise, and He said that it was by His name, then it's just as true then,

I mean, just as true today as it was then. It's not made conditional. So those two, number one,

Bible refers to multiple senses of Jew and Abraham, seed of Abraham, and an approach to hermeneutics that emphasizes the

Old Testament be taken on its own terms. Number three, a belief that the Old Testament promises will be fulfilled with national

Israel. If they were made to national Israel, God is not, oh,

I know this is not proper in the current culture, but when we were kids, we would say, God is not an

Indian giver. I don't mean anything unkind, but that's just a colloquialization. It means He doesn't go back on His word. He doesn't go back on His word, does

He? You can say yes or no. Belief in a distinctive future for ethnic

Israel. Belief that the church is a distinctive organism. A philosophy of history that emphasizes not just the teleology and spiritual issues, but social, economic, and political issues as well.

Teleology, by the way, I looked up these terms and I wanted to get current definitions so that we would, when

I use 14 -syllable words, we all have an understanding. It means the philosophical interpretation of natural phenomena as exhibiting purpose or design.

Natural phenomena exhibit purpose or design. They didn't evolve. Nothing evolved.

I think you could probably say that there is, within each organism, the ability to micro -evolve to survive a harsher climate, but it will still be the same kind that it was.

That's an example. And so everything exhibits a natural order, exhibits a purpose, excuse me.

Everything God created, everything, even the mosquito, has a purpose. Everything. Did that upset you?

Well, that's my job. It's a belief in or a perception of purposeful development toward an end, as in history.

So everything God did in the Old Testament and everything he has done in the New Testament and everything he's doing today is an orderly progression towards his sovereign decision as to how history will culminate.

Everything. Nothing escapes his view. There are people who, in the Christian church, who believe that God didn't expect that.

No, he didn't expect that. He planned it. He planned it. So he did expect it, in a sense.

A belief in the perception. Okay, I already said that. So eight common, so those are the six. And then there are eight common features of dispensationalism that occur throughout the modern iterations of dispensationalism, of which there are quite a few, as you might guess, that whenever something interesting and appropriate comes up, we can find ways to change it.

So that's why there's 23 different ways. There's probably only one way to bake a good set of brownies, but I'll bet you there are 23 different recipes in here, and they all work, don't they?

Or some of them work better than others. Let's face that. Sometimes it's who's doing the baking. I'm glad God did the baking here.

Eight common terms, eight common features. Number one, and again, we're gonna be going through, this is gonna be book -like.

I apologize for that, and I don't apologize for it. I think it's information that we're gonna need. Number one, the authority of Scripture.

Scripture first, Scripture second, Scripture always. Number two, dispensations.

Number three, the uniqueness of the church. Number four, the practical significance of the universal church.

God didn't create the church just because he needed filler for this book. Number five, the significance of biblical prophecy.

Number six, futurist premillennialism, futurist premillennialism.

Number seven, the imminent return of Christ. Are you living like he could come today? Plan like he's gonna be 100 years, but live like he's coming today.

That's the idea. Number seven, or excuse me, number eight, a national future for Israel. Those are eight distinctives.

Now, I'm gonna distill these for you and give, and flesh them out. I think we have time today to get through some of them.

And then, do you want me to provide some sort of a syllabus that would be? Okay, I'll figure out a way to do that.

I'll get her done. I'm not really good at that. I might enlist some help from a guy. I won't give you his name, but his initials are

Jim. Yeah, and he's only too busy. Six distilled essential beliefs of dispensational.

And what I mean by distilled is we've just looked at the basic overview from Got Questions. We looked at all of the different possibilities that exist within that that are lined out in six or seven different positions.

Now, we're gonna distill them so that they make sense for what we're about to dive into in Daniel.

So, here's some of the distinctives that are distilled. Progressive revelation from the New Testament does not interpret the

Old Testament passages in a way that cancels the original authorial intent of the

Old Testament writers as determined by historical grammatical hermeneutics. When you read the

New Testament and it comments or illuminates an Old Testament passage, it does not cancel the original intent of that author, whether it was

Moses or Jeremiah or Ezekiel or Zephaniah or any of the prophets or any of the

Psalms or any of the, there are other places where prophetic writings are. The New Testament may examine and elucidate and illuminate and add to that, but it does not cancel the original intent.

Because of it, well, I'm gonna steal my own thunder. It just doesn't. Trust me on that.

Number one, it's foundational. The Old Testament is foundational. Number two, the

Old Testament understanding starts with the Old Testament. So, and all of us have done this.

I've done it myself. I've read a New Testament verse and I went, there's something in Hosea that talks about that.

So then I turned back to Hosea and now I've got a new, hopefully a new added understanding to Hosea, but it didn't change

Hosea 11 .1 or whatever you were looking at. It added to it, it illuminated it, it made it even more dear to me, but it didn't change the original

Hosea's intent. Old Testament, progressive revelation, excuse me,

New Testament, progressive revelation. That word progressive has a bad taste in our mouths, doesn't it? But it's a good thing.

So we've been building a house and some of you go, yeah, sure you are, you're just standing around.

We started on it three years ago and I've got the outside done and the concrete poured and I've got my camper moved into it and we're living in a camper and my wife is a sweetheart, letting me make her live in a camper.

And then we stopped because the world ended and lumber went through the roof. Well, yesterday I bought a load of lumber that two months ago would have cost me $1 ,600 and it was 450 bucks, woo -hoo.

So when she got home last night, she saw progress. This building is progressive.

So there's good terms. Progressive has good connotations when it's used properly.

New Testament, progressive revelation may shine a light on Old Testament passages, offer commentary or add additional applications or reference, but they do not override the original intent of the

Old Testament writer. I know you guys are with me on this and so some of this is so basic and I'm going to get that verse in Peter so that you can see

I'm justified in doing this because the New Testament says so. Promises made to Israel are not nullified by the

New Testament. There can be no question that the prophets meant to communicate the promise of a national return of Israel to its land.

To the extent that our hermeneutics are regulated by the principle of authorial intent, we are given ample reason to accept this literal rendering of what

God through the prophets originally promised to the people of Israel. That's Bruce Ware in the New Covenant and the prophecies of God, prophets of God.

Jeremiah 31, 31 through 34. Behold, the days are coming, declares the

Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which

I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.

My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to them, declares the Lord. But this is the covenant which

I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord. I will put my law within them and on their heart.

I will write it and I will be their God and they shall be my people. And they will not teach again each man his neighbor and each man his brother saying, know the

Lord for they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, declares the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and their sin

I will remember no more. And then in Hebrews chapter eight, verses eight through 18,

Paul says, or boy, that was a Freudian slip. Whoever wrote Hebrews said, I actually don't think it was

Paul, for finding fault with them, he says, God found fault with them and he said this, behold, days are coming, says the

Lord, when I will effect a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant which

I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt for they did not continue in my covenant and I did not care for them, says the

Lord, for this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws into their minds and I will write them on their hearts and I will be their

God and they shall be my people and they shall not teach everyone his fellow brother, his fellow citizen and saying, everyone his brother saying, know the

Lord for all will know me from the least to the greatest of them for I will be merciful to their iniquities and I will remember their sins no more.

Who's he talking to? Who's the writer of Hebrews talking to? He's talking to the

Hebrew congregation, the church. It doesn't nullify what Jeremiah said.

It may add to it. It may add the church into the blessings, but it doesn't nullify.

That's what I'm talking about. Here, for example, the new covenant has a both and element, both Israel and the church.

Well, one commentator said this, the additional inclusion of someone in the promise does not mean the original recipients are thereby excluded.

The expansion of promise need not mean the cancellation of earlier commitments God has made.

God made that commitment. The realization of new covenant hope today for Gentiles does not mean that the promise made to Israel in Jeremiah 31 has been jettisoned.

It does not mean that. Non -dispensationalists believe the promises to Israel are more or less spiritually fulfilled in the church, not all of them, but many of them.

See, that's another thing about labels. And I will make that mistake. I promise you, I will make that mistake. I will apply wholesale something to a particular label and I will be wrong.

And you are welcome to raise your hand and say, no, that's not quite right and I won't be offended at all. And even if I am offended, you will be right, so it's okay.

Did you get all that? My wife says I talk too fast. She just doesn't listen.

No, I didn't say that. It's been nice knowing me, huh?

Yeah. Stand back. He got me.

Okay, I'm back on the wagon now. Non -dispensationalists often believe the promises to Israel are more or less spiritually fulfilled in the church and one should not look for a future inclusion of national

Israel in the covenant, into the covenant. God's unconditional covenants with Israel are not abrogated by the

New Testament illumination of Old Testament promises. If an Old Testament prophecy was made unconditionally to Israel, then it will be fulfilled to Israel.

If the New Testament applies it to the church, then it will also still be fulfilled in Israel, but it will also be applied to the church.

Covenant theologians often and dispensationalists disagree on the nature of progressive revelation.

Dispensationalists believe that the Old Testament promises are not canceled by New Testament illumination. If they are, one has to wonder about God's faithfulness to Israel.

One also has to wonder about the trustworthiness of God's promises. One theologian has likened progressive revelation to a building in progress.

It is essential, the superstructure does not replace the foundation. It is essential in dispensationalism to maintain the original authorial intent of the

Old Testament passages. And so that is what we will do when we are studying through the prophetic passages of Daniel.

Ryrie points this out. He says, the New Testament does not contradict the meaning of Old Testament texts. He asserts new revelation cannot mean contradictory revelation.

Later revelation on a subject does not make the earlier revelation mean something different. Later revelation on a subject does not make the earlier revelation mean something different.

If this were so, God would have to be conceived of as deceiving the Old Testament prophets when he revealed to them a nationalistic kingdom, since he would have known all the time that he would completely reverse the concept in later revelation.

And God, if anything, is not a deceiver. I will speak to some strong points here, and I mean no disrespect to anyone, but these are connotations that come from some of these ideas.

Number two, and this is all we'll get through today. Actually, we won't get through all of this, but I'm gonna provide you with a syllabus, so.

Types exist, and we'll talk about some of them. But national

Israel is not a type that is superseded by the church. Adam, for example, is a type of Jesus.

We understand that. And you know why we understand it? Because the Bible calls him that. Romans 5 .14,

nevertheless, death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of him who was to come.

Now, the question is, is who was him who was to come? Clearly, from the context reading earlier and later, it's

Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15 .45, so it is also written, so also it is written, the first man,

Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam became a life -giving spirit. Who was the last

Adam? Jesus Christ, the last Adam. Adam is a type of Jesus.

So types do exist. Recently, through Jim's teaching, we learned or were reminded that the

Levitical priesthood or of the Mosaic covenant was a type of the better priesthood.

Oh, it's not up there anymore. I love the mathematical symbol. Jesus is greater. Got the greater.

Jesus is greater. The new covenant, the new priesthood that Jesus initiated is greater than the

Old Testament. So we learned that the Levitical priesthood of the Mosaic covenant was a type of the better priesthood in the new covenant of the

Lord Jesus Christ. Typology is significant in eschatology. Typology is important in future things.

Let's put it that way. Non -dispensationalists often believe, and I have to put that in. I didn't put it in in my original.

I'm gonna make that correction because it's disrespectful.

I don't know what they, I don't know what people's hearts. Often believe that national Israel was a type of the

New Testament church. And once the anti -type, and anti -type means the fulfillment, the fulfillment of the type, the church was revealed.

Israel's place as the people of God was transcended and superseded by the church. That is what most often, most often that non -dispensationalists believe.

National Israel, however, this is all we'll get through, is not an inferior type that is replaced by the church.

And this was said, the unconditionality of the promises to Israel guarantees that the New Testament does not even implicitly remove those promises from Israel.

Old Testament civil and ceremonial laws and institutions are shadows and are explicitly removed in the

New Testament, but unconditional promises are not shadows, nor are the peoples to whom they are given.

So we will talk more about types next week. Before I close, Jim, very important.

Thank you, Jim. I didn't come to scripture. No, we need microphones for the audience.

Well, okay then. How do you really feel, Jim? I didn't come to scripture with a

Trinitarian framework. I just discovered that there was somebody in the Old Testament who claimed to be

God. And there was somebody in the New Testament who made that same claim. And either as Josh McDowell put it, he was

God or he was someone on the order of a guy with a stewed tomato in his tennis shoe. And he was

God. And there's also a third person who is described as God. And what I ended up with was an understanding that there are three persons who claim to be

God. And therefore the Trinity is the term that has been used to describe that. And that's what

Jim was, I think that's basically what Jim was saying there. We don't come to scripture, hopefully we don't come to scripture with things we're gonna prove.

What do they call that? Confirmation bias. But we discover in scripture, and most often for me,

I discover in scripture things that change what I thought and make me behave in a different way than I used to because I was not understanding or applying scripture properly.

That's how scripture will change you. If you come to it with an open mind and heart to God, you don't want your mind so open that your brains fall out when you bend over.

But you want it open to the word of God so that he has, and he will, he will regenerate your every thought as you go through life.

That is sanctification. Any other questions or comments? So hopefully this won't be too dry, and hopefully

I'll figure out a way to provide a syllabus that isn't also dry, but we'll get that done. Let's pray.

Lord, it is essentially, ultimately, and most importantly, your word that is true. And you have elevated it above all the universe, above your name, you said.

It is that important. And so we come to it awestruck, reverent, fearful, and hopeful.

That you will illuminate us, that you will give us your teaching. And that what I say here this morning, or any morning, is filtered through your word so that people feel free to remind me of things as has been done.

That people feel free to correct. Because no one of us is Jesus Christ.

Only Jesus Christ is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is the only one with perfect knowledge. And so we look to him, and we thank you for that, in Jesus' name.

♪ Is he by his precious death ♪ ♪

From death set free ♪ ♪

And we would I give to Jesus ♪ ♪ All affection, everything ♪ ♪

For the washing of his mercy ♪ ♪

Makes my ransomed heart to sing ♪ ♪

Holy, holy is the chorus rising up ♪ ♪

From those who see ♪ ♪ Christ exalted, bright and worthy is he ♪ ♪

Where else can I go ♪ ♪

Jesus, you're the one that I was made to know ♪ ♪ What else can

I do ♪ ♪ Jesus, you're my all,

I gladly run to you ♪ ♪ I flee temptations for the troubles fill my life ♪ ♪

Turn and seek my God and savior for his goodness ♪ ♪

Satisfies earthly treasures, all our passing needs begin ♪ ♪

And rest destroys, but in God our awesome splendor ♪ ♪

Love and everlasting joys ♪ ♪

Jesus, you're the one that I was made to know ♪ ♪ What else can

I do ♪ ♪ Jesus, you're my all,

I gladly run to you ♪ ♪ Where else can

I go ♪ ♪ Jesus, you're the one that I was made to know ♪ ♪

What else can I do ♪ ♪

Jesus, you're my all, I gladly run to you ♪ ♪

Gladly would I give to Jesus all affection, every seed ♪ ♪

For the washing of his mercy makes my ransom hard to see ♪ ♪

There is no song we could sing to honor the weight of your glory ♪ ♪

There are no words we could speak to capture the depth of your beauty ♪ ♪

Jesus, there's no one like you,

Jesus, we love you, ever adore you ♪ ♪ There's no one like you,

Jesus, we love you, ever adore you, Lord ♪ ♪

We adore you, there's no sinner beyond the infinite stretch of your mercy ♪ ♪

How can we thank you enough for how you,

Jesus, there's no one like you,

Jesus, we love you, ever adore you ♪ ♪ There's no one like you,

Jesus, we love you, ever adore you, Lord ♪ ♪ There's no one like you,

Jesus, we love you, ever adore you ♪ ♪ There's no

Jesus we love you, ever, always you, oh,

Jesus we love you, ever adore you ♪

There's no one like you, Jesus we love you, we adore you,

Jesus we love you, there's no one like you.

To inspire praise to him who names the stars, that sing his fame in skies afar.

Oh praise to him who reigns in love, who guides the galaxies of all, yet bends to hear our every prayer with sovereign power and tender hand.

Praise to him whose love we sing in Christ the

Son, the servant King, who left behind his glorious throne to pay the ransom for his own.

Oh praise to him to bear our sorrows, sin and shame, who lived to die.

He holds the fish in sacrifice, the spirit of love, of joy and hope.

To Father, Son, and Spirit now, our souls to you the triumphing hearts are sung of.

And Spirit now, our souls to you the triumphing hearts are sung of.

Lord forgive us for our pride, when our faith becomes a show.

Dressed in righteous deeds to hide all the stains below.

We have judged your sons and daughters for the sin that is our own.

May we now forgive each other and lay down the blood.

Lord forgive us for our love, of the things we wish to own.

We forsake the feast above, may we find our greatest treasure is forgiven.

We can't release the past, but forget we're free at last.

We avoid his sons and daughters for the fear we don't belong.

Give us eyes to see each other through your only

Son. Forgive! O God, we come, be friends, we confess.

We go astray and sin each day.

We cast ourselves upon you.

Have mercy on us and forgive us our transgressions.

And lead us in your righteous way.

God lead us in your righteous way.

The blood you shed has paid our debt.

Jesus, you washed our sins away.

We trust your grace, believe by faith.

In you we have righteousness.

You've shown us mercy. Sinners are washed.

You've shown your loving care.

Sons of disgrace are righteous made.

Sons of disgrace are righteous made.

Redeemer, God and King. Jesus, Redeemer, God and King.

Redeemer, God. Jesus, Redeemer, God and King.

O Lord, greatest treasure of my longing soul.

Like you there is no other. True delight is found in you alone.

Too deep to fathom exceeds the heavens reach.

Your truth, a fount of perfect wisdom.

My highest good lending me.

O Lord, defend my soul to fight the cruel deceit.

Would you stand and sing with me this morning?

O worship the King, all glorious above.

And gratefully sing his wonderful love.

Our shield and defender, the ancient of days.

His pavilion in splendor and girded with praise.

O tell of his might and sing of his grace.

Whose robe is the light, whose canopy space.

His chair is a wrath, the deep thunder clouds form.

And dark is his path on the wings of the storm.

Thy bountiful care, what tongue can recite?

It breathes in the air, it shines in the light.

It streams from the hills, it descends to the plain.

And sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.

Brail, children of God, and feeble as frail.

In thee do we trust, nor find thee to fail.

Thy mercies, how tender, how firm to the end.

Our maker, defender, redeemer, and friend.

All hail to the King in splendor and throne.

Glad praises we bring, thy wonders make known.

Returning victorious, great conqueror of sin.

In Jesus, our glorious, our victory we'll win.

God of grace and God of glory. All thy people pour thy power.

From thine ancient churches glory. Bring her forth to glorious flower.

Breathless wisdom, breathless courage. For the facing of his power.

For the facing of his power. Though the hopes of evil ravage.

For thy Christ, our sail is blazed. Rage and darkness do not confound us.

Lay our hearts to faith and praise. Breathless wisdom, breathless courage.

For the living of these days. For the living of these days.

Pure thy children's low 'ring values. Bend our pride to thy control.

Chain our bond and salvage famine. Fortune gains and poor in soul.

Breathless wisdom, breathless courage. Lest we miss thy kingdom's goal.

Lest we miss thy kingdom's goal. Set our feet on lofty places.

For our lives that did we lead. Armored with all prides like races.

Give the fight to set him free. Breathless wisdom, breathless courage.

That we fail not then or thee. That we fail not then or thee.

King of kings, majesty.

God of heaven, living in me. Gentle Savior, Lord, peace of mind.

Strong deliverer, beginning and end.

All within me, love at your throne.

Your majesty, I can't but bow.

I lay my all before you now.

In royal robes I don't deserve. I live to serve your majesty.

Earth and heaven worship you.

God eternal, faithful and true.

Offer nations, ransom souls. Brought this sinner here to your throne.

All within me cries out in praise.

Your majesty, I can't but bow.

I lay my all before you now.

In royal robes I don't deserve.

I live to serve your majesty. Your majesty,

I can't but bow. I lay my all before you now.

In royal robes I don't deserve.

I live to serve your majesty. In royal robes

I don't deserve. I live to serve your majesty.

Please be seated. All of the announcements that I would have are stated in your bulletin and just repeats of what

I've had in weeks past, so I would just turn your attention to the bulletin if you need to be reminded of the membership class and fellowship dinners and Bible studies and things of that nature.

Turn with me, will you please, to Psalm 46. Psalm 46.

Psalm 46. This describes God as our refuge and our strength, and we're going to read together the entire psalm.

Psalm 46. The prescription says for the choir director, a psalm of the sons of Korah set to Alamoth, a song.

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling places of the

Most High. God is in the midst of her. She will not be moved. God will help her when morning dawns.

The nations made an uproar. The kingdoms tottered. He raised his voice. The earth melted. The Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Come, behold the works of the

Lord, who has wrought desolations in the earth. He makes wars to cease to the end of the earth.

He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two. He burns the chariots with fire. Cease striving and know that I am

God. I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us.

The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Will you stand with me as we pray? Let's bow our heads.

Truly, our God, it is our desire that you would be our stronghold and our refuge.

As this psalm describes, the nations are tottering. All of the kingdoms of this world are being shaken, and they are shaken.

And wickedness and evil is triumphing in this day in so many ways and in so many corners of this globe.

We thank you that we are not even seeing right now the end of the story, but we will see ultimately truth and righteousness and justice triumph.

And we pray that you would fix our hearts upon this hope that you are our refuge and you are our stronghold.

You are the one who keeps us safe, who accomplishes all of your purposes for us. You have ordained all things that come to pass in our lives and the lives of those whom we love.

And we thank you that you are a faithful and trustworthy God. We thank you that you have called us out of darkness and into light, and we thank you that you have given to us the kingdom and ultimately the nations and ultimately the inheritance that is reserved for us in heaven.

We thank you that our hope is not in this world. Our hope is not in the kingdoms of this world, in politicians, in the power structures of this earth and this planet, but all of these things will one day be done away with, and the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our

God and of his Christ, and you will rule them with a rod of iron. And we look forward to that day when truth and righteousness and justice triumph.

In the meantime, we pray that you would keep us faithful, keep us bold, keep us temperate, prudent, wise in this world, help us to be faithful to proclaim the truth, faithful to walk in obedience to you, faithful to love one another and hold fast to your word in all things and in all times and in all circumstances, that you would be glorified in and through your church, through us as your people as we gather here together today, fix our hearts and our minds upon you, your nature, your great grace, and your word.

We pray in Christ's name. Amen. O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the

Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. We were ruined in our sin.

We were guilty and undone. When your love reached out with sovereign hands and beckoned us to come, you sought out the one in whom

May the bridegrooms come forth

With the lavish feasts you often host

For you made us your own Have the bells tongue

Heal not your sound We are heirs with Christ Bought by His blood

Oh, found with the blood

That we've been shown We are children now

You've made us your own We are strangers to the world

But no strangers to your throne We draw near you now with confidence

For all our fears are gone And when

Christ our King returns We'll be slaves we've never known

And forever we will be amazed

That you've made us your own You have love, love's might

You have your sight We are heirs with Christ Bought by His blood

Oh, dreamed the love

That we've been shown We're your children now

You've made us your own You have love, love's might

You have your sight We are heirs with Christ Bought by His blood

Oh, how brave the love That we've been shown

We're your children now You've made us your own

We're your children now

You've made us your own Oh Lord, greatest treasure

Of my longing soul My God, like you there is no other

True delight is found in you alone

Your grace, a will too deep to fathom

Your love, it sees the heavens reach

Your truth, a fount of perfect wisdom

Against his hateful guns My soul, when enemies surround me

My hope, when tides of sorrow rise

My joy, when trials are abounding

Your faithfulness is my refuge in the night

Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer

Gracious Savior of my ruined life

My guilt and cross laid on your shoulders

In my place you suffered, bled and died

You rose, though grave and ever caltered

You broke my bonds of sin and shame

You rose, though grave and ever caltered

You broke my bonds of sin and shame

Oh Lord, my rock and my redeemer

May all my days bring glory to your name

May all my days bring glory to your name

Will you be seated? Please turn in your copy of God's Word to Hebrews chapter 10

Hebrews chapter 10, and we're going to read together verses 32 through the end of the chapter Verse 39, Hebrews 10, beginning of verse 32

But remember the former days, when after being enlightened you endured a great conflict of sufferings partly by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated

For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and a lasting one

Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward for you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised

For yet in a very little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay but my righteous one shall live by faith and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him

But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul

Let's pray together Our Father, we pray that you would use your word today to strengthen us in our hearts and in our minds and to give us courage and boldness

Help us today to be encouraged by your word and to be strengthened and equipped to live faithfully in this age and this time that we may be faithful servants that we may receive the reward for enduring the reproach of faith

We pray that you would be honored through your word as we study it together as we reflect upon it, we think about how these things apply to us and what you have commanded us to do

We pray that you would encourage our hearts together in these things and that you would be glorified through us Grant us that understanding and illuminating work of the spirit, we pray that can only come by your grace and by your work in us through your word

We pray this in Christ's name, Amen I want to open up with a question for you to consider

What role does our future and eternal reward play in motivating, encouraging, strengthening us in our service and our obedience and our endurance?

Just in case you couldn't hear that, let me give it to you again What role does our future and eternal reward play in motivating, encouraging, and strengthening us in our service, obedience, sacrifice, and endurance, ultimately our perseverance

What is the connection between our eternal reward and our perseverance in the faith? How much of a role does our eternal rewards, what we are promised in scripture

How much of a role does that play in encouraging us and strengthening us to be faithful?

Is it okay for us to fix our hearts and our minds and our meditation upon our eternal reward and the blessings that are going to come to us in the future?

Is it okay for us to be reminded of and to remind others of what yet awaits us and allow that to motivate us?

It's a good question because there are some in Christianity who would teach and suggest that those eternal rewards should never be a motivation for us

They would say that we should serve without ever thinking about what we might get in return for that In other words, the

Lord has done enough for us that that should be motivation enough for us to serve faithfully and obediently and to endure without ever really looking at what is to come

Isn't what he has done enough of a motivation? Shouldn't our service and our love and our perseverance be motivated by just a pure affection and love in our hearts for the

Lord? And if we are looking for what we are going to get at the end doesn't that pollute in some way or distort our motive?

Is that really a pure motive if we're looking at the reward? There are some who would suggest that it is Shouldn't you sacrifice without any thought to the reward and endure without any reward, any motivation other than just a pure love for the

Lord? Shouldn't your faithfulness be out of love for him and not hope for what you might get in the future?

Hasn't he really already done enough for you? Isn't what he has done enough that you would be motivated by something that is to come?

That's a good question People that raise that question and suggest that looking to the future for our reward or for some hope of what we might get in the future they would suggest that that pollutes our motive that we should just be motivated out of a pure heart of nothing but love for the

Lord and affection for him and no anticipation of what is to come I would like to answer that question

I wish you had a week to go home and think about that maybe some of you already know what the answer to this is but I would like to answer that question with another question

I love answering questions with questions Here's the other question Why can't it be both?

I mean we are complex creatures, are we not? Is there anything you have ever done in your entire life that has just one motivation?

Can you think of anything? The ladies when you cook a meal for your husband or you do something nice for somebody else is it just one motivation that you have or are there all kinds of things that play into that?

Isn't it possible for us as complex creatures to have more than one motive for what we do? Why would we think that just because I'm looking forward to and anticipating a future reward that there is not at the very same time a love and affection and gratitude for what he has already done?

And really can we even divide these things? Can these things be separated? Is it even possible for you and I to reflect just upon what

God has already done without at the very same time connecting that to what he is also going to do?

Can you really contemplate the glories of your justification? You're being declared righteous in him because of his death on the cross by virtue of your faith in him

Is it possible for you to contemplate your justification without also at the same time recognizing as Romans 8 says that all of those who are justified will be sanctified and all of those who will be sanctified will be what?

Glorified Glorified You cannot even contemplate the glories of justification without following that golden chain of redemption all the way through to your glorification and ultimately your final reward.

Is it possible for you and can you even really separate the meditation on the forgiveness of your sins while ignoring what the forgiveness of your sins means for you in eternity?

You cannot really even think about forgiveness of sins without at the same time thinking because I am forgiven there is therefore no condemnation in Christ and because that is true

I will be able to stand in God's presence completely righteous and completely forgiven with no condemnation and be glorified on that day.

It is almost impossible to think of present realities without connecting them to future promises because they are all tied together, they all go together.

My love for the Lord, I do love the Lord and I desire to be with him and I desire to have that future reward because guess what?

The future reward is him. So I look to the future reward. How can I look to the future reward without reflecting upon the fact that my reward is him?

It's being with him and enjoying pleasures at his right hand forevermore. It is being in the courts of God forever and ever and ever and enjoying his glory and being with the people that he has redeemed.

And when we are with the people that he has redeemed and having received our eternal reward guess what we are going to see in the people that he has redeemed?

It's not just we see each other as we are here but we see each other as we are glorified so what we see in each other then is the glory of God.

So even my longing to be with the saints of God in eternity is a longing to be with a

God who is reflected through the saints that he has redeemed for all of eternity. So it is really impossible for me to be motivated just by present realities without also seeing how they are connected to future realities and it is impossible for me to be motivated by just future realities without also being motivated by a love for Christ.

So I really don't think that these two things can be separated at all. And for those who would suggest that having our eye fixed and being aware of and contemplating the rewards that are to come that that is an illicit motivation

I would suggest to you that somebody should have told the author of Hebrews that that was an illicit motivation because in Hebrews chapter 10 he holds out the promise of a great reward.

He says in verse 34 we have a better possession and a lasting one. Verse 35 a great reward. Verse 36 we are going to receive what is promised.

And verse 39 we have faith to the preserving of the soul. These are the rewards that are held out for us.

And all the way through chapter 11 by the way it is a chronicle of those under the old covenant in the Old Testament who obeyed and who were faithful and who had faith and trusted what

God promised even though they did not see the fulfillment of those promises in their present but they looked forward to the future fulfillment of those promises and persevered in light of what they would receive at the end motivated by a proper faith.

Paul focused upon his reward, didn't he? When he said there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness which the

Lord the righteous judge will give to me on that day and not only to me but also to all those who have loved his appearing. Paul said

I fought the good fight. I have finished the race. I have kept the faith all the way to the end. And guess what? There is laid up for me a heavenly reward.

Peter encouraged his readers by reminding them that you have an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and will not fade away preserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God.

There is an inheritance all the way through the book of 1 Peter. That inheritance, that reward is held out as a motivation for endurance and faithfulness all the way to the end.

John described in Revelation our eternal home and the glories that follow it and Jesus himself described the reward and the giving to those who are on his right hand saying to them enter into the glory and the joy prepared for you.

He described the blessings and the rewards and the joys that he is going to give to those who are his own.

So Jesus, Peter, Paul, John, and the author of Hebrews all held out rewards for faithful service as a motivating factor.

So if that is an illicit motivation, somebody should have instructed the authors of Scripture. And you know that I'm being somewhat sarcastic and snarky when

I say that. Rewards are featured prominently in Scripture, aren't they? All the way through.

We look forward to something that we have not yet received and that is not an illicit motivation because we know that our service in the faith is not in vain, that God will accomplish what he has promised, he will fulfill his every promise, he will reward adequately.

And so no matter what it is that happens in this world and in this life, whatever it is that God has called us to endure, to persevere through, to face, and to be faithful in, he will adequately and abundantly reward us at the end for that faithfulness.

And it is not wrong to look forward to that because in looking forward to that we are glorying in what he has done and we are looking to him to make us faithful in that so that us in being faithful then will receive the reward that he has promised to us.

And we're in this warning chapter in Hebrews chapter 10 and the idea of reward and promise and blessing in his future hardly sounds like a warning, doesn't it?

But it's actually part of this larger passage that started back in verse 26. In verses 26 through 31, he described those who would not bear the reproach of faith but instead would turn away.

Ultimately, he says, to the destruction of their soul. They would receive the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries, verse 31, being unwilling to bear the scorn of the world or to face the hostility and opposition of the world.

There is a group of people who profess faith in Christ but then when the going gets rough, they get going.

And they're not the rough ones or the tough ones, they're the weak ones who have no true and genuine faith. So they go on sinning, continuing in their sin, their rebellion, turning away from the

Lord, ultimately are destroyed for that decision. But then there is this second group whom he is convinced have faith to the preserving of the soul.

That's the end of verse 39. This second group is really addressed in verses 32 through 39. We've seen in verses 32 through 34 that he is encouraging them to look back to the reproach of faith, what they had endured and being reproached and the tribulations, enduring this great conflict of sufferings because of their faith.

They're to reflect upon that. Then in verses 35 through 39, he encourages them to look forward to the reward of faith, that those who endure the reproach receive the reward.

Endure the reproach of faith and be faithful in it. Do the will of God and you receive the reward that comes to those who are faithful.

It's a real simple statement. Those who endure the reproach of faith receive the reward of faith. And we're looking today at verses 35 and 36.

Verses 35 and 36. We're going to see in verse 35 an exhortation and in verse 36 an encouragement.

The exhortation is this, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. The encouragement is this, you will receive what was promised.

That's the end of verse 36. There's an exhortation that we are not to throw away our confidence but that instead we are to be faithful and to do the will of God knowing that we will receive the reward.

You'll notice that verse 35 begins with a therefore, indicating that he's in the concluding thoughts of this warning passage that goes from verse 26 to the end of the passage.

He's wrapping this up. He's bringing this to a conclusion. He is saying, therefore, since these things are true, and remember he has built a case beginning in verse 26, since you have endured a great conflict of sufferings, since you have suffered reproach, since you have endured tribulations, since you have become sharers with those who were so treated, since some of you have become prisoners, since some of you have had the seizure of your property, suffered through the seizure of your property, since these things are true, and since it is true that you have a lasting and a better possession, in light of all of that, therefore, what are you to do?

Do not throw away your confidence. Now, what does that mean? What does it mean to throw away your confidence?

Probably, if you're like me, when you first read that, you think of confidence in the sense of assurity or a certainty, an assurance or certainty of something.

I am confident of something. I'm standing before you today, I'm exceedingly warm, and I'm sweating prolifically.

I'm absolutely confident of that. I am assured of that. I know this for certain. I know this for certain as much as I know that I am living and breathing and here today,

I'm certain of these things. I have a certain confidence there that these things are true. That is typically how we think of confidence, right?

It's something that we are sure of or certain of. Or we use confidence to describe a certainty of conviction, a belief that something is true, a belief that something is certain.

Is the author then saying, don't lose your assurance? Or is he saying, don't cast off or throw away your certainty regarding these things?

Don't start to doubt what you know to be true because these things have a great reward? Actually, that's not what he's describing.

That's not what he's describing at all. Before I tell you what the word translated confidence means, the word cast off is used three times in Scripture.

It means to throw off, to leave, to throw aside, to lose, to do away with, or to reject. It's the idea of setting something aside, turning away from it, walking away from it, throwing it away from yourself, losing it entirely.

That's the idea. It's used three times in the New Testament. Mark chapter 10, verse 50. It describes blind

Bartimaeus when he heard Jesus walking alongside the road. You remember what blind Bartimaeus did? He cast aside his cloak, threw his cloak away from him.

That's the word that's used to describe Bartimaeus throwing off his robe and running through the crowd trying to get to Jesus.

It's also used in Romans chapter 13 when Paul says, lay aside, that's the word, lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light.

Those deeds of sin and darkness and corruption and wickedness, you cast those off, you throw them aside. You have nothing more to do with them.

That's the idea. Don't lose, don't throw away, cast off, toss away your confidence. What does the word confidence mean?

The word confidence means a freedom of speech, a free -spokenness, an openness, frankness, license of tongue, a boldness, or a courage.

That's what the word confidence means. It is used a number of times in Scripture to describe something other than speech, but it is used an abundant number of times in Scripture to describe speaking and how we are to speak.

Do not cast off your freedom of speech, your free -spokenness, your openness and frankness, your boldness, your courage, your bluntness, your publicness about your confession.

That's what it is. You say, what does the word confidence have to do with that? There's a connection there between what you say and what you are assured of and believe in your heart, right?

If you're assured of something and believe something in your heart firmly, then you will be confident in the way that you say this.

Just as today I said quite confidently a few minutes ago that I was sweating profusely and warm in here and that I'm standing before you today because I know these things to be true.

So I would say this openly and publicly before you, even though it paints a rather grotesque picture in your mind probably, but I can say these things openly and publicly to you because I am confident and assured of them in my heart.

So there is a connection between what I know to be true, what I am assured of and certain of, and how

I would describe what it is that I am assured of and certain of. That's the connection here in this context.

So he is not talking about, in our context, assurance or certainty regarding something, though that is connected.

But he is rather describing our speech and how we are to speak, how we are to proclaim the truth.

I'm going to give you a list of verses in Scripture where you see how this word is used to describe people speaking.

First, it's used three other times here in Hebrews. I'm going to give these to you so you can see how the author is using this idea and then you'll see exactly what

I think he means here in this context. Hebrews 3, verse 6 says, Christ was faithful as a son over his house, whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.

We are to hold fast our boldness, our confidence, our publicness, our declaration of these things, and our boast firm until the end.

You can see even in that context, it's describing something of our proclamation of these things, our boldness in these things, our confidence and our openness regarding these things.

We're Christ if we hold fast to these things. Then it's used in Hebrews 4, verse 16, and this paints a picture,

I think, for you. Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace. That's the word. Confidence to the throne of grace.

See, that's the word for boldness, courageousness, openness, unhinderedness, a plain -spokenness.

He's saying in chapter 4, because these things are true of Christ and his priesthood and what he has done, he has given us, therefore, access to the throne of grace, and we are to walk in with boldness, plainness of speech, frankness and openness right to the very throne of grace.

Hebrews 10, verse 19, Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place, there it is again, a boldness and a frankness, an outspokenness, a bluntness, courage, freeness, plainness in speaking.

And it's used over and over again in the New Testament to describe speech. And I'm making the case that I think that that is what it is describing here as well.

Acts 4, verse 13, it's translated confidence. Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and began to recognize as having been with Jesus.

Now what did they observe about Peter and John? The fact that Peter and John were just kind of walking through the marketplace with their chin held high.

They seemed to have an air of assurance about them. It wasn't what they were to saw. When Peter and John got up and preached the gospel plainly, boldly, openly, unhindered, with a freedom of speech, they said, man, those guys are bold.

They must have been with Jesus. That's what they saw. Acts 4, verse 29, And they pray, O now,

Lord, take note of their threats and grant that your bondservants may speak your word with all confidence. Boldness, plainness.

It's also translated plainly or plainness in Scripture. Mark 8, verse 32, And he was stating the matter plainly.

John 10, verse 24, The Jews were gathered around him, and they were saying to him, How long will you keep us in suspense? If you're the

Christ, tell us plainly. John 11, verse 14, Then Jesus said to them plainly,

Lazarus is dead. His disciples said in John 16, verse 29, Lo, now you're speaking plainly and are not using a figure of speech.

See how it's used to describe just an openness, a frankness, a clarity there? You're speaking with confidence, a plainness or a plainspokenness about them.

It's translated as boldness in Acts 4, verse 31, And when they had prayed, the place where they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the

Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness. 2 Corinthians 3, verse 12, Therefore having such a hope, we use great boldness in our speech.

Ephesians 6, verse 19, And pray on my behalf that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.

It's translated openly or openness. John 7, verse 13, Yet no one was speaking openly of him for fear of the

Jews. And see there it's contrasted with kind of a quietness, a gentleness.

We'll talk one -on -one about it, but nobody would stand out in the marketplace and just speak openly of Jesus because they feared the

Jews. Nobody wanted to have any kind of opinion about him publicly, openly, boldly, out in front of everybody.

They didn't want that. Instead it was very quiet. John 7, verse 26, Look, he's speaking publicly and they're saying nothing to him.

There it's translated as publicly, out in the open. John 18, verse 20, Jesus answered him, I've spoken openly to the world.

I've always taught in the synagogues and the temple where all the Jews come together, and I have spoken nothing in secret.

Acts 28, verse 31, Describes Paul preaching the kingdom of God and teaching concerning the Lord Jesus Christ with all openness and unhindered.

That's a lot of references, isn't it? It is translated as confidence, plainness, plainly, openly, boldly, publicly.

It can describe something other than speech. I'm standing before you quite publicly, openly, confidently, right?

Even if I were to stand up here confidently and not say anything, I can stand here confidently and openly and publicly.

So you can do things other than speak openly and publicly, but in Scripture so often this word is used to describe the preaching or the speaking.

It means a boldness, a plainness, a bluntness. It describes a manner of courage and openness and confidence in the open and public and blunt and frank, and I am running out of words in the thesaurus, to describe how it is that we speak the truth of the gospel.

Don't lose your boldness, your frankness, your openness about the truth. He is saying you have plainly spoken, you have openly spoken, you have boldly spoken and courageously and frankly spoken.

Do not toss that aside. Don't stop doing that. Now why is that command so necessary and so fitting for the context?

What is the unique temptation that we face when we endure a great conflict of suffering, hostility, persecution, tribulations, reproaches, imprisonment, and the seizure of our property?

What is the unique temptation that you face at that moment? It's to just be quiet.

It's to think to yourself, if this thing that I am teaching and believing and communicating, and that I'm standing for this, if this is causing all of the fire and the heat of opposition, persecution, the tribulations and the reproach, if that's the cause of that, my believing that and teaching that and holding fast to that, causes all of this, then maybe the best thing for me to do is to simply step back and be quiet and not do

X. Or at least if I'm going to do X and believe X, to do it quietly and privately, and maybe just with people who also affirm

X. Right? Maybe we could just get together and have these discussions with people who agree with me on this and not do it publicly, openly, or plainly.

That is the unique temptation, to pull back at the very point where we are rubbing the culture raw with our testimony.

At the very point where they hate us because we are faithful to some truth, it is there that we are tempted to pull back on that truth.

And we do this in a number of ways, and you see it happening in pulpits all across the country. There is an attempt to sometimes soften the message and make it less offensive to the culture or to the world.

This was on public display recently when the current president of the

Southern Baptist denomination in a message said that God shouts about sins like gluttony and greed and selfishness and idolatry, but he whispers about sexual sin.

Whispers about sexual sin. No, God does not whisper about sexual sins. God does not whisper. I read that somewhere.

He does not whisper at all about anything, particularly sexual sin. And I do not know where I read that, and I do not mean to plagiarize.

Speaking of plagiarism, that message that Ed Linton preached in which he said that God whispers about sexual sin, it was not the statement that God whispers about sexual sin that caught the national headlines.

It was the fact that he plagiarized the entire message from the previous president of the Southern Baptist denomination, J .D.

Greer, and he did so taking the illustrations, the introductions, the quotes, the outline, and the points of the message, point for point all the way through the thing, preached it as if it were his own, telling nobody that he'd actually plagiarized the entire message.

Now, that got everybody up in a tizzy about it. Everybody got upset about that. And I sat back and wondered, why are you upset about that?

That's been a cottage industry in the Southern Baptist denomination for decades. That's been going on for 40 years, people plagiarizing one another, encouraging plagiarizing one another, selling your plagiarism, buying plagiarism.

It's all part of that whole culture and has been for decades. And yet if the Southern Baptist denomination were not on the quick slide into apostasy, then even the most uneducated

Christian in every Southern Baptist church in the country would have been able to say that the real issue here is that statement that God whispers about sexual sin because that is nothing more, and there's nothing less,

I should say, than an attempt to soften the message of the church and of Scripture concerning moral issues at the very point that right now is rubbing our culture raw with the church.

Our culture, every cultural institution, every academic institution, every entertainment venue, all has the same message.

They all walk in lockstep. And whenever an alternative morality or the biblical truth about any of the issues of human sexuality or gender are even proclaimed from the church or from a

Christian, the world hates it. They jeer it, they mock it, they reject it, and they pour out their hostility upon us for it.

And it's at that very point then that somebody, the president of the largest denomination in our country, the

Southern Baptist denomination, stands up and says, no, God really whispers about sexual sin. That is an attempt to soften the message.

And it makes people think, well, maybe then God really isn't concerned about my sexual sin. I mean, if he's not concerned to really be clear about it or bold about it, if God's not gonna be bold about it, why should

I really be concerned? I should probably be more bold about the things that God is bold about. And so then they would do what?

They make a list of all the things that God is bold about, and guess where sexual sin is on there? It's so far down the list that they're never gonna get to it in this lifetime.

That's how that works. Or people not just attempt to soften the message but attempt to be coy about the message.

This is a really clever way of just trying to get around the truth by using different language. So you hear this sometimes, they won't talk about sin and unrighteousness, transgression against God's law.

Instead, they use words like, we've all made boo -boos. We've all made mistakes.

We all wish we could go back and get a mulligan in life. You've done a few things that you regret.

You've done a few things that might be ill -advised. Maybe they were unwise in your past. You regret them, wish you could go back and do them over again.

Instead of talking about God's wrath, they talk about a broken relationship. Don't you feel estranged from God right now?

You're kind of lonely? You feel isolated? You feel this need to belong to somebody?

Well, just take a step back toward God because that comes from a God -shaped hole in your heart and God has a you -shaped hole in his heart and if you could just come together, you would fill the you -shaped hole in God's heart and God would fill the

God -shaped hole in your heart and like the little lockets that go together, you just come together and everything will be full and right again and they won't use language like repent, turn from your sin, walk away from your sin.

They won't talk about the wrath of God. Instead, they talk about giving Jesus a try, coming back to the

Lord. Just take a step toward God. He'll take 10 steps toward you. That's the kind of language that is used.

It's just another way of being coy about the message or they will try to attempt to avoid the offense altogether and never talk about controversial issues, never talk about controversial doctrines, never speak in exclusivistic terms.

They'll say, well, we're just preaching the positive things right now. We're really trying to emphasize the things that Scripture emphasizes like love and justice and belonging and community and our meta -narrative and the story of our life and the story of your life and a whole bunch of stories and the

Bible is just a story about stories and we can all just fit together into God's story and God fits into our story and we're all just storytellers.

This is just so beautiful and loving. You say, well, what about the hard things? What about the controversial things? What about the things that divide people and make people angry and would make the world mad at you?

What about those things? They say, I mean, those things, sure. There are things like that in Scripture. We're not sure exactly how they fit with the overall message and the whole theme of Scripture but we'll get around to those and by that they mean we'll never get around to those.

That's what they mean by that because they never end up do getting around to it. They want to avoid at all costs the offense of the cross and the offense of Scripture or if you want another example of it, they will change the message altogether and give the world exactly what it wants and this is your

Joel Osteen's of the world. Give them the world exactly what it wants. A self -help message, an easy -believe -ism, a message that is really about you and how you can become fulfilled, how you can be a better this or a better that, how you can receive these blessings.

That is the message that the world wants or to change it in another way, to present to the world a message of social justice, political ideologies, liberal philosophies, a non -judgmental and non -confrontational self -help

Christianity. That's how the message is changed. So soften the message, avoid the hard topics, be coy about the message or even outright change the message and all of these ways of not being bold, not being open, public and forthright about the truth, all of that is brought to you by the seeker -sensitive movement.

Seeker -sensitive movement today doesn't want to say these things because it is unpopular in the culture. The seeker -sensitive movement is probably 40 years ahead of its time because they started this back in the 70s when some of these truths that we would proclaim and we see as essential and confrontational actually were part of the zeitgeist of our country for the most part.

The seeker -sensitive movement was 40 years ahead of their time so they started compromising on this a long time ago and I would actually lay a lot of the societal and cultural degradation of the church and of our culture at the feet of the seeker -sensitive movement because if they had been preaching the truth like they should have been preaching the truth, instead of 90 % of the churches in our country not doing that for the last half of a century,

I would suggest to you that the church in America would look a lot different. If every man was a John MacArthur, things would be different.

Let's put it that way. Things would be a lot different in the culture and in the church. These compromises brought to you by the seeker -sensitive movement, the church marketing and PR campaigns and there are a plethora of those, cowardly pastors and worldly hirelings and a

Christian media that is all too happy to take a dollar in exchange for compromise. And what is the motivation of this?

Why is it that people step back and toss aside their confidence, their boldness in the face of hostility and opposition?

It is never actually stated. The motivation is never actually stated for what it really is.

You see, unfaithfulness is never marketed as unfaithfulness. It's always marketed by a desire to reach the lost.

Compromise is never just openly called compromise. There's not a seeker -sensitive pastor in this country who is standing behind their pulpit right now today saying, look, for the last 20 years,

I've been compromising the message, capitulating to the spirit of the age and I've been faithful to Christ and I want you to know I'm gonna continue to do that as long as I possibly can.

There's not a seeker -sensitive pastor in the country that would say that. Cowardice never goes under the banner of cowardice.

Unfaithfulness never goes under the banner of unfaithfulness. It always markets itself as something different. Instead, they will say, well, we need to do this if we want more people to hear the gospel.

We wouldn't want everybody in the community to be upset with us and think that we are an irrelevant church that is caught in that morality of a bygone era and believes those archaic truths.

We wouldn't want the community to think that. We want the community to think that we are on the cutting edge of societal evolution, that we are on the cutting edge of cultural progress.

And so we want to be just like the culture in order to draw people in from the culture so that we can give the truth to them in slow little segments.

And by slow, I mean a frozen sloth in tar, slow progress toward the truth.

We want to give it to them in these tiny little pieces, just a little bit at a time, and just sort of inoculate them to the truth.

No, sorry, not inoculate them to the truth. We want them to come around to the truth. What they're actually doing is inoculating people to the truth.

See, that is really what they want. They say that they want people to hear. They say that they want more people to receive the message, and so they try and make the message palatable to the audience so that the audience will embrace it because most pastors view themselves as a salesman and the gospel as a product and the audience as the market, and they do everything they can to package the product in such a way that it will receive the widest acceptance amongst their audience rather than seeing the gospel as a message that must necessarily offend the sinner so that when it is proclaimed, the sinner is left guilty and speechless before the throne of God, naked and bare and exposed before God's law, and then seeing his need for a savior.

They think that the role of the gospel is to somehow creep its way into people's lives if we can just sort of camouflage it enough that people will accept it, and what they end up doing is camouflaging it enough that the non -elect don't even know what they're rejecting because it is no longer the gospel at all.

What we don't need, and I know that everybody here would agree with this, at least I think most of you would, what we do not need is more cowards, more compromise, and more concession.

The church is full of that. The church in America is full of that. Cowards, compromise, concession, and capitulation to the spirit of the age.

That's the trend. This is what apostasy looks like, and so the author, in light of the hostility that they would face, says do not throw off your boldness, your bluntness, and your openness about the gospel.

That confident, clear, bold, public, unapologetic, blunt, and frank, plain -spokenness about the truth of the gospel is what got you into this mess of public spectacle, reproaches, tribulations, imprisonment, and the seizure of your property, and the author says double down.

Keep going. Do not throw aside your boldness, your confidence. Now this does not mean that we should be unloving, and uncharitable, and bitter, and angry, and acerbic, and acidic in our personality, and our demeanor, and our approach to people.

That's not what I'm saying at all. We are ambassadors for Christ, so we ought to be the most winsome, charitable, loving, engaging, encouraging, and joyful people on the face of the planet, and when we present the gospel to people, we can do so with a sobriety, and a joyfulness that is evident at the same time.

So I'm not suggesting that we be acid in everybody's eyes, but I am suggesting that we lovingly pour the acid of the gospel in everybody's eyes, that we do this, and we make sure that the offense is with the gospel, and not with us.

We can be loving, and endearing, and charitable in our character, and our demeanor, without ever compromising the truth.

So we are to be these things, and at the same time, bold, and uncompromising, and plain spoken, and clear about the truth of the gospel.

Not in any way attempting to soften the message, to be coy about the message, to change the message, to market the message, or do anything else that might in any way alter the truth of scripture.

We can be loving, and we can be bold at the same time. That is what the author is encouraging.

The very thing that we are tempted to do, he is telling us not to do, and so you can see how just counterintuitive this is.

You would think at this point in the epistle, after talking about their being made a public spectacle, the great conflict of sufferings, the tribulations, the reproaches, the imprisonment, the seizure of the property.

You would think that at this point, he would say, now look, here's my advice to you. Just dial it back a bit.

This has made people really angry. Just pull back. Just be silent about it. Get together and meet.

Talk about it amongst yourselves. Let the fires of opposition die down out there a little bit, and then when everything calms down, then we can all go back to it again, and maybe see if they'll be more receptive next time around.

He doesn't say that. He doesn't tell them to find a better way of saying it, to cool off a little bit till things get better. Do not cast aside your boldness, your plainness, your frankness.

Don't stop being blunt about the gospel. It is what it is, and it is not your job to make it palatable in any way at all.

And we don't apologize for the unpalatableness of the gospel either. We don't present the gospel and then say, ah, really hate to tell you this.

No, it is the truth. And we ought to, with joy and gladness, speak the truth without trying to make it palatable for the folks of our age, times in which we live.

We have this confidence that if we do not throw away our boldness, that it has a great reward. That's the end of verse 35.

It has a great reward. There is an immediate reward and an eschatological reward. And I am well aware that our time has gone.

We're not going to get to verse 36, but it actually goes better with verses 37 and 38. We speak about the encouragement of the reward that is to come.

He describes or states the reward here in verse 35. Do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. In verse 36, he describes again that we will receive what was promised, having done the will of God.

If we endure, when we endure, we receive what is promised, when we've done the will of God and been faithful. In verse 35, he just says you have a great reward.

There's two senses in which we can speak of the reward for the very confidence and boldness that he is describing here. The first is an immediate reward.

There is a sense in which when we are bold and straightforward about the truth of the gospel, it is true that in that moment and at that time, we can expect and enjoy the blessings of God's power and His presence in the proclamation of truth.

We can know that we have an immediate reward when we understand that obedience is really its own reward.

When you are faithful about the truth and you say what needs to be said at the time that it needs to be said, and you say it with a love and a grace and a charitableness and a kindness and gentleness that is appropriate at the time, and yet you are straightforward about the truth of the gospel.

You can lay your head on your pillow at night and sleep quite soundly, knowing that you have been faithful to do what

God has called you to do. That you took the opportunity that the Lord presented and you carried it through in obedience and you said what had to be said at that moment.

There is an immediate satisfaction of reward, as well as the confidence that God is with me in this,

God strengthens me in this, and I know that His blessing rests upon me because He, by His grace, gave me not only the opportunity, but also the boldness and the character and the faithfulness.

God gave me the grace and the faithfulness to do what He gave me the opportunity to do. And then you can walk away from that with your heart filled with joy, knowing that I have done what

God has called me to do. And even if I am hated for what I just did, there is an eternal reward that is sure and certain that I know that I shall receive.

That's an immediate blessing. But there's also an eschatological or end -time blessing.

And this is what I think is described in verse 36 when He says you will receive what was promised. And this eschatological blessing that we are going to receive is described in verses 37 and 38 when

He talks about the one who is coming will come and He will not delay. And His reward is with Him to give to every man. We know that there is a reward that is coming, and we're going to have to look at that next week.

There is no reward for cowardice, for compromise, or for concession, or for unfaithfulness.

Let me say it again, there is no reward for cowardice. You cannot.

We are going to have, as a church, as a people, and I speak this about all Christians, in the times in which we live, we are going to have to get out of our minds and out of our hearts any thought, any consideration, that we are going to be able to navigate life in this world and be faithful to the truth and avoid the hatred of the world.

You will not be able to do it. If the world loves you, the world loves its own.

If you're chosen by Christ, you're chosen out of this world, and the world is going to hate you because it hated Him first. You cannot love

God and this world. If you are a lover of this world, you are an enemy of God. You cannot be double -minded.

You cannot have one foot in both kingdoms. You cannot play your cards in such a way as to avoid the hatred of the world if you are going to also be faithful to do what

God has called you to do. And the pressure is going to be ratcheted up in every segment of our culture to the point where this conflict is unavoidable.

This conflict is unavoidable because there must be a conflict between the kingdom of men and the kingdom of God.

It must happen. This cannot be otherwise. There has to be a response of hatred from the world if we are going to be faithful to the truth.

So you can't compromise the message or change the message, be coy about the message, and still expect a reward from the king of kings.

Do not lose your boldness, your plain -spokenness, or your openness about the truth. I think a perfect example of this is the

Apostle Paul. When Paul got to the end of his life, he said, I've kept the faith, I've finished my course, I've run my race,

I've done all of this. He describes the faithfulness with which he has lived and the reward of stepping into that heavenly kingdom.

In writing to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4, Paul described in somewhat enigmatic terms his first defense before Caesar.

Now you remember Paul in the book of Acts, he appealed to Caesar when he sensed that the Jews, that Hephaestus or Felix was trying to throw him under the bus and turn him over to the

Jews so the Jews would kill him. Paul, as a Roman citizen, had every right to appeal to Caesar, which he did. He said, fine, then

I appeal to Caesar. Hephaestus said to Caesar, you shall go. Luke ends the book of Acts with Paul in prison in Rome.

After that, Paul was released and then re -arrested. At the end of his life, while in prison, he writes 2

Timothy 4, and he describes here his first defense before Nero. Now keep in mind, the

Apostle Paul, the most well -known Christian of the era, bar none, there was no close second, the

Apostle Paul stood before Nero, the Roman emperor, and presented his case, the gospel.

And here's how Paul says it. At my first defense, no one supported me, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them, but the

Lord stood with me and strengthened me so that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished, and that all the

Gentiles might hear, and I was rescued out of the lion's mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed, and listen, here's the reward, and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom.

To him be the glory forever and ever, amen. He stood before Caesar, preached the gospel, and then he said, the proclamation for which

God had called him has been fully accomplished, that all the Gentiles might hear. He preached to Nero, and then he said,

I know that the Lord will gather me safely into his kingdom. Now if you're standing before Nero, and your life is on the line, then you know the stakes are high.

And Paul at that moment did not cast off his confidence or his boldness.

He accomplished the proclamation that God had called him to, and set his eyes firmly on the prize of being brought safely into God's heavenly kingdom.

May God grant to us that same boldness, an uncompromising, unhindered, open declaration of the truth, and the gospel.

Let's pray. Father, we are so grateful to you for the strength that you give to those who are yours.

We're thankful that the gospel that we preach and proclaim is worthy of our lives, all of them.

The gospel that we proclaim and preach is the truth, and we have no reason to be ashamed of it, for it is the power of God unto salvation to any and all who will believe.

We thank you that you are accomplishing your purposes in this world. We know that every amount of opposition that the world is throwing at the church right now, today, not only in our own country, but also in all the countries around this world where your people reside, the truth is hated nearly universally by unbelievers.

And we pray that you would strengthen the church and strengthen us, and we know that you are accomplishing your purposes and bringing all of this to an end.

You are going to gather us all safely into your heavenly kingdom and give to us the crown of righteousness, which belongs not only to us, but to all those who love your appearing.

And we wait for that day, we long for that day, and we pray that you would grant us the strength to be confident and bold and open and blunt about the truth until you call us home, however it is that you would do so.

Keep us faithful, make us faithful and keep us faithful for the glory of your great name, we pray in Christ's name.

The aspect that we've been talking about here at the end was the faithfulness, or sorry, the eschatological promise of a faithful God who has promised to gather us into his heavenly kingdom and to come again, and it is described in verse 37 for in a very little while he who is coming will come and will not delay.

This ties into our communion meal because one thing that we do in communion is we remember the death of the

Lord Jesus Christ until he comes. So there is an aspect of celebration of the

Lord's Supper where we look forward to the consummation of all things when he comes and we look back to what he has done for us.

And as I said at the beginning, these two things are inseparably connected. We cannot separate what he has done for us on the cross with the reality that he is coming again and his reward is with him and he will give to every man exactly what he has earned.

And so we anticipate that future and heavenly reward, that eschatological blessing, the coming at the end times, his coming, and with him all the saints in glory, we anticipate that and look forward to that because of what he has done.

So in communion when we are praying we confess our sin, but we are doing this recognizing that there is going to come a time when we will have no more sin to confess to the

Lord. We'll have no more sin to repent of, to turn from, to be meditating about because we will be finally delivered from the very presence of sin ultimately.

Being delivered now from the power of sin, delivered in the past from the penalty of sin, in the future we are delivered from the presence of sin.

And we will be made righteous and we will stand before him and we will eat and drink with him and rejoice with him. That is our future hope.

That is a future blessing that belongs to all those who are in Jesus Christ. If you are here today and you have never trusted

Christ for salvation, I would encourage you not to partake of communion because in doing so you are just eating and drinking judgment to yourself.

Scripture describes that. If you have never trusted Christ for salvation, this is not for you. You need to recognize that you are a sinner, repent, turn from your sin, and be born again before you partake of the elements because you do not want to eat and drink judgment.

You are basically saying this was done for me when you are not bowing the knee to Christ at all, not embracing him or trusting him as Savior at all.

This is not for those who are outside of the faith. For Christians who are here, we want to make sure that when we partake of communion that we have examined ourselves.

We've looked at our own hearts, confessed our sins, acknowledged our sins, confessed them to the Lord, and that we are turning from those sins.

So if you are a believer here and you're living in unrepentant sin, I would first call you to repentance for that sin and encourage you not to partake of communion if you are not turning from your sin.

The Christian life is a life of repentance. We are always turning from sin. As often as we see it, turning from it to God, to his righteousness and to his grace.

Seeking his grace continually because of what he has done for us on the cross. So I will bow my heads.

We'll have a couple moments of prayer. I would ask the ushers to come forward at this time and stand with me up here. We'll bow our head and have a couple moments of silent prayer and then

I'll lead us in prayer. Let's bow our heads. Our great

Father, we recognize our sinfulness. We are thankful that you have justified us even though we are in a sinning state, even though we continually struggle with sin and wrestle against sin.

We hate it and we long to be righteous and to be made righteous in practice entirely.

We thank you that there is forgiveness in Christ because of what he has done for us on the cross. And so, without focusing too much on ourselves and our own sin, we always then turn our eyes and our hearts to the

Lord Jesus Christ who offers forgiveness and righteousness no matter what our sin, no matter how abundant our sin, no matter how powerful our sin remains.

We thank you that you wash us from all our sin and our stains. We thank you for our positional righteousness in Jesus Christ, for our justification, and we know that that is inseparably tied to us progressing in holiness and growing in sanctification.

So as we acknowledge our sin, we turn from it and pray for grace to live in holiness and righteousness before you, thanking you for your provision of righteousness in Jesus Christ and your provision of forgiveness because he has borne the shame and the sin and the reproach that our sin deserves.

We thank you that he has died in our stead and taken all of that away on behalf of all who will trust in him.

And we pray that if there are any here who have never trusted Christ for salvation, that they would see their sin and their waywardness and their need for that Savior and turn in believing, trusting, and abiding faith to him so that they may have their sins forgiven and be made righteous forevermore.

Be honored through our time here as we reflect upon your goodness and your grace, we pray in Christ's name. On the night in which he was betrayed, our

Lord took the bread and when he had broke it, he said, take, eat. This is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me.

In the same manner, after supper, he took the cup and said, this is the new covenant written in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.

Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for the precious and atoning and perfect sacrifice of our

Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you that in his body, he has borne our sin, taken away our condemnation, and brought us eternal life.

We thank you that by his death, he has saved and secured everlastingly a people for his own glory. And we thank you that by your grace, your providence, your sovereignty, and your choice, that we are included in that number.

We praise you for your goodness and we praise you for your provision. Thank you for making us righteous and are standing before you.

And we pray that you would sanctify us fully and completely until the day of Christ Jesus. Accomplish that good work in us, we pray.

In his name, amen. Please stand.

Let's pray. I love the

Holy Lamb of God Oh, wash me in his precious blood

My Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God Your gift of love, they crucified

They laughed and scorned him as he died The humble king, they named a fraud

And sacrificed the Lamb of God Oh, Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God I love the

Holy Lamb of God Oh, wash me in his precious blood

My Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God I was so lost,

I should have died But you have brought me to your side

To be led by your staff and rod And to be called the

Lamb of God Oh, Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God I love the

Holy Lamb of God Oh, wash me in his precious blood

Till I am just a Lamb of God Oh, wash me in his precious blood

Till I am just a Lamb of God Have a great week.

Praise the legend Come behold the wondrous mystery